Sex Therapy

A/N: Okay, since people are confused/complaining about the 47-second bit. I decided to write a new author note to clear things up. I put it in because it was the push I needed for the angst idea I had in mind. If you think you're in for the fluffy ride just because everything is going so well at the retreat, you're in the wrong place. It is still fiction, I won't be adding the Undead/Headhunters bits, things are going in a completely different way.

For those who aren't liking the angst... I'm sorry, but guess what? Life's full of angst, we learn from them, and it will always be part of our lives. I'm a realist, and if you can't accept that, then this story isn't for you. That includes the swearing too. It's not part of the show, but it's more realistic for me. Besides, the swearing are usually in the angst sections. I don't use excessive language for fun, like yay it's fun to swear for no reason...

This chapter is now Post-47 seconds. I'll admit, I did take some of the dialogue from the Limey, only because I found them perfect and amusing to use. Reminder, the Limey case never happened, but I am taking advantage of Jacinda into the story, only a small part.

For the rest of the reviews, thank you so much. I know I'm not responding back to them one by one, but I promise I will get back to you guys at some point. :)

Disclaimer: Don't own Castle.

It was Monday morning.

Beckett hadn't seen Castle all weekend, nor heard from him. Not once he tried to call her. Things were starting to get confusing for Beckett. She thought things were going well between the two of them. After what happened at the retreat, she had no idea how the hell it went from that to this. Beckett buried herself into work all weekend, avoiding the obvious questions from the boys on where Castle was, she simply told she had no fucking clue, and she wasn't going to complain. She knew there would be a logical reason why he's been missing.

She did call Alexis on his whereabouts. Alexis informed Beckett that Castle needed to step out for a while. Alexis didn't have the slightest idea where her father went, but he assured the family that nothing was wrong, and he needed time to get away for a bit.

That was just it, there was nothing Beckett could do, but to continue with the cases coming along her way. Castle would be back before she know it, and she's going to have a serious talk with him.

Beckett's phone rang, answering it after a quick look at the caller ID display, "Hey Esposito."

"Hey Beckett, we got a body." Esposito responded.

Beckett thanked him for the address, hanging up. She was on her way over to the body drop site, riding solo this time. She wasn't going to bother calling Castle on this one, since he's not answering her, why the hell should she even bother? Beckett wasn't giving up on Castle, but ignoring her calls frustrated the hell out of her, and she needed a break from abusing Castle's number on speed dial.

Beckett snapped a pair of latex gloves on before arriving at the scene of crime. It took place at some sleazy cheap motel. The roaring sound of machine stopped her from moving any further, she turned to see what it was, and it was Castle.

Castle was driving his red Ferrari with a blonde woman in the passenger seat, having a laugh.

The hell... Beckett stared, watching Castle leaving the driver seat to trade places with the blonde, except he was leaving the car for her to take with. Castle said his goodbyes, arriving at the scene of crime towards Beckett, "Hey." He said with a smirk, looking over his shoulder to peek at the blonde one last time, waving to his new friend driving off.

"I feel like I just walked into a bad episode of "Miami Vice." Beckett spoke directly to Castle as he approached.

"Okay, first, there are no bad episodes of "Miami Vice." Second, who died?" Castle asked, walking along with Beckett to the crime scene, keeping a large gap between them.

Beckett felt angry, this was not what she was expecting at all from Castle. In fact, she was surprised to learn he even showed up. "You from the looks of it. You look like you just got run over by a truck." She needed to say that to feel better, hiding behind the anger.

"Yeah," Castle grinned again, "A truck delivering a shipment of awesome... Nah, I just flew in Vegas for the weekend. Just needed a change of scenery."

She quirked her eyebrows, "And you won the blonde in a high-stakes poker match?"
"No, I met her on the flight back."

"And you just gave her your car?"

"Jacinda happens to be a very trustworthy person. She's a first-class flight attendant. It's not like I gave her my social security number."

