A/N: i'm loving all the feedback i'm getting for these! sometimes it's really hard to get inspired, but your positive comments are keeping me motivated to write good stuff. :]

Little Girl Lost

Kate Beckett snuggled deeper under her blankets and allowed the worry of the previous week to leave her body. Most people, she assumed, thought that being a homicide detective was the most stressful job. But those people had never tried to solve a kidnapping when a small child's life was at stake. Her stomach clenched just thinking about it, and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself down. No, kidnappings were the absolute worst. In homicide, the person you were fighting for was already dead. As horrifyingly morbid as that sounded, it relieved a certain amount of pressure; yes, you wanted to find the killer as quickly as possible to bring comfort to the family, but when it came down to it, there was no immediate rush. When the person you were fighting for was still alive, it was like being thrown into a pressure cooker and left to stew. Everything had to have been figured out yesterday, and if you missed one single detail, a life would be lost, and it would be on your head.

Kate sighed and rolled onto her stomach. God, she felt like she could sleep for a week. Work had consumed her every thought, both asleep and awake, since she'd gotten Captain Montgomery's call early Sunday morning.

Well, no, that was a lie. Work had consumed most of her thoughts, without a doubt. But damnit, Castle was such a distraction! And not in his usual way, the way that made Kate wonder where in her job description the term "babysitter" was mentioned. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as her snide little subconscious was telling her), this distraction was far more physical than that.

She'd always thought he was attractive. Ever since she'd picked up her first copy of a Richard Castle novel, she'd spent maybe a little too much time ogling the portrait on the back cover. But that's all it had been, even after meeting him. Despite the fact that he hit on her unabashedly, Kate had trouble reconciling the possibility of maybe sleeping with him one day (maybe being the operative word) with the fact that he actually existed right there in front of her.

That, however, had collided spectacularly yesterday. She remembered walking into the room with a cool head, saying what she needed to say, and attempting to tackle what promised to be an awkward talk about what he'd witnessed in the kitchen the night before. She remembered his shirt being half unbuttoned, and seeing the sliver of his chest that was exposed. She'd immediately gotten flashes of raking her fingers down that chest, and wondering what the rest of it looked like. Thankfully, she'd been able to mentally throw the proverbial bucket of cold water on herself.

Until he put his hand down his pants.

Kate felt her face grow hot, and buried it in her pillow out of embarrassment. But that didn't get rid of the memory of him tucking in his shirt right in front of her, sticking his hand down both the front and the back of his pants, achingly slowly, drawing out her agony for as long as possible.

Okay, that wasn't true. For once in his life, he was being completely innocent. It was her mind that was being dirty. And boy, was it ever.

She clenched her fists. Damn him.

A Death in the Family

Will Sorenson had long ago decided that Kate Beckett was one interesting woman. There were times when she was absolutely adorable, biting her lip and looking up at him from under her eyelashes. Then, of course, she could be unbelievably sexy, when she'd lean into you and make you feel like you were the only man in the world. She could be the quintessential cop, unrelentingly professional, driven, and confident. In the next moment, she could be achingly vulnerable and afraid of dealing with her feelings. And it was a total toss-up as to whether she'd laugh at your joke and crack one of her own, or huff in frustration at your immaturity. Yes, if you looked up "multifaceted" in the dictionary, Will was convinced that there'd be a picture of Kate under the definition.

So when she turned him down yet again, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She'd agreed to consider the possibility of dating again, so that had to have been on her mind when she surprised him at work, a doughnut in hand and a favor in mind. Seriously, a doughnut? She knew about his feelings for her; he'd made them abundantly clear on several occasions. And evidently, she was more than happy to cater to them.

And yet…

He'd fished for a date. Or an IOU. Or a favor in return. SOMETHING. He replayed the conversation in his mind repeatedly, trying to gauge where his signals had gotten messed up. She'd asked for his help, doing the whole "adorable" thing. He thought he was picking up a vibe, so he'd asked, "And, I do this for you why?" and expected a cute answer. Or a dinner invitation. Or something flirty, at least.

What he most certainly was not expecting was for her to appeal to his logic. Of course, it made it impossible for him to say no (not that he would've said no in the first place. Who was he kidding?), but it completely threw him. Was she ignoring his advances? Did it go over her head? Was he pushing too hard? Was she just stringing him along? He had no idea. Absolutely nothing was certain.

One thing, however, he was completely sure of; Kate Beckett was one interesting woman, and he'd be damned if he didn't try and get her back.

Season 2

Deep in Death

"We made a deal, and I expect you to honor it."

