(Normally, I don't do this sort of thing, but for this year's ficathon, I'll give it a whirl.

Prompts: Beckett confronts Castle about his behavior at the end of 47 Seconds

Castle confronts Beckett about what he overheard in 47 Seconds)

Beckett stuck her arm in the doors, keeping them from closing. Castle looked at her startled, before his mask slipped back down. "I'll ride with you," she said, getting on the lift. Castle shrugged, before reaching over to press a button. The doors slid shut, as the lift descended. Beckett glanced over at Castle. "Long day, huh?" Castle grunted. Beckett chewed on her lip for a moment, before trying again. "So, what are you gonna do over this extended weekend?"

"Write," he replied, staring at the doors.

"Any plans with Alexis?"

"No."

Beckett reached over and smacked the Emergency Stop button. The elevator shook, as it came to a sudden stop. Castle looked around, until he saw her hand on the control panel. "What the hell, Beckett?" he asked, the flash of anger across his face the first real emotion she'd seen besides his "playboy" persona all day.

"I wanna know what's bothering you, and I wanna know right now!" she said, sparks shooting from her eyes.

Castle turned back toward the doors. "Nothing," he said, his face slipping back into the impassive mask he was wearing before.

Beckett grabbed his coat and slammed him against the wall. "Stop lying to me, Castle!" she cried. "You were perfectly fine being around me until this afternoon, when you came in looking like I kicked your puppy. I'm trying to fix whatever's wrong, but I can't do it unless you tell me what's bothering you," she said, as she shoved him into the wall, "so STOP." *thud* "LYING." *thud* "TO." *thud* "ME!" *thud*

Castle's eyes turned cold, as fury filled his face. "How dare you," he hissed, putting a hand on Beckett's chest and shoving her away from him, causing Beckett to stumble into the wall on the other side of the cab. "How dare you stand there and have the unmitigated gall to accuse me of lying, you fucking hypocrite!"

Beckett pushed herself off the wall she had run into after Castle shoved her away, her hands balling into fists at her side. "Hypocrite?" she cried. "I'm not the one walking around, acting like a self-centered jackass, or lying to my partner, just because-"

"Bullshit!" Interrupted Castle, stabbing a finger at her. "I know for a fact you lied to me!"

"When?" asked Beckett, crossing her arms. "When did I supposedly lie to you?"

"A year ago," he said, his voice hard and cold. "You lied to my face twice a year ago. You said you'd call, and you never did. And I only found out about the second one today because of what I heard you tell Bobby Lopez."

Beckett frowned. What she told Bobby? All she said was he didn't get to use the trauma as an excuse. She was shot in the chest and she-

Oh.

Oh god.

"Yeah," snarled Castle, watching the comprehension and dawning terror cross her face. "That lie. Remembering it now, Beckett? Or did you conveniently forget it again?"

"Castle, I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" he said, giving a laugh. "You're sorry? Sorry doesn't make up for the three months of no phone calls or anything!" he yelled. "Sorry doesn't make up for breaking my daughter's heart, as she watched her role model run off and hide! And sorry doesn't make up for leading me on for four years!" Castle sighed and slumped against the wall, swallowing hard. "If you didn't love me, all you had to do was say something. It was embarrassing enough in your hospital room," he said, voice cracking as he closed his eyes.

Beckett wiped away a stray tear that fell down her cheek at the hurt on his face. She slowly walked to him, placing a hand on his cheek. "Rick, look at me," she said. She waited until his eyes were open, and focused on her. "I'm sorry for everything that I did. I didn't feel like I was worthy of your love, not as fucked up as I was," she said, running her thumb gently across the shadows under his eye. "I'm trying to be more than her case, and the walls I lived most of my adult life behind. I wanna be someone worthy of your love. But that doesn't give you the right to start acting like the self-centered jackass you were when we first met. You're better than that, Castle."

"Not good enough not to be led around like a puppy," he said softly.

Beckett shook her head, curls dancing across the shoulders of her coat. "How do you seriously not get that I'm in love with you?" she asked. "All this time together, and you can't even see that?"

Castle lifted his head and looked at her. "Say that again," he said, as he reached out to hit the Emergency Stop button again, his face filled with hope at her words.

Beckett smiled. "How about I just show you?" she whispered, right before her lips crashed into his.

The desk sergeant looked up, hearing the ding of the arriving elevator. After the yelling in there had finally ceased, he'd called Maintenance, asking them to cancel his request to check it. By now, the whole precinct had known about the fight between Detective Beckett and her partner. As the doors slid open, he saw the couple in question locked in a passionate embrace, either not knowing or caring that the elevator had finally arrived at their stop. Shaking his head and smiling, the sergeant went back to his newspaper. Wait till I finally get to cash in on that betting pool about these two, he thought to himself. Beckett and Castle. New York better watch out.

(A/N And thus concludes Story 1 in my Ficathon 1-shot collection. Total word count, so far: 941. Story 2 to come soon. And as always, thanks & shout-outs to Linda_inDC, lousiemcdoogle, Lord of Kavaka, & Mattaweber for encouraging, editing & giving honest feedback. Thanks, guys.)