"Castle..." Beckett grabbed his forearm to stall him, "Is everything okay?"
Castle glanced down at her hand wrapped on his forearm, looking back up at Beckett with a small grin, "Never better." He pulled his arm away from her grip, walking ahead towards the crime scene.

Beckett stood there in shock, just what the hell happened between them? Has he forgotten what happened at the retreat? Why was he acting like an asshole? This clearly wasn't normal.

Castle was back to his old self.

Lanie saw it all, the interaction between the two. Castle walked away from Beckett, that was a first. Beckett had never looked so disappointed before. Lanie was no expert, but obviously it was obvious something was going on. Lanie watched Castle approaching her, "Hey writer-boy, new friend, huh?" She asked, keeping her cool.

"Yeah, Jacinda. She's amazing, easy-going and uncomplicated." Castle responded, "I was in Vegas for the weekend."

"Lucky, bro." Esposito overheard him, coming up to Castle. "Lots of women, huh?"

"You got it." Castle grinned, bumping fist with Esposito's fist.

Lanie narrowed her eyes at Esposito, just staring at her ex. Beckett rolled her eyes, she was on Lanie's side here. Walking past Castle and Esposito, looking at the body inside of the motel room. The room was clean, the bed hadn't been used, but the chair toppled over along with some ropes next to it.

"What do we got?" Turning her attention to Lanie.

"Jane Doe female, 28 years old." Lanie pointed to the wound on her upper abdominal, "Stabbed and left for dead. Time of death, about 8 to 8:40 PM last night." She then pointed over her wrists, and her ankles, "Rope marks, she was tied up, but she went down with a fight, took one to the face. I'll know more when I get back to the lab."

"Thanks Lanie." Beckett studied the body carefully, seeing if there was anything unusual about this one. The victim well dressed, why would she be in a cheap motel? She checked the wallet, the money was all there, except for the I.D, and credit cards, anything with her name on it was removed. "I don't think this was robbery, her wallet's wiped clean except for a couple hundred bills here."

"Hey Beckett." Ryan came over to Beckett, "Front desk said the victim paid cash for the room, no surveillance cameras around here, and the neighbours heard a bit of a scream, but it didn't last long."

"Why didn't anyone report it?" Beckett asked.

"They thought someone was arguing, they decided to ignore it. Also, guy at the front desk said he didn't know she was being held hostage, guy stood next to her with a cap and a scarf, said it was almost impossible to see his face. Can't run a sketch with that one."

Beckett nodded to Ryan, looking at the ropes, "Wonder how she got herself out of this mess..." There wasn't a single attempt at cutting through these ropes.

Lanie looked over to the ropes, "Yeah, I'm thinking the killer let her run loose. I'm guessing that's when she struggled to fight against the killer, but lost the battle. Can't say for sure until I get back to the lab." She continues to jot down notes in her clipboard.

Castle was hovering, listening to the detectives at work but hadn't said a single word.

Esposito was checking through his notepad, reviewing his notes, "There's no sign of the murder weapon, CSI searched the place, and we also checked the dumpster."

"Alright, keep me posted." Beckett snapped the latex gloves off. "Run the prints, hopefully we'll get a hit." She glanced over to Esposito, "The front desk didn't see anything unusual? Somebody must have seen something."

"Nah, in broad daylight? They acted like normal people. Nobody had a clue what they looked like." Esposito shrugged, "I've already interviewed the neighbours with Ryan, no luck."

"Looks like a one night stand gone wrong." Castle spoke.

"Are we talking about the victim, or you?" Beckett asked abruptly.

Lanie smirked to herself.

Castle stared at Beckett with a 'ha-ha' look, then back over to the body, "I have a theory. What if she was tied up for the time being, but the killer lets her loose, so he could have fun with her... Then ties her up again, but when there's a moment she was freed, she built the courage to attack the killer in an attempt to escape, but failed?"

