A/N: Sorry for the long wait, didn't mean to leave you guys hanging so long! Moving to an apartment in between final exams was a terrible idea. The response to the first chapter was amazing! Thank you for all the favorites, follows, and reviews :)

Thank you Trish for being such an amazeballs beta. The little tweaks here and there made this chapter a gazillion times better!

You guys should definitely go check out her Ficathon entry, Empty Space - s/10375965/1/ (also her first multichap!) and show her some love.

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

Demming Schlemming. Why was he everywhere? He was in the bullpen that morning, standing far too closely to Beckett, whispering things into her ear which made her giggle. Didn't he know what was workplace appropriate?

Demming dropped by again that evening, stealing her away from work, away from building theory with him. So what if he only pulled Beckett aside for a few minutes? Didn't Demming know that he was messing with the delicate balance of their zone?

Castle tried to remain unaffected when Beckett considered Demming's invitation for a weekend getaway whereas she had shot his offer down, over and over again. He could take a hint. Maybe it was time to move on. It was obvious that Demming had won Beckett over after they closed the case last week, and it felt like each day just reinforced his presence in Beckett's life.

Maybe it would be better to bow out gracefully. Leave while some of his dignity was still intact. It was probably time to put some distance between them and take a break.

Take a step back and reassess this partnership of theirs.

Castle shared the details of the case with his writer buddies halfway through their third round of poker. "Ukrainians were a nice twist," Connelly said, tossing his poker chip into the main pot.

"So we've explained the money, the gadgets, and the briefcase. The only thing we can't explain - why was he killed?" Castle asked. Maybe they could look at things from a different angle. A table of four authors - heck, one of them had to be able to think of something that would fit the case, right?

"Maybe that's because you're looking in the wrong place."

Castle turned to look at Patterson as he elaborated. The game providing a cover for the killer to act? That sounded promising. Now why didn't he think of that earlier? Sharing the case with his poker buddies had been the right move.

"Personally, I'd spend more time writing and less time hanging out with your cop friend."

Castle raised his eyebrow as Patterson continued ribbing him. He turned to look at the others for support, but Cannell and Connelly were with Patterson on this one.

"She seems like more of a distraction than a muse."

Castle pondered over their words.

What if Beckett really was hindering him as an author? Had he been so caught up with her recently? He hadn't done much writing, sure, but that was because he still hasn't decided which direction to take Naked Heat. Were his days at the precinct taking up too much time?

Truth be told, he hadn't felt all that inspired to write recently. Maybe a change of scenery was in order. Maybe, spending the summer away from New York; apart from Beckett, would be good to him after all.

Castle's writer buddies left a few hours later. He had begun putting away the poker chips when his phone rang.

Looking at the caller ID, he sighed. Might as well get it over and be done with it.

"Hey Gina," he greeted, forcefully cheery as he picked up the empty glasses off the poker table. Castle dumped them in the sink to soak while he answered Gina, "No, I wasn't avoiding you." Castle cleared his throat to bring his voice to a deeper tone, trying to mask the telltale higher pitch whenever he lied. "We have an active case and things got pretty busy at the precinct. The chapters? Oh yeah, I… I have them right here."

Castle headed towards his study as Gina told him to send them over. Bypassing his laptop, Castle headed into his bedroom instead. "Well that's kind of hard because they're currently in my head. I have them: the plot, the killer, tying up the loose ends and all that, but they're just in my head at the moment." So maybe he was stretching the truth a tad far, but a little white lie never hurt anyone, right?

He walked to his wardrobe and began picking out pajamas as Gina huffed and puffed and threatened him over the phone.

"Oh come on, Gina, you know I can't tell you the plot before I commit to it and write it out - I'll just end up changing my mind," he said in a placating tone. "Don't you remember the sixth Derrick Storm book? I ended up changing the plot more times than I can remember because you wheedled the ending of Storm Rising out of me that weekend in Venice."

Castle smiled at her retort.

"But you inspired me to change the scene again in Rome, and Milan - need I go further?" he teased lightheartedly, recalling their whirlwind honeymoon throughout Europe. "Do you remember the excuses you had to come up with for Black Pawn over your husband's overdue manuscript? I think by the sixth deadline extension - oh God, poor David! Of course I remember his expression! Yeah, that little twitch of his right eye - you know, I don't think I've ever seen - yes, yes, his wife was pregnant at that time!" Castle chuckled as Gina went on about the extended leave David took the following week, and the subsequent stress his assistant had to bear.

"Listen, Rick, I'd love to swap memories of all the past shenanigans we got into, but I have a meeting in the morning."

Castle looked at his watch, realizing that two hours had flown by.

"With David? Have your authors been misbehaving again? Do you think the twitching eye will make an appearance? Think you can take a video for me for old time's sake?" Castle teased.

Gina laughed over the phone. "Just make sure you get the words down and send the chapters to me soon. This was nice," she said.

"Yeah it was," he replied, surprising himself. He honestly had not expected things to go so well with his ex-wife. "Hey, what are you doing this weekend?" The words were tumbling out of his mouth before he realized what he was asking.

Two minutes later, Castle hung up the phone. Looks like he might not be heading up to the Hamptons alone after all.

Case closed, Alexis dropped off, Gina had confirmed their plans for the Hamptons - all he needed to do now was show up for the surprise farewell party at the precinct. It was sweet of the boys to arrange that. He would definitely miss their ribbing, banter, and easy camaraderie over the summer.

