"So why are you leaving?"

Kate wasn't sure whether to be unbelievably frustrated or unbelievably thankful that the drilling had started again, and that it was so loud it drowned out her words. There was no way they would be able to continue the conversation until the drilling stopped, so she had some time to decide whether to just lay it all on the table – the third attempt – or leave it alone.

If she laid it all out for him and he still left with Gina, she would be crushed. If she left it alone, he would leave with Gina and she would still be crushed. Considering the direction of her evening so far, it was a lot easier to imagine one of those outcomes. Yes, she could tell him and he could smile and tell her he felt the same way. He could kiss her and there would, of course, be mind-blowing sex. The couch looked comfy and the shower in the bathroom was pretty huge, which gave her a weird déjà vu… and she really needed to not let her imagination get carried away. Maybe it was the heat, because the room was really starting to get uncomfortably warm. There was also the fact that the object of her thoughts was sitting just a few inches away and right at that moment had an adorable confused expression on his face. The heat was also to blame for her use of the word adorable, and the fact that she couldn't stop stealing glances, she decided.

Castle's mind was running even faster than it did when he had a breakthrough in his writing. She'd broken up with Demming. Was it too much to hope she could have done it for him? But if she had why hadn't she told him? Unless she'd tried to and he'd shoved Gina in her face, then walked off into the night, knowing he wouldn't see her for four months and acting like he was perfectly fine with it. If Kate hadn't been sitting right next to him he would have literally kicked himself, but since she was he had to settle for mentally berating himself in a very long and not particularly pleasant way. Then he stopped himself. Yes, he was becoming pretty sure that he had missed the moment he had been waiting for since he met Kate, but that didn't mean he had completely lost his opportunity. All this time he had been waiting for her to show him she wanted something more, and she had. Admittedly, this was based on a fair amount of guesswork, and he had no actual evidence that Kate had been thinking what he was hoping she was thinking, but when had lack of evidence ever stopped him, seriously?

Castle debated his options; he could talk this out with her and find out what exactly was going on, or he could attempt to worm his way past her defenses the same way he had for the past two years. Considering how skittish she had been since they got themselves trapped in here – ok, since he got them trapped in here (which was quickly becoming the best mistake he had ever made) – both options were risky. Sure Kate had opened up to him a few times, but generally she wasn't one to talk about her feelings. And she was not someone who appreciated being rushed; she would decide things in her own damn time. Which made him mentally kick himself again, since it seemed like he had missed a golden opportunity earlier. The chances of getting a repeat (hopefully extended) performance were slim to none, and the drilling wasn't exactly ideal. He was going to have to do something, because if the doors opened before they talked this out who knows if they'll ever get this chance again. Gina must be out there yelling at everyone, and she would expect him to leave with her as soon as the doors open.

The drilling stopped again before either of them had really decided what they wanted to do. Scratch that, they both knew exactly what they really wanted to do, but were stuck figuring out what was the best thing to do. Castle opened his mouth once or twice then closed it again, still lost for what to say. Kate stole the occasional glance between staring into space and chewing her bottom lip.

They were grateful when Kate's cell started vibrating on the table, breaking the silence and taking a little of the tension with it. Kate read the text from the boys and was torn between rolling her eyes and laughing. She passed the phone to Castle, who did laugh, which made Kate laugh with him.

ETA still the same, sorry. If you haven't shot Castle yet, tell him the butler did it!

The laughter made the atmosphere change for the better. There was still tension, but Kate could now admit to herself that there had always been tension of one form or another when they were together. They still had over four hours in each other's company, and the part of her that was scared about making the leap, of confessing to Castle what it was she had wanted to say before, was convincing her that she didn't have to act right away. Admittedly, the other part was calling her a coward in the background. It was getting too warm to think straight and, while aware that the temperature was only going to get worse, she knew she had been looking for an excuse so jumped on the one she found.

Castle was still trying to figure out what to do, but the heat was really getting to him too. The best he could come up with was some really bad jokes about Heat Wave, which somehow made Kate laugh (she would normally have either rolled her eyes, threatened him or both). As much as he would have loved to believe she found his bad jokes funny he was a little concerned that the heat was affecting her more than him. His previous ideas about sneakily getting her to confess why she broke up with Demming disappeared, and he went back over to the shelves and picked up a couple of bottles of water and some crackers. Knowing Kate, it was easy to believe that she hadn't eaten much during the day. Especially since he hadn't brought her a bear claw and coffee this morning. He wasn't really sure why he hadn't brought one. He knew she would notice, and after finding out about her trip with Demming he got a twisted pleasure out of it. He was an idiot. She had probably barely eaten all day, and he did believe her when she said she didn't want to make things awkward. All in all, the last few days had not been his finest.

"You need these." Castle passed her a bottle of water and some crackers and sat back down.

"Thanks." Kate hadn't realized how thirsty she was until she started drinking the water. She finished the bottle within a few seconds, so Castle passed her his bottle and got up to get another.

"You should probably eat some crackers too." He was actually getting a little concerned about her. It would only get warmer and she was looking a little out of it already.

