"What's going on here Kate?"

"He kissed me, Okay Castle"

"He what?"

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you, we were talking about you, we were talking about relationships and then he kissed me. But it didn't mean anything, at least not to me."

Kate watched him closely. She knew there was one of two ways this could go. Unfortunately, it wasn't going in her favor.

She saw it the moment he put his guard up. His eyes looked cold and far away. She reached out to touch him, but he stepped back.

In her periphery vision, she could see Ryan watching them, knowing all too well what was happening. She couldn't let this happen. Not now, when they were already going through enough.

"Castle..." she tried again, but he turned to look away, staring at the bullet hole in the glass. He took another step back.

"I can't be here right now" he said. And then simply walked away, heading for the door, and out.

Kate's heart clenched in pain. Did she really think he would be okay with this?

She looked at Ryan and he offered her a sympathetic acknowledgement. All she wanted to do was go home right now, to him, to curl up with him in bed and tell him that she loves him, and that she's sorry for whatever happened, even though it wasn't her doing. But all of that seemed a little hard to do right now. This case had just gotten a lot tougher now, and she couldn't just leave it all and run home.

She texted him. "Please come back, we need to talk". After wrapping up at the hotel room, she got into her car and checked her messages. He hadn't replied. She tried calling him, but it went straight to voice mail.

"Castle, I need to be at the precinct right now, please, could you meet me there? I... I'm.. Just please call me back."

She placed her phone on the dashboard and put both her hands on the steering wheel. She hadn't realized the tears brimming until she saw herself in the rear view mirror. She looked away. She couldn't let this bother her now. She needed to find justice for the dead.

She quickly wiped at her eyes and drove on to the precinct.

She was seated at her desk. Erik Vaughn was in Captain Gate's office. Espo came by her desk and said

"Hey, you don't need to be here. Call it a night, and come back tomorrow. Bring him with you."

It was tempting. The idea of going home to him right now, to make up and just to see him.

"I can't. This case just got hotter. And neglecting it now could cause damage."

"So will neglecting him." Espo explained. She looked at the empty chair beside her desk. Espo's right. Maybe she should go home.

She looked at her phone again. And seeing that he still hadn't replied, she knew how angry he must be.

She quickly texted Alexis.

"I'm still caught up at the precinct. I'll be home in a while, please keep an eye on your dad, we had a little misunderstanding and he's upset"

"Dad hasn't come home yet" came an immediate reply from the young girl.

"Oh... alright. Don't worry, He's probably still out then. I'll catch up with him"

In the next 5 minutes, Kate Beckett was in the precinct parking lot, driving out into the street and towards the one place she knew he would be.

As she pushed open the door to the Old haunt, she was greeted by one of the bar tenders who was recently hired.

"Evening Ms Beckett" She acknowledged him with a smile. They all knew her around here.

"Did Rick come in here tonight?"

"Yes, He's in the office"

"Thank you Don" she smiled at him and then quickly walked downstairs to his office.

Right enough, there he was sitting at his desk nursing a glass of whiskey.

"Rick…"

"I got your messages. I chose not to come." He said, without looking up at her. Kate kept silent. Letting the underlying implication of that sentence sink in. it stung. But she deserved it.

"Rick, please come home with me." Anyone could clearly hear the desperation in her voice. He conceded. He stood up, gulped down the rest of his drink, put his coat on and walked past her. She followed him.

Before leaving, he gave his manager instructions to close up the office and then they walked silently to her car. He hadn't even looked at her yet, and it scared her that he was being so distant.

After they were both in the car, she drove on in silence. Not really sure if making conversation with him right now was a good idea. He looked too distant for her liking. And she wasn't really sure whether she deserved this silent treatment he was giving her. None of what happened was her fault.

Somewhere on their way he spoke

"Let's pick up dinner."

"Okay, what do you want to eat?" she asked.

"I'm not hungry"

"You just said you wanted to pick up dinner"

"For you. I'm not hungry." He still wasn't making eye contact. But she appreciated his thoughtfulness. When they stopped at a Chinese restaurant, she ordered take out for two.

By the time they were home, Alexis and Martha had already retired for the night. Kate served the food and they ate in silence. He finished before her and excused himself. Kate knew that this elephant in the room standing between them needed to be tackled now. Waiting this long couldn't possibly help things.

Having lost her appetite the minute he left the table, she covered her plate, had a glass of water and went to their room in search of him.

She entered their room only to find he had already changed into his shorts and his favorite V-neck black t-shirt and was toweling his face after having a wash.

"Castle, we need to talk."

"What do you want to talk about?" he placed the towel on the chair beside their bed and looked at her. This time, finally, he looked directly at her.

"About what happened." She replied.

"You told me what happened." he stated loudly.

