Here's the next chapter. I hope you like

After dropping Kate off outside Rick's loft Tony drove down to the ME's office. He parked the car out front and he and Ziva got out.

As they walked into the building Ziva asked Tony, "Do you think Rick and Kate will be ok?"

Tony shrugged, "I honestly don't know. When you and Kate were going around the garage at the precinct he told me that he thought she remembered and that he was keeping something from her too."

Ziva nodded, "I guessed he was keeping something from her but I wasn't sure."

Tony nodded and got into the lift, pushing the button. "He told me that after her shooting a man had called him and told him that to keep Kate safe he had to stop her investigating her shooting and her mother's murder because if she looked into them she'd end up dead."

Ziva looked at him shocked for a moment before Tony continued, "But he told me that he'd been looking into it."

Ziva shook her head, "If Kate sees that I dread to think what'll happen."

The lit stopped and the doors opened. Tony and Ziva stepped out and made their way over to where they could see Ducky talking to a body. They got half way there when they saw Lanie. She smiled at the agents and asked, "Does he always talk to the bodies?"

Tony and Ziva both nodded, "Yeah. All the time."

Lanie shook her head then Ducky looked up. "Ziva my dear, what can I do for you?"

Ziva walked forward and came to a stop in front of him, "Can you take a look at my arm. It took a bit of a knock at the pub and Gibbs said if I didn't want to go to the hospital I had to see you."

Ducky nodded, "Of course my dear."

Ziva stuck her arm out and Ducky took it in both his hands. He slowly moved it back and forth, checking that it wasn't broken. After a few moments he released her and said, "Nothings broken Ziva, it's just going to hurt for a while. Make sure you put some ice on it." Ziva nodded and Ducky looked at Tony, "How about you Tony, you ok?"

Tony nodded, "I'm fine Ducky."

Lanie then chose to speak again, "Where are Kate and Castle?" Ziva and Tony shared a look and Lanie sighed, "That bad?"

Ziva looked at Lanie and nodded, "Rick left and Kate was in tears."

Lanie quickly dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She was tapping on it when Ziva put a hand on her arm. Lanie looked up at her and Ziva shook her head, "We dropped her off at Rick's loft on our way here. They need time to sort this out."

Lanie nodded but didn't look all that happy about it. She understood what Ziva was saying, that they needed to talk and that if she rang or texted Kate she might cause a problem, but Kate was her best friend and she wanted to see if she was ok. She told herself that if she hadn't heard from Kate by shifts end then she would ring Kate, just to check on her.

Kate went towards the door, not watching where she was going, just wanting to get out of the loft. She had just reached the door when it opened and Alexis came in. She stopped when she saw Kate and smiled at her, "It's good to see you safe Kate."

Kate just nodded and made her way around the girl, not speaking a single word. Alexis saw the look on her face and stopped her with a hand on her arm, "What's wrong?"

Kate shook her head, "I've got to go. Please let me go." She could feel the tears building. Yes she was annoyed that Rick had kept her in the dark but she was angrier about the fact that he had put his own life in danger looking into her case alone.

Alexis must have heard something in her voice because she looked at the detective hard and asked, "Kate, what happened?"

Kate was about to tell her that nothing was wrong when Castle came out of his office, a devastated look on his face. He started speaking without even noticing Alexis. "Kate, please let me explain, please Kate please."

Then he saw his daughter, who saw the look on his face and said, "I'll be back in a bit dad. I was just going to pick some stuff up then head over to see Paige."

Rick hardly looked at her and Alexis could see from his face that he was sorry about something and she guessed it was something to do with Detective Beckett. She turned and made her way back out of the loft, knowing that whatever it was they needed to talk about they didn't need her around to hear it.

The shutting of the door snapped Kate back into reality and she span to face Rick. "Why explain Rick. It's pretty clear that you were looking into my case, trying to find more to add the Niki Heat, even after you told me to stop."

Rick shook his head, "No no no, I wasn't looking for more for Niki, I was trying to keep you safe Kate, that's all I ever wanted to do."

Kate laughed, "Yeah, right. That's why my shooting is all over your board."

She turned to open the door then jumped when Rick's hand slammed into it. She turned back to him and said in a low voice, "Let me out Rick."

He shook his head, "You at least owe it to me to hear me out. Please."

Kate could see that he was genuinely sorry about this and that he really did want to explain. She nodded slowly, "Fine Castle, explain, but as soon as you're done we're over."

Rick nodded sadly, "Fine Kate, just hear me out and then decide." He took his arm away from the door and began, "After your shooting a man called me, he said he was a friend of Montgomery's and that Montgomery had sent him files that he could use to keep Montgomery's family and you safe. He said that if the files got out they would do serious damage to whoever was behind your mom's murder but if he kept them hidden and out of the public eye he could keep you safe. The only thing was that you couldn't investigate your case, or your mothers, or the deal was void and you were a target. I know you Kate and I knew that if you knew what I was doing you rush in and end up dead, and I couldn't let that happen."

After Rick finished speaking they sat for a moment, neither speaking, neither moving, until Kate said, "Castle, you shouldn't have carried on looking, you have a family to think about."

Rick shook his head, "I never dug, I just looked at what we already had. I had to Kate, if I'd found something that meant we could actually take down the bastard behind this I would have told you and then we could have put all of this behind us."

Kate shook her head, "No Castle, what if they had found out?"

"I had to Kate. I had to for you. I love you and I just want you to be happy and safe."