A/N: This idea wouldn't let me go and was basically begging to be written. So here it is. This is set around the end of the summer/beginning of season four. Not a typical post-finale fic but there are definitely spoilers... Also, it's sort of fluffy. :)

Three Words

From the moment she read those words, she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away.

She kept reading them over and over. As if reading could change them. As if it could change everything they stood for. Everything she'd been trying to push from her mind.

The intensity of her gaze could almost make the words fade away. Almost. Though nothing actually happened when she continued staring. Those three words were still out there, for the whole world to see.

The thing was, she knew this wasn't meant for the whole world. She was the only one this particular message was meant for.

Okay, so she didn't have any actual proof for that. But she just knew. It was a gut thing.

The dedications of the first two books were obvious. First 'to the extraordinary KB'. Aside from the fact that he'd used her initials, she knew he'd also referred to that one time when he told her how extraordinary she was. She also remembered how sincere he'd been at the time. How his words had managed to go straight to her heart.

So, yeah, that one was obvious. The second was, too. 'To the real Nikki Heat, with gratitude.' Since he'd based the series on her, this one wasn't exactly a head-scratcher either. Though that one had seemed more distant. Almost like it was a goodbye of sorts. At the time, it had sure felt like it.

And then there was the dedication of his third 'Nikki Heat'-book.

No initials, no referrals to any kind of 'real-life' Nikki Heat. No words like extraordinary to link it to her. Not some kind of inside-joke that only she would understand.

Just three words. Nothing else.

'I love you.'

Those three seemingly simple words were enough to make her mind spin. Enough to take her breath away for the briefest of moments.

Because this was a whole other league than 'extraordinary KB's' or 'real Nikki Heat's'.

She sighed, and for the first time since she'd laid eyes on the three neatly typed words, she looked away and closed the book. She put it down on the table, next to the cup of coffee that had gone cold by now.

With another half-sigh half-grunt, she let herself fall back onto the couch and stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.

Yes, this was definitely a whole different story.

Because now she was sure she hadn't been able to fool him. Now she was sure he'd heard what she had told Lanie.

Rubbing her temples frustratedly, she squeezed her eyes shut. Damn, she thought. He knew.

Beckett had been out of her coma for a couple of days now, and the doctors were very content about the way she was recovering. It all still seemed a little slow to Beckett, but being in a hospital all day, every day, had the effect of time seemingly slowing down. But that was only after visiting hours.

During the day there was barely a moment she was left without someone by her side, and she was secretly very grateful for that. Hospitals weren't her favourite kind of place to be.

Castle had just – grudgingly –left Beckett to get dinner, only after ensuring Lanie would stay with her while he was gone.

He was being ridiculously overprotective and sweet, and even though she rolled her eyes at him from time to time and told him how he shouldn't worry – for the sake of her own pride – his antics always made her smile and she loved how he cared so much.

The moment he'd walked out the room to get dinner, a smile made its way to her face, as it usually did. It had become their own little routine in the hospital, just like they always had their own little things at the precinct. Him taking a lot of time to finally leave and her allowing herself to smile about it the moment he walked out the door. She liked having those things. It made her feel more at ease. More comfortable.

When she looked up, her best friend was watching her and gave her a knowing smirk.

"What?" Beckett asked, almost guiltily trying to hide her own smile.

If possible, Lanie's grin only grew wider. "Girl, you are so in love with him."

Her eyes widened, and in reflex she said, "Am not." The two words sounded ridiculous to her own ears, and she was ashamed to realize she sounded exactly like a little child.

Of course Lanie noticed, too. Her voice lowered to a more serious tone, though, "Seriously, you can't still be ignoring this. You talked to him yesterday, right?"

Beckett blinked as a blush crept to her cheeks. Damn. She'd been hoping Lanie would forget about that. No such luck, apparently. "I did talk to him."

Lanie raised an eyebrow. "Well? What did he say?"

"He asked about what I remembered. From before I got shot."Beckett told her.

"So, did you tell him you heard him? That you know he loves you?"

She avoided her friend's gaze for a moment. "I, um…" She cleared her throat. "I told him it was a bit vague. That I− That I didn't really remember anything after I hit the ground." She didn't even need to look up to know Lanie was giving her disapproving look.

When she'd just woken up one afternoon, Lanie happened to be the one at her bedside. And she happened to spill everything she remembered from before the shooting. She blamed the pain killers for that. Now that Lanie knew, though, she didn't really let it go easily.

"So you lied to him?" Lanie asked.

"Yes." She sighed. "And I know it's wrong, but… I don't know. It seemed easier than to deal with the truth, at the time."

Castle's heart had gone into an overdrive after hearing Beckett's confession. Once he'd gotten to the restaurant, he'd realized he had left his wallet in Beckett's room, and went back to get it. Only to hear Lanie saying something about her being in love with him.

Ignoring the voice in the back of his head saying it was wrong, he'd continued standing at the door, overhearing their conversation.

And now he knew that she had heard him. She knew that he loved her.

Taking a calming breath, he walked in, startling the detective and her friend.

