A/N: I am so sorry about the wait for this chapter. I have been fighting with it for ages now. I feel like this chapter has taken a turn for the better with the wonderful help that agentchuckles gave me. This chapter would probably still not be coming out if it were not for her help. Of course, she also seems to think that I should have some idea of where this story is going in the next couple chapters (crazy idea, I know).

I also want to thank Andriana for always being willing to read through the chapters for me.

Thank you to everyone for the reviews and the love you guys are giving (alerts and favs). While I might not be writing any faster because of them, I at least feel terrible for making you guys wait this long (what is it 19 days?). So, without further ado, the latest chapter.

After a hectic Monday morning of chasing down dead end lead after dead end lead, Kate swiftly stepped off the elevator only to see a man sitting in her desk chair, twisting to and fro every couple seconds while staring at the murder board, seemingly lost in thought.

After watching him for a minute or two, Kate walked up beside the man and grabbed the backrest of the chair as he swiveled away from her, causing him to tip forward slightly.

"Oh gravity, thou art a heartless bitch" Castle lamented while attempting to right himself.

"Rick, what are you doing here?" Kate asked as she pushed him the rest of the way out of her chair.

"I thought you may be sick of getting notes by now and decided to come and personally invite you." Rick cheekily answered as he sat down in the chair next to Kate's desk.

"Invite me to what?" Kate finally asked after fruitlessly waiting a minute in the hopes that he would continue.

"Well, this is actually a multifaceted invite, but, here is part one." Rick said as he handed an envelope to Kate.

Opening the envelope, Kate pulled out what appeared to be a piece of cardstock in the shape of a magnifying glass with an image of a magnified fingerprint. Inspecting it closely, Kate realized that the friction ridges were actually text inviting her to Chloe's seventh birthday party.

"You are holding a detective birthday party for Chloe and you are inviting me?" Kate asked looking up from the card.

"Yes. You should have heard Chloe. When she heard that you were a detective she asked, 'Just like Nancy Drew,' and when I told her yes she declared that she 'had to have a detective birthday party' so that she 'could be just like you' and she also insisted that you HAD to be there. So, what do you say? Will you come?"

"I don't know…"

"Please! You have to. For Chloe."

"I just don't know. Will there be costumes involved?"

"Yes! Everyone has to come dressed as their favourite fictional detective."

"Fictional? Really? Let me guess, you did that just so I couldn't get away with dressing as myself."

"Not at all my dear detective," Rick said with a mischievous smirk on his face. "It was so that Chloe wouldn't dress as you. It just had the added bonus that you couldn't dress like you either."

"I guess I could come," Kate said after some thought. "That is one of my weekends off so I am pretty sure that I can make it. Who are you dressing up as anyway?"

"I am dressing up at the ubiquitous Sherlock Holmes while the girls are dressing up as the Dana girls. We were kind of hoping you would dress up as Nancy Drew." Rick added with a lift of his eyebrow.

"I guess if I don't have a choice in the matter, Nancy Drew is not a bad option. But what? You don't want to be Ned to my Nancy?" Kate teasingly asked him

"I would love to be Ned to you Nancy" Rick whispered seductively in Kate's ear causing her to shiver slightly.

"We'll see" Kate replied with a smirk.

Leaning back into his chair, Rick continued, "However, I don't remember Ned being particularly…adept at solving crimes which would not do at all for this theme."

"Why else do you think I suggested it?" Kate addressed him with a smirk.

"Ouch. You wound me detective" Castle dramatically exclaimed, clasping his hands over his heart.

"You said today's invite was multifaceted" Kate said, ignoring Castle's response. "So, what else did you want to ask me?"

"Oh! Yes!" Rick exclaimed as he sat up straighter. "Two. Now that you have agreed to come to the party, I was wondering if you would be willing to help me and Alexis a little bit with the party planning seeing as you are a detective."

"Rick, what are you doing?" Kate couldn't help but ask as Castle whipped out his phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Calling Alexis." Castle responded as if it was the most natural thing to do in the middle of a conversation leaving Kate slightly perplexed as she leaned back in her chair.

"Hey Alexis. Kate and I were just talking party details and I remembered that you had wanted to talk to her, so here she is."

