Dear Kate,

Things have not been the best between us in the last couple of weeks, but I need to tell you something that's been on my mind for quite some time. Thinking about something and acting on it are two different things.

You can't force feelings. I know that. I also know you can't pretend to feel something you don't. You don't owe me anything. I just wish that you could open up to me at the very least. It's not like I ever expected you to feel the same way, but in my dreams, you do. I was content with loving you without saying anything. But now you know I love you, and I don't think I ever intended for you to find out like this. That's the reason for this letter. But regardless, you now know. I don't expect you to love me, but I hope you do. I don't ever want you to not be in my life. But I don't know if I want to continue like this. It hurts a lot.

I will still talk to you every day like everything is okay, but it's not. I love you. I love you so much.

I know because your smile makes me melt and brightens my days.

I know because when we don't talk, I miss you and wonder where you are and if you're alright.

I know because when you're hurting, it's physically and emotionally painful for me, and I would do anything to make you smile again and take away your hurt.

I know because I can't go a day without looking at your picture on my phone (yes, I took it without you knowing) and staring in awe at your beauty, which you deny.

I know because your kind heart makes mine skip a beat, and you never fail to make me laugh.

I know because you're making my heart laugh, cry, and sigh. You own it. It's all yours. I love you. With all I am.

If that's what it takes, I'll get hurt a million times over just to keep you in my life. You mean so much to me.

You'll never read this, so even though I just put my feelings and heart into this letter to you, I meant every word of it. I know you and the doctor are becoming closer, and that's okay, but at least I told you how I felt.

I Love You.

Always,

Rick.

After the first read-through of his letter, she sat there, not knowing what to do. She was basically numb all over. If anyone had walked by her office, they could have sworn she was a statue. She read through the letter a second time and realized that her cheeks became moist from the tears falling from her eyes as she read it. She can't believe he felt this way about her all those years ago.

With trembling hands, she places the letter back on top of the file. She needs to figure out what she should do first. So many things are running through her mind right now, and she can't decide what's the most important. On one hand, she wants to jump for joy, which she can't believe she hasn't done already. But then she realizes that this letter is now over six years old. His feelings when writing this letter could not be what he feels now. She only knows how she feels.

She reads through the letter one last time before she folds it up and puts it in her briefcase. She needs to talk to someone about this because her head is spinning right now, and her best friend is the only person she can think of. She could help her navigate what this is.

She picks up the phone and starts to call Lanie but stops mid-dial. She decides it will be much easier if she shows up with what she found at her apartment.

Even though it's late at the Precinct and just about all of the other personnel have left for the day, she collects herself because, in her mind, she probably looks unsettled at best. She takes her soft briefcase from her desk, rises from her chair, and leaves her office.


Knowing what to write is half the battle. Alexis only has two books she can claim as her own, but she has learned much from her father. Her publisher is different from the one her father uses, and while it took a lot of work and perseverance, she finally convinced someone to give her a chance. She has an idea for a third book and works on developing what it could become. Time is a luxury she does not have, and as she looks at the clock on the wall, she can understand how her father becomes so engrossed in setting up an idea. She picks up her messenger bag from her bed and hurries down the loft's stairs to the front door.

"Dad, I'm heading out to my morning class. I have two classes today, a full day tomorrow, and one class on Wednesday. I will stay on campus, so I'll probably see you sometime after I finish on Thursday afternoon." Alexis calls out to her father's office as she heads for the door.

"Okay, sweetie. I'll see you on Thursday." Rick says as he hears the loft's door shut.

He's proud of her. She has accomplished a lot in such a short amount of time. She's younger than he was when he had his first book published. He could rest a little easier if she found somebody to be with. Every father wants to see their daughter or son happy in life. But as usual, she goes full force once his daughter sees a challenge.

Her past romances have been nothing to write home about. But he shouldn't talk. He had the woman of his dreams but never told her about it.

He pulls the laptop back onto his lap once again and starts writing. It isn't until a couple of hours later that he needs to take a break. His stomach reminds him that he hasn't eaten in quite some time, so he makes his way to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. He pulls out leftovers from Saturday night's visit to Lé Cirque. It was a rare night that Alexis had found the time to spend with him.


She shows up at Lanie's door and is trying to figure out how to explain what she found. She hasn't even knocked yet, and she is having second thoughts. She hangs her head and is startled when the door opens up without her even knocking.

"Whatever it is, it's got to be big." Her friend says jokingly.

"Big does not even begin to describe it," Kate tells her while making air quotes around the word big.

