Hope you are all safe and well. Below is another chapter. As previously indicated I was in a bit of a bind with this part of the story but I've returned to the series and jumped into an episode to help get me through this part. So this chapter, I've done all I can with it and next part moves us forward, through this roadblock I've had. Very happy to be back on a track.

Chapter 98

"What do I do?" Kate asked, her fingers wrapped firmly around the coffee mug. She looked over Lanie's concerned face, then glanced away to the window. It was almost daylight and people were making their way to work, walking past the window, barely noticing the patrons inside.

"You talk to Castle, is what you do," Lanie then sipped her hot herbal tea her eyes not leaving the brunette.

In hushed tones Kate replied. "I can't. She's his daughter. His best friend." She wiped a finger beneath her tear-filled eyes, and blinked several times. Ruining the make-up wasn't on her agenda as she had to look professional for court.

"And from what you just spilled to me, you're his girlfriend and his best friend."

Kate stared at Lanie. She'd definitely spilled the beans to her best friend. It hadn't been shared the way Kate had wanted to. Joyously, with excitement, cute stories she could share, was how she'd always imagined it. Regardless, Lanie now knew that she had been in a love affair with Castle for over a year. She was considerably calm considering she'd been lied to for a long time,

"Kate, now I know, and we'll deal with the deceit component of this another day, I can see you two from a different viewpoint. It's not hard to see Richard loves you."

She smiled, "He's crazy about me, Lanie."

"You're crazy about him. Look at you. You glow when you mention him but you're sick with worry."

Kate cried and reached for a tissue that Lanie had left on the table. "I wasn't ready to move in with him."

"Kate, Honey. Your home blew up. You didn't have a choice."

"No choice. I do like living with him."

"And then there's the but-"

She sunk across her half of the table. Groaned. "I wish I was sharing all the good things with you, Lanie. I didn't want to share the negatives because it's been the best time of my life."

"I hope you do, and I want the juicy stuff. You've kept it so well hidden."

Kate sat up, wiped beneath her eyes. "We did so to keep working together. I deal with criminals day in and day out, and a sixteen year old has it over me."

"They're tough at that age."

"They are. I should have put her in her place. He gave me permission to parent if I needed to. I just didn't think fast enough. And I also haven't settled into his home, Lanie. I'm having nightmares about being in the explosion, and I wake Castle. He's worried about me. I wake up and I'm not at home-" she trailed off with a dismissive wave.

"And you can't tell him that Alexis and you have fought?"

Beckett inhaled deeply, "No. I can't. It's exhausting, Lanie. Avoiding conflict and keeping it from him."

"He might know already."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know." She thought about them, about Castle and smiled, "He's -" She bit her lip.

Lanie leaned in. "Tell me. Look at you girl you are smitten."

"He's the one. He's brilliant, he's -" Kate smiled, then laughed. "I'm in love with him. Since the day that I met him."

"You concealed that rather well."

"I did. It was hard to."

"You are dying to spill about the two of you. I can see it."

Her hands went to her cheeks to conceal the heat rising. "Oh, my God, Lanie. Where do I start?"

"How about when did it start?"

"Yes. It was the night we solved our first case together. He asked me out after we booked the guy and I said no."

"Of course, you did. Man looks your way and you head for the hills."

Beckett frowned, "I don't." She saw Lanie's expression. "Okay, I do."

"Missed out on so much fun."

"Yeah, well, he texted me an open-ended SMS. I had time to think about it, and eventually, I said yes." She smiled in reminiscence. She softly spoke. "We went out for dinner, he came back to my place for a night cap and left the next morning."

Lanie's mouth fell open. "You? Night cap? All night?"

"He got more than a night cap," she replied with a furtive expression.

"Your date did the walk of shame."

"He did, then we continued all that day, the next night and we kept going." She paused.

"No one has ever caught you?"

"Well, Esposito walked straight past us one day and didn't see us. Then Kevin and Jenny bumped into us at a hamburger place a few weeks back." She shrugged. "We have talked about going public, in fact, we've had that conversation a few times, and each time, one of us has said no."

"So, you two have been quite happy running about together having your secret life. I'm assuming Alexis and Martha have known for a while."

Kate nodded. "We told them the day after the night he gave me the red dress."

Lanie gasped and placed her hand to her chest. "Oh, that dress. My God. I thought he spent a fortune on that dress."

"He did. He has it insured, Lanie. I'm serious. It's stored at his house thankfully."

"Exactly what is it Alexis said that has you so wound up? She's a teenager. You know they can be stupid. Even you have confessed to being an insubordinate teenager."

"Yeah, well, I never spoke out of line. My parents would have whipped my rights away forever. She out rightly said she doesn't want me at the house, that I'm a danger to Rick, that I'm one of his many flings, a temporary girlfriend until he finds another…"

"Wow. She really laid it on. Mega fight?"

"No, maybe. Short, but plenty of punch, I guess." She blew her nose. "She caught me off guard, I mean I was on edge about going into the loft but I didn't anticipate an argument."

"Fight, Kate. That was a fight."

"Fight," she conceded. "I didn't expect a fight."

They looked down at her private phone when it sparked into life with an incoming call. It then also occurred to her that no one was aware of their phone. But it did resemble her usual phone.

"Its him," Kate murmured, looking at the photo of him kissing her temple. He was smiling. She was grinning, her arm wrapped firmly above his shoulders. "He must be awake."

"Are you gonna pick up?"

