I'm back with an update to this story! If you've been reading my other, most recent story, "Just Lock Them in a room and Make Them Talk!", you'll understand a bit of the delay in updating 'Tell'.

Previously: "I just wanted to say that I know I have feelings for you, but my feelings are all mixed up right now. When I figure them out, you'll be the first to know." She watched him for a reaction. "Is that...all right?" she asked hesitantly.

He thought about it. Saying what she said just then, he realized that he probably believed that a lot more easily than if she'd made declarations of undying love for him. Sure, that would be great, but it if came now, he knew he'd always have doubts about the timing, that she only said it because of their argument. This way was better; the specter of their argument wouldn't be hovering over them forever. So he nodded at her, letting her know that he could handle that.

And with all of the talking they'd done that afternoon, they now just stared at each other, neither knowing exactly what to say.

Finally, Kate took the bull by the horns and asked, "So...uh...we're, um...dating?" Even though they'd been talking around it all day, to hear it now was still in the realm of strange for them.

He looked a little bit stunned too. "Uh, yeah. I guess."

"Okay." She nodded. "So, uh, where do we go from here?

They were both silent for several seconds, staring at each other, until he gave her a very small smile. "You know, I'm not actually sure."

"Really?"

"I'd know what to do with a normal...relationship," he said, testing the waters on that big word that they both tentatively agreed could apply to them now. "But we're anything but normal."

"I guess you're probably right about that," she said, almost nervously. "So what would you do if this were a 'normal' relationship?" she asked, making air quotes with her hands.

He rubbed his chin like he was a professor thinking of a new hypothesis. "Hmmm..." he hummed as he walked around the room a bit, obviously trying to look like he was lost in thought.

She watched him as he walked, as he playacted like the thoughtful professor, and she realized something. The tension in the room, for probably the first time since she'd walked in, was noticably less. He-his posture, his expression-looked lighter. She knew that she felt better, although she was kind of emotionally drained. They'd gotten a lot of their issues out in the open. They weren't solved, but any means, but unless she was reading things wrong, they were on their way and had reached a tentative truce.

A truce. And they were talking about starting a relationship. And they'd reached a truce. She mentally rolled her eyes when she thought of what that implied. It seemed wrong. Somehow, those two things just did not seem to go together. A truce indicated that two people were at odds, that there was some form of animosity between them that they'd temporarily agreed to put aside.

While she knew that there were some hurt feelings and some insecurities and even a bit of mistrust between them yet, she hoped that there wasn't animosity. There had been some moments of animosity while they talked through their issues, however fleeting. Everything else could be overcome, with time, but she feared that animosity couldn't.

He was still walking around, and he looked like he was about to say something. But then she realized that she didn't want him to say anything, not yet. She walked over to where he was walking, and she stood in front of him, blocking his path, looking him in the eye. "Rick," she said, intentionally using his first name before she repeated the question. "If we were in a 'normal' relationship, what would you do right now?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He stopped walking around his living room, because he was forced to stop with her coming up right in front of him. He gave her a questioning glance as he tried to read her, but then she asked that question again. He might have been hurt by her confession, by everything that had been aired out today, but he knew that he still had deep feelings for her, and he wasn't immune to her. And despite his all-over-the-map feelings regarding her since she'd confessed about her lie, when she was now talking about a real, honest-to-goodness relationship with him, and was looking at him like that, he knew what he'd have to say to answer her question. When she looked at him like that, there was only one thing he could say. Or think.

What would he do next? Duh. He would kiss her. Preferably for a long time.

But he couldn't just do that. Something inside of him was holding him back, because she wasn't just anyone, and they weren't 'normal', and they'd both been through the wringer this afternoon. Having experienced this verbal flushing of emotions, he had to wonder if they could be 'them' anymore. Could they work together anymore, or banter, or build theory, or help each other? Or was that all gone now, because of everything that had been dredged up and brought out into the open today?