"Uh," Lanie stopped Castle, "She's wearing clothes. I don't think the killer would go through the trouble to dress her up after each session, but I will check for any signs of sexual activity. Wouldn't bet my money on it."

Castle nodded, "It's worth a try."

Beckett didn't care much for his theory at this point, anything's possible, but her guts said otherwise. She took a fresh look around the room, avoiding Castle's direct eye contact. This wasn't the time to stare in his eyes, and see what's wrong between the two of them. She was here to do her job, and him being there was a bad type of distraction for Beckett. "Thanks guys, call me if something's come up." She left the crime scene, putting the latex gloves away.

Castle followed her back to her Crown Vic vehicle, he sliding into the passenger side.

Beckett wasn't expecting Castle to follow her around. She saw him slip in the passenger seat next to her, staring at him with astonishment, "I thought your friend would come back for you. What's the matter? She had enough?"

"Ha, no. She's going back to my place for a bit. So what's our first move?" Castle asked, rubbing his hands together to keep warm.

"There's nothing we can do for now." Beckett inserted the key, turning to start the ignition, "I'll drop you off home then."

"Why?" Castle asked.
"I don't need you on the case, Castle. You can go home and spend time with your new lady friend. The boys and I can take care of things here, besides you're not a real cop." Beckett was being straight up with Castle, she didn't want to deal with him, and like hell she's going to deal with his new conduct at work.

"Actually she's coming by the precinct to pick me up for lunch. Do you mind?"

Beckett rolled her eyes, "Fine, but you don't need to come back after that." She drove the car out of the parking lot, getting back on the road towards the precinct. The trip back was awkwardly silent, and but there was tons of anger in the air between the two. Castle was still angry at Beckett for not telling him she remembered, and Beckett was angry at him for not calling her back over the weekend, and being with someone else had never made her so irritated before. Veronica was stressful enough, but this one was slightly worse.

Back at the precinct, Beckett went over to her desk and settling down in her chair, continuing the paperwork she left this morning. There wasn't much she could do with the new case. The victim has no identity, she paid cash for the room, no record of her name anywhere, and Beckett couldn't call the next of kin either. Absolutely nothing until Lanie gets back at her with the lab report.

Castle went straight to the break room, starting up the cappuccino machine.

Beckett tapped her fingers gently on the desk, the words she was reading off the paperwork became a blur, her thoughts were drifting away from work. She took one good hard look at Castle through the window, watching his face focusing on the machine. Fuck it. She thought since the boys aren't back yet, Lanie's occupied, and Gates was nowhere to be seen. Now that Castle's back, it was now or never. She got up from her seat to the break room and closed the door shut, "Castle." She spoke his name in a serious manner, grabbing his attention away from the cappuccino machine.

Castle stopped what he was doing, looking at Beckett with a state of surprise, "What? Do you want some coffee?"

"No." She crossed her arms, furrowing her eyebrows at him, her eyes filled with anger, "What I want is a cup of fucking honesty. You want to tell me what happened?"

"Whoa, okay." Castle chuckled, "I told you, I went to Vegas for the weekend, and I needed a change of scenery. What else would you like to know?"

"You know that's not what I meant." Beckett leaned her back against the door, "First of all, you couldn't wait to get me to go undercover with you. Things happened, you kissed me. We kissed, we almost got into it. Have you forgotten any of that? I mean, at least tell me what that was all about? Fuck, Castle, we didn't even get a chance to talk about it."

"It's not my problem." Castle was cold, she was the one who lied to his face when he asked her a straightforward question at the hospital, "We were undercover. Remember? You said it was all an act. That's just what it was."

Beckett scoffed with her eyes rolling, feeling complete exhaustion with this argument already, "You know what? Forget I even asked." She was shutting down easily, she wasn't in the mood to be screwed around with. There was work to be done first, and she's going to make Castle the least priority. She opened the door, leaving the break room to head back to where she was.

