A/N: It took me some time, I know, but here it is, finally.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Oh, one note for this chapter, this one jumps ahead in time a couple of weeks. But hopefully that'll be clear enough.

Dive In

"Well, you and I, why we go carrying on for hours on and
we get along much better than you and your boyfriend."
– If it Kills Me, Jason Mraz

Chapter Three

After that evening she spent with Castle, things seemed to return back to normal again. Yes, there had been some extra tension between them, at least, it felt like there was, and she also knew very well that she couldn't let things go on like this forever, but she was still weighing her options. Mostly, she was wondering how exactly this was going to work.

She knew she was going to have to have a talk with Josh at some point too, but she just hadn't felt ready yet. She had other things to figure out first. But much time to do so, she didn't have. Because a new case had come along.

This particular one had been hard.

Pretty damn hard.

It wasn't a child this time, though, those were always the hard ones. The victim− Sarah Keller− had been a single mother. A single mother to two beautiful children. One, the oldest, was sixteen and the other was twelve. The world as they knew it had been shattered to pieces.

Just like hers had been.

But this time she had caught the killer. And she could at least give them that kind of closure, though she was pretty sure that at the moment, it didn't mean all that much to them. It would take time, she knew that.

So, yeah, the case had been hard on her.

At times she had been so frustrated with everything that she yelled at Castle. Not because she was mad at him. Just because he had been around. He had always been there for her. To let her yell at him, to bring her coffee, to build theory with her, to convince her that she wasn't the worst detective ever. And even− at one point− let her cry on his shoulder.

It took them weeks to finally get the bastard. Weeks in which she seemed to get more and more irritable. But Castle always knew what she needed. Her walls had already collapsed on day five, and at that point she had just started accepting his help.

She'd barely seen Josh, since she was at the precinct almost 24/7.

But tonight, he'd surprised her by coming to her apartment. They crawled into bed together and she told him about the case. She left out some things about Castle, though, because he always seemed a little… irritated whenever she mentioned him, or so it seemed.

So she just told him about the case. He'd held her in his arms and soothingly rubbed circles on her back. It was nice. When she was done talking he'd told her that he understood.

Except he didn't. Because even though he knew her mother was dead, he didn't know how she'd died, or when it happened. And he also didn't know how she felt. She had almost started getting annoyed with him, like it was his fault he didn't know these things, but all the short nights were getting to her and she slowly drifted off to sleep in his arms.

That's when things started to get messy.

Beckett sighed as she was trying to get up the courage to knock on Castle's door.

After Josh had left for an emergency at the hospital, everything that had happened in the past couple of weeks had hit her all over again. Only now, for the first time, Castle hadn't been around. She felt lonely. And as she was lying in bed contemplating her options something Castle had said just kept playing in her mind. "You can always come to me, you know that right?" He'd said those words with so much sincerity, that she'd just lamely nodded in response.

And so she somehow ended up at his front door. Finally, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

Nothing happened.

Just as she was going to knock again, the door was opened by Richard Castle himself and she quickly lowered her arm and gave him a small smile.

"Hey." He said, and opened the door a little further. "Come in."

She followed him in, and he took her coat after which he joined her on the couch.

"How are you?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm…" She paused and thought about her answer for a moment. "Okay, I guess."

He raised his eyebrow. "You're…okay?"

Their eyes met for a brief moment and she could see that he looked straight through her façade. "I've been better." She admitted softly. "But, given the circumstances, I'm okay, really."

He nodded slowly and picked up that she didn't really came here to talk about it. No, what she seemed to need, was some distraction. And he knew just what to do.

"I'll be right back." He said, grinning slightly. And with that, he was off.

When he came back moments later, he had his arms full of high-tech toys that he put down on the table.

She arched her eyebrow at him. "Is that…?"

"Laser tag?" He grinned. "Yes, it is."

"Seriously?"

"Yep." He smiled. "Are you up for a challenge?"

She rolled her eyes, but a smile formed on her lips anyway. "Challenge? Please, did you forget I'm a trained detective, Castle?"

"Of course I didn't, but this is something else than shooting guns entirely. I've had lots of practice with these." He replied. "The only reason that it's still a challenge is that I haven't gotten a chance to use them much lately with all the time Alexis has been spending with her boyfriend."

"Okay, you're on." She picked up some things from the table and started putting them on. When she came to the chest harness, she eyed it, then tried to put it on, put couldn't get the straps on her back right.

Castle saw it and stepped forward. "Let me." He said. He clicked the straps together and pulled two other straps that were twisted, straight, letting his hands touch her back just a little more than necessary.

"Ready?" He asked once they'd both put on the rest of the laser tag gear too.

She grinned. "Ready."

They both went into different directions after Castle had switched everything on. Beckett hid in the kitchen, behind the cooking range, while Castle stood behind the pillar in the living room. Beckett slowly moved to the corner, to look into the living room, still a bit crouched down, so Castle wouldn't see her. She noticed him moments later, his head sticking out from behind the pole, while his body was still covered.

He didn't see her at first, until she made a quick move into his direction, almost shooting him. He made a quick sprint and dove behind the couch, now knowing that Beckett was standing where he had been just seconds before. Behind the couch wasn't the best place to hide for cover, though, he knew that from experience, so he started looking for different options. She'd immediately see him if he moved to the study, so that wasn't a good idea. The kitchen was risky too, but he had a better chance with getting away.