"Castle, it didn't mean anything. You know that. I would never cheat on you."

His volume went up a notch "But that's just it. I DONT know that for sure."

And it hit her hard. The words he just said reached into her and clutched her heart in a strangling hold.

"You really though that I would cheat on you with Erik Vaughn?"

"I don't know what to believe."

Kate was suddenly over whelmed with something stronger than hurt. It was anger. And she knew how this was going to end. Because when both of them played the role of the angry partner, it never ended well.

"You know what Castle? Firstly, you have no right to accuse me of cheating. I didn't kiss him. He tried to kiss me, and I pushed him away. Because I know we have something going on. I don't know what it is that we have going on because we never talk about it. But I know there's something."

"Oh wow. So what? I'm supposed to be grateful for that? Cause you pushed him away?" he spat out coldly and it urged her anger on. She stepped further towards him.

"Well at least he paid attention to me Castle! Unlike you, who chooses video games over me! He paid attention enough to know something was troubling me. He paid attention enough to know that whatever was troubling me, had something to do with my relationship with you. And if some stranger can see it, in only two days of knowing me, imagine what it makes me feel like when you don't see it. But I don't know if I can even expect that of you, at least I know I can't expect you to notice me when you're playing those video games"

"Oh please, why are we going there again?"

"Because none of this would have happened if you paid attention to me. I wouldn't be so unsure. I wouldn't have all these insecurities about us."

"Blame it on me… Blame it all on me!" he yelled.

"I don't know why I came here tonight. I could have just stayed at the precinct and got some answers for my case, rather than come here and find absolutely no answers to the questions I have about us. Clearly, the dead appreciate me more than you do Castle."

"Then leave, why are you even here!?"

And before he could change what he said. He saw the tear roll down her cheek, she turned away from him and walked out of the room

"Shit!" he grumbled to himself and quickly got up to go after her.

"Kate, wait!" he regretted whatever just happened. He didn't mean what he said. He didn't mean to make her feel so horrible about this.

The truth was, the fact that Erik Vaughn, a man that Kate Beckett would usually swoon over, was getting to spend so much time with her, had pinched Castle's ego since day one. And then, finding out that he tried to kiss her, tried to win her over and take her away from him, and that she almost fell for him, simply stabbed his ego brutally.

His huge, over sensitive ego.

It was his ego that just asked her to leave. And he regretted it deeply.

As he ran out of his study, he heard the front door slam shut. And by the time he got out in the hallway, she was gone.

"Kate!" He called out desperately.

"Dad?" he heard his daughter's voice call out to him.

"Pumpkin, did I wake you up?"

"No no, I was awake... I heard..."

"You heard us fighting." he said.

She nodded. And then came to him. And he pulled her into an embrace. He needed this comfort. Any kind of comfort.

"I messed up big time" he admitted.

"What are you still doing here dad?"

He nodded and then put his coat on

"Don't wait up for me okay. I'll bring her home soon."

Alexis nodded, and Castle flew out the door.

As he drove on to the precinct in a cab, he began to hate himself for what he had done. For suspecting her of cheating on him, she had every right to be angry with him. He had to admit, he owed her for that night when he was too engrossed in his game to notice her intentions, to notice what she was offering him and what she wanted.

He didn't want to admit it, but yes, he had begun taking her for granted, and he hated that. He was going to change that. Kate Beckett meant the world to him. She was a woman who deserved to be treated well, at all times, she deserved more than what he gave her, and it made him feel like shit the way this had all turned out.

The cab finally stopped at the precinct. He passed a few notes to the cabbie, and got out without taking the change.

The elevator dinged open on the NYPD's homicide floor and he hastily got out, heading straight for her desk and not finding her there. He peeked into the break room and found Ryan and Esposito there.

"Hey guys, have you seen Beckett?"

"She left a long while back, she was coming to see you" he stated.

"Shit!" Castle cursed under his breath. That means she didn't come back to the precinct after he chased her out. 'Then where did she go?' he thought to himself.

Kate Beckett had only ever truly loved one man in her life this much. She never gave so much of herself to anyone before him. He was the one, she'd always known. But tonight, after having tried to speak to him, to figure out what they were at this point in their relationship, things took a step backward.

The one man she'd fallen so in love with, didn't trust her enough. He didn't believe that she was faithful only to him. He didn't believe that she respects him for the man he is, even after he made her feel like complete shit that night, when she went out of her way to give him something special.

After she had left his place, she didn't know where to go. She needed a safe place, somewhere she could go and cry out all this hurt in her. The tears were threatening to fall and her heart ached. She couldn't go back to the precinct, not in this state. So like an animal that seeks his safe-place, his comfort zone when the storm gets too engulfing, she drove back home to her old apartment, hoping that at least her old home would provide her some kind of comfort from all of this.