Castle sighed. It wasn't easy for him to be such an ass to Beckett, but he needed to do it to protect his feelings. He didn't want to get hurt anymore than he already is at this point. He finished making a cup of cappuccino for himself, stirring it with a Popsicle stick.

"Fucking Castle." She muttered quietly to herself when she got back at her desk. He was clearly pulling away a lot. She wondered what the hell she did, or said to make him this way. Her cell phone beeped minutes later. Beckett checked, it was a message from Lanie. She left the bureau, heading down to the morgue alone.

Castle was still in the break room, carefully watching Beckett leaving the bullpen. He stayed put, not wanting to face Beckett; instead he's waiting for the blonde bimbo to come rescue him.

Ryan and Esposito just got back from the crime scene, walking past Beckett. There wasn't any news for her regarding the case. They went over to the break room to find Castle, joining him for a quick chit-chat, and making themselves a cup of coffee.

Beckett stormed into the morgue, "Talk to me." She was loud and clear, and certainly not in the mood to play around.

Lanie raised her eyebrows at Beckett, "Hello to you too... Writer-boy, huh?"

"You have no fucking idea." Beckett spoke through her clenched teeth, "I can't even look at his face."

Alexis came up next to Lanie, she overheard Beckett alright. Alexis surprised Beckett by showing up next to Lanie, causing her to be stunned. Obviously Beckett hadn't meant to say it in front of Castle's daughter. "What's going on with my dad?" She asked Beckett, crossing her arms with an attitude. "Did my dad do something childish?"

Beckett thinned her lips, busted. She shook her head softly, "Sorry Alexis, I can't tell you... Did you know your dad's back from his little trip?"

"Yeah..." She paused with her eyebrows drawing together, "but he seemed like himself when he came home."

"Okay... Lets not talk about your dad, Alexis. Please don't mention this to him, I'd hate to make things worse between us."

Lanie eyed the two back and forth, listening in. Definitely something going on, and she's going to have to hear from Beckett, alone. "Okay, well. The victim name is-"

"Did something happened between you two?" Alexis couldn't help but ask.

Lanie cleared her throat to continue, trying to carry on her job, "Her name is Jennifer-"

"No, just a nasty argument." Beckett answered. "Don't worry about it, Alexis. I'll sort this out myself."

"Jennifer Briar, she's 28 years old-" Lanie tried to continue again.

"I like you, Detective Beckett, but if you hurt my dad..." Alexis lets out a deep sigh, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can forgive you. He's been hurt way too many times. I love my dad, but whatever it is, let him go." She left the two adults alone, heading out of the morgue.

"Alexis," Beckett tried to halt her when she stormed out of the morgue, but she didn't stop for Beckett. She was out of sight by then. Beckett closed her eyes, letting out a frustrating groan. "Unbelievable." She met with Lanie's eyes.

Lanie was giving her the look with her eyebrows arched, remaining silent.

"What?" Beckett spoke. "Don't even ask. I don't want to talk about it."

"But you have to at some point." Lanie said, finally continuing with the lab report, "No signs of sexual activity..."

Beckett arched her eyebrows, "Excuse me?"

"...Uh," Lanie narrowed her eyes at Beckett, "I was ... referring to the victim..." She pointed finger downwards at the victim's body.

Crap. "...Right. So, forced intercourse is out. W-what do we got?" Beckett stuttered, she got herself mixed up with the victim.

"Uh huh... Just as I mentioned earlier, she was tied up, but at some point the killer let her run loose. When she was free, she fought, and the killer punched her across the temporal bone," Lanie circled the bruise on her temple, "I found some blood elsewhere on her clothing, and it isn't hers."

"It belongs to the killer?"

"Possible. I will run some more test. If anything, I would bet that she got a hold of the knife, slashed the killer, but it wasn't enough to kill. At least that's what the blood splatter here tells me, but then the killer punched her face in self-defence, took the knife and finished her off for once. "

"Okay, thanks Lanie." She took the lab report Lanie held out to Beckett, leaving the morgue. By the time she left the morgue, she looked down the hallway and noticed Alexis sitting on the bench by herself. She looked distraught. Beckett took a deep sigh, she felt guilty leaving Alexis out of the loop. She strides over to Alexis, knowing Alexis wouldn't want to hear from Beckett anymore, but she wasn't going to let Castle get in the way of their relationship. "Alexis... Mind if I sit?" She asked.

