Random, RANDOM one-shot that popped into my head today. I'm not sure if it's a little OOC for Kate but hey, I'm going for sickeningly sweet here. Literally, this has to be the fluffiest, sappiest piece I've written to date so if that's your hiatus fix, come on down. And review. Please.

Anyways, here you are. Oh, and follow me on twitter vatrask

Enjoy 3

She was having a really nice dream. Except…it wasn't a dream. It was a nice, cozy reality that she was currently wrapped around. It was a pretty little bubble of laughter that was caught in her chest refusing to burst even as she slipped in and out of consciousness. It was sitting on the floor of the library with your favourite author and a cup of coffee while the open window pulls in a summer breeze to cool your warming cheeks. It was that damn ringing in your ears when the cell phone you placed a little too close to the edge of the nightstand blares in your ears at four-thirty on a Sunday morning just because they love dragging you out of bed and away from your cozy, bubbly, breezy non-dream.

She didn't want to get up. She wanted to stay snuggled in bed dreaming of her writer boyfriend and all the sweet, romantic – sometimes dirty – things he loved to do to her.

So she left it. For the first time in her entire career as a police officer, Kate Beckett decided to let the call from the precinct go to voice mail as she slipped back into dreamland. A slight change of weight on the other side of the bed caused her to come crashing back to the bad part of reality – the waking up part – with a groan and an arm tossed over her shoulder "Don't get up yet, stay in bed." She mumbled, her head buried in her pillow, head tilted just to the left so that if she opened her right eye, she could see a blurry version of what her morning was going to be like.

"Kate," he whispered, gently holding her fingers in his as he ducked under her arm to grab her cell phone "your phone is ringing."

"I know." She groaned "Just let it go to voicemail. It's too early."

Rick Castle blinked at her for a moment before playfully running the back of his hand over her forehead "nope, you aren't sick. So why don't you want to go to work today?"

By now the phone had stopped ringing and soon enough the voicemail chime would alert them to their next dead body date.

"It's not a matter of not wanting to go to work today," she conceded that she wouldn't be going back to bed anytime soon and propped herself up on her elbows so she was at least at his eye-level "it's a matter of wanting to stay in bed."

"Oh come on Kate," he insisted, much too 'awake' for her liking "we have to go to work. You've only be back with Gates for a few months, do you really want to give her cause to file your resignation letter for real this time?"

She blinked at him "I can't believe you're turning down sex in favor of Captain Gates." She shuttered with him at the unintentional implication in her words.

"No, no, nothing like that – because, ew – second of all, I don't want to see my favourite detective lose her job because she's too wrapped up in her lover's arms. She rolled her eyes and groaned once again before rolling over – into him – and landing underneath his warm, naked body, the only thing keeping them PG13, a comforter that had definitely seen better days.

"Morning." She smiled up at him, her tongue coming between her teeth until she was too irresistible to not kiss thoroughly. Unfortunately now that she was up, she was determined to be a tease. The delicious meld of their lips only lasted for a breath before she ducked away with an audible pop and slithered from beneath the trap she'd set herself in. "Time to get up."

It was Rick's turn to groan "but it was just getting good."

She bounced up, practically skipping off the bed and around to the nightstand where the offending object was just announcing the arrival of her new voicemail "It's like you said Rick," she emphasized the 'k' just for fun. "Time to wake up, murder waits for no one." She looked over as she pressed the phone to her ear and smiled at the sight of her boyfriend – sometimes she still got little flutters of happiness thinking of using that name for the man currently in her bed – lying on his stomach with his face buried deeply into the undoubtedly sweat-stained sheets with the cutest bedraggled hair she'd ever seen. When he was like this, he wasn't a writer or father or ever her partner; he was just man – a boy really – who had an air of sweet innocence about him that his usual crinkled smile and sparkling eyes just couldn't quite achieve. There was no charm to her early morning Rick; he just was.

Shaking her head, she listened intently to the message, keeping her eye on him to make sure his breathing didn't even out indicating that he'd fallen back asleep. But she was pulled back to the voice in her ear at a few key words that made her eyes widen. "Shi-Rick!" She was this close to shouting at him but she kept it to a minimum, startling him nonetheless. "Get up we have to go now."

"Why what's wrong?" He shook away the sleep from his eyes as he watched her dart around the dimly lit bedroom, randomly grabbing her clothes and tossing his on the bed for him.

"That wasn't a body," she huffed, dashing into the washroom to quickly brush her teeth and done just enough makeup to look presentable "that was Gates informing me that there was a mandatory staff meeting in twenty minutes regarding the recent string of accidental suicides on the West End. Apparently they were suicides and she wants me to take point."

