A/N: This chapter was initially written as a one-shot (hence the title) but has subsequently grown into a much longer and more complicated story. I've edited it slightly to make it fit a little better with that emerging story but it is still fundamentally the same snapshot of a moment in time as the initial idea.

Richard Castle knew he should probably return to his laptop but he'd painted himself into a corner with the latest chapter and wasn't sure how he was going to get Nikki and Rook out of it yet. He may have to give it up and abandon the whole sub-plot he'd gotten them trapped in - he hated doing that but if it wasn't working then sometimes it was better to just let a thread go, no matter how promising it had initially seemed. Having become frustrated at the dilemma he'd created he'd decided to take a short break to clear his mind. That break had led him to where he was now, sprawled out in front of his TV half-watching a TV show rather than staring intently at his laptop struggling to make his idea work.

But instead of being distracted his mind stubbornly refused to concentrate on the TV and kept returning to events earlier in the day. They hadn't had a case at the precinct for a couple of days, which he supposed should be considered good news for any potential victims, but what it really meant was all there was to do there was endless rounds of form-filling and other equally dreary paperwork. He'd gone in anyway, ostensibly to lend moral support as his friends trawled through their paper mountains but really it just gave him an excuse to be with Kate.

He realised his mistake in turning up at the precinct almost from the moment he'd first sat down in his customary chair. As always he'd brought coffee for the two of them but Kate didn't even glance up when he sat and made no move to reach for her drink. He'd been surprised at her lack of greeting but assumed she was simply immersed in her task so he'd pulled his phone out to wait for her to look up and acknowledge him. He'd lasted half an hour with absolutely no indication from Kate that she even knew he was there before he'd finally cracked and tried to ask to her what she was doing. That had been a bad idea. She said she was 'busy' but had given him such a look...and when he'd tried to lighten her apparent mood with an admittedly poor joke she'd bitten his head off and all but told him to go home and leave her alone.

Now Rick wasn't one to give up easily, especially when a certain detective was involved, but he knew her well enough by now to know when to back off and give her some space. And so when Paula had called shortly after he thanked the God of agents (or perhaps that was a devil?) and used her as an excuse to leave the precinct, although not before telling Kate to call him if a body dropped. She barely acknowledged his request with the slightest of nods and so he left, throwing a sympathetic look to the guys on his way out, but feeling more than a little put out over the cold shoulder treatment Kate had given him - with no justification that he could think of.

That had been several hours ago and he'd not heard anything from her since, not even after he'd sent her a text just asking if anything interesting had happened since he'd left. He knew it hadn't, Ryan and Espo had let him know that nothing had gone down during the afternoon and that Kate's mood had not noticeably improved since he left, in fact if anything they said it had gotten worse. But she hadn't replied to his text and so he'd taken his frustration out on their alter egos, creating the sub-plot on the fly with which he'd subsequently written himself to a standstill.

Rick blinked, lost in these thoughts he'd not been paying any attention whatsoever to the crime drama playing out in front of him on the TV and now the theme tune of the show was playing over the end credits. He sighed and reached over to the remote to turn the TV off, he was pretty sure he'd figured out early on who was responsible for this week's murder anyway but he couldn't be bothered to rewind it now to confirm he'd been right. He'd watch the second half again another day, hopefully when he was in a better frame of mind to concentrate.

Rick glanced at his watch, it was late and he had no answers for either his story or for Kate's cold shoulder treatment so he might as well give it up for the night and go to bed. Hopefully he'd be able to clear his mind enough to get some sleep and when he woke up tomorrow things would be different; Kate would be back to her normal self and he'd have an answer to his story conundrum. He rose and wandered towards his kitchen, intending to grab a glass of water, but only got a step or two away from the couch when his cell, which was still laying on the table where he'd left it after texting Kate earlier in the day, suddenly vibrated and played out the familiar tone indicating a new message had arrived.

Rick turned back and grabbed his phone from the table and unlocked the screen. Given the way the day had gone so far he dreaded what he might see. The message was from Kate, very short and to the point:

'Are you still up?'

Well that gave him no clues as to whether she was still pissed at him or not - but at least she seemed to be talking to him again which was a step in the right direction. Rick quickly typed out a response.

