The first two weeks of her new job are an absolute nightmare. She's coming in as a captain - without ever having set foot in the precinct - and the sharks are circling. If she thought everyone in LA was going to be zen and laid back, she'd been incredibly mistaken. She's not about to take anyone's bullshit lying down, but toeing the line between getting them to respect her and pissing them off even further has been rocky.

She wishes she had Castle in there to work beside her, a friendly and familiar face at least, but even if she could swing that at some point, she'll have to wait until she can get more established there.

That hasn't stopped him from offering, though.

"I can make some calls," he says Friday night. He's set to go back to his apartment in two days and she's already dreading it. She's not sure she's built for this whole week on/week off living situation, but she's been hesitant to bring it up to him.

She smacks his cheek with a kiss before she lifts her half-drunk glass of wine from the coffee table, which is currently littered with several half-eaten boxes of takeout Chinese containers.

"There is nothing I would love more, but I think I need to rough it out a little more before I bring in another member of my team."

He beams. "Your team, huh?"

She lifts a thumb to smooth over his lips. "You'll always be on my team, Castle." She nudges him. "Whether you like it or not."

He cards his fingers through the ends of her hair. "Did you have anything specific in mind that you wanted to do this weekend? I thought maybe we could hit the farmer's market before I head back to my apartment on Sunday."

She winces reflexively, hopes it isn't written all over her face, but one glance at him tells her she's just not that lucky tonight.

He cocks his head. "It was just an idea. We don't have to go to the farmer's market, Beckett."

She shakes her head. "No, that wasn't...I love the farmer's market, Castle. Let's do it."

He frowns. "So what was with that face you made just now?"

She bites her lip. Yeah, she needs to talk about this.

"All right, honestly?" she begins, lifting her bare feet from the floor to tuck them under her legs as she turns to face him, tugging her (his) oversize tee-shirt down. "The thought of you leaving on Sunday makes me sick inside." She sighs. "I hate everything about this living arrangement, Castle."

His warm, calloused fingers cradle the side of her face and the movement settles her. Quiets her. "Kate, why didn't you say something?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. I didn't feel like I had a right to. I'm the reason we're here right now in this in-between stage. Not exactly in a position to be making demands."

"You aren't making a demand. You're telling me how you feel. And hiding things from each other is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place."

Ugh, yeah. He's right.

"You're right." She lifts her hands up in frustration, slapping them down onto her thighs. "You're right."

"But you know something?" His hand drops from her face, heavy, on a sigh. "I hate it, too."

Her eyes snap to his, incredulous. "You do?"

"Can't exactly call you out for not laying your feelings out there when I didn't either. I guess I just felt like doing it this way, even if I hate it, was the...right thing to do?"

"And now?" she asks.

His hand settles over hers atop her knee. "Doesn't seem to make much sense for us to be miserable. I thought that moving slower, whatever the hell that means at this point, would help us navigate the issues in our marriage, but I feel like it's just creating new ones. Holding back when it took us so long to get where we are seems ridiculous now, don't you think?"

Her heart thumps loud in her chest, overcome with his words. Always overcome with his words. She leans into him, wrapping a hand gently around his neck as her mouth falls onto his. He breathes life into her as she loses herself in him - in this.

Her lips slip away, caressing his jaw. "I love you," she says softly. "I love you so much, Castle."

His arms encircle her in a tight embrace and she feels his chest rattle as he sucks in a breath. "I love you too, Kate."

It's the first time in two years either of them have said the words to each other, and it sends her body quaking.

He pulls her into his lap, holding her as she buries her head into his neck, inhaling the heavenly scent of his aftershave. His lips skate across her forehead as he rubs soothing circles across her back. "I love you, I love you," he murmurs.

She loses count of how long they stay there, just like that.

They spend the rest of the night relaxing, emotionally spent, making plans to figure out the details of their unique living situation before Kate has to head back into the precinct on Monday.

She rouses at 8 a.m. the next day, Castle dead to the world beside her, mouth cracked wide open. It makes her laugh, makes her happy, makes her grateful to be able to see him like this again. Content and whole. On their way back to being where they were.

The farmer's market isn't until Sunday, so there's no rush for them to start their day. After she pads to the bathroom, Kate cuddles back in next to him, resting her cheek against his warm bare shoulder as she cracks open a book she's been meaning to finish.

An hour and one stiff neck later, she slides out of bed and tosses her book onto her nightstand before she leans down to kiss him. He'll wake soon, she knows - they went to bed on the early side last night - and she's been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make him breakfast in bed.

No time like the present.