Upon arriving at the precinct, Castle fell in step with the two male detectives, heading into one of the meeting rooms. Bottles of chilled beer sat on the table, and they wasted no time twisting the caps off and clinking their bottles together in celebration. It didn't take long for Captain Montgomery and Lanie to join them. Castle had just finished regaling Alexis' send off when Beckett entered the room. He was immediately aware of her presence, of what could be between them, but the pang of longing no longer stabbed at his heart. She was happy with Demming, and things weren't looking all that bad for him too. This was good.

Beckett headed to grab herself a bottle, and Castle couldn't help but tease her. "Oh, look who's off duty!" He watched as she easily twisted the cap off while replying.

"Yeah well Castle I'm not all work."

Castle looked up at Beckett, surprised to see their banter returning to its easy flow. The teasing and innuendo; the push and pull in the early days of their partnership. Before Demming happened.

"Castle, do you have a second?"

"Of course," he told her easily, pushing back his chair to stand up. He headed out of the room, Beckett following closely behind and shutting the door firmly.

He turned, asking her, "What's up?"

She paused, as if she was unsure of herself but eventually the words came out. Seeing her like that was refreshing - Castle couldn't think of another time when he had seen the detective lost for her words. He had no idea what she wanted to say, but he was in a good mood and was willing to listen patiently as she admitted she had a good time working with him.

Castle wanted to tease her, remind her of how she couldn't stand him in the beginning - that version of Kate Beckett would flip out if she knew how things turned out. Instead, he chose to let his partner off the hook, knowing that this must be hard for her to admit in the first place.

"Yeah, me too." These past few weeks hadn't been his favorite, but on the whole, he had a really wonderful time partnering with Beckett.

"So, uhm, I'm just going to say this, and hope that we're still on the same page here."

He could tell that she was nervous and hopefully Beckett would just come out and say what was on her mind.

"I'll go to the Hamptons with you. I mean, I'm free, if the offer still stands, and I, uhm, I broke up with Demming. So I was thinking that I could go up and spend the weekend with you-"

Whoa, where was this coming from? Castle tried to keep his emotions from showing on his face as she continued rambling on, "-and maybe we could work something out for the summer, because I'd still be working and-"

"Richard, you ready?"

Oh no. This couldn't be happening to him. Castle swallowed, turning to see his ex-wife walk up to them.

"Hey, Gina. Uh, Beckett, you remember Gina, my ex-wife," he struggled to keep his voice even, to hide the panic that was coursing through his system.

Gina sauntered up to his side, sticking her hand out to Beckett as she added saucily, "and his publisher."

This wasn't supposed to happen.

This couldn't be happening. His ex-wife and Beckett - his partner who had just admitted to breaking up with her boyfriend to be with him - weren't really shaking hands and exchanging introductions. Gina couldn't have timed her arrival to be at a more inopportune moment.

He watched as Kate's eyes darted from Gina to him, her mouth slightly agape as the next words tumbled out of her mouth. "Yeah, we spoke the other day. Looks like you finally tracked him down."

Castle prayed for a miracle, an intervention; anything would do, really.

"Oh, yeah, he's such a little boy sometimes," Gina said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, I don't know why, it's not like I bite," she continued, looking at him.

Oh, but she did-

"Much," Gina added, smiling up at him.

Shoot me now, just shoot me and end my misery, Castle thought. He forced a tight-lipped smile down to his ex-wife, hoping she wouldn't notice the way his body tensed up. He had to say something, anything, just- he had to find a way to salvage this situation before Beckett murdered him. Or Gina. Or the both of them.

Gina continued, "We better get going if we want to get to the Hamptons by nightfall or we'd be stuck in traffic and arrive at some ungodly hour."

Forget Dante's nine circles of Hell - Castle was in the tenth circle of Hell, one where his ex-wife drops the bomb that she had taken up the offer his partner now wanted, after she had laid her heart on the line. The same partner who hardly volunteered any personal information; the one who was fiercely protective over her personal life and the one who didn't let many people in.

He had to fix this. He needed a moment alone with Beckett, to explain himself. He needed to let her know that his invitation to Gina had happened after Beckett turned him down. That he thought she would have plans with Demming. That he was completely blindsided by her confession. That he wasn't looking to hurt-

"Well it was nice to finally meet you," Gina said, wrapping an arm around Castle's waist as she tugged him toward the elevator.

His legs fumbled beneath him as his body was forced to go along with Gina. Castle's glance darted around as he turned his head to look back. He finally noticed the rest of the gang had crowded against the door, peering curiously at him through the glass panel and were waving goodbye.

His hand instinctively rose to return the gesture, waving weakly at them as his eyes sought to catch Beckett's.

This was all wrong - he couldn't leave while things were so messy between them, but he couldn't leave Gina hanging either. He felt obligated to hold up his invitation as it was the gentlemanly thing to do. It wouldn't be fair to ditch Gina. Besides, she was completely oblivious to what had just happened between him and Beckett.

Gina had already pressed the elevator button when his throat finally worked.

His voice cracked as he choked out "Kate!" forcing her to look up at him.

Castle tried to convey his turmoil through his eyes, hoping that she could read them from that distance. His desperation leaked into his voice, tainting it with his remorseful plea as Gina tugged him into the elevator.

"Call me or- or I'll call you. Just don't…"

The elevator doors shut before he could finish the rest of his sentence

A/N: We're in for an angsty ride! The next few chapters will really start moving the story forward.