The news reporter, no-one saw that one coming any time soon. They were just glad they could all go home knowing that the case was over and done with. After being interrupted yet again, Kate and Rick had decided that they would leave their personal feelings and thoughts out of the precinct; they would be dealt with once the case was over. It had gone agonisingly slow for the pair, they just wanted to get out of the precinct and talk before they combusted with the need.
"Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, my office" Gates shouted from her doorway, making the team look up at her, before looking back at Castle, shrugging and heading towards her office.
"Sir" The trio spoke in unison
"Is the paperwork for this case all finished?" Gates questioned, looking at Beckett in particular
"Yes sir, just wrapped up the last sheet now" Beckett returned
"Great, take the weekend off, don't expect to see you here until Monday morning" Gates said, addressing all three "Effective immediately"
"Yes Sir" The trio spoke again before heading for the door and towards their respective desks to collect their belongings.
"Weekend off Castle, we're heading out now" Beckett shouted as she headed towards her desk.
"Sure" Castle responded, standing up and grabbing his jacket. He stood holding Beckett's jacket out as she approached her desk.
"Thanks Castle" Beckett smiled at him, before threading her arms through her jacket.
The boys had already grabbed their coats and were heading towards the elevator. They knew something was going on with 'mom' and 'dad' so they thought it best to leave them to it. By the time the elevator had reached their floor Beckett and Castle now stood behind the pair waiting for the ride down to the parking garage.
"Drinks at the Old Haunt later?" Castle spoke among the silence now apparent in the elevator.
"Sure" Esposito and Ryan replied eagerly
"Invite Jenny and Lanie as well" Castle quickly added before glancing over at Beckett "What you say?"
"Sure why not" Beckett replied rather nonchalantly, keeping her focus on the ever changing floor numbers on the elevator.
"So, see you guys at around 8pm tonight?" Castle asked as they stepped off the elevator.
"Sure, see you later" Esposito said before speeding off towards his car
"See you in a bit" Ryan spoke as he ran towards his own car
"Need a lift Rick?" Kate asked once they were out of earshot of the guys.
"Sure, was going to ask if you wanted to come to the loft to talk before tonight anyway" Rick told her as they climbed into the car
"Yeah, sounds great" Kate replied, starting the engine, lapsing into a comfortable silence as they drove to the loft. Nothing needed to be said right now, there was going to be plenty of talking once they got to the loft anyway, mainly by Rick, and probably a hell of a lot of shouting coming from Kate.
"No-one home Rick?" Kate questioned once they'd enter the unusually quiet loft.
"No, Alexis is still with Lanie and Mother is at her acting school" Rick replied, closing the door behind them and grabbing her hand to pull her towards his office.
"Rick what are you doing?" Kate questioned as Rick dragged her through his apartment.
"I'm not getting disturbed again, there's a lock on this door so we shall be able to have our conversation without further interruptions." Rick responded, closing the office door behind him and locking it.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Kate raised her eyebrow at him questioningly as she stepped towards him.
He couldn't resist, he closed the distance towards her, placing his hands on either side of her face, pulling her into a kiss. It wasn't anything over passionate, simple making one and another aware of the love they shared. Her lips were soft and gentle under his, as he angled her head to press his lips to hers more forcefully. Her arms came to his neck, pulling him closer as her tongue ran along his lips begging for entrance. He obeyed instantly, opening his mouth to her and pressing her against his bookshelf.
He knew he shouldn't be doing this, he knew he had to talk to her, they needed to get this out in the open, but if this was going to be the last time he kissed her, damn it if he was going to waste it on a quick peck of the lips.
She moaned into his mouth, urging him to push deeper, pressing her further into the bookshelf, he delved his tongue further into her mouth, exploring every inch of it. His hands now cradling her back pushing him closer to her, while her hands were raking through his hair, holding his head at the exact angle she needed.
