A/N: This chapter goes out to Casckett and Lianna-snow, who thought this story needed some Lanie. I agree.

DAY 12: Girl talk

Because Kate didn't think that she could face Rick now without dragging him back into the bathroom and finishing what they had started, she decided to visit her friend in the morgue and thank her for effectively breaking their case wide open.

Unfortunately, Lanie could read her like a book, even more so than Rick.

"Are you alright?" she asked the second Kate stepped into the room, forgoing a greeting like so often. Kate sighed, which only caused her friend's eyebrows to rise even higher.

"I'm fine. Just exhausted. We locked up Jones and he felt the need to spit at me" she offered as an explanation and leaned her hip against an empty autopsy table.

Lanie's inquisitive expression changed more towards compassion.
"Did you kick his ass?"

Kate quietly shook her head, too frustrated by the terrible case and her lack of tension-releasing activities with Rick, to offer a smile. "He just wants attention, I'm not gonna give it to him."

She looked to the floor and idly played with the rim of the new shirt she'd changed into.

At her sullen behavior, Lanie's eyebrows lowered until they almost met between her chocolate eyes.

"Seriously, what's gotten into you lately? You seem a little out of it, gurl…"

Kate shrugged it off. "It's nothing."

"It certainly ain't lookin' like nuthin'! Did you and writer boy fight?" she queried and moved closer, rounding in on Kate as if she were a suspect, and fixing her with a glare.

"No, nothing like that, we just…" she trailed off and blushed. How did you explain something like that, even to a dear friend? Lanie's lips pursed at her sudden glow.

"Listen…" Kate lifted a hand to drag it through her hair, but remembered that she had put it up into a ponytail after her bathroom encounter. She let it sink back down. "How about we meet at that cocktail bar you wanted to drag me to, tonight after work, and I'll tell you after a couple of drinks, okay?"

Lanie grinned. "This better be good, Kate!"

For the first time in a while, a genuine broad smile crossed her face.

"Oh, it is. Trust me, it is."

In a softly glimmering, short black dress and five inch plateau heels, Kate stepped out of the adjoining bathroom and into their bedroom, almost bumping into Rick. She skittered to a halt right in front of his face and grabbed for anything and everything within her reach to regain her balance. Unfortunately, Rick's open button-down slipped through her fingers and the lamp to her right couldn't support her weight. It would have crashed down on top of her, but Rick caught the delicate glass structure in its fall, simultaneously wrapping his other arm around Kate.

Her fingers dug forcefully into his skin as she tried to pull herself up again, all the while cursing rather inventive expletives. He would have ribbed her about it, or complained about the crescent moons her nails were leaving behind, but something in her voice stopped him.

His heart skipped a beat when she took a step back and her legs gave in under her slender body. He caught her once more, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her against him, sending the lamp crashing to the floor, scattering frosted glass fragments everywhere.

"Shit! Shit, ouch shitshitshit ouch!" she exclaimed, her creativity concerning swear words failing her now that her mind was overshadowed by pain.

Rick wasted no time and carefully lifted her up, carrying her to the bed and gently laying her down. She only mildly protested, which catapulted Rick into a small panic attack.

"What is it, where does it hurt?" he asked, his voice hitching, fear and concern etched into his features as he frantically scanned her body with his fingertips and eyes.

"Foot!" she pressed out between clenched teeth. "Ankle…shit."

He slid down the bed and pulled her feet into his lap, carefully and tenderly removing her rather risky footwear.

"You shouldn't wear shoes like this…" he commented and eyed them suspiciously. They were a good bit higher than her usual ones and that was bound to mean something.

"Shut up, Castle!" she snarled and then sighed almost joyously when he had managed to pull them off her feet.

"Ohhh that's better…" she whispered and Rick bit his lip to keep from smiling or making a comment.

His fingers ghosted along her skin, his eyes observing her face for any kind of reaction.

"Does it sill hurt?" he asked quietly and applied a little more pressure. She shook her head, but then hissed when he passed over her left ankle.

He wrapped his hand around the area and let his warmth seep into her, all the while looking into her large eyes.

They appeared to be brown in the dim light of the room, but he knew that they were green in the harsh light of the interrogation room, and showed tiny golden spots in the natural light of the sun. It was one of the things that fascinated him the most about her. He could never tire of looking into her eyes, or guessing what color they would be today.

He slipped his free hand to the sole of her foot and watched in awe when her eyes began to twinkle and darken as the entire atmosphere of the room seemed to change and crackle with a sudden current of electricity. His thumb brushed her pinky toe, where she was slightly ticklish, and she wriggled her foot a little, brushing against his crotch and effectively notifying him of its position.

Rick left his one hand on her hurt ankle and began to massage her foot with the other, pleased when she sighed softly without averting her gaze. He was ever-growing against her other foot and knew from the look in her eyes that she was well aware of the fact.

When he slipped his fingers away from her ankle to join his others in massaging her feet, she bit her lip and moaned, a slight blush creeping up to her cheeks. Involuntarily, he pressed upwards against her foot and she released a throaty gasp, almost a laugh.

Getting bolder, he let his hands wander up her flawless calves, careful to avoid her ankle, and up to just below her knees. Finally giving in to the sensations, she closed her eyes, a small but oh-so-seductive smile playing with the edges of her perfect lips.

They hadn't talked about what had unraveled in the precinct's bathroom earlier that day, but an unspoken agreement between them seemed to state that their bet was still on.

Wanting to take her off guard, now that she couldn't see his movements anymore, he stretched so that her feet wouldn't dig any further into his already full-grown arousal and bent down to let his lips ghost against her smooth skin. Her leg twitched slightly at the unexpected contact though, and made him growl in frustration and need.

