Note: I do not own Castle or any of its characters.

Chapter 1

Richard Castle was sitting on the couch in his New York City loft, icing his injured hand. He had had one hell of a week. A retired NYPD detective was shot while sitting right in front of he and Beckett and died with Rick's hands covering his gaping chest wound. One of the largest, both in size and empire, drug lords in New York was slammed into the interrogation room window by his best friend, getting her suspended from an incredibly important case. His aforementioned best friend and long time crush kissed him, long and deep, better than he had every been kissed before. He introduced a man who had a gun pointed at Kate Beckett to his fist quite a few times in order to save her and his two other close friends. Yeah, you could say it was a busy week.

Castle lay his head back on the armrest of the couch and let his eyelids slide slowly closed. He began thinking about everything that had occurred in the past week, but mainly the kiss in that parking lot. He knew that wasn't just acting to distract the guard. The kiss was far too passionate and exciting to have been acting. It couldn't be, right? Well, he hoped it wasn't just acting. Castle definitely felt a lot more than just a successful diversion from that kiss. Butterflies, sweaty hands, shaky knees, clouded mind. He felt like a teenager all over again.

His cell phone began to buzz, filling the empty apartment with the echoes of the sound of vibration on wood. Ahh, he thought to himself, her ears must have been ringing.

"Hey Kate. How you doin'?"He said, sounding a little too happy that she called. Little did he know, she was blushing both at the excitement in his voice and at the fact that he called her by her first name. Every time he called her Kate a weightless feeling swelled up in the pit of her stomach, making her feel like a little girl.

"Hey Castle. I'm just, uhh, looking for someone to talk to. I've been thinking about this crazy week." She sounded awkward and nervous, a quality not normally used to describe her.

"Yeah, me too. It was pretty hectic." His tone was serious and concerned, but still light and friendly. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Well..." Her voice trailed off as a single tear rolled down her pale cheek. She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand and sniffed, attempting to compose herself.

"Kate? Are you crying? What's wrong?" His tone lost the light and friendly and was completely taken over by the serious and concerned. After a little more sniffs and labored breathing, she was able to answer him.

"Josh came home and was furious about how close you and I are. He was being absolutely ridiculous. And after everything else that has happened this week I just couldn't take that. So I started yelling back and I... I chose you. So I broke it off with him." By the time she was finished, she had stopped crying and was glad that she had Castle there to open up to. He was always there for her. Anytime something about her mother's case came up. Anytime there was a particularly emotionally draining or difficult case. Anytime she needed comic relief. Castle was there for her like no one else ever had been. "Great way to end this week, huh?"

"Oh, Kate. I'm so sorry. Do you want me to come over? I got a bottle of wine with your name on it. I'm here for whatever you need. I just have one request." She had no idea where he could be going with this. But that was one of the great things about Castle, his unpredictability.

"No thanks, some other time. I just want to talk until I'm tired enough to sleep, if that's okay with you." After a slight pause, she continued, letting her curiosity show through her tone."What exactly is it that you are requesting?"

"Tell me one more time about how you chose me." He half-teased, half-pleaded, letting his smile be heard in his voice.

"Oh shut up Castle." She laughed loudly, glad that he could make her happy in the time that she most needed him.

"So, talk until you fall asleep, huh? Alright, anything in particular you'd like to talk about?" He chuckled right back at her.

"Yeah. Tell me a story."

The next morning, Castle was awakened by a loud, jarring sound and a tingling on the left side of his face. He rubbed his eyes, wincing at the sharp, stinging pain in his right hand. He yawned and looked around. He was still on his couch. His phone had woken him up because he had fallen asleep while talking to Beckett. Castle picked up his phone and answered it, yawning again.

"Hello?"

"Hey Castle. Its me. Listen, I'm sorry for falling asleep on the phone last night. Thanks for staying up with me." Beckett's familiar voice responded sounding apologetic, thankful, happy, and something else Castle couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Oh, no it's fine, I thought I had fallen asleep." Castle smiled back.

"Oh, alright then. I, uhh, I really like having you around. You've been there for me whenever I've needed it." She sounded somewhat awkward and nervous, but genuinely sincere.

"Don't mention it, Kate. I love being around you. Besides, when I need someone there for me, now you owe me." Richard joked back, keeping the conversation light.

"You know I will be." Beckett responded so quietly it was almost a whisper.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I know you will be? Of course, you're not the type to turn your back on a friend." Rick said back reassuringly.

"Yeah, of course." She smiled. "Hey, by the way, we got a murder. Want me to pick you up on my way? It's on your side of town." She tried not to sound desperate or hopeful, but she didn't do so well.

"Sure. I'll be ready. Bye Beckett."

"See you soon, Castle."

As Castle hung up his phone, he stretched and yawned one more time. He picked up his bag of ice from the night before, which was now a bag of water. He contemplated what they talked about and reached the conclusion that she was just being friendly because of how friendly he was last night. She was normally friendly, but in a teasing, playful sort of way. This was not ordinary Beckett, but he wouldn't question her after all she had been through recently.

Rick quickly showered and got dressed, said goodbye to Alexis and Martha, and got downstairs just in time to see Beckett's Crown Vic pull up in front of his building. He smiled and waved to her as he walked around to the passenger side.

"Miss me?" He smirked as he sat in the car next to her and buckled his seat belt.

"You wish, Castle." She smiled back. There's the Beckett I know, Rick thought to himself as she pulled back into traffic and sped through the streets of New York toward their fresh new murder, sadly enough brightening their day that they had a new crime to solve.

AN: Please read and review. New chapters coming up as soon as I finish writing them. Which hopefully means soon.