Alexis looked up to Beckett, lifted her shoulders in a shrug and scooted over to make room.

Beckett sat next to Alexis, "Believe me when I say this, I did try to let Castle go." Alexis wasn't looking at her at all, but Beckett kept her eyes on her as she speaks, "I didn't want to keep him around because I knew that if I did, I would end up hurting him, you, and Martha as well. I'm not proud of what happened in the past, Alexis, but I can't change what happened."

Alexis remained silent, staring at the floor in front of her.
"I'm seeing a therapist... Castle doesn't know." Beckett confessed, "I'm working things out, and I've come to realize that your dad is one of the greatest thing that's ever happened in my life. I'm not going to let him go now, at least not yet until I sort things out with your dad." Beckett laughed a little, "I was supposed to go out to dinner with him last week, but then the bombing... and after that, he pulled away. I hate to tell you this, I know your dad is a great guy, but what he's doing right now is driving me nuts."

"What is he doing?" Alexis wasn't crying, but a tear streamed down her cheek, wiping it off in a swift motion.

"Oh you know, being childish." Beckett shrugged, "Being himself. Like I said, don't worry, I'm working on it. He's always going to be a 5 years old on a sugar rush, and that's never going to change."
Alexis scoffed with a laugh, "Impossible."

Beckett smiled, "Castle's lucky to have you. He's proud of you. Heck, even I'm impressed with you. You may not have gotten into Stanford, but you're making a difference here." "Hardly..." Alexis mumbled.

"Working with dead bodies is one thing, but you being here with Lanie is a great opportunity. You still continue to impress me, Alexis. I can see why Castle had the urge to brag about you several times. I'll never get tired of hearing it."

Alexis took a deep sigh, wiping a few more tears off with her hand, "Thanks Detective Beckett. I can't bear to see my dad hurt anymore. He doesn't deserve that."

"I know." Beckett placed a hand on Alexis' back, gently rubbing in circles. "I promise he'll be safe, I'll do my best, but you know your dad, he doesn't listen sometimes."

Alexis grinned, "Wouldn't a leash be sufficient enough?"

Beckett raised an eyebrow with a smirk. There goes her dirty thoughts. Even though Castle angered her at this point, but having the conversation with Alexis made her realize she can't give up on him, not just yet. "Sure, if you'll help me pick one out. Preferably the retractor ones."

"Just so you know, Detective Beckett, this wouldn't count under the hurt category."

"Noted."

"Thanks..." She smiled, "I hope things will work out." Alexis leaned over to pull Beckett into a hug. Beckett wasn't expecting the hug, she wasn't the kind of person to initiate this kind of affectionate, but she returned the hug to ensure Alexis that she meant every word of it.

Beckett rode the elevator back up to the precinct, holding the lab report behind her back. She thought a lot about what she said to Alexis, she never intended to do that until she saw how upset she was. Hell, Alexis wasn't even supposed to be in the middle of the situation at all. The elevator stopped at the lobby floor on the way up. Beckett watched the doors sliding open, finding the Jacinda standing outside of the elevator. Castle's new woman, and she's going to have to share the journey with her.

The blonde looked nothing like Beckett thought. Up close, she certainly doesn't look like the dumb kind of bimbo, in fact she was quite the sexy type. Jacinda walked into the elevator, giving Beckett a short warm greeting smile. She had no idea who Beckett was, and it wasn't necessary to. Castle never filled her in, it wasn't any of her business. Jacinda was about to push the 4thfloor button, but the button was already lit. She looked over to Beckett once again with another awkward smile.

