As you guys can tell, this is a long one. I thought about breaking it up into two chapters, but I decided not to do that to you. You've all waited so patiently. :) I was a little worried about writing this chapter, because it's the only part of the story that hadn't been fully figured out yet. And it's my first story since my muse decided to take a four month break without warning me. But I had a lot of fun writing this and was giggling quite a bit (that's a good thing). I haven't asked for reviews with the other chapters (I wanted them but didn't ask, I was too focused on getting the story done, hence the reason for no A/N with the last chapter) but so many of you have been so sweet to give them to me anyway. For this chapter, I'm asking. I REALLY want to know what you think.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be no DC storyline. Although it's better than I thought it would be...I felt better after she said yes, even though I knew she would (ahhhh, spoilers...)

Kate was scared to open her eyes. If writing 'I love you, Castle' in the flour hadn't worked, she didn't know what to do. But at least this time, she would have Castle to help her brainstorm ideas.

"Dad, is she okay?"

Kate wanted to know the answer to that herself.

"I don't know, Pumpkin." Castle's fingers lightly ran through the hair (or was it fur? Please, let it be hair!) as he softly called out to her, "Kate?"

Was he addressing the woman or the cat?

It was the first time Kate wished he had named her cat self something else, so she would know whom he was talking to.

"Did it work?" Relief flooded Kate that it was her voice. Soft and rusty from lack of use, but still her voice.

Castle moved his hand from her hair before replying. "If you mean are you you again, yes, it worked." He was quiet for a brief moment before asking, "Beckett, how…what….who….?"

Kate slowly opened her eyes, meeting his concerned blue gaze. She hesitated for a moment, not sure how much she wanted him to know. Finally decided she wanted his input-she would need his help if the strange gypsy woman pulled this on her again-Kate decided to tell him everything. Well, almost everything. She left out the part about Royce's letter. It would reveal too much about how strong her feelings were for the man.

As soon as she had finished her story, Kate watched as father and daughter exchanged worried glances.

"Dad, that sounds like Mad Martha," Alexis said.

"But why would she target Kate?" Castle wondered aloud.

"Mad Martha?" They weren't actually talking about the matriarch of the family, were they? The red-haired actress certainly had a dramatic flair, but she wasn't crazy.

Was she?

Kate had never seen any signs of mental instability, but Kate had arrested and interrogated enough criminals over the years to know that there were mentally ill people with the ability to hide their condition from outsiders.

And it just didn't seem like something Alexis would call her grandmother, even if the woman was secretly insane.

"She was Gram's great-aunt," Alexis explained. "She was a circus performer in the 1920s and 1930s. She had an acrobat act with her twin sister, Mary. And she did fortune telling on the side. She told the wrong person, a banker, that the woman he loved was destined to be with someone else and he needed to let her go. The guy went into a rage. But before he could hurt her, he disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Kate was skeptical. But, then again, the woman did turn her into a cat.

Alexis nodded. "Her sister said the guy was turned into a rat, but of course no one believed her."

Kate shuddered.

"But why would she go after you?" Castle, not surprisingly, was stuck on that point.

Kate was sure she knew. It had to do with the part of her experience that she had hoped to keep from Castle.

What you have with Castle is real, but you're fighting it.

Kate heard the words as if the woman had spoken them directly to her. The lack of reaction from either Castle or his daughter told Kate she was the only one to have heard the words.

STOP FIGHTING IT!

Kate flinched. The words had been yelled at her, but again, Kate was the only one who had heard them.

"Beckett, you okay?"

"She's probably cold, Dad," Alexis said and headed over to the closet, presumably to get a blanket.

Now that Alexis had mentioned it, Kate was a bit cold. But why had Alexis thought so? It was the middle of May and Kate had dressed adequately for-

Oh no.

Not even 'Mad Martha' would be that cruel, would she?

Alexis was in the room, for crying out loud!

Kate jerked up from her prone position and glanced down.

Not as bad as she feared, but bad enough.

The skinny jeans and black boots were still there, but white blouse was completely gone, as was the light black jacket she had worn with it. At least she still had the skin-colored lace bra on, so she wasn't completely topless.

Castle must be really worried if he hadn't immediately started teasing her about that.

"I'm fine, Castle," Kate answered as Alexis covered her with a soft, thick blanket.

"I'll go get you one of dad's shirts," Alexis said and quickly headed upstairs.

At the smirk on Castle's face, Kate pleaded, "Don't, Castle. Just, don't."

