Use Somebody

Chapter 1: Comforting

I've been roaming around

I was looking down at all I see

Painted faces fill the places I can't reach

"I don't know, Castle," she leans against her desk next to him, their shoulders touching. "I just don't see it."

He turns his head towards her, his mouth open to reply, but freezes upon seeing someone approach them. "Your boyfriend's here," he nudges her.

Beckett frowns and turns to follow his gaze. "Hey, Josh. I thought I said I'd meet you at the restaurant," she smiles and walks over to him.

"You never showed up, Kate."

"What do you mean? It's only…" she checks her watch, and upon finding that it is eight o'clock, sighs. "Josh, I'm so sorry. We've been busy all day with this case, and I lost track of time."

"Save it, Kate. I've already heard it."

"Well we've hit a dead on this case so I'll just leave now, and we can still spend the evening together. We can get take out and go back to my place or your place and watch a movie or something."

"I don't think so," Josh says, frowning. "Three times in two weeks, Kate. I understand that your job is demanding, but can't you at least call? You always did before; what changed?"

"Nothing. I've just… had a lot on my mind with these cases, Josh."

He shakes his head, "I really like you, but I don't think this is going to work out."

Kate watches him walk away from her, trying to keep her composure. She stands there staring after him for a few moments, fully aware of Castle's gaze on her but unsure she could face him without breaking. When she finally turns around, she keeps her head down, her hair covering the blush of embarrassment on her cheeks and her eyes avoiding him.

"Go home, Castle," she says somewhat harshly as she walks by him. She didn't mean to sound so harsh, but she didn't want to break down in front of him. As she stares at the murder board, she tunes out his movement behind her; she knows that there is no way she could solve the murder tonight, but she doesn't want to leave until after he does.

Castle, who had been quite taken aback by her tone, doesn't say anything. He had realized shortly after meeting Josh that she was happy with him and had therefore laid back on his inappropriate comments. As he gathers his coat, he looks at her tense figure standing there, staring futilely at the board; he knows that despite her attempt to be indifferent about the break up, she is hurting inside. On impulse he grabs her coat from the back of her chair.

Slowly he comes up beside her, holding her coat out to her. "Kate," he whispers.

"I told you to go home, Castle."

"Do you want to grab a drink?" he asks quietly. He knows it won't be the same as going out for drinks with Lanie, but he hopes it will cheer her up a little.

She shakes her head, "No. And don't think that I don't know what you're trying to do."

"What is that?" he asks, frowning; for once he actually did not have an ulterior motive for wanting to spend time with her.

"You think that if we go out, you can get me drunk, and I'll end up in your bed," she snaps, finally looking at him.

"I know you think I'm shallow, Kate, and in many ways I am. But I would never take advantage of a drunk woman. And especially not you."

"Somehow I don't believe you."

"Okay. If you won't have drinks with me, go home. We both know that you're not going to catch any murderers tonight."

She keeps her eyes locked with his for a moment before accepting her coat. "Fine."

"And I promise not to tell the boys about this."

She nods, pulling her coat on, "Thanks, Castle."

"No problem. See you tomorrow, Detective."

She watches the elevator doors close behind him before gathering a few things from her desk and following him down.

CB

"Can you turn around?" Castle asks the cab driver. "I want to go somewhere else."

He sighs, "Where to now?" The author gives him Beckett's address, hoping that she wouldn't be too mad at him for showing up at her apartment. "You're paying for it."

When the cab pulls up outside her apartment, he pays the driver, leaving him a generous tip, and heads to one of the stores a little down the block, deciding that if he was going to show up at her apartment unannounced, he at least needed to bring her something. And since she wouldn't go out for drinks, he opts to bring the alcohol to her.

CB

Kate impatiently waits for the elevator, desperately needing to clear her mind. Finally the ding announces its arrival, and the doors open. "Castle?"

"Hey," he smiles, stepping off the elevator.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you. Obviously."

"You can't tell me that you don't have better things to do on a Friday night than pester me."

"… No." She raises an eyebrow. "Alexis had a date. Mother went out to the theater with her friend."

"And your ex-wife?"

"How should I know what she's doing?"

"Because you're sleeping with her."

"We broke up. Again. A couple weeks ago. I remembered why we got divorced."

"Well too bad. I have plans."

He takes in her attire, which consists of sweatpants, a light weight jacket, and tennis shoes. "You're going out like that?"

"Yeah. I'm going for a jog, Castle. So turn around and get back in the elevator and leave me alone."

"But I brought alcohol."

She sighs, "You constantly remind me that I'm the only woman in this city that won't sleep with you. So why don't you go find one of those other women and entertain yourself, Castle. I'm really not in the mood to deal with you."

"I'm not interested in other women, Kate." She looks away from him, hoping he really did not mean what he just said. "Please? I brought the alcohol to you," he holds up his bag from the store with a small smile.

"I need to clear my head."

"Okay. You go run, and I'll wait here for you."

"No, I do not want my neighbors to see you sitting outside my door."

"But I'm ruggedly handsome, remember?" he smiles again, which earns him an eye roll. "Okay. Then give me the key to your apartment."

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" she glares at him.

"… No. But you don't want the neighbors to see me."

"I'm not letting you in my apartment all alone. You'll go through my stuff and snoop around for information for your books."

"Have you eaten anything?"

"No. But you're still not going in there."

"You go for your jog, and I'll get us food. We can't drink with empty stomachs."

"How very considerate of you," she rolls her eyes. "You're still not getting lucky."

"There's always hope," he smiles.

She smacks him in the chest as she presses the button for the elevator, "One hour, Castle."

"How many miles is that?" he asks as the elevator doors close.

She smirks, "I'd invite you to join me and find out, but you wouldn't last five minutes."

"I would totally take you up on that if I was not in my work clothes."

Beckett tries to ignore him as he stares at her, but it is rather annoying. "Castle," she glares at him. "That's creepy."

"Sorry," he mumbles, looking away from her.

A/N: I hope you like this one. It's got ten more chapters. It's supposed to take place in about April of season three. I have to say I was a little disappointed with this week's episode. The scene at the strip club with the fire extinguisher was good, but I was totally waiting for him to get yelled at all episode for doing that. Never happened... Anyway, please review. I will try to update Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Thanks.