He paused long enough to offer her a smile "that's great." Finally they were getting somewhere and the frozen Iron Gates were thawing a little bit.

"Only if I get there for the staff meeting in twenty minutes. Ugh, where is my underwear? Ah forget it." She mumbled, still tossing clothes all over the place – of course Rick caught that little mumble but chose to comment on it at a more appropriate time; see, he was learning – as she tucked her shirt in while pecking her still half-asleep boyfriend on the lips while she made her way out to her living room, grabbing her badge and her gun on her way out and shutting the door behind her, leaving a dazed Rick, sitting on the bed. In Kate's apartment. Kate's empty apartment. Alone. It took him a moment to consider his various options: throw some clothes on and follow her to the precinct, snoop around her apartment – though he'd already done that a few times and there wasn't really anything worth finding – go back to his loft or go back to bed, wake up at a decent hour and then follow his girlfriend to the precinct. He was snoring before his head hit the mattress.

Meetings with Captain Gates are harsh toned and uptight; meetings with Captain Gates when she's still upset with you and about a hundred times worse with the added bonus of a cold stare and a back-handed compliment when you least expect it. Great. And on top of it she hadn't gotten her coffee this morning because it was so early and the espresso machine was out of order. She would only go back to precinct coffee if she was desperate – she was definitely getting there. Three hours of meetings later, Beckett managed to get point on the case but without her partner to cheer her up she was grouchy and unapproachable. By eight o'clock with no Castle she was this close to calling him and begging for coffee or company or a pillow she could whack Gates with but she refused to stoop that low. Yes she was missing her boyfriend – butterfly – but she was a functioning, independent New York City detective. She just needed to stay alert and everything would be alright. She hoped.

She caught herself staring at the elevator more than once. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one. "Yo Beckett, who're you waiting for?" She was startled out of her daydreaming by Esposito calling to her – from across the room. Where everyone could hear. Ugh – with a glint in his eye that said he knew exactly what she was doing.

"None of your business Esposito now where's my surveillance tape?" He huffed, making a face at her before returning to his task – his boring, boring task – with his serious, macho face on. She laughed and rolled her eyes. But she still kept looking up every few minutes until an entire hour had passed. Castle should be in by now. No! She would not call him, that would be desperate.

But maybe she could just, check the time on her phone and if her hand happened to slip on the number two speed dial it wouldn't be her fault – stupid touch phone – right? Okay.

Biting her lip and looking around just to be sure, she dug into her coat pocket to find her iPhone and was about to tap it on when she noticed the alert indicating that she had a new text message. She must not have heard it, huh.

From: Rick

Message: Can't come in today. Paula called an emergency meeting of her own. Something about a book I was supposed to write… will call when I'm done. Dinner 4 2? Love you.

It was sent three hours ago. UGH!

She slumped in her chair for a moment but shot up a moment later to head straight for the bad coffee machine. She needed her fix.

Eight o'clock. Eight o'clock and Rick still hadn't called. The boys had been sent home at five because they'd been up just as long as she had and frankly they were tired. But not Beckett, lead detective on the team with an MIA boyfriend and horrible coffee. Best day ever.

She had texted Rick after returning with her coffee mug – not her usual one because it felt like she would be betraying the mug if she fed it sludge – informing him of her lousy morning and that yes, they were on for dinner as long as he texted her when he was done. He had to be done by now. He hadn't texted. Or called. Or tweeted. Or sent up an air balloon with a banner that said 'I'm alright.' So yes, maybe there was a slight chance that she was potentially worried about where he might be. It passed 'jealous' worried three hours ago. This was worried worried. Worried that something went wrong, was preventing him from calling her.

This time there was no pretence when she picked up the phone to call him. It rang twice before it went to voicemail and she stared at the phone for a moment as though it suddenly held the answers. She called once again, not even looking up when the sound of an elevator ding announced a new arrival on the homicide floor. She did, however, look up when Rick's ringtone blared from across the hallway as he froze in place, tiptoeing across the empty room towards her.

"You!" She bolted from her chair, the poor piece of furniture flying to fit the desk behind her, storming over to her boyfriend. "Where have you been all day?"

"I told you I"

"Your meeting would have ended hours ago." She paused, clenching her jaw to keep from sounding too hurt. Oops. "Why didn't you call?"

