Hi… this chapter is pretty much dialogue. But I couldn't leave you without knowing HOW Beckett dealt with Lanie, and I wanted to know too… so this is what my brain came up with… hope you like it. :)

Beckett pushed the doo open and glared angrily, waiting for Lanie to look up. She instantly realized what had happened and her defenses rose.

"I didn't tell Castle," she promised.

Beckett rolled her eyes. "you didn't have to, all you had to do was tell ANYONE within a two mile radius and he would have heard you!"

"What's that mean?" Lanie snapped.

"Nothing's sacred here, Lanie!"

Lanie's eyes shot to the floor.

"How could you do this to me? I told you in confidence!"

"You never told me it was a secret," she replied bashfully. Lanie felt like a real S#!

"I didn't know I had to," Beckett groaned. "I had no idea you'd go blabbing to everyone you passed on the streets the next day."

"I only told Esposito," she assured her, as if that was supposed to calm Beckett's nerves.

"You took advantage of me… I was drunk."

"You were pretty funny," Lanie smiled.

Beckett rolled her eyes.

"Thanks a lot!"

Lanie frowned. "What did Castle say?"

"He asked me on a date!" Beckett made it sound like a fate worse than death.

Lanie grinned. "Girl, you've been holdin' out me. When's the big date?"

"I didn't say yes," she replied.

"Why not?"

"It's Castle," she stated. The name was supposed to speak for itself. "He's all on nine years old."

"Give him a break, he puts up with you at work every day," the words were not said with anger or bitterness. Lanie was the only one who would get away with saying it like it was, with Beckett, there was few people she had the patience to listen to. Lanie was one of the few she grinded her teeth and sat through a lecture for.

Beckett folded her arms across her chest. "So he has a good backbone,"

"DAMN STRAIGHT! Girl, what do I have to do to smack some sense into you… cuff you and drag you to precinct myself," she muttered.

"I'm NOT dating Castle, Lanie, so get the idea out of your head. It's NOT happening."

"Why the hell not? You told me over a bottle of wine you were hot for him,"

"I never said that," she denied. Did I?

"Close enough," Lanie shrugged. The details didn't matter too much.

Beckett groaned.

"You owe him an answer, girl."

"Yeah fine," she mumbled.

"And considering you walked away from him, you are obligated to say yes…" Beckett screwed up her face. "Come on girl, you owe him a chance… he might surprise you."

"I doubt it."

"Well, IF he blows it, I'll smack him out for you… simple."

Beckett smiled. She'd always been curious about castle's "dating" ability. Not that she'd admit it aloud, but he had his moments of shining when it came to police work. She'd seen him with his daughter, when his maturity had blossomed. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to see him prove his worth, when it came to love… LOVE? Had she just put that word in the same sentence with Richard Castle? Yeah, she was losing it.

As she wondered back into the bullpen a while later, she caught Castle's eye.

"My house. Six o'clock. One date, and don't even think about showing up a minute past six."

He raised his hand in defense, a smile as wide as when his book became BEST-sellers. "Swear."

How does the date go…? Care to find out!

You know the rules, drop me a review, and I'll post another chapter.