A/N: Thanks to ScribbleAStory for the the cover art!

Also thanks to my lovely friend Evan Petruzzi for inspiring the title for this fic. Check out her music on itunes. It's all kinds of fab!

Jo- super!beta. Seriously you are all sorts of wonderful xoxo

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or any of its dialogue, but all mistakes are mine.

North Star

Katherine Beckett is the city's most influential women's self help journalist. What happens when she becomes more involved in her next story than she initially intended? A Caskett AU story based on "How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days" for the 2015 Castle Summer Ficathon

Chapter 1

Taxi horns and music blared along 42nd street during the heart of the lunch hour rush. Kate Beckett took a long sip from her midday latte before leaning down to adjust her brand new Christian Louboutin peep toe pumps and straightening her skirt. She was ready for her staff meeting today, but glaringly absent from the office was her best friend. The same friend who was just dumped by her latest flavor of the week turned true love. The same friend who was now an emotional wreck and who refused to leave her apartment.

So now instead of prepping how she would pitch her new story idea to the magazine's editor Victoria Gates, she was on her way to be a supportive friend to make sure Maddie didn't get fired the same week she'd been dumped.

Oh, Maddie so owed her big time.

On the way to her friend's apartment, she walked by the newsstand which happened to have the latest issue of North Star prominently displayed at the eye line of those passing by. She sighed to herself, seeing Richard Castle's picture washed across the glossy cover. Her first cover article and it wasn't anything but a puff piece for an author's latest novel. It wasn't for anything she was passionate about. Hell, it wasn't even for her typical self-help column.

No, this article and this interview was handed to her by her editor with a back handed comment of 'I'm sure you'll be his type.' So much for proving herself to her boss so she could write about something real.

Something meaningful.

She'd fallen into the role of 'Kate Beckett , self-help girl', but it wasn't where her heart was or where she had imagined her career when she became a journalism major. Part of her had wanted to follow in her parents' footsteps and become a lawyer, but after her mother had been murdered the idea of practicing law had lost its appeal. Dreams had shifted and plans had changed, and Kate's goal of becoming the next Supreme Court Justice had morphed into becoming a modern day Lois Lane.

Kate had decided to be an investigative journalist. She wanted to unearth all the government corruption and other issues that really mattered in the world. To break stories that really mattered…

Instead, out of college when the job market was at its bleakest, she'd landed a job at North Star. It was a great job and she was incredibly lucky to have found it when so many of her friends were still struggling to find work, but it wasn't her passion. She wasn't respected as a reputable journalist and would be even less so now that she was interviewing playboy celebrity authors.

It didn't matter that he happened to write the books that were her favorite guilty pleasures. Nor did it matter that he was just as good looking and charming in person as he appeared to be in his public appearances. She wouldn't be continuing into this line of journalism, nor would she be falling for Rick Castle's blatant attempts at flirting with her. Holding back a smile at the memory of that day, she continued toward Madison's apartment and thought about today's meeting.

She was going to earn some respect in her career and she would demand Gates let her write a serious piece for the magazine. There was a Senator out of New York who seemed to have ties to a drug ring in the area. She planned to pitch her idea today at their staff meeting. That was if she could manage to get Maddie to the meeting on time.

After making a quick stop to pick up another vanilla latte for her friend, Kate arrived at Madison's place with twenty minutes to get her out the door and back to the office. It would be tight, but hopefully her post-breakup state wasn't as bad as last time.

"Becks? What are you—?" the blonde asked, shooting her a stunned expression as Kate pushed her way into the apartment. She sighed at the sight of her place in complete disarray. This was a disaster. Maybe she should've brought their mutual friend, Lanie, along for back up.

"I'm not going to let you lose your job over some guy, Mads." Kate walked through the room and started to pick up all of the random take out cartons and tissues that her friend littered the space with. She truly was a mess when it came to relationships; always falling too hard, too quick.

"He wasn't just some guy. Mike was my soul mate."

"I thought John was your soul mate?" Kate joked, earning her a glare from Maddie as she flung herself onto the couch.

"Hardly. I didn't know what true love was before Mike," Maddie whimpered. Rolling her eyes at the dramatics her friend displayed, Kate pulled her up off of the couch and directed her toward her room to get ready.

"And how long did you know Mike?" she asked with a smirk.

"A week, but seriously Becks… we had a connection. It was instant. It was beautiful… and now it's gone…"

"Mmhmm. All guys are the same."

Kate rummaged through the closet and threw together an outfit so her friend could look somewhat presentable for the meeting.

"He said he loved me!"

"Was that before or after you lent him five hundred dollars?" she asked, giving her a knowing look as Maddie sat down on the foot of the bed pulling her knees into her chest.

"After, but that's hardly the point. I felt it too. It was true love."

Kate bit down on her tongue to hold in the laugh at her friend's completely predictable behavior. She felt bad, but it was a never ending cycle.

"Maddie, he dumped you the next day. Proof that you can't fall in love with someone that quickly. A week? You need to protect yourself…"

"Not everyone needs to walk around life as closed off as you," she snapped.

