A/N: Don't give up on me yet. I know it's been a couple weeks, but I do have a new chapter for you all. Finals are coming up and school and work have both been crazy lately but I'm still working on this pretty regularly. Hopefully this chapter will be a step in the direction many of you are so ready to see. Let me know what you think and I'll do my best to get the next one out to you as soon as I can.

The next week was a quiet one. No fresh murders meant time spent catching up on paperwork and looking over cold cases, combing through the reports to see if any new details had come to light. Nothing had and by the end of the week Beckett was bored. Castle hadn't actually managed to get the book to her by the next day, but she believed him when he claimed to be actively working on getting her a copy. A mixture of nerves and anticipation fluttered in her stomach when she thought about finally getting it in her hands. She was curious, so curious to see what he had written about her, but what if she didn't like it?

Castle's books meant so much to her, they had been a lifeline when she was drowning in her mother's murder. The killer never got away in his books. They were always caught and punished and even though the person who had been killed was gone forever, it was all alright. Justice was served, and for years, that was all she wanted, all she strived for. But now? Now the book was about her mother's case. Still unsolved after all of these years and she didn't know what to think about the idea of Castle solving it in his books, or even worse, not being able to solve it even there.

And so, when he showed up out of the blue on Friday afternoon and produced the long awaited book, she didn't read it. The book sat, unopened, on her coffee table for the entirety of the weekend. She had originally turned it over, not wanting to look at the cover art on the front page, the silhouette of her naked alter ego mocking her. But turning it over was even worse. There was Castle's face, staring accusingly back at her. He'd gone to all that effort to get her a copy and she was too afraid to even open it? What kind of kick-ass detective was she?

Salvation came Monday morning when the phone call about a dead body came through. She didn't have to sit there, staring at that book any longer. She had work to do.

The case was definitely Beckett-flavored. Their victim was a con artist who was supposed to be in the Arctic filming an educational children's series for the schools that had funded his trip. Instead, he was shot and killed on camera in his Manhattan apartment which was staged to look like the Arctic tundra.

It didn't take long before Castle questioned her about the book. He seemed hurt when she admitted that she hadn't yet read it, siting all of the hoops he had to jump through to get her a copy. She really did need to woman up and just read the damn thing. It was Castle's after all and he hadn't let her down before. At least not in writing.

The case seemed to lead them around in circles, and even after interviewing several people they didn't seem to be any closer to solving the case than they had been that morning.

They worked through dinner, Castle generously had food delivered to the precinct, knowing that they probably wouldn't eat without it. She had to admit that she had a bad habit of forgetting about meals when in the throes of a case. But what she didn't forget about was the book. Tonight, she decided. No more excuses. She was going to begin reading it that night.

"All right, I'm gonna leave you guys to it." She decided, pushing her chair back from the desk, standing and luxuriating in a long stretch. She couldn't help but notice the way Castle's eyes were drawn to the small sliver of her abdomen that was exposed by her shirt riding up.

"Where you going? It's early." He had finally seemed to shake himself out of whatever reverie he had become caught in.

"I got plans." Keep it vague. She thought, maintaining a straight face. No way was she going to tell him that she was going to tell him she was cutting out early to read his book before she lost her nerve.

"Oh, you have a date, don't you?"

"No." Pshh, as if Castle!

"You liar. Who's the unlucky guy?"

"Ha ha. Yeah, right. See you guys in the morning"

And then she was gone. Riding the elevator down to the parking garage and arriving at her building all too soon.

Ahhh home sweet home, she thought as she locked the front door behind herself. It was time to start one of her favorite traditions.

It only seemed fitting to pop the cork on a nice bottle of red that Castle had given her for her Christmas the year before while she ran a nice, hot bath in her antique claw foot tub. She'd been reading Castle's books in the bath for years, allowing the hot water and cleansing words to sooth and refresh her psyche.

It was always the same for her when she arrived to meet the body…

Beckett began reading, and couldn't help but be reminded of when she first met Castle. Or, well, when she first truly met him if you didn't count the book signings she had attended and hadn't actually conversed with him. He really was infuriating, but had charm in spades that somehow always managed to make up for it.

She read for an hour until her wine was long gone and her body was wrinkled from the now chilled water. She set the book aside reluctantly, having been easily entranced by the world written on the pages before her. Her fears seemed so unfounded now, silly even. Of course, the book was based on her, and her life, that much was obvious, but it was still one of Castle's books and it enticed her mind just as well as his writing always had. The parallels between Nikki Heat and her own life melted away under the effects of his spell and she didn't want to put it down.

