Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't

OOOOOOOOO

"So what are we going to do now?"

"We can't ask those questions tonight. We should just get out. Maybe we can come back tomorrow when we know a little more."

He looked up and saw Stacy and Stevens making for them. "Looks like we're not going to get that chance."

…

OOOOOOOOO

44.

He nodded, "Stacy."

"Rick," she replied, earning a glare from her not-so-secret paramour.

"Sorry about that," Stevens apologized gruffly, turning to him. Still angry. "Was wondering if you might try another game. No stakes. I figure I'm a better shot than my friend."

"I think I could manage a last game," he agreed smoothly and Stevens left with a curt nod and a warning look at Stacy.

Kate was wooden at his side, not acknowledging her.

"You two don't share, do you?" Stacy observed, noting how Kate hadn't left direct contact with his side.

"No," she grated. "We don't."

Stacy didn't flinch but after a few seconds of heavy silence, looked back at the rest of her group.

He bent down and placed his lips against Kate's ear. "Find out what time Daniels came back to her that night," he whispered.

She didn't look happy but could see she approved.

"I'll be back in a sec," he told them and moved away, leaving her exposed again.

Castle's absence seemed to give Stacy the will to talk again. "I would compliment your man, but he wasn't exactly as cooperative as I expected." The attitude was still there when faced with the hostility from both of them, but she seemed vaguely apologetic too.

"Lucky for him," Kate muttered. "You didn't help your case when your boyfriend was standing a few feet away either," she forced out, trying for nonchalant. If she let her claws come out Ryan and Esposito would never let her live it down.

Only a minute later she stood at the bar waiting impatiently for him to come back. He was her key to this persona. Her frustration was making it harder to stay in character. She tensed up when she felt a hand on the small of her back, the smell of Tim flooding back. Maybe the man had given her PTSD.

"Hey," his voice had her feeling much more sane. "We're about to start. You girls okay here at the bar?"

Do you need for time to get information? Castle's eyes asked.

"No, I'll watch your game."

Stacy was watching them again with something like jealousy and more than a little confusion. For unknown reasons, it had her feeling more kindly towards her than she had at any point in the last half hour.

"We just came up from down South and they're pretty old fashioned," Castle volunteered obviously reading Stacy as well. "And you know the saying, When in Rome…"he looked at Kate for help.

As if he didn't know it.

"How does that one go, baby?" He lifted an arm, offering his side to burrow in.

She wasn't going to make a gesture like that. It was catty and beneath her.

But hey, if he was offering.

"Do as the Romans do," she supplied, stepping into his side and sliding an arm around his back under his jacket.

"That's the one. Thanks, Babe."

She smiled up at him even as she gave his side a pinch, both a Thank you and a Watch it..

His smile didn't falter and he ducked his head down and caught her lips briefly in his.

Her hand fisted itself in the back of his T-shirt, trying to anchor herself to the bar incase she completely forgot where they were like the last time

"You still owe me four."

"I won't forget," she reassured him.

"Finish your drink and I'll see you later."

"He always like that?" Stacy asked.

"Pretty much," Beckett sighed. The sweet part. Not the touchy-feely part.

She watched Stacy's eyes linger on the two men in her life. "I take he was the friend you were talking about earlier."

Stacy's confirmation was non-verbal.

"Daniels know about it?"

"He didn't until this week."

She forced herself to take her sip before pursuing. "Oh?"

"He showed up at the hotel on Monday," Stacy confided. "Saw Stevens and me. Looked sick." She didn't sound repentant.

"Wouldn't you if you caught him in the middle of it?" Kate asked rhetorically.

"Like he cares," Stacy actually replied. "Plus he was too early to catch any of that. Thought for a second he was there to join us."

"Early?" Kate reiterated. "Like time wise? Or early as in your special evening?"

"Both. It was only like 10 when he barged in."

"Did he get angry?"

"Nah," Stacy sounded scornful. "He just shut himself in the bathroom until we left."

She turned back to watching the men starting their game.

Kate was busy processing it all.

Daniels was at the hotel by 10.

T.O.D is 10.30 to 11.00

Daniels never left the hotel after that.

He's not our guy.

…