While still standing in the doorway, Lanie asks Kate,

"Coffee or wine?"

"We'll need something much stronger than wine to get through this: vodka, lots and lots of vodka," Kate says as she walks past Lanie.

Cocking her eyebrow just slightly, she watches as her friend makes herself comfortable on her loveseat, dropping her briefcase beside her.


"What I'm reading here can't be possible," Lanie said almost an hour later.

"I know. I can't believe it either. He never said anything to me, Lanie. Not that I gave him a chance, but he could have told me how he felt."

"Do you remember when we had talked about Rick and Josh? I wouldn't say you were comparing the two, but I don't think you gave Rick a chance. If I remember correctly, you mentioned he was married and divorced twice. In my mind, you had already condemned him. And I don't mean to be cruel, but I think you saw yourself marrying Josh as a way out of telling Rick how you felt." Lanie was expecting the backlash, and the second she said it hit Kate's ears, it happened.

"Oh, come on, Lanie! That's not true!"

"Isn't it now? Kate, you were only married to the guy for four years. Kate, was there ever a time when you and Dr. Motorcycle Boy ever thought of increasing the size of your family? You don't think you could be good with children, but I'll bet that conversation never happened. Even though you were married to him, you still kept one foot out of the door in your relationship with him. Tell me, during the time you were married to Josh, how many times did you think of Rick?"

Kate's silence tells Lanie everything she needs to know.

"So the big question is, what do you plan on doing about it?" She asks, hoping her friend will see the light.

"It's not so simple, Lanie. It's been six years since I treated him like the lost puppy everyone thought he was. Let's face it, I think that ship has already sailed."

Lanie sits on the loveseat across from her friend and will drop yet another bomb on her.

"So, do you remember when I asked you if you knew who Olivia Lane was?"

"Let me guess, you're going to tell me that that's who Rick is now married to."

"On the contrary, I have it on good authority that Rick is still single and has been ever since you kicked him to the curb."

"He's still single?" She asks, surprised.

"He is at that."

Deciding to change the subject, Lanie goes in a different direction.

"Have you ever heard of books titled "The Fish in the Pond" or "The Children Who Play in the Rain?"

At her friend's perplexed look, she explains further.

"These are titles of children's books that are selling like hotcakes. So much so that the printing company couldn't keep up with the demand. I'm surprised you didn't know about them."

"Lanie, why would I know about children's books? It's not like I'm going to have any anytime soon, so…" Lanie interrupted her best friend mid-sentence and said,

"First, I don't believe what I'm hearing. You, Kate Beckett, are still able to have children. So don't give me the excuse that you're too old. You still have some good years left in you. Women up until the age of 42 have been having children with little complications. 37 is a far cry from being too old to have children, so put that idea right out of your head."

Not wanting to get off topic, Kate reminds Lanie that she needs to tell her who Olivia Lane is.

"Lanie, enough about me and my imaginary children. Who is Olivia Lane?"

"We're not done with that topic, but just to humor you, I will continue. We will revisit the children's conversation later." After getting an eye roll, Lanie continues.

"She is the author of the books that I mentioned. She's new on the scene, and her books connect with children on their level. They are age-appropriate, and parents love them for their children."

"Wow. I know writing children's books is different from writing fiction. She sounds like a good person."

"She should be because Olivia Lane is her pen name. She's Rick's daughter, Alexis."

Bomb dropped. The look on her face was priceless. Mission accomplished.

Now, all Lanie has to do is to get her to talk again, and they should be in good shape. She wants to see how Kate wants to pursue what could be her happiness. She needs to do this delicately because one wrong move or word, and Lanie will never forgive herself if this backfires on her.

"So, what do you think about possibly getting back together with Rick? I mean, let's face it, you're both single. You did have feelings for each other, and now you're both a bit wiser. You know how the world works and what you want. So Kate, what do you want?"

She looks at her best friend and can't believe what she's asking. Yes, she read the letter and knows how he feels, but something doesn't seem right. It can't be that simple as her just showing up one day at his door and saying listen, I want to give what we could have had a shot. She knows it will take a lot of work to move forward. She's willing to do what it takes to make her friend happy.

"Lanie, it's not that simple."

"Oh no, you don't, girlfriend. It is that simple. If I know you as I do and think I know you very well, I have never met two pig-headed people in my entire life before I met the two of you. You two belong together. There's no two ways about that, so before you jump the gun, let me do some recon, and we'll meet again here tomorrow night."

