Hi all! Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed to this story! And, a very big thank you to those who have left comments for me!

So, I wrote two parts of an update that I was going to make into three parts, but because I had a lot of homework yesterday and again today, I haven't had time to finish the third part. I did want to give you all something, though, so I decided to break up this incomplete 3-part chapter into 3 separate chapters…giving you 2 new chapters today, and then I'll post the next part whenever I finish it. (Hope that made sense.) I'm just letting you know this, so that you know I'm posting two chapters today instead of one.

Anyway, thank you, again, for reading and I hope you enjoy these two chapters!

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Castle.

Chapter 4

The white page that took up almost the entire screen of his laptop, stared Castle down as he tried to think of something worth typing. His fingers were lying in position, waiting to move, but looking so lifeless that even they seemed to understand that they weren't going to be punching any keys anytime soon. Then, there was the black, vertical line near the top of the page, waiting for his command, pulsing in the same space it had been sitting in for over an hour. With each beat, it seemed to pound faster on the blank background, and Castle began to notice his heart trying to keep up with it. Faster and faster. Think of something. Think of something!

Breathing heavily, he finally moved his hands, swiftly closing his laptop. He noticed they were shaky. Whether it was because they had been frozen on the computer keys for a long time, or because of the nerves that his racing mind was causing, he wasn't sure, but clasped them together, trying to calm them down. Writer's block was a common thing. It wasn't like he had never experienced it before, but when he had, he couldn't remember ever feeling this way. Although, that could be because he had never gone for so long without feeling inspired by anything. For the first time, he was almost regretting killing Derek Storm. Yes, he had been tired of him. And yes, the excitement of writing about him had faded, but at least he could have come up with some kind of plot. Wouldn't writing a mediocre novel have been better, than sitting around day after day trying to come up with something fresh and new?

Castle had wanted a change, and he sure got it, just not in the way he wanted. He yearned for the stimulation and thrill of dreaming up something new. He longed for the passion that it would spark in him, the exhilaration of naturally finding the words, and the fulfilling feeling that came after staring at a white page covered in black letters. Instead, he had gotten the worst case of writer's block imaginable. Nothing he thought of was good enough. After thinking about it for so many weeks, he was convinced nothing would ever be greater, or even as good as, his previous works. If only retiring was an option. It wasn't that he hadn't thought seriously about doing so in his more hopeless moments, but something was telling him not to put his pen away just yet. Somewhere inside of him, something was forcing him not to give up. There would be a spark eventually, but first he needed to find what would ignite the flame.

A bright light in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Before he had turned on his laptop, Castle had silenced his phone, to keep anything from destroying his writing bubble. Then, he had tossed it to the far end of the couch, where his feet had been, so he wouldn't be able to reach it when he was searching for a distraction. Now that he was sitting up, though, it caught his attention. Focusing his eyes on the name flashing across the screen, he let out a small groan.

"Yes, Gina?" He sighed into the phone, after dramatically using his fingers to tell the device that he would be taking the call.

Her voice sounded calm, but slightly annoyed. "You never called me back last night."

As if on cue, his eyes closed tightly the second she began speaking. It had only taken his mind an extra moment to realize why she was calling him, since she only ever called him when it had something to do with work. "Sorry. I had to take care of something and got in late," He said it sincerely.

"That something didn't happen to be getting to know your date better, did it?"

Castle felt the heat rising to his face, almost as if he could feel Beckett's eyes staring at him accusingly, from the implication of Gina's words. "No. I checked which night worked best for Kate—which is Saturday, by the way-and then I left."

"So you went all the way to her apartment to schedule a date?" The disbelief was clear in her voice.

After running a hand over his face, Castle switched his phone from one hand to the other. It gave him a little extra time to come up with an explanation for what had unexpectedly happened the night before. If he told Gina that Kate Beckett had been the detective that he had worked with, he was positive that she would force him to break the date and pick another winner. Obviously his ex-wife had been nice enough to go along with his suggestion to pick the person with the most entries, but he knew she would think a date with Beckett wasn't torture enough.