"Well that was a bit low…"

Maddie grabbed her arm and tug her down on the bed next to her. The words were harsh, but not unfounded. "Becks, I'm just saying… being open to the idea of love isn't a bad thing."

"No offense," she said, nudging her friend toward the floor length mirror. "Look at yourself. How is this not a bad thing?"

She watched Maddie shake her head and look back at her. "You've never been in love. All the happiness, all those moments are worth the pain and heartbreak..."

"I've never wanted to be in love. I don't have time with our job."

"You can have both. Look at me. Successful career and I've been in love countless times."

Countless times. With Maddie love was so fleeting. Here today and gone tomorrow. Kate didn't want anything like that.

"I love you, Maddie, I do, but you are not the poster child for love. You could barely get out of bed today and I have to be here to drag you to work," she teased. With a small smile, Madison grabbed her clothes off of the bed and walked to the en suite bathroom to get ready.

"Because I lost the love of my life so I'm in mourning, but…" she called from behind the door.

"But?"

"There's always tomorrow…"

The optimistic tone in her friend's voice was inspiring to say the least, but Kate had always been more of a realist. She couldn't imagine anything would be worth leaving yourself open to pain. Everyday life was full with enough of that.

"Let's get you to the office, before tomorrow is the day we're both out of a job," Kate said with a small laugh. While Maddie finished up getting dressed, Kate walked around the kitchen and living room trying to clean up a little more. She found a stack of pictures that Madison had already printed of her and whatever his name. Of course, she'd never admit it, but they did look happy.

"You're so cynical, Kate. Look at me, I'm heartbroken, but I still believe in love," Maddie murmured, her presence in the room surprising Kate to the point that she basically threw the pictures down onto the coffee table like she'd been burned by the images. Kate handed her a pair of heels to complete her outfit.

"It's not that I don't believe in love. You make me sound cold-hearted."

"When's the last time you went on a date?" Maddie asked, setting into the pair.

"I date a lot…" It wasn't like she was a recluse. She went out with Lanie and Madison all of the time, but she didn't bother going home with random guys like they tended to.

"And you're always the one to break it off. Have you ever been dumped?"

"Well…" she said, chewing on her lip. A guilty feeling fluttered in her stomach because her friend was right. She couldn't remember the last time she wasn't the one to end the 'would be' relationship.

"Oh God. You haven't, have you? Men fling themselves at you and yet you're willingly single," Maddie said, her mouth gaping open.

"Men do not fling themselves at me. That's a gross exaggeration!"

"Becks, what did you say about Rick Castle?" she asked with a laugh.

Why did she ever mention that interview to her friends? Oh that's right, because as soon as it was over Lanie and Madison had pulled her into their offices to basically interrogate her.

"I said he was highly flirtatious, but that's just his personality, Madison. You've seen the tabloids, that man always has a girl on each arm," she said, rolling her eyes. He did seem like a nice guy though, but she wasn't giving Maddie anymore fuel to tease her with.

"Uh huh. I'm just saying that you have men, even celebrities, interested in you and I can't keep a man longer than a week. It's completely unfair."

"It's not like I'm magic or something. If I acted completely head over heels in a relationship, like you do, I'd be the one on the couch shoving my face full of chocolate. Men are all the same," she added, following her friend out of the door. At this rate, they might actually make it to their meeting on time.

"I bet you…" Madison stated, turning to look at her as they hailed a cab.

"Bet me what?"

"I bet you that no man would turn you down."

Kate couldn't hold her laughter back as they crowded into the backseat of the car.

"Maddie, if I acted clingy and said I loved a guy in a week—whether you believe it or not, he'd run just like John."

"Not John… Mike!"

"John, Mike, Bryan? All the same," she joked. At this rate, she'd need Madison's dates to start wearing name tags if she wanted to her to keep up.

"You'll see, and I'll even pick the guy."

Wait, what was she getting herself into?

"So you're picking the guy and…" she paused before it dawned on her. This could work. "Wait a second… I could turn this into an article…"

"You're going to do a column on how no man would ever dump you?" Madison asked, groaning at the idea.

"No, I'll turn it into a self-help guide for woman like you. Helpless in love…"

"Thanks, Becks. Not at all insulting…"

"Not meant to be… I'll just point out all the typical clingy behavior that causes men to run for the hills," she explained, watching as a smile broke out on Madison's face.

"How to get a guy to break up with you?"

"We'll work on the title later, but basically yes. Maybe if I present Gates with an article like this, she'll let me go forward with the exposé about the politician I really want to publish."

"The article could work, Becks, but I'm still sticking with my theory. And I still want to pick the guy."

"Fine. I'll go with it if Gates likes the idea. Then we can brainstorm with some of your typical relationship behavior."

"Even though it's a good idea for an article, I'm still saying no guy would ever dump you. What happens to the story then?" she asked, poking her arm.

"It's not going to be an issue. All men are the same. I'll be out of his life in less than two weeks flat…"

"We'll see. You never know, Becks. Maybe you could find the one…"

Kate scoffed at the statement as they finally made it back to the magazine's offices. Find the one while researching her article?

What were the odds of that ever happening?

tbc

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