Kate eyed her friend suspiciously, not knowing what to expect. She picked up her empty glass, placed it on Lanie's counter in the kitchen, walked back to the couch, picked up her briefcase, and gave her friend a one-armed hug.

On her way towards the door, Kate hears her friend say,

"When you get home, I need you to think about one thing: think about what your life would be like if you confessed your feelings to Rick six years ago. Please give it some serious thought, and tell me what you think tomorrow night. I expect to see you here at 7:00 p.m. Sharp. No excuses."

Just as Kate was about to argue with her friend, she started talking again.

"You won't regret this, Kate, I promise."

All she does is turn away, open the door, walk through it, and then walk down the hallway toward the staircase. She has a lot of thinking to do.


Rick was busy preparing lunch when his computer alerted him to a new email. He finished making his roast beef sandwich and put it on a plate. He grabbed a Corona from the fridge. He returned to his office, placed the plate and beer on his desk, and opened the email.

Dear Mr. Castle,

We have received your final draft of your latest Constance Webb book. We will send you the edits for you to review if any revisions are necessary. It has been a pleasure working with you, Mr. Castle. With this final manuscript, you have satisfied your second four-book contract. To date, eight books have been completed over three years. We want to extend a third four-book deal if you can accept our proposal. Legal will send over a contract for your lawyer to review. Once again, it was a pleasure working with you.

Sean Benham,
Managing Publisher
Chamberlin Publishing

His contract was fulfilled, and he doesn't know how he feels about that. In a way, it's bittersweet. On the one hand, he knows that he did keep up with Patterson for a while, and at one point, for two months, he even pulled ahead. But they were tied again when he came out with another Alex Cross book, Alex Cross Must Die.

Now, he needs to think about the next set of four books. He has the ninth one wrapped up and can get the tenth one at least outlined before he heads out to dinner with Alexis.


Rick sits at the table, waiting for his daughter to arrive. He knows she'll run a little late due to her 3:30 p.m. class. It's only an hour and a half long and the last class of her day.

He doesn't have to wait long when he sees her being led to their table by the hostess.

"Hi, Dad." his daughter says as she gives him a quick peck on the cheek and a hug.

"Alexis. So how is the college student doing today?"

"Good. My last class is always intriguing. The professor has a different take on the curriculum, and I have learned a lot from her."

"I'm glad to see that my money for your education is being put to good use," Rick tells her with a wide smile.

The server comes over and takes their drink order, and Alexis sees that he forgoes his usual Pepsi and opts for a scotch. Curious about why he ordered a cocktail, she ordered a Malibu Bay Breeze.

Rick raises an eyebrow at her choice of drink but says nothing.

She wants to talk with her father but is unsure how he will accept it. In her mind, this conversation is long overdue.

After a few minutes of small talk, Alexis starts with her idea of the conversation she wants, knowing she needs answers.

"Dad, there's something I want to talk to you about. It might be a taboo topic, but I need answers to ensure your emotional stability."

Rick, who, in his mind, questions the emotionally stable comment but is curious as to what his daughter wants to talk to him about. So he lets her continue with a slight nod.

"Quite some time has passed since she had made her choice. I know you were in love with her, but don't you think it might be good for you to get out there and try to meet someone new? I'm worried about how you have become so immersed in your writing that you have no social life. I mean, come on, Dad, you don't even go to movies at the Angelica anymore. I remember when that was one of your favorite things to do, and I have not seen you go to one in the past six years."

At first, Rick is shocked and saddened. He never thought his social life was any business of his daughter. He thought he tried to hide what was going on in his personal life as best he could, but as astute as his daughter is, she picked up on what was happening without even second-guessing her. But he respects her opinions, and she is right. He has become what people would call a hermit. He only goes out when he needs the basics, like food and personal grooming items from the supermarket. It was like he crawled into a shell but never came out.

"What makes you think I want to get out and find someone new? Maybe she was the one who got away. Maybe no one can hold a candle to her, or maybe I don't want to get hurt again. What happens if you don't like what you see…"

"What happens if you don't let me look?"

"A lot. You need to understand where my head was all those years ago. I was a fool in love with a woman who I thought I would ride off into the sunset with."

"I get that dad. But our dreams don't always come true, and you need to get back out there."

"I will. But I'll do it at my own pace. I have the first four chapters done for the tenth Constance Web book…."

