A/N: It's been 3 weeks since my last update – sorry for that. I've been dealing with some health problems, but I hope the worst is behind me now. Since I'm still on meds, though, I apologize if anything sounds off in this chapter. No beta'ing again – I wanted to surprise my gals with this short update LOL

Thank you all for sticking with this story – and newcomers, thank you for joining :)

PREVIOUSLY:

"Anyway, why can't you come over on Sunday?"

The uneasiness instantly returned to her heart. "I'm meeting my dad for dinner," she told him, hoping he wouldn't ask any further questions on the matter.

Surprisingly, all he said was a chirpy "That's great, Kate!"

After Beckett had told him about Jim overcoming his struggle with alcohol, Castle had come to realize – even more so than he already knew – how important it was to have a father and to make sure you both could count on each other.

He was honestly happy for her – so much that it didn't even occur to him to question why she was meeting him on Sunday evening. He didn't even try to invite himself to her dinner date with her father either.

All of which made her feel even worse about omitting the fact that her dinner plans with her dad involved celebrating her upcoming birthday.

It was close to 10:30 when Castle stepped out of the elevator and into the bullpen that Monday morning. He recognized a few of the officers and detectives around from the other times he had come to the precinct, but he hadn't actually taken the time to get to know them on those occasions.

If things worked out the way the writer was hoping they would, he would have to remedy that situation.

On his way over to the detectives' stations, Rick quickly stopped in front of one of the conference rooms' windows to check how he looked – nervous, he realized. It didn't matter that his hair was in place, that his eyes looked extra blue and that he was a handsome man; his features were screaming that he was anxious and he was sure that Kate would see that from a mile away.

He looked down at the two coffee cups in his hands and, taking a deep, calming breath, resumed his stride towards Beckett's desk.

He could do this.

He had barely managed five steps before he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of her, sitting at her desk, oblivious to him as she read the file in her hand. Her short brown hair framed her face, her furrowed brows and pursed lips portraying her concentration and hiding any evidence of her playful self. Still, she looked too adorable for words.

As he stood there, watching Kate with an affectionate smile on his lips, he realized that he had missed her. Really missed her. Actually, considering he hadn't spoken to her since their phone conversation on Friday evening – hadn't seen her since the week before that –, saying that he missed her was quite the understatement. The mere sight of her in all her cuteness was enough to get him to stand there looking all dorky and devoted and…

God, he was really falling in love with her.

Castle was still standing there, frozen by the realization that he was falling for Kate, when she swiveled around in her chair and met his eyes. Her actions made it seem for him as if she could tell he had been watching her for a while, but the surprise in her voice when his first name rolled off her tongue told him she had been caught off guard.

If that hadn't been enough, her asking him in a gentle whisper what he was doing in the precinct was another pretty big tell that she hadn't been expecting him.

"Castle?" he heard her tentative, low voice trying to catch his attention since he still hadn't addressed her question.

"Good morning, Detective Beckett," he managed to say a few seconds later, with a slight shake of his head in an attempt to physically snap out of his stupor. "I brought you this," he added as he placed the cup of coffee in front on her on her desk.

"Thank you," she said with a small smile, taking a sip of the hot liquid. "What are you really doing here, though?"

"I need to talk to you about something."

She read the nervousness in his eyes and it made her uneasy. "Do we have to do this now?"

"It's best to, yes," he told her as he sat down on a chair next to her desk. "Where are the guys?" He questioned with a nod towards Ryan and Esposito's desks.

"They're out picking up a suspect."

"Oh. Okay."

"Okay…" she parroted. "Tell me what's on your mind, Rick."

Despite her words, he remained silent for a short while, playing with his fingers.

"Is this about contraception?" She ventured, remembering the subject that was on the back of their minds the entire previous week.

"What? No," he assured her, though they really needed to talk about that too.

Wow, it seemed like they had a lot to talk about.

Trying to breach the matter he really wanted to discuss, he offered, "I sent my final draft manuscript to my publisher yesterday."

"Yes… you mentioned on Friday that your deadline was due yesterday," Beckett replied with furrowed brows, a little confused. Was this a stalling technique? "Uh, congratulations?"

He shook his head sheepishly. "Thank you, but that's not why I mentioned it." He sighed. "I wanted to talk to you about the direction the book took."

"Direction?"

"Yes. Remember when I asked if I could shadow you guys for a while for research?"

