It was around 11am on Saturday, for the first time in a while Beckett had the weekend off, well technically she was on call. As soon as she heard her phone ringing her heart sank, she was really looking forward to having the weekend off. She quickly got off the lounge and walked over to where her phone was charging on her bedside table.

"Beckett," she answered without looking at the caller id.

"I heard that you had the day off and I was hoping, well wondering really if you'd like to go grab a burger or something?

Beckett didn't know what was weirder, the fact that castle sounded so nervous, or that he was asking her instead of just showing up at her door unannounced and telling her that they were hanging out.

"Sure, I'd like that; I didn't really have any other plans. At least this way I'll be getting out of my apartment."

"What no plans with Dr Motorcycle Boy?"

That's when it hit her, the reason why he'd called instead of just showing up, now that she's thinking about it, ever since he found out about her relationship with Josh a few months ago he'd been showing up less, choosing instead to call her.

"No, he went to Haiti for another doctors without borders mission," she didn't mean to sound as upset as she did, but after the last time he'd left for a mission he had promised that she would come first and he wouldn't go on any more. 2 days ago he called her up from the airport and tells her he's going to Haiti, and that he'd see her in 3 weeks.

"Do you want to talk about it? I know it's none of my business, but you sound upset." Sure, Castle was jealous of Josh, his girlfriend just so happened to be the women he was madly in love with, but if Josh made her happy, then he would suck it up and help her through it.

"Maybe later, how about we go to Remy's, I feel like a burger and shake."

"Ok, see you in 10."

10 minutes later they were sitting in their usual booth, both Castle and Beckett are waiting for their orders to come out.

"So do you want to talk about it?" honestly she did, but she doesn't know how to say these things and not sound needy, or weak. People may tell her that it's fine to show your vulnerable side once and a while, but every time she does that she gets hurt.

"He left, no warning just a call while he was waiting for his plane. I know it's not my say, I can't tell him to stay, but he promised, I would've been fine if he had told me you know? But he didn't and that's why I broke up with him."

"I know telling you this will have no impact on you at all, but you know every once in a while you can call me or show up at my house and tell me whatever you want, being vulnerable isn't a weakness you know, it's a sign of strength and more importantly it shows courage. I'm not going to lie to you what Josh did was a dick move," if it was anyone else Beckett would've caused harm to them, but she knows that Castle only has her best intentions at heart. "I know you really liked him and breakups are never easy, so if you need anything I am here for you. Even if I don't know what to say, you can just talk and I'll listen.

"Thanks, I know I'm not the most open person, but I'm glad that I have you in my life." That was a big step for Beckett, if anyone other than Castle had heard that they would think it was no big deal, but for someone as heavily guarded as Kate Beckett to admit something like that would be hard and he'd never felt better in his life.

The rest of the meal went relatively normal, some light banter and stolen glances, mixed with stealing chips of each other's plates while they weren't looking. They had just finished their meals, castle had payed and they were walking out of Remy's when a car pulled up in front of them. A tall, skinny man gets out of the driver's seat and flashes them a smile. "Good afternoon Mr Castle, Ms Beckett." The man, whose name tag read George, walked around and opened the door for them to slide in, never letting the smile leave his face.

"What's this about Castle?" Beckett whispered to Castle.

"I told you that I know me telling you that you can open up to me isn't going to have an impact on you, so I called George and organised for him to take us wherever you want, to take your mind of he who should not be named."

"Thank you, but you really don't have to do this, really I'm fine." Seriously, Castle thought, when will she realise that I don't have to do this but I want to.

"No you're not Kate, I can tell you aren't. I don't need to do these things, I want to. I can tell that this is hurting you, and that kills me. I hate seeing you like this and feeling helpless, so I'm going to take you to wherever you want to go and we're going to have a great time, and at the end of the day if you feel no better, I give you permission to hit me." That got her to chuckle a little, trust Castle to mix something so emotional with a lousy joke, but if she was being honest with herself this is just what she needed, maybe spending the day with her best friend will make her feel better.