Alexis listens to her father as he continues talking, but her mind goes elsewhere. She's not sure what triggered it, but she knows that her father has been writing for over thirty years now, and it brings her back to how she became Alexis Castle and how she came up with the name Olivia Lane. He had taken the name Castle as a pen name. So now it has come full circle. He went from Rogers to Castle, and she went from Castle to Lane. Her publisher first suggested that she create a pen name like her father's. But they were against her using her real name. It would be confusing if another Castle started writing children's books some readers might need help distinguishing one Castle from another. So this is where she came up with the name Olivia Lane. Her father suggested the first name Olivia because it was his mother's sister's first name. She coupled that with Lois Lane's last name being the big Superman fan that she was. And so Olivia Lane was born.

"The book follows the outline I wrote when I started this with a few minor alterations. But once I finish the tenth book, I will take a break. I promise that I will reassess my social life. So, enough talk about my non-existent dating life, let's order something, and because I'm starving."

Alexis looks to the server, standing there with pen and paper, waiting to take their order.


Lanie had been keeping tabs on him for over a year. She knew exactly where he would be but needed to wait him out to see if he would show up tonight. She knew he spent time with his daughter at a restaurant only she knew about. And she found it quite by accident. Once Kate married Josh and they were on their honeymoon, she went out to dinner. She just so happened to be seated at the bar that wasn't far from a table, where she noticed Rick sitting and waiting for someone. Sure, he had changed his look; his hair wasn't styled the way it was when she saw him last, which was about eight months ago, as she remembered, and he lost a lot of weight, but he was also more toned, looking as if he worked out... a lot She observed him just waiting. Her seat at the bar gave her a little cover so Rick wouldn't see her. Not even the paparazzi knew where he was, but in all honesty, they stopped following him years ago. They weren't that interested in Constance Webb because she wasn't Nikki Heat.

She ordered her meal and ate it all while watching Rick and who he was waiting for. It didn't take long when he noticed the flurry of red hair coming at him. That was when she knew it was Rick's daughter. She finished her meal, excused herself to the ladies' room, and set her plan in motion. She knew the maitrè d of the restaurant, and while this wasn't a five-star restaurant, she could make sure that through the maitrè d, she would have the most up-to-date information.

Jacques had agreed to her request, and Lanie knew when they would be there to eat if she ever needed it. They usually arrived on Thursday around 6:00 p.m., and tonight was the same.

Knowing that he hadn't seen her in quite some time only because life got in the way, she decided to ease into reconnecting with him. She would have to do this precisely not to give away her motive. She needed to think about that before committing to the task. Since she knew this was father-daughter time, she also had to contend with Alexis. Hopefully, she would be happy to see her, but the last time she interacted with her was when she was an intern at the ME's office. She never really concerned herself with her work at Castle's PI office, and then when it tanked and he sold it, Alexis went entirely off her radar.

She picked up her keys, driver's license, credit card, and cash and quickly took a cab to the restaurant.

On the ride over, she thought about how to present herself nonchalantly. Upon arriving at the restaurant, she told Jacques the following instructions. She would forgo her usual seat at the bar, being able to watch everything around her. Instead, she wanted to be walked right past Rick, where she would innocently bump into his table, making him notice her. She only hoped that he didn't hold any grudges towards her.

When she arrived, Jacques greeted her at his podium. She requested that he lean into her so she could whisper what she wanted to do about Rick, and he smiled deviously at her. Rising back to his normal six-foot-four-inch height, he picked up one menu and requested that she follow him. He purposely walked down the middle of the eatery right past Rick and his daughter's table. Now, it was up to her.


Her hip bumps into Rick's table as she takes in all the beautiful architecture of the room, not once looking where she is going but still managing to halt their conversation. It's incredible how she can pull this off without forgetting why she's here. Always the gentleman, he extends out his hand rather quickly, knowing that if she does fall, he'll be able to stop her tumble to the floor by catching her. She quickly recovers, and his eyes widen as she starts to thank the man who stopped her from falling. It's like time completely stops when he sees who is in front of him. Only then does Alexis draw both of their heads towards her as she says,

"Doctor Parish. It's so good to see you!"

"Alexis? Is that you? I can't remember when I saw you last, but I think it was shortly after your father sold the PI business. I remember seeing a picture of you in the paper when the business was sold," Lanie says, patting Alexis on her shoulder and making small talk. Her head turns to Rick, and she can see he is curious about why she is here.

He rises from the table and quickly kisses her cheek as he greets her.

"Dr Parrish, it's good to see you; it's been quite a while. What's it been about three years?" Rick asks.

"Rick, you know my name is Lanie. And I think it's been more than three years. I would say about five if I had to guess." Lanie responds.