'Yeah, why?'

He sat back on the couch and waited with baited breath for her answer. He knew it couldn't be a body, she always called when that happened, so it must be something else. The problem was he had no idea whether the something else was good or bad! Fortunately he only had to wait a few seconds before his cell vibrated again.

'Answer your door.'

Was all her message said. Rick stared at his phone, his eyebrows drawn down in confusion at her message. 'Answer his door,' ...what? He was just looking towards his door in puzzlement when there was a gentle knock on it. He blinked and looked down at his phone again. 'How did she know,' Rick thought, '...unless she was the one...?' He quickly rose and strode over to the source of the sound, reaching his front door in a few strides and yanking it open.

"Kate," he said, really pleased to see his guess had been correct.

"Castle," she replied, and Rick was truly relieved to hear that her tone was not the irritated, brusque one from earlier in the day but something approaching her normal self. Rick smiled as he took in her presence, marvelling as he so often did at just how beautiful she was and at how lucky he'd been to cross paths with her four years ago.

"Errr...can I come in?" Kate asked after a few seconds and Rick started in surprised and cursed himself.

"Sorry, sorry, of course," he said, standing aside to let her enter. "I was just...not expecting...er... come in, come in," Rick mumbled, standing to one side and beckoning her into his loft.

"If it's a bad time Castle just say so and I'll go..." Kate said, already starting to turn away as if to carry out her threat without waiting for him to answer.

"No...No it's fine. Honestly," Rick said, reaching out to grab her elbow to stop her walking away. Kate turned back towards him and looked in his eyes for a moment. Seeming to see that he was telling the truth she relaxed slightly and then looked down at his arm on her elbow. Rick followed her gaze and then jerked his hand away before she could do something painful.

"Please, Kate, come in," Rick said again.

Kate nodded and walked past him and into his home. Rick took the opportunity of her having her back towards him to slap himself on the head for being such an idiot; for being so thrown by her sudden appearance that he'd almost scared her away before she'd arrived. He mentally shook himself then closed the door and followed her into his loft.

When she turned round Rick tried to put on one of his more charming smiles and said, "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your late night visit detective?" Rick watched as Kate just looked at him for a long moment and then completely ignored his question, instead replying with one of her own.

"Do you have any wine? I could do with a drink."

Rick was a little thrown by her unexpected question but he recovered quickly. Wine, well if that's what she wanted then wine was something he could definitely do.

"Sure, Red or white?"

"Red," Kate said.

"Take a seat," Rick called over his shoulder as he wandered into the kitchen to fetch a couple of glasses and to retrieve a bottle of red from the wine stand.

He returned to the living area to see Kate had removed her jacket and was sat on his couch, in the spot he'd so recently vacated. He also noted that she was casually dressed so clearly she hadn't come here straight from the precinct and he wondered why, having given him the cold shoulder for most of the day, she had turned up so unexpectedly now.

Rick poured the wine into the glasses and offered one to Kate before taking a seat opposite her. Kate took the wine from him and quickly took a long drag on the glass, half emptying it. Rick raised an eyebrow in surprise; Kate wasn't really a big drinker, he supposed having a reformed alcoholic for a father would have that affect on you, so she really must be on edge to chug half a glass of fairly strong wine straight down like that. He took a more casual sip of his own glass before repeating his question.

"So Kate, why are you here? Not that I mind of course, you're welcome at any time," he said, smiling at her.

Kate didn't look at him but kept her gaze on the glass of wine she held in her hands. For a moment Rick thought she was going to avoid his question again but she eventually looked up at him.

"I wanted to say sorry," Kate said.

"Sorry?" Rick replied. Kate saying sorry was an unusual event, especially to him. "What for?"

"For snapping at you today, for...for driving you away."

Well, it was true, she had snapped at him today and her whole attitude had screamed loud and clear that she didn't want him around so she had kind of driven him away. But Rick was certainly not going to hold that over her so he simply waved his hand in dismissal.

"You have nothing to apologise for Beckett, nothing at all. Everyone is allowed to have a bad day, once in a while. Hell, there are even some days when I'm not all that fun to be around - hard to believe though that is!"