Beckett said nothing. This wasn't Veronica, this was Castle's new woman, and she wasn't going to do anything silly. It would be irresponsible of her to do so.

DING

Beckett was the first to walk out, walking past Jacinda with a cold shoulder. She didn't give her a smile; instead she headed straight back to her desk.

Esposito stood from his office chair when he saw Beckett's approach, he made his way over to her desk, eyeing the blonde, "We got something?"

Beckett turned her attention over to the blonde, "Yeah..." She was somewhat distracted by Jacinda strolling through the bullpen slowly, keeping an eye out for Castle.
Castle stood by Ryan's desk before the two ladies came out of the elevator. He spotted Jacinda, walking over to Jacinda with a greeting, glad to see her. She greeted back, they both shared a quick kiss on the cheek. Castle shifted his body almost to confront the gang, "Lunch date, be back in few hours." He left the precinct with Jacinda, a hand on her lower back to escort her back to the elevator.

Beckett couldn't help but stare at the two walking off like a floozy young couple in heat, thinning her lips. There was nothing she could do at this point, but she wasn't ready to give up. It wasn't the right timing to talk to Castle either.

"What was that about? Was that the flight attendant?" Ryan asked, coming up to Beckett, standing next to Esposito.

"Yeah, he's probably trying to rack up his frequent flyer miles." Beckett responded with a shrug, turning to the boys, "Alright, the victim name is Jennifer Briar. Ryan, I want you to check her financial records, see if anything unusual pops out."
"On it." Ryan went back to his desk.

Beckett continued, "Esposito, run her background check, I'll notify the next of kin."

"Got it, boss." Esposito nodded, heading back to his desk as well.

She lets out a deep exhale. For the next few hours, she decided to immerse herself into work before Castle comes by again as a distraction. Unless he's actually willing to take her advice and let the detectives handle this one, stay home with Jacinda.

[ Precinct 2:40 PM ]

Everyone except for Castle was in the meeting room with the murder board, additional data written on the white board, all were exchanging what they found so far. Castle came by the precinct a few hours later, he came empty-handed, not a single cup of coffee for himself or Beckett. "Hey guys." Castle spoke, entering the meeting room with a grin.

"Hey Castle." Ryan greeted, Esposito greeted as well, but Beckett didn't. She looked up at him in her chair, then back to the paperwork. Beckett continued to speak, Castle's showing up interrupted her before, "Alright, so. Ryan, you said $50,000 was withdrawn out of the bank? What time did that happen?"

"Yep," Ryan checked the time of withdrawal, "7:40 PM."

"That's just a shy 20 minutes before the murder took place." Beckett fiddled with the pen, thinking to herself, "This is beginning to look more like a kidnapping for ransom."

"Except how could she even authorize the transfer?" Esposito asked, checking the paperwork.

"...Relatives?" Castle asked. "Someone trustworthy. What about her cell phone records?" He sat on the edge of the table, looking at everyone, fiddling with his own thumbs in his lap.

"None of her calls were random." Beckett replied, not looking at him in the eyes. She pulled out the call record, rechecking to be make sure. She noticed the same number Jennifer dialled a few times, the time of the calls were marked from 4 to 7:50 PM, a large gap of inactivity between the calls. "... Or maybe the killer used it, making it look like it's a friendly call. Ryan, run the number and see who it is."

"On it." Ryan grabbed the cell phone record from her, walking out of the room.

Castle smirked, this was a good day for him. He just walked in, mentioned a little something, and it could have been the break they were looking for. Castle didn't brag about it, but his self-esteem face shows.

"How was lunch?" Beckett asked Castle, leaned back in her chair, needing to stretch her back.

He looked to Beckett for a brief second, "Oh, I loved the special." Looking back at the murder board to review the case.

"I'll bet." Beckett turned over to Esposito, "Hey Esposito, did she have any drug addiction of some sort?"

