AN: Hi everyone. I'd like issue a public apology. I definitely never meant to leave this story for so long…but you know how it is – life just gets in the way sometimes. So anyways, I'm back now and this story is shaping up nicely. There'll be another chapter posted tomorrow, I promise. This was sort of a transitional chapter. I want this story to be about Kate, because I think Castle's more than ready to dive into a relationship with her, and my main intent is to show how Kate comes to realize that she is too. But Castle had to be pacified somehow – we couldn't have him butting in on Kate's revelation and pushing her before she's ready to admit to anything. Hence, a little of what's going on in Castle's mind. But… don't expect to hear a lot from him. This story is mostly Kate's point of view. Anyhoo, here is the new chapter, and please review because I'll be posting another chapter tomorrow and probably the day after that as well, and I'd love your feedback before I do!

Last chapter: Kate arrives at the precinct and quickly formulates a plan to continue acting as her normal self until work is over. Unfortunately, once Castle arrives, she realizes that her traitorous body is going to give her away. In order to deal with this new onslaught of emotions, she's decided to go with the flow (within reason – she and Josh are still together) and see what happens.

Kate regretted her decision almost immediately. She was not really sure she was going to be able to handle Castle today. And the funny thing was, as much as this was about Castle, it was also not about him at all. After all, Castle hadn't changed one bit in the last three hours, or even in the past three weeks. He was still her charming, supportive, trustworthy best friend. No, this was not about Castle. This was about her. This was about her total epiphany of the heart. Because now, she noticed all these tiny, infinitesimal little details regarding him that she'd never noticed before. For instance, she had always noticed how much he stared at her - she used to find it creepy, but it had gradually become this completely endearing, adorable part of her day. And now, she realized that she hadn't been creeped out by it in a long time. And unfortunately, the epiphany she'd had was apparently heightening not only physical sensation, but also her awareness of him in general. She'd been doing paper work for an hour now, during which time he'd barely touched her. He was doing what he always did when he was bored – staring at her and playing with his phone - but she knew without a doubt that he'd been noticing her new reactions to him.

An hour ago, Kate had smiled smugly to herself. She'd thought of a way to keep this situation under control. She would let him see the way he affected her – she would just pretend that nothing had changed in the process. So, the next time he brushed against her, or hovered over her, or caught her eye and smiled (the smile was the worst – it was his special smile that he smiled only for her, and it always made her muscles feel like jelly and caused her skin to overheat quickly) she would react to it in whatever way her body deemed appropriate, and then promptly continue with her work as if nothing had happened. Therefore, instead of having to deal with Cocky Castle, she would confuse him and get the chance to see Insecure Castle (a rather rare occurrence). That was the plan.

Her plan backfired almost at the starting gate. Kate mulled over the events of the last hour and began to seriously wonder if she was going to make it to the end of the day without making some drastic, life-changing personal decisions. Finally, a body dropped, interrupting her musings and Kate got the call that her team was needed at a crime scene. Thank God, she thought, getting up from and chair and gesturing for the boys and Castle to follow her. I don't know how much longer I was gonna last.

1 hour ago…

"Beckett?" Castle asked, catching her eye over the desk.

"Yes, Castle?" Kate replied, and smiled softly at him. Her smile dropped when ten seconds ticked by without a response. Rick seemed to be deep in thought, his slight frown etching a crease between his eyes. She wanted to reach out her hand, tilt his face down and drop a kiss on his brow – so much so that her hand had dropped her pen and was reaching out to him before she'd consciously made the decision. Kate quickly pretended to adjust her collar and dropped her gaze as she repeated herself: "Castle, hello? Anyone home?"

