The next couple of hours went by in a haze; Gates wanted the case solved ASAP, which meant no breaks unless they were necessary. The team were running on caffeine by now, and little of it for that matter.
Esposito and Ryan knew something was off, they'd seen a change in Castle and Beckett, but neither of them had said anything so the boys just brushed it off for now, waiting it out until the end of the case. But this tension was killing them. They needed to figure something out.
They hadn't had a chance to talk all day. And Beckett was getting slightly annoyed with how Castle was acting. She could tell he was hurt, but it wasn't like she'd told him she didn't feel the same way. Why was he acting like she'd just broke his heart.
She was so frustrated with everything; she just wanted to go home. The case was bad enough, but with Rick ignoring her all day it was only making things worse. By mid afternoon Rick claimed he was having dinner with his mother and left.
"She lied to me" Rick stated as he sat across from his mother in the small cafe they'd picked for lunch.
"Like you're not lying to her? Richard, think about it, she loves you, isn't that enough for you to at least listen to her explanation?" Martha interjected
"It's not the same, I'm protecting her, and she was only protecting herself." Rick replied
"How do you know that? Has she said that?" Martha questioned, knowing how quickly her son jumped to conclusions.
"Well, erm, no, because we got interrupted and haven't had chance to talk to since she told me" Rick told his mother while looking out the window, avoiding her eyes.
"You need to talk to her Richard, give her that much" Martha commented before standing from her seat, "I need to get to the studio, sort this out before it's too late."
"Thank you mother" Rick called as she reached the door.
"Anytime kiddo. Now go get her." Martha shouted before exiting the cafe and onto the busy streets of New York.
Rick entered the bullpen an hour later to find Kate and the boys huddled round the murder board. Kate's shoulders were slumped, Javier and Kevin looked like they were about to collapse from exhaustion. Clearly they hadn't got any further since he'd left; he might be able to change that.
"Hey" Rick spoke quietly as he approached the group.
"Hey! Hey! That's all you can say?" Kate shot back before storming off into the bullpen leaving the boys staring after her.
"Bro, she's pissed. What did you do?" Javier said, before turning from the board back to his desk.
"Seriously man, thanks for pissing her off and leaving us to clean up. Real nice Castle" Kevin interjected before following Javier back to their desks.
"Great" Rick mumbled under his breath before he headed for the break room after Kate.
He quietly closed the door behind him, noticing they were alone, before stepping closer to her. He knew she wasn't stupid, back to him or not he knew she knew that he was there. That's just how she was, cop instinct and all.
"What do you want Castle?" Kate asked sharply, she was pissed, really pissed.
"Kate, look at me, please" Rick pleaded; he was now stood behind her, his arms aching to reach out and touch her.
"Why Rick? You didn't do as I asked. You just stormed off, didn't you? You didn't even give me a chance to explain. Damn it Rick, I'd just told you I loved you, and once something doesn't go your way you storm off and don't even try to discuss it like adults." Kate shot at him, trying to keep her voice quiet, aware of where they currently were.
"Because you lied to me, damn it Kate, 10 months!" Rick shouted, he wasn't staying as quiet as her, his anger boiling over the edges as she acted as if everything should be okay, that her lying didn't matter. But he soon quietened down as his mothers' voice entered his head 'like you're not lying to her?' She was right, she deserved to know, but he knew telling her in the precinct would only make things worse, and in the middle of an important case, that wouldn't go down well with Gates, that he was sure of. "10 months I followed you around wondering if you had heard me, if you'd eventually remembered, and all this time, you knew."
"What do you want me to say Rick, I wasn't ready, would you want me to tell you that I heard you and not being able to be with you. What would that have done to us? I was a mess, and I wasn't going to drag you or your family into the emptiness I was after the shooting. Knowing that you loved me made me recover faster, wanting to get better for you, it gave me something to live for, something to look forward to." Kate confessed, knowing how selfish she sounded, "And yeah it sounds like it's all about me, I know. But if I wasn't better, god Rick, you deserve better."
"Kate, look at me, okay, I don't care what you think I deserve, I don't want anyone else, and I want you." Rick spoke softly as he walked towards her, placing his arms on her forearms, holding her in place. "Yeah, I'm mad, but we can talk about this later, right now we need to get this over and done with so we can talk things through"
"Being the adult for once, geez Rick, you feeling okay" Kate joked, hoping to lighten the mood before they headed back out to the stress of the case.
"You wound me detective" Rick commented, while removing one hand from her arm to place it under her chin, tilting her head up towards his. Her eyes flitted from his eyes to his lips as she ran her hand up his arm to the back of his neck.
"Beckett, we got something" Ryan shouted through the now open break room door.
"Damn it" Kate muttered bowing her hand as Rick's hand fell away from her chin.
I apologise for the long wait on this one after saying it would be updated pretty fast. Had college deadlines to meet, but there all over now so I'm hoping to finish it soon. I said it was only going to run the length of the episode, but I'm thinking that I will carry it on to them actually leaving the precinct together and whatever may happen. Could change to a M rated fic for that one chapter. Reviews are always welcome.