AN: Hi again! I'm back… It may be necessary to re-read chapter 1 considering it's been an eternity since I updated! (Please ignore that last AN where I said I was going to get this chapter up in like 5 minutes – and not the six months it actually took…) I am so sorry! Please forgive me (and read this chapter and let me know what you thought).

A knock sounded, decisive and sharp.

Castle usually wasn't one to interpret the intention behind door knocks, but he could tell whoever was on the other side of this one meant business.

He was struck by a terrifying thought.

What if Nikki He-Natalie Rhodes had followed him home?

Oh god.

He mentally braced himself against the onslaught, whispering his newfound mantra over and over again – 'you are not Jameson Rook and you cannot sleep with Nikki-Natalie' – as he wandered towards the door. Left unsaid was the part about how he was sure doing so would ruin his future (and purely hypothetical) chances with the real deal, also known as Kate Beckett.

Despite the stupid motorcycle wielding doctor, there was an undercurrent of hope in his partnership with Beckett. He was damned if one very strange – meta even – night with an actress would ruin that. The banging on his door continued.

Oh. Right. Yeah, he should get that. Good plan.

He whipped the door open, painting his sternest, not-interested expression over his face. It immediately crumbled at the sight before him. Castle couldn't school the grin that stretched across his face even if he'd tried. This, now this, was undoubtedly the best case scenario to a late night door knocking. He'd happily open any door knowing this is what lay on the other side. Katherine Beckett herself in all her post work day splendour.

"Did you crack the case?" he exclaimed gleefully, ushering her in as he spoke.

"What? No? I'm not here about the case," she huffed, all air and no force, as Castle tugged the coat from her shoulders with a familiarity that made her heart ache.

"Oh," he smiled. All the better really. "Not that I'm complaining, but why are you here?" his curiosity always got the best of him.

Crap. What if she'd seen him in the elevator earlier? Would she kick him out? Was she here to yell at him? Although, if she was mad, that would be somewhat gratifying… If she was mad she cared, right?

She puffed out another sharp breath. "You. Sit. Listen," she steered him towards the couch and gently pressed his shoulders until he lowered himself onto it.

"Okay…" he mouthed, patting the cushion besides his, an invitation for her to sit too.

Instead, she started pacing his living room. "I need to unload. This has been just about the weirdest day ever," she paused before a flurry of words flew from her mouth. She spoke so quickly, her words rolling together that, despite listening intently as he could, Castle only caught bits and pieces. "Dinner with Josh… Ducked out… Natalie Rhodes... Kissing... Josh... Natalie... Insane… I left… Came here… Needed a friend… Oh… Broke up… That too…" Beckett took a deep breath and slowed down, "and she kissed you, Castle. I saw her kiss you." Her brow furrowed and a frown formed on her face.

Instead of the frustrated expression she'd come in with, she suddenly looked small. Delicate. Breakable somehow. She smiled sadly at him, softly.

Oh.

So she had seen the "kiss" – sneak attack of the lips was more accurate. Wait. Did she say she broke up with Josh? Hang on? Natalie kissed Josh too? What the hell had Beckett just said? She was still gazing at him, like she was expecting something, a response maybe?

He didn't know what to say. She needed to take the lead. He would hate himself if he somehow upset her more, caused that sorrowful look in her eyes to intensify. So, instead, he said the one thing that he was somehow sure would break the ice. "Coffee, Beckett?"

The fury returned to her eyes. Whoops. Had that been the wrong thing to say? How on earth had that been the wrong thing to say?

He plunged to his feet, because despite the ire Beckett was projecting, she was stalking towards his kitchen as if she'd answered his question with a shout of passionate agreement, not an intense glare.

"Castle," she hissed, "she stole my damn coffee this morning too… I can't…" she was shaking her head in disbelief. "My coffee, my boyfriend – ex, whatever – and you. I really can't believe she stole you," she added sadly. There it was again, that look of despair in her eyes.

He really needed to say something. He had to communicate clearly, but without coming across too intense. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off, especially when she had come to him. "She didn't steal me," he entreated gently, the sharp blue of his gaze compelling the sincerity of his words. "And here, I'm making you a new coffee now, so we're righting that wrong too," he soothed.

Some of the light returned to her eyes and she smiled gratefully at him. "She didn't steal you," she repeated with a fierce little nod that was beyond adorable. "Yeah, that's right." Beckett bobbed her head at him again, the self-reassurance seemed to work because her lips teased with the makings of a genuine smile.

He smiled back. This was an interesting turn of events. Usually he was the one to become flustered and foolish – adorably so, mind you – and she was the one who held it together. She was so strong. He was the bumbling loon. Tonight, however, she was all over the place. This Natalie Rhodes craziness had genuinely shaken her. Sure, he'd found it funny – literally hilarious – at first. He liked this version of Beckett though, a little soft around the edges. Her more vulnerable sides always drew him in and this was no different. He was intrigued.

She was eyeing him with an air of curiosity now, speculation shining in those hazel orbs. Her teeth teased her bottom lip and he was jolted back to awareness by the sudden spike in his body temperature at the move. He needed to, firstly suck in a blast of air to restart his lungs from the staring that had apparently shut down the remainder of his bodily systems… and secondly actually make the woman his promised cup of coffee. That was the way to go. Coffee and then… conversation?

He shuffled around the bench to switch his coffee machine on. Beckett swayed, unsure about her place in his kitchen, maybe? He hooked an ankle around one of his bar stools, and pulled it out, gesturing for her to take a seat. He was rewarded with a glorious smile, spreading from cheek to cheek with unpractised ease.

