A/N: Set in the summer after season two.

New York was bracing for a hurricane and Kate Beckett was terribly ill prepared. The newscasts had been predicting the storm for the last week, warning residents who refused to evacuate to stock up and buckle in for the storm, but with disaster came a rise in crime, of criminals taking advantage of the building hysteria, and Detective Beckett had lost her window of opportunity.

Which is how she has ended up in an overly packed supermarket, maneuvering through the frenzy of last minute shoppers scavenging for supplies. The shelves were practically bare as it was, the majority of necessary bad weather essentials picked clean, but she had managed to haul one of the final packs of bottled water into her shopping cart, along with a small packet of batteries and some canned goods she wouldn't mind surviving on. She may not have a choice if the memory of her empty fridge is any indication.

Kate chews on her lip at the picture of the naked shelves and drawers in her mind, the matching image her pantry displays, and glances back towards the grocery section she just managed to get out of alive. The stock of non-perishable goods isn't great, she's lucky she was able to snag what's currently in her cart, and delving back into the sea of shoppers probably wouldn't even be worth it.

She sighs and ventures back towards the shrinking section of appliances and miscellaneous items set on display, contemplates a few of the cheap candles just in case she loses power and runs out of batteries, but just as she's reaching for the sticks of wax, another cart crashes into hers.

"Seriously?" she snaps, jerking her gaze to the offending cart and the owner hastily attempting to dislodge the wheels jammed into hers, but her irritation drains with the color from her face.

"I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't mean to…" Castle's apologies trail as he lifts his eyes to meet her, his lips parting with surprise. "Beckett."

For a second too long, they stand there like two survivors in the aftermath of a car crash, no airbags to soften the impact, to mute the riot in her head growing louder, to silence the sound of demolition.

Her stomach has dropped out, left her with the hollow feeling of nausea, with the memory of having the rug swept out from under her feet after she had tricked herself into thinking there was hope in their story, that there was anything more to the concept of 'them' at all. She didn't even like him, sure as hell didn't love him, so why does it feel as if she's come face to face with a man who broke her heart without even trying?

The chaos of the busy shopping center whirrs and swells around them and Kate blinks, recovering from the collision, and tugs on the handle of her basket to steer it away from him, far away from him.

"Beckett," he calls again, about to abandon his cart to intercept her, and oh, bad idea, Castle.

"Don't," she snaps, sharper than she had intended, but it gets the job done, stays him. "Your stuff. People will grab it straight from your cart."

Clarity ripples in his startled blue eyes and he glances back to the meager haul of survival goods similar to hers. He clutches his shopping basket a little tighter, but his eyes return to her, so bright and simmering with something akin to excitement.

"You're back?" She hadn't meant for it to come out like a question, hadn't meant to say the words at all, but - too late, his gaze is back on her, intense and curious.

"Yeah, drove back earlier this week, when I heard about the storm," he replies, trying and failing to be subtle in his assessment of her, in the way his eyes greedily roam from her face down to the toes of her sneakers.

Beckett shifts under his stare, her attire of dark denim jeans and a thin t-shirt suddenly not enough, and Castle notices. Of course he notices. The smile he offers is apologetic, friendly, but her frown only deepens. She realizes it's selfish, petty even, to bristle at the knowledge that he's been back in her city and failed to call her when so many more important, potentially catastrophic issues are at hand, but a sliver of hurt has still managed to embed itself in her treacherous heart muscle.

"I was going to call," he adds, as if he's read her mind, damn him, and Castle angles his shopping cart to sweep along the side of hers, to move in a few steps closer. She fights the urge to back away. "Today, actually. I wanted to make sure you were prepared for the hurricane." His eyes dart down the contents of her cart. "Please tell me your place is stocked with more than this."

Beckett huffs. "None of your concern, Castle."

A wounded look flickers across his face at that, lies along the shadows of his skin, before resignation fills his features, and she doesn't understand the dizzying slideshow of emotions until he speaks. "You're right. I'm sure Demming has you guys well-prepared."

The statement isn't passive aggressive or bitter, not even close to the former remarks he used to make in the precinct about her relationship with the robbery detective. No, he's genuinely attempting to be kind, respectful towards a man she hasn't spoken to since the day Castle left for the Hamptons.

She finds she doesn't like it.

"I wouldn't know how Tom would handle a situation like this." She shrugs, reaching for those candlesticks she abandoned while hiding a smile, not having to see him to know his reaction.

