Hello everyone! So glad y'all are enjoying this. So, I need to clarify. Um, this isn't an AU where Castle and Beckett meet earlier and are in a romantic relationship when the show starts. While it is a little AU-ish, it's really more of a what would the show be like if they had met earlier?

The song for this chapter is Say Something covered by Chester See. He's terrific. I'd recommend some tissues.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or its characters. But the day that I own Nathan Fillion (in any character role)… that'll be a good day.

Chapter Four: Say Something

Kate arrived outside Le Cirque with two minutes to spare. She paid her cabbie and hopped from the car, smiling at the host as he held the door open. When she mentioned Castle's name, he smiled and gestured to a table in the corner. Kate took a calming breath and made her way towards the table. As she drew closer, she noticed a girl already sitting in her seat. She was pretty-ish but couldn't have been more than sixteen and was probably closer to fourteen. She was laughing and tossing her hair around like she had some sort of twitch. As she watched, she reached up with easy familiarity and wiped at Castle's cheek.

Kate turned away from the scene and moved back towards the door, ignoring the concerned look of the host. Her chest felt like an anvil was sitting on it, trying to crush it. Her head swam and despite her best efforts she could feel traitorous tears welling in her eyes, trying to push down her cheeks. Her cheeks were red with embarrassment and she avoided making eye contact with anyone around her.

How could she have been so stupid?

Richard Castle was a player. There was rarely a week that didn't have a picture or story of him with some new flavor of the week. Why would she be any different? Did she really think that just because he wrote the books that got her through her mother's murder and her father's alcoholism, he would sweep her off her feet and they would ride off into the sunset? Castle was notoriously a 'love 'em and leave 'em' kind of guy. If she believed half the stuff she heard on the forums, he'd still be a deviant. No, he had picked her up easily because she was a fan. Only she'd wanted to picture herself as the heroine to his hero, the damsel in distress to his knight in shining armor. She was ridiculous. And she was going to pay for it.

She quickly turned and made her way out of the classy restaurant before crossing the street and pulling out her cell phone. She dialed the restaurant and asked for Richard Castle.

Castle looked around the room, desperate for a reprieve from the girl sitting in Kate's seat, trying to be provocative but coming off as twitchy. Kate should have been there. It was eight after seven.

"Mr. Castle," the host said, coming to his side, interrupting Tiffany or Tracy or whatever her name was from her thrilling tale about her best friend stealing her boyfriend. "You have a telephone call."

"Excuse me," he said abruptly to the girl and followed him to the house phone. "Castle," he said into the receiver.

"Rick, um, hi. It's Kate. Listen, I'm really sorry but I guess I ate something bad today. I'm feeling rotten. I'm going to have to cancel our dinner." Rick's heart dropped.

"Can I bring you anything? Ginger ale? Saltines? Cheesy, emotional, romantic comedies?" A sound like a car door slamming came over the phone before she spoke. He frowned.

"No, I'm good. I'm really sorry."

"No problem," he said. "Just get better okay?"

"Sure thing. Bye." The line when dead and Castle put the phone down, disappointment filling him. He glanced back at the dining room where the girl at his table was tapping away at her phone. He turned, walked out the door and stopped dead when he saw Kate across the street. She was in the dress he bought her, her hair left down and curled tastefully. Before he could get over his chock and confusion and call out to her, she wiped away tears from her face and climbed into a cab.

She was here! Why had she left? Why had she lied about being sick? She'd stood him up! She chickened out. Or was she just playing with him? Had she said yes with the intention of not showing up? Rick so very rarely met anyone who intrigued him. His life was filled with doting fans but it wasn't very often that he met a fan who challenged him. He had questioned himself today and that was something he'd only come to expect from his daughter. Kate had opened up his world. She was intelligent, sexy, charming and classy. She was tough, strong, capable. He'd known her all of ten minutes and already he could feel her invading his thoughts. So why had she lied about being sick?

And why was she crying?