Chapter 2

Title: Easy

Disclaimer: Still don't own them.

Monday morning Kate walked into the precinct, ready to throw herself into a new case. The weekend had proven to be anything but the relaxing break she needed. Too much time alone gave her mind the opportunity to wander and run places it shouldn't. She felt guilty praying for a body to drop but she really needed the distraction.

She set her jacket and purse down on her desk before heading to the break room to pour herself a cup of coffee. That was one thing, out of a million others, that she'd had to get used to once Rick stopped working with them. She had to get her own coffee. And every day she forgot, it was like this huge reminder of their failed relationship and it took everything she had not to break down in front of her team.

When she got back she saw Ryan sitting in the chair next to her desk. His chair. She didn't ever tell anyone how much it hurt to see someone other than him in that seat, but it really tore her up inside.

"Hey Ryan."

"Morning Beckett. How'd it go with Seth?"

She wasn't in denial, but there was no way she was going to tell Ryan that Rick had shown up and ruined everything. Especially after all of the trouble he went through to set them up.

"It was good. Seth's a really great guy."

Ryan nodded. "Mmhmm, so anything big happen?"

She looked at him as she took a sip of her coffee. "What do you mean?"

He just looked at her with an eyebrow raised and she knew that he knew. "Seth called me and told me he got to meet Richard Castle."

That kind of big. "Oh. Yeah. He was on a date at the same restaurant we were at."

"Did you guys talk?"

"We chatted for a bit."

Ryan looked at her for a few seconds before lowering his voice. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she said in the toughest cop voice she could muster.

"Are you sure? Because if you want I can-"

"RYAN!"

Both Kate and Ryan looked up to see Esposito walking over to her desk.

"I think your phone is ringing."

Ryan looked at his desk then back at his partner. "I don't hear it."

Esposito gave him a look. "Are you sure?" As he cocked his head to one side, Ryan seemed to catch the message he was sending and Kate had to laugh. These two were like the big brothers she never had.

"Oh, right. Yeah." He turned back to Kate before getting up. "Excuse me."

Kate watched Ryan walk back to his desk and pretend to talk on his phone. She let out another laugh before looking back at Esposito, who was watching her.

"Have a good weekend, Beckett?"

"It was fine," she smiled. "Have a good night out with Lanie?"

"Yeah yeah, we both needed it."

They talked for a little bit more before he left to answer his phone which actually was ringing. If he knew about her meeting with Rick he wasn't showing it. Of course, he was a detective, so chances were he probably knew.

Kate opened a side drawer and pulled out a folder of paperwork she needed to finish from the last case they'd finished. Unfortunately it didn't demand much from her brain and her mind started to wander again.

"Rick, you don't have to stay here and watch me do paperwork. I can call you when I'm done and then we can go do something."

He gave her his special pout that made her agree to anything and everything. "But I like hanging out with you here."

At this point, they'd been officially 'dating' for about a month. She was still getting used to him paying even more attention to her, both at work and home, but she was definitely enjoying it.

"But this is so boring. Aren't there more exciting things you could be doing?"

He leaned in close to whisper, "There's no where else I'd rather be than with you." He gave her a kiss before sitting back in his chair. "Don't ever forget that."

Someone's slamming desk drawer brought her back to the present. She looked down and saw she wasn't getting anywhere on the paperwork. And she probably wouldn't until she got all of this worked out.

Stopping by the break room for one more coffee refill, she headed out to seek council from her best friend.

"Lanie?" she called out as she walked through the doors to the mourge.

"Hey girl." Lanie popped out from behind a body she was examining. "You guys have a case or something? I didn't get any notification on a body."

"No, no. I just came by to talk. Do you have a minute?"

Lanie gave her a once over before taking off her gloves and disposing of them. "Sure." She motioned Kate back to her office. "Let's go in there."

Kate headed back to where she had pointed and took a seat in front of Lanie's desk. She heard the door close before Lanie took her own seat. "So what's up?"

"Don't tell me you don't already know."

Lanie looked at her, probably deciding how much she should say she knew. "Javi may have told me you had an interesting encounter during your date the other night. But I don't have any more than that. What did writer-boy have to say?"

Kate looked down at her hands. "We just said hi. We were both on dates so we didn't talk much." She looked up at Lanie, who was waiting for her to continue. "And then he called me later on that night." Lanie's eyebrows rose upon hearing this.

"And?"

She shrugged. "He just wanted to tell me he was glad he got to see me."

"And what did you say?"

Kate's voice was noticeably quieter as she answered. "That it was really good to see him too."

If Lanie didn't approve, she didn't say. "Anything else?"

"Not really." Kate looked back down at the floor. "We hung up and I pretty much cried myself to sleep."

"Oh honey. Why didn't you call me?"

"You were with Esposito and I didn't want to interrupt."

"Girl that's no excuse. You can always call me. No matter what."

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have even been like that. We've been apart for like 2 months. I shouldn't feel like this."

"True, but you guys were used to seeing each other every day for years before that. It's going to take some time to get over him."

"I suppose."

"Unless, you don't want to get over him?"

Kate looked up at Lanie, her eyes narrowed slightly. "That's absurd."

"Then say it."

"Say what?"

"Say that you want to get over Castle."

Kate opened her mouth, the words right on the tip of her tongue. It would be easy. I, Kate Beckett, want to get over Richard Castle. Easy to say, yes. Easy to feel, no. She couldn't do it. Probably because it wasn't true.

"I don't know," she whispered.

Lanie opened her mouth to continue when Kate's phone went off.

"Beckett."

"Yo boss, you need to get back to the precinct. Stat."

"Why, what's wrong Esposito?"

"You've got a visitor."

A/N: Oh. My. Gosh. You guys are so amazing! All of the reviews and alerts totally made my day. This was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but you all made me want to continue! I know this chapter was kind of short, but since I wasn't planning on this being whole story when I posted the last chapter I kind of needed to get it all set in place, but I think I have a plan now :) Please drop a review and let me know what you think!