She thought back to the conversation they'd had some weeks before, when he showed up unannounced at the precinct and asked her Captain if he could join the detectives for some cases. "That was serious?"

He smirked at her bewilderment. "Why, Detective Beckett, did you think I was merely trying to spend time with you?"

That's exactly what she had assumed, but damn him if he thought she would give him the satisfaction of saying so. "No," she lied. Trying to deflect any further comments from him on the subject, she changed tactics. "How's Derrick Storm related to the NYPD anyway, Castle?"

His smirk grew in smugness. "I don't want to give out any spoilers. Not even to one of my most loyal fans."

"Castle," she said in a warning tone, narrowing her eyes menacingly.

Castle dropped the smirk. "Whoa. Scary," he said as he physically retracted. "Okay, so… spoiler alert," he cautioned before speaking again. "Clara Strike is found dead in New York and–"

"Clara dies?!"

Wow, she was loud. He actually feared for his life for a minute there.

"See, I told you I didn't want to spoil you!"

"Couldn't you just omit that fact?"

"But that's the whole motif of the book!" He tried to defend himself.

"Yeah, well, you could just say that someone close to Storm was killed instead of announcing that the second most important character in the novel is suddenly dead!"

He actually tilted his head in consideration of her suggestion. "Ooh, that's a good point. The blurb could read 'someone close to Storm is found dead' instead of announcing that it's Clara, right? Then the surprise effect won't be ruined."

Staring pointedly at him, Beckett asked, "You couldn't have realized that a few seconds sooner?"

He winced in apology and mouthed, "Sorry."

Oh, she hated him right then.

"Anyway. Clara is found dead in New York…" she prompted.

"Yes. She's found in a hotel room and, when Derek finds out he worms his way into the NYPD investigation."

Kate looked confused. "Okay, so?"

It was Castle's turn to feel perplexed. "So?"

"So, why did you have to tell me this right now?" she asked in clarification.

"Right." He took a deep breath. "Well, I wanted to talk to you about the beautiful and savvy young female detective leading the murder investigation."

She quickly picked up the meaning of his words. "Oh no."

"Uh… yes?"

"Castle, you can't base a character on me!" she hissed.

"Why not?!"

"Because… we're together. I mean, isn't it a little weird to base off a character on the woman with whom you're in a relationship?"

The truth was… Kate was flattered. He wrote a character inspired by her?

"Uh… no? I've done it before, so I really don't –"

"You've done it before?" Okay, so maybe she wasn't so flattered anymore.

"Uh… yes."

He was really annoying her now. "Castle, stop saying 'uh-anything'!"

Yep, she was mad with him, he could tell. No way he would lie to her, though. Not about this. "Well, I have written characters based on people I've met in real life. And some of my female characters have been inspired in women I've slept with. I'm sorry, but –"

"I don't care," she told him, exasperated.

"Yes, you do," he retorted without missing a beat. "You do and that's fine, Kate. Look," Rick made a move to catch her hand but quickly chose against it realizing where they were. Yeah, she probably wouldn't like that. "I can't tell you that this hasn't happened before. But this time it's different."

She didn't believe him. "Why's it different, Castle?"

"Well, for starters I wanted to talk to you about the character."

"What's to talk about? You already finished the book."

"Yes, but I was thinking that maybe you could be a part of her creation. You know, approve her backstory, choose her name or something."

"Her name?"

"Yes. I mean, she's a cop loosely based on you. She's going to be just as attractive, and intelligent, and badass, but it's not like people will actually know it's you. Still, I want you to know she's based on you. I want you to know that I chose you for this character and…" he trailed off.

"And?"

"And if you're okay with this, I wanted to ask you if I could write a whole book about you. About her."

She gaped at him, caught off guard. "A book?"

"Yes," he told her quietly. Nervously.

"Why?" she asked in a daze.

This time the nervousness went away and only admiration remained in his eyes. "Because you're remarkable, Kate. When I first met you, I thought you were fascinating but ever since then, the more I get to know you, the more extraordinary I realize you are. I don't think I've ever been this amazed by someone before," he told her, his eyes conveying all the truthfulness behind his words. "You're so beautiful, Kate –"

She looked down at her hands, trying to hide her flushed cheeks. He just wanted lift her chin so he could stare into her eyes and press a kiss to her lips, in hopes he would be able to show her what his mind couldn't translate into proper words. He refrained from doing so, though.

