A/N: Set in the middle of the episode "Nikki Heat"


Dragging her teeth over her bottom lip, Kate folded her arms almost painfully tight as she gazed through the lunchroom windows to watch Natalie—now officially known as "Creepy Beckett"—peruse the murder board. God, how had her life become this? Worst of all—it was her own fault. She had let Natalie shadow her, thinking it would be funny, but she definitely wasn't laughing.

Recalling their conversation from moments earlier, Kate was borderline nauseated and disturbed. Verbal masturbation? God, she didn't want to think of Castle that way. She wasn't an idiot or that oblivious—she knew he had a schoolboy crush on her and she was fine with that. Hell, she even encouraged him at times just because it was what they did—they harmlessly flirted with one another. But harmless flirtation was quite a far jump from—no, she wouldn't think of it, because it didn't matter. She didn't like Castle—not in that way. Natalie was wrong not to mention completely out of line. It really was ridiculous because he—

"Everything okay?"

Kate jumped, startled when the man in question came up behind her so stealthily. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and narrowed her eyes in Natalie's direction once more. As she paced in front of the murder board, Kate cringed. "Do I really do that?"

"Yes, and its adorable."

The detective scoffed as she was reminded of the last glimpse of the writer she'd had the prior evening—when Natalie was wrapping herself around him and he didn't seem to be putting up much of a fight. "If it's so adorable why didn't you sleep with me? Her 'me', not me 'me.'" She had been convinced—convinced—that the writer had slept with Natalie. Why wouldn't he? He and Gina were off-again and Natalie was beautiful—not that she cared. She was with Josh so obviously it did not matter to her one bit who Castle pulled into his bed….

…or so she told herself.

"Oh. A fictional character that I wrote based on you played by Natalie? That's just way too meta."

Kate turned around to examine the writer's expression as she was not entirely sure what the word "meta" meant, but before she could ask Montgomery poked his head into the breakroom and requested they join him in the bullpen. Once she stood beside her desk along with Ryan and Esposito, their captain began to speak.

"Ok boys and girls I have a very exciting announcement for today-"

"Even more exciting than me?" Natalie chimed in with a bold grin.

Montgomery eyed her as though he had forgotten she was there. "Ah…yeah. The folks from the Timer Company are coming here to give out discounted Timers to all NYPD employees who don't already have them."

As a mixture of cheers and groans filled the room, Ryan turned to the writer with a grin. "There you go Castle—oh wait you're not an employee."

"He doesn't need the discounted price either," snipped Kate as the writer twisted his lips into an unpleasant expression.

He eyed her carefully. "Fair enough…but maybe I should get one, anyway."

She snorted. "Yeah maybe I should, too." Back in the early days of their partnership when simply the act of her partner breathing annoyed Kate, she was surprised to discover that on one subject they had nearly identical opinions: neither of them liked Timers. They both found Timers to be a rather silly, Millennial-fueled fad that would not catch on. The only difference in their thoughts remained that Castle debated the scientific and physiological properties of the device whereas Kate simply thought it was stupid. Two years later, their opinions hadn't changed much and both maintained they would not be getting one of the devices.

Folding his arms over his chest, the writer cocked his head as he looked at her. "You won't."

It sounded like a challenge and Kate felt her belly clench at his judgmental expression. "How do you know that?"

"Because you won't, Beckett."

"What if I do?"

"I will if you will."

"Fine," she said, too caught up in the moment to weigh the consequences. Besides, the damn thing wouldn't work anyway. Last she heard they still had a thirty percent failure rate, even with the latest version of the device.

"Fine."


"Hey I have a question—why doesn't Nikki Heat have a Timer?"

Castle tore his gaze away from the rather unhappy looking detective getting hooked up to the Timer installation machine to the wig-wearing actress beside him. "Oh. Well, when I first started the stories a few years ago Timers were quite new; people didn't really have them and I wasn't sure if they would grow or fade away. I didn't want the story to be dated, so Nikki doesn't have one." Plus, he added inside his own mind, he didn't have a Timer and neither did Kate at the time the story started. It honestly never even entered his mind.

"But what about now?"

He nodded, considering. Timers did seem like they were around to stay, so adding them in to the story could open a potential avenue for a sub-plot. "I suppose I could add it in. I mean-"

"Ah—jeez!"

Castle was interrupted by the yelp of the female detective as her Timer was affixed to her wrist. Grimacing since he was next in line, he covered his right wrist with his left hand and asked, "Hurt Beckett?"

She stood from the chair, cradling her right hand in her left with a frown. "Kind of."

"What's it stay?" Ryan, the only member of the quartet to already be in possession of a Timer, asked.

"Dashes."

He nodded. "Not surprising given how few people over thirty have them."

Kate turned to Castle. "All right writer boy—your turn."

He cringed. "Oh…actually…"

"Castle!"

He laughed since he had been teasing her—of course! "Kidding." After taking Beckett's seat, the Timer representative worked quickly to input his information and then install the device on his wrist. He tried to "man up" and not gripe about the pain like Beckett had, but he ended up yelping louder than she did. Damn, that really did sting. He stared intently at his wrist as the Timer booted up until finally its display registered. "Zeros."

"What does that mean?" Esposito asked.

"His mate has a Timer and they've already met," the Timer representative said.

Already met her? Well, that meant only tens of thousands classified given how many public appearances he made over the years. "Wonder who she could be…"

"Bet she's a fan." Natalie chimed in.

