Sorry for any mistakes I may have made here, I've been staring at this story for the past week or so and I got sick of this story halfway through and decided it was time to post. By the by, I also have a multichapter fic that I started before this one that I still haven't found the motivation to finish. Go figure. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll try my best to get it up real soon. Also, please let me know if you find mistakes so I can correct them.

Her evening had started off rather well, they were having dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant, and she was under the impression that everything between them was on track and progressing smoothly. Their food had just arrived, so she'd been working silently on her penne alla vodka, oddly preferring picking at it with her fork over the actions of her dining companion.

Josh was trying to strike up a conversation with her, but try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to get into the conversation. He noticed. In fact, Josh had recently been noticing quite often how her mind would wander, or how her eyes would glaze over as he tried to tell her about his day. He took a sip of his wine to help him cope and set his glass down with a little more force than he intended. When she looked up at him with an alarmed and slightly guilty expression, he knew it was time to clear the air.

"Kate..." he began.

Here it comes. She couldn't help but notice that this scene had become a disturbingly frequent recurrence in her life during the past year or so.

"I get that you're worried about your work. I do." He understood, he really did, but sometimes he couldn't help wonder what she was thinking, and whether he was more important, or her job was. He didn't really have the right to complain though, as a doctor, he knew how sometimes, the job just had to come first. However, as her boyfriend, he felt that the needed to bring the issue to the table.

"I'm sorry, I just-" She floundered for a viable excuse.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked as he moved his hand over hers, knowing that if he had any hope of making their relationship work, him getting angry at her would solve nothing.

Ugh. Why? Why did he have to be like that. Why were all the men she dated always so nice to her? It made her inexplicably guilty when they did that, and made what she knew she had to do all the more difficult.

Beckett threw the door to her apartment open, kicking it shut as soon as she had made her way inside. The door slam was much louder than she anticipated and the neighbors were sure to complain, but she didn't much care at the moment. Her mind was still clouded by the haze of anger that invaded shortly after her date with Josh ended. It wasn't that he had done anything to hurt her, in fact, it had been the opposite. She was the one that ended up having to hurt him, and that made her furious.

What was wrong with her? This was the third time this year she'd turned down a great man. Granted, the reason for not going with Will was well founded, but what about Tom and Josh? They had done nothing wrong, and yet she couldn't give them the attention they deserved. She just wasn't interested, and as smart as she was, she couldn't for the life of her figure out why.

Why? Why did she do that? Was she some kind of degenerate masochist? Some kind of depraved sadist? No... the latter couldn't be true, it made her sick to her stomach when she had to crush the hearts of men who adored her. She must be a masochist, that was the only satisfactory explanation she could come up with.

She felt her blood boil and grabbed the nearest thing she could find, flinging the poor throw pillow halfway across the room. It didn't make her feel any better, so she picked something that would make more sound, and threw it. That helped a bit. She spent the next five minutes repeating the routine, and was beginning to feel her anger subside.

In the midst of her violent rampage, she failed to realize that she hadn't locked her door, or that someone had made their way inside until she heard a yelp come from the direction where she'd chucked one of the books from her bookshelf. She whirled around to face the intruder, and somehow found her anger returning twofold when she realized who it was.

"How did you get in here?" She figured out long ago that asking him what he was doing at her sublease was completely pointless. Unfortunately, he was the last person she wanted to see right now. Castle gulped audibly as he watched her move towards him, fully intent on throwing him out. Literally.

"Ah... your door... was open so I-" She glared at him, knowing full well that she had made a huge commotion by kicking it shut only moments before. "Well, okay. I was outside your door and heard loud noises from the inside, and I was almost going to break down the door, when I decided to try the door knob. As you know, there could have been a chance, however minuscule, that your door might have been..." His pride at his successful method of entry deflated at her continued unimpressed glare "...un...locked..." He finished lamely as he backed up slowly, stopping only when his back came in contact with her door.

Just before she could get her hands on him he crouched down, squeezed his eyes shut, and threw his arms up in a defensive posture.

That did it.

He looked so ridiculous that she temporarily forgot why she was angry as she let out a short bark of laughter and her rage unraveled, leaving her feeling empty and exhausted. She moved towards her couch before letting out a heavy sigh and flopping onto her couch.