Castle wakes to an empty bed and the mouthwatering aroma of sizzling bacon and coffee. He fumbles for his phone on the nightstand, smacking his hand against the wood in the process - fuck - and checks the time with one bleary eye open. He groans, drops his phone gracelessly onto the sheets before he scrubs at his eyes. He's gotten plenty of sleep, more than enough rest, but he can't bring himself to get out of bed.

If only Kate were still laying next to him, it would be the perfect morning.

"Caaastle," he hears her sing-song, as if on cue, and it's the most perfect sound. If he wasn't distracted by the sight of her bare-shouldered in his t-shirt carrying a tray of bacon, strawberries, coffee and waffles through her bedroom door, he'd ask her to sing that little tune again.

God, he loves her.

"You made me breakfast?" he beams, shooting up into a sitting position.

She laughs. "I did," she confirms on a lilt, her eyes sparkling in the morning sun that streams through her windows. She settles the tray into his lap and captures his lips, her tongue sweeping inside his mouth in a morning kiss that leaves his toes curling in her cotton sheets.

"Good morning," he says softly, letting his head rest against hers for a brief moment.

"Hi," she chuckles, nudging his nose with hers before she plops herself down next to him. She brushes her sun-kissed hair out of her face and picks up the second fork that lay on the tray.

"Where's your breakfast, Beckett?" he teases.

She narrows her eyes, pointing her fork at him. "Don't be cute, Castle."

He pouts. "I thought that's how you liked me."

"That's how I love you," she corrects him with a smile before she drowns her half of the waffle in syrup.

He's been worried about her after the rough week she had at work. She's been drained, the circles under her eyes making a reappearance despite their restful few days the week before. But this morning, she looks lighter, happier after they went to bed early last night. And, he thinks, probably also because she spilled the beans on how she really felt about their living situation.

Which he's grateful for because he was really hesitating bringing it up himself after he was the one who came up with such a half-cocked idea to begin with.

"What do you want to do today?" he asks around a mouthful of bacon. It's extra crispy, just the way he likes it.

She shrugs, unconcerned. "Maybe we could lay out by the pool for a while, figure out where we're gonna live?" She licks away a spot of syrup that lingers at the corner of her lips, and the motion itself is intoxicating. Maybe he can convince her to stay in bed for another hour first…

"And then I would love to hit the library. Need something new to read," she says, popping a strawberry into her mouth.

The library? Okay, yeah, that's it.

"God, you are so hot," he groans.

She tilts her head back with a tinkling laugh, exposing the long line of her tanned neck. "I promise to let you have your way with me after breakfast is over, Castle."

"Oh, I'm going to hold you to that, Katherine Beckett."

"When did you say the last day of your lease was?" he asks, spreading sunblock down his arms. He's already pretty tan at this point in the season, but he'd gotten a stern warning from the dermatologist at his last appointment a couple of weeks ago to be more serious about taking care of his skin.

Kate looks up from her book, squinting at him in the sunlight. She dog-ears the page she was on and he fights back a wince at that as she pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes.

"I would have to be out in the next two weeks," she says.

Hmm. Well, they could maybe...no -

"What?" she asks.

He snaps out of his thoughts. "I was thinking about whether that would give us enough time to find a new place."

Kate frowns. "I thought you liked your condo."

"I do, but it's not exactly a convenient commute to the precinct. To do that every day? You'll be miserable, Kate."

"Yeah, but I won't always be working like a straight 9 to 5, Castle. There will be plenty of times that I'll be going to and from work outside of rush hour."

"I'm telling you that you do not want to drive 20 miles to work and back on the 405 everyday, Beckett, I don't care what time of day it is. You'll go insane."

She lifts an eyebrow. "I will or you will?"

"What?"

"I hate the traffic, Castle, don't get me wrong, but it seems to really bother you."

He sighs, flopping back onto his pool chair. "I don't know, I guess I just took it for granted - being able to get around everywhere in New York so easily."

"LA starting to lose its luster for you?"

He shrugs. "Sometimes."

"We don't have to stay here. You know that, right?"

"You just got here."

She rolls her eyes. "I'm not saying we should move back to New York tomorrow. I'm just saying we're not tied to anything here. We give it at least six months to a year. If we don't settle in here, we can move back." She swings her legs over her chair to settle onto the concrete. "Rick," she starts, reaching over to settle her hand over his. "I moved to LA for you, for us. It's kind of nice to be somewhere new for a little while, but at the risk of sounding like a cheeseball, I don't care where we are, as long as we're together."

He grins. "Beckett, am I rubbing off on you?"

She rolls her eyes. "I knew you wouldn't let that one slide."