Girly Chit Chat

A/N: Have you ever had the "Freebie-Five" (Castle S3 E11) or the "Who would you jump the fence for?" conversations?

Here's a little something that started in my head after a PM with crazy4castle about the latter (so part of the credit is hers). I had so much fun writing Lanie and Martha in other stories that I wanted to do it again.

Probably a one-shot, set sometime in Season 5.

Disclaimer: The talented, imaginative people who create Castle for us are amazing and I'm grateful to be able to borrow the products of their imaginations and use them for my own purposes… always for good, never for evil.

I must also mention a brief reference to some Grey's Anatomy and Sex and the City characters and also Firefly.

Kate is already at the Old Haunt and has the best booth in the place; one of the many perks of sleeping with the owner. She can see two cabs outside and Lanie is exiting one of them, her old friend Maddie paying the driver of the other. Both women have met a couple of times before and recognise each other immediately. They are giggling, arm in arm as they enter the bar and greet Kate at their table.

"Kate," Lanie squeals and hugs her friend. You look fabulous Girlfriend. All that sex on tap with Writerboy certainly agrees with you."

"Thanks for announcing that to the entire bar Lanie," Kate chuckles and hugs her friend back, before stepping towards Maddie, whom she also hugs enthusiastically. "Hey there. God it's good to see you."

"Great to see you too Becks. And Lanie's right, something or somebody is definitely agreeing with you."

Kate does look fabulous. She's fitter than ever, thanks to plenty of time for running, yoga and boxing, plus she's eating really well thanks to Castle; she's relaxed and happy, thanks to zero work-stress, lots of sleep and of course Castle; and she's actually glowing, thanks to soaking up the sun in the Hamptons and lots and lots of mind-blowing sex... so yes, Richard Castle is definitely agreeing with her. Not to mention the simple little black dress and killer heels she's wearing, that show off her tan and ridiculously long legs to their best advantage. Heads turned when she walked into the Old Haunt and Kate knows she often turns heads. She's not conceited about it, but neither is she oblivious or impervious to the attention. Ultimately though, the only head she cares about turning is the one attached to a certain writer, who's currently waiting for her at home.

"Thanks guys, now sit!" Kate says and all three women take a seat. "I've taken the liberty of ordering several bottles of bubbles."

"Oooh. Are we celebrating?" Lanie and Maddie ask in unison and all three women laugh.

"Wedding bells?" Lanie asks hopefully and grabs Kate's left hand to check for diamonds. "Damn, no rock."

"Little Castle babies then?" Maddie asks with a wink and Kate rolls her eyes in response, just as their drinks arrive.

"Can't a girl just get together with her friends for no reason, and do you really think I'd have five bottles of Champagne chilling if I was pregnant?" Kate says and lifts her glass for impact. "Jenny is running late and said we should start without her."

"In that case, I propose a toast." Lanie says and grabs a glass. "To girly catch-ups, to friends and to…"

Maddie interrupts then, "To sex on tap."

The three women grin at the delicious tinkling sound the champagne flutes make as they clink together and they all put their glasses to their lips.

"Yum, yum, yum." Lanie says appreciatively. "Girl, did you go down to the cellar and raid the good stuff?"

"I might've acquired one or two bottles from down there, yes," Kate says with a grin. "It's on to the regular stuff after this though; but knowing you two, you'll both be too hammered by then to notice. And before either of you suggests it, I am not, I repeat not doing shots with you after the Champagne runs out."

"She knows us too well," Maddie giggles and they all sip their Champagne, catching up on the latest news and gossip.

Lanie talks cases, bodies and men; well one man, and her frustration at the on-again off-again situation with a certain detective. Maddie talks food and men; or more precisely, lack of the latter. Kate talks temporary retirement and tries to avoid the topic of men; well one man, a certain writer man. Jenny arrives about fifteen minutes later, to discover them well and truly onto their second bottle of the good-stuff, and more hugs and toasts ensue.

The four women are having a ball, laughing, squealing (well, that's mostly Lanie) and swapping further tales of work, life and love; but to Kate's immense discomfort, the other three seem somewhat preoccupied with the latter topic and her newly 'loved-up' status. All four are however united in their quest to get mildly and delightfully intoxicated and as they eat and continue to drink, the focus shifts from Kate, at least temporarily. They are cheerful, animated and noisy (once again, mostly Lanie), but not too boisterous; and then Maddie ups the anti.

