Disclaimer: All rights to Castle belong to Andrew Marlowe and ABC. This is for entertainment purposes only and not for profit.

Dedication: to AC...only a few dragons left then my debt is paid in full :D To all my readers, thank you for your kindness.

Part I

"Weird is one way to describe it," Kate said as she rubbed the spot between her brow, hoping the sounds of the precinct would start to fade along with her headache.

"When hasn't Castle fit the definition of weird?" Lanie said.

"Not just him." She looked around the office and caught a few warm smiles, some shaking heads, and a couple of thumbs up. "Everyone."

"You're being paranoid."

"Am I?" A few fellow officers pointed at her, then quickly looked away.

"He just misses Alexis."

Kate looked at the pictures on her desk. She leaned forward and held the one taken in Paris a couple months ago. She, Alexis and Rick all huddled together outside of a bistro under the city lights, making ridiculous faces.

"Or it could be the book," Lanie supplied.

The last Nikki Heat book. The bittersweet taste of change lingered in Kate's mind. After it was released, Gates would probably reevaluate his presence, again. Though, a small part of her thought Gates had warmed up to Castle. It had only taken three years.

Kate picked up her pen and started to tap it against the stack of papers on her desk. "Or it could be me. There have been a few cancelled dates."

"It's definitely you."

"Lanie!"

"What? The man loves you. Happiness like that is a distraction."

"Thanks."

"Why don't you make up a few of those dates and take this weekend off? Take that writer of yours and tie him up somewhere."

It had been a busy couple of weeks. Too busy. She just wanted to relax with him, somewhere, anywhere with him. But not this weekend; she had a score to settle.

"I can't this weekend, Alexis is coming home early."

"All the more reason to take it off. Family time."

Kate twirled her pen around. "There's also that other thing." The image of Castle shirtless, pants-less and neon lights trailing over his muscles made her breath hitch. He had played to her weakness on that one and had won.

"I'm surprised you agreed to it."

"I promised Alexis."

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that you are having fun?"

Fun was only a small part of it. "It has more to do with those plans he is hiding from me."

"Plans?"

"Always scribbling on them. Plotting away." Kate looked towards the break room and wondered why the blinds were closed.

"Y-you know about that?" Lanie asked with a searching tone.

"Of course I...wait, how do you know about them?" She looked around the office, "Does everybody know?"

"Know what?"

"What Castle and I do at home, alone, and in the dark," Kate whispered into the phone.

Lanie was silent for a moment then she let out a laugh of relief, "I don't think so."

"They don't have a bet going or anything?"

"Not on that," Lanie mumbled.

"Good." The last thing she needed was the entire precinct knowing that even with all her training they were now tied. Kate stood and walked towards the break room, following the smell of coffee and the nagging feeling that Castle was in there.

"Do me a favour?" Lanie asked. "Think about taking the weekend off."

"I'll think about it."

"And Kate?" Her voice tittered with excitement.

"What?"

"My answer is 'yes'."

"Yes to wha-?"

Lanie hung up and Kate stared at her phone for a moment. No, she wasn't imagining things. There was bet going on and it something to do with her sexy writer.

Kate approached the break room and heard voices. Familiar, conspiring voices. Kate leaned against the break room door, watching three grown men, in the darkened room, huddling over papers on the table.

"She's starting to think all of us are crazy," Ryan whispered.

"I'm going to do it this time," Castle said as he nodded in confidence.

"That's what you said about last night," Esposito said.

"She had to work and-"

"You're scared."

"I'm not scared."

"Riiight. OK. No reason to get blue in the face over it," Esposito said.

"Very funny." Castle ran his fingers through his hair. "She deserves...I want her to have...That's why I need the two of you to-"

"We've got your back and Beckett's," Javi said with emphasis on Beckett's name.

"Are you going to give me the speech again?"

"Do we need to?" Ryan said with a similar emphasis as Esposito's.

"No-no. I'm good. The visual aids you provided were enough."

The two detectives nodded, then Ryan pointed to the papers in front of them. "I think this might be the one."

"I know, right?" Castle had a nervous edge to his voice. "The other ones didn't measure up. This is it." The two detectives gave him a hearty slap on the back. "I'll have her right where I want her."

"Pathetic."

All three men froze. They shuffled the papers towards Castle, then spun around.

"I thought you were in a meeting with Gates," Castle said.

She narrowed her eyes at them. The other two looked at the walls in the break room as if Kate had written riddles on them. Castle stuffed the papers in his back pocket.

Kate crossed her arms. The smell of coffee started to freeze in the air.

All three men shared a look. Castle's face paled. The two detectives moved away from the writer.

"Don't we have that..." Esposito said.

"Right. That case solving thing..." Ryan answered.

Both men scurried out of the room, but gave her warm, brotherly looks as they went. They had been doing that for weeks.

Kate looked at Castle again. He had plastered an innocent look on his face, so she gestured to the papers in his hand. "You really thought you'd get away with it?"

"Yes?"

She stalked towards him and poked him in the shoulder. "I know about the bet."

"That's not entirely my fault."

He backed away from her until he was against the counter, next to the espresso machine.

"What we do in private is our business, Castle. I don't care how much that one victory meant to you."

"Victory?"

"The war isn't over yet."

He furrowed his brow. "War?" Then his shoulders fell in realization. "Oh, waaar." His lips and eyes crinkled at their corners. "Still bitter in defeat?"

