Hearing him say it, when neither of them was dying, got rid of any fears that Castle had just said he loved her because she shot. She looked at him and saw that he was obviously still hurt over her lying to him about the shooting. She looked at her knees then said, "I'm sorry that I lied to you about remembering my shooting Castle."

Castle just looked away and Beckett felt really bad. The two of them had completely fucked this up, they'd kept secrets and lied to each other and now it looked like their partnership might never be the same again. She reached out and took his hand. "I'm sorry Rick that I lied to you, I really am."

Castle just shrugged, "What's done is done."

Kate reached up and turned his head so they were facing each other. She rubbed her thumb against his cheek. "I didn't tell you I remembered was because I didn't know if you meant it or if you just said it because you thought I was dying."

Castle held moved his hand up and pushed his hand against hers. "I meant it Kate, always will."

Kate nodded then the two leant forward and hesitantly brushed lips. They pulled back and looked at each other for a moment then Kate went forward again, capturing his lips in a proper kiss.

When they pulled back again Castle asked quietly, "Does that mean I'm forgiven?"

Kate smiled at him, "Yeah. But I'm not letting you look into my case anymore. We do it together or not at all."

Castle was silent for a moment then nodded and leant forward slowly for another kiss. When they pulled back this time and rested their foreheads against each other. Kate took a deep breath and whispered, "I've wanted to tell you for a while Rick, I love you too."

Castle smiled and kissed her again, more powerfully this time. Kate's phone rang and she began to pull away but Castle's lips followed her, "Leave it," he mumbled.

Kate shook her head and put her hand against his chest, pushing him back and away from her. She gave him a smile then pulled her phone out of her pocket. She looked at the caller ID and sighed. "Hey Espo," she answered, "What can I do for you?"

On the other end of the phone Esposito hesitated for a moment before asking hesitantly, "Are you alright?"

Kate looked at Castle and smiled before answering, "Never better Espo, never better."

Castle smiled back at her as Esposito spoke again, "Um well good. Gates wants you, Castle, Tony and Ziva back at the 12th for a debriefing."

Kate sighed and said, "Ok. We'll be there in a bit, Ziva and Tony are at the morgue getting Ducky to check out her arm."

"Ok," Esposito said, "I'll get Gibbs to call them in. See you in a bit."

"Yep," Kate answered before hanging up.

She looked over at Castle and saw that he was watching her closely. She put her phone on the table then looked back at him saying, "We've got to go down to the 12th; Gates wants a debriefing."

Castle nodded and stood before offering a hand to Kate. She took it and he pulled her up and into his arms. He hugged her close and asked, "What does this mean for us Kate?"

"This means," she rested her head against his shoulder, "We go about business as normal but we're partners in every way."

She felt Castle kiss the top of her head and smile, "I can live with that."

Kate craned her neck and kissed him quickly on the lips, "Good, so can I. Now we need to go to the 12th before Gates ends up ringing me personally."

Castle nodded and took her hand before leading her to the door.

It didn't take long for them to hail a cab and make their way to the precinct.

They got out in front of the 12th and Castle paid the driver before the two of them made their way to the lift and up to the homicide floor. Once they got off the lift the two made their way over to the conference room, where they could see everyone standing.

Everyone in the room looked up when they heard the door open, most of them with concern on their faces. Kate smiled at them all, "Where's the Captain?"

"Right here detective," Gates said as she came into the room, closely followed by Gibbs.

"Sir," Kate said, "Esposito said you wanted to debrief?"

The Captain nodded, "Yes, I wanted to congratulate you and Agents DiNozzo and David for a job well done." She looked around the room, her gaze landing on Castle, "And Mr Castle for the GPS locator."

All four nodded as Gates continued, "I'll leave it to Agent Gibbs to fully debrief you." She turned to leave but then turned back and said, "The next time you're riding, stay below the speed limit; I don't appreciate being called by traffic that one of my detectives was so flagrantly disregarding traffic law."

She left and Esposito and Ryan smirked at her, "Busted."

Kate raised an eyebrow before looking at Ziva, "How's the arm?"

The Israeli smiled and held up her arm which was supporting a bag of ice. "It's all good Kate, just some pain is all."

Kate nodded and then Gibbs started speaking. "I want to say that you did a good job and that we've got Collins confession about the drug smuggling. We're just waiting for the MP's to take him away and then jail time is in his future."

Castle and Kate both nodded and smiled then Gibbs looked around the room. "Go home people, it's been one hell of a day."

Castle and Kate shared a look, both now too wired to go home and do anything at all. "Anyone up for drinks?" Castle asked.

Ryan and Esposito both looked at each other then nodded, "Yeah, sure why not."

Castle turned his attention to the NCIS team, all of whom were thinking. One by one they all nodded and Castle smiled. "Old Haunt it is then." He looked at Esposito and asked, "Do you want to invite Lanie?" Esposito nodded and pulled out his phone, he had just put it to his ear when Castle added, "Invite Ducky too, we might as well make a night out of it."

Esposito nodded then spoke into the phone, "Ello chica." He listened for a moment then looked at Kate as he answered, "She's fine Lanie, they're both fine as far as I know." He listened again for a few moments then said, "Do you want to join us for drinks Lane? And invite Ducky too."