Castle looked back to Beckett with his eyes squinted, there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Esposito checked his paperwork, he was the one running her background check, "I don't see any priors for drug bust. I'll check with Lanie for any drug substances in her body." He left the room to see Lanie.

Then there were two.

It was quiet for a moment, Beckett was eyeing Castle's back as he was reviewing the board again. "You didn't need to come back, I told you." Beckett dropped the pen on the table, crossing her arms. "We can handle things just fine here, Castle."

His body pivoted halfway to face Beckett, with his head to complete the turn. "You know what, Beckett? If you want me out of here for good, just say the word, and I'm gone."

"No." Beckett rose from her seat, keeping her voice fairly low, but clear enough for Castle to hear, "You listen to me you arrogant jackass, I don't care if you're screwing someone, but you have no right to fuck with me like that.

"Excuse me?" Castle tried to interrupt.

Beckett continues with anger, "I expected us to talk, but you're a coward. You ran off to Vegas like an immature child." She scoffed, seeing that Castle didn't say anything else. She took the silent as a cue to leave the room, she prodded around the table, walking past Castle on the way to the door.

Ryan came back to the meeting room, approaching the door. He hadn't heard Beckett at all, but seeing she was on the way out, and he was about to inform her.

Castle reached for her wrist, grabbing it before she could walk out. He stopped her from leaving the room. Just when she stopped moving, he got up from the table to walk over to the door, closing it shut in front of Ryan for total privacy. He eyed Ryan's response through the door glass, this wasn't the time for Ryan to cock-block this one out.

Ryan raised his eyebrow, "Uh..." Slowly backed over to his office chair, he saw to it that Castle stopped Beckett, and there was going to be some sort of fight. The case has to move forward, but Castle spooked Ryan into backing off for the time being.

Beckett's stomach jumped the moment he touched her wrist, it had been hell of a week, but the touch was lost immediately when he got up to shut the door. She watched Castle, and Ryan was just outside, he saw the interaction between the two, but there was nothing personal except for the touch.

Castle didn't bother to pull the blinds down, it would have made it look sexually inappropriate. After the door closed, he stepped close to Beckett, but she yielded away a bit to keep the space wide. Castle speaking in a tone of anger, voice raising higher than expected, "Coward? You're calling me a coward? I'll take immature, but coward? I am far from that, Kate."

She raised her eyebrows at Castle, "Wha..." She laughed, "Castle, you are a coward."

"No Kate, you got it ass-backwards. Why didn't you come forward to me? I waited for so long, and yet you're here, sinning by silence. It's not smart."
Kate hushed, narrowing her eyes at Castle.

"It's not brave." Castle stepped closer to Kate, "It's just cowardly. I'm a fool for believing the possibly that you could ever love me, but coward? Kate, that's just you."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Castle?" She shook her head, now she was just confused. She knew what the words meant, but she obviously had no idea what happened during the bombing. Did he see Courtney, the therapist? Did she reveal something to Castle?

"I had no idea what was going on until I heard you talking to Bobby." Castle took a few steps, turning to face the door.

Beckett's eyes widened, shocked that Castle heard her in the interrogation room. "Oh, so is this what it's really all about, huh? Did you even give me the fucking chance to explain things, Castle?" Her words stopped his movement. She came close to him with a firm grip on his arm, her hand pulling his arm to turn him around, staring upon his eyes. "What? Those things we did at the retreat meant nothing to you?"

"They did, but it didn't mean anything for you. You said it was all an act."

"That's what I said to Veronica, not you! Excuse me, Rick, but you implied it first. Did you even bother to think about that? I said it because of what you said."

" Bullshit, Kate. You know that's just bullshit." His words seemed to pierce a part of her, snarled at her face, causing her to flinch with the rage in his voice.

Kate scoffed, "Unbelievable, Rick. And now you're going to make a big ass deal out of my confession?"

"You lied to me for months." Castle clenched his teeth, he was pissed.

