AN: First new fanfic in a very long time. It centers around the fact that while watching Castle, it's pretty obvious (to me at least) that there may have been a bit of history between Esposito and Beckett. And I believe I read somewhere that Jon Huertas and Stana Katic purposefully play their characters in that way. So anyway, I decided to write a little one shot. It takes place before Castle came into the picture. Don't worry I totally ship Caskett 100%, just wanted to write this. But, by the way, I've never written a Castle fanfiction, even though I have really wanted to for a while now. But I just love the characters so much that I did not want to write them wrong.

Esposito had felt as if there was more to his feelings than brotherly love for Detective Katherine Beckett for a while, yet given the strong, independent women before him, he was severely afraid to act on it. Because he could see that she put up a wall, and he was afraid, to knock it down, he was afraid that he didn't want to even be a part of trying to knock it down. That he might now want to see what was on the other side of that wall. And that, more than anything, seemed ridiculous to him. Because he'd fought in Iraq, he'd seen a lot of things, and he'd never been afraid to ask out a girl he liked. But this, it seemed like a whole other world to him.

Kevin Ryan, his partner, found him pacing in the break room following a tough case. They'd wrapped it up, but Ryan could see that what was on his friends mind was not the case at all. He'd known for weeks now. He could, as usual with his friend, usually tell. He glanced over to where Beckett was sitting at her desk, doing paperwork, and then closed the door to the break room. "Look, man, this has been going on for weeks now. You've got to tell her."

Esposito looked at his partner and nodded. "I know. I'm going to ask her out for drinks tonight."

Kevin Ryan smiled lightly at his friend. He was so glad that he was finally planning on making a move, "Good. I'll make some excuse for why I can't go. Umm…"

"You've got a hot date." Esposito stepped in with the suggestion, then quickly withdrew it, "Naw that'll never happen."

"Hey!" Ryan interjected, pretending to be offended by his partner's words. He knew in reality that Esposito was just teasing him, that he didn't really mean it. They were like brothers.

"Espo, Ryan, I'm heading out. You've got the rest of the paperwork?" The voice belonged to none other than Detective Kate Beckett, as she opened the door to the break room and both men's eyes turned to her.

"Actually, Beckett, we were wondering if you wanted to grab some drinks with us. You know, to congratulate a job well done." Esposito quickly hurried on with the idea, before he could talk himself out of it.

Detective Ryan's face quickly turned from a grin to a look of 'hey, sorry man.'as he acted out the plan, "Oh, sorry, can't tonight. Got a date."

Both Beckett and Esposito gave him a look of disbelief. And even though, on any normal night, he would get pressed further, Beckett decided against it that time, because she was too exhausted, and all she wanted was to lay on her couch with a glass of wine, alone. "Rain check? I haven't slept in days." She was too tired to even suspect that Esposito wanted to go out with her, much less able to decipher if she had any sort of feelings for him as well.

"Sure." Esposito couldn't act bothered or upset by that, much less be bothered by that. He could see that she was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and he didn't want to press it. So he let her walk, he let her walk out the door and to the elevator.

"I can't believe you just let her walk!" Ryan exclaimed, annoyed. "You're going to miss your chance and then I am going to have to hear about it."

"I am not going to miss my chance." Esposito said, glaring at him.

"Yes, you are."

"Am not."

"Look, I'm not going to fight with you over this….just…go after her!"

"What?" Esposito asked him. He'd never chased down a girl physically before. In a way he'd done it mentally, but never ran after a girl. Well not one that wasn't a suspect anyway.

"Go after her….Trust me, girls love that stuff."

"And where did you get your tips on girls from?" Esposito asked him, not really believing him but almost willing to try it. He was afraid that Ryan was right, that if he didn't try this now, that he never would. That he was using her exhaustion as an excuse.

"Just go." He gave his friend a little nudge, a little push to the door, and for the first time, it sort of worked. Because Esposito knew that it was now or never. So although he turned his head and glared at his friend, his thoughts were forward. He started running the minute he got off the elevator, spotting her near her car and knowing that he needed to yell out her name if he wanted to catch her.

"Kate!" He never called her Kate, always Beckett. But it just slipped out, and he really couldn't take it back now. He watched as the girl with the short brown hair turned to him with a surprised look on her face. He guessed that she had no clue he would follow her, much less call her by her first name.

"Esposito?" She asked, surprised. Was there something missing in their case? Had they not caught the guy? Those thoughts spun in her head. All she wanted was to go home to that glass of wine. She was so lost in thought that she wasn't suspecting the lips to press up against hers. She wasn't suspecting to get lost in the kiss or to kiss him back. She didn't even like Espo….or did she?

She was so unexpecting that all she could do was stare at him when he pulled away. She had nothing to say. "Sorry. I just had to know Beckett."

During the kiss, he realized the truth. That he really didn't like her like that. He'd just been so buried in work that he hadn't seen any other woman.

But as enlightening as the kiss had been for Esposito, it was anything but for Kate. She was confused, her mind spinning in circles as he left her to go back up to the precinct. Did she have feelings for Detective Javier Esposito?

Tell me what you think? I hope they aren't too OOC.