I'm really glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter and felt it lived up to the expectations. Writing love scenes is honestly one of the hardest things to write to get it to come off the way you want it to and in a way that the readers can picture it. So I'm glad it worked!

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! I think I messaged everyone back who I could, but if I missed you, I'm sorry and it was not intentional! I honestly try to acknowledge everyone who leaves a review that is not a guest.

I still plan to do a more significant time jump to get through summer, but it's not going to be in this chapter. This one starts about a week after the last one. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and Happy Easter to those who celebrate!

Still don't own Castle…

xxxxx

"Kate…come back to bed…" Castle whined from where he was lying, still naked, in his bed.

She chuckled softly as she came out of the bathroom, already wearing her underwear and bra, towel drying her hair. "We talked about this," she reminded him with a smile, letting her eyes travel over him appreciatively, but she was not going to let herself get pulled back into bed with him now that she'd already had her shower.

He grumbled with a pout, looking every bit like a petulant child. "I think we should reopen the discussion."

"Castle, I'm going back to the city. I told you, I have dinner plans with Lanie tonight. I have lunch plans with my dad tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment for my ribs on Tuesday. And this is Alexis's first week off from school. I know you've missed her, and you are going to spend the week with her without me here," she recapped their discussion for him as she pulled on her jeans.

"But my doctor said sex was good for my recovery…" he tried with a pout.

She laughed and shook her head. "Nice try. But rest and recovery days are also an integral part of any exercise regime; your doctor would tell you that too…and after this week with me, I think your body definitely needs a few rest and recovery days," she smiled. It was true; aside from meals, his therapy appointments, and a few walks along the beach, they had spent most of their time in his bed over the last week. In fact, the reason she still had so many clean clothes in her bag was because they had barely worn clothes at all, and when they had, it hadn't been for very long.

He sighed and finally got out of bed, making no move to get dressed though. "I'm going to miss you," he murmured, gently tugging her hips to him before she could get her shirt on.

She looked up at him with a smile and gently kissed his lips. "I know. But that's good," she patted his chest and stepped out of his arms to pull her shirt over her head.

"How is missing each other a good thing?" he whined, reaching for her again.

Her arms looped around his neck then as she allowed him to pull her back into his arms. "Because this is still new…for you, for me, and for your family. Being here every day for the rest of the summer is going to be an awful lot like living together…and we are not ready for that; I'm not ready for that…and I highly doubt Alexis is ready for that. We all need some time and space to adjust," she told him softly, pressing a kiss to his lips to keep him from feeling any kind of sting from her words.

He breathed deeply when he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers. "Fine."

She smiled, her fingers gently toying with the soft, baby hairs at the nape of his neck. "I love you. And I will be back at the end of the week, ok?"

"Okay," he nodded, finally releasing her.

She moved toward the bathroom, grabbing his boxers off the dresser where they had landed last night and tossing them at his head. "Get dressed while I finish getting ready, so we can have breakfast with your mom and Alexis before I leave." With that, she disappeared into the bathroom to dry her hair with the hair dryer and fix her makeup.

xxxxx

The waiter had just brought their margaritas, and Kate had just taken a drink of hers when Lanie spoke. "Alright, so how was it?"

Kate set her drink back down and shook her head, not following what her friend was talking about.

"The sex with Castle," she eyed her knowingly. "Don't bother denying it. You had sex. You're glowing. I know that glow. And judging from your glow, I'd say it's pretty good."

Her mouth opened to deny everything, but then she closed it and smiled slightly. Lanie already knew they were together from their last evening together, so she didn't see the point. Besides, she was happy. "Pretty amazing, actually," she admitted, taking another drink of her margarita.

"Oh, amazing, hmm?" Lanie smiled. "So Writer Boy lives up to his reputation?"

Kate smiled slowly. "He's still on restrictions…we have to be careful because he can't physically do as much as he wants. But so far…yeah. His reputation is warranted."

"Girl, if it's this good now, just wait until you get the full Richard Castle experience," Lanie grinned, taking a drink from her own margarita. "So I have to ask you…does his ass look as good out of those jeans as it does in them?"

"Better," Kate answered easily, taking another drink. "Actually, his whole body looks better out of his clothes. So good that we barely spent any time wearing clothes this past week," she added with a satisfied smile.

Lanie laughed softly. "Well no wonder you're all loose and relaxed. See, I told you before…just think of how loose and relaxed you could have been this entire time if you had just jumped that boy from the get go. Sex is a great stress reliever." Seeing the other woman roll her eyes at that, Lanie smiled. "Seriously, Kate. I'm happy for you. You deserve to be happy, and he obviously makes you happy."

"He does," she smiled genuinely. "I'm in love with him, Lanie."

"You act like that's news," she smiled.

Kate shook her head. "No, I mean I'm completely and totally in love with him...to the point that it scares me. He's it, Lanie. If this doesn't work out…it's going to break me."

Lanie's eyes softened. "Oh, Sweetie. You just got together with Castle. Why would you already think this won't work?"

She shrugged. "It's just what I've come to expect, and we're two very different people. He's this multi-millionaire best selling author…who has dated models and actresses and could be with any woman he wants. And I'm just this regular cop who has a lot of emotional baggage. I just don't see how we work in the long term; on paper we don't work at all."