"Who's up for some drinking games?" she blurts suddenly, and the other three women groan out a long, unified...

"Nooo."

"I know, lets play a game, but not a drinking game," Jenny suggests and stuns them all when she mentions the Freebie-Five game. "I played it at baby shower recently and it was hilarious."

"Why Jenny Ryan I'm appalled, but your friends sound like my kind of people," Lanie giggles and they all top up their glasses for a little extra Dutch courage. "So, are we just gonna blurt out the top five celebs we get to sleep with regardless of our relationship status, or should we write 'em down?"

"How about we write them down and we'll tally them up. See if we get a clear winner." Maddie suggests. "And Kate, you only get to choose four because you're already sleeping with someone famous."

Kate rolls her eyes but gives a sly grin as she thinks to herself... that I am, and I'm doing so as often as humanly possible. Kate has never considered her sex drive to be unusually high and lets face it, she's weathered some pretty long 'dry spells' over the years but ever since she and Castle let the lid off four years worth of unresolved sexual tension, she's been enthusiastic to say the least. Being madly and hopelessly in love with the object of ones lustful attention doesn't hurt either, but nor does it held to curb the…

"Earth to Kate," Lanie sings, waving a hand in front of Kate's face. "I've seen that look before. You were just having impure thoughts weren't you?"

"No," she says, sounding unconvincing even to her own ears. They say men think about sex about nineteen times per day; well Kate suspects that would be a conservative estimate for her lately, but in her own defence she's only thinking about sex with one person in particular. "Shut up Lanie, and give me a pencil."

There's almost silence at the table for the next twenty or so minutes as they scribble their choices on the backs of coasters, each woman alternating between sipping her drink and nibbling on the end of her pencil. Once all the coasters are in, they are just about to name names when a booming voice echoes across the bar.

"Katherine. Darling girl. What a lovely surprise."

Four heads snap up and four sets of eyes widen, just in time to see none other than Martha Rogers swanning towards them, one hand waving regally and the other firmly clutching a large, but almost empty, glass of wine.

"A girls night out by the looks of things," she says as she envelops Kate in a warm hug and a thick cloud of Chanel No.5. She air kisses the other women as she explains the reason for her presence at the Old Haunt. "I just had the most awful blind date. We were at a restaurant just across the street and my companion was dreadful; quite handsome but unbelievably dull. And he was rude to the wait-staff and kept talking with his mouth full. Let me assure you, nothing he had to say was interesting or witty enough to necessitate foregoing the most basic of table manners."

The older woman shares the whole sorry tale, from the first sweaty handshake, to the events that lead her into her son's fine establishment, and the four younger women sit captivated by the magnificence of Martha Rogers in full story-telling mode.

"So finally, I excused myself under the guise of visiting the ladies, slipped the waiter a tip for putting up with him, and I hightailed it over here."

"You cut and run?" Lanie asks, shocked but quite obviously impressed. "Way to go Ms. R."

They actually high-five each other then, and without anyone consciously deciding it should happen, Martha is suddenly sitting at their table. Kate doesn't mind, in fact she has always found Martha to be fabulous company, but right now there is a pile of coasters in the middle of the table with lists of famous men they'd all like to sleep with and Kate doesn't really think it appropriate to share her own list with the mother of the famous man she's actually sleeping with.

"So, who's for more champagne?" Martha asks enthusiastically, noting the bottle currently neck-down in the ice bucket, signalling its emptiness. Her query is met with vigorous nodding, mostly from Maddie and Lanie.

"We were just playing a bit of a game," Maddie announces suddenly and pretends to be oblivious to the Beckett-glare being levelled at her by a horrified Kate.

"Oh, I love drinking games," Martha chuckles and rubs her hands together gleefully. "What's your pleasure ladies? Flip, Sip, or Strip or maybe Beer Pong?"

"It's not exactly a drinking game Martha," Lanie corrects, as incredulous looks are exchanged around the table. She casts a defiant look at Kate, quickly tucks her legs under her chair so Kate can't kick her in the shins and announces, "We're just about to reveal our Freebie-Fives."

Martha's eyes widen briefly but then she immediately joins in. "Well don't be shy ladies. My list is as follows, in no particular order and yes I realise some of them are no longer with us… Sean Connery, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, George Clooney and that scrumptious Mr Big from Sex and the City."