"You were purring."

The words caught Kate off guard. After bringing down the shirt Alexis had said she was going to finish her report because it was due the next day but to let her know if they needed anything. Kate had wanted to leave then but Castle had insisted that they needed to figure things out to keep the whole thing from happening again. With the determined expression that Kate saw rarely enough that she never failed to give into it, Castle lifted her blanket covered feet, sat down and laid them across his lap. He had angled his body in her direction but been silent for a whole two minutes before the words had come out of his mouth.

"Cats purr, Castle." Kate shrugged. "No big deal."

"I don't know about that, Beckett. You were purring a lot."

Kate was barely able to keep a blush from flooding her cheeks. "And cats purr a lot. It's what they do."

"You were jumping on to my lap a lot, too."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Because I was trying to use your laptop."

"Oh, right." Castle frowned for a second before his eyes got the twinkle in them that never

Failed to make Kate nervous. "You also kissed me. Twice."

Kate didn't have a reply to that.

"I think it's safe for me to go, Castle," she said. "If 'Mad Martha' was going to try something she would have done it already."

Castle shook his head. "You did something to set her off. Or didn't do something. Are you sure you told us everything that happened?"

"I-"

She couldn't bring herself to lie. Darn it.

"I-"

Nope, couldn't do it.

"Beckett, what aren't you telling me?"

Kate snorted. She couldn't help it. The amount of stuff she wasn't telling him wouldn't fill just a book but a whole stinkin' library!

"Beckett, this is serious." Castle was getting irritated, Kate could tell. And she couldn't really blame him. He was right. It was serious.

But could she actually tell him?

Maybe she could make it sound like it was just all in Mad Martha's head, all in Royce's head.

If she could just tell him without actually telling him…

It was worth a shot.

"The letter that Royce sent me," Kate knew Castle had seen it, "it…mentioned you." Kate swallowed hard. "He said that what we have is real and," she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, "that I'm fighting it."

"Are you?"

Kate wasn't expecting such a direct inquiry.

"I-" Not that again! "Mad Martha seemed to think so. She basically quoted everything Royce wrote about you before she, um, changed me."

"What do you think?"

What the heck? What was Castle doing? He never pressed her like this!

"I think that what matters is what Mad Martha thinks," Kate said.

"So this was her way of getting you to stop 'fighting it?'"

Kate nodded. She was going to have to be very careful with what she said next. "She told me: 'When you heart speaks, words will follow.'"

The hope that sprang to his eyes made Kate feel restless, like she wanted to jump out of her own skin. It was too much.

She needed to put the brakes on this. Fast.

But if she did, would she do irreparable damage? To their friendship, their partnership, to any hopes of a future with him?

"Did you?" Castle asked.

Maybe she could say it without saying it. "It worked, didn't it?"

The hope in Castle's eyes receded, resignation taking its place.

She couldn't do it. To him. To them.

"Castle." Kate waited for him to meet her gaze. "It worked because it's true."

The happiness that radiated from his eyes, the complete and utter joy, made it impossible for Kate to keep her distance any longer. She launched herself at him, his emotions triggering hers. Their lips had barely touched when a loud 'meow' startled them apart.

Kate and Castle frantically searched for the source of the sound. And Martha holding an animal carrier with some type of black cat inside.

"Richard, where is that darling cat that Alexis called and told me about?" she asked a stunned Castle. "Lance Hastings said we could borrow his Persian for the weekend. As long as we give him one of the kittens, of course."

Castle quickly held up his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "I had nothing to do with-"

Kate knew that. She did. But the thought that any of the Castles would….even if they hadn't known….

"You're just lucky Alexis decided to bake cookies," Kate ground out between clenched teeth. "But get that cat out of here. Now."

Castle jumped up and hurried to hasten a baffled Martha out the door.

Once Martha and the cat were gone Castle headed towards her but stopped halfway across the room, his expression wary.

Kate needed to get the image of what could have happened out of her head immediately if not sooner. There was only one thing guaranteed to do the job.

Quick strides had her in front of Castle in a couple of seconds. She firmly pushed him back on to the couch, landing on top of him a moment later.

"You owe me, Castle," she murmured against his lips.

Castle grinned. "Whatever you want," he promised.

"Good." Kate took one of his hands in hers and brought it to the top button of the shirt she was wearing. "Because what I want right now-" Forever, but he didn't need to know that quite yet "is you." Kate pressed Castle's fingers around the button. "And Castle? You're doing all the work."