"Ok, deal."

"Where to first?"

"This is fantastic, how'd you find this place?" They were at a little pastry place not too far from the loft, and Castle was mentally kicking himself for living so close and not knowing about this place.

"I was having one of the universal bad days that everyone experiences once in a while, where you wake up and you feel off. Everything and everyone gets on your nerves quicker. Anyway, I was having a bad day and decided I needed to take a walk, before I knew it, I was outside this place and I was starving. I had been walking for who knows how long and I just found my way here."

"If this is the kind of thing you find while walking, remind me to do it more often."

After spending a while eating an assortment of different types of pastries, they made their way outside. "Do you want to skip the car and walk to the loft? We could watch a movie, play a game of laser tag, whatever you want." Truth be told Castle was grasping at straws, he was having fun and didn't want the day to end, they're finally making progress and he wants to see how far he can go, without pushing too hard.

"I think after the amount of food we ate, we're going to need to play a game or two of laser tag." Beckett was having fun, she may have been dating Josh but she truly only ever loved one person, it may have been a cowardly act, but she wasn't ready to admit her feelings after he left during the summer. Over the past month, though she came to realise how much he'd grown since they first met. Today proved it, she was totally and utterly in love with Richard Castle. Today is the day she would stop taking steps back and see where life took her, and if that happened to be with castle she couldn't complain.

"Fantastic, we have the loft to ourselves, mothers out of town and Alexis is staying at a friend's house for the weekend. I just got shutters for the windows, you can help me test them out, make the laser tag experience that much better."

They made their way back to the loft relatively quickly, they had already played one game of laser tag and were currently in the midst of their second. Beckett was crouched over behind the piano, waiting for the perfect moment to come out and attack. Castle had won the first round after cheating, so she had demanded a rematch, she could she the silhouette of his body moving around, and the flashing lights of his jacket and goggles only slightly obstructed by his hiding spot. Now or never she thought, she slowly crept over to where he was 'hiding' and pounced, unfortunately they both had the same idea and she was thrown back, landing with a thump, Castle on top of her. They were inches apart, faces slightly illuminated by the lights on their goggles, their eyes locked and they stayed staring at each other slowly inching closer together.

"Sorry," Castle whispers, suddenly realising how close they were. He sat up and went to turn the lights on. 'How could I be so stupid, she just broke up with Josh.' it wasn't until he turned around that he realised that Beckett had followed him, it was too late though, he collided with her and she stumbled, without thinking about it his hand instinctively went for her hips to steady her.

"Don't," she simply stated.

"I'm sorry, reflexes."

She shook her head as soon as he took his hand off of her, "No, don't apologise. You were right."

"About what?"

"When you told me I was hiding in relationships with men I don't love, I've realised over the past month what to others seemed so obvious. I really liked Josh, but that's not enough, I didn't love him and dragging him along because I was too scared to see what was right in front of me. That's one of the reasons I was so quick to break up with him." She spoke so quickly he didn't have time to process it before she was wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him with as much passion as she could, they broke apart when the need for oxygen outweighed the need for each other. "The truth is Castle, there's only one person that I want, and that person is you."

"I feel the same, I really do, but you just broke up with someone, I don't want to feel as if I'm taking advantage of you."

"You're not taking advantage of me Castle, I may have just broken up with Josh but it's always been you Castle. I want this Castle, we've waited for a long time, I know you're not the type of person to take advantage of people, I don't want to wait any longer." It didn't even take Castle a second after Beckett had finished talking before his lips were on hers in the most passionate kiss either of them had ever experienced.

"What now."

A/N I know that the fight between Beckett and Castle, where he says she hides in relationships was at the end of the season, but for the sake of this story it's toward the begging to the middle of the season

This isn't a one shot I have a rough outline for what I want to write so stay tuned for more.