Chapter 7: Convincing Kate

Let's go all the way tonight

No regrets, just love

We can dance, until we die

You and I will be young forever

"What would you like?" Rick asks her as they enter the ice cream shop right outside of the park.

"I'm really not that hungry."

"Come on, Kate. It's really good."

"I don't care, Castle. Just get me something."

He comes back a few minutes later with a triple chocolate cone for himself and a butterscotch sundae for her, knowing that she wasn't much of a fan of chocolate ice cream. They make their way into the park, and he desperately wants to put his arm around her, but he decides she might hurt him if he tries it again.

"Would you like to start?"

"Start what?" he looks over at her.

"This conversation. Why we're here."

"Oh… did you want to start or would you rather I got first?" he continues to eat his ice cream, getting some on his nose.

She smiles, making him wonder what is wrong with her. She had been furious not too long before and now she is smiling at him. Kate stops, and he follows suit, turning to face her. "You have ice cream on your nose," she reaches out and wipes it away with her napkin.

"Oh… thanks."

"I do like you, Castle. A lot. But this… this is going to change us. And I don't want that to happen yet."

"Exactly how will things change?"

"Working together is going to be a problem. I don't want this to interfere with my work, Castle."

"It won't," he cuts in. "I'll be careful. We'll keep our relationship out of the precinct."

"You really expect a room full of detectives to not notice that things have changed between us, even if you manage to keep your hands to yourself?" He doesn't have a response to this. "And what if something happens to you while you're shadowing me? I honestly don't know that I could remain professional about the situation."

"I think that might be a problem now. When Tyson had me tied up, you came in without backup. Esposito and the others were still a good distance away. You're already too emotionally involved with me."

"And saying that is supposed to be making me give in?" she looks over at him as they walk along.

"Yes. I'm just saying that it wouldn't really change things because you already care about me. And I care about you; I don't even what to think about you getting hurt on the job."

"What happens if things don't work out for us?"

"I think they will."

"And what if they don't?"

"Then… I guess we're done."

"Things are going to be bad, Castle. For both of us. I really don't want to go through that pain."

He studies her face, "Neither do I. So we're going to do our best to make things work."

"It's not that simple, Castle."

"It could be."

She shakes her head slowly, "It can't be with us."

"All we have to do is talk, Kate. And we're already pretty good at that. Maybe not about our pasts, but about what's going on now, we talk about. Except we avoided things that would change our relationship. But now we're good. And I trust that you won't cheat on me. You trust me because -"

"Giving you my gun doesn't mean I trust you."

"Yes, it does. You trust me to have your back."

"Yes… but I don't trust you with my heart."

"Kate…" Rick stops in the middle of the pathway to look at her. "Why not?"

"Do you even know how many women you've been in bed with?"

"…No."

"How many of them were one night stands?"

"Not very many. We normally had more than one night together."

"You still didn't date them first. Or any of the usual stuff."

"Look, Kate, I'm a guy. And they were pretty and willing to go to bed with me. And after being rejected by Meredith and Gina and Kyra, I needed someone. All of them knew that what was happening was meaningless."

"How do I know they didn't give you AIDS or something?"

"They weren't prostitutes, Kate."

"You were… using them and not paying them. If they weren't in it for the money, they just wanted to get famous."

"Probably. And I regret what I did, but I can't change what's happened in the past. Ellie Monroe was the only woman I was with like that since we met."

"Why her?"

He shrugs, "I had just saved your life twice, and you still didn't seem interested so I tried to move on."

Beckett sits down on one of the benches, "How do I know that you're not going to leave me after you get your one night together?"

"Do you honestly think I would follow you around for over two years just to get one night together?" he sits down beside her.

"Then a month together. Or two or however long. Eventually you'll get bored, Castle."

"I could never get tired of you, Kate."

"Like I'm going to believe that."

"You're too stubborn, Kate," he sighs. "What can I do to make you see that I'm not going to leave you? I come in almost every day to help you with your cases, and I even come in when you're just doing paperwork so that I can be with you. You've told me about your mother, and we are still trying to bring her justice; it doesn't scare me away from you but makes me care about you even more. We've saved each others' lives numerous times, and we've had fun working together. Please, Kate. Just believe that things are going to work out for us."

"But you did leave," she whispers.

His face falls as he realizes this and how much pain it had caused her. "I'm so sorry about that, Kate. I didn't want to leave you, but I thought it'd be best so that you could be happy with Demming. And I thought it would help me get some writing done. But writing Nikki Heat just made me miss you more."

"I missed you too." This is nowhere near as big as what he had admitted to her, but this small admission of her feelings gives him some hope.

A/N: Sorry for not updating yesterday. I still have so much to do. Hopefully Monday I can post again. Thanks.