Castle looked up at her warily, standing when he decided it was safe enough, hovering by the door. On the off chance that she decided that she really needed to be throwing things again (or at him) he was in a good position to either make a quick getaway or to use the door a shield. He was surprised when she covered her eyes with her arm and started speaking without being asked.

"What is wrong with me Castle?"

Was this some kind of trick question? He had absolutely no idea where the question came from, let alone why she chose to ask him. He was about to open his mouth to inquire further, but after realizng that it might not be such a good idea for him to say anything at that particular moment, he kept his mouth shut and waited for her to continue. He was right to have done so, otherwise she might not have gone any further on the issue.

"Why do I always have to do this to myself? Why do I always have to do this to perfectly good men? To myself? This is karma isn't it? It's definitely karma. I must have upset someone up there a lot. What did I do to deserve.." her arm slid from her face as she motioned at him and then to the general space around her "..this? " Castle winced at the last bit, but kept silent nonetheless. "Everything used to be fine! My relationships actually lasted more than two weeks at a time. Months even! They lasted months! I am definitely cursed now. This is all your fault you know, I didn't start having these problems until you started showing up" she finished, pointing an accusing finger in his direction.

Beckett felt oddly vindicated by the time she finished. However, her anger towards herself still simmered in the back of her mind. It was partially because she still couldn't wrap her mind around the whole situation she found herself in, and anything she didn't understand tended to put her in a bad mood. The other part was because she wanted to kick herself for sharing so much of herself with him when she knew it was a bad idea to do so.

The entirety of the situation and the cause for Beckett's behavior finally began to dawn on Castle. For whatever reason, Josh was out of the picture, and that had upset her. He had experienced this rage before, and sadly, on more than one occasion. It was definitely not something to be taken lightly. It was as if all his failed marriages and heartbreak had qualified him to educate her. If she didn't know how to deal with the problem, then he would take it as his responsibility to show her how.

"Before you unleash any more of your righteous fury at me, do you mind if I take a crack at a solution to your little problem first? That way you can keep your sanity and I can keep my... he stopped to ponder what she could have done to him and shuddered before continuing, "whatever... intact."

She made a 'be my guest' motion at him, so he took it as a sign to continue with caution.

"You're mad because you're having relationship problems. Specifically because you can't seem to even keep one going, no matter how well either of you think things are between you. Your heart isn't into it, but you have absolutely no idea why. You don't feel like it's fair to the other person to keep stringing them along, when you yourself have no real intention of taking things further." He paused to check in with her. "How am I doing so far?"

She shrugged noncommittally, unwilling to let him have the satisfaction of knowing that he had been spot on about every detail so far.

"You don't know what it is exactly, you just feel that this is wrong and it's driving you crazy. There isn't anything you can do about it, and the part of you that needs to have control is having a fit. So the solution? If I may..."

Castle approached Beckett and she looked at him skeptically, but allowed him to continue. When he reached her, he gathered himself for a moment as she waited impatiently for his supposed miracle solution.

He wouldn't even consider doing what he was about to do if he didn't know for sure that she would be opposed to it. From the many hours he spent observing her, he was fairly certain that it was something that she wanted, even if she tried hard as hell to hide it. Before he could change his mind and she could figure out what he was up to, he leaned over to her and pulled her up off the couch. In one swift move, he caught her chin with his other hand, and pulled her into a searing kiss.

Beckett wouldn't have any of it. As soon as she registered what was happening, her palm made contact with Castle's cheek, catching him by surprise and completely blindsiding him.

"What do you think you're doing?" She spat. "Do you think you can just waltz up here and-" Castle stopped her complaint before she could take it any further, desperately wiling her to understand as he again pressed his lips to hers determined to work through the sting.

She struggled violently against him.

He repeated his action again.

Her resolve weakened and she felt the tension in her muscles melt away as she began to relax into him.

And again.

It was tentative and he wasn't sure it was even happening at all, but finally, he felt her begin to lean into the kisses. They stopped and pulled away to stare silently at each other as they each struggled to catch their breath. She stared at Castle, utterly bewildered and seemingly no longer enraged and he responded with his own dopey grin.

It was Castle who broke the silence first.

"See? I told you I could fix it."

END