His hands flew to her shoulders, his voice low and soothing. "Hey, I didn't get out of my meetings until like four and then when I checked my phone Alexis had called and I ended up going out for coffee and talking because she's got some crisis with her latest boyfriend – I'll tell you about it later – and then mother flooded her studio again so I had to go and supervise the destruction of my loft. By the time I was sure I wouldn't spend my life savings on property damages, I checked my phone and realized I hadn't talked to you all day so I came over to…ask you…if you….maybe…wanted to get…dinner?" He trailed off at the unimpressed eyebrow quirk and the pursed lips that barely suppressed her expelled worry and annoyance. "I'm sorry."

Her expression relaxed a little but not enough for her to sink into his arms the way she had been kind of craving all day. "I was worried sick about you."

"Then why didn't you call?" He smirked and she almost rolled her eyes but she was still functioning on one cup of what was once coffee and she was in a bad mood.

"Because you said you would call me." She shook her head "look, it doesn't matter now. What does matter is that I'm still upset with you."

"I'm sorry I didn't call."

"That I can forgive." Was she pouting? No way.

"Then what?" He could see her jaw working to keep from snarling at him so he wasn't surprised when she shook her head at him in disgust and stomped away.

She didn't go back to his loft last night and he didn't go to hers. When she got a call on another accidental suicide at eight the next morning, she didn't call Castle. But Ryan did – having heard from Esposito who heard from Lanie that Beckett was pissed at Castle for some reason that even she didn't know – not knowing they were together but definitely suspecting that something was different between them.

So Beckett showed up on the scene with her usual charming personality with the added bonus of a cold, hard glare whenever anyone so much as thought about Castle. So he wasn't there yesterday and today she was freezing him out; what was up with them?

And then Castle showed up with two cups of coffee, one in each hand, and a cautiously cheery attitude as though he were walking through a minefield – which, with Beckett, it kind of was.

When she spotted him across the crime scene turned to glare at the two detectives, not really caring whose fault it really was. By the time Castle reached her side she was practically heaving with frustration but the moment he handed her her cup of coffee, she visibly melted. Written in black permanent marker was 'Good morning, my heart'. With a little heart drawn on the bottom that she knew was his from the countless times he'd drawn shapes on her back while they lay together. She looked up at him through her eyelashes with the smallest of smiles that only he would have seen. She took a sip and barely resisted the urge to moan in delight. God she had missed his coffee.

Sensing he was now in the clear, he hazarded a smile "so…all of that yesterday because I didn't bring you coffee."

She rolled her eyes "all of that yesterday because I was having the worst possible day and the one thing that can brighten my day is you. And you weren't there to say I love you or to hold my hand under the desk or to check me out when I'm at the murder board when you think I'm not looking. And I know that you're not always going to be there but it's like…" she paused, trying to collect her thoughts "it's like when I have your coffee or your good morning kiss, I have a little bit of you to carry around for the day." She scoffed at herself "and I have never been this emotional over one day apart but…here I am."

"My heart."

She looked up "what?"

"You have my heart, Kate Beckett, you are my heart. That's what you carry around."

"Now who's sappy?"

"The both of you." The couple jumped apart the moment they heard Lanie's voice behind them. Crap. "The two of you have got to be the sappiest, sweetest, most sickeningly romantic couple I have ever met. And you're standing over a dead body in a secret relationship that supposedly no one knows about." The pair gapped at their friend for a moment, unconsciously taking another step apart "oh please, everyone already knows about your relationship so you don't have anything to worry about." The sassy M.E. placed her hands on her hips "except how hard I'm gonna whoop you for not telling me sooner. Geez girl."

Kate closed her eyes to release a harsh, one beat breath that was this close to being a scoff. "Thanks Lanie; now, what d'we got?"

Castle shook his head, staring at her as she shifted into detective mood – personally his second favourite mood as of recently – and smiling to himself, literally jumping a foot in the air when he suddenly realized that Ryan and Esposito had come up behind him.

"So Castle," Ryan rocked back and forth "is there anything we need to know about?"

He gulped "no, and before you say anything" he cut off Esposito "I would never intentionally hurt Kate. I've made a lot of mistakes in this relationships but as long as she keeps taking me back, I'll never leave."

"You know, Lanie was right."

"How's that?"

"You guys are seriously sickeningly sweet."

"It's all the coffee we drink."

"Or is it the kisses?" Ryan smirked.

"Or maybe it's the hand holding?" Esposito shot back.

Rick caught Kate's eye across the crime scene and they shared a secret smile. Yes, as long as they had a piece of each other to carry around, they'd be just fine.

The dream would stay real.