"Perhaps," Kate said with the merest hint of a smile. "But that doesn't give me the right to take my temper out on you"

"Forget it Kate," Rick said. "Frankly, I'm surprised there aren't more days when you don't tell me to take a hike. I mean, recently of course. I know that for a while when I first started shadowing you you really didn't want me around pretty much every day!"

"True," Kate said quietly and Rick tried to not be too offended at her candid admission. He'd always known she really hadn't wanted him around when he'd first started following her but it still hurt a bit to hear her confirm it like that. "But that was a long time ago...I've gotten used to you being around now and, every now and again, you even prove to be useful."

"Why detective, was that almost a compliment?" Rick asked, his heart soaring from hurt to joy at her words. Kate rarely admitted she liked having him around and whilst he kind of knew she did these days, it still made him feel lighter than air to hear her admit it.

"Don't let it go to your head Castle," Kate said, a hint of humour in her voice for the first time that day. "And I'll deny it if you tell anyone I said so..."

"Wouldn't dream of it detective," Rick said, holding up his hands but not trying to hide his broad smile.

A ghost of a smile crossed Kate's lips once more but it went as quickly as it came as she returned to her serious tone. "I truly am sorry, Castle. It was out of order for me to take things out on you like that, without giving you any explanation."

"Don't worry about it. That's what partners are for; that's what friends are for," Rick said. He'd like to hear what it was that was bothering her but he knew better than to push her. Kate kept her cards close to her chest when it came to her emotions but he knew she would only share what was bothering her with him when she was ready to.

Kate looked at her glass and took another drink, this one a little more measured than her first.

"Do you know what day it is?" She asked him quietly after a moment or two.

Rick racked his brain, trying to think what she could possibly mean by that question. He knew it wasn't her birthday (yep, he checked and double checked his memory - that definitely wasn't for several months), and he was pretty sure that he hadn't missed some kind of general celebration. She must mean something personal, something specific and meaningful to her, but for once he had no idea what it could be.

"I'm sorry Kate, but no."

"It would have been my parent's 30th wedding anniversary today, if Mom had lived," Kate said in a quiet tone.

Rick could see that she was struggling to hold her emotions in check as she said those words and he moved without thinking. He got up from his chair and sat beside her on the couch, placing one arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. And for once Kate didn't resist. She rested her head on his shoulder and her free arm on his leg. Under different circumstances Rick would be ecstatic at the level of contact between them but right now all he could think about was the obvious distress his partner was in.

"I'm sorry Kate, I had no idea." Rick said, berating himself for not knowing the day her parents had wed. He had committed her mother's birthday and the date of her death to memory just because he knew that those days would probably be difficult for her. But he'd never even thought to check when her parents had got married.

Kate squeezed his leg with the hand that rested there and said into his shoulder, "I'm almost glad that you didn't - it's nice to know that you don't know everything about me."

"Have you spoken to your Dad?" Rick asked gently after a moment or two's silence. If Kate was feeling low over this anniversary then he imagined Jim must be feeling 10 times worse.

"Yeah," Kate said after a moment. "I spoke to him yesterday but...he didn't want to talk about it."

Understandable, Rick thought. His own mother never said anything about his father even though he suspected she knew a great deal more about who he was then she'd ever revealed to him. Some things are easier to keep to yourself than to admit to those you love. It was one of the reasons he'd always tried to be open and honest with Alexis but even with his daughter there were things he simply didn't tell her about, not unless she asked first and sometimes not even then. He gently rubbed his hand up and down Kate's shoulder, trying to convey some small measure of comfort to the women in his arms.

They sat that way for several minutes, not saying anything. But eventually Kate pulled away and sat up straight. Rick didn't try to stop her, although he felt a strong sense of loss as her touch left his.

"I'm sorry Rick," Kate said, scrubbing one hand under her eyes. "You must think I'm a little mad, biting your head off today then turning up here out of the blue and crying on your shoulder."

