Before I start this chapter, I want to briefly address what a couple of people brought up: the fact that my Castle used the fire excuse, and then broke into my Beckett's phone, and that both things were really rotten and were a breach of trust. I get your feelings...I do. But if anyone else out there also has those thoughts, remember that this is my less-angsty fic about this whole time. It was supposed to be more fun and have some humor to it (like the whole premise about being locked in a room), and as such, Castle's discovery was supposed to be a random and accidental, yet very important discovery that he made when he was just goofing around. My Castle wouldn't have thought anything about unlocking her phone...big deal. He always invades her personal space, and personal life. It was just, shall we say, a little way to snoop, to pass some time, to find out more about her or just maybe annoy her a little bit, like when he walked into the ladies room in Season 2 when she was reading Heat Wave. No ulterior motives, just fun, like when she pickpocketed his phone. And then, well, he needed to wake her up, and once he decided to confront her, he needed her awake NOW, hence the fire fib. But I do respect your opinions, and I thank you for leaving them for me. I've attempted to at least address those points somewhat and may still in future chapters, but I'm not going to dwell on them either; that would change the tone of what I want to do with the story.

And for everyone else...wow, I'm loving how much you all seem to be loving this story. As long as you keep loving it, I'll keep writing it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Castle. If I did, she would have given him a hug or a hand-hold or something at the end of 'Headhunters'. Or he would have with her. (I just don't want it all to wait until the finale.)


"You...know."

She stared at him with big eyes, scared eyes. It was almost too much for her to comprehend: the abrupt wake-up, the kiss, the text. And now...this. He knew her secret. He knew she didn't tell him the truth.

"Yeah. I know."

"I...Castle," she said, pleading with her eyes and her words for him to understand. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you."

He huffed out a sarcastic laugh. "Epic fail there, Kate."

"No..." Her instinct was to try to offer some comfort, because now-finally-the look in his eyes made sense. She lifted her hand like she was going to touch him, on his shoulder, his neck his face; but the uncertainty of them, despite that bone-melting kiss, stopped her, and her hand sIipped slowly down and settled for taking his hand lightly in her own. "I was trying to get to a place where I could...where I could be a better person, for you. I was so messed up and I was afraid that I would mess this up. Us." She waited for him to say something, but she didn't, so she forged ahead. "I was going to tell you, right after the bombing case. That...affected me, Rick. I almost said something during the case, but then...we got interrupted. And then you were...different. You started pulling away, and I didn't know..." She trailed off, because he could see some wheels were turning in her head. "Rick, how did you find out that I remembered? How long have you known?"

He looked at her for a few long moments. "I always loved your mind," he said randomly, shaking his head. "The pickpocket. Bobby. I heard you tell him that you remembered. I was behind the glass." He let go of her hand and moved a few steps away.

The air whooshed out of her lungs like someone had punched her. "Oh." She sat heavily down on the edge of the bed. For him to hear it like that? "Oh, God, Rick," she said, the implications of her choices, her procrastination, her denial, and her bad timing raining down on her now.

"It was right after that," she said, incredulous, the pieces, the behavior all beginning to make sense now. She shook her head, her mouth hanging open a bit as she started off into space, remembering. "That was when you changed. When you started pulling away, like you couldn't stand to be around me anymore."

He shrugged. "I guess in a way, I couldn't. I felt like such a fool." He looked blankly at the other side of the room, lost in his own memories from weeks ago and still feeling that sting of embarrassment.

"Why?"

Her one word question snapped him back to the present and he looked at her, furrowing his eyebrows as he asked, "What?"

"Why did you feel like a fool? And God, why didn't you say something to me when you heard me?"

"Say something?" he asked incredulously. "Are you kidding? After I told you that last May, I...hoped...you know? And then that day, listening to you with Bobby, I was just metaphorically punched in the gut with the fact that you couldn't...that even after all of these months, you obviously didn't feel...anything...for me. Bringing it up to you would be like asking for the playground bully to punch me again."

Now it was her turn to stare at him, slack-jawed, after she caught onto one particular part of his explanation. "I obviously didn't feel anything for you? What? Where the hell did you get that idea?"

"Come on, Kate! I told you I loved you, and you chose to ignore it. And whenever I asked, you lied about remembering."

She put her face in her hands, ashamed. "I know," came the muffled agreement through her hands. But through some inner store of strenght, or perhaps bolstered by the fact that he kissed her, she put her hands down in her lap again and she looked directly at him. "But it wasn't because I didn't feel anything for you." She looked to where he'd tossed the phone on the bed and picked it up. Standing up again, she walked over to him and held up the phone. "You saw the text, Castle. Now you know why I couldn't show it to you." She pointed her index finger at him menacingly. "Although we will have a talk later about breaking into my phone."

"I didn't break in. I knew the password," he said, defending himself.

"Yeah, right. So that makes it okay? I suppose next you're going to be GPS tracking me like you did to Alexis."

"Really, Beckett," he told her as if the idea was preposterous. "You're not on my plan so of course I can't track you like I tracked Alexis."