Regardless of her renewed faith in her favorite author, she had work the next day and with a sparring session scheduled for early the next morning, she desperately needed to catch up on missed sleep. And so, she marked her page and set Heat Wave down on her bedside table where it would wait patiently for her return.

The case seemed to be going around in circles and no one was who they claimed to be, but the cherry on top was that the con man's fiancée was convinced that he'd been in the CIA. Really? The CIA? This cannot be happening, Beckett thought to herself. But it was, and now they were waiting on some spook friend of Castle's who might be able to prove to the insufferable man-child beside her that their victim was not a spy.

True to form the contact, Agent Grey, appeared from nowhere, and if she hadn't been so surprised she would have laughed at the look on Castle's face when he was caught telling stories about the man in question and his feats.

"Agent Gray. Not quite what I pictured based on Castle's description."

"I live in a world where nothing is as it seems, Detective, for good reason. Transparency gets you killed."

She'd heard that before somewhere, where had it…

"Didn't you use that line in Storm Warning?" That had been it.

"Yeah. I use some of your lines in "Heat Wave," too, which you'd know if you'd read it." Right. Castle didn't know that she'd begun reading the book the night before, and he didn't need to know. She had to admit that he was correct and had used more than one quote from what she'd said over the past year.

"I read it." The Agent Grey interjected, "I thought it was terrific, especially that sex scene. Talk about racy."

Wait, what?

"Wait. There's a sex scene in the book? Between us?"

Shit, what had he written? There's no way he would've used information from his encounters with the group. She had been sure of that before she'd ever invited him to join them. They couldn't risk the precinct getting wind of their preferred method of team bonding and Castle damn well knew that. So what had he written?

"There's a sex scene in the book between Nikki Heat and the roguishly handsome reporter who's helping her." Well, that helps to narrow it down Castle. Not.

"Oh, good. So he's nothing like you."

"Funny. Wait, how did-how did you get a copy of the book?" Castle asks turning to the CIA agent in confusion and is rewarded with a scathing look. That's one she'd have to learn for future reference she decided. Her looks couldn't hold a candle to that when it came to shutting Castle up.

"Look... can you just tell us that Fletcher wasn't a spook so we can get on with the case?"

"Officially, I am not at liberty to confirm or deny whether anyone is an agent, but unofficially... we've never heard of your boy."

Ha! She knew it. Their victim was a con man and nothing more. He may have convinced his 'fiancée' that he was a spy but she hadn't believed it for a minute. That didn't stop her from muttering a quick prayer of thanks that Fletcher wasn't a spy. She never would have lived it down if Castle had been right. Not about something like this. Now, about that sex scene…

Her interrogation is interrupted by the arrival of Alexis. She couldn't help but eavesdrop through the glass when the young redhead frog marched her father into the interrogation room without explanation.

It didn't take long for Beckett to regret her decision to eavesdrop. Alexis was impressive but seeing her tear into Castle was actually kind of painful. She didn't wish ill on the man and she knew how much his daughter meant to him. The anguish in his eyes when accused of distrusting her was enough to make the female detective quietly exit the observation room and leave them to their family strife. She wasn't a part of his family, and he was no longer a part of hers, and she didn't need to invade his privacy just to sate her curiosity.

She tried to help Castle understand his teenage daughter on the way to question their victim's fiancée. She'd seen the look of devastation in his eyes when he finally emerged from the interrogation room long minutes after Alexis had stormed out of the precinct, and as someone who had once been in her shoes she desperately wanted to help them both. She didn't stop to question why her partner's relationship with his daughter mattered to her so much.

And then their entire case went to shit. The fiancée was getting ready to make a run for it when they arrived, claiming that their victim wasn't who they thought he was and that her fiancé was still alive. He'd even called her, asking her to meet with him. Then they find out that the man in the morgue can't undoubtedly be identified as Stephen Fletcher and the video didn't actually show him being shot and killed.

Things went from bad to worse when a variety of the man's credit cards and passports from different aliases all showed him heading to a different place via different means. There was no way they could possibly follow up on all of those leads in time, but she'd be damned if she let the man get away with murder.

It was Beckett who realized that the key to finding their man was through Elise.

Of course, they had just missed her when they arrived at the woman's residence. Maybe the universe really was out to get her. That sounded like something that Castle would say.

She shook the stray thought away and focused on the problem at hand. She could throw a pity party later, after they had caught their murderer.

