A/N: Had this idea off of the interpretation of Shakespeare's Sonnet 65 by someone in my drama class. Hope you enjoy. :)

In January he kissed her for the first time. It was sudden, when she'd been anxious about finding the people who'd ordered her mother to be killed. They'd been on a stakeout and he'd been sure she was about to have a panic attack. So naturally, that was how he immediately tried to comfort her. He'd been shocked when she kissed him back. As soon as he'd done it he'd thought she would kill him, but she didn't push him away like she usually did when he did anything she didn't like.

In February she agreed to go out to dinner with him. It hadn't been anything extraordinarily fancy, but it wasn't one of their occasional friendly outings.

By June they were officially "together". Ryan and Esposito had made fun of them for, in their words, "taking long enough", and Lanie always wore a smug smile, accompanied by a knowledgeable, "I told you so," when he kissed her in the morgue—despite her best attempts to insist that it was a bit disrespectful, not to mention a little gross, to make out over a dead body. They accepted it all with grace, however, too happy with each other to really care.

They'd been together over the following months, and nothing had really changed. She still acted annoyed while he continued to pull her pigtails. He was still the writer, she was still the cop, and they still worked together to solve whatever case landed on her desk.

The air grew colder and ice covered cars and streets and the grass in Central Park as the holidays neared. He knew exactly what he was going to get her for Christmas. He had it ready by Christmas Eve, just as they were finishing up a case. On the day before Christmas, they got the warrant for the killer's apartment. They headed to the Lower East Side, ready to arrest him.

Within an hour, the killer had been dealt with, Richard Castle was a broken man, and Katherine Beckett was dead.

A/N: Cliffie...I like 'em. The other two chapters are already written and will be up within a week or two. :D As always, please review! Criticism is always appreciated.