"No," she said through clenched teeth. She still couldn't believe that he had flashed her and it had worked.

"Did I forget to mention you look sexy when you're all competitive?"

"And you look..." She pulled down his collar and smiled at the faint stains of blue ink. "Are you wearing my cover up?"

His expression fell even, "No. I have my own."

She brought her thumb up to his cheek and started to rub until some more blue ink could be seen. "So which cookie jar was it?"

"The one with the boobie trap in it, and not he Jessica Rabbit kind."

"Ah, the hollowed out Nikki Heat book with my fake battle plans in them. Learn your lesson?"

"I've showered three times and it won't come off."

She gave him a pat on the cheek. "You're so predictable."

"I'm Mr. Unpredictable."

"Sure you are." She gave a quick look to make sure they were secluded enough before sliding her arms around his waist, plucking her fingers along his belt loops as if they were strings on her guitar.

His hands gripped her hips and pulled her towards him. "Two can play at this game."

"Two people already are."

He gave her a quick kiss and removed one of his hands. "Looking for these?" He dangled the papers overhead. "You'll see them when...when we're...when I'm ready."

"I thought you were born ready?" She pulled away from him and started to make her coffee. He nudged her shoulder for her to scoot over so he could make it for her. Soon a warm cup of coffee was in her hand. They both leaned against the counter, shoulder to shoulder.

"I missed you this morning and last night," he said.

She resisted the urge to just fall right into his arms and let the rest of the world ooze away. They both had lost time between them, and somethings were sacrificed. "Too many rain checks."

He gave a shrug of his shoulders in understanding. "You caught the guy and I got Gina off my back. Win-win."

She put down her coffee, faced him, and started to fiddle with the front of his jacket. "So what did I miss last night? Dinner? Dancing? Cuffs?"

After a few wordless moments, she looked into his eyes and it was waiting for her.

For a fraction of time, somewhere between a split and a second, everything stilled; her breath hitched as her heart fluttered towards him. He would hold it in his hands and kiss it with the love of a friend, a partner, a lover and a promise that out of the millions of hearts beating elsewhere, this is the one he wanted the most. The one he never wanted to break.

Though instantaneous, the intensity of this one look had gotten worse over the last couple of months, since Paris. Then again, maybe it had always been there. Now they were closer to defining it.

He leaned down for a quick kiss. She grabbed his lapels and made it a lingering one—a rarity in the precinct.

"Kate?"

Her name skittered between them. She looked into his eyes and waited. Words built up at the back of his eyes, stayed there, then were replaced with different ones.

"Your Dad is coming to dinner on Sunday," he said, followed by a quick smile.

"He comes over almost every Sunday."

"Right. I know. I started the tradition."

Kate cocked her head to the side and studied him. "Castle, are you all right?"

"Yes. Why? Do you think you could get the weekend off?"

Lanie's words jumped back into focus for a moment. "I don't know. Why?"

"Because I love you and I want you all to myself."

The smooth flavours of love steeped into her senses like every cup of coffee he had ever given her. "I'll ask. Happy?"

"Deliriously." He gave her a final kiss before adding, "See you at home, and I promise I won't flash you this time."

Kate watched him walk away—an action both loved and hated all at once. She made her way back to her desk and saw Gates shake a little black book at Ryan and Esposito. Whatever Gates said to them, it wasn't enough, because they left her office with smug smiles directed at Beckett.

"Gates wants to see you," Ryan said.

Beckett entered her Captain's office. "Sir?"

Gates closed the black book and threw it in her top drawer, then leaned back in her chair. "I wanted to tell you that you worked well on this last case. Your whole team did."

"Even Castle?"

A hint of a smile touched Gates' lips. Only a hint. "I'm giving you the weekend off."

Kate's mouth fell wide. "I'm sorry? But did you just-"

"Go home. Get some rest."

"I have paper-"

"Detectives Ryan and Esposito will take care of your paper work." Gates waved her hand towards the door, "I don't want to see you in here until Monday."

Kate walked out of the Captain's office and straight to Ryan's desk, where the two detectives were pretending to do paperwork.

"You have two seconds to tell me what's going on."

"We are doing your paper work," Esposito said.

"You hate paper work."

He shifted in his seat, but his gaze held strong. She turned to Ryan, who held his files in front of his face, pretending to read. Kate pulled the top of the file and found his blue eyes staring at her.

"Did you get the weekend off?" he asked.

"Why does everyone seem to care about that?"

"Not everyone," Esposito said, "Karpowski and the guys in booking would be happier if it was next weekend."

She glared at him.

"Beckett," Ryan's tone was soft. "You've covered for me for weeks and I got to spend more time with Sam and Jenny. Let me do this for you." Ryan put on his best puppy-dog face and she couldn't resist.

She nodded. "That explains you, but not you." Kate pointed to Javi.

"Lanie told me to."

Kate placed her hands on the desk and leaned in towards him. "So this has nothing to do with what you were planning with Castle earlier and that little black book?"

Esposito stood. "Beckett, we're not going to lie to you." He grabbed Ryan by the arm and walked away.

Beckett swiveled towards her desk and ignored the glances from the rest of her coworkers. She grabbed her coat, and the duffel back she had hidden underneath her desk. Kate peered inside of it, taking inventory of what she had and needed to get.

There was something else to this bet and there was only one person who could clear that up and she knew where he lived.

And... she knew how to make him talk.