She was ready to whack him again, but then she saw the smirk on his face. She decided not to go any further with that thought for the moment; there were other, more important topics to cover first. "Rick? Uh..." But then her words failed her. She wasn't expecting this. She hadn't planned this. She grasped at the first non-scary thing she could. "The text, Rick. What did the text tell you?"

His eyes bore into hers. "Like I...needed more proof." He wasn't going to say it. He wasn't going to assume anything, not after all of this. "If I was going to believe that text, then I needed proof. And I couldn't trust you to tell me with words. So..."

He kissed her. Oh, it stung a bit, that he couldn't trust her words enough to just ask her. But she knew she'd earned it. "So you kiss-ambushed me?"

"Well, I knew your response wouldn't lie to me."

She cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips, as if to say, 'I see your point.' After she chewed on her lip for a bit more, she tentatively raised her hand and set it lightly on his chest. "What did my response tell you?"

"That...you..." he started, but then stopped.

No.

It wasn't going to happen like this. He'd waited too long for her, and if this was going where he hoped it was, then now he had to hear her say it. Not from him saying it for her. Not from an implied text. Not from a kiss. Not anymore.

"Rick?" she asked, confusion on her face.

"You heard me last May, and I know you did. You lied about it. I thought you were embarrassed by me, by my feelings. But then I was just goofing around with your phone, and happened to find a text that really made me wonder about...about what I believed to be true."

He took a breath, and she wondered where he was going with this. But finally he spoke, and when he did, albeit somewhat shakily-which was strange for him-the strength of it hit her like a punch.

"Last May, I said I loved you. Heaven help me, Kate, but I still do. I couldn't turn it off, even though I tried. I couldn't push it away. But I need to know. You're not shot now, you can't run off and neither can I. What do you feel for me? Partner, or...more?"

He still loved her. Once her lungs could handle air exchange again after his proclamation, she took a deep breath. The hand on his chest curled up, gripping his t-shirt. "I feel...the same way I did when I was telling Lanie how much you'd changed. It hurt me, because...I...was... readytotellyouthatIloveyoutoo?" The words-the important ones, anyway-all came out in a rush. She grimaced inside when she heard how they sounded. Despite everything, it was still somewhat of a question, like she still needed the confirmation that it was the right thing to say.

His eyes narrowed, but then his lips quirked ever so slightly. "Not sure I caught all of that, Beckett. Can you repeat it again, this time with actual syllables?"

She pursed her own lips together, annoyed at him but still feeling just a bit giddy at his words. She furrowed her brows in a glare, but then when she saw the grin forming on his face, she went with the instinct that she had when he was teasing her about the phone app the night before. Her hand was already holding the front of his t-shirt, so she used the grip to pull him forward. She wrapped her other arm around his neck for more leverage so he couldn't get away and she pulled him in for her own kiss-ambush.

She felt his own grinning lips under hers, and she tried to kiss him, but they both found out that it's hard to really kiss someone when you're both starting to grin like idiots. After a few attempts, she pulled back just enough so that she could see his face. His eyes opened, and she stared into them, reveling in the fact that she was so close to him.

"I love you, too, Rick." She said the words confidently this time, feeling the doubts slip away. He loved her. He admitted it. And she could see from the flickers of his eyes that he was relieved...and happy...and yeah, just a little bit amazed to hear her say the words back to him. But they felt right. Finally, it felt right to say them, despite the circumstances. It was right, and it was time. But then that giddiness came back, and she couldn't resist asking him in a haughty tone, "Were those syllables acceptable to you?"

He gave her one of his cocky smiles, but she was right there with him, giving her own back. "I think," he started, trying to school his face into a thoughtful look, "that you might need some practice to make sure your words don't become victims of Systemic Syllabic Amalgamation in the future."

The cockiness was there, so she should have expected something akin to his response. "Systemic...Syllabic...Amalgamation? Seriously, Castle?" She moved to pull away from him in mock protest, but somehow, since she'd grabbed him and kissed him, his arms had come around her, and they now held her tightly against him and she couldn't go anywhere.

"Now, hold on there. I said, 'in the future.'" He leaned down and kissed her quickly, just because she was close, and she was there, and because he could. "I think those syllables, right then, were perfect. Absolutely perfect."

The smile came back to her face slowly; she just couldn't help it. She released her hand from his t-shirt and wound it around his back. His arms came around her a little more tightly, and she leaned forward to bury her face into the hollow by his collarbone, just breathing in the scent of him.

As they stood there holding each other, he voiced the thought that had to be said. "We still have more to talk about, you know."

He felt her nod into his shoulder. He felt the heat of her breath from the muffled, "Yeah, I know," as she spoke into his shirt. Then she pulled her head back. "I know there are still...issues."

He nodded. "We do need to talk about everything."

"I know," she agreed. "But this is a good start, right?" she asked, looking for confirmation from him, even though it felt like a damn good start to her. Better than they ever had before.

He nodded again. "A little crazy, but yeah, it's a good start." Then he smiled. "I'm just really glad there's no tiger."

She got a gleam in her eye as she raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a sultry smile. "No tiger, but we do have handcuffs."


Sorry I didn't get this out last night, but it would have been too rushed.

Thanks again for your support of this story. You're great! Remember, new story alerters, I really want to hear from you!

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