She hadn't seen him in eight long days, because he was on a multi city book tour. They had been together for a little over six months and this had been, by far, the longest they had gone without seeing each other, since that fateful night, when she showed up, soaking wet, at his front door. She was finding it incredibly hard to concentrate on the paperwork sitting in front of her. His flight was due to arrive at 12:50PM and he had said he would call when he landed. It was almost 1:00PM and she kept glancing at her phone in anticipation. There was small a part of her that was surprised, by just how intensely she had missed him this past week. She and Lanie had laughed about that very topic the day before, when Lanie had joked about Beckett being addicted to Castle and going into withdrawal, while he was away. It was true, she had thought to herself, she needed a Castle fix….badly. She forced herself to turn her attention back to her work. Gates had asked her to close out the case she had been working on, by the end of the day, and if she wanted to leave work at a reasonable hour, she really needed to focus.

Her phone rang about forty minutes later. She picked it up and saw Castle's photo, smiling back at her.

"Hey," she answered, as she got up and walked into the empty break room, so she would have a little more privacy. "I was beginning to get worried….everything alright?"

"Don't worry...everything's fine." Castle replied, "We circled JFK for about 30 minutes before we were allowed to land, but I'm walking to the car now. What time do you think you will be able to get out of there?"

"Gates wants me to wrap up this case today." she said, "I'm hoping I will be able to get it done by 6:30 or so. Do you have something in mind for tonight?"

"Well….now that you ask…my Mother happens to be away for a few days at an actor's workshop and Alexis said she would be by late tomorrow afternoon to say hello….. so we have the loft to ourselves. I was thinking I could make us some dinner, open a bottle of wine and we could get reacquainted….so to speak."

Beckett smiled, getting reacquainted with Castle, was exactly what she had in mind.

"I can't think of anything I would like to do more." she replied, then added "but Castle…you really don't need to cook tonight. You must be tired from the tour and the flight. We could make it easy and order in some takeout."

"Sure….we could, but that wouldn't be as special." he said, "Besides….you know I love cooking for you, plus it will give me something to do while I eagerly await your arrival."

Beckett smiled again and said,

"I do love it when you cook for me…. always looking so cute in your apron. If you're feeling up to it….by all means cook away. I know it will be delicious."

"You bet it will be." Castle replied, then added, "And I'm not just talking about the food."

"Why Mr. Castle… don't you have a dirty little mind." Beckett replied, feeling her face flush a bit.

Castle purposely put on a sad voice and said,

"It got lonely on the book tour."

"Lonely?" she teased him "You were surrounded by your adoring fans."

"Yeah well….I appreciate my fans and all, but they're not you." he said.

"I missed you too." she replied.

"Good….so we're on the same page." he said.

"Oh….I definitely think we are on the same page." She assured him.

"Well in that case…. I'm going to get off the phone now and let you get back to work….so you can get the hell out of there as soon as humanly possible." He paused for a second, then added, "Text me when you are leaving the precinct….alright?"

"Okay I….I…can't wait to see you." she said.

"Me too." Castle replied, "Bye."

Beckett said good-bye and pressed end on her phone. Her heart was beating a little faster. What…was that, she thought, as she walked back to her desk. She had almost just ended their conversation by saying "Okay, I love you." It had seemed like such a natural thing to say, the words almost flowing out of her mouth, effortlessly. The only problem was that she hadn't yet said those words to him….. ever, and she certainly didn't want the first time to be over the phone. There was no doubt in her mind that she loved Castle. Truthfully she had loved him for a lot longer then the six months they had been a couple, though it had taken her a while to finally admit it to herself. Why she hadn't been able to verbalize it to him yet, was a question she had asked herself on numerous occasions. The answer she always came up with was that there was a part of her that was scared. Her feelings for Castle were unlike anything she had ever felt for another man. Sure, she had been in other relationships, some of which had seemed serious at the time, but she knew now, what true love really was. What she had felt for those other men, didn't come close to what she felt for Castle and that fact terrified her sometimes. She knew that Castle loved her, but their romantic relationship was still relatively new and being the realist that she was, she knew that sometimes things fall apart, even when that's the last thing you want. The thought of possibly losing him one day, frightened her to her core and maybe the reason she hadn't said those three little words yet, was because she was trying to protect a small part of her heart.

She had told herself for a while now, that she was being ridiculous. She knew that she needed to stop being scared and trust in their love and their desire to be with each other. She also knew that it was likely, Castle had figured out what was in her heart by now, but that wasn't enough. He deserved to hear her say it, to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how much she loved him. She took a deep breath and smiled to herself, because the time had finally come. She knew that she was ready. The fact that the words had almost slipped out so causally, was proof of that, she thought. She was grateful however, that she had caught herself just now. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him in person, while staring into his beautiful blue eyes. She glanced down at the case file, that had to be completed before she could see him. Get back to work she told herself. The sooner you wrap up this case, the sooner you can wrap your arms around Castle. Now, if that didn't motivate her, she thought, nothing else would.

XXXXXXXX

Needless to say, she walked into Gate's office at 6:20PM and handed in the completed case file.

"Nice work on this case Detective." Gates told her.

"Thank you Sir." Beckett replied.

"Any plans for your day off tomorrow?" Gates asked, while glancing through the file.

"Oh….I'm just hoping to relax a little." said Beckett. In Castle's bed, she thought to herself.

"Well have a good one." Gates replied.

"Thanks…I plan to." Beckett said as she turned and walked out of Gates' office. She stopped at her desk, picked up her bag and phone and walked to the elevator. As she waited for it to arrive, she sent Castle a text, letting him know that she was on her way. As she stepped into the elevator she received his reply, Deliciousness awaits you. She let out a little giggle.

"Don't I know it." she said under her breath, as she pressed the button for the first floor about five times…. imploring the elevator doors, to close more quickly.

(Authors note - Thank you so much for reading part one. Reviews are always welcome!)