"I wasn't ready. Fuck, Castle. I wasn't ready for months. Why did you think I broke up with Josh? I was confused, I was hurt, I was angry. For fuck sakes, Castle, I was shot. What did you expect me to do? Say yes, and kiss happily ever after? Get real, Rick."

"See now, that." Castle pointed a finger at Kate, "If you had said yes, I wouldn't impose you into anything like that."

"Maybe not, but what the hell would you do if I had said yes, I love you too? Rick, you honestly can't expect that kind of reaction from me, I almost died!" Her voice raised at the end, frustrated. She wasn't ready to accept his love, but she was healing through the sessions with Dr. Burke, and Castle had no idea.

Castle paused, eyebrows creasing. Was that just a confession he heard? He stared at face, trying to gather the thoughts to fight back, but the 'L' word were clouding the words in his mind. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't. Castle didn't know whether to argue back, kiss her, or leave the precinct. He was at loss for words.

"...Castle." Kate shook her head softly, "I may not have been loud and clear with the words, but I am..." Kate paused for a brief second, "in love with you." She completed the sentence in a sigh. The argument winded down between the two, their voice lowered. They weren't yelling loud enough for people outside to listen in. Ryan barely caught a word they're saying, but their expressions at each other were hard to decipher.

Castle felt stupid. Really stupid. He was certainly a blind idiot for not seeing all that, but the people in his life urged him to not waste a minute of it, and he did. He wasted a lot of time coming up with excuses to believe that Kate wouldn't be involved with someone like him. It prevented him from speaking to Kate. Maybe he truly is the coward here. Kate was also a coward in some situations, she could have done something, but she didn't. He should have come forward to confront Kate after the interrogation with Bobby, but he didn't.

Kate lets out a deep exhale. There. She said it. She confessed, and the idea of it was scary, but the second the words flown out of her mouth, she felt relieved. Watching Castle's face, he wasn't saying anything nor express differently.

Castle turned to face the door, gripping the doorknob to turn. He opened the door in a swift motion, storming out of the meeting room in a heartbeat without a word.

She swung her body to face the table in front of her, letting out a sharp gasp. "Fuck..." She muttered. She was afraid of this, of Castle walking out the moment she confessed. She knew he was in love with her, but it had been months since she heard him confessed. Kate wondered if his feelings have changed, and she thought it did when he spoke to Veronica. Now that the confession's out, she wasn't aware of his feelings anymore, other than being deeply hurt.

Esposito caught Castle storming through the bullpen. He tried to stop Castle, but he kept on prancing towards the elevator without a word. Esposito thought that was rude, walking over to Ryan, "What did I miss?"

Ryan shook his head with a shrug, "Mom and dad were fighting, they closed the door when I tried to come in, and I couldn't catch any of it. It looked pretty bad." He nodded his head over to Beckett, her back was facing the detectives to hide her emotions.

Esposito turned his head to look at Beckett's back, "... Shit, I'm going to kick Castle's ass." He walked over in deliberation, and stood by the door frame, knocking on the door gently, "Beckett, you alright?"

Beckett lets out another exhale, her eyes closed to fight back the tears. She didn't want the boys to see her like this, after all she's a strong woman. The tears held back strongly, she fluttered her eyes to push them back. And once she was in the clear of watery eyes, she turned to Esposito with a shrug, "It's just another one of those stupid arguments. Don't worry, Javi. I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine." Esposito walked into the room, he could see her eyes were slightly moist, stepping closer to Beckett, "Beckett, you can tell me anything." Ryan came up next to Esposito to meet him. "Don't think of us as work colleagues, we're your friends. You know we're here for you. If Castle did something, Ryan and I will personally kick his ass."

"Castle may be twice our size, but two against one? He's toasted." Ryan continued.

Beckett narrowed her eyes at the boys, looking at them back and forth with a soft grin, she has a deep appreciation for the boys, "You guys are cute, but I can handle this myself. Thank you though, I appreciate it, but really, I'm fine." She crossed her arms, "Let's get back to work. What did you guys find?"