This is a one shot set after 2x22. I've been watching the episodes again and I would have liked Castle to do this. It was so hard for him to watch Becket with Demming. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

To Live and to Fight For

He hated it, Beckett making goo-goo eyes at Demming. He hated the fact that they even were a 'thing' at all. She'd never actually called him her boyfriend yet but now he'd seen them kissing.

He'd told Maddie that he didn't see it going anywhere but he couldn't be sure that it wouldn't. When the person you love is in a relationship with someone else you could never be confident of the relationship ending soon.

It had hit home after the case of Wolf being murdered when he thought Cecily should have gone with Wolf but Beckett had told him her view. Wolf might one day return to his old ways so to let her down whereas David was safe. That's what most girls want after all, wasn't it? It is what he'd want for Alexis.

On the way home it dawned on him, perhaps it is why he and Beckett weren't anything more than professional - sort of- partners. In the beginning he was sort of like Wolf, slept with what Beckett might perceive as any girl he felt like. Which is why she hated him so much but he had changed in the past year to someone who didn't sleep around and wasn't the playboy that the media used to portray him as.

Oh wait, he did. He admonished himself, Ellie Monroe. Great, a way to show Beckett that he hadn't changed. After all, she didn't believe people could change. Although she was more tolerant of him now than in the beginning. She could even consider them to be friends but that's as far as it would go now.

Tom offered security and safety, sure they hadn't known one another long but it was long enough to tell that he wasn't one to sleep around or be the playboy he was not so long ago. Looking back, he was nothing Kate Beckett wanted. She'd been scorned at least once and never wanted to experience the heartbreak again.

She in no way was "bimbette or celebutante" that threw themselves at him who were only really interested in his money, Kate needed enough money to live and be happy; just as she was now. She wanted to solve her mother's murder too. He wanted to be there when she solved it but if this thing she had with Tom was going anywhere, he doubted he would be. He didn't want to be around to watch her fall madly in love with some guy while he was waiting.

He didn't want to leave though, he was helping to make a difference in a way he never had before. He knew that him following her around was no longer about the books. It was about them and how he now wanted to help bring justice to people.

He knew he needed to do something quick and it had to be something that convinced her beyond any reasonable doubt that she should give them a chance. He wanted to do more than just "pull her pigtails".

Fortunately they caught a case soon enough, it also was a day when Demming didn't appear at the precinct. He had been grateful of that as Demming seemed to be spending an awful lot of time on the twelfth precinct's fourth floor.

He had been building up courage all day where he had been hoping to find the right moment yet there had not been any as yet. Castle knew that whatever he had to do had to be done today. Any longer and the situation may be irreversible.

Deciding that this time was as good as any he took Beckett's hand and dragged her out of sight while she was asking "Castle, what are you doing?"

Without reply he continued to pull her along until they entered the room when he turned to lock the door. Beckett continued to admonish Castle by simply saying "Castle" in an angered tone.

Having locked the door he turned back to look at his partner, while she searched his eyes for any indication of what was happening he just looked straight into her eyes. Before she could grasp anything else he surged into her, capturing her lips in the most passionate romantic kiss he had ever given to a woman. His hands framed her face as the kiss deepened with both individuals willing participants.

It wasn't until they broke for air that she regained control of herself. Looking back in to his eyes she still couldn't see an answer but recognised the look on his face one of adoration and passion. "Castle?" She whispered.

"Kate," he began "I'm sor- no I'm not sorry. I've wanted to do that for a long time."

"But why now?" She questioned.

"Because...I don't want to see you with another man. You're not in love with him, you're not supposed to be with him."

"How can you possibly know that? This is my personal life and a relationship with Tom."

"Because I know what a nowhere platonic relationship looks like, how it starts and then how it drags out. True love is meant to make you giddy inside, look forward to every time you see your other half, be texting them, calling or even thinking about them at every spare moment. He doesn't...I can make you happy, you laugh at my jokes, we enjoy spending time together and when you stayed at the loft...well I didn't want you to leave. I'm a better person because of you, a better father to my daughter and a better son for my mother. You make me happy, Kate; I can't stand by to watch you be with another man when I haven't told you how I feel. I want to be your other half and I just want a chance for you and I to...show how great we can be together." He told her with the desire and belief of them clear through the tone of his voice.

"So what, you want me to break up with someone who has done nothing wrong to take a chance on you?" She asked shocked at what he was asking her. He had plenty of audacity that was for sure.

"Yes, Kate, I do. You felt that kiss just as much as I did. Please?"

"How do I know you won't get bored of me? I'm a cop, cops don't date famous people. We don't make sense Castle. Cop and cop can work, does work."

"Life doesn't make sense, why should it matter that we don't make sense? You know yourself that we could be something...something amazing. Love should be exciting and fun not a chore or an afterthought. I love you, Kate, and if this just was about the books then I would have got plenty of research and left by now."

He could only look longingly at her face as if he could see the thoughts whizzing around her head. He had just asked her to end a relationship to take on a new one; it had only just hit him, the seriousness of that.

"Okay, Castle, you win." Kate conceded, knowing he was at least part correct.

"Kate, this isn't a competition." Castle countered, it hadn't been a competition and he now just hoped that she didn't hate him and never want to see him again.

"No, Castle, let me finish. What you said about Tom and I, you're probably right. He's an excuse or a point to focus on that isn't you. He's safe, and I know if he ended it tomorrow it wouldn't break my heart. He doesn't...he doesn't make me feel alive. Not like when I'm with you." Kate explained, reassuring him that when she referred to a game it wasn't in a negative sense.

Castle gently ran his hand down her cheek, all too aware how hard this was for her to say. The slight stuttering in her voice amplified her nervousness.

"I'm scared, Castle, you're...you and I'm me." Oh, Kate. "I value our friendship and I care about you so much so it made me jealous to see you with Kyra or Ellie. I found being at your home so much nicer than going home to an empty apartment on my own but I couldn't stay there, I was just a guest and I had to move on with my life."

"You needn't be scared, this is different for me too. You're the first woman that has captured me in such a good way and I want this to be it for me."

"Thank you, Castle, now I just have to end this thing with Tom. Until then though..." Kate presses a soft peck to his lips leaving him with a promise of tomorrow.

Thank you for reading and I'd love to hear a positive or constructive review :)