A smile on his face, Castle looked up. "Yeah? You think she-"

The exact moment that Castle moved his gaze from Natalie to Kate, a beeping sound filled the room. It was so loud that it startled him and he had no idea what it was until he saw the numbers on the newly implanted Timer flashing green. Had he…matched? With—oh god! "B-Beckett?" he wondered aloud, but the woman in question had gone white as a sheet.

"Oh my gosh!" Natalie squealed. "They're matched! Nikki and Rook matched—in real life! Wow. Now I'm glad I didn't sleep with him."

While Natalie beamed with pride, Kate practically evaporated from her spot, turning and shoving her way out of the accumulated crowd as quickly as she could. Castle called out for her, but it was too late; she definitely wasn't coming back any time soon, which left him to stare dumbly at their two male partners.

"Oh boy." Ryan sighed out.

"Yeah…" The writer grumbled; this was definitely not how he saw the afternoon going. Shit—he had to challenge her to get the Timer; had to push her buttons. What a fool he was…barely broken up with Gina a few days and now—shit! She was still with that doctor, wasn't she? God, what a mess.

With a sigh, he pushed himself up from his seat and chased after her, hoping she wouldn't slug him when he finally caught up to her.

"Kate…"

The detective did not acknowledge the voice of her partner when he caught up to her in the breakroom; she was too busy pacing back and forth in front of the coffee maker like a caged lion. "Oh my god, on my god." She muttered. She couldn't believe it—she honestly could not believe it. Castle—Richard Castle—was her Timer-mate? She had halfway expected hers to be in the thirty percent that didn't work at all but this—this! She had never expected this.


"Kate…"

That time, his voice did manage to stop her pacing and she stared up at him, her chest still heaving. "I…I…oh god, Castle—everyone was there; they all know!"

He flattened his lips and spoke solemnly. "Think they would have figured it out anyway."

She groaned and refused to acknowledge that he was right. "God this is a disaster! I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"Let me…no way!" the writer responded, his voice firm. "You agreed; I didn't force your hand. Don't pin this all on me just because you're not happy with the results."

His words stung her like freezing rain nipping at her face. Oh no that wasn't…that wasn't how she felt at all. "I—I'm not. I mean: I'm not unhappy with the results." She clarified at his furrowed brow. "I…I'm surprised, but I'm not unhappy. This is…this is the worst possible timing—you have to see that. I'm with Josh and you and Gina-"

"We're broken up."

"But just barely." She pointed out. Her tone softened as she took a step towards him. "Even still you…you're a great partner and a good friend so there are definitely worse people I could have been matched with."

"Um…thanks?" he said, though he didn't sound very grateful at all.

She laughed. "You're welcome." Perhaps it was not the kindest thing she could have said to him, but in her shock it was the best she could do, because it was honestly how she felt. Natalie had been right; she did have feelings for the writer, but those feelings could at best be described as complicated. Could the way she felt about him be romantic? Yes, she could see that—one day, but they weren't there yet; they needed time. "How, um, how do you feel about this?"

A slow, steady smile cross his face. "Oh, Kate, you know I think you're extraordinary."

Her cheeks blushing, she averted her eyes. "Yeah I may have read that somewhere…"

"Well, you are and I think this is—wait. What does six-twelve-four mean?"

Kate looked back to him to see him examining his wrist with a wrinkled brow. "What?"

"My Timer—it says six-twelve-four. What does yours say?

"Uh…" She pulled up her shirt sleeve again to see the metal implant and find it displayed exactly as he said: 06.12.04. "The same."

"But…I thought it was supposed to be the date we…fell in love or something."

She furrowed her brow, staring down at the numbers. The date was clearly in the past, so it didn't mark the date they fell in love. Besides, that didn't sound completely right to her. If it was a date that meant it was June—June of 2004, and that—oh! "No, I know—it's the day we met."

"Um…no it's not…" he said, sounding thoroughly confused.

"Yes it is. It's—oh. Never mind." She added quickly. Crap, she didn't want to have to explain that to the writer! Not then!

"No, not 'never mind'! What do you know about this? Where was it? On the subway? Did you know it was me you met?"

She groaned and raked her fingers through her hair before turning to face him reluctantly. "It was…at Barnes & Noble; you were doing a book signing."

Castle's befuddled expression slowly melted into one of extreme amusement. "You…went to one of my book signings? Kate, did you get a book signed?"

With great reluctance she mumbled, "Yes."

"Which one?"

"And old Derrick Storm."

"You're kidding."

"No."

"What did I say to you?"

She scuffed the toe of her boot across the floor. "I dunno; it was years ago."

"Kate. What did I say to you?"

She gazed at him from beneath her brow line. "Nothing…you just asked my name and signed my book. I…I was going to thank you for—for…something, but the person I now know to be Gina was hurrying the line along so fast that I never got a chance to."

He stepped up beside her. "What were you going to thank me for?"

"Nothing."

"Kate."

"You're books helped me, that's all. Get through my mother's death…the aftermath…make sense of things…" She fought the urge to cringe as the words exited her lips. God, what was wrong with her? Did the Timer come with some sort of truth serum?

Instead of teasing her or cracking a joke, the writer merely smiled and said, "I'm going to hug you now," before doing exactly that. Kate didn't shy away and placed her hands gently on his back as he squeezed her tight. When he pulled back he said, "Thanks for telling me."

"You didn't give me much choice." She grumbled at him.

"Fair enough. You can take your time, though—ending things with Josh and being ready for us. I won't rush you. I'll just…I'll be here when you're ready."

"I…thanks." She smiled genuinely at him, for time to adjust was exactly what she had been about to request.

He winked at her. "Always, Kate; always."


A/N: thanks for reading & reviewing - so glad you are enjoying these!

Also thanks to Travis for the new cover art!