Rick? She hardly ever called him by his first name - interesting. But he didn't think she was mad at all, quite the opposite. He was actually very touched she'd come to see him, that she'd chosen to seek him out when she was feeling down rather than bottle it all up inside like she had so often done in the past. It gave him hope, it told him that maybe, just maybe, she was finally starting to believe that he was there for her. He fought a strong urge to reach over and hold her again, this time to gently caress her cheek and to tell her that he would do anything for her because he loved her. But he knew that it wasn't the right time for that. The simple fact that she was here tonight was enough - for now.

So instead he smiled at her said, "Mad? No I don't think you're mad - at least no more than I did before today..." his tone was teasing and he was glad to see a twitch of her lips at his words. "Trust me, compared to living with an ageing diva and a teenage daughter...well by comparison this is all very simple and normal!"

Kate did finally give him a proper smile at that. "Thanks - I think!"

Rick was really glad to see that genuine smile on his partner's face and the subtle relaxation of her shoulders - the tenseness of the day seemingly melting away. "Do you want another drink?" He asked, after a few moments, using the offer as an excuse to keep her there with him for a while longer.

Kate looked down at the virtually empty wine glass in front of her and he could see she started in surprise at how much of the wine she'd drunk. "Er, yes, but something other than wine."

"Tequila?" Rick asked as he stood up, grabbing both their glasses and the wine bottle.

As expected she got his teasing reference immediately. "Not tonight Castle," she replied with a shake of her head. "How about something a little less potent - non alcoholic!"

Not tonight? Interesting. Did that mean that on another night then maybe...no, stop that right there! That was getting way too far ahead of himself! "Hot or cold?" He asked as he walked into the kitchen and deposited the wine glasses in the sink. He'd wash them up later.

"Hot," Kate replied.

He looked around and quickly decided against coffee, it was a little late in the day for that. He smiled and opened a cupboard where he knew Alexis kept...ah there it is, hot chocolate. His daughter always went for this when she was feeling low, well either this or ice cream and this was definitely the more appropriate of the two in this case.

Rick returned to his couch a couple of minutes later with a mug of hot chocolate in one hand and a glass of fizzy drink in the other. He really wasn't all that big on hot drinks other than coffee. Kate eyed him suspiciously as she took the mug from him as he sat down next to her but her face brightened when she saw, and smelt, what he'd brought her.

"Mmmm, thanks," she said after taking an appreciative sip of her drink.

Rick stared at her as she continued to sip her drink, her eyes closed and her face alight with pleasure. He'd always loved the look she had on her face when he brought her her first coffee of the day but this one was even better! He made a mental note to occasionally bring her hot chocolate instead of coffee, when the moment was right.

"Stop staring Castle," Kate said, her eyes still closed.

"What...how...," Rick spluttered in surprise.

Kate opened her eyes and laughed at him.

"Because you always stare Castle," Kate said, her voice still light with amusement.

"Well, it's hard not to," Rick said huffily.

"Ah poor Ricky," Kate said. "There's no need to sulk."

"Sulk!" he exclaimed, playing along with her teasing. "I am not sulking! Believe me detective, you would definitely know if I was sulking and this is not it."

"What, do you storm off and sit in one corner, refusing to talk to anyone? That would be so...so childish," she teased.

"Nooo," Rick replied, trying to ignore the fact she wasn't too far wrong. He didn't really storm off and sulk in a corner like a child but he might just lock himself in his office and hide away for a while. Definitely not the same thing, no not at all.

"Hmmm, if you say so," Kate said, clearly not believing him but letting the matter drop. She looked around for a moment before adding, "So, what were you doing before I gate crashed your evening?"

Rick stopped himself from saying that he had been about to go to bed. He was really enjoying having Kate there and knew if he said that she'd be out of his door like a shot.

"I was just watching TV," he said, indicating the box in the corner.

"I thought you went home to write, something about a deadline you had to meet?"

Ah, the white lie he'd told as an excuse to give her the space she'd so obviously wanted earlier in the day.

"Er, yeah...I did do some but I kind of...well I kind of wrote myself into a corner and was struggling to find a way out of it so I thought that taking a break, having a distraction might help me figure one out."

"And did it?" Kate asked.

"No, not really," Rick admitted. "I still need to come up with a plausible way to get them out of the situation I put them in..."