"Girl, I'ma smack you. Do not sell yourself short, Kate Beckett. You are an incredible woman that any man would be lucky to be with," Lanie started. "Yes…Castle has dated models and actresses and could have any woman he wants, and do you know who that woman is?" Seeing her friend shake her head, she continued. "You. He's been crazy about you, probably since the beginning. He based a character on you. He built an entire book series around you. Those books? They're love letters to you. He knows all about your past and your baggage, and he still thinks you're extraordinary. He ran into your burning apartment to save you. He took a bullet for you, Kate, without hesitation. That man is just as much in love with you as you are with him," she continued. "So stop doing that thing you do, where you automatically assume the worst and wait for the other shoe to drop, and just enjoy being happy, being in love with him."

Kate sighed softly. "We've both been doing this dance for 3 years. What happens when the music eventually stops? What if all we were in love with was the dance?"

Lanie reached over to give her friend's hand a gentle squeeze. "Who says the music will stop? What you and Castle have…it's magic; yeah, the music might eventually stop. But the music could also keep right on playing, and you could keep dancing with Castle forever. Relationships aren't lived on paper, Kate. They're lived in your heart…and from what I've seen, both of your hearts want each other. Now I know this goes against everything you believe in, but stop listening to your head on this one thing, and just trust your heart."

Kate smiled slightly. "Thanks, Lanie."

"What are best friends for if they can't talk some sense into you every now and then," she smiled.

xxxxx

"Katie!" Jim greeted his daughter with a careful hug, remembering her broken ribs.

"Hey, Dad," Kate grinned, hugging her father tightly before sitting in the booth.

"How are you doing? How are your ribs?"

"I'm good. My ribs feel a lot better, actually. I have an appointment in a couple days just to check, but they seem to be fine."

Jim nodded. "That's good. So what have you been doing with your time off, Katie? I haven't really heard from you, but I know you aren't the type to just sit around. All this time off is driving you crazy, I'm sure."

Kate smiled slightly. "I've spent some time with Lanie. We just had dinner last night, actually," she started. "I've…surprisingly spent some time in bed just relaxing and letting my ribs heal. I've been out on my bike a few times…you know I love to ride when I get restless." Those weren't complete lies. She had spent a lot of time in bed relaxing…she simply wasn't telling her father it was in Castle's bed or the ways in which he was helping her to relax.

"Good for you, Katie. You look great; relaxing is good for you," he smiled at his daughter. "And how is Castle?"

Before Kate could answer, a waitress showed up to take their order, giving her a little time in which she could think about what exactly she wanted to tell her father. "Castle is recovering well; he at least looks normal now. Actually, he's at the point where he's starting to feel better and get restless. He can't do everything he wants because the doctor has strict orders he has to follow, and he's not exactly the best at following directions." That seemed innocent enough. "Alexis is out of school, I'm sure she'll keep him in line. She's much more mature than he is."

Jim studied his daughter for a few moments. "So you've seen him then," he commented casually.

"Well, yeah. He's my partner. And he saved my life," she shrugged as though that were explanation enough as to why she'd spent some time with him.

"So he's back in the city?" he asked her with a small smile.

Kate paused slightly. This was not the direction she'd planned on their conversation going. "He's still in the Hamptons."

"I see; so you've also spent some time in the Hamptons while you've been off work. You failed to mention that part earlier," her father stated with a knowing look.

"He has a guest room, you know. His house is huge." Also not complete lies. His house was definitely huge, and she had initially stayed in his guest room...at least the first week. But he didn't need to know the specific details.

Jim chuckled. "Katie, I told you before, how you want to spend your time and with whom in your personal life is none of my business. As long as he's good to you, and you're happy, that's all I care about. And you look happy…genuinely happy. Whatever you've done over the last couple of weeks to be this happy is obviously working for you. You'll tell me the rest when you're ready," he smiled.

Kate blushed slightly. "I am happy. And there is no 'rest' to tell."

"Did you tell Castle I wanted to take him to dinner?"

She nodded. "I did. And he's game once he's back in the city. I'm not sure when he's coming back, though."

He nodded. "Well when he's ready, just let me know." He took a drink of his coffee then. "So have you thought about spending some time at the cabin? I've got some time in a few weeks at the end of June if you want to plan to meet there."

"That would be nice. Let's plan on that."

"And my offer still stands…you should bring Castle with you," he smiled slightly.

"Dad!"

He laughed, holding up his hands defensively. "I'm just saying that bringing him to the cabin would be a lot easier than waiting until he's back in the city for me to thank him. If you two really aren't together, there is still the guest room, you know that. But for what it's worth? I hope you are together. You deserve some happiness, Katie. I see the way you light up when I mention him, the way you smile when you talk about him, the way you laugh. He's obviously good for you. He's much better than your other boyfriends I've met. I actually like him."

Kate blushed again and rolled her eyes. "I'll think about asking him."

"That's all I ask, Katie."

The rest of lunch was spent with Kate carefully avoiding any topics that could be somehow linked to Castle. Talking with her father about her relationships with with men was not something she usually did, at least not until it was something much more serious. Although her relationship with Castle was the most serious she'd ever been about a man, it was still too new for her to talk to her father about. But later that evening when she talked to Castle, she asked him if he felt up to taking a road trip with her to her father's cabin, and he'd agreed.

xxxxx

So this was a little bit of a break from all the Castle and Beckett togetherness, but I wanted to show Kate getting away some, because she does still need her space. It doesn't mean she loves Castle any less or wants to be with him any less…but Beckett is still Beckett at her core; that's not changing. Plus I love Kate's relationships with Lanie and with her dad, and I love writing those scenes.

Hope you guys liked this one anyway.