Love, a castle fanfic

Love. There are so many ways to view the simple word. You can love food, or your pet, or your family. You can love doing something, being with someone. You can love a lot of things. But loving something is completely different from being in love with it.

Richard Castle leaned back in his chair, patting his full stomach. His mother had just cooked them a marvelous mean, despite her usually terrible skills in the kitchen. It was good though, because he'd brought Kate home.

It had been a long day. For all of them. He and his mother had been trapped in the bank for hours, not knowing if they'd live to see anyone else again. Alexis had been just outside, worried and unable to talk to anyone. And now she was dealing with a breakup as well. And Kate - Kate had been working her ass off to help get them out. That wasn't even her job. But she was breaking rules and going backwards to help them.

Why? He didn't know.

Okay. That's not true. She did it because she's still a cop so it's still kind of her job. She did it because he's her partner...and her friend. Just like she's his.

She is his partner. And she is his friend. When he though back to all the things they'd been through together, he knew that was true. They were partners. And he liked to think they were friends.

They had to be friends. Nobody just brings their partner home for dinner after a rough day. No, they'd bring a friend though. Partners aren't friendly with each other's family, they wouldn't offer to do the dishes. Partners wouldn't have even said yes to coming.

But Kate did. She did all of that, and more than once. She was his friend.

But still, that didn't seem right. Because she was more than a friend to him. And he already knew that. She was his best friend. She was the person he turned to for advice and help with his daughter. She was always there. And he loved her for it.

He did. He loved her.

But you can love a lot of people. He loved Kate, sure, but he also loved his mother, and his daughter. He didn't love them any more or any less than he loved Kate.

He just loved Kate...in a different way.

For his mother, and Alexis, he loved them unconditionally to the point where he'd give his life for them. Because they're family and that's what good families do.

But Kate - she was different. He would still give his life for her. But a part of him just wanted to have her. He wanted to be with her all the time and even more, because all the time still wasn't enough. He wanted her to know how he felt and to feel the same way.

He wanted her. Because he loved her.

And he'd told her that, sure, but she didn't remember.

He'd told her that he loved her.

And yet, that still didn't seem to cover all the things he felt for her. She was his partner, his best friend, he loved her.

He was in love with her.

But was he? Was he really in love with her? He'd never really been in love before. Meredith and Gina...he wasn't even sure he loved them, let alone been in love with them. There had been Kyra, yes, but that had been a long time ago and he had been younger. He wasn't even sure he would have really known what love was then. Because even being with Kyra didn't feel anything like being with Kate. And he wasn't even with Kate.

Yeah. Yeah, he was in love with her. He was in love with Kate Beckett.

Maybe he had been for a long time, maybe he was just realizing now. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was in love with Kate.

"Are you going to help with cleaning up?"

Her voice scared him from behind. He'd been so deep in thought that he'd barely noticed the table clearing and he hadn't seen her walking up to him.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm coming."

"Good," she smirked and walked back towards his mother and his daughter to help do dishes.

A/N: I own nothing you recognized. Please leave a review?