Before she knew it the cell phone was being shoved into her hand.

"Hey Alexis. You wanted to talk to me?"

"Hey Kate. I was just wondering when it would be best to get together to plan the party. Dad said he would call if you said yes, so I am assuming you said yes."

Looking over the phone, Kate glared at Rick who was doing his best to look busy by shuffling papers into neat stacks.

Taking a second to take a deep breath to calm herself down, Kate nonchalantly replied, "I guess I must of."

"Oh, Kate! Did you not actually agree to help? I am so sorry. I don't want to force you into this. I can find someone else to help me. It is no big deal."

"No, Alexis. It is fine. So what exactly do you need my help with?"

"Well, dad and I agreed to split responsibilities this year and I am in charge of the mystery while dad is in charge of food and decorations. So, I guess I need help with the mystery aspect. If you are up for that, when would be best to meet?"

"Wait. Your dad, the best selling mystery writer, allowed you to take on the mystery for the day? I can't imagine that happening at all. We are talking about the same guy, right"

"Well…allowed might be a the wrong word to use. It is more, I won the right to plan the mystery by beating him at a game of laser tag."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Now, back to you question. How does Friday afternoon sound? Does that work for you?"

"Yeah. That would be great. Until tonight, bye."

"Rick!" Kate said as she menacingly turned towards him. "What was that? Were you so worried that you would not be able to rope me in that you had to recruit your daughter to do it?"

"I…I…I just really didn't want you to say no. and I know you can't deny Alexis, especially after the conversation you had last night. Please don't hit me…or throw my cell at me" Castle added as he cowered in his chair with his hands up protecting his face.

"Seeing as you have roped me into attending, and wearing a costume, I guess I could help out. It could be fun. But don't think that I am going to forget this. There will be payback." Kate added as she not so gently tossed the cell onto Castle's lap.

"Great," Rick declared as he let out a sigh of relief and slowly lowered his arms and picked up his cell. "I know you are busy, but how about we plan for Saturday, early, so we have time to talk over what we need and where we should go. I will provide breakfast," Rick added as an incentive.

"I already have plans on Saturday, but what about Sunday? And breakfast had better be amazing if you want me to get out of bed early on my day off," Kate added grumpily.

"The best breakfast in town."

"Now that that is decided, what did Alexis mean by 'until tonight'? Am I doing something tonight that I am unaware of?"

"Oh yeah! Right. That was the final part of the invitation. Alexis would like to invite you over to dinner tonight as a, and I quote, apology for the ambush and a thank you for the conversation, and if I am not reading too much into this, I think it is also a sort of acceptance of you in her life kind of thing."

"I guess you don't really leave me a choice in the matter, do you? What time should I be there?"

"Seven sound okay?"

"Yeah. Sounds great. See you tonight."

Taking a step behind Rick as they stood to leave, Kate quickly reached up, snagged Castle's ear and twisted.

"If you ever try that stunt again, I will do something a whole lot more painful than twisting your ear."

"Duly noted." Castle replied while rubbing his newly released ear and watching Kate walk off to the break room.

-o-O-o-

As Kate stood in the break room pouring a cup of coffee for herself she couldn't help but stare at Rick as he stood waiting for the elevator. As she watched she noticed Ryan and Esposito quickly, yet stealthily, heading for the elevator. Before Kate could move to figure out what the boys were up to, she saw them stop, one on either side of Castle, and gently move him slightly away from the elevator. As she watched, the boys took turns leaning in and seemingly tag teaming Rick in a style reminiscent of how they interrogated suspects. After about a minute, the elevator finally arrived and Rick took off like a shot, almost running in his attempt to get away from Kate's partners. Making a mental note to ask Ryan and Esposito, or Rick, about that later, she picked up her coffee and walked back to her desk.

As Kate drew near to her desk, she could hear the telephone ringing. Walking over, she sat he cup of coffee down and reached for the receiver. Hearing what the dispatcher was telling her, Kate stood a little stiffer and raised a beckoning hand up to Ryan and Esposito as she wrote something down.

"We just got an address on Caleb Larson." Kate said as she handed the paper to Ryan.

"Let's go visit him, shall we?" she added as they headed for the elevator.