Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Things had been going so well. Their banter during dinner had her all ready to go and they'd been on their way to the bedroom when her phone rang. When she saw it was her father, it had seemed like just a momentary delay, and then everything started to fall apart. He'd gone to her apartment only to discover she had moved out. That was so not the way she had intended for him to find out.

It was so embarrassing that she wasn't even wondering why he'd gone looking for her. Then she realized that she'd forgotten their regular time to meet for dinner and to catch up. That doubled the humiliation and then she was thrown off once again when he wanted to redo their plans with Castle included. OK, that wasn't so bad as she was sure they'd get along fine and it had to happen anyway. Little did she know that Castle had another surprise in store for her. When was this going to end? She felt bad when she saw that Rick was ill at ease and tried to soften her expression when he began to reply.

"He came to see me, before... the hangar."

Her father had come to him? Maybe he was checking out Castle on his own, she had been slow to introduce them. It was probably nothing then but she was still curious. "What did he want?" She saw him hesitate and swallow and she began to wonder what her father had done.

"He asked me to keep you from going down the rabbit hole again. He was worried about you."

She felt her ire rise but she tried to stifle it. She wondered why he'd gone to Castle rather than her but then she realized that her father would know what her most likely reaction would be. Her embarrassment began to return and although she intended to drop this, she wanted to know everything before they met her father for dinner the next day. "What did you say?"

"I said I'd do what I could but that he was probably overestimating what I could do."

That made her smirk and she saw him relax. "He has no idea what you can do. You did a pretty good job of keeping me out of it at the hangar."

"Yeah, well, if I made a habit of dragging you away from things, I'd end up with no girlfriend."

The remainder of her irritation left her as she went over to hug her boyfriend. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't get mad when people try to help me. That's one of the reasons I have to consider counseling. I'm bad at being a daughter and a girlfriend. Both of you deserve better than what I've been doing."

"I wasn't complaining."

That made her chuckle and when he tightened his hug a little she responded in kind and took a deep breath to breathe in his scent. There was just some so Castle about his combination of aromas that helped her to relax. She sighed and leaned into him more as she realized that her earlier arousal had completely left her and that this might not be as active an evening as she had been thinking. He was able to read her so well that she probably didn't even have to tell him.

"I've come up with an idea on how to draw Bracken out. The part I'm not sure about is how to do this without getting in trouble with Gates or the task force."

She drew back to gaze at him and then she smiled and said, "Tell me about it."

Castle's plan had her feeling much better and it soothed her ego a bit that she was able to come up with how to handle Gates. They even managed to get a little playful before going to sleep although they ended up not making love. She resolved to make it up to him when they got Bracken where they wanted him. On second thought, maybe she'd settle for just getting past dinner with her father before making it up to him. He had breakfast ready when she emerged ready to go to work and she gave him a big kiss for his efforts before taking her coffee and savoring it.

It all seemed to happen too soon and they were going up the elevator to the bullpen before she felt ready. Coming to work had been exciting for her, well that was mostly since Castle started hanging around but still this was a jarring change for her. There weren't a lot of people in yet but it was still too quiet. She checked the office and sure enough the Iron Lady was there already. Her eyes flicked to Rick's and it was his turn to roll his eyes. She sighed and pondered when she should approach Gates. She eventually decided to do it later when things were busier while she was on autopilot doing her paperwork. Rick had come prepared and was already typing away on his laptop and she wished she could ask what Nikki Heat was up to now.

They both silently acknowledged the arrivals of the rest of their team and both of the new arrivals looked at the Captain's office before sitting down and reluctantly dragging out their own paperwork. She knew it was much too soon but she couldn't help but wonder if she'd end up transferring. It was easy to see how coming to work would become something to dread. On the other hand, Rick maintained that she wasn't as tough as she pretended so she could wait. It was a welcome distraction when Karpowski came over to ask her opinion on something.

She was almost down to asking for cold cases but she decided to implement their plan. She briefly considered asking Castle to go with her to beard the dragon but changed her mind after their eyes met. She gave him the best smile she could given the prevailing mood and stood to go the Gates' office. He started to get up but she put her hand on his chest and whispered, "Better for me to do it alone. She's more likely to let it slide without you there."

A slight scowl came to his face but he sat back down and she gave him a half-smile and a pat on the shoulder as she went around him to continue her mission. She forced all her feelings down and approached Gates' office almost as if it was a potential ambush. She felt comforting but cold stillness as she rapped on the doorframe to her office and their new Captain motioned for her to enter.

Gates only looked at her curiously so she just launched into her prepared speech. "Castle and I have been thinking about the guy who broke into his loft to bug it. The timing was too coincidental and his previous association with Vulcan Simmons might be a lead. We were thinking of asking around in narcotics and see if we can shake anything loose."

She was a little surprised to see Gates frown in confusion during her speech. "The man who broke into Mr. Castle's apartment was there to bug it?"

"Didn't robbery make note of that?"

"No, they didn't. You're right, that is interesting. Do you know if the bugs are still available?"

"I'm not sure; I'd have to ask Castle."

"Ok, you do that and I'll relay this to the task force. I knew about the break-in but not about the bugs. I'm going to have to have a word with Robbery. Keep me informed if anything comes up from Narcotics."

"Of course, sir."

Gates nodded in dismissal and Kate made her escape. That had gone better than she expected. It was nearly time for lunch so they'd have a chance to escape the oppressive atmosphere in the precinct. Too bad they had to come back for the afternoon. As she approached Castle and saw his appreciative nod for a job well done she realized she still had to face her father that night. Hopefully, that would go as well as things had just gone with Gates plus she'd be with Rick and that would make nearly anything better.