He had seen Gina a week after working with Beckett, and she had asked him at least a hundred questions about working with the detective. At first, it was mostly about whether a murderer modeling the murders he committed after the ones in Castle's books, would have a negative effect on sales, but it had quickly shifted to Beckett and what he had thought of her. There was no doubt in his mind that Gina could tell the detective had struck him in some way, but he had changed the subject as soon as he was able to, and it was never brought up again. No, there was no way Gina could know it was Beckett until after the date, if then. Lucky for him, Castle was sure Gina wouldn't remember Beckett's name, and make the connection on her own. Actually, he didn't think he had even given her a name to go along with the description of the unforgettable detective he had worked with. Quickly, he came up with an answer to her question that he hoped would be believable. "Her phone died while we were talking. The woman sounded so excited that I felt bad not being able to finish the conversation." Castle explained, wishing that the excitement of the woman had actually been true.

"Ah. I see." He could see the smug look on Gina's face, as if she were standing right in front of him, and knew what was coming next. "Uh, how did you get her address?"

Gah! The woman was just trying to trap him, wasn't she? "I searched her name online, got the address, and went over." Oh, how he hoped that Beckett had a number listed in the white pages because he was more than sure Gina was going to check.

"Uh huh," Gina breathed, sounding less than convinced. Castle was about to say something along the lines of, Does it really matter? or Why the hell do you care?, when he heard her voice again. "Anyway, I guess I got my answer…Saturday." He could hear her fake nails hitting the computer keys as she typed it into her schedule as a reminder, even though he didn't think she'd be able forget. "What are your plans for this date?"

"Oh, I get to decide where I want to take the lovely lady? I was sure you had already planned something for me," he mocked.

Not finding any humor in what he said, she sighed, "You know, I can still make the reservations if that's what you want?"

The smirk on his face disappeared suddenly. "No, no. I've got it under control," he stammered.

"I don't know, I'll bet I could make it a night you'd never forget," she teased, sounding a little warmer than when she had made her last remark, although the threat was still evident.

"Which is why I'm planning it. It should be a night Kate won't forget, not me," his desperate tone made her laugh, and even though he was having trouble not worrying about Gina possibly planning a night out that would most likely embarrass him to no end, he knew he had succeeded in convincing her that Kate was just another fan. In reality, he was hoping that Saturday night would be unforgettable for himself as well.

Gina's voice once again brought him out of his thoughts as it often did, "Ok, fine. Plan your date. Just don't go somewhere too pricey. I need a little money left over for some other publicity stuff we need to do."

For a minute, Castle didn't know what to say. It hadn't even occurred to him that he wouldn't be paying for this with his own money, especially once he had found out it was Beckett he was taking out. "I don't mind paying," he offered, sincerely. "It's the least I could do. She's a big fan. I don't mind contributing if it means she'll have the night of her life."

"Knowing you, I'm sure you'll contribute whatever you can by the end of the night," he thought he heard bitterness or a hint of jealousy in Gina's voice, but it was gone as quickly as it was perceived. "I was trying to let you off the hook, but hey, if you want to save us money on this end, who am I to argue?"

Castle's lips curled into a satisfied smile. "Good. Then, it's settled."

"Just please don't do anything that will get you arrested. The last thing I need to deal with is your lawyer trying to get you out of harassment charges or whatever."

He couldn't help, but chuckle at her request. "I can honestly say you have no need to worry. Kate seemed like someone who could handle herself." He wanted to add that he didn't even think that he was going to push his luck and even try to touch her, since the last thing he wanted was to be keeled over in pain, but he thought better of it and held his tongue.

Less than a minute later, they had finished their conversation. Shockingly, Castle was almost glad that Gina had called. Being so absorbed in his writing—or, lack of writing, for half the day, he had forgotten the errand that he had taken care of last night after leaving Beckett's apartment. Checking his phone for the time, he grinned when it told him that it was almost two. That meant that Beckett's surprise was on its way to her. Normally, he'd be nervous or scared that she would want to kill him after such a gesture, but he had a feeling that if anything, the busy detective would want to hug him.