Castle jerked his head back up to meet her eyes and blinked. Something was going on with Kate. What had just transpired only confirmed it. He'd been trying to annoy her all morning. It had started out as a way of testing her boundaries – something he did almost daily – but his focus had changed when her reactions to his antics had displayed a side of her that he'd never encountered before. Even just now, when he'd interrupted her paperwork; usually, she would have given him a death glare and then ignored him. Today, she had looked up before he'd even finished saying her name, and smiled at him. Not her regular smile. And yes, he definitely knew the difference. At work, her smile was all business – a quick, no-nonsense turn of the mouth that didn't reach her eyes. When she was alone with him, she let her mouth open for a tooth smile, and he could tell she was genuinely amused by the sparkle dancing in her eyes. This most recent smile was in a league of it's own. Her lips had remained soft, as the corners of her mouth had turned up, dimpling her left cheek. The sparkle in her eyes had been fanned into a fire. He had never seen her smile like that before, and he'd been momentarily stunned. He'd been about to ask her if something was wrong, but he was too intrigued now to ask when he knew that she would tell him that nothing was wrong. In fact, he didn't want to alert her that he knew something was off. She was a mystery today, and he was going to solve it. And he knew just how to do it too. I always back off, don't I? Castle thought, lost in Kate's eyes. What if today I just…keep pushing? Keep testing those shaky boundary lines we drew so long ago? Of course, I'll need to keep my cool. Don't make it too obvious. Maybe she'll…and abruptly a well-rehearsed image blossomed in his mind – of Kate and him, alone in the precinct…Castle suddenly screwed up his eyes and sighed loudly. His conscience had made a rather sudden appearance and barged into his current fantasy of kissing Kate by her desk. Josh. Shit, Castle thought. OK, well…I'll play by the rules. But I'm still gonna push those boundaries.

"CASTLE!" Kate nearly shouted this time, and startled Castle away from his thoughts. "Can I help you with something?" Yes, Castle thought, you sure can! You can dump Josh so I can tell you how I feel about you. Discarding this immediately as an inappropriate response, Castle decided on his first course of action. He would bring out the big guns today. There would be no charming Castle, no cocky Castle, no arrogant, wiseass Castle for her today. No, if he wanted to push those lines and make some real progress, he'd need to be completely real with her – stripped Castle. At this point Castle bit his lip to keep from smiling at his choice of words, then met her eyes again.

"Oh, sorry Kate – I was just thinking, maybe we could get some lunch later? Remy's? I was supposed to go with Alexis, but she bailed on me when Ashley asked her out." Castle pouted as he spoke the last bit.

Kate felt another smile tugging at her lips and instead of coughing to cover it up, as she usually would have done, she let it bloom. He was being a baby about this Ashley thing again, and she couldn't help but find it adorable. She found herself wondering if he'd be this overprotective of a second or third child. An image of a little boy and girl with a combination of Rick's features and her own popped into her mind. Oh God, Kate thought, how deep in this am I? But she didn't try to remove the image – she would stick to the plan and let this thing between them play out today. Wait. Why is he calling me Kate? "I'd like that, Rick" Kate answered, before hastily turning back to her paperwork. The way Rick was pouting made her want to reach over and run her thumb along his protruding bottom lip, then lean in and capture it with her mouth. And as much as she wanted to stick to the plan, she also knew there were some rules that she would not break, as long as Josh was in the picture. She suddenly felt the urge to call him up and break things off over the phone. No, Kate thought. You're in the heat of the moment. Get through today, then reevaluate when you're at home alone.

Castle's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. She'd called him Rick. And the way she'd answered him made it sound like she was agreeing to something a lot more intimate than lunch. Why did he feel like the lines were being blurred before he'd even tried to move them? What in the hell was going on, anyways, was he in the twilight zone? Just go with the flow, Castle thought. But if she'd teasing me, it's gonna hurt at the end of the day. Consciously, Castle knew that'd he'd already made himself vulnerable. Kate could easily crush him if she chose to. He just had to trust that he was right, that this was right – and that the reward would be worth the effort. "Good," Castle responded, returning her smile. "It's a date then." Kate's head jerked back up, eyes wide. She tried to cover her shock by nodding and reaching for a pen from the stash in the cup on her desk, but managed instead to fumble through them before knocking it's entire contents onto the floor. Great, Kate thought, watching as Rick dashed to retrieve them, smooth. She stared at Rick's ass under her desk for a moment before her phone rang. As she picked it up she caught Ryan and Esposito watching her with curiosity in their eyes. They'd never seen their boss so unhinged at work. Great, Kate thought, last thing I need is for the boys to notice that something's up.

"Beckett." she spoke brusquely.

AN: Don't hate on me, I promise that Josh won't be in the picture for much longer. And personally, I don't think I'd like Kate's character quite so much if she cheated on Josh – even if it is with Castle. Any sort of physical element is considered cheating, in my book. Which is why Josh won't be around much longer Expect him to be gone before Kate forms concrete opinions on her and Castle's relationship as well – cheating is more than physical, after all. The most hurtful part can be emotional. Also, I'm definitely still going to up the rating. I'd like your input as to how much, though. I'm thinking I'll go T and then write a filler M chapter that can be read or skipped without changing the plot. Thoughts?