"It wasn't love at first sight. It took a full five minutes." - Lucile Ball

Ten reasons I hate Rick Castle

1. I'm always right: Because Esposito and Ryan keep teasing us about being in a relationship even though I've told them a several times that we're not. Castle keeps stoking the fire with 'not yet's. But I'm always right, and they're usually wrong. Mostly. Well, okay, so I'm not always right about relationship matters, but that's not the point. I'm just mostly always right, and that's what counts. So yeah, I don't love him.

2. Annoyance: I think he lives to annoy me – definitely loves to annoy me. I mean, okay, so sometimes he can be really endearing. Like the time he got me a signed photo of the cast of Temptation Lane. He does have his moments.

3. Juvenile: I've said it once and I'll say it again, Castle's like a nine-year-old on a sugar-rush. He can be so immature sometimes. He's always cracking jokes, and he's got this ridiculous bubbly countenance first thing in the morning, and all that energy. God. So okay, it's kind of nice when things get boring at work and he livens everyone up. And fine, he's kinda adorable when he's young at heart and believes in all good things that would make people seem naïve. He did look hot in a totally nerdy way that one time I went over to his place and he was decked up in laser tag gear. Nerdy, I said. Juvenile, ugh.

4. His relationship history: He's had two failed marriages. Two. His first ex-wife was cheating on him, so I guess that's not his fault. I mean, if I was in a relationship with him, I certainly wouldn't cheat on him. He's a good guy, most of the time. Okay, all the time. He can be a smart-ass sometimes, but not a jack-ass, as he once pointed out. But that's not the point of this list. Er.. His second ex-wife, who I just have a bad feeling about, she didn't cheat on him. He still works with her – and who does that? They split amicably because things weren't working out. It's – it's mature and weird, and just weird. Shut up. I can hate him if I want to.

5. He's a celebrity: Totally not my thing. I'm a supremely private person. I do not like to air my dirty laundry in public. Whereas he rides naked on a stolen police horse. Though, there was that time he introduced me to Joe Torre, which was neat and not at all overwhelming. I guess he has earned his status with his books. Although some of that status is the playboy image he plays to the press – I know it's just an act, I'll give him that. I've seen what he's like with his family and friends. With me. He's used his celebrity status for good (though I thought it was conceited then) and helped with some of our cases. Like the time he got us into the Metropolitan American Dance Theatre fundraiser, or when he got our warrants signed by Judge Markway. And I do love his books.

6. I don't need a sugar-daddy: My job may not be the best paying, but I'm financially stable. Castle's rich. Wealthy, owns-a-house-in-the-Hamptons rich. He can just throw money around. He did offer to put forth a hundred grand to help me lure someone out to do with mom's case, and – I guess that's one of sweetest, most selfless things anyone has every done for me. Plus he buys me a coffee every morning. I can't hate him for that. But we're just different. He's rich!

7. He thinks he's so funny: Ugh. Just ugh. He's always cracking jokes at inappropriate moments (though he's got pretty good comic timing) and the puns. Oh God, the puns. Ryan and Esposito laugh. Lanie finds him funny too. Not me. Nope. Maybe just a little. He does make me smile sometimes.

8. White-knight syndrome: He thinks he can just waltz into anyone's life and just try to save them. Or something. He butted into my life and investigated my mom's case though I told him in no uncertain terms that that would be the end of us. It was for a while. He apologized. I accepted. I realized his intentions, and his sincerity that he wouldn't look any further into it. Really when we came by the case again, because of course we did, I was the one who approached him. And he just did whatever I needed. But he keeps doing things like that. Keeps trying to … be there for me. I don't need a white-knight. Though it's nice to have someone to rely on.

9. He's annoying. Oh, I used that already? Okay, I'll change it when I think of something else. Which I will. Later.

10. Because I just do. Maybe just not as much as I thought.

"You call it madness, but I call it love." - Don Byas.

Rick Castle did not mean to snoop. A complete lie. His sole intention was to snoop. But he assumed this was something he was not meant to see. Heck, he didn't even know she kept a journal. But it was right there, in her purse, calling out to him. To be fair, it didn't look like a personal journal, just a random book. It was marked with the pen stuck between the pages of the book. And he saw his name, so of course he had to investigate. His heart broke when he read the title, but really, this did not seem like a hate-list. If anything, it sounded like a list full of hope.

He saw the door to Montgomery's office open suddenly, and the tell-tale clackity-clack of her heels leaving it. Castle quickly stuffed the journal back into her bag and frantically pulled up a game of solitaire on her computer screen, putting on his best look of faux-innocence.

"Castle, what are you doing on my computer? Or in my chair for that matter," Beckett said, glaring at him.

"Ah, nothing. Just, got bored while I was waiting for you," he reasoned. Truthfully, there had been nothing remotely boring about how he spent the last fifteen minutes.

She rolled her eyes. "You can always head home."

"And leave you without my stellar company? No chance, Beckett."

"I tried," she said with a sigh. "Get off my chair."

"Yes ma'am." He shot off her chair, hiding a smirk, and sat on his chair instead. "Hey, Beckett?"

"What, Castle?" She was still looking at her screen, probably to see whether he'd been up to any other mischief. Little did she know.

"I notice you weren't trying very hard."

There was a moment where she froze, though she did try to cover it up with a decent attempt at nonchalance. She still didn't look away from her computer. "Yeah, well, maybe you've worn me down."

He smiled, and he could make out a subtle rise in the corners of her lips too. He hummed in response, and his heart hummed in delight. He hadn't felt so "hated" in a long time.

A/N: This was actually the original idea behind one of my other stories "The Null Hypothesis", and I guess is not a very original idea. It's heavily drawn inspiration from a story published in another fandom. Hopefully this one holds its own, and is different enough not to be a literal copy. I haven't written more, but there definitely are ideas brewing. Should I continue?