This is set during season 3 sometime, Josh and Gina are not in the picture and so Kate and Rick are not in relationships.

Disclaimer: Castle is not mine.

On a Tuesday in Manhattan Richard Castle was walking along the busy street to his favourite coffee shop. As he walked he got occasional glances due to his minor limp but he was used to both the limp and the stares. As a young boy his limp was much more prominent as he adjusted life with one leg. As he aged he adjusted to his prosthetic alot better and it was almost impossible to recognize the slightly different way he walked to others. However, he didn't go around advertising his disability, he was rather private about it with Martha, Alexis Gina and Meredith being the only people who knew. He often questioned telling the people at the 12th but always knew that if he did they would treat him differently and wouldn't allow him to do the same things as he did now.

Once outside the coffee shop he observed the long queue and looked down at his watch. 'It's only a little after 9am' he thought to himself. He quickly joined the queue and pondered what the day held for him. He would go to the precinct, like he always did, he would sit in his chair semi-quiet and then the team had a meeting with the captain at 11am. He frowned as he thought what the meeting may be about. Beckett and him haven't gotten into any life or death situations lately and he hasn't broken anything either. The queue moved forward and so he followed. He continued to get lost in his thoughts as he considered how the impact may impact him. Not even the Captain knew about his missing right limb. Once he reached the beginning of the queue he quickly placed his order, collected it and left for the precinct.

He loved bringing Beckett coffee as he gets to see her smile for him and that thankful, happy glint in her eyes. Everybody who knew Kate could easily say she was a caffeine addict. He sat in his chair and as always when he lowered himself he leaned more towards his left side and let his legs rest straight out for a while before pulling them closer to the chair. As he sat there he thought amusedly how a building full of detectives never figured out about his leg. Rubbing his thigh he thought about whether he would ever tell his friends at the 12th and if he did he wondered under what conditions it may be.

Kate was trying to focus on her current case with the current murder victims being a happily married couple. Not even a day after being back from their holiday they had been murdered in their suburban home. The detectives were starting to reach dead end after dead end as it was becoming obvious that nobody from their day to day lives could have done this as they all had solid alibis and no motive. The only thing now stopping the investigation was the holiday resort they had been at the days before their murder. They were refusing to let any detectives watch any security footage and refusing to let them question the staff. Beckett looked up needing to look somewhere else other than the almost blank murder board. As she was trying to look anywhere but at the murder board her gaze landed on Castle and she smiled. He was wearing a blue button down which only intensified the colour of his eyes with black slacks. She smiled slightly as she thought how dashing he looked as he concentrated on the murderboard, his eyebrows furrowing slightly with his eyes moving slightly side to side as he read over and over again the information the board provided. Even though he wasn't a cop he did make a good detective. Beckett was always grateful that her favourite author wasn't actually a cop as she felt that it kept him safe from most danger, except the times he didn't listen to her when she told him to stay in the car.

He looked over to her to see what she might be thinking and caught her staring at him and their eyes locked. Startling blue met intense green and they shared a moment. The longer their eyes locked the more intense it became and the precinct started to disappear. A loud squeak from a chair broke their gaze and they both looked away as a blush rose to Becketts cheeks. He smiled. They've been getting closer, bolder over the last few weeks with their stares becoming more intimate and their fingers started to drift over each other whether its their fingers, arms or the small of their backs. He loved the new direction their more than friends but not quite boyfriend/girlfriend relationship has been heading and it gave them both butterflies.

Before anybody knew it it was 11am and the Captain was calling for the team to go into the office.

"As you guys know the holiday resort is being less the cooperative so me and the higher ups have decided it would be best to do an undercover mission as it has come to my attention that over the last 2 months 4 happily married couples who have come home from the resort have turned up murdered in the suburban homes. We have decided that Beckett and Castle will pretend to be a recently married couple who have decided to spend their honeymoon there. Ryan and Esposito will consult through skype everyday and will do the groundwork, running the leads you gave them. You will report to the resort at 3pm, so you should go home and pack. You guys are dismissed." Roy Montgomery stated, beginning to sit down as Beckett, Ryan and Esposito left his office. Castle hesitated behind the others.

"Is everything okay Castle?" Montgomery looked up.

"It's just that uh-" Castle stumbled over his words not entirely sure how to phrase what he was trying to say.

"Spit it out Castle"

"I may have a certain medical condition that may or may not affect me on a daily basis and I'm worried th-" Castle was cut off by Montgomery as he looked up from his paperwork.

"And what medical condition would this be that you failed to inform me about for the past three years?"

Castle winced "A prosthetic leg"

Montgomery let out a deep breath and considered his words "I don't have a reason to believe that for this undercover mission that your leg should be a problem but after this case I'm going to want a meeting with you to discuss this further." Roy said sternly and then indicated for Castle to leave. He quickly nodded and left and for the first time since Roy Montgomery has known Richard Castle he noticed his subtle limp.

Rick felt a strange feeling at someone knowing about his leg and he could feel Roy's stare on his leg as he left. Deep down he knew he was going to have to tell Kate but he just didn't know how. How do you tell the woman you've been in love with for the past three years that you've basically been lying to her and your not the man that she thought you were? What if she is disgusted by the amputation site? What if she doesn't like the idea of dating someone with disability? He knew he should probably tell her as it might be a shock to her waking up next to a man who she thought had two legs only to find one of them missing. He almost wanted to laugh at the scene he imagined but deep down he knew that wouldn't be the way she should find out, she deserved better than that.

He looked at her desk and saw her packing her stuff away so he decided to quickly give her a brief warning at least. He went over to her and lightly tugged on her long purple sleeve. She looked up at him with soft curious eyes.

"Kate can I speak to you quickly?" He asked softly to keep from anybody hearing their conversation. He lead her to the breakroom and leaned against the counter.

"What's up Castle?"

"Kate when we get to the resort your going to see some stuff in my luggage that might raise some questions for you" He started to explain and her eyebrows began to furrow in confusion. "I don't want you to be worried and I don't want you to start asking questions as soon as you see it but I promise you that I will tell you when we get there because honestly, right now, I'm not quite ready nor prepared." And with that he left leaving behind a very confused detective and a writer with a pounding heart.