"Chris Noth?" Maddie offers.

"Indeed," Martha says with a lecherous look that almost makes Kate choke on her wine.

"Just for that, you should go next." Kate says with a smirk at Maddie.

"Okay. Make that two votes for George Clooney, then add Robert Downey Jr, Robbie Williams, Keanu Reeves and Dr McSteamy from Grey's Anatomy. There are nods of agreement around the table as Jenny pipes up.

"I think his name is Eric Dane?" and she immediately realises her mistake when all eyes fall on her to go next.

"Okay, don't judge me… Jake Gyllenhaal, Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Toby McGuire and Patrick Dempsey.

Just then the waiter arrives with their Champagne and as Martha does the honours, Lanie butts in about what spectacular taste in men they all seem to have and admits that she'd happily 'do' any of them.

"Okay, my turn. Top of my list is Javier Bardem, yum, yum." Lanie says and actually licks her lips, which elicits eye rolling and appalled giggling from around the booth. "Closely followed by Daniel Craig, Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington and Bradley Cooper."

"That's two votes for Johnny," Martha announces and then turns her attention to Kate. "I do believe it's your turn Katherine dear."

Kate is fairly certain the other women, particularly Lanie, are all experiencing a perverse sense of enjoyment at watching her squirm and she bestows her best 'I'm going to kill you all' glare on them before she clears her throat.

"No particular order here either… make it two votes for Hugh Jackman and three for George Clooney, then add pre-Angelina Brad Pitt and last but not least, that guy from Firefly, Nathan Someone-or-other."

There are more nods of approval before Martha interrupts, "But that's only four."

Before Kate can even open her mouth or attempt to censor whatever inappropriate response she's certain is about to erupt from either Lanie of Maddie, her old school friend blurts, "Yeah well, she's already nailed a famous author, so she only gets four."

Kate's cheeks flush bright pink and there's a momentary lull in conversation before the entire table, including Kate, erupts into gales of laughter.

They are all still giggling when Martha eventually announces that the coast should be clear for her to get herself a cab, and she rises to leave.

"Well ladies, it's been both entertaining and enlightening. We should do it again." There are kisses and warm hugs for everyone this time, and as Martha swans out of the Old Haunt she says. "Next time we should play, Who would you jump the fence for?"

The four friends resume their positions in their booth and they are all still chucking softly when Lanie says, "Well, I'm game."

"For what?" Kate asks, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Stop Beckett-glaring me girlfriend. Save it got your friend over there, who just used the words writer and nailed in the same sentence, in front of said writer's mother." Lanie says defensively, glancing pointedly at Maddie. "Because I wanna know which women you ladies would rethink your sexuality for?"

"Can we save that for another night?" Jenny asks, stifling a yawn. "I'm a little plastered and I think I need to go home and get horizontal."

"Ah, the joys of being a newly-wed," Lanie jokes.

"That's not what I meant," Jenny quickly tries to clarify but the other girls are all smirking at her.

"And you can wipe that smirk off your face, Kate Beckett." Lanie says as she levels a knowing look in her direction. "We all know you're probably itching to get home and practice a little horizontal yoga with Writerboy."

Kate opens her mouth to argue, but decides there's really no point. Lanie's right, and now that she has those images in her mind, she's desperate to get to the loft. So she simply shrugs and grins widely.

"See, I knew it." Lanie laughs as they all stand to say their goodbyes. "Who am I kidding, I'm just jealous."

Castle is waiting up for Kate when she lets herself into the loft.

"How was your night?" he asks as he rises from the couch and switches off the movie he was only half watching.

"It was good. Really great to catch up with them." Kate smiles and stifles a small yawn. "We even had a visit from your mother."

"Seriously?" Castle asks, looking moderately horrified. He'd been worried what mischief they'd get up to once Lanie and Maddie got together, but the thought of throwing his mother into the mix... positively terrifying.

"Yeah, she was great." Kate reassures him and explains the circumstances that lead to Martha briefly joining their girl's night out and inviting herself to the next one.

"I wouldn't want to be the friend responsible for having arranged that blind date," Castle chuckles. "Explain to me what on earth you all found to talk about."

"Actually we talked about our Freebie-Five list," Kate blurts before she can activate her brain-to-mouth filter.