Once she looked up on her own, he gave her a soft smile and resumed talking. "But you're so much more than this gorgeous, sensual woman, Kate. You're strong, and professional, and caring, and…" he sighed, feeling that his words were inadequate. "You inspire me. You enthrall me."

There was no hiding her blush this time around. "Rick…" All coherent thoughts had left her mind and all air her lungs at his admission.

He hoped for lightheartedness. "Plus, you're tall."

She smiled a bit, even though she was still dumbfounded by his words. "What about Storm?"

"Storm? This is his last novel."

"What?"

"It's not the same. It used to be fun writing these novels. Now? It's different. It takes me forever to get a scene out. The only reason this book worked well for me is because I had your character in it."

She was stunned by all of these words coming out of his mouth. There was no way she could make sense of all this. Storm was boring…? She was his inspiration…?

"You're writing a book about me," she repeated, amazed.

It had sounded rhetorical, but he replied anyway, "Yes." After a moment, he spoke again, "Well, I'm writing a book that has a character inspired by you in it. If you agree to it, I'll write a whole book based on you."

"You've never had a female lead before," she added in a daze.

"No, I haven't," he acknowledged with a gleam in his eyes and a light smirk. "Told you this time it was different."

She smiled, a mixture of self-satisfaction and embarrassment on her face, and it made him fall even deeper in love with her.

Yeah… he was long gone.

Unable to keep his mouth shut, Castle started talking again, "Of course, I'll remodel the character enough so that people can't tell with just a glance that it's you, but… yeah. It's still going to be about you in a way."

"How much will she be like me?"

He smiled openly at her question. She's going to let me do this. "Well, however you approve. As I said, I want you to have a say on her backstory. I was thinking… she's going to pretty and smart, as I've said before. But, I don't know, maybe she can be kind of slutty."

She widened her eyes. "Castle!"

"What?" He sounded amused. "You know, cop by day, hooker by night? No one is going to think she's based on you that way!"

"No!"

"Come on!"

"Castle…"

"Kate…"

"Rick Castle!" Montgomery's voice startled the couple as the Captain walked into the bullpen, interrupting their conversation. "What brings you by?" the older man questioned with a smile, shaking Castle's hand as the writer stood up from his chair.

Castle greeted Roy but then immediately looked at Beckett, as if seeking her permission to tell the Captain what they had been talking about. Her lips curved into the briefest of smiles and he took that as her agreement. "Actually, I came to talk to you. I'd like to revisit that discussion we had about my shadowing your detectives for research."

The moment Castle stepped out of Roy's office, Beckett was on to him. "So?"

"Yo!" Esposito interrupted as he walked into the bullpen, Ryan in tow. Only when the two male detectives were closer to Beckett's desk and the writer turned around is that they noticed Kate had company. "Castle, man!" Espo greeted, immediately working an elaborate handshake with the author. "What are you doing here?" he asked as Ryan followed to fist bump Castle.

"I came to talk to Roy. Well, actually, I've already spoken to him – and to the Mayor and the Commissioner, while I was at it – but I also wanted to talk to you guys," he started with a sweep of his arms in a gesture to encompass the three detectives.

"What, you still trying to work your way into an investigation, dude?" the latino joked just as Kate's phone rang.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay with this," was Castle's smartass reply.

"What?" Esposito exclaimed, perplexed, over Beckett's phone conversation.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. If it's alright with you all, I'll be following you guys for research."

"Research?" Ryan asked.

Rick nodded. "For a book."

"A book?"

"Yes."

"Is Beckett okay with this?" Esposito asked, turning to look at Kate, who was still on the phone.

"Yes," Rick replied smoothly.

"I thought your character worked with the CIA," Ryan commented, sounding confused. "Why do you want to shadow some NYPD detectives?"

Kate, who had just ended her phone call, piped up, "Trust me, you don't want to know. It will spoil the next book." She then started making her way towards the elevator, but added over her shoulder, "Come on, Castle."

Already rushing after her, the writer asked in a shout, "Where are we going?"

"To see Lanie about our victim. She's got some news for us."

Esposito and Ryan stared at one another while Rick continued his stride towards the elevator, smirking to himself.

He was in.

TBC

(All characters and even some of the quotes in this fanfic don't belong to me. This is made available for entertainment only and not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended.)