Okay, that was a lie. Kate Beckett thought vaguely of how much she hated the fact that Rick Castle made her lie so much; she'd prefer pretty much anything over recognizing her feelings for him, so was forced to lie about them. She hated lying so much, and she hated berating herself silently for the lies she was constantly telling, and now was no different. But she managed to arrange her face to convey nothing but the quiet anger she knew she was expected to feel and, to some extent, still did.

So contrary to what she'd just told him, she honestly did not expect him to honor any deal that would involve them never seeing each other again. She expected him to flat out refuse, fight her tooth and nail, stay planted firmly in the seat next to her desk and show up there the next day like nothing between them had changed. And a small part of her wanted these things. Okay, maybe a not so small part. Maybe even a big part. Not that she'd ever, ever admit to that.

Kate didn't even realize how much she wanted him around again until he left. He looked at her with sadness in his eyes, stood up, and walked slowly out of her life. This wasn't like last time; this was real. He wasn't going to show up again. She fought to keep her emotions off of her face. What happened to the Castle that had followed her relentlessly? Where'd he go? 'Cause he wouldn't have gone away just because she told him to.

She felt tears begin to prick her eyes, and put her face in her hands, elbows resting on her desk. How had this happened? How had she come to rely on him so heavily for being the one person that would always be there?

How had he just walked away?

Her desk began to blur before her eyes as unshed tears collected. Finally, she took a deep, shaky breath and blinked them away.

"Hey, Beckett?" Ryan called, walking out of the break room. "Where's Castle?"

Kate cleared her throat, and prayed her voice wouldn't betray her. "He left."

"Oh." He paused, unsure of how to broach the sensitive subject. "Is he coming back?"

She pulled some paperwork closer to her and suddenly became very preoccupied with searching her desktop for a pen. "No."

"Alright. I'm gonna clear out."

She could almost feel Ryan's disappointment in the air, and greatly appreciated him not saying anything about it. She looked up at him. "Okay. 'Night."

He touched her back sympathetically as he walked past her desk. "'Night."

She almost smiled. The last thing she needed was someone saying they were sorry for her. She made a mental note to ease up on the insults the next day; Ryan was one hell of a guy. Glad that everyone was finally trickling out, she sighed and began her paperwork, unable to shift the cloud of melancholy hovering over her.

Kate didn't know how much time had passed when she noticed a shadow pass across her desk; she'd been fading between doing paperwork and losing herself in her own thoughts. The person casting the shadow and, even though he'd finally done what she'd told him a thousand times to do (leave her alone), she couldn't see anybody else that she knew standing silently beside her desk. It had to be Castle. But… could it?

Steeling herself for the worst, she looked up to find that her suspicions were confirmed.

"I'm sorry."

She felt her stomach dissolve. Damn, could the man be any more unpredictable?

"What I did was wrong. I violated your trust, I opened old wounds, and I did not respect your wishes. And if we're not going to see each other again, then you deserve to know…" He paused, and she could see the genuine remorse in his eyes. "I'm very, very sorry."

She wanted to take a moment to process this development and formulate a response, but he was already walking away. A momentary panic overtook her. Hell, he'd said absolutely everything she'd wanted him to, what was to process? You'd better swallow your pride pretty damn fast, she thought to herself. And she tried to, she really did. But even now, it was having a lot of trouble going down. Get over yourself, you moron.

"Castle."

It was out of her mouth before she knew what she was going to say. Still looking at her desk, she heard his footsteps stop and felt his eyes on her. She couldn't meet his eyes; she'd either jump up and kiss him senseless, or change her mind about forgiving him completely. Either one would be entirely inappropriate. So she kept her eyes downcast, and said the first, simplest thing that came to mind. It just made sense, really.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

He'd once told her that that phrase (for all intents and purposes) was "hopeful." As she heard him leave the precinct and began packing up for the night, she hoped he appreciated just how hopeful it actually was.

The Double Down

"Can I ask you something?"

Kate Beckett stopped at a red light and glanced over at Rick Castle, who was looking at her as if she'd just said something utterly perplexing. "Um. Sure?"

"How do you know when Girl Scout cookies are sold?"

She laughed as the light turned green, and stepped on the gas without answering.

"I'm serious!" he exclaimed. "As far as I know, you don't have a daughter, so how do you know?"

"Oh Castle, I love how you think you know everything about me. Any new bit of information sends you into a tizzy, it's fantastic!"

He narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't answer the question."

"I may or may not have a goddaughter."

"See, was that so hard?"

"All I'm saying is that just because you don't know something about me doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I tell you far from everything."

"That'll change."

The complete confidence with which he uttered that sentence shut her up and brought a flush to her cheeks. They drove in silence for a few moments before he spoke again.

"Let me know when order forms are being given out. Now I'm craving a Samoa something fierce."

A/N: happy new year everybody! see you in 2010!