"Oh, you did, did you?" Castle says and chuckles as Kate stumbles a little. "Are you drunk Beckett?"

"Possibly, but not drunk enough to tell you who's on my list."

Castle's pouts but Kate ignores it, shifting her focus instead to how good he smells and how cute, rumpled and irresistable he looks in just his pajama bottoms. "Besides, I only got to choose four."

"How come?"

"Because apparently I'm already sleeping with someone famous," she says as she steps closer to him and circles his neck with both arms. "You might've heard of him. Rick Castle, tall guy, nice blue eyes, has written a couple of books. I think he's rich too."

She's kissing him then - his mouth, the side of his neck, his chest. Castle is breathing hard but smiling at the slightly dishevelled but incredibly sexy woman in front of him… aka, a very tipsy Kate Beckett. Her hands are all over him now and she's planting warm wet kisses from his chest to his torso, but he wants to kiss her again, properly.

Guiding her up and taking her face in his palms, he lands a searing kiss against her lips. She tastes like Champagne and Kate, and the kiss leaves them both hot and panting. Castle unzips the back of her dress, immediately sliding it off her shoulders and down her arms as he begins kissing the side of her neck.

"You forgot one thing," he whispers against her rapidly overheating skin as he kisses his way to her breasts.

"What?" Kate asks, confused and more than a little distracted by what he's doing with his hands and oh yeah, his mouth.

"You forgot one very important thing in your description of me," he mumbles as his tongue circles one nipple... "Ruggedly handsome."

Kate lets out a low moan then, partly due to the seemingly endless depths of his ego, but mostly in response to the feel of his mouth on her nipple and the hand that is now under her dress, stroking the top of her thigh. His fingers lightly brush her through her underwear and it's driving her crazy; and she also knows he's doing it on purpose.

Not one to be outdone in the 'drive your partner crazy with too-gentle touches' department, Kate strokes him softly through his pajama pants, which she has already noticed look incredibly sexy slung low on his hips. She grazes her nails from his pecs, over his belly, along the snail trail she loves so much, to his waistband and when he produces the low, frustrated growl she's been waiting for, she ceases the teasing on the outside if his pants and slips her hand inside. She smiles against his lips when he hisses a short, sharp breath at the contact.

Castle fights fire with fire and tugs her underwear down, stroking his fingers through her wetness, but not giving her everything she wants, and she moans her complaint into his mouth. He grins at how they know each other's noises now, the touches and movements that elicit them and they have perfected the art of mind-blowing teasing; driving each other so wild and so close to the edge that when they finally let go, the finale is equally mind blowing.

Kate is not in any mood to be teased tonight however. She's extremely turned on and just drunk enough, just disinhibited enough to not be above begging.

"Please Castle," she whimpers as they stumble into the bedroom, pressing herself shamelessly against the frustratingly slow and gentle movement of his fingers.

The way she says his name is Castle's undoing and they have the remainder of their clothes off in milliseconds. As soon as they land on the bed Castle is hovering over her, and as their lips meet in another scorching kiss, Kate grabs his hips and pulls him to her.

"I think I like hammered, horny Kate," Castle chuckles as he inches inside her.

"I am not hammered. Tipsy? Yes. And horny? Absolutely. But not hammered," Kate admits with a loud moan as he presses home.

"Whatever you are, I love it," Castle breathes as they start moving, slowly, hips rolling seductively, the push and pull completely in sync as always.

"So you're really not going to tell me who's on your list?" Castle murmurs against her hair. They are a sweaty, sated tangle of limbs in his enormous bed, Castle on his back and Kate sprawled across him, their hands absently caressing the other's skin; his stroking the length of her spine and hers gently playing with the soft hairs on his chest.

"Not right now Castle," she says softly, her eyelids and limbs heavy from the alcohol and the endorphins, her guard obviously down too because she adds... "Besides, I already landed number one on my list."

Castle opens his mouth immediately, desperate to tease her but he feels the hand on his chest still, her body go limp and he realises she's fallen asleep. He smiles to himself, pulls the sheet over them and closes his eyes. As he drifts off, his last conscious thought is how much he loves her and how soon he can tease her over that particularly juicy morsel of information.

Just a bit of fluffy fun. A quick click on the review button is always appreciated - your comments/suggestions help motivate me and most importantly make me a better writer. Thanks.