Disclaimer:The show Castle and its characters are the property of Andrew Marlowe and ABC

A steady click of heels rang out as Detective Kate Beckett walked the corridors of the morgue towards the autopsy room door. Her game face was set and combined with her no nonsense attitude the people around her parted like the red sea. Opening the double doors she barely set a foot inside the room before a dark skinned ME pounced on one of the two go cups she was carrying.

"What took you so long, don't you know its bad to keep your ME waiting for her coffee if you want fast results", she said while taking a sip from her cup and instantly spitting it out exclaiming, "Tea! I asked for a coffee!"

Looking amused at her reaction Beckett promptly took the cup from Lanie's hand and handed her the cup with her coffee saying, "If you had let me properly enter first I would have given you the correct cup and you're welcome by the way," she teased as she took a sip of her tea.

"Yeah yeah thank you Detective Beckett, but what are you drinking tea for? Wait are you..." Lanie asked with wide eyes.

Seemingly catching up on the implications of her best friends words she shook her head vigorously with a emphatic "NO". "Can't I just enjoy a cup of lime tea without you thinking I'm pregnant."

"Well when someone like you who drinks so much coffee that its probably flowing in your veins drinks tea than yeah people are gonna jump to that conclusion."

Shrugging her shoulders Beckett simply replied, "Its my tea phase."

"I never knew that," Lanie replied bewildered thinking how much did she really know her best friend of 9 years.

Shrugging Beckett turns the conversation towards their latest victim and listens as Lanie lists of the preliminary cause of death as blunt force trauma and her other findings. After she is finished Beckett thanks her and starts heading back taking a sip of her tea.

Letting out a frustrated sigh Beckett sits on the edge of her desk glaring at the murder board in front of her as they have run into another dead end. They had spent all morning canvassing the crime scene and interviewing their number one suspect only to find his alibi to be rock solid. The little growling of her stomach reminding of her missed lunch doesn't help matters. She could really use one of Castle's out of the box theories right about now.

Castle

She has been trying to avoid thinking about him for the past week ever since their undercover kiss which had hit a little close to home. She still didn't understand why her heart started beating faster and what this weird feeling in her stomach was every time she thought about him. This sensation was foreign to her, she didn't know what to make of it and didn't want to dwell on it either so she tried to box it in, only this feeling was just as stubborn as her and just as annoying as her partner and bursts out of its box every time she thought of him.

She sighed and looked at her watch and waited for her partner who was about to arrive in a few minutes as she remembered his text last night informing her about his meetings at his publisher's in the morning. She hears the elevator ding and looks up to see her partner walking towards her carrying two to go cups in his hands with his usual smile on his face. She turns her head back towards the murder board feeling the familiar foreign sensation run through her body. She wonders how she really feels about him? Wonders if he is just a good friend? Its different from how she feels about Josh but its not the same as she feels about Lanie either.

She is brought out from her pondering as a to go cup appears in front of her with a cheerful "Good afternoon Detective" from her right hand side. She takes the cup as she greets him while mentally grimacing thinking 'I should have asked him to bring me tea. Well I can bear one free cup of coffee'. Her eyes widen with surprise when she feels the familiar taste of lime tea on her lips and a "How?" escapes from her lips.

Castle looks at her and simply says, "Its your tea phase right," with a hint of familiarity as its natural for him to know its her tea phase which no one knows about. Beckett just keeps staring at him with wide eyes as he grows confused and asks, "What? Is your tea phase over?"

Beckett just shakes her head as she feels her heart rate increasing. Castle just gives her a questioning look and then turns his attention over to the board while drinking his coffee.

What is this feeling?

I've felt this way a number of times around him.

She half listens as Castle gives a theory about a time traveller coming back in time to change the future prompting her to roll her eyes at him as she turns back to look at the board but she catches the genuine small smile that graces his lips and she understands that this was his way to get her out of whatever stupor he believed she was in.

They start bantering back and forth as Castle suggests how someone could only enter a well locked apartment when one key holder was inside and the other has a solid alibi if their was a third key. They start theorising about this third key and she feels her heart rate quicken as their eyes meet.

When did it happen? When did I start feeling like this?

Not at the very beginning... But little by little..

She goes through the past two and half years of her life since he arrived. How much she has come to trust him, to share with him. The sense of being in sync with each other whether they were dancing undercover at a gala or building theory over Chinese takeout.

Slowly..I've come to feel it more and more often..

She remembers His first look of awe when she dealt with the distraught nanny. The first time he offered her a genuine smile. The first time he gave her a bashful look when she entered his office.

Before I knew it, I was taking it for granted..

She remembers the innuendo and flirting he has done with her. She remembers all his little suggestive eye brow waggles he does after teasing her. How he was always ready to soak any knowledge about her.

And without realising it, I've come to enjoy it..

"I know who the killer is," they shout together looking at each other and smiling goofily ignoring the remarks by her colleagues. She watches as Castle turns and starts explaining his theory to them. Her eyes widen suddenly as she thinks, 'OH, I get it'.

The good feeling I get when I'm around him, the fun we have, this sense of wanting to be together.

Its different from Josh, from Will or from Tom. Its a good feeling I only get with Castle.

Right, this feeling..

This feeling is love.

The End

A/N: For those readers who are following my previous story Growing up, I want to mention that I have not abandoned the story but just have run into a little bit of writer's block and due to other constraints I haven't been able to focus on it. But I will try to pick it up by next week. Thank you for reading.