"You… you broke up?" he asks, clearing his throat to eradicate the pleased note of delight she's already caught sound of.

"Shouldn't you be finishing up? I'm sure Gina's waiting," she tosses back, forcing the neutral expression to hold, berating herself for the stupid words that keep flooding from her mouth without permission.

He doesn't answer and she cuts her gaze to him, feels the blush threaten to climb her neck at the raised brow he's sporting.

"Only person waiting for me is Alexis," he informs her, a familiar smirk flirting with the corner of his mouth. "Perhaps my mother as well, unless she really did decide to weather the storm with Chet like she had planned. You never know with her."

The relief that splashes through her bloodstream makes her nauseous.

"You look good."

No use attempting to stop the flush of crimson likely traveling up her neck now. She sighs and allows her lips to quirk for him. "You look good too."

The joy that blossoms in his eyes, radiates onto every inch of his face almost makes it all worth it, almost has her forgetting the last three months without him.

"Are you about done?"

Kate assesses the items in her cart, decides it's likely the most prepared she's going to get, and nods. "Yeah, this'll have to do."

"Please tell me that I am wrong in assuming you have no food in your apartment right now."

"You're wrong in assuming I have no food in my apartment right now," she parrots, dodging a fellow shopper flying past them before merging into the human traffic consuming the store.

Castle falls into step beside her, the rounded edge of a shoulder coming into contact with hers as they head for the crowded checkout area side by side.

"You're not a good liar," he sighs, but Kate rolls her eyes, the indignation flaring up in her chest again where it's remained alive and stewing all summer. "Kate, you can't endure a category two hurricane with minimal supplies. Haven't you seen the news reports? We're supposed to have power outages and potential flooding. What if you get trapped in your apartment for days? What if-"

"Castle," she growls, but the possibilities his 'what if's have conjured up start to form in her mind, tugging at the worry and threatening paranoia she's managed to keep at bay since this entire ordeal began.

"Stay with us."

The wheels of her cart come to a stop along with her, the head of another shopping basket colliding hard with her lower back. Kate jerks, fails to bite back the sharp yelp at the bloom of pain along her tailbone. Shit, that's going to bruise.

"Hey!" Castle's hand flies to cover the small of her back, the warmth of his palm like a balm to her throbbing skin that causes the burn of pain to intensify. "Watch it," he snaps at the unapologetic man who ran into her, receiving a mutter of curses in response. "Sorry, my fault, are you okay?"

Kate nods as they recover their pace towards the checkout lane and his hand hesitantly falls away. She just wants to get out of here, out of the obscene mass of people crammed inside the shopping center, out of Castle's reach. They fall into the shortest line they can find, but it'll still take awhile before they're even close to checking out, and her hopes of escaping him, and his offer, quickly begin to slip away.

"We have a guest room. One you're well acquainted with," he reminds her, but she doesn't want to remember. She doesn't want to think about how easy it was to settle into his home with him and his family, how shockingly pleasant it was to wake up and have breakfast with him before work every morning, to share a glass of wine with him on the couch after dinner.

She doesn't want to remember the days she really started to fall for Richard Castle.

"We can run by your place after this, before it gets too bad out there." His head tilts towards the sliding glass doors that allow them to see the growing drizzle outside. All of the weather reports claim the storm will make landfall in the city later tonight, in a matter of hours, that the scattered showers that have been coating the streets of Manhattan on and off for the last few hours are just the preshow. "Grab enough stuff for you to stay over a couple of days-"

"I'll be fine at my place, Castle," she assures him, even though she may not be, even though a small, defiant part of her wants fiercely to tell him yes.

They inch forward with the crowd, one step closer to freedom.

"Beckett, can't you see this is a sign from the universe?" She gives him her attention at that, doing her best to subdue the amusement hitching her brow and curving along her mouth. "A sign from the universe in the form of a tropical storm telling us that we need to band together to survive this natural disaster in one piece."

"That's weak, even for you," she mutters, training her eyes on the checkout counter that's steadily becoming a more tangible goal.

"I respect the universe," he argues with his chin held high and she's forced to bite back another smile. It shouldn't be this easy for him to make her smile again.

He spends the next half hour coming up with preposterous reasons as to why she should stay in his loft, crazy theories and silly perks, even continuing to needle her with the option when they finally make it to the cash register. She's confused why he's standing at her side while the frazzled woman behind the register rallies up her total, until she studies the amount of bagged items now sitting in her cart, notices with horror that he managed to distract her long enough to mix their purchases on the moving conveyor belt. Her jaw drops in protest, but he's already reaching over her shoulder, swiping his credit card and scribbling his signature on the machine in front of the counter.

