The morning after the 'beach incident', Kate decided she'd teased Castle enough and it was time to turn up uninvited at his apartment again. The past couple of days, seeing him turn up at her hotel and then her watching him surf at the beach had been her toeing the line, she knew that. She was here to convince Castle that they belonged together and although her teasing had been reciprocated, it could be left for a while now. It was just how their relationship was, though, the teasing and the flirting and the trying to make the other jealous - to an outsider watching their relationship it might seem like a stupid thing to do, she was meant to be apologising of course, but to them it was a silent step in the right direction, a step towards forgiveness and moving on.

Kate felt as thought they were at a bit of a crossroads right now. They were stuck between giving up or sticking with it, between teasing and taking it all seriously. The teasing was just them but right now she needed him to know she was serious about him too. But she was sticking to her guns - no telling him she loved him until she knew he had forgiven her. Even if he said 'I forgive you but that doesn't change anything' then she could say it, but not before, not when he could still take it as her trying to get him to forgive her.

Castle also woke early that morning, yesterday evening's events still playing on his mind. It was stupid, he had told himself - and her - that it wasn't like that anymore but then again, he'd have to be a fool to think he could fall out of love with Kate Beckett that easily. And if he needed anymore proof that he was still in love with her, it was his stupid decision to flirt with Taylor at the beach yesterday. The woman was gay, for crying out loud, he knew that and yet he'd pretended to be interested in her anyway just to get to Beckett. Dammit, was he 15 again?

It was her. She brought out these ridiculous emotions in him, she always had. He hated that she could do it, make him lose his defences and act like a teenager with his first crush all over again. Damn irresistible woman. None of that excused what she'd done though, and his stupid heart needed to remember that.

"Morning Castle," Beckett sing-songed as she breezed past him into his apartment, handing him a steaming cup of coffee on her way. "And how may you be on this fine sunshiny day?"

"Wow, someone's in a good mood this morning," Castle pointed out, "what did they put in your muesli?"

"Nothing special," she shrugged. "Just happy to see you. I don't know if you heard but my best friend decided he was moving to LA with like ten seconds notice or something ridiculous."

"Mm, I'd heard the rumour," Castle muttered drily. "And does that explain why you're on my doorstep in a ridiculously good mood at-" he checked his watch- "8.16am?" It was a good job she'd brought coffee, he probably wouldn't have let her in otherwise but the caffeine was very much needed.

"I guess so," she shrugged. "You see, I kinda really really hurt my best friend. I was a jackass and a complete cow when he so didn't deserve it so I flew over to LA to see him, to try and get our friendship back the way it was."

She was trying, she really was and Castle could see that, and he really did appreciate it. It might have taken him walking away from her to realise it but at least now she knew what was at stake and the fact that she'd flown here to see him was a huge step for her, he was so very proud of the woman she'd become over the past few years. Kate Beckett didn't do the whole 'down on one knee begging for forgiveness' thing, if you got an apology out of her you were lucky, she was just that stubborn, but she had apologised to him when they'd first seen each other again and although a simple word couldn't undo a world of hurt, from her it went a hell of a long way.

And yes, the past two days had been a bit different from how it had been when she first got here, they'd reverted back to more like their old selves with the flirting and the teasing and he had to admit, it was good to go back to that again, it had felt like forever since he'd been able to have a laugh and and a joke with her.

One thing he was glad of though was that she wasn't pushing the 'it isn't like that anymore' stance, she'd realised he wasn't willing to go down that road with her anymore and seemed perfectly content to just be friends. Friends he could do, they'd had a brilliant three years being friends and in all honesty, he did miss it quite a bit.

"And how's that going for you?" He asked, playing along with her game.

"Hard to tell," she replied, setting herself down on the couch. "I don't think he hates me anymore but I know I still have a lot of making up to do."

"I never hated you," he mumbled quietly. He doubted there was anything she could do to make him hate her really.

"Is that why you came to my hotel the other day?" She asked, equally as low in volume.

"I..you..what?" How on earth did she know he'd been therer, he'd left before she had the chance to see him!

"Oh come off it, Castle," she laughed. "This is you and I we're talking about - you know, I'm a detective and you're about as subtle as a hurricane."

"I still can't believe you saw me," he huffed, before brightening again. "Does this mean we can talk about how you were reading the first Nikki Neat book?"

This time it was Beckett's turn to stutter. "I..wasn't..it was- not fair, Castle."

"Alls fair in love and war, Beckett," he grinned.

"That may be, but you still haven't answered my question."

