Okay, so big day for me. Publishing two new fics within sixteen hours of each other. I must be crazy. But I've had this little idea for a while. And then I've had the drafts of it for almost as long. It was time. Besides, gotta love me some Beckett/Castle goodness. Especially when it changes your perspective of the tv show!

So, since I haven't published in this fandom yet, let me say that all my fics are inspired by a song. And each chapter is the same. So the song for this story is Begin Again by Colbie Caillat.

The song for this chapter is What I Wanted To Say by Colbie Caillat. I like her. She won't be my only artist.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or its characters. But the day that I own Nathan Fillion (in any character role)… that'll be a good day.

Chapter One: What I Wanted To Say

There were one hundred women in the room with him. Of those one hundred women, two were related to him, one was an ex-wife and forty eight were married. Twenty were old enough to be his mother. Nineteen were young enough to either by his daughter or send him to jail. That left ten potential women for him to flirt with unashamedly. He'd gotten numbers from nine of them and the last one was just about to come sit with him.

Richard Castle was by no means a womanizer. He had the deepest respect for them, treated them like queens. But after two failed marriages, he had pretty much given up on the idea that he would ever find a functional, serious relationship. So that left him free to bounce between women, pretending to enjoy life and live to the fullest.

"Who should I make it out to," he asked with a charming smile as a copy of A Raging Storm was set in front of him.

"Kate," a quiet voice said. He looked up and his flirty compliment died on his lips. She was beautiful. Her caramel colored hair was past her shoulders, her green eyes bright with excitement.

And yet…

There was a sorrow in her eyes, a deep rooted pain that made them seem dulled. She was smiling shyly and Castle realized that if she smiled genuinely, he would be done for. Unlike most of the women in the room, she was dressed conservatively in jeans and a white t-shirt with a black leather jacket. Not showy or provocative and yet unbelievably sexy. She was unbelievably sexy.

"Kate," he said, finding his voice. "Please have a seat," he said, standing and pulling her chair out for her. She sat and he scrambled into his chair. "So what can I do for you, Kate," he asked. She blushed.

"I really just wanted my book signed," she admitted.

"Well, since you have me for another eight minutes and thirty seven seconds," he said checking his watch dramatically. She chuckled and Castle found himself smiling in response.

"Well, um, okay," she said, looking around, trying to come up with something to ask him. He waited for her to ask one of the cliché questions.

"How is your daughter," she asked finally and he paused, not expecting that.

"She's… um, she's good. She's here actually. After this is over, we're going to our house in the Hamptons for the summer. It's a tradition of ours."

"That sounds really nice. I'm sure she's happy that school is over. I usually go to my dad's cabin but I'm working this summer."

"That's too bad. What do you do?"

"I'm a police officer. I work in Vice." Smart, sexy and tough. This woman was getting more intriguing by the minute.

"A cop, huh? What exactly does a Vice officer do?"

"We're plainclothes. We deal mostly in drugs and morality crimes. We do a lot of long term investigations."

"That sounds like kind of a dangerous job," he said after a minute.

"It has its moments but I love that I bring justice to some people."

"You have a strong sense of justice? Interesting. Why is that?" Kate's eyes lost the light of excitement and she looked down at the book and Castle's eyes followed. It was an older copy, hardcover, though the binding was coming apart in places and he saw that chunks of pages had come loose. The cover was battered and it was obviously a well read piece of literature.

His literature.

He realized this was obviously something deeply personal and painful, so he bent over, picking up his pen and carefully opened the book. He paused for a moment and then began to write in the book. When he was finished, he gently closed the book, rested his hand over it briefly and then handed it to Kate.

"Listen, Kate, I was wondering if you would have dinner with me tonight?" Kate froze, eyes locked on him. He watched as she began to breathe heavier before standing.

"Um, that's really, um nice. But I have to go. I have a case, an important one. But thank you. And thank you for this, for signing this. It was really nice to meet you, Mr. Castle."

"Please, call me Rick," he said standing, trying to think of something he could say to make her change her mind.

"O-okay, Rick. Um, I'm just going to… yeah. Goodbye." She turned on her heel and walked out the door, leaving him standing there, staring after her.

"Who was that," Alexis asked walking up beside him.

"I don't know. But I want to."