Disclaimer: If I owned 'em I wouldn't be writing fanfic now would I? ;)

Timeline: Sometime in late season 5 or very early season 6.

Authors Note: I went with a T rating just to be safe for future chapters, cuz ya never know what might come up and knowing me and my nervousness to post anything on here I would probably forget to change it as time went on.

They're silent with each other the whole morning, Kate doesn't even say a word when Castle brings her coffee and sets it on the bathroom counter while shes getting ready. So he retreats to the kitchen and sits at the bar reading the paper, still quite surprised, because of her current state of not talking, that she actually woke him up this morning when she got the call.

"Dad!" Alexis bounds down the stairs.

"Morning, Pumpkin. What time are you leaving to head back to school-"

"What did you say to Kate last night?" Alexis interjects and completely changes the subject.

Castle plays dumb, "What are you talking about?"

"I was up early Skyping with Max, his family went to Europe for a family reunion and I wanted to talk to him before they left for the day. Anyways, I saw Kate storm out of here for a morning run and she did not look happy."

"She always goes for a morning run." Castle remarks, still hoping his daughter doesn't catch on.

"Dad! She looked extremely angry and she was so driven to get out of here that she completely missed me sitting on the couch. What did you say to her?"

Just then, Kate comes from the office with her gun, badge and keys and interrupts their conversation. "Good morning Alexis. Text me when you get back to your dorm. Just remember, a few more weeks and its Spring Break. Drive safe!" Kate squeezes her tightly, shoots a glare in Castle's direction and is out the door. Leaving Castle trailing behind, if he has any hopes of catching a ride with her to the crime scene he better get going. "Goodbye, Pumpkin." He leans in and quickly kisses her on the forehead. "I'll call you tonight."

"Bye!" Alexis calls after them.

By the time he gets into the hall, Kate is standing in the elevator with her hand braced on the door to keep it open. They stay in complete, and in Castle's opinion awkward, silence down to the parking garage. Usually on the mornings Kate stays over she lets Castle drive, but in order to not rock the boat even more, Castle makes his way to the passenger door without hesitation.

"So you're really not gonna talk to me?" Castle remarks to an obviously pissed off Beckett as they step out the elevator and turn to enter the morgue.

"No!"

"Alright. What's going on with the two of you?" Lanie tries to pry, knowing she probably won't get much from Kate while Castle is still in the room, but it's worth a shot.

"Nothing."

"Kate, would you please talk to me?" Castle begs.

"Got anything for us, Lanie?" Kate sharply changes the subject to the body on hand.

"As a matter of fact I do, two .32s, but other than that, no prints and no..."

"What about..." Castle was cut off my an extremely pissed Beckett glare.

"Alright, Castle. Out... Now!" The ME exclaims.

"But wha-t about the body, and..." He was cut off again by a death glare, but this one from not from his visibly seething girlfriend who was not meeting his gaze, but from a very angry medical examiner who had access to very sharp objects. Castle knew how to pick his battles and this definitely wasn't one of them.

"Spill."

"What?!" Kate huffs.

"You know what."

"It's nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing."

"Lanie. I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Kate." Lanie begs with a glare that could melt ice.

"Fine... Castle sorta asked me a question when we were in bed last night and I'm pretty sure he meant it but..."

"But what? what did he ask you?" Lanie starts to get impatient.

"-it's just that I didn't think we were to that point yet and..." Kate continues on her train of thought.

A shrill alert tone comes from the ME's phone and Kate, who sees this as her out, turns to walk out, but is caught by the elbow by Lanie before she can get very far. "Ah ah ah! Not so fast. Don't think you're getting away that easy. Drinks. My apartment. Tonight at 8. You don't show, I will come find you."

Kate grins, half frustrated but also half relieved and slips out to deal with the situation waiting for her in the hallway.

"Pearlmutter? What do you want?" can be heard as the morgue doors flutter closed.

Another note from the Author: So this started out as something fun, but then it took a little bit of an abrupt turn. If you have thoughts of ideas or a review or whatever drop 'em by or PM me, I don't mind. Please be easy on me though, this is one of my first few stories. Ya'll are great. Cheers.