When she gets home, it's late. She enters through the front door. She finds that the apartment is dark. She flips on the lamp setting on a table in the entry way. She looks around the room. The place is still filled with unpacked boxes. It's been a month since Castle proposed, and three weeks since she moved to D.C. She places her keys in the bowl sitting next to the lamp.

She walks past the kitchen, through the living room into her bedroom. Once she reaches her bedroom she flips on the light. She begins to undress. She tosses her clothes on the floor. She lays her gun, badge, and phone on the nightstand. She heads over to a basket of clean laundry. She pulls out some pajamas and heads to the bathroom. She stops halfway there as she looks down at her hand.

She looks at the ring on her finger. She slips it off, and places it next to her phone. She takes her watch off, and adds it to the pile. She leaves the room, and heads to the bathroom. She showers, and then falls into bed. She looks at the alarm clock, as she flips off the lamp. The time tells her that she's been up for nineteen hours, which means that her workday lasted seventeen hours and forty five minutes. She pulls the covers over her, and sets the alarm. She closes her eyes, feeling some sense of solace that the following day is Saturday, which happens to be her day off.

She wakes up to the sound of someone banging pots and pans in her kitchen. She rolls over, and looks at the door, which is standing wide open. She groans. She puts the pillow over her head, but it doesn't help.

"What are you doing out there?"

"I flew in from New York in the wee hours of the morning to surprise you with breakfast in bed."

"I got in late last night, I just want to sleep," she hollers.

"Fine," he pokes his head in the door, "I will wait for you to rise to greet the day, sleeping beauty."

"What are you going to do until then?"

"Maybe I will unpack some of your boxes."

"Too noisy."

"I'll be quiet," he vows as he closes the door. She pulls the covers over her head, and prays that she can fall back to sleep. The past weeks have been filled with never ending workdays. She feels exhausted, and guilty. On one hand she just wants to sleep in. On the other hand she wants to spend time with her fiance for the two days he is in town. She feels the strain of trying to make a long distance relationship work, while they try to figure out how to move forward. She feels run down. She takes a deep breath. She smells the aroma of coffee wafting in from her kitchen.

Her stomach does a back flip, but she ignores it. She chalks it up to not having eaten since mid-afternoon the previous day. She shoves the thought out of her mind. She closes her eyes, praying that sleep will find her. She pulls the covers over her head, and closes her eyes. The light pouring in from her window is incredibly bright. She adds a pillow on top of the mountain of covers. Finally she falls asleep.

She feels herself being shaken into consciousness. She pushes away the pillow over her face, and shoves away the covers. She squints at Castle, who sits next to her, on the edge of the bed.

"I though that you were going to let me sleep."

"I did. Kate it's eleven thirty."

"What?" She looks at her alarm clock in disbelief.

"I tried to make you breakfast four hours ago."

"I'm sorry. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was."

"So do you want me to make you breakfast?"

"Why did you let me sleep so long?" she growls.

He furrows his brow, "Because you said that you were tired."

"You are only here for two days, and I've already slept half of the day."

He smiles, "I am sure that you will find some way to make it up to me."

"I thought you were making breakfast."

"I made myself breakfast hours ago, what do you want?"

She shrugs, "Whatever."

"I could make you an omelet."

She grimaces, "No."

"How about some pancakes?"

"Okay."

"I'll make you some pancakes, and you can get dressed."

"Sounds like a plan."

Twenty minutes later she emerges from the bedroom. She has showered, and pulled her hair into a ponytail. She wears a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. She joins him Castle in the kitchen. She takes a seat on a barstool in front of the counter. He places a plate of pancakes in front of her.

"Thank you," she smiles reaching for the fork that is strategically positioned to the right of her place.

"You want to read the newspaper? I went out and got it this morning."

"Nope. I want to hear about what you have planned for the day."

"Well we were going to go to the farmer's market and get produce, and have a lovely breakfast, but you slept half of the day."

"I'm sorry. I've just been working so much."

"I know," he kisses her temple, "It's okay. I went to the farmer's market by myself."

"I bet that was romantic," she replies with an ornery grin.

"I really felt the love in the air as I purchased a juicy red tomato for..." he pauses for dramatic effect, "myself."

"I'm sorry."

"Eat your food. We have a lot to do."

"What do we have planned for the day?"

"I thought that we would..." he trails off.

"We would what?"

"Now I know that day full of festivities that I have planned is really going to knock your socks off."

"So tell me what it is," she insists.

"You and I are going to unpack all of these boxes."

"Castle!"

"Or we could meet a real estate agent, and go house-hunting."

"House hunting? I just got here."

"Do you like your new job?"

"It's long hours, and hard work."

"So, no?"

"I love ever minute of it."

"Except the part where I'm in New York, and you're here."

She nods, "Yeah, except for that part."

"Which is why I want to go house hunting."

"I told you to move with me."

"Into your one bedroom? I need space. I need a man cave. I need an office to write in."

"You can't get away from me if there is only one bedroom," she argues.

"Why are you making this so difficult?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want to move forward. I want to get married, and move in together. We need a big place with lots of bedrooms."

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reads and reviews. I would also like to point out to anyone who is familiar with my other stories that for the most part I keep characters as true to themselves as possible. I appreciated the feedback. I would just like to remind everyone this is only the second chapter, and the story is just taking shape. I always have a reason if my character seems out of character. So, all I ask is that you hang in a little while longer, before you call in the firing squad. I appreciate the support.