Chapter 8:

What Have I Done To Deserve This?

Three days.

Three days had passed since Kate had last seen Castle. She told herself that it was because he needed to focus on the task at hand.

Liar, her subconscious screamed. You kissed each other, and now you're freaking out.

It was true. She was worried that everything between them was ruined. She busied herself instead with the case, trying to learn everything there was to know before Castle's audition. Brent had called and said that The Gilded Stallion was willing to let him audition on Saturday.

Tomorrow, she thought, biting her lip. I really hope Castle's ready and won't screw this up.

The ringing of her cell phone jerked her out of her reverie. Checking the caller ID, she sighed heavily.

Speak of the devil, she thought. I think I spoke too soon.

"Beckett," she answered, trying to keep herself from sounding too jittery.

"Kate, it's Brent. It's about Castle. I haven't been able to get him to focus the last few days. You haven't been here to see…"

"I know," she replied. "I've been busy. With work, actually. I've been trying to see if there were any leads that might help us before we actually got started."

"Well, can you talk with him? Because nothing I say seems to be getting through that thick skull of his. He just shrugs it off and ignores me."

Kate snorted, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "What? And you think I have some mystical magic powers that will help you get through to him? Listen, I've known him for years. He doesn't really listen to anyone when he's made up his mind about something. He rarely even listens to me when I tell him he has to stay in the car when I have to go chase down a felon. So what leads you to believe that he'd listen to me?"

"He's been asking where you are, and acting like someone kicked his puppy. Listen, the only thing I'm really after is making sure that his ass is ready to go on stage tomorrow. From the look of things, he's not even ready to put on a ballet recital where his peers are a bunch of three year olds."

She sighed, pinching her fingers together on the bridge of her nose in thought. "All right, I'll come down and see what I can do. However, don't expect that anything will change."

"Hey, I'm just glad I'm talking to an adult. He's such a child!"

"Try working with him all day for three years. You'll be really sick of him then."

When she arrived at the studio, the place looked deserted. No music was playing, and no one was rushing about. Concerned, she rushed to the practice room that had been set aside for Castle's rehearsals. She was greeted by the familiar head of Castle, who was lying on the floor of the room studying ceiling tiles.

"Castle," she began cautiously, stepping slowly towards him.

"Three days," the gravelly sound of his voice replied, half challenging and mocking her.

"What?"

"It's been three days, Kate. I haven't heard a word from you."

"I've been busy," Kate lied.

"Liar."

"What the hell are you talking about? I've been trying to see if there was something that would pop up in order to make your work easier. Then I get a call from Brent saying that you're being difficult and refuse to work. So you tell me what's going on, because you've got my full attention."

With the speed of a jungle cat, Castle was suddenly upright and advancing on her. It took all of her efforts not to back away. His eyes were almost black with anger.

"I called the precinct several times looking for you. Do you know how much stress I'm under just by doing this? Because I don't think you do. I needed my best friend, Kate. And you refused to even answer the damn phone. When I asked the boys to speak to you, they said that you didn't want to talk to me. So you tell me what's going on. I'd love to hear it."

Kate licked her lips, trying to find the right words to say to placate him. She had never seen him so angry before, and it made her uncomfortable.

"You want to know what's been wrong with me? Fine! You kissed me. We kissed. And I'm having a little trouble dealing with it. It shouldn't have happened. It was a huge mistake. Yeah, I was a little immature for running off on you like I had, but I didn't want you to think that it meant anything."

"You want to play this game, Kate? The one where we both try to ignore our primal urges and act like we're not attracted to each other? Because I know what kissing you felt like. It was the best thing I have ever done in my life, unless you count making Alexis. However, I know the one thing you're hiding from all of this. You felt something. I felt you come alive in my arms. You kissed me back, let me touch you…"

"So? That doesn't mean anything. You're making a big deal out of nothing, Castle. It was a moment, and yeah, I'm not going to deny it. But you're wrong if you think it meant something."

Taking another predatory step toward her, Castle realized that he was suddenly becoming angry with Kate's dismissal. He was just about to take hold of her, shake her, do something in order to get his hands on her again in order to prove her wrong….when there was a knock on the practice room door.

"Carnage over?" Brent asked hesitantly, cautiously taking a few steps into the room. "I hope you two didn't make too much of a mess of one another. I'd hate to have to clean blood out of my nice clean floor."

Never taking his eyes off of hers, Castle responded, "Yeah. We're done here. Kate was just leaving. I needed that little pep talk from her. It really shook me up."

Brent began to say something in response, but thought better of it. Something was definitely going on between them, but he wasn't about to pry. The tone of Castle's voice called for an end to the conversation.

My God, Brent thought. What would have been happening if I hadn't have come in here? These two look like they want to eat each other alive.

Taking back a step while holding her gaze, Castle gave Kate the room she needed to get around him. She turned to leave, but Castle's hand closed around her wrist in a tight grip, pulling her back toward him.

"We're going to talk about this Kate," he said. "You're not getting away from me that easily. Come to my place tonight after I'm done here. And if you don't show, I'll come looking for you. Either way, we're going to finish this."

Kate's heartbeat pounded quickly, and she prayed that Castle wasn't able to feel how his words were affecting her. She found herself nodding, which seemed to placate him enough to let go of her wrist. She exited the practice room, closing the door behind her and leaning onto it for support.

What in the hell have I gotten myself into? she wondered.

A/N: So sorry for the delay! I've been having to work very early in the morning, so I've been sleeping a lot to try to prepare myself for the day. I hope you enjoyed this latest installment! What do you think will happen when Kate has to talk to Castle tonight? Sound off in a REVIEW! (Also, I would have posted this earlier, but the site kept giving me an error message saying that it didn't exist. Clearly, it does! LOL