A/N: I want to apologize for a few things here. First is the time it has taken me to write this chapter. For various reasonsI have been staring at a blank page for a couple of days. Second I want to beg you forgiveness for the shortness of this chapter. It is sort of a transitional chapter. And lastly please forgive the grammar and typos. Otherwise Enjoy!!!

XXI
The Waldorf
Kate & Richard

Kate woke and at first did not realize where she was. It took several moments for her brain to feed het the significant facts. She was in one of the bedrooms in Castle's suite. She and Richard had talked late into the night, well really the early morning. It had been a quiet time; they had been sitting on the love seat, exchanging confidences. She had shared some of her child memories. Pleasant experiences, mostly about her grade school. He spoke of his attempts as a young child to deal with life as the son of a very poplar Actress. Kate got the sense that Castle was being slightly melancholy, but not overtly depressed. She promised herself that at some point she would invite Martha to lunch and get the scoop on Castle as a child. The tantalizing tidbits she had gotten had caused her curiosity to go into overdrive. Kate looked around the room and decided that she wished that Rick had chosen to sleep in the same bed. She could have used his company. Outside the sky was a dirty gray with the promise of impending rain.

Richard stared up at the ceiling of his room. It's off white color reminded him of the ceiling of his hospital room. While he did not smell the antiseptic and bleach here in his hotel room his nose seemed to catch a ghostly whiff of those smells that he became so used to while he was convalescing at Mercy Hospital. He felt a twinge in his chest and automatically reached up to touch his scar. His mind drifted, as it always seemed to, onto his obsession Detective Kate Beckett. She dominated his thoughts, whether it was his dreams at night or his fantasies during the day. Initially she was truly just his inspiration for a new character but now she was so much more. She spoke to his soul. They were heading into territory that he had only rarely ventured into. He had not been in a serious, committed relationship since college. He had loved Meredith when he married her but he truthfully could not say that it had been serious. He did not know if she was even capable of serious. She had the Hollywood mentality down to an art, the green screen; everything is smoke and magic with no real substance. Meredith could 'act' serious but she was not serious. Kate on the other hand was serious, deadly serious at times. He felt so captivated by her siren's song that he seemed lost without it. He had walked a fine line all of his life between the fluffy celebrity life and actually working for a living. Admittedly he strayed into fluff more than he tried to keep it real, but he knew both sides. Since he had been around his auburn haired Detective he had stayed on the serious side, well as much as he could. He sighed and looked at the empty side of the bed and wished that she had chosen this bed to sleep in.

Kate's musings were interrupted by a call from Esposito. They had been able to pull Benny into the Precinct and he was waiting for Kate to come and interrogate him. Max and Miles were scheduled to come in the afternoon. Kate inquired about Ryan and Roxy.

Esposito chuckled. "Ryan didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. It seems that Roxy was having nightmares about her assailant, so he was awake trying to keep her calm."

"Make sure that he brings her in today. I want to talk to her about the attack. It's not that Ryan isn't a good interrogator, but I think he might have been a little distracted. "

"I'll make sure he knows." Esposito promised.

Kate reluctantly got up. She was still exhausted from the late night they had. She slowly began to dress. She looked at the dress in the closet and sighed. It was such a beautiful dress and just like the six bridesmaid dress in her closet she would probably never wear it again. She smiled when she thought of the look on Castle's face last night when he had first seen her dressed in the gown.

"You know, you just have to say the word and I'll throw another party, so you can wear the dress again." Castle said from the doorway.

Kate jumped, not realizing that Richard had snuck into her room. "You know I could have been naked or in the process of dressing." She suppressed a shiver at the thought of Rick's gaze on her naked body.

"If you had called me earlier I would have been glad to watch. I just like any testosterone laden male, love to watch the naked female body."

"Castle!" Kate felt a blush creep up her neck and into her cheeks." That's enough. I have to go into work. I am going to re-interview Benny this morning…."

"You mean interrogate." Castle interrupted

"Have it your way… So please Castle stay away from the Precinct until after I'm done. You can come in the afternoon and help with Max and Miles but I think you should stay away while I am interviewing Benny." Kate pleaded.

"He didn't do it, Kate, but you will see that after you talk to him. I will cede to your wishes. I have to settle with the hotel anyway." He said looking very haggard.

"Pardon my French, but you look like shit."

"It always brightens my day to hear French spoken so fluently. I didn't sleep at all last night, except for those few minutes that we fell asleep together on the couch."

"Why not?" Kate asked.

"My mind wouldn't stop churning. With all the stress from yesterday I just couldn't close my eyes."

"Well I'll come over tonight after work, unless we break the case, and we can crash on the couch by the fireplace. That is if that would help."

"A night of passion would be better… But I guess a couch cuddle would be good too."

Kate smiled and moved over toward the door of the room where Castle stood. From behind his back Castle pulled a Grande coffee, the way Kate liked it. She took a sip and kissed him on the cheek.

"I hope Randy the Concierge got you coffee, correct."

"Perfect, I was wondering how you got a coffee while still in you bathrobe." Kate added "However given your lack of modesty, I guess anything is possible."

"Touché, Detective, Touché. However if my little gifts are not appreciated, I will discontinue using them as a wooing device." Richard said smiling tiredly.

"Oh no," Kate quickly amended," Please woo to your heart's content."

Kate moved past Castle and moved toward the door. She stopped and turned around

"Richard, I want you to know that I really do appreciate all the things you do."

"Even riding naked through the park on a borrowed Police horse?" Richard smirked.

"Well, no. What I mean is I appreciate all you have done for me. Riding through the park naked wasn't something you did for me."

"I understand, Kate. I would go to Hell and back for either you or Alexis. I think that I don't do enough for the two of you. I want to give you the world, Kate. That is if you would let me."

"I understand, but I just am not used to all of this. Please you have to give me time to adjust…. I'll see you this afternoon" with that she left the suite.

Richard stared after the exiting Detective. He sighed and mentally kicked himself yet again for his rejection of Kate's advances last night. The real reason that he did not get any sleep the night before was that his libido was so revved up that his mind was at war. Intellectually he understood that the decision not to take her to bed was the correct one. He wanted to be on his 'A' game when they finally did make love, but that didn't stop him from castigating himself for the missed opportunity. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, trying to draw strength from the essence of the old hotel. The details of the crime began to unravel in his mind. He realized that he was not going to get any sleep this morning. Sighing he moved toward the shower and his clothes. If he wasn't going to get any sleep he might as well get over to the Precinct and hear what their suspect had to say….

A/N: I wish to thank you all for your kind words. To Shinylane1.2 and Sparrow33 your Reviews humble me. I write for my own enjoyment and when I hear that my scribbles speak to others it really touches my heart and makes me want to write even better. Thanks to you and everyone reads my ramblings. Your alerts, favorites, and reviews are very much appreciated.