Authors Note: I know, I know...another story. I've already got 2 in progress...but this idea just popped into my head. Goes AU after the Pilot. Hope you like.

Thanks to alwayscastle2 for being my extra pair of eyes. 65 days! :)

Reviews are love, leave some!

-Krystle

Full Summary: Tired of the back and forth dance that her friends have been doing for the last two years, Lanie takes matters into her own hands. She plans a karaoke night, purposely choosing songs that are specific to Rick and Kate's feelings. Will things go the way she plans, or will the plan blow up in her face, and secrets be revealed?

For the last two years, Richard Castle had been following around New York City's best homicide detective, Kate Beckett. He had hit a wall and needed inspiration, and she was just what he was looking for. She was smart, witty, tough, sexy…everything he could ever want in a woman…and muse. His friendship with the mayor gained him access to the Twelfth Precinct's homicide department, and to Kate.

After the first case they worked, he had asked her out, telling her that they could be great. She did that sexy lip bite of hers, and leaned in whispering, "You have no idea." And slipped a card in his shirt pocket before sauntering off adding an extra sway of her hips. Once he left the ally, he reached in his pocket to pull out her card; on the back was her phone number and a message that said 'Call me'.

And he did, later that night.

Their first date was simple, dinner and movie. Kate saw a different side to Richard Castle. She thought he was just another arrogant rich man. The kind who would just buy his way into whatever he wanted. The Richard Castle she saw that night was the person, not the socialite. For the first time in forever, Kate had actually enjoyed herself on a date. She was still reeling from the fact that her favorite author chose her, a cop, to go out with.

When he brought her back to her apartment and walked her up, she felt the butterflies take flight in her stomach at the feel of his hand on the small of her back. Standing outside of her door, she turns to face him and smiles. "I had a great time tonight, Rick," she says, after she'd called him Castle a few times, he told her that tonight, he was just Rick, and she was just Kate.

"I'm glad," he says, grinning back at her. "We should do this again. Are you free Saturday?"

Kate gulps, is he seriously asking her out again? She nods, "Uh, yeah, as long as the streets of New York stay quiet, I'm free."

"Good," a smile playing on his lips. "It's a date."

"It's a date," Kate echoes, her eyes meeting his. She follows his movement with her eyes as he leans down and kisses her cheek.

"Until tomorrow, Kate."

"Good night, Rick."

From then on, the duo was inseparable. Rick had weaseled himself into being a permanent fixture at the precinct. After his first permanent day, he had showed up to Kate's apartment only to be met with a very angry cop.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"That I could help you with your cases," he answers.

"I don't need any help!" she exclaims, pacing back and forth, burning a hole in her hard wood floor. "If Montgomery finds out about us that's it, you're gone. There's a strict no co-workers dating policy."

He stops her pacing, and wraps his arms around her waist. "Kate, if you really want me to not be there with you every day, then I won't. I'll tell the mayor that I'll follow someone else at a different precinct."

Kate sighs, and runs her hands up his arms until they're around his neck, "It's not that I don't want you there; I'd love to see you more, I just don't think with us dating it's a good idea."

"So we don't change anything," he says, formulating a plan, "you just keep treating me how you did on our first case, and I'll keep pushing your buttons. No touching, no nothing. We'll keep up the teasing…what happens when we leave for the day is ours. What do you say, Kate? Are you a good actress?"

She shakes her head, smiling, "I guess we'll find out."

"Really?" his eyes lighting up.

Kate nods, "Yeah. Really."

The first year working and dating was interesting. Their friends had no idea that they were together, and neither did the captain. If she was being honest with herself, she hated not being able to touch him. She was falling hard and fast for this man-child. Working with him for hours and not being able to be in his arms, or hold his hand-an action she usually hated, but with him, everything felt right-or even kiss him…her acting skills were really being put to the test.

She had to pretend it had no effect on her when women would throw themselves at him, and he would pretend to like it. At the end of the day, he went home with her, or she went home with him. Most nights, it was she who went to his place. She can't remember the last time she slept at her apartment. Truth be told, she really didn't want to be alone. She's used to falling asleep next to him, and waking up wrapped up in his arms.

She and his daughter have become close as well. Kate's more than thrilled to be a motherly figure in her life, considering the lack of her biological mother. Alexis comes to Kate with the questions that she'd be embarrassed to ask her dad. Questions about boys and cramps and everything else in between that a girl needs another girl to talk to about.

Kate pushes Rick into the loft and is attached to him at the lips in no time, hands roaming, pulling him as close to her as possible. She lets out a small moan when he nips at her lip, she allows him access to her mouth, their tongues battling for dominance.

When the need for air arises, they rest their foreheads together. "Kate, not that I'm complaining, but where did this come from?"

"Do you know how hard it is to watch other women throw themselves at you, and I can't do anything about it?"