His eyes went back to her face, searching for a sign to either stop or move on, but her lids were still closed. Letting his gaze wander shamelessly over her curves in the tight dress, he choked on his own breath when he realized that, from his new angle, he could see her panties. More accurately, the red scrap of fabric that she classified as panties.

At his inarticulate sound, her eyes shot open and suddenly widened even further. Faster than he could react, she pulled her legs out from under him and swung them over the edge of the bed.

"I have to go" she huffed and turned away from him, her face a deep scarlet color that did nothing to stop Rick from thinking about her panties.

"But your foot…" he started as she stood up, but she took a few cautious steps and then strode away. "I'm fine, I'm just going to wear my sandals" she snapped at him and grabbed her purse from the chair by the door. "I'll be late" she complained and left without turning around, leaving a speechless and perplexed and very much aroused Rick in her wake, for the second time that day.

"So?" Lanie unceremoniously started their conversation when they had settled into the funky-colored bar stools of the new club.
Kate shook her head. "Booze first."
She turned towards the young man behind the bar and smiled at him. "I'd like sex on the beach" she told him, fluttering her lashes to make sure that his focus was on her and her intentions as dubious as possible.
"Don't we all?" he commented and winked at both of the beautiful ladies in front of him.
Lanie chuckled. "A cosmo for me."

When the bartender turned away to get their drinks, she looked at Kate, her smile fading just slightly, visible only to the people who knew her well. "You're flirting with the barman" she commented and ever-so-faintly raised her eyebrow. "Are you sure everything is alright with you and writer-boy?"

Kate simply looked at her and scowled a bit. "I…don't know" she decided and Lanie's smile faded to almost gone. "I mean, we're not fighting or anything, it's just…" With a deep sigh she trailed off and they fell into a silent staring contest. And even though Kate was the interrogation-trained detective, Lanie knew her friend too well to fall for her tricks and just kept staring.

Kate was eternally grateful when their drinks arrived. She sucked two long gulps through the straw and made a small noise of pleasure, boldly moaning for good measure when she realized that the attractive barman's eyes were zooming in on her red lips.

"You're not getting any" Lanie concluded with a somewhat baffled expression.
Kate choked on her straw. "You're creepy, Lain! How do you do that?"

"Why?" Lanie questioned, completely ignoring Kate's comment. "He's hot, you're hot, you're in a relationship…" Lanie couldn't quite wrap her mind around the news, though she had no doubts that her assumption was right.

"Can he not get it up?" Lanie asked, her tone more than a little incredulous.

"God, Lanie! No…God!" Kate managed to stutter. "Everything's perfectly fine, he's fine, and healthy, and very much "up for it", we just…" She let her head fall into her palms.

"I need more alcohol" she mumbled and took another large gulp.

"There's this bet going on…" she started.

It was three in the morning when she came home and it didn't surprise her that Rick was waiting on the couch in the living room for her return. Taking their recent case into consideration, the Captain had given them the next day off, a Friday, moving their shifts around so that she was on call on Sunday, but wouldn't have to go in if there were no new body drops.

Lanie had made it pretty clear; they were not going to make it through the long weekend without sex. She had to end this bet, the sooner the better. After the third cocktail, Kate had seen her friend's logic and agreed.

Slipping out of her jacket and dropping it haphazardly to the floor, she giggled when she saw that Rick was blinking heavily, obviously having just woken up after an involuntary nap on the couch.

He slowly propped himself up. Did she just giggle? Kate Beckett did not giggle.
"Kate?" he asked, his voice rough with sleep. She smiled joyfully and his eyes narrowed.
"Are you drunk?"

"Nooooo!" she responded, swaying slightly as she made her way over to him, crashing down into his lap, her arms anchored around his neck. "Only tipsy…" she purred in a sing-song voice and angled her head, her shining eyes fixed to his lips as she drew closer and closer.

"Kate, as much as I love you, we should…Umhh" he was cut off by her greedy lips and when her tongue pried his mouth open, he could taste the remnants of rum. Unable to resist her overwhelming warmth and the suppleness of her body pressed intimately to his, he lost himself in the kiss. His fingers shot roughly into her hair, digging into her scalp and pulling her head impossibly closer. Their teeth clashed but neither of them cared as lust and passion surged through them and made them lightheaded.

The high-pitched sounds vibrating in her throat shot him into a frenzy and one of his hands left her hair to grab her waist and pull her around so she was straddling him. She rocked her hips against his and he moaned deeply, closing his teeth around her lower lip to nip at her.

Her hands glided down from his neck to his shoulders, digging into his flesh as her hips sped up their erratic movements. He ripped his mouth from hers only to latch on to the sensitive skin of her neck, sucking and biting and licking at her pulse point, so that she clenched her thighs together and gasped.

The short skirt of her dress had ridden up and was bunched around her hips, and when his hand swept down to touch her bare skin, she giggled again.

He stopped abruptly and pushed her away from him, as much as it was possible with her still straddling him.

"Kate, you're drunk" he told her determinedly. "We have to stop."

She pouted and moved closer to him again. "I want you" she husked and started to nibble on his earlobe.

He brought his hands up to cup her face and gently pried her away from him. "Stop" he said gently and pressed a short, sweet kiss to her pouting, swollen lips.

"I know what I'm doing, Rick" she made one last attempt to sway him, but he was already guiding her feet back to the floor and helping her up.

He sighed.

"But I don't."

A/N: Please excuse all mistakes, it's 2am here in Berlin. Actually, for that matter, excuse this entire chapter in case it's terrible. I'm tired and exhausted and I battled really hard with this chapter. I hope it's not too bad.