But then again, in a sudden moment of clarity, he realized that they didn't normally kiss anyway. They had never been romantic partners before. So it didn't really matter if they weren't 'them' anymore in other ways, because if they started dating now, then things were bound to change anyway. So what the hell did it matter if he happened to do the 'normal' thing now?

He was still contemplating the kiss question when she said, "Castle?" He saw her brows furrow as she tried to read him.

"What would you do?" he suddenly asked her, trying to delay his answer.

"Me?"

"Yes. If we were normal, what do you think we would do next?"

She chewed on her lip for a moment and then her eyes narrowed as she realized what he'd done. "Hey, that's not fair. I asked you the question to begin with. You can't just put it back on me."

"Darn."

"Come on, Castle," she said. "And remember," she told him in a sassy tone as she took a half-step closer to him, "we're being honest here. Honest emotion, right? No hiding, no pretenses."

She really wanted to know, apparently. And even more than that, the challenge was there, with something else too. Maybe it was the glint in her eye, or maybe it was the way she was pursing her lips together like she was trying not to smile. But that something else that was there was enough to make him accept the challenge that she seemed to be throwng at him now.

"You want honest?" he asked her, giving her an exaggerated eyebrow waggle as he tried to confirm her wishes, while he took a half-step closer to her.

She looked a bit...leery of what he was doing, but her gaze didn't waver. "I think it's only fair," she told him, "that if I'm expected to be fully honest, you need to do the same."

He nodded thoughtfully with his lips pursed, as if thinking about what she'd said. "Honesty. Okay. I can do that." And then he took a deep breath, followed by a full-body shake like runners do while preparing for the start of their races. "Ready or not, here it comes."

And with no more warning, he did what he'd only done in his imagination, save for that one time in the alley over a year ago. He reached forward and, anchoring one hand behind her neck and the other behind her back, pulled her closer to him as he dipped his head and his lips staked their claim on her.

As kisses went, it wasn't overly long or drawn out, but it didn't need to be. This was their first kiss, their first real kiss, because that one in the alley so long ago might as well have not even happened, given how they both ignored it after that, how it never would have happened without the need for distraction, and of course how it had never been repeated. Their first kiss. And they both knew on some level that they should just go slowly and savor it, because even though this first kiss was potentially the first of thousands, this first real kiss could never happen again.

They stood together, and she seemed frozen, yet she didn't pull away. She was surprised, he knew that, although he didn't really know why she was surprised. Hadn't she seen how he looked at her? And really, was it so hard for her to figure out the most basic, obvious thing that you do with someone with whom you've just entered a relationship?

Duh. You kiss each other.

On that thought, he started kissing her more, testing out the waters; moving his lips, slanting his mouth a bit, a few nibbles on her bottom lip. And then, oh miracle, she started responding! If he nibbled, she answered with one of her own. Part of him registered that her hands had somehow found their way around him, and were now lightly holding him to her as they kissed. He could feel how her hands moved up and down his sides lightly.

But they were still in the realm of light kisses. Almost chaste. They were just getting to know each other in this new way and by mutual unspoken consent, they were going slowly.

Or, at least he thought it was mutual. When she pulled away, she looked at him right at first as if she was surprised that he was there. She just stared at him for a couple of very long moments. But then, amidst a couple of deep breaths, her gaze changed to the official, Kate Beckett you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look. "Castle," she started, and then reached out a few fingertips and touched him on his cheek. "Yeah, it really is you. Okay, then."

Not the response he expected, not at all. "Were you expecting someone else?" he asked dryly.

"Yeah, maybe a twelve-year-old?" she answered sarcastically. At his quizzical look, she explained, "I thought we were doing honest emotion. And that kiss was how two middle-schoolers kiss when they sneak away to a dark corner of the school dance to try out kissing someone new. That's...all you feel? That was honest?"

Did she just insult his kissing technique? "Twelve-year-old? Did you just say that I kiss like a twelve-year-old?" His voice was incredulous, delivered with just enough of a pout on his face to make it comical.