"Kate-"

"I don't like it, Rick," she says. "I love working with you, but I don't like watching you pretend to enjoy the attention they're giving you. And if that makes me jealous, then yes, I'm jealous." She never planned on telling him this way, but she had had enough and needed to know that he felt the same way. "I don't like not being able to tell these tramps that the man they're throwing themselves at is the man that I'm so hopelessly in love with that I can't see straight."

At some point, she had lowered her head; she only realizes it because his fingers lift her chin so she's looking up at him. He kisses her softly, and pulls her flush against him. "How do you think I feel when a potential suspect hits on the woman I love in the interrogation room?"

"Really?"

"God, yes, Kate," he growls, pushing her up against the door. "I love you so much."

She runs a hand down his cheek, and over his lips, "I love you too, Rick. More than I thought possible."

She had moved in shortly after that, both knowing that there was no point in stopping the inevitable from happening. They kept the apartment just in case something came up and Lanie insisted on a girl's night. Martha would split her time at the loft and Kate's old place, so the couple is alone and so she could have a place to go to when she needed to be alone as well.

She really couldn't believe that they had been able to keep their relationship a secret for two years. She was sure that with how well Lanie knew her that she'd be the first to figure it out, but she hasn't…and if she has, then she hasn't hinted towards it.

Kate wakes to an arm pulling her towards a warm body, and kisses being trailed up her shoulder to her neck and her hair being pushed to the side. His warm breath tickles her skin and she smiles, her eyes still closed.

"Good morning, beautiful," he whispers, brushing his lips against her earlobe.

She shivers. "Good morning, handsome."

The hand attached to the arm on her stomach begins to stroke her skin. "Happy anniversary."

She turns in his arms then, cupping his cheek with her hand. She smiles up at him, "happy anniversary."

Their lips meet in the middle, and he's quickly moved to where he's hovering above her, nestled between her thighs. "I have something for you."

She wiggles her hips and gives him a naughty grin. "I can tell."

He chuckles, "Yes, that too, but I have something else for you too."

"What?"

"Close your eyes," he whispers, kissing her softly as she does what she's told. She can hear him shuffling around, he knows she doesn't really like surprises, but she'll do anything to keep him happy. "Okay," he whispers, "open."

She opens her eyes, and the smile on her face turns to shock when she sees what he's got for her. She wasn't expecting this, not in the slightest. Her eyes go from the open box up to his face and the tears start to form in her eyes, "Rick…"

"Kate, the last two years have been the best two years of my life. I don't know what I would do without you. You've changed me, you've taken a chance on me, you've seen the real me. You love my daughter and treat her as though she's your own. You love my mother, and you love me. Everything in my life has been handed to me, or I've bought it. I had to work for you. There were times when doubt would cloud your mind, and I'd have to chase after you. I'll keep chasing you for as long as you'll let me. You're all I've ever wanted, and I'm so glad that I've found you. So, what I'm asking is, Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you let me chase you for the rest of our lives? Marry me?"

The tears in her eyes blur her vision until she blinks them out. She smiles and nods, her words not quite working, not until his eyes light up, and she nods her head harder, "Yes, yes okay, yes I'll marry you. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Kate," he returns, plucking the ring from the box and sliding it on her finger; it's a perfect fit, just like them. He leans down, capturing her lips in a sweet kiss. Pulling apart to yell out, "SHE SAID YES!"

Kate giggles at the squeal she hears from the other side of the door before it flies open and Alexis comes running in, jumping on the bed to engulf her dad and Kate in a hug.

At work she wears the ring on her necklace next to her mom's. Both hanging low next to her heart; the life she lost and the life she's living with her always. Lanie has called her down to the morgue which wouldn't be a problem, if it weren't for the fact that she and the guys didn't have an active murder case right now.

"What's up, Lanie?"

"You, me, the guys and Castle are going out tonight. That's what's up," the ME says, without looking up from the remains of the woman she's working on.

"Okay…" Kate says, confused. "Why?"

Dropping the scalpel in her hand, Lanie looks up. "Because, you and Castle are starting to make me dizzy."

"Um," Kate's eyebrows furrow. "What do you mean?"

"This dance you two are doing around each other," she explains, "It's making me dizzy."

"Lanie-"

"No, Kate. The man is crazy about you, and I know you're crazy about him," Lanie smiles at Kate's shocked face. "What was that a secret?"

Kate opens her mouth and then closes it again, and blinks a few times. She can't believe she's having this conversation right now. "Lanie, look, its complicated ok. I work with the guy, and you know the rules."

"Rules were made to be broken, Kate."

"Lanie, really? I'm a cop. My career is based on following the rules, and making sure those who break them are punished."

"Look. It's one night of harmless fun," Lanie says, "what's the worst that can happen?"

To be continued…