A/N: Happy Birthday Lou! Thank you for all the wonderful things you bring into the Castle fandom, we are eternally lucky to have you as our Prompt Overlord.

Beta by Katherine. She wades through my mess so you guys get to read stories ;)

Disclaimer: not mine.

Kate Beckett stared at the blindfold in her hand and then back to her best friend. Lanie merely arched an eyebrow at her and crossed her arms. Sighing, Kate started putting the blindfold over her eyes.

"Lanie, is this really necessary?" she asked, adjusting the band of cloth so that it sat comfortably over her eyes.

"I swear girl, you'll be thanking me. I've found you the most amazing apartment in Manhattan, and if I didn't still have two years on my lease, I'd snatch that place already. It's that good. Trust me, Kate, it's worth the surprise."

Kate rolled her eyes at Lanie's dramatics, not that the gesture could be seen thanks to the blindfold anyway, and leaned back into her seat.

Kate wrinkled her nose at the myriad New York taxi cab smells she was being subjected to as they made their way across town to meet a real estate agent Lanie had found for Kate. It had taken her a few days to sort out her life after her apartment exploded, but now that she's had the time, Kate had been actively apartment hunting.

It wasn't that Castle's loft was awful, she just didn't want to overstay her welcome. Castle and his family had been very welcoming towards Kate, but she really needed to find a permanent solution to her housing problem. One that didn't involve the possibility of walking into a boxer-clad Castle in his kitchen at four in the morning.

She had met Lanie for lunch, and when they were done, the medical examiner had ushered her into a taxi, passing a piece of paper with the address of their destination to the driver before fishing inside her bag for a blindfold.

Their journey didn't take long, which led Kate to suspect they were still either in Tribeca or Greenwich Village. "Just to be clear, you do realize that I have a budget, right?" Kate asked.

Lanie didn't reply, merely nudging her out of the taxi. Kate heard pedestrians walking about her, so she did her best not to fidget around despite the nervous excitement bubbling in her stomach. Instead, Kate tried to pick up on the snippets of conversations floating pass for clues to their location. Some teenagers walked by slowly, chattering about a movie; a rushed businessman on his phone, in and out of earshot within seconds. Then she felt Lanie's hand on her arm, guiding her, presumably, across a sidewalk.

Kate noticed the transition from sidewalk to indoors immediately as cool air blew through her hair. A sense of déjà vu washed over her but Lanie was quick to guide her to the elevator.

Kate swore the elevator car smelled faintly of Castle's aftershave, but she'd never admit that thought to Lanie. Instead she asked, "Uh, Lanie, you're not… taking me home, are you?"

"Home?" Lanie's teasing voice came from her right side. "I didn't realize writer boy's place is now considered home."

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean," Kate muttered, frowning at her slip up.

"No, I am not taking you home to writer boy's loft."

The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival and Lanie guided Kate out. "Hello Eric," Lanie greeted, as Kate stood beside her friend, her lips quirked in an awkward smile. Lanie quickly introduced Kate to the real estate agent, explaining, "Don't mind the blindfold, I just want to surprise her with the interior of the place."

Kate heard the door unlock and finally headed inside with Lanie's hand on her elbow. "Now are we done with the cloak and dagger theatrics?" she asked, already reaching for the blindfold.

"Alright, take it off."

Kate pulled the blindfold off with one hand, the other immediately reaching to comb through her mussed up hair. A quick look across the space had Kate slowing down her movements. This place was…

This place was amazing.

She exchanged a proper handshake with Eric, and began walking around the apartment as Lanie grinned happily by the closed door.

She had to hand it to Lanie, this place was a huge step up from the previous apartments she'd visited.

There were huge panels of windows across the room with the curtains pulled over, but Kate suspected the natural lighting could do wonders for the room. She wandered into the first room on her right, finding a decent sized bedroom, then checked out the bathroom and kitchen, falling more and more in love with the place with each step.

Eric and Lanie were waiting for her in the living room. "Which part of town are we at?" Kate asked, heading for the windows. Her fingers were itching to pull open the curtains.

"Soho," Eric replied.

That stopped Kate short.

Soho?!

"Does this place have rent control or rent stabilization? How long is the lease?" Kate asked as she turned to lean against the window and felt the warmth from the sun slowly seep through her back.

Eric was quick to give her the details, and Kate was surprised to find the place was within the upper ranges of her budget. "Is the place haunted? Did someone die here?" Kate speculated, looking from Eric to Lanie, "Or does a rock star live in the unit above and play loud music in the middle of the night? No offense, but what's the catch? A place like this, in Soho, with that price? Something isn't adding up."

Kate glanced at the walls but didn't see any watermarks. Maybe it was the view or location of the building itself? She turned to reach for the curtains once more but Eric chuckled and answered her earlier questions, stopping her movements. "No ghosts or sound complaints, the previous owners moved upstate because the wife was diagnosed with some respiratory problems, so they decided to move out of the city. Lanie is a friend of a friend, so I promised to let you see the place before showing it to other potential tenants."

Kate nodded slowly, still looking around the spacious apartment. Eric continued, "It's a secure building with 24-hour doorman service, a side entrance accessible only to residents, one parking unit in the basement but you can apply for more at your own cost, two sets of elevators, and the building even has it's own back up generator."

"C'mon, Kate, you know you love the place. And this is why I'm the best best friend in the whole world," Lanie said, nudging her friend and earning a smile in return.

"Alright Lanie, I'll give that to you," Kate said, finally pulling the curtains open to flood the place with light. "You're the…" Her words dried up in her mouth.

She recognized this view. She's only been seeing it daily for the past week.

From Castle's loft.

"Lanie Parish, you are so dead."

Prompt: post Boom, Kate finds the perfect apartment. It's spacious, light, affordable, and in a secure building. Only problem is, it's directly downstairs from Castle's loft.

A/N: There are six chapters in total, I'll be posting a new chapter every day :)