But here she was, sitting on the ground beside her door, staring at her living room through eyes that were too moist to allow clear vision. Her eyes felt sore. She hadn't gone further than the doorway ever since she entered. Because this place didn't feel like where she needed to be.

No. this was not home. Castle was home. Wherever Castle was, is home. So she had parked herself there and vented out all the emotion that had been bottling up inside her all this while. And when the knock on the door sounded through her apartment, she knew at once who it was. But something in her didn't allow her to reach up and turn the door knob.

He knocked again

"Kate, please open the door"

Castle knew all too well where her emergency key was kept. She would keep the key over the neighbor's door frame. He could easily just grab that key and let himself in, but after everything that night, he felt he had no right to barge into her space that way. No. she deserved the right to decide whether she wanted him in or not. He wasn't going to cross that border without her consent tonight.

"Kate, I know you're in there, I need to talk to you. Please"

And then slowly, the door knob turned. He saw her sitting there on the floor, beside the door. So he walked in, closed the door, and then sat down against it, beside her.

He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him, she didn't fight it. She curled up against him, hid her face in the crook of his neck and they just sat that way for a while.

"I didn't want to open the door." She admitted softly.

"Then why did you?" he asked.

And he got silence in reply. He kissed over her head, continuously placing soft kisses atop her beautiful hair, until finally he spoke.

"I've been a fool. I was a fool to not see who you are to me, and I was a fool for not paying attention to you. And I wish I hadn't taken you for granted. But I did. And I regret it babe. I do."

She snuggled closer to him, he let her throw her legs over his lap, and she clutched on to his collar, while she hid her face in his shoulder.

"Whatever I said today, however I reacted, I didn't mean to make you feel so horrible."

"You don't trust me Castle"

"I do Kate. Believe me."

She was silent.

"It came as a blow to my ego, when Gates said you'd be staying with him at the hotel. Kate, forgive me for this, because I felt jealous of him. I envied his success and how he always gets whatever he wants, including NYPDs finest to protect him. Even if it was just for a night, you were going to be away from me, to be in his hotel room, and it made me insecure. Cause I knew we were already having fights since that night, and I feared that you actually wanted to be away from me."

"I was angry Castle. I needed a little space to clear my mind, but I wasn't going to cheat on you."

"I know Kate. But at that moment, when you told me he kissed you, I couldn't think straight. Only anger rose within me, because what I feared would happen, happened. But what I did and said to you after, was uncalled for. There is no excuse for the way I acted. I didn't want you to leave. I wanted you to stay with me, and I wanted to make it up to you, for all the nonsense I've been doing lately, for not treating you the way you deserve to be treated. But instead I chased you away, and I hated myself for it.

I love you Kate. And I need you. I really do. Please come back home with me"

And he kissed her again, this time, letting his lips linger longer on her head.

"I pushed him away. It would have been too easy to just give in to what he was offering, but NO Castle, I'm in this with you, and honestly, no one can make me feel the way I do when I'm with you. So no, I didn't give in. Cause even though I have no clue where this relationship is going, I'm not someone who would be unfaithful. "

"And I absolutely respect that about you Kate. In fact, it only makes me love you more. So let me answer this question for us once and for all" he said.

"Honestly, I got no clue where we're going" he admitted.

The hope in Kate's eyes almost vanished. But he quickly continued. "But I know one thing for sure, we're going the right direction. And that's enough for now."

She smiled. "You're right. It is enough." She felt good. That at least now, they were on the same page. They both wanted the same things even though they weren't ready as yet to admit what those things were. But they were moving together. And hopefully, whether they moved forward or backward in this relationship, they'd always stick together. Nothing mattered as long as they were together.

He stared into her beautiful eyes, searching for some way to read what was going on in her mind right now. He pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and she spoke with a smile.

"I didn't like the feel of his lips on mine. And I want to forget it. You think we could go home now, and maybe, erase that memory?" She asked with a mischievous smile, the tease that she was, she was playing with his top button and he could see right through her now.

"why wait that long?" he said with an equally sultry smile, and then softly caressed her face and kissed her long and passionately, his lips brushing beautifully against hers, making her melt into his kiss. He held her close, now and then his hands caressing her hair, her arms, her sides. And she kissed him with everything she had in her, letting him know that she could only ever love him this way, only ever kiss him this way. No one else would ever be worthy of this.

Rick Castle had been a fool to neglect the woman who was currently unbuttoning his shirt at the speed of lightening. But never again would he make that mistake. Kate Beckett was worthy of so much more, and he was going to show it to her tonight, tomorrow, and every day of their lives together. They had no clue where they were going, but he knew deep down, she wanted the whole deal, and he'd readily give it to her. It was what he wanted too.

Leave me a review with your thoughts :) Thank you for reading.