A/N: This breaks from the POV theme because I wanted to write from Kate's not Meredith's. (Imagine that)

Kate sat sprawled on the couch under one of Castle's impossibly soft blankets, trying her hardest to keep her eyes open to read the book in front of her. As she read the same sentence for the fifth time, still not absorbing its meaning, she sighed and set the book on the coffee table giving in to her tired brain. She had been running for days on nothing but coffee.

The moment she finally drifted off, a knock sounded through the loft. Kate growled. Alexis was over at Paige's and Castle was taking care of something at the Old Haunt, so no one was expected. Unless of course, Castle had forgotten his keys (again).

"Really, Cast…" Kate trailed off as the door swung open, revealing not her writer, but his ex-wife. Crap. Kate did not have the energy for this.

"Detective Beckett!" exclaimed Meredith, looking entirely to perky for 10:30.

"Hello, Meredith." Kate stood awkwardly in the doorway, taking in the several large suitcases in the hallway. She really, really did not have the energy for this.

"Umm… May I speak to Richard?" asked Meredith after a minute.

Kate rubbed her hand down her face. "No."

"Excuse me?"

"He's not here right now." Kate said tiredly. "Speaking of which, why are you?"

"I'm here to surprise my daughter for her birthday. Why are you here?" replied Meredith icily.

"You do realize Alexis birthday was last week?" Kate asked, not in the mood to be interrogated in her boyfriends loft. Or well, just outside of it.

"I had a movie I was filming. Again Kate, it's not like you're his girlfriend." Meredith shot back.

"Wrong."

"Excuse me?" said Meredith, looking confused. God, why her?

It was then that the elevator decided to open on an oblivious Richard Castle. Kate immediately looked to him for help, and he stopped up short.

"Meredith, uh, what are you doing here?" He asked, looking a little scared at the scene in front of him. Kate didn't blame him.

"I was just asking Kate the same thing." She replied, looking decidedly unhappy.

"Kate is—"

"His girlfriend, who has every right to be here, unlike some other people." She was past caring that her filter was off. She would have said more, but her jaw cracked on a yawn.

Meredith shot her a glare. Before she could strike back, Castle cut in. "Well Meredith, Alexis is not here right now, so how about you go catch a cab—"

"Can't I stay here?" Meredith whined.

"—to a hotel, no, you cannot, and we will see you tomorrow." Unfortunately, Kate added in her head. He moved to put his arm around her before she fell over, and she gratefully sagged into his side.

"Fine." Meredith replied through the thin line of her mouth.

"I'll call Eduardo to help you." And with that, Castle steered Kate back into the loft and shut the door. "That was terrible. Are you okay?"

Kate sighed. "Ya Castle, just take me to bed."

A/N: Holy Batman two updates in a day. You guys are lucky I was so guilty about not posting. PS thanks to everyone sending suggestions, I hadn't even thought about Meredith until a guest suggested it (Thanks Guest!).