God, he needed to stop this, right now. But he'll be damned if it didn't feel perfect, he never wanted this to end, but he knew that if this went any further, letting her walk away would only prove to be more heartbreaking. He placed one last kiss to her lips before placing his hand on her shoulders and pushing her away. She looked up at him, confused, her eyes questioning his actions.
"Kate..." Rick breathed, his forehead now resting on hers, his eyes holding her gaze as she looked up at him. "We need to stop this I have to tell you something"
"Rick" Kate stepped back, her eyes shifting frantically around his face, searching for an answer.
"Please, don't look at me like that. Don't make this harder than it already is" Rick confessed, this only confused and worried Kate even more.
"Rick, what is it?" Kate questioned, she'd now stepped out of his grasp, standing a considerable distance away from him as he spoke again.
"Kate..I love you..and I'm so sorry, truly I am..but you have to believe me..I did this for you, I did this to keep you safe and give you what you had always wanted" Rick began, noticing Kate's face fall at his words, he knew this wasn't going to be easy, but did she have to keep looking at him like that?
"Rick, what did you do?" Kate questioned, keeping her voice calm as she spoke
"Please, here me out, I didn't have a choice, I had to do this, if there was ever going to be a chance to figure all of this out, I got that chance, but you needed to stay away. They were going to kill you Kate. We couldn't go through that again." Rick responded, stepping towards her, as she impulsively stepped further away from his grasp.
"Rick, please tell me you didn't. Tell me you haven't done the one thing I asked you not to do, and the one thing you asked me not to do? Tell me!" Kate shouted, she wanted to stay calm, she honestly did. She loved him, and even though this might hurt right now, she needed to remember that she loves him.
"I'm so sorry!" Rick exclaimed trying to take another step towards Kate, she didn't more, not because she didn't want to, simply because she couldn't, she was frozen to her spot. "Kate, please look at me!"
"Look at you? Look at you? What do you want me to do? Jump into your arms saying that it doesn't matter, that because we've both lied that it's all okay? Damn it Rick, you could have gotten yourself killed. Do you know what that would do to me? To Alexis and your mother? You have a family who loves you, who need you. It wouldn't matter if I died looking for this, my dad would be hurt, but he'd recover eventually." Kate shouted
"How can you even say that? I need you, I love you, I don't know what I'd do if you died, I might as well be dead myself. My mother and Alexis love you like you're already a part of the family. Your dad would not get over it! He only recovered from your mother's death because of you; you think he could stand losing both his wife and daughter to the same people? What about Lanie and the boys, there your family Kate. You have no idea how much you mean to people. So yes, you need to be alive." Rick shouted.
"Damn it Rick! Do you think I would be any more alive if you were dead? Do you think that any of it would matter if you weren't here? You had no idea how much you mean to people, so we both need to drop this" Kate retorted, the anger finally subsiding, leaving her with the fear of losing him.
"No I don't Kate, because you've never told me, you've never opened up, you just listen to me, and push it aside, hoping that you could figure it out later. If things were different when I got the phone call, if I knew that you loved me enough to take all this in and not go running blindly into any information that may occur, you would have known. But you pushed me away, so no, I had no idea how much I mean to you" Rick shouted again, he was thankful his mother and Alexis were out of the loft, they needed to hash this out before they could move on.
Yet, he wasn't prepared for what happened next; he thought she'd be running now, heading straight out of the door, out of his loft and out of his life. What he got was the crash of her lips on his as she pushed him up against his office door claiming his mouth with hers. The growl that escaped his mouth only encouraged Kate to press him closer to the door, his hands reaching behind her to palm her backside, eliciting a moan from her.
Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have reviewed and put my story on your favourites means so much. And I know its been a while since I updated this story. Had deadlines and revision for my exams. Just wanted to let you know that the next chapter will be M Rated, so there will be a rating change once I've got it written. I'm pretty sure that the next chapter will be the last one. Enjoy.