Author's Notes: This is my first Castle fic so I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!!

Tomorrow would be the first day of the one and only month she had come to dread. February. Ok, so if she were to be honest with herself it wasn't so much the month but the one specific day stuck right in the middle of the month. Valentine's Day of course. Sure, it was a holiday that was supposed to be filled with love and affection and all that nice stuff but to her it was just a reminder of the past and also a reminder that she had no one special to spend that day with.

She still couldn't believe that Will had the courage to tell her the day before Valentine's Day that he would be leaving New York the next day. Leaving on Valentine's Day, of all the days out of the entire year, it just had to be that day. It was just her luck. And now, two years later, she still hadn't found someone special to spend the day with. Her thoughts drifted to Rick Castle, wondering what he would be doing. She shook her head, as if to clear thoughts, because she wasn't sure she even wanted to know what Castle would be doing. Something told her that one way or another she would be finding out anyway.

February 13th

"Good morning, Beckett," Castle said as he strode in at his normal time.

"Morning," she said without looking up at him.

"What's with her this morning?" Castle asked Ryan and Esposito as he walked with them to the break room to grab a cup of coffee.

"It's almost Valentine's Day, man," responded Esposito shortly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Don't most girls get grouchy if they don't have anyone to buy them fluffy teddy bears or flowers or chocolates?"

"Yeah, I suppose most girls would," Castle said thoughtfully. "But Beckett isn't 'most girls'. Why would something like Valentine's Day bug her? "

"Maybe it still has something to do with when Will broke up with her that time," Ryan pointed out.

"What?" Castle immediately gave Ryan his full attention.

"You didn't hear it from us," Esposito said as he glared at Ryan for spilling the beans. "But, Ryan could be right. Sorensen, you remember him, Mr. I'm-all-that F.B.I, told Beckett the day before Valentine's Day that he would be leaving New York on Valentine's Day to go work at some other F.B.I office in some other city."

"Ouch," replied Castle as he glanced over at Beckett who was clearly trying to bury herself in her work as usual. He remembered Will Sorenson alright, he had hated that guys guts and now, if possible, he hated them even more.

Castle knew, well he knew now, that Beckett was a woman you never let go of if you ever caught her. She was more incredible then any woman he had ever dated, although that didn't say much because most of the woman he dated weren't anything special, excluding Kyra of course. He wanted, more than anything at that moment, to be able to fix her thoughts about Valentine's Day and make it special for her. But he knew that she would never let him do that. However, he had to try.

"Hey, Beckett!" he said walking over to her desk with a wide grin.

"What do you want, Castle?" She hadn't intended to snap at him.

"Did you want to grab a bite to eat tomorrow evening? I thought maybe I could run some of my ideas for the new Nikki Heat book by you?" he said hopefully.

This caught her attention although her face remained emotionless. Did he not realize what day it was tomorrow?

She sighed and looked up at him. "Do you not know what day it is tomorrow, Castle?"

"Uh, Thursday?" he asked, praying she would just fall for it, although he knew she wouldn't.

"Yes, and Valentine's Day," she said quietly, looking away from him again.

"Oh," he said, trying a different tact. "If you have plans, we could do it another night if you like?"

"No, I don't have plans." Mentally kicking herself for admitting that to him she decided to try and steer the conversation towards his favourite topic, himself. "Don't you have plans with one of your model girlfriends?"

"First of all, I don't have a girlfriend," he replied, sitting down in his normal spot and grabbing the file out of her hands so he could look her in the eye. "And secondly, I'd rather go out with you."

She tried really hard not to look at him when he said that but she couldn't resist. Damn it, why did he have to look so sincere? Why did a part of her want to believe him and just let him take her out? The voice inside her head was screaming, maybe because you like him!

"Maybe another time, Castle," she finally replied, ignoring the voice screaming inside her head telling her to go have some fun for once.

"But, you just said you didn't have any plans," he pressed on. He wouldn't give up that easily.

"I have to work, Castle, now could you just please for once leave me alone so I can finish this paperwork in reasonable time without you hovering over my shoulder!"

She knew she had been harsh. She could see it in the way he just looked at her.

"Ok, Kate, if that's what you want." He got up and walked away slowly. She had hurt him but he still wasn't going to give up.

Kate sat there shocked as she watched him walk away. Never once had he ever listened to her before so why now? And he never called her Kate. She wanted to call after him and tell him that he could stay but by the time she found her voice it was too late, he was already gone. Great, she thought to herself, just push everyone who seems to care for you away.

Castle knew that she would be working late that night. She worked late most nights and sometimes he questioned whether she ever went home at all so he wasn't surprised to see her sitting at her desk reading over yet another case file. He knew this could very possibly be his last shot. He watched from a corner of the precinct, out of her line of sight until she needed another cup of coffee. He knew she would need a refill eventually, she lived off of the stuff, and he was willing to wait for however long that took. To his surprise, it was no more than 20 minutes later when she slowly got up from her desk, stretched, and grabbed her empty mug as she walked towards the break room. He waited until she was out of sight, then quickly walked up to her desk and positioned his invitation neatly on top of the case file. Without a backward glance, he walked swiftly away from her desk and out the door of the precinct.

Kate loved the smell of brewing coffee. Almost more then she loved drinking the liquid caffeine. She took her time making herself a new cup. She secretly loved the coffee machine Castle had bought for the precinct; she would deny it if anyone asked though. She took a few minutes to relax, debating with herself whether she should just go home. She finally settled on reading the file one more time and then calling it a night. She slowly walked back to her desk with her fresh cup of coffee, glancing around the precinct, her eyes finally landing on her own desk. That's when she saw it. There, on top of her desk, sat a small plush teddy bear with a childish looking Valentine's Day card like the ones kids handed out at school. She looked around the precinct again but there was no one in sight. She flipped the card over and even before she read what it said she knew who it would be from.

Kate,

Will you please be my Valentine?

Rick