A/N at the end of the chapter. Also, there's an edit in Chapter 13. 100 points to you if you can catch it (it's at the end in a post-story AN if you don't. What'll you do with the points anyway. "/)

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. If I did however, I'd be giving my writers a raise.

Chapter 14

"So what do we do now?" Castle asked.

"We still wait for him to make his move Castle."

"Right, right." He replied and then starting drumming his fingers on the dashboard. He stopped soon though – didn't think her glare meant he's supposed to continue.

"When are Espo and Ryan coming?" he tried to ask casually.

"Castle! I told you twice already. They'll be here soon."

"What? It was just a question" he shrugged.

"Stakeout's not everything you write it out to be, huh Castle?" she asked while trying to remember that patience was indeed one of her virtues, granted it was a thin one when Castle tried to stretch it.

"Hey! Just admit it, you love reading the adventures that my stakeouts lead to. Especially when they lead to – "

"Okay Castle! I get it" she hissed before he could say more.

" – when they lead to catching the criminal, detective. Katherine Beckett, I never." He shook his head with an indignant look while tsk-ing her. She glared at him, he'd expected that, but she blushed too *and* she didn't correct him. That – he wasn't expecting.

"Tell me, Rick, when would you write us spotting him make a move?"

Rick. Oh. He wasn't expecting that either. "Huh umm" he just stared, unable to come up with anything. She did that to him sometimes. He shook his head to snap out of it. "I'd write it at the most interesting time of course. Right before we'd be leaving. Right before the other team arrived. At the end of the chapter" he smirked.

"And what would you write until then?" she asked, staring ahead of her.

'Sweet Jesus. Jackpot!' he thought. What's he supposed to do here? Is she really asking him? She knows how his books go. She knows exactly what Rook or Storm would do. Maybe he should offer her an out, just in case. "Do you honestly want to know?" he asked her seriously.

"Yeah" she replied softly.

He turned slightly in his seat to face her and to get into a more comfortable story telling position. "It would start out with some amount of awkward silence. He'd probably annoy her for a bit to get over the awkwardness. I always write him out to be smart, you know" he said before going on, "then he would become serious. He'd ask her about how she's been doing with everything happening in her life. See, he knows she'd answer him because she has nowhere to go. And really, he'd just keep bugging her about it till she caved."

She smiled "Oh really?"

"Yup" he said with a pop to the P. "So Kate, how have you been doing lately?" he said with a sheepish smile.

"I'm okay Castle."

"Oh it's Castle now?" he said, feigning hurt. "Okay, okay. I'll let that pass. How's your ankle?"

"You've been with me the whole time Rick." She emphasized the Rick. "It's fine. Completely healed I think."

"Good, good." He bobbed his head.

He looked like he wanted to ask more, but judging by his silence, maybe he was going to leave things alone for now – again. He did want to ask her more but he didn't know how and he didn't want to bring up too much. Not when they were after a psychopath.

"That's it, Rick?"

"For now, it is."

"Okay. Then what?"

Oh. She wanted more of his story.

"Then he'd try to woo her of course" he smirked.

"Uhun" she laughed. She actually laughed. Alright, he thought, now she asked for it.

"Find it funny do you? I wouldn't write it to be funny though." He lowered his voice enough for the right kind of effect. "He'd look long and deep into her eyes. She'd resist looking into his of course, but there's just something there. Their eyes are like magnets just like the rest of themselves, she ought to know by now that resistance is futile." Kate looked at his eyes. "He'd reach out to put the stray tendril of her beautiful brown hair behind her ear" he said as he did just that, "just as he'd wanted so badly to do many times before."

"And what would she do?" Kate whispered.

"She'd blush because there's this lovely warmth starting to spread through her that has nothing to do with the heating in the car. Then he'd reach for her hand that's clenching to the wheel tightly and take it into his own and start rubbing slow circles onto the back of her palm." He thought he heard ragged breathing. He wasn't sure if it was his or hers.

"Then?" now barely even a whisper as she stopped staring him in the eyes and set her sight on his mouth instead.

"Then he'd lean in slowly – agonizingly slowly, towards her."

"Can't he go any faster?" she asked, still whispering.

"Shush woman. My story." He said with a smirk and then continued to lean in. "She'd think he's going to kiss her."

"He's not?" came another whisper, but this time sounding disappointed.

"Oh he fully intends to. But he has to show her how much he's been waiting for this. How much he'd still be ready to wait if that's what she wants" said Richard Castle with as much sincerity as he could bring to his voice. He grazed his lips over the smooth skin of her cheek. She took in a sharp breath but didn't stop him. Then he gave a few more, inching his way towards her mouth, agonizingly slowly for both of them – just as he'd said. Then he wound his right arm around her neck with his thumb caressing in the spot near her ear while his left hand still held her right hand. She smiled and turned more towards him giving him the non-verbal permission to close in on the last few millimeters – when he suddenly pulled back.

She was utterly confused. "Damn I'm good" he said looking somewhere behind them.

She glared, cheeks flaming, and said "Rick! That was – "

But he spoke over her. "You remember when Lanie said that I wrote with a lot of authenticity?" he asked while looking into the rear view mirror. That's when she stopped glaring at him. It was Ryposito coming in at the most inopportune of moments. Then she looked ahead of her. As if on cue, they saw Daniel Smith dressed in black like the video from Auctagnitio but without the glares, heading out of his building.

She called Esposito to tell them to follow as she herself shifted her car into gear.

"Hey" he put his hand on hers on the steering wheel "Don't worry, our story isn't done yet" he said softly as he withdrew his hand from hers. They had all their lives left for the story he intended to give her.

She smiled and nodded in acknowledgement and said "I hope it never is." That simple statement felt like an elixir to his heart.

With that, they changed to their kickass detective Beckett and far-from-plucky side-kick Castle personas. It was time to catch a killer.

A/N: Okay, so. Phewf! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I caved! But seriously? How do Castle writers do it each and every week? It's so hard to keep these two apart that it's ridiculous. Sorry, had to vent. Feel free to vent along in reviews ;) .. Thank you all for the continuous encouragement. Next chapter heads back into plot. Um – and more fluff. :D