She glanced from screen at Lanie, and her cheeks colored when she realised the doctor had seen the picture of them. She picked up the phone and accepted. "Hey."

"Honey? Where are you?"

"Breakfast with Lanie."

"Oh. I didn't hear you leave."

"You were dead asleep," she replied staring at Lanie, a smile growing over her entire face.

"I guess I was. Well, I'll see you when you get out of court? I'll get some writing done while you're gone. Call me?"

"Okay. Speak to you when we're done. Should wrap up today."

"Good. Take care."

"You too." Beckett looked at the screen as she hung up. "He doesn't seem to have any idea."

"I think he does." Lanie replied. "He's waiting for you to tell him."

"Yeah. Well, that conversation could be a game changer."

"What do you want, Kate? What do you want out of this relationship?"

"To have a public relationship. A traditional dating period. Allow other people to witness our life together. And to get validation of our relationship from a third party."

"Okay. That's fair. Speaking for myself, I would love to spend time with the two of you, away from murder scenes."

Kate was delighted by the idea. "Yes! Me too. Double date. I've never gone this far in a relationship so to do all that sort of stuff would be fun."

"That would be fun." Lanie's phone sounded with a bell. She picked it up and read the text. "Speaking of which, we have a body."

"And I have court." She reached for the coffee to drink the rest of it. "Please don't share this with anyone. We would like to tell everyone when things settle down."

The women stood from the table and together they walked out of the coffee shop.

They were a half block up with Lanie stopped Kate with a hand to her forearm.

"I know what you need to do, Kate."

"What?"

"Text Alexis and ask her to meet you before you both go home tonight. Neutral ground. Talk to her."

Kate briefly bit her lip in thought then looked at Lanie's dark brown eyes. She gave a nod. "That's a good idea."

"Sort out the problem, Kate." The ladies hugged quickly.

"I'm really happy for you, Kate."

"Thank you, Lanie.

They parted company with a promise to catch up soon. With her leather coat wrapped firmly about her body, Kate strode off in the early morning towards the district attorney's office. The walk gave her the time to think matters out. Lanie's suggestion was a good idea. The walk cleared her head in readiness for her final day in court for this month.

The DA's office was bustling with people prepping for their day when the legal and police teams left the boardroom for court. Joining them, Beckett was surprisingly tense in anticipation of the day, even if she carried herself with confidence. Esposito and Ryan had joined her today as it was their day to testify on the stand. They walked at her shoulders. She felt the light brush of Espo's knuckles against hers with the swing of their arms and they simultaneously glanced at each other. He gave her a look. She gave him one back. They smiled.

"Last day, Chica," Esposito said.

"Thankfully. I get five days leave from Friday night." Beckett said as they stopped at the elevator foyer away from the lawyers who were talking about their strategies for court.

"Forced?" Ryan inquired, his eyebrows raising.

"Of course. Montgomery's orders," Kate quietly replied not willing to share too much.

"Well, time off at the loft with Castle." Esposito commented, "That'll be fun."

Beckett pressed her lips together to keep her mouth shut about life at the loft. "Can't wait," she decided to reply when she saw her team were anticipating a response. "But I'm planning to get outa Dodge."

"The bike?" Espo inquired.

She gave a nod and walked toward the elevator door in readiness to board the arriving box. It was going to be a cramped ride down the ground floor. "It would be nice to get away on it for a few days."

"Away from your buddy too."

"He wouldn't do bike trips." She said, but knew he'd try in earnest to go with her. At the back of the elevator she turned about, once again positioned between the two men. The DA caught her eye and gave her a bit of a smile, a reminder that he'd asked her out for dinner the other day, but she had politely declined. He turned about to face the doorway. Esposito had noticed and looked at Kate who slightly shrugged her shoulder. It was assumed by everyone she was single so she was fair game to those interested. It had made things a little awkward even though she'd told him she wasn't available. She she were single, she would have accepted a date proposal.

While on the ride to the ground floor she thought about the conversation with Lanie, having exposed her relationship with Castle. She hoped the doctor would keep it a secret. When she knew how her day was progressing she would text Alexis in the hope she would like to meet up, but currently she was not able to commit to a time.

The doors to the elevator opened.

"Here we go," one of the lawyers said, a comment that caused the group to chuckle.

Beckett checked her phone. Montgomery had sent a good luck text. She put the phone to silent and slipped it into her pocket.

At 4.30 pm, Kate was seated by the window in the café Alexis had requested she be at. To admit she was nervous was an understatement and she wanted to leave. More so, she wanted to resolve their differences so she could peacefully continue to live in harmony with Castle and his family. So, she waited. As the minutes ticked by, she checked her phone numerous times for a text from Alexis to explain she was delayed and would be there soon. She maintained a vigil on the door and front windows. When the phone did beep, she picked it up so see Castle had sent a message asking where she was, how her day had been. She gave it a couple of minutes anticipating his daughter would arrive any time. She didn't. She sent Alexis a text asking if she was still going to meet her. She also saw that Alexis received and read the text immediately, but the response didn't come.

Kate sent a message to Rick to tell him she was window shopping and would be home soon.

Shortly after, Alexis sent a message that said she wouldn't be able to meet and she would see her at home later. Kate hung her head, put down the phone.

She breathed in deeply coming to the realisation the issue was going to linger. Kate straightened up, grabbed her leather bag and left the table. Needing to get some frustration out of her system, she walked home. At Rick's SMS request, she dropped by the store to buy a carton of milk.