Disclaimer: Castle is not mine.

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Kate looked between all of her friends, each one with a different expression on their face. Javi smiling like he was still in junior high, teasing Beckett about a crush. She audibly swallowed.

"I-I was just leaving," she said quickly. She bolted for the door. Whilst fumbling with the handle she turned back to Lanie, "I'll call you later," she said. Once the door was finally open, she turned back to Castle, "And you too...obviously. 'Nite," with that, she dissappeared.

Without thinking about it for another minute, Castle leapt for the door and followed her down the hallway.

"Kate! Wait!" he yelled after her. She stopped speedwalking and turned around.

"How poetic," she said.

"What? Whatever. Stop. Can we talk?" he asked once he'd caught up to her.

"Yes we can. On the phone, later," she said as she continued speedwalking.

"Kate, come on," he practically had to jog after her. He admit it to her, but the woman was a fast walker. Before he could catch up to her again, she was out the door.

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Kate sat on her couch staring at her phone. It was 11.47pm and she figured that Lanie was probably still entertaining her guests. Deciding to go to bed, Beckett reached for her phone and jumped when it buzzed with a text from Lanie.

Girl, Castle just left. Everyone's gone.

Kate stared at the message for a few minutes before dialling Lanie's number.

"Hey Kate," Lanie answered in a teasing voice.

"Ergh," Kate groaned and feel back on her couch as though she was exhausted.

"Well why'd you leave in such a rush tonight?" Kate could just see the smirk on Lanie's face. It wasn't hard for her to imagine.

"Can we please just go back to my original problem? The reason I came over tonight," she tried to change the subject and avoid Lanie's teasing.

"Oh, let's see. I asked you to wear something nice because I was inviting you over. But on the phone, you simply refused to let me get a word in,"

"I know, it's my fault. I am sorry. Now please," she took a breath in, "How should I tell him?"

"Uhm, aside from him hearing you tell me you love him? Hmm, how about this crazy, foreign concept. Just say it!" Lanie said sternly.

"I can't just say it Lanie. It has to be different now...somehow," Kate squinted in thought.

"Well now that he already knows, why don't you just try and work it into conversation?" Lanie suggested casually. "Thats different," she added.

"How? Like; 'Hey Castle, how's the family? Good? That's good. By the way, I love you.' Lanie, it doesn't work like that," Kate said with a chuckle.

"You never know until you try honey," Lanie snorted after hearing Kate's demonstration.

"Hang on a sec, I have another call coming through," Kate took her phone away from her ear to see Castle trying to call her. "Lanie, it's him. What do I do?"

"...talk to him...?" Lanie asked, though it sounded more like an order to Kate. Before she could respond, Lanie had hung up.

The phone rang and Kate stared at his number for a moment.

"You are a homicide detective," she said to herself as words of encouragement, "What is wrong with me?" she asked once she realised how long the phone had been ringing.

"Hello?" she said finally.

"Hey it's me," Castle's voice fled through the phone.

"Hi Castle," she greeted him and tried to sound as normal as possible.

There was silence between them for a few moments.

"Whats up?" she asked, wondering why he had called, even though she had a pretty good idea.

"...Nothing much," he replied with a sigh.

"Okay," Kate rolled her eyes.

"I was just...wondering, if you- I mean, did- did you want me to come to the Precinct tomorrow? For...anything?" he stammered.

This was the most awkward conversation Kate had shared with the man. He'd always had something to say. Some sort of remark and she would always come-back with another witty remark to shut him down. But now what?

"Yeah, I guess. I mean there's no active case so I guess if you wanted to pitch in with...some paperwork or something, I...wouldn't mind having you there," Kate smiled to herself as she thought about what to say next, "In fact I'd-" she paused and sighed before continuing, "I'd love for you to... bring me some coffee,"

Working it into conversation, she thought to herself.

"Uhm, yeah sure, if you're- yeah great, I'll be there. I should probably let you get to bed,"

"Huh, yeah," she laughed.

"Until tomorrow Detective," Castle said happily.

"Love you. Bye," she pressed the 'end call' button faster than the speed of light and dropped the phone on the couch.

She had a hell of a day planned ahead.

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Follow me on Twitter FFThre3 & please let me know what you thought of this chapter. My text docs don't have spell-check, so I have tried my best to edit this but I know it will not be perfect.

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