Okay I really wish I hadn't watched the finale. I bet Castle upset a whole slew of apple carts yesterday. (It was yesterday when I started this thing. It's taken longer than I thought to finish.) As lame as it sounds, the ending upset me and I had to write them out of that situation before I poked someone's eye out. Haha okay, may be kidding about the whole eye thing. Maybe not. Either way, I think it's going to be extremely difficult for me to wait till next season to find out what happens. What about you guys?

Thanks again to all past, present, and future reviewers! You guys really make it all happen. I don't think this one is as good as my last one (I don't think I can top that for at least a while.) But hopefully you'll like it anyways.

Kate Beckett could only watch as the elevator closed its doors on Castle snuggling with his ex-wife. It took her a while before she could fully process what had happened in the last few minutes. One minute, Montgomery's comment had made her mind was blissfully clear; she was finally ready to offer Castle a piece of her heart. She had asked to speak with him alone and everything was going well until she barged in. Beckett had quickly tried to take that piece of her heart back and build emergency barriers, struggling for words that just wouldn't come, stalling for anything that would give her time to strengthen that barrier.

It was too late.

As Castle explained more to her about Gina and spending the entire summer in the Hamptons with her, he had easily blasted through those emergency barriers, grabbed her whole heart, and let it fall to the floor where it shattered into a million tiny pieces. She had it coming, she knew, but nothing could prepare her for the sting of his rejection. Karma was a bitch.

If she were to use her own analogy to describe their relationship, she would have said that Castle snuck up every so often and stole a few apples; running off to play with them in a corner like a nine-year-old. He always came back though and managed to return the apples and make it look as if he had never shown up. But this time, he had flipped over the whole damn apple cart, and had flung its contents in ten different directions.

She looked up to see the Captain, Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie gaping at her through the glass of the door. As much pain as she was in right now, she did not need or want their pity. She made a halfhearted gesture towards the break room and grabbed the mug off her desk before making a break for the coffee, tears threatening to spill over at any second. She automatically made her way to the sink to take deep breaths and to wash out her mug, hiding herself behind autopilot mode as she tried desperately to salvage what was left of her cart.

The rest of the attendants at Castle's makeshift party exchanged awkward glances. They watched as one of their own crumbled under her failed confession and each one of them couldn't help but feel a little responsible for giving Beckett the push towards Castle. Esposito made a move to follow Beckett, but Lanie held up her hand and gave him a stern look.

"Let me."

If anyone knew how to handle Beckett now, it would have been Lanie. Esposito gratefully stepped aside and Lanie swept past him, heading for the break room. She found Beckett by the sink, glassy-eyed and still washing the mug she'd started on ten minutes ago.

"Kate."

Beckett looked up, flustered. When she realized she was still at the sink, she hastily headed towards the coffee machine and proceeded to fill her cup, ignoring the espresso machine to her left and Lanie to her right. She tried her best to look as nonchalant as possible, but she knew she couldn't fool Lanie.

"Come on honey, get your coat. We're out of here." Lanie jerked her head towards the door. Beckett took one look at her and got the message. It wasn't an invitation.

The walk to Lanie's apartment seemed like eternity and the elevator ride to her floor seemed equally long. When the elevator finally slid open, Lanie took a minute to fumble for her keys before letting them both inside. She left Beckett at the door, heading directly for the kitchen. She picked up a bottle of red wine from her stash and two wine glasses from her cupboard. When she was finished, Lanie grabbed the glasses and returned to the door, handing Beckett a glass much larger than her own. They both made their way to the couch where they sat waiting for what Lanie knew would never come. The pair spend the remainder of the night sipping their wine in silence. Kate Beckett had never been on the giving end of cry talk, and she wasn't about to start now.

It had been a few weeks since Castle had gallivanted off to the Hamptons with his latest arm candy in tow and things were finally beginning to settle for everyone at the precinct. Beckett had composed herself extremely well and was able to fool most of the 12th into believing Castle wasn't as important to her as everyone had projected. She strode into the precinct and caught the elevator as it was about to close and paused once she was inside, unsure of which floor's button she should push. As good as she was, one thing she couldn't bring herself to do in these past weeks was to face Demming. Although he didn't let on, everyone knew he was aware of why things had ended between them and couldn't possibly face him after the bombshell she dropped on him, especially when her own attempt at a relationship had failed so miserably. She sighed dejectedly as she hit the button for homicide. She was still too much of a coward to even approach Demming.

The elevator opened with a ping and as soon as she moved to sit down at her desk, Esposito was at her side. She arched an eyebrow at him warily; Esposito had begun hanging around Beckett more often since the incident, watching carefully and silently, almost as if he were afraid she'd crack at any second.

"You got a call" was all he said as he motioned to the phone. Beckett thanked him and picked up her phone, watching as he wandered back to his own desk.

"Beckett."

"Hello, Detective Beckett?" She paused at the unfamiliar female voice, trying to place where she had heard it before. "This is Gina Cowell, Rick Castle's publisher." How could she forget. She was practically the reason why Beckett was wallowing in internal self pity at the moment, and she was hating herself for even allowing herself to be in that position in the first place. As much as her mind screamed at her to hang up on Gina, she forced herself to press forward with the conversation.

"Yes, is there something I can help you with?"

"This... this is rather hard for me to say..." Beckett allowed herself to roll her eyes at that statement. "I'd like to ask you to come to the Hamptons." Beckett opened her mouth and was about to say something when Gina cut her off. "Please, just hear me out. I can't get Rick out of his funk. He hasn't written a single word since he's been here... spends all day staring out at the beach."

"I don't see how this concerns me..."

"I know, I know how you don't think you can do anything to help him... but as much of a distraction you are to him..." Beckett made a face at this. "I'm aware of the fact that you're responsible for inspiring him to write again. I thought I would be doing him a favor going with him to the Hamptons, that if I went with him it would help, but apparently it's done quite the opposite. For the sake of our careers... no. For his career... would you please consider helping him out?" The woman on the other line was practically begging now, something Beckett never thought she'd hear from Castle's publisher. She seemed like the type that could get whatever she wanted. Was it really that bad if Castle couldn't deliver his book?

"No, I'm sorry. I don't think that's a good idea." Beckett didn't wait for the reply before she hung up. It was terribly rude of her, but she felt like she had reached her limit and didn't feel up to dealing with anything remotely related to Castle any longer. She might have blown another chance, but at this point, Beckett was sick of 'chances.' He'd done this before. Right when she was about to let him in further, Castle had to go and hit on anything remotely female. There were the occasional fans but most recently there was Ellie Monroe, her friend Madison, and now Gina. Again. Lately, each time he brought a new girl to the precinct it felt like Castle had stolen another batch of apples from the cart; except these were never returned to her. Try as she might, she could not replace them fast enough.

TBD

Okay, I'm going to seriously ask for your opinion here. It seemed like a good idea to write this story a couple days ago, but it kept getting longer and, in my opinion, more boring. So I've decided to split this one into two parts. The story is nearly finished, but I can't get the ending to flow the way I want it to. If you'd like to read the second part let me know! If you think it's a little on the dull side let me know as well. Your feedback will decide if I finish this or trash it. DUM DUM DUUUUMMM...

But seriously. I have no idea what to do.