The truth was, Castle didn't want to talk about it because that meant admitting things to both her and himself that he'd rather not admit right now. Or ever, actually. He could hardly tell her one day that they weren't ever going to be in that kind of a relationship and then just two days later tell her he'd stalked her at her hotel because he was worried she'd dropped it all and gone home. What kind of a message would that be sending out?

"I uh.." A pause. "Had a meeting. With.." Another pause. "A producer. About the.." God he was really screwing this up. "Next Nikki Heat movie," he finished lamely.

Beckett studied him for a moment before she spoke. "You know, given that you make stories up for a living, I would have thought you'd have a better excuse prepared than that," she mused with a playful smile.

Castle knew when to admit defeat, especially when it came to Beckett. "Yeah well, think of it like in a murder investigation - innocent people don't prepare alibis, remember? I didn't think you'd seen me."

Beckett wasn't oblivious to the fact that he still hadn't given her an answer but she was guessing he didn't want to talk about that right now. "Okay so are we going to talk about what happened at the beach?"

"Almost like old times, hey?" Castle answered with a small smile. But it was the truth, he could completely see that happening between them on the beach at his Hamptons home, without all the added drama of lies and pushing people out.

Kate was so relieved he had said that, it had been exactly what she was thinking and it was a massive weight off of her shoulders to know he felt the same. "Yeah, I guess it was," she added with a slight laugh. "I miss you, Castle." The words were out of her mouth before her brain even had a chance to catch up and comprehend what was being said.

Castle looked taken aback for a moment, his eyes wide with shock before his brow furrowed, as if in confusion. He was beginning to wonder what on earth had happened to her since the shooting, the Beckett he knew didn't open up so easily, it had been a shock when he'd heard the phone call between her and Royce just over a year ago, so openly discussing how she felt. And at the same time, this also told him something else - she meant it. If he knew one thing about her it was that she meant everything she said and that was one of the things that made her such a brilliant cop. Beckett only said thing like that if she was sure it was what she wanted to say and he wouldn't deny how it made him feel.

"I miss you too, Beckett," he admitted at last and he heard her let out a breath she'd obviously been holding during the tense silence.

It seemed that now he had returned the gesture, nothing could stop her. "I miss seeing your face every single morning at work, no matter the hour you were almost always happy to be there. I miss the coffee you used to bring me because you know how much I love it. I miss your crazy, ridiculous theories about aliens or the CIA..the jokes you used to make that would light up even the worst of cases, the way Ryan hung onto your every word and Esposito looked as if you were crazy but we know he loves you really. But most of all..most of all I miss how you were always there for me even when I was adamant I didn't want you to be. I tried so hard to push you away but you were having none of it, for three years you were there, standing next to me the whole way, even at..at Montgomery's funeral." She took a deep breath, talking about Montgomery was still hard. "And then I obviously pushed too hard and you actually listened to me for once in your life.." Eyes brimming with tears, she brushed them away with a swipe of her hand, letting out a watery laugh. "The one time I needed my best friend he did exactly the opposite to what he'd done for three years and it was all my stupid fault."

Castle couldn't resist. No matter what she'd done, seeing her so upset about this was breaking his heart all over again. He pulled her into a tight hug, murmuring words of comfort into her hair.

"I'm sorry, Castle," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"I know you are," Castle replied quietly and he meant it. He truly believed she was sorry because he could count on one hand the number of times he'd heard her apologise for something. "And I meant what I said, I miss you too, you know."

Beckett was on the verge of snapping back with some snarky comment about it obviously not being enough if he'd moved to LA but that wasn't fair. She'd put him through hell and it was only right that he'd want to move away from that, even if he did miss her. "God, we're a mess, aren't we?" She laughed.

"A big non-communicative, screwed up mess," he replied. "Bit you know what this calls for, right?" He asked, pulling back to look at her.

"Mandatory ice cream for breakfast?" She suggested.

Castle could have cried at how well she knew him. Sure, they'd screwed things up big time but they were working on that. Beckett's confession about missing him had gone straight to the heart and he doubted she knew that, he could tell from the sincerity in her voice that it was he truth and she was saying it because she meant it.

Digging out the ice cream from the freezer, Castle didn't even bother with bowls, grabbing a couple of spoons from the drawer and passing the tub to her. "Dig in," he said, opening the tub of mint choc chip he had in his hands.

"How did you know strawberries and cream was my favourite?" She asked, opening the tub and scooping out a mouthful.

"Lucky guess," he shrugged and Beckett would have argued it but this was the man who had memorised her coffee order after one day of working together, goodness knows how he was so observant when he had the attention span of a puppy.

"Castle," she began hesitantly. "I think we need to talk.." They'd argued and fought, teased and flirted. She'd chased him to the other side of the country but none of it was any use if he wasn't willing to be caught.

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