Ch. 1

Frustration

Beckett sighed heavily and frowned, God this just isn't fair! Chucking the small stick she had in her hand at the trashcan she sucked in a shaky breath when she missed, which meant she had to go look at it again in order to throw it away properly. All right, Katherine, keep your cool, it could be false. There's a small chance it could be false. I may not be adding any more craziness to Castle's life. Kate steadied her breath and felt remotely relieved at her reasoning. Closing the toilet lid she sat down and buried her face in the heels of her hands.

"Katie? You ready to go? We're already late," Castle called from outside the door.

Taking a deep breath she shoved her emotions down to bring up later, put on her happy face and replied, "Oh God, yeah, I'll be right out just need to wash my hands!" Standing swiftly she grabbed the test, unfortunately spotting the now pink line before she buried it at the bottom of the trash bin. Stepping to the sink she quickly rinsed her hands, dried them, and left the bathroom.

"Hey there sweetheart, for a moment there I thought you went AWOL on me. I know that this whole book signing thing is tough, but you know how much people have said they'd love for you to sign them too," Rick smiled sexily as he brushed his lips over hers.

"No, I'm sorry just lost track of time," She laughed lightly, hiding her heavy heart, linked fingers with her fiancé and led him out of the loft with her high heels clacking all the way.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight. Also, thank you for being so warm and welcoming to Detective Beckett as she joined me here with you all," Richard smiled at all his adoring fans, looking at Beckett as the audience began clapping, cheering, and whistling like wild animals. He motioned her up and she blushed faintly, smiling as she joined him at the podium. Waving professionally she laughed when a guy in the front dog whistled and winked.

After a few more minutes of havoc Castle hushed the crowd, "Well we have a few minutes for questions so in an orderly fashion, please," He laughed a little before he continued, "raise your hands and Beckett and I shall go back and forth calling on you."

"Wait, I'm going to be asking your fans for questions?" Kate turned to him with a quizzical look plastered to her face.

"Aww, you scared?" He smiled and put his arm around her shoulder drawing him closer to him, "They aren't just my fans are you?" Castle laughed when the horde of people screamed in agreement and his fiancé's face turned bright red, "All right you guys, hands up, I'll choose first."

Immediately the chatter and cheering stopped as everyone's hands began waving around in the air hoping for Castle to call on them, "All right, man in the yellow ball cap, ask away!" He called out over the hands, pointing to the man in the back.

"Castle? When are you two going to announce your engagement? Come on man, we all know you two are going out!"

Kate put her hand on Castle's chest as he opened his mouth to reply, "No Castle, let me answer this one." Smiling she raised her left hand from her side and flashed the gorgeous ring she'd received earlier that month.

The mob of devoted followers gasped in admiration as a diamond sparkled in the light surrounded by five smaller sized sapphires, and those had five rubies nestled into the corners they made, "He proposed on Tuesday four weeks ago, seeing that today is Saturday, we've been engaged now for four weeks and five days," She grinned mysteriously and wrapped her arms around Castle, leaning into his chest as the crowd, for the hundredth time, became unruly in their roars and shouts of congratulations. Shutters and flashes from cameras shot off rapidly. Ryan, Esposito, Montgomery and Lanie all smiled from the side where they were standing, and Alexis was beaming from her front row seat. She had been surprised they were able to contain the secret, but had trusted them and they had held up their end of the bargain.

"Castle? How is your daughter taking all of this?" Hollered out a reporter.

"How is this going to affect any of the following Nikki Heat novels?" Said another.

"If the man hadn't asked would you have announced it any time soon?"

Castle put his hands up and tried to get the group to quiet down, "Whoa, people, one at a time. Come on, give a guy a break, you expect me to just come out and say 'I'm engaged to my inspiration?' right after she says 'yes'?"

Suddenly as if on queue, the entire room broke out into a unanimous answer of, "Yes!"

"O…K… well we told you now didn't we? Look, our marriage won't affect me to continue to write Nikki Heat novels. My daughter is to be left out of this for now, as is my mother. Though they're happy, this is not to be any of their concern, if you have questions or comments you come to me, or on rare occasion, Detective Beckett. I believe we'd both prefer for you to bother me, since Beckett is usually out in the city saving lives." Castle appeased the rowdy guests finally getting them to quiet down, "I'm sorry but that's all the time we have. Sadly we've spent too much time talking about my engagement that we aren't able to answer any more questions. I will be available for a short while once I step off the podium if there's something quick you may want to ask me, but other then that I'm waiting till next time." Nodding to his fans he took Beckett's hand in his, and stepped off the small stage in the bookstore to the applause of the audience. Despite not getting to ask more questions, they were pleased with what they had found out, and would definitely be reading about it in the morning paper.

Smiling gaily Beckett was surprised when her phone began buzzing in the pouch of her purse. Grabbing it swiftly she looked at the unknown Caller I.D. and answered, "Beckett," Her smile faded and her eyes became distant.

"Murder? Where?" Castle touched her shoulder pulling her from listening to the man on the other line.

Taking the phone from her ear she ended the call and replied, "Fifty-fourth and Lexington. They want us there immediately." Walking into the crowd she caught Lanie's eye and nodded firmly. As the people milling about squeezed passed her, and tried to ask her questions she saw Lanie talking to the guys and knew that Lani had understood, "Excuse me, detective coming through," She shoved through the mob with Castle at her heels until the finally reached the door and stepped outside.

"What seems to be the issue?" Lanie asked when the others filed out the door.

"Fifty-fourth and Lexington, we're wanted there now," Kate addressed them firmly, spun on her heel and continued to Castle's car. When he wasn't there with her she looked quizzically back at him, "Are you coming?"

"Oh, yeah," Castle skittered away from the gang to catch up with her and called over his shoulder, "we'll see you there."

Disclaimer: However much I wish Castle were mine, it's not. I do not own Castle, and never will (but one can wish right?)

A/N: Hope you enjoy, this is my first ever Fan Fiction and I'm excited to be writing it. :) Enjoy, and reviews are appreciated.