"Oh, so you need to do some more writing then," Kate asked, sounding disappointed but leaning to put her mug down on the table.

"No!" Rick said, a little too quickly and loudly as he realised she meant to leave him so he could work on his story. "No," he said again, a little more calmly and quietly this time. "I mean...the scene can wait until tomorrow."

"But your deadline..." Kate pressed in response.

Damn white lie, coming back to haunt me Rick thought. "I still have time and, well, I still don't know whether I'll even keep it in the book..."

"What, you might just throw it away?"

"Maybe, yeah, Rick admitted." Sometimes if things aren't working you just discard them and start again, or try a completely new track."

"And does that happen often? I've never really thought about it but I guess you must write lots of things no-one else ever sees."

Rick was a little puzzled at the direction their conversation was taking but he wasn't complaining. Firstly, and most importantly, Kate had settled back down and seemed to have forgotten any idea of leaving right now and he was more than happy with that. Secondly, other than his fellow authors he rarely had someone take an interest in his wiring process. Most of the people he met were only interested in the end product and what he was going to do next, rather than the often painstaking process of turning an idea or series of ideas into a coherent story that would, hopefully, capture their imagination.

"Yeah. I've got hundreds of files on my laptop which range from background profiles to failed chapters or even whole story ideas which I've never managed to develop into fully fledged books."

"Wow. I guess there would be loads in there that die-hard Castle fans would kill to get their hands on?"

"I guess. You're more than welcome to read any of it," Rick said, surprising himself at his instinctive offer. Only Alexis had read any of that stuff and much of it had never been seen by anyone other than him. But he found that he was actually quite relaxed about the prospect of letting Kate read that stuff; quite happy and even a little excited about giving her a greater insight into his writing process. It would be almost...intimate.

"What!" Kate exclaimed in surprise. "No, I can't do that!"

"Sure you can," Rick said. "I don't mind, honestly."

"But, you said it yourself, a lot of what you write was never meant to be seen by others..."

"True. And I wouldn't want any of this stuff to get into the hands of those 'die-hard' fans you mentioned because it is private and part of the mystique of the characters. But I don't mind sharing it with you. I know I can trust you with them."

"Castle...Rick...that's, I really don't know what to say to that."

Rick shrugged awkwardly. "It's no big deal Kate," he said, knowing that for the lie it was. It was a big deal. His writing was so fundamentally part of who he was that a lot of his work was written simply for his own pleasure. But he knew Kate would love to know more about some of his works, that she was a not so secret fan of his books, and he found the prospect of her knowing more than anyone else surprisingly appealing. He actually wanted her to know, he wanted to share this part of his life with her as totally and completely as he could.

Kate was quiet for a moment then she suddenly leaned over and kissed Rick on the cheek. "Thank you," she said quietly.

Rick froze, completely taken aback by her sudden action. "Ummm...you're welcome," he managed after a few seconds of stunned silence.

Kate lingered for a second or two more before she moved back to her original position on the couch and lifted her mug of hot chocolate back up to her lips, lips which Rick found he could not take his eyes off. Kate Beckett had just kissed him, completely out of the blue and of her own free will! He fought the urge to raise his hand to the cheek she'd just kissed as his scattered thoughts tried to comprehend the events of the evening. Not long ago he'd been heading to bed feeling rather low and a little depressed at being pushed away yet again by Kate and now here she was, sitting by his side and drinking hot chocolate (in a very sexy way he might add) and not only has she apologised for pushing him away (twice!) but she'd actually kissed him. Ok, it was only a peck on the cheek but from Kate Beckett that was everything.

"You're staring again Castle," Kate said after a while, bringing him out of his reverie.

"What, oh yes, sorry," he managed, finally taking his eyes off her gorgeous lips. He took a long swig off his own drink, attempting to return to some kind of normality. Of course, he'd forgotten that it was a soda and only succeeded in getting as lot of fizzy bubbles to go down his throat and up his nose, causing him to cough and splutter much of the drink straight back out and on to his shirt.

"Jeez Castle, what are you, 5?" Kate said, laughing at him.