Again, Beckett was the one who found the connection. The couple's engagement albums had just arrived and barred an uncanny resemblance to the pamphlets their victim had made up for his con job. Come to find out they were made by none other than Elise's new friend, Sue. She was Fletcher's partner and she was with Elise on the way to the bank as they spoke.

On the way to the bank, Beckett called the manager and explained that Elise was on her way to make a withdrawal and that she was being conned. The bank manager agreed to help them and it wasn't long before they had Sue in handcuffs in a parking lot where she had stashed a getaway car.

Later that night at the precinct, most of the detectives have gone home for the night but Beckett remains behind writing up reports for the upcoming trial of their newly closed case. She startles slightly when Castle plops down into his chair beside her desk. She'd thought that he had already left for the night, but now he's sitting beside her and staring at her earnestly.

"What is it Castle?"

"Beckett, I…" he trails off awkwardly, searching for the right words. "About the sex scene, in the book. I want you to know that I would never have written anything about, you know" he trails off with a furtive look around them. They are in the precinct after all and he's well aware that no one else knows about her team's unique situation.

Even though she won't admit it, Beckett is touched by his admission. She hadn't truly thought that he would betray her but couldn't deny that there had been a niggling worry in the back of her mind about what exactly he may have shared by writing an intimate scene between the characters based on them.

"Thank you Castle. I know- I know things have been a bit, well, tough around here lately but I wouldn't have let you in in the first place if I had believed that you'd intentionally let something slip. But, um, just how close to reality is this scene anyways?"

At this, his eyes regain their mischievous glint and she flushes slightly when he eyes her up and down, making no attempt to hide his perusal of her body. "Well, my dear detective, you're just going to have to read the book to find out, just like everyone else. But I will say this much, that sex scene you're looking for is on page 105. And Agent Grey was right. It is steamy." And with that, he was gone. Waving goodbye over his shoulder as he strode confidently towards the elevator.

Damn that man, she thought staring daggers into his back as she envisioned the smug smile that must be adorning his face.

Page 105 hmm? Her thoughts were waylaid by the information he'd given her. That wasn't much farther than where she'd stopped reading the night before. Her decision was made before she'd consciously realized it. The paperwork could wait until tomorrow. Tonight, she was going to go home and see exactly what this 'steamy' sex scene was all about.

"Nikki led him wordlessly into her bedroom and set the candle on the dresser…"

Beckett's jaw dropped as she read, having finally reached the much anticipated chapter.

It wasn't until she noticed that her hands were inside her panties and stroking over the slickness that was to be found that she realized she was unconsciously imagining the scene in the book taking place not between their alter egos, but between herself and Castle. And she was nearly beginning to masturbate to it!

She quickly pulled her hand away as if burned by the heated flesh beneath her fingertips coupled with the realization of what she had nearly done. She couldn't be masturbating to images of herself and Castle taking tequila shots and falling into bed together. That wasn't how this worked. He wasn't a part of the group any longer, and even if he was it was about comradery, trust, and teamwork. She would never consider getting herself off to thoughts of Ryan or Esposito, or Lanie. That just wasn't how their team worked. Therefore, she was astounded to realize what she'd done, or almost done.

Keeping her hands firmly on the book, Beckett read through the rest of the chapter, ignoring the slow burn of arousal that blossomed in the pit of her stomach as she read. She hastily pushed aside any images of herself or Castle as being characters in the novel, and instead focused on the case, trying to understand who the killer could be.

She read late into the night, forgetting that she had intended to only read that one chapter to ensure that there weren't too many similarities between fiction and reality. There weren't. The scenes in Castle's books were based on fiery passion and suave seduction. What she, and the rest of her team, had with Castle was based around a deep-seated care and mutual trust that they all knew what their part was in the team dynamic both in and out of the bedroom.

It wasn't until she was finishing the final page that Beckett realized how engrossed she had become. She'd been reading for hours, must later than she'd intended. But then again, that's what Castle's book had always done to her. They would suck her in and didn't relinquish control of her conscious mind until she'd read every page.

With a long sigh, she set the book aside, knowing that she would take a couple of days to digest what she had read before opening it to read again. That's how it always went for her when reading a new Castle book, and for all the ways that this one was different from those that had come before, her process would remain much the same.

She put her slip-up from her mind and settled back into bed contemplating the character Castle had written. The one based on her own life and his observations mixed in with a healthy dose of the man's own imagination. She had to admit that she and Nikki Heat shared several similarities. Castle had done well at capturing parts of her she didn't even realize he'd noticed. Maybe he understood her better than she'd given him credit for.

The man was full of surprises and she as she drifted off to sleep she couldn't help but ponder what she was going to do about it.