Chapter 29 – Forward Motion

Disclaimer - So not mine. Ecstatic ABC doesn't rule my world. Break. Double break. Repeat. New episode. Circle back to the start.

"Long time huh?"

"That's the way it works with us."

"I really need a favor."

"Becks, you know I am always here."

"Yes you are. Do you still have that hook up at your place? Resident rates at the hotel?"

"Hmmm, this sounds intriguing, do tell…hot date?"

Kate deflected the direct question "I was hoping you could book the suite you had for New Year's Eve last year."

Maddie let out a bit of a shriek, "DO NOT tell me you are hooking up with Josh. Hot –yes, eye candy – yes, brilliant surgeon – yes, awesome in bed – most likely, a total doorknob – absolutely, long-term – NO."

Kate confessed with a giggle "You summed him up perfectly. Great sex and it ended there. Shallow of me huh?" It felt great to chat with her oldest girlfriend. Kate regretted the fact they didn't do it more. She knew it was her doing, but it was ending now.

"Nothing wrong with the occasional boy-toy, BUT the real question is if not Josh then WHOOooooo?"

Kate was happy that Maddie couldn't see her face, her face was screwed up in a grimace, with her eyes pinched shut as she squeaked out "Castle."

"Whoa…NO DOUBLE Whoa!" Maddie let out a double finger cat call whistle that made grown men jealous "…T-H-E Richard Castle?"

Kate answered through clenched teeth "Yes." It wasn't that she was ashamed; it was hard to ask for help setting up seduction.

Even over the phone Kate could hear Maddie clapping her hands with glee. "Oh Becks! You're booking a room to make Castle babies. I knew you wanted him. So, happy for you!"

Kate choked out a chortle "Um, back up the bus. There has been no baby making going on."

Maddie had to admit her confusion "A fancy suite, in a hotel you probably can't really afford, a gorgeous famous man, who women swoon over, and you're not practicing your baby making skills? What gives? I'm warning you if you say 'It's complicated' I am hanging up."

Kate caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she shook her head. "I really need you in my life."

"I know." Maddie was ecstatic at the tone of her friend's voice. Detective Kate Beckett sounded like the Becks of old. "Who else calls you on your shit?"

Kate's heart warmed at the sound of her friend's sing-song laugh. Kate responded with her own laugh "Not many."

"Soooo?"

Kate had hoped Maddie would relent. Kate knew she wouldn't. Maybe that's why she called Maddie – another person to keep her honest. "I need to make amends."

When Maddie didn't speak Kate knew the conversation was still in her court "We need some time alone, we need to talk. Really talk."

Maddie understood Becks and the need to talk, the real question was "And after the talking?"

Still looking in the mirror Kate watched the blush swarm up her neck and over her face "If all goes well, start practicing making babies."

Kate marched herself out of the bathroom, bee lined towards Gates' office. Esposito rolled his chair to block her pathway "I see you picked a new hairdo."

Kate swatted the side of his head and gave Esposito's chair a slight shove. He jumped to his feet and stood his ground "You better not hurt my boy."

Any other day Kate would have come back with a snarky remark, put him in his place or ignored him altogether. Not today. Kate was staying true to herself and sticking to her pack to stay honest. "Furthest thing from my mind."

Esposito returned to his chair and watched as Beckett continued on her focused destination of Gates' office. What was going on?

Esposito pretended to bury himself in the paperwork on his desk, shooting the occasional sideways glance at Gates office. If only the door was open he would be able to catch snippets of the conversation. Damn privacy glass, nothing.

Beckett emerged and strode directly to Esposito's desk "Castle won't be in this week. I am off Sunday and Monday. Ryan returns Friday so you are running the case if a body drops between Friday and Monday. Questions?"

Esposito could only muster a headshake indicating 'No.' He was so texting Lanie as soon as Beckett wasn't watching.

Castle attempted an air of normality as he cooked Alexi's breakfast. He wasn't blind to his daughter's glances around the apartment. "So, Dad I thought I might run into Detective Beckett one of these mornings."

Holding a fake smile and swallowing on a grimace "Sweetheart, It's complicated."

"When isn't it?" Alexis was too smart for her own good.

Castle gave his first honest laugh in days. "Never, but sometimes..." Castle's answer was interrupted by his phone doing flip flops on the kitchen counter.

He knew that buzz.

Even on supposed silence he knew that buzz.

Beckett.

Kate found herself back in her newly appointed private office – the ladies room. One good thing about being a female cop, there was rarely a line for the bathroom and she was often had it to herself. By default her private office.

Before hitting her former favorite speed dial, Kate once again patted herself on her back. Originally, she was calling Martha she had her speech all planned out –

"Ask him to wait for me, beg him to wait. I don't want to call him. Because once I do it will hurt him too much to hear me say I need more time. Not time like this summer when a few days turned into three months, but a week. That's all I've given myself to get my head straight. I want to be able to start again with him, if he'll have me, and not stop."

Now she was calling Rick. No Martha.

Castle plucked his phone off the counter top. Yep, it was her. His phone flashed him one of his favorite sneaky photos of her. Beckett would call it creepy, he called it resourceful. Castle had taken it one spring day. Kate had been striding towards the crime scene, the sun had perfectly highlighted her hair, as the tresses framed her face, her eyes where dancing. The instigation of their dance was the vision of him. Okay…not really HIM, but him holding her crack of choice – coffee and a bear claw.

It always puzzled him how she could even consume a bear claw.

The fat;

The sweet;

The grease;

The deliciousness;

So unBeckett;

So very Beckett;

Layers of the onion. Castle knew she loved his gifts of claws and coffee. Even on their worst days together, days when their communication was limited to snorts and eye rolls, Kate mustered asmile at the sight of a bear claw to gnaw on and curled her hand around a cup of coffee in a warm embrace.

A soft "Hey" came across the line.

He choked multiple times, nothing came out. All Kate heard was a grunt.

The grunt was intended to be a reciprocal "Hey."

A slightly stronger voice beckoned him to answer "You there?"

"Yes." His voice box worked. Victory!

"You okay?"

"Been better." Crap – never show Beckett weakness, she preys on it and twists it to her advantage. He had witnessed it over and over again during an interrogation. Beckett drew people in and then spit them out.

What he heard next left him speechless. "Me too."

Castle's heart soared, they were on equal footing. Castle's heart tap danced when he heard her voice without asking for more. "We need to talk, really talk. No interruptions."

"Agreed." This time she stayed silent, he gave it a ten count. "When?"

He heard her breathing quicken, becoming a bit ragged "Sunday and Monday, still working out the details."

Castle bit his tongue to restrain himself from asking why the delay. As the blood from his own bite seeped into his mouth, Castle replayed what Kate had just said. She had said Sunday AND Monday? He knew she had a plan. "Okay."

He listened as her breathing slowed. Who would speak first? It was always a game with them. First to speak was weak. He wouldn't speak.

Kate wasn't afraid to speak. She had '… one chance, one opportunity…' "One more thing."

"Yes?" It was a very unmanly 'yes', more of a whispered 'yes', but still a 'yes'.

"Please don't come in, Gates thinks you're busy."

"I am."

Her voice betrayed her. It quivered as she asked "You are?" It was impossible to miss the concern in her voice.

Castle felt slightly guilty about not admitting he asked for the distraction. A distraction from her that would show the world he was still watching over her, "Paula has me booked out on a press junkets."

Castle hadn't waited for her response before he blurted out "Your name might come up."

"I trust you."