"Castle." Beckett exclaimed, surprised. "You're back soon…"

He smiled. "Yeah, forgot my wallet." He said lamely, and reached over to her nightstand to get it.

"Right." She said with a nod and swallowed nervously.

After putting the wallet in his pocket and telling them he'd be back as soon as he'd finished his dinner, he left the room, leaving the two woman with their thoughts.

Letting out a sigh, she wondered if he'd heard anything, and if he had, how much of her conversation exactly he'd picked up.

Castle was nervously pacing through his study, cell phone in hand, waiting for some indication that Beckett had indeed read his dedication.

He checked the clocked again. Well, she must've by now.

He had the first copy of 'Heat Rises' delivered to her personally. He'd given the delivery boy very specific instructions, and once the package had been handed to her Castle had gotten a call confirming she'd signed for it.

Of course he could've given it to her personally, but if he was being entirely honest with himself, he was too much of a coward to do so. He was pretty sure he wasn't able to handle being rejected by her through the phone, let alone face to face.

Frowning, he stopped his pacing and sat down on his chair.

What if she didn't get the message?

The thought dawned upon him suddenly, and an odd mixture of panic and relief went through his body. What if she read it but didn't understand? Didn't realize it was meant for her?

Panic took over now, pushing away the relief he'd felt.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he reminded himself of the conversation he'd overheard weeks ago in the hospital. She knew he'd told her he loved her before she went unconscious.

She knew.

And this dedication was his way of telling her that he meant it. His way of telling her that he'd repeat those three words over and over again until she could finally realize how much he actually meant them.

She knew what he'd said. And since he'd basically spent his entire summer by her side, she should also know that nothing could've happened between then and now that changed anything about that.

The panic slowly ebbed away. She was a detective. A great, very smart one, at that. There was no way that she didn't understand at least to some extent what he'd meant.

So the real question was what she was going to about it.

Which was actually much more nerve-wrecking than his previous thought.

When his phone rang he nearly lunged for it, then remembered himself it was probably kind of pathetic to answer at the first ring. When he noticed it wasn't actually Beckett calling him, he let it go to voicemail. That process repeated itself several times.

He'd gotten quite tired of every phone call that wasn't from her, but that didn't stop his heart from making a nervous little jump whenever he heard another call come in.

When he heard ringing again, he lifted his hand to look at his phone's display. Frowning, he noted that no one was calling him. Just when he started to think that all this stressing had gotten to his head, he heard the ringing again, and suddenly recognized the sound of his doorbell.

He jumped up along with his heart and almost ran to the door, but forced himself to slow down when he got closer to the it, not wanting to look to eager.

Opening the door, his breath caught in his throat when he came face to face with Kate Beckett, who looked gorgeous as always.

She took a deep, nervous breath. "Hi." She said simply.

He smiled. "Hey."

Biting her lip, her eyes locked with his as she was contemplating her next move. She'd thought this through on her way over here, but somehow all thoughts for wiped from her mind the moment he'd opened that door.

"I−" They started at the same time, making them both chuckle nervously at their obvious awkwardness.

"You go ahead." Castle said.

"I got your package." She told him.

"What…" He stared down at his feet for a brief moment, before looking up again. "What did you think of it?"

It was a loaded question, and they both knew it.

And somehow seeing him so uncharacteristically nervous made her even more sure about what she'd already figured out before. Without a moment of doubt or hesitance, she found herself drawn closer to him, as she subconsciously darted out her tongue to wet her lips.

The next moment their lips met and she was pushing him inside his apartment, blindly reaching behind her to close the door. It took a couple of seconds for his mind to register what happened, but once he realized, he moved his lips against hers, responding to her kiss.

His hand tangled in her hair on its own accord while his other hand was at her hip, giving into the need to pull her closer to him.

The low groan that came from the back his throat when their tongues met made a tingle run down her spine and her already unsteadily thudding heart skip another beat. Her hands came together at the base of his neck, her fingers playing with the hair she found there.

He wanted to relish every moment, every perfect second of kissing her, but found it was hard to focus on anything during that particular activity. At some point he didn't even try to think anymore, completely giving himself over to the sensations that existed of her and her alone.

When she moved back to break their kiss he almost immediately drifting forward, as if she was magnetic and he was an object made of metal. She raised her hand and let her fingers touch his lips to stop him from closing the distance between them entirely again.

"Castle?"

"Hmm?" He hummed in reply, still trying to catch his breath after their kiss, making it hard to form actual words.

"I love you too."

She'd barely had a chance to register a huge grin spread across his face before he'd cupped her face and kissed her again, slower, more intense this time. His movements laced with both emotion and excitement, the combination making her a little weak at the knees, she was glad when he pulled her up onto one of the bar stools in the kitchen and stepped between her legs. Instinctively she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him even closer, the contact making them both sigh.

When he'd written that dedication, he couldn't have hoped for this response. He did hope, of course, and think, imagine, even write. But the reality was so much better.

All it took were three words.

And he intended to repeat them as often as possible.

A/N: So, what did you think? I'd love to hear your comments/thoughts/constructive criticism. :)

Also, you can get off the floor now. (You know who you are.)