Chapter 3

Title: Easy

Disclaimer: There's no way I'm brilliant enough to write a story like Kill Shot. But this is my feeble attempt at something.

Kate braced herself coming off the elevators. She had a pretty good idea of who this visitor was. Lanie offered to come along but she declined. That would make it seem like this was something worth fussing over, like she couldn't handle it. This was her life now. If she was going to be able to move on she needed to be able to handle things like this happening.

She waited in the hallway for a second, making sure she was prepared for this.

Of course she wasn't.

But she couldn't let them know that.

Her partners greeted her as she came around the corner.

"Hey Beckett."

"Yo boss."

"Hey boys."

Her eyes looked at both of them before making their way over to the man sitting up against her desk with his back to her. Slowly he turned around, his eyes lighting up when he saw her. Just like they used to. And apparently still did.

"Hey Kate."

"Morning Rick."

"How're you?" Now he'd gotten up off her desk and was making his way around to sit in his chair as she sat in hers. She tried to appear like she wasn't flustered by his presence, but she had a feeling she was failing miserably.

"I'm good. You?"

He nodded as he answered. "Good good, I'm good."

It was just then she saw the two coffees sitting on her desk. He noticed her gaze and reached out to put one in front of her and keep the other one for himself.

"I almost forgot. This is for you."

She took it in her hands and felt warmth spread throughout her entire body. But it wasn't from the coffee. It was that he remembered. That he still cared. "Thanks Rick. I appreciate it."

"Anytime."

He smiled and gazed at her, and she found herself thinking back to the first time she'd scolded him for doing that exact thing.

"Rick, stop," she hushed, keeping her voice as low as possible while still trying to get her point across.

Her agitation only made him smile wider. "Stop what?"

"Stop looking at me like that. People are going to know."

"Know what?"

"You know what."

"But I like hearing you say it."

He probably didn't like hearing it as much as she liked saying it. But that wasn't the point she was trying to make at that moment.

"If I say it will you stop?"

"Maybe."

She glanced around the bullpen, but no one was around right then. So she let herself lean in, him doing the same, until they were only a few inches apart.

"People are going to know," she paused, "that we're dating."

The light that sparked in his eyes when she said that made the butterflies in her stomach go crazy, calming down only when he closed the gap and kissed her.

"And it's amazing." he whispered as he sat back.

She laughed at him as she sat back in her own chair, trying to return to her paperwork. Glancing up she saw his head lean to one side.

"What, not amazing for you?"

She shook her head and for a moment she saw sadness and fear in his eyes. She never wanted to see that look again, so she smiled at him, the smile she only gave to him, and reached across to take his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"Amazing doesn't even begin to describe how being with you makes me feel."

"Beckett!"

Kate jumped when she heard Esposito call her name.

"What?"

He nodded in the direction of her phone. "You gonna answer that?"

It was just then she realized her phone was ringing. She looked back at Rick for a second, and his face told her he may have traveled back to the same memory she did. She composed herself as best she could and picked up the receiver.

"Beckett." She listened as dispatch gave her the address of a murder just called in. "Got it. We'll be there in 20." She hung up, ripped the paper with the address off the pad and got up out of her chair. "Let's go boys. We've got a fresh one." She dug her keys out of her desk drawer and located her cell on her desk. She stood up right as Rick did.

"Well I should probably go and let you guys get to it." He stuck his hands in his pockets and started to head out.

"Yo, you ain't stickin around for this one?"

Rick turned around and smiled. "Well, I wouldn't want to get in your way or anything."

"When did that stop you before?" Ryan quipped, and Kate had to laugh. She looked up in time to see Rick look at her, probably searching for a sign that might say she didn't want him hanging around. She knew that if he didn't help on this case everyone would know it was because of her. And she didn't want that. Besides, now she would get to spend time with him. But she wasn't supposed to want that...

"Yeah, why don't you ride along for this one?" Both her partners' heads turned when they realized what she said. But she only looked at Rick, watching as his lips curled into her favorite smile.

"Well, if you insist." In that moment she knew she'd probably regret this, but she really didn't want to see him go.

So she walked past him, brushing up against him every so slightly, forcing herself to keep walking and not cave in to the warmth that was radiating from his body.

"Come on, we've got a murder to solve."

Stepping out of the car Kate saw Lanie was already at the scene, checking out their male victim. She stopped to look up at Kate once she'd reached the body.

"Hey girl, how'd it go?"

"How'd what go?" She raised her eyebrows, hoping Lanie would get where she was going. Her eyes only narrowed in confusion so Kate nodded her head back slightly to where Rick was with Ryan and Esposito, checking in with some of the uniforms working the scene.

"Oh."

"Yeah. So what've we got?"

Lanie looked at her for another second before resuming her task at hand. "Victim's a male, mid to late 30's. Single GSW to the chest. His wallet was gone but he was clutching his keys in one hand so I hit the alarm button and I'm going to assume his car is that black one right there." Kate looked across the parking lot they were standing in to see the car that was being swept by CSU. "Uniforms are running the plate to see who it belongs to."

Kate walked around the body, trying to get what she could from him. "Nice suit. Maybe a banker or a lawyer?"

"I'd go with lawyer." Kate turned as Ryan walked up behind her, notebook in hand. "Uniforms say that car is registered to a Timothy Simmons. He's a partner of Simmons and Randall, which is located," he turned and gestured to the tall building right next to the parking lot, "right here."

Kate looked from the building back to the man on the ground. "Alright. Doesn't look like our killer used a silencer so let's canvas the area. Someone had to have heard the shot. Maybe they saw the killer too. His wallet is missing so have uniforms check the dumpsters nearby and see if they tossed it. We also need to track down our 911 caller and bring them in." As he started writing she hollered for Esposito, who came over with Rick in tow. "Espo why don't you check for next of kin. He's got a wedding band on so we're probably looking for a spouse. Rick and I will start looking around up in the office and see if anything comes up."

As her partners set off on their missions she and Rick started heading towards the front doors of the law firm. She couldn't help but notice his abnormal silence.

"You ok?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Yeah, just a little nervous. It's been awhile."

She couldn't stop herself from smiling back and nudging him with her shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll be great."

A/N: If you're like me, all you're interested in in this stories is the Caskett storyline so I promise I'll keep the case info as brief as possible throughout the story. And if any of you are still alive after Kill Shot tonight, please drop a review and let me know what you think :)