A/N: I've often wondered what on earth Castle could've done at that book signing to make Beckett hate him so much…This is what I came up with.

Detective Kate Beckett is standing in a very long line. Drumming her fingers across the hard covered book in her hands, she rolls her eyes and adjusts the purse on her shoulder for the hundredth time. The teenage girls in line behind her kept bumping into her back, but she was determined not to move. Peering around the people in front of her, she spots the author signing books and taking pictures with the type of New York City housewife you'd expect to see at Saks while her husband was at work. Over the loudspeaker, a woman's voice came booming through stating that the only thing the author would be signing today would be the new copy of his book. The girls behind her once again bumped her purse off her shoulder and complained that they wore the low cut top for no reason then.

She had been in line for an hour and a half already. She was dressed up, her hair and makeup done, was wearing high heels. She was not moving for anybody. There were only a few people left to go before her, so Kate spent her time trying to balance on the tiny heels of her shoes and think of things she wanted to say to him, like how his writing helped her through a difficult period in her life and helped her believe that justice will be served. Before long, the mass of people parted and she came face to face with Richard Castle, her favorite author. He scanned her from head to toe and up again. He got a smug grin on his face as she walked up to his table. Direct eye contact from him was almost more than she could handle.

"Hello," he starts shoving his hand towards her, "I'm Richard Castle. And who might you be?"

"Hello Mr. Castle, I'm Bec-I'm Kate Beckett." She said, handing over her book for him to sign. Castle opens up the first page and notices a "From the library of Katherine Beckett" sticker on the hard cover.

"I see you take your books very seriously, Miss Beckett." Kate's breath catches in her throat. "It is Miss I assume. I see no ring…"

Snapping out of her daze, she furrows her brow. "Just because I'm not wearing a ring doesn't mean I'm not with somebody."

"Well that bodes well for me, I take it…" He says, giving her one of his million dollar smiles. "That dress looks fantastic on you, but next time you might want to wear less makeup…"

"Excuse me?" Kate scoffs incredulously, placing her right hand on her hip. The security man comes up and grabs the camera that was dangling off of her wrist.

"Let's move along, Miss." The man says, gently nudging her back behind the table to take a picture.

In her state of shock, with her brow still furrowed in utter confusion, she faced the camera with a wide open mouth, face contorted in disbelief. Castle motions inappropriately toward her as the security guy takes a picture. Everybody laughs. Everybody, that is, except Katherine Beckett. Grabbing the book off the table and the camera from the security guard's fat hand, she storms away from him. She felt his eyes follow her to the back of the line and out the door. Letting an incredible sigh fall out of her mouth, she opens the book to see what he wrote.

"Call me. I know you'll want a better picture. 555-0129 R. Castle"

An elderly lady passes through the doors and turns to Kate. "You are so lucky! I've never seen him do that before!"

All she can do is shake her head.