Rick started to protest then simply decided to give up whatever remained of his dignity and laughed along with her at his own incompetence. "Urgh, seems like it," he said, wiping his wet chin and looking down in disgust at his own sopping wet shirt front. He tossed her the TV remote. "Here, find something you'd like to watch, I'll just go change my shirt."

It took Rick a couple of minutes to replace his soaked t-shirt with a clean dry one and to clear the remaining soda off his face and chest. When he returned from his room Kate had removed her shoes and was sitting with her legs beneath her. She looked up as he approached and he couldn't help the broad grin that spread across his face.

"What?" she asked as he re-took his seat next to her.

"Nothing," he replied, not wanting to explain. She looked so comfortable sitting there, so relaxed that he couldn't help but think how much he would love to see her sitting there like that every day. It was truly a very simple, domestic, type of image, quite unlike his usual fantasies regarding her. But in many ways it was a much more beautiful image, a promise almost of something more meaningful and lasting between them than any simple sex fantasy - although admittedly they were great too!

Looking at the TV Rick saw that she'd found a channel showing what he very quickly identified as Avatar - it was either that or the colour mix on his TV was seriously on the fritz!

"Avatar?" he said questioningly.

"Yeah, why not?" Kate replied, a little defensively.

"Oh, no reason. Just didn't really peg you as much of an Avatar type of girl."

Kate shrugged, "I like this film. You can find something else if you like," she said, offering his remote back to him.

"No, no, Avatar is fine," he said, taking the remote and setting it down on the table.

Rick relaxed back into his couch, his mind only half in the film (he'd seen it several times before anyway) whilst the other half enjoyed the fact Kate was there beside him. Kate Beckett had kissed him; he still couldn't quite believe it. He risked a glance out of the corner of his eyes to reassure himself that she really was sat there beside him. Wow, this was really happening, she really was here and she seemed to be happy and relaxed about it. Such a contrast to her mood earlier in the day!

The film was well over halfway through so Kate had obviously come across it well after it had started but she'd said she liked it so clearly knew it well enough for that not to matter. They sat in a comfortable and companionable silence for half an hour or so as James Cameron's fantasy drama played out in front of them before Kate shifted her position so that her legs were on her other side and her head was now resting next to his on the back of the couch. Rick looked across at her but she seemed engrossed on the film and oblivious to their relative positions so he said nothing and tried to ignore the fact that the lips which had so gently (did he dare hope lovingly?) kissed his cheek not that long ago were now once more only inches away from his own.

He did a reasonable job of concentrating on the film rather than the beautiful woman beside him for another 20 minutes or so and was therefore taken a little bit by surprise when he felt a sudden weight rest against his shoulder. He looked down at the mass of auburn locks and could just about see that Kate's eyes had drifted shut. Man, she must have been even more relaxed than he thought to have fallen asleep on his shoulder. Rick didn't dare move, she looked so comfortable and it felt really good to feel her there. He fought the urge to reach out and stroke her hair, or caress her cheek. He hadn't earned that right yet, although he sincerely hoped he would someday soon, and besides, he didn't want to risk waking her. So he contented himself with looking down at her slight frame as she rested against him, her breath coming in a gentle and regular rhythm.

Rick knew that he had not felt this happy in a long time, not since the last time a woman had fallen asleep on his shoulder and that had been his daughter. It was something she'd done a lot as a child but less and less as she'd gotten older and he missed that simple expression of trust and love between them. And now Kate Beckett was sleeping contentedly on his shoulder and he couldn't help but equate the feelings. He didn't know what she felt for him; he hoped it was something more than simple friendship, had to believe that it was, but he didn't know. He really, really hoped to find out soon because right now he was more in love with this extraordinary woman then he'd ever been and he wanted nothing more than to have a hundred nights like this, a thousand! Any night which ended with her at his side had to be a good night and he would very happily live the rest of his life knowing whatever happened she would be there beside him at the end of the day.

Rick closed his own eyes and leaned his cheek down to rest on Kate's head, his whole body in a state of such relaxed contentment that it took only a minute for him to also drift off to sleep, already dreaming of waking up next to Kate and finding that image to be more beautiful than any fictional scene he had ever imagined or set down in words.