AN: Man, this chapter gave me trouble. I can't get the words to flow properly. Let me know if this is crap or I should wrap it up. I don't want to waste your time.

I should be able to write more on Friday and Saturday when I'm stuck chaperoning again.

Again, feedback is great, even if it is just to say "stop writing this useless drivel."

Don't own it.

Neither Beckett nor Castle could think clearly. As their lips and tongues clashed gently together, they both felt the world fade away from them. His hands caressed her back in slow, smooth circles, and she was gripping the front of his shirt. They were giving each other enough time between languid kisses to get sufficient oxygen. If they hadn't known better, they would say that they had been doing this forever. He knew what she wanted and need and vice versa.

An approaching voice made them both jump apart.

"Hey, Dad?" Alexis called down the stairs. "Have you seen my advanced Chem textbook?"

Castle turned toward the sound shaking his head to clear his thoughts and wiping at his mouth to hide the evidence as Kate busied herself with drying dishes on the counter.

As she saw Alexis descend the stairs to her right, she listened to Castle give the girl directions as to where to find the missing book. He had seen it in his office the night before. She placed her palms on the counter in front of her, extended her arms and bowed her head. She couldn't keep doing this. Kissing Castle was dangerous and she needed to make herself stop; it, however, just felt so right.

Beckett blew out a long careful sigh, as to not cause herself anymore physical pain. Castle walked back to the main area of the loft with his daughter and long-lost book in tow. He looked at Beckett so intensely she averted her eyes to the young girl instead. Smiling, Alexis packed her school back and bid her adieus to both of them, wishing them a good day off, and left the loft none the wiser to what had just occurred in the kitchen.

When she turned back to him after watching the young girl breeze through the door, she had to wonder if his intense gaze had left her since she last looked at him. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

"Kate…" He started, moving towards her.

He was interrupted by a closing door and his mother coming to the main foyer as brightly dressed as ever.

"Well, Darlings, I'm off!" she exclaimed. "I have an audition; big one." She smiled.

Martha looked at the two of them and, of course, was a bit more perceptive than the youngest Castle.

"Are you two okay?" She asked.

"Fine" Beckett replied

"We will be." Castle spoke at the same time.

Martha paused again, studying the pair. Something had gone down between the time that she left and the time she was standing there now. She had two options: She could pry, which was absolutely tempting; or she could leave and let them work out whatever they needed to and hope they were both alive when she returned. She settled on the latter and waved her hand.

"Well, okay, then." She said. "I'll be back for dinner. If you need me, call."

She swept out the door, much like Alexis, and Kate figured that the younger redhead learned how to enter and exit from her Grandmother.

The door closed and they both stood looking at it. Kate leaned heavily on the counter behind her and Castle stood in the middle of the living room, much distance between them. He turned toward her and she let her eyes wander to his face once more.

"Kate…" He spoke. His voice died in his throat and he was without words. He had kissed a lot of people in his life, and he wasn't shy about telling the world that… Until now, because what he had just experienced was the single best kiss he had ever had and he was sure he would never have one better.

"Listen, Castle…" Beckett began giving him a sad smile. "We can't keep doing this."

"We could…"

"No, Castle." She shook her head.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Beckett." He said, getting irritated. "I'm not going to stand here and say that it was a mistake, or that it meant nothing, because it's not true."

She considered this for a moment. She could lie. She could blame it on the pain medication coupled with the trauma of the past few days. She could say it meant nothing to her and it would crush him. Her fast brain considered all of these options and more, but she couldn't do it. She didn't want to put that look of hurt on his face. She didn't want to lie anymore. She didn't want to blame it on the pain meds. She sighed again and looked at him.

"I don't know what to do, Castle." She shook her head. "I just don't know what to do."

"Let go, Kate." He replied.

"You know I can't."

"I know you can't, but I don't understand why you can't." He answered, moving into the kitchen to stand in front of her. "Don't you trust me?"

"Of course, I trust you." She got defensive. "What kind of question is that?"

"I know you trust me, professionally." He explained. "But can you trust me, personally? Can you trust me to make this work?"

"I don't know, Castle." She replied with a hint of sarcasm and threw up her hands. "Can I? You tell me."

"I told you, you can, but you don't seem to be hearing me."

"Your words say one thing, Rick, your track record says something else entirely." She sniped at him, letting the ugly truth slip out.

"Is that what this is about?" He asked. "You can't trust me because of what everyone says about me?"

Beckett shrugged and looked up at him again, fidgeting uncomfortably. He had gotten it out of her. He had worn her down, like he always did.

"You've known me for almost three years, Kate." He replied softly. "I told you, I've changed. Tell me you don't see that."

"I see it." She admitted. "I just don't know if it's going to stick. What if it doesn't? Then where will we be?"

"I can't see myself going back." He admitted. "The person I was putting out in the media is not the person I am." He explained. "Besides, can't we worry about that later; cross that bridge when, or if, we come to it?"

"I don't live that way, Castle." She sighed at him. "I need to think about the future. I need that reassurance and you can't give it to me."

"But I can!" He refuted. "I promise, I can!"

Beckett shook her head at him and his desperation. She knew she was being stubborn, but that was who she was. She wasn't going to let their friendship dissolve into some fling for him. She couldn't lose him as a friend, so she wouldn't take the chance to allow that to happen.

Before either of them could say anything more, Beckett's cell phone rang. She pulled the offending object from her pants-pocket and looked at the caller-id.

"Shit." She whispered and looked up at Castle, who wore a look of confusion. She flipped open the receiver and greeted the person on the other end before leaving the room. "Hi, Dad."

Castle watched her as she walked past him and into the open living room. He would prove to her that she could trust him with her heart. Even if it killed him, he would make her see that he was serious. He wanted them to happen and he wanted them to last. He only had a few days to do it, but he would succeed. He had to.

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