God, he lov-liked-screw it-loved that smile of hers. There was a little voice inside that whispered that she saved it for him. But, the more reasonable, rational part of his brain was quick to shut that down with stern whispers of wishful thinking on his part. He was in trouble here. She was all that was soft and open and lovely and she had sought him out. She had come to him. He was in so deep. That crush that had been around from day one and the obvious sex appeal bubbled under the surface, but he was sensing that another emotion was now seeking dominance. He wasn't far from admitting to himself that he had fallen just a lot in love with Kate Beckett. There was no coming back from this.

Hang on? He mentally rewound the evening so far, replaying Beckett's earlier rambled venting. Oh. She was single… She had come to him… Excitement and anticipation buzzed fiercely to life. He poured her coffee and his own with unsteady hands. He slotted himself onto the stool besides hers and nudged her elbow with his. Flames licked at the point of contact. Delicious.

Castle seemed uncharacteristically quiet where Beckett was concerned. She'd expected… well, she really wasn't sure what she'd expected.

He was gazing at her gently and plying her with coffee and yet that was probably within the ordinary. Still. She glanced at him nonchalantly – she hoped – and tried to get a read on him.

Deep in thought apparently. If he noticed her eyes on him, he didn't react.

She sipped her coffee and choked, spluttering the conversation back to life. "Too hot," she coughed, wiping the wisp on dribble threatening to spill from the corner of her mouth. Castle could merely stare at her in response. He watched, mesmerised at the movement of her tongue as it flitted about to gather the remainder of the coffee from her lips.

He was jerked away from his unabashed staring by words spilling from the lips his eyes were locked on. "Why did Natalie kiss you?" she blushed, apparently not expecting her thoughts to overflow into reality. The pink of her cheeks only added to Castle's infatuation.

"I…umm…" Castle cleared his throat and tried to focus on the conversation at hand, and not the way Beckett's fingers were absentmindedly stroking the edge of her mug. "Turns out she went home yesterday and read Heatwave. She wanted to understand the chemistry with Rook," his hands formed air quotations around his words as he spoke.

"So, how come she missed out on exploring the chemistry?" Beckett asked, shyly. Her hair spilling over her eyes to guard herself from the conversation.

Oh Beckett. Surely she knew. Surely she could see. "She's not Nikki, Kate… You are…" It hung in the air between them. She tucked her hair back behind her ears and shot him a small, cautious smile. He decided to plunge his foot in it some more, considering that she hadn't twisted his ear yet. Honesty was the best policy, right? "Besides," he shrugged, "you can't fake chemistry. You've either got it or you don't."

Apparently Beckett was in the mood for plunging into things too…

"Do we?" she whispered softly, already knowing the answer.

"You tell me," he replied, reaching his hand over to tuck an errant strand of her hair back out of her eyes. She shivered at his touch and he had his answer. So did she.

She inched closer, narrowing the gap between their bodies. She could feel the nervous heat radiating from him, she was sure that she was expelling the same sort of jittery energy.

This was it.

She was going to stop lying to herself about Castle.

She was going to take a goddamn chance.

He could feel it too.

This was it.

He was finally getting his moment with Beckett.

Finally.

Her tips of her fingers stretched out to stroke his cheek and his heart had palpitations. A shudder rattled through him before he regained himself enough to follow her lead. If she was touching him surely that meant he was allowed to touch her without ramifications (like being shot).

Castle's hands carefully grasped her face and she leant closer still, the distance between them completely dissolved. They inched into each other, their lips meeting carefully. He was cautious at first, but Beckett surprised him by responded hungrily, pressing her tongue through the seam of his lips with ease. He felt his resolve – as if he'd even had any in the first place – crumble and he returned her kiss with equal fervour.

They separated to suck in additional oxygen, what with it being an essential for living and all. Beckett's eyes danced as she pressed her forehead against his, the both of them panting softly.

"That was…" she could feel Castle shaking his head against hers.

"Yeah," she agreed, her cheeks lifting in the makings of a bright smile.

"Enough chemistry to detonate a bomb."

With that, she chuckled, throwing her head back, before beaming at him. "Not the best analogy, Castle."

"Hey now, I'm a writer, not a scientist," he shrugged.

She pressed another kiss to his lips, soft and lingering. "You're my writer," she murmured, darting out her tongue to lick the lobe of his ear as she retreated.

Castle rubbed his hand over his ear with a look of utter glee. He nodded enthusiastically. Beckett rose from her stool and he pouted, making a grab for her arm. She pulled gracefully away with a grin. "See you tomorrow, Castle."

"Wait… You're leaving?" he groaned.

"Yes. I need to be well rested for our date tomorrow night."

Castle's jaw dropped through the floor.

Beckett worried her bottom lip between her teeth at his lack of verbal response. "That is, if you want to…" She was sure he wanted a relationship with her. Maybe initially he'd only wanted to get laid, but now – after he'd proven himself to her time and time again? Even so, despite her own internal assurances, doubt was an unpredictable beast…

"If – I – want – to," Castle ground out. Beckett's hurt was beginning to flicker to angry. Uh oh. "Yes," he managed to gasp. "God yes." The joy returned to her eyes. He struggled clumsily yet decisively to his feet and swept her into his arms. She pressed her lips lightly to his neck as he held her, certainty returning to her.

He drew back slightly and tilted her chin upwards with a tender hand. He peppered her cheeks and then her lips with delicate kisses. "Until tomorrow and our date, Detective." She grinned and stepped back from his hold. He trailed her to the door, helping her with her coat once again.

She had almost left when she turned back to face him, leaning against the open door. "Natalie was right," she paused as he fixed her with a furrowed brow, "you are the better kisser." With that, she stepped through the door, tugging it closed with a snick behind her.

Castle proudly fist pumped the air. Yeah he was. Wait. What? Better than who now?