Nothing is said, and it becomes a little awkward when Lanie is standing there, and no one's saying anything. Alexis looks over to her father and motions her head slightly to the empty seat at their table. Rick, wanting to spend time with his daughter, gives her a look that says not this time. But to compound matters even more, Jacques comes back over to the table after losing Lanie, who thought she was still following him and asks,

"Miss, would you feel more comfortable dining with this party?" Keeping up the guise that he doesn't know her.

With one more look to his daughter, who is now almost frowning at him, he reluctantly agrees and says to the maitrè d,

"It would be fine if Miss Parrish joined us," Rick says, slightly annoyed.

The expression on both women's faces relaxes quickly.

At first, Lanie doesn't know what to do or say, only because they haven't seen each other in quite some time, even though she's been keeping tabs on him since Kate got married. She starts with something easy, like his current book series.

"So tell me, Castle…"

At Rick's sour face, she can tell she started on the wrong foot. She called him by his last name; no one had done that over the previous six years, so he hastily corrected herself.

"I mean Rick, sorry. How is your writing coming? You have to be proud of how well Constance Webb is doing. Not to mention how Alexis is taking after you."

He looked at her and wondered if having the New York County medical examiner join them was a good idea. His daughter must have seen the look on his face, and he rethought that decision.

"My writing is all I do now. And yes, Alexis has also found a small following with her writing."

Lanie could tell that her work was cut out for her. His response was fan-based and a little bitter. Now she knows that he was hurt a lot deeper than she thought when Kate married Doctor Idiot.

Deciding to ease the tension, Alexis asks

"How are you, Lanie?"

She gives Alexis her undivided attention when she answers.

"I'm doing well. I'm working nonstop as usual and never eating a good meal. You know how it is," she said with a sigh.

Rick only nodded. He knew all too well how hard she worked.

"Married, single?"Alexis asks.

"No one has put a ring on my finger yet," she says as she waves around her left hand.

"What about you? Is there a special someone in your life, Alexis?"

Rick rolls his eyes, knowing that the women at the table outnumber him and are in catch-up mode. He should get a table for himself so these two can talk. He is saved when their server steps up to the table.


Rick and Alexis stand on the sidewalk, watching a taxi pull away, each with the same thought. Their dinner was bearable in his mind. Dinner was on him as usual, and the medical examiner thanked him profusely for it. But he knew that Lanie had an ulterior motive. He's unsure what it is yet, but he strongly suspects she was on a fact-finding mission for her dear friend. He'll leave it at that because he knows that sometime in the future, something else will happen that will upset his life, and he's not sure how to deal with that yet. He was over her so long ago.

Alexis watches her father as the cab pulls away, and she can tell that he knows precisely what Dr. Parrish was doing here tonight. There was no doubt in her mind that with or without Kate Beckett's influence or encouragement, she was here to find out the status of her father's current dating situation. She knows Lanie cannot report anything back to her friend only because her father has not been in any tabloid since she married the doctor over six years ago. It's funny how the rag papers work. Once someone is no longer associated with an NYPD detective, they search for something else to write false accusations about. And he did not readily give up any information that could give her a sound answer about his dating life. He was strictly about work, and that was it.

Lanie sits in the taxi, knowing that her mission was a complete bust—well, not a complete bust, but one that didn't give her the answers she was looking for. Sure, he was still writing, and it was news that Alexis was working on a third children's book, but as for his romantic life, well, getting information on that topic covertly or not was like getting blood from a stone. She'd wait to report what she found out or didn't find out in this case to Kate, knowing she would be let down to find out that she had discovered nothing. There might be a different way to go about this.


As usual, Captain Kate Beckett sits in her office long after the last detective has left for the night from the day shift. She glances at her watch and sees it's getting close to 8:00 p.m. Kate knew there was paperwork involved with being a captain of a Precinct, and she spent most of her time doing it. She didn't have time to do what she loved, and that was solving cases, but she is proud of the number of closed cases that come across her desk. Her detectives in the 12th Precinct, both robbery, homicide, and auto theft, have one of the best clearance rates of any Precinct in the city. They've held that honor for three years in a row. The cold cases they have also solved have been reduced by 22%.

Kate takes a break from the paperwork and considers where her life could have been if she and Rick had pursued something together. She realizes that what they could have had might have been something special. She knew he was in love with her when she chose to marry Josh. And she's not fooling herself, but she also has feelings for him. They just weren't as well pronounced as his. Why couldn't she see how much she loved him then compared to now?