"Richard Castle," she growls, prepared to smack the smug grin from his face with her fist.

"Consider it my apology for not calling sooner," he winks and she does hit him this time, socks him hard in the arm, but even though he winces, his smirk doesn't fade.

"You don't owe me any-"

"C'mon Beckett, we're holding up the line and the rain is getting harder." She purses her lips to refrain from snarling at him when he places his hand to the fresh sore spot still pulsing at the base of her spine and remains glued to her side as they navigate through the worsening flock of panicking civilians flooding into the store.

Kate had walked the feasible distance from her apartment, planning to hail a cab back, but Castle leads her to a suburban parked along the sidewalk once they're free of the supermarket and submerged in the rain and she finds herself following before she can think better of it. Her former shadow instructs her to get in the car while he loads their combined groceries into the back of the vehicle, but she ignores his suggestion, follows him around to the trunk of the tan SUV and helps slip the slew of hefty, reusable bags hanging from his arms.

Castle shakes his head at her, the water droplets clinging to his bangs cascading down his cheeks, but he doesn't reject her assistance. They make quick work of arranging the bags of food and supplies in the back while the misting shower of rain morphs into a downpour that soaks through her clothes in the five seconds it takes race from the trunk to the passenger seat.

The ends of her hair drip water all over the leather seats, the rain from her clothes seeping onto the interior, forming a puddle around her thighs, but Castle doesn't seem to care. He starts the car with a shudder, powers on the heat even though it's the middle of August, and sits back for a moment, rolls his head towards her and beams at her with that crooked grin he tends to hide from the rest of the world, like there's no place else he would rather be.

The urge to kiss him flares up hot and sudden, sucker punches her right in the gut, and she has to look away, fix her gaze on the pelting rain assaulting the glass of her window. Castle doesn't call her out on the avoidance tactic, merely puts the car in drive and pulls out into the atrocious horde of traffic.

"Castle, what you did in there… it wasn't okay," she murmurs, crossing her arms and biting back the shiver the chilled fabric of her bra sealing against her skin evokes. "You can't just guilt me into staying with you by paying for my stuff without permission."

He tears his eyes from the road – they're hardly moving anyway, their pace even slower than it was inside the supermarket – and without even looking at him, she feels his startled gaze piercing through her, hooking in her throat and making it hard to swallow.

"You think - you think I did that so you'd have to owe me?" She doesn't answer; it's answer enough and she hears him scoff, sneaks a glance at him and oh, oh she hurt his feelings with that, didn't she?

"Rick-"

"I would never… that wasn't-" He huffs and scrapes a hand through the soaked mop of his hair before pursing his lips, that dull resignation from earlier back and settling in his eyes, painting them from blue to grey. "You're right. What I did in there was arrogant and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Kate slides her gaze back to him, gentle surprise swirling in her chest at the sincerity that fills the frown lines of his mouth. But there shouldn't be frown lines there to begin with, not because of her.

The only thing that makes her truly uncomfortable is the awkward silence that joins them in the car after that, tags along for the forty-minute stop and go drive to her apartment. Castle doesn't shift the gearstick into park once they're stopped outside the crappy sublet she's been staying in since her apartment blew up earlier in the year. He's been here before, insisted on helping her move in the meager amount of belongings that had survived the bombing; he had never approved of the place, of the lack of space and security the building offered, and the displeased glimmer in his eyes assures her that his opinion hasn't changed.

"Just be safe, okay?" he murmurs, diverting his eyes to the fingers curled around the steering wheel. "And if you need anything, just call me and I'll-"

"Why would I need to call you if I'll be right upstairs?"

She snags her bottom lip with her teeth as she watches his brow furrow, right before his eyes grow wide with understanding and his head is whipping towards her. "You mean… you're going to stay?"

It's a bad idea, the worst she's had since she decided to spill her feelings to him and ended up with her words still trapped in her teeth and her heart bloodied and battered on the precinct floor while he walked away with his ex-wife under his arm, but her entire summer has consisted of late nights staring at the ceiling, wondering 'if only'. She doesn't need another scenario to add to the list.

Kate shrugs, allows the upwards tug at the corner of her mouth. "I respect the universe."