"Well, if the shoe fits... So was that honest? Is that how you'll keep kissing me? You know, if we do this...this dating thing?" She saw the look on his face, now somewhat indignant over her implication.

"I was trying to go slowly!" he argued, defending himself.

"Well, yeah, I guess you did that," she agreed, giving a slight eye roll.

"I can't believe this!" he said as he stared at her. "And what about you? You were kissing me back the same way! So who do you think you are to critique my...my technique?"

"Answer the question, Castle," she instructed with a raised eyebrow.

It took him a moment to remember what the question was. "Is that how..." he started, letting the question trail off as remembered back to what she said. "You want honest? Fully honest, from me, right now?"

"That was your stipulaton, wasn't it?"

Oh, that little... he didn't finish the thought, but he knew he could have finished it with any one of a number of different nouns. But that took too much time. And he had to teach her a lesson, and that lesson was that when it came to kissing, Rick Castle did not kiss like a twelve-year-old.

His lips were on hers again before she could even take another breath. She knew she pushed him, but she meant to do that. Or perhaps more specifically, she felt compelled to do that. She'd realized halfway through their first kiss that she wanted more. She'd expected more when the time came, because she somehow knew that time would inevitably come at some point. And since he was finally kissing her, since they finally had taken that step, she wanted him to really kiss her, not hold back. They came out on the other side of her lie, not unscathed, but still alive and still willing to try for something together, and she wanted to embrace that.

But he seemed so hesitant during the kiss that her internal manual for dealing with Castle kicked in, and she pushed him.

And now...now he was kissing her.

Success.

And now her knees were going weak.

He wasn't giving her little kisses anymore. Nope. Now he was pressing against her, holdng her to him, leaving her no room for her to escape.

Not that she wanted to escape.

Her hands stole up around his neck as his mouth fused with hers. Her mouth went lax, opening for him as he devoured her. She heard him groan from deep inside, and she felt a jolt the first time his tongue touched hers. And once they both felt that, there was no turning back. It had been too long in coming, the feelings too long denied. They could only think one thought: more.

Once again, she followed his lead, but this time she almost struggled to keep up with him; this time, he wasn't holding anything back. Slow was not in his vocabulary, not anymore.

Oh, if this was the result she got when taunted and teased him about his 'abilities', she just might have to try it more often.

Some time later, they finally broke apart. They knew they'd have to, because the way they were kissing, the next step would probably have been clothes flying all over the place and a hasty trip into the bedroom. But they both knew they weren't read for that step quite yet.

"Was that..." he paused to take a breath, "was that adult enough for you, Detective? Honest enough?"

She stared at him, eventually comprehending the question as her mind tried to return to normal. "Honest? Uh, yeah. It was...great. Yeah." Her mouth spoke those words, whereas her heart was practically yelling, 'Can we do that again?' But her mouth continued with a different thought. "Can we go sit down?" That was the best idea for her weak knees right now.

Cue the cocky grin from him.

What was that thought that he'd been thinking before? That they wouldn't be 'them' anymore if they kissed? That they would change? That they would lose their ability to banter, to challenge each other?

Well, that obviously wasn't an issue, now was it? Their whole conversation about him kissing like a twelve-year-old, while it stung, was, in fact, pure 'them'.

After they sat on the couch and were facing each other, she admitted with a small grin, "I like the honest you better, Castle. I can honestly say that I really like it when you don't hold anything back"

Her sentence caused him to jerk in surprise ever so slightly.

Oh. Oh. He knew she was talking about the honesty and intensity of the emotion of the kiss, but his mind had flitted to something else entirely.

His murder board...of her mother. The one that was hidden in his office. The one that he'd been hiding from her.

His breath caught in his lungs. Honesty.

Sure.

So did you get all caught up in the kisses? Yeah, they finally kissed! But then he remembers his secret. Ba da dummmmm.

So...like it? Hate it? Reviews would be very much appreciated.

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