She saw just a flash of him when he got up and ran but tried to shoot anyway, without success. She found this game to be quite fun, actually. Chasing a suspect gave a certain amount of adrenalin, yes, but it wasn't exactly fun. Because there were always moments that she had to decide to shoot, and even though she had a good aim and it usually resulted in just minor injuries, she still hated the idea that she might kill someone, even if she had no other choice. This, however, involved less adrenalin and it wasn't as challenging, but it was fun. Paying attention to where Castle went, weighing her options, planning where she should go, it was good practice.

Crouching down low, she slowly moved to the bar stools, knowing that Castle would probably be on the other side of those. Soundlessly, she made her way to the corner, hoping he'd face the other way so he wouldn't see her.

She took a breath, raised the plastic gun, and turned the corner, just as he did too. Her reflexes where faster than his, and she pulled the trigger immediately, though with the speed they'd both had came around the corner, the bumped into each other nonetheless, at the same time Castle's body armor was flashing and made a noise, a sign he'd been hit.

When their bodies collided, the side of Beckett's head hit the bar stool. Not very hard, but still hard enough to make a flash of pain run through her head. Castle's eyes widened when he saw it happen, and he slowly helped her up.

Even through the light pounding in her head, she noticed their close proximity, and especially the way his lips moved. It took her a moment to realize he'd been asking her if she was okay. She let her eyes meet his, and saw his concern. She half grinned, half winced. "I won." She said.

He smiled and shook his head slowly in amusement. "Yeah, you did." Then, after seeing her make a slightly pained expression, he said, "I'll get you an ice-pack for that."

After going to the fridge and taking off his laser tag harness, he came back with an ice-pack in his hand and a small cloth which he wrapped around it so it wouldn't be too cold. "Here." She'd expected him to hand it to her, but instead he lifted his arm, and gently pressed the pack to her head.

He kept it there, and even though it was supposed to be cold, she felt like she was actually getting warmer than before. His lips were slightly parted, and she could feel his warm breath on her face. Her own breathing almost hitched in her throat when he took a small step closer towards her, and his bright blue eyes bore into hers. The pounding in her head was replaced by the loud pounding of her heart.

She reached up with her right arm, covered the hand that was holding the ice-pack with hers, and lowered it, putting the ice-pack on the kitchen counter. She let her hand rest softly against his stomach, and he swallowed, causing her attention to momentarily go to his Adam's apple.

When she looked up and saw his eyes darken, she pulled him closer by his shirt and kissed him. Once they crossed that line, he let his hand move to her hips, pulling her closer to him, wanting to feel her body against his. Her lips parted, and he started exploring her mouth, savoring every taste. He'd thought their 'undercover' kiss had been good, but this, right now, was even better.

She needed to catch her breath, and pulled away, while Castle continued trailing his mouth down to her neck, placing kisses along her jaw line and grazing her earlobe with his teeth. When he found her pulse point, he gently sucked the skin into his mouth, and she let out a moan.

"Castle." She breathed.

"Castle…"She awoke with a startle and opened her eyes, and found herself in her own bedroom, a handsome cardiac surgeon next to her. But he wasn't asleep. He was staring at her, frowning. He didn't seem too happy.

Her cheeks were flushed, both from just being awake, and from the dream she'd just had. Something twisted in her gut as she briefly met his eyes. It was as if he knew what she'd dreamt. Not just that, the dream had seemed so vivid, so real, that it was hard to look him in the eye.

"You dreamt about him." Was the only thing he said.

There wasn't any clarification necessary, no need to define who 'him' was. She stared down at her hands and nodded slowly. "Yes." She whispered.

Josh observed her. He'd always been a light sleeper, and when she had started moving around, it had woke him up. It didn't take much to realize she was dreaming. At some point, her breathing became heavier, and he wondered what she was dreaming. When he heard a soft moan leave her lips, he'd grinned, figuring she was having some kind of hot dream about him. Until she heard her whisper his name.

The way she was avoiding eye contact right now, uncomfortably fumbling with her hands, it was uncharacteristic for her. She looked… guilty. Sorry, regretful. He knew straight away this wasn't just about one stupid dream. There was more to this.

"Have you…" He paused, not knowing exactly how ask the question on his mind. "You and him, have you−" He struggled for words.

She looked up, and, understanding what he was getting at, replied, "No. Nothing ever happened."

He believed her. Not just because he wanted to, but all the little things he'd gotten to know, and like, about her… well, she just didn't seem like the type to cheat. Or, if it came down to it, to lie about it to his face.

"Listen, Josh…" She sighed, "Can we−" A pause, "Can we talk about this in the morning?" She pleaded. Having this conversation with the images of her dream still fresh on her mind made it even more uncomfortable that it already would've been.

He glanced over to the nightstand to look at the clock. Four AM. He needed to work an early shift, so getting some sleep might be good. If he could get sleep at all, that is. Either way, this might give him an opportunity to get some of his thoughts sorted out.

"Okay." He nodded. With that, he turned around, so he was facing the wall, not her. The message seemed pretty clear to her.

The tension between Josh and her was an entirely different one than she had with Castle, she thought ruefully. She closed her eyes. This morning wasn't going to be good.

A/N: So, what did you guys think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Oh, and also, you can still send me song/lyric suggestions, just shoot me a PM or just leave a review. :)