She has also been trying to follow Rick's life but needs to catch up. She doesn't know what she expects Lanie to find, but she doesn't think she will find out much from what she's seen. She knew that he had become very secluded. His name wasn't in the tabloids as it had been when she first met him, and it dropped off drastically after she was married. It's like he fell off the face of the Earth. She couldn't blame him, but she expected to at least see him at the celebration for the new wing at the library, which was dedicated in his name for all the hard work he'd done with illiteracy. The mayor called her about a year after they broke ties. He wanted to see if she could talk him into attending the event in his name, seeing that he could not contact him. She told the mayor she would try to, but when she called his number, she finally realized why the mayor couldn't reach him. His number had been disconnected, and as she thinks about it now, he probably got a new number and did not want her to talk to him. Now she sees how much she had hurt him. Why couldn't she see it then?

Unfortunately, she had to tell the mayor that she could not contact him via phone, email, or any other method.

She is drawn from her thoughts when there's a knock on her door.

"Kate, it's past 8:30. Why don't we get some food from Kafana? Seeing that it's 8:30, we should have no issue getting to the east side quickly." Lieutenant Karpowski tells her.

Kate loves Serbia-Croatian food from Kafana. The idea is very tempting, but she still has a mountain of paperwork to complete before she can leave.

"Roz, I still have a mountain of…"

"Paperwork? Do you know how often I've seen you here past quitting time? Don't answer that because you don't even know the answer to that question. So, enough about having paperwork to do. Turn off your desk light, grab your purse and coat, and let's get out of here."

At first, Roz thought she would get another speech about how Kate couldn't leave because she was the captain. To her surprise, the desk light went off, and she grabbed her coat and bag and walked around her desk to the door. The duo left the Precinct thinking about what they would order at their favorite restaurant.


Two nights later, Kate finds herself sitting on a very comfortable loveseat in Lanie's apartment. Sitting directly across from her is her best friend, who is looking very cautious.


"I'm not sure that pursuing this is such a good idea anymore," Kate said after hearing what Lanie had just told her.

Lanie watched her face change from a little bit of happiness and Hope to downright hopelessness in a split second as she explained what had happened during dinner. While this might have been a setback in her mind, her friend sitting across from her saw this as a sign from above. She needed to bring her back to reality and explain that this was just what it was: a setback. Just because Rick didn't divulge anything about his dating life didn't mean it was a lost cause.

"Nonsense. Just because we had one setback doesn't mean it's a bad idea. So, get that idea right out of your head," Lanie countered.

"Well, you better come up with an idea that will get him to accept me again. And I don't mean in a relationship because I think that will take a lot more work than just being friends. But I won't give up as long as I think there is a chance we might be able to get this to work."

"Now there's the Kate Beckett I know and love."

Even though it was late at night, they both tried to conceive a plan that would benefit Kate the most. They knew he would see an ambush coming sideways at him, so they decided to go at him head-on. They were having trouble getting that plan off the ground.

They knew they would have to devise a better plan than what was published in Cosmopolitan or GQ.

They did, however, realize that neither Rick nor Kate admitted that they loved each other while working together. They had to plan this as if Rick still did, which they hoped was true. So Lanie came up with the idea of thinking that they were already in a relationship, but one side grew tired of the other, and they decided to work through a trial breakup to get their heads straight. They both thought of what could be done to get that person back.

"What we need is something that would entice him to come back to you but not for you to beg, although I'm not sure that's not a bad tactic. Six years has been quite a long time, and maybe a little begging wouldn't hurt." Lanie said with a hint of sarcasm.

All Kate could do was sit there and take it because Lanie was right.

"Okay, so the first thing we have pretty much covered is that after a breakup, you should give someone a cooling-off period before you try to get back with them," Lanie recites.

"Trust is the foundation of most healthy relationships. You know this by now. So, we need to get you out of your comfort zone and start trusting Rick more. I know you say you trust him, but he must also trust you."

"The next topic we need to discuss is that you must take your time before you move to reach out to him. And then you need to think about if it doesn't work out. But if it does, you must have a trial friendship or relationship. Once you both decide this is what you want. You need to keep communication alive between the both of you because if you don't, you will both end up disappointed. And I don't want that for either of you." Lanie told her best friend.

"This is a lot to cover. Lanie and I need to sit down and think about how to go about this because I am past overwhelmed right now. I'm tired, and I don't want to make the wrong decision about how to get Rick back."

A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. Real life sometimes takes control. This chapter contains a very small Easter egg, and all who see it will get kudos.