She dutifully opened the packet – they were the small ones you see in some hotels and restaurants – and took a half hearted nibble on a cracker. She wasn't hungry, it was too warm to eat and she was starting to feel a little sleepy. She took off her boots and socks, curled herself up on her side of the couch and mumbled to Castle that she was going to take a nap. He looked a little doubtful and then shrugged. It was late, they were both tired and the couch was nice. She'd already drunk a bottle of water, which should make her feel better. A nap couldn't hurt. He drank some of his water, took off his own shoes and socks and got himself into a comfortable position on his side of the couch. They both drifted off together.

They slept a little longer this time, Kate waking up first – mainly because it was so damn hot. She headed into the bathroom, careful not to wake Castle as she got up from the couch. She wasn't feeling great and knew that she needed to do three things. Drink some more water, actually eat something and – and this was the thing that was really a worry – if she didn't lose some of her clothes she felt like she was going to go crazy. She had on pants and a shirt, which basically left the option of sitting around in her underwear for – she checked her watch – at least four hours. Knowing that was never going to happen she went over to the sink and splashed some cold water on her face. It helped a little. She looked wistfully at the shower but had no intention of using it with Castle in the other room and no lock on the door. That would just be asking for trouble.

She headed back to the door leading into the main room, expecting to see a sleeping Castle on the couch. She froze in the doorway, knowing she must look like a deer in the headlights, but having momentarily lost control of her motor functions. Castle was standing by the couch with his shirt in his hand. He was still wearing his jeans, but there was nothing covering his chest… and Kate was staring. She couldn't help it! When he took a step towards her it took all her will power not to take a step back, to put some distance between them.

"Kate? Did you hear what I said?" He sounded concerned, which wasn't the inflection she… umm… well she wasn't about to admit, even to herself, but her mind had jumped ahead in a direction that made her blush a little. She hadn't really expected his chest to be so broad, he obviously took better care of himself than he made out. Thankful for the candlelight, she shook her head and waited for him to repeat himself, trying to keep her eyes on anything but his chest.

"I asked you if you wanted to wear my shirt, since it's getting so warm." Castle was concerned. He had slept fitfully, worried about the affect the heat was having on Beckett. That she now seemed confused, and he could just make out the flush on her cheeks, just compounded it.

Kate's eyes widened as she realized what he was saying, but one look at his face made it clear that he was actually concerned about her, which was really kinda sweet. She took the shirt, murmuring a thank you and turned back into the bathroom to change. Kate leaned against the door and closed her eyes. If it wasn't for Castle being in the next room she would have seriously considered banging her head against the wall, which was becoming a worryingly frequent idea. If she hadn't been so unbelievably warm she would've just made him put it back on because this seemed like a really really bad idea. She was supposed to sit out there, wearing his shirt, and therefore – of course – him wearing no shirt?

No matter how she looked at it there was no alternative. She knew she would only start to feel worse if she didn't lose some of her clothes, so she just admitted defeat and stripped off her shirt and pants, and then slipped on the shirt, buttoning it up all the way. Realizing that was dumb in this heat, she stopped and undid the top two buttons. The shirt smelt like him, and combined with the new mental image she had of him shirtless it made her mind feel even fuzzier. She needed to snap out of it. She grabbed her clothes, and the badge and gun that she no longer had anywhere to keep, and, taking one final calming breath, walked into the main room, determined to act like everything was normal.

Castle had been facing away from her, just rechecking supplies again, when she walked into the room. When he turned around it was his turn to stare. He hadn't really thought this idea through. He'd been so concerned about her that he had given her the shirt because it seemed like the best thing to do. He hadn't counted on the effect seeing her in his shirt would have on him. Seeing her barefoot, wearing his clothes – it seemed really intimate.

Kate wandered around the room looking for somewhere to stash her clothes, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Castle just couldn't take his eyes off her. She stopped and put her belongings on the floor near the panic room door, riffling through the pockets of her pants briefly before standing up. She was facing away from him, thank god, when she starting putting her hair up in a messy bun with the tie she must have found in her pocket. As she lifted her arms up to wind the tie around her hair the shirt rose up and gave him a pretty spectacular view of her long legs. His mouth fell open. He quickly turned back to the shelves as she turned around, needing a moment to recover his senses. It had to be a short moment because she walked straight over to him, looking much more like herself, excluding the outfit.

"I think I need to eat something, what do we have?" Kate inwardly applauded herself for the fact that her voice sounded completely normal.

Castle cleared his throat and sent up a silent prayer for his voice to sound anywhere near as normal as hers.

"We have more crackers, although they didn't seem to appeal to you earlier, some chips, some canned peaches…" he had been so relieved that his voice sounded somewhere in the ballpark of normal that he hadn't noticed how close she was getting as he fumbled around behind the cans. When he realized how close her face was to his, he faltered.

Kate didn't even seem to notice, as her eyes grew bright and she stood on her tiptoes and reached behind the cans herself, rejoicing at the fact that she'd found a fairly large supply of chocolate. She only realized her mistake as her hand briefly touched Castle's, and she turned slightly to find his face less than an inch away from hers, his eyes briefly flashing down to her lips before meeting her eyes.

Kate swallowed and, trying to break the tension, she let her heels fall back to the ground, putting a couple more inches between their faces, and waved the chocolate in his direction with a grin.

He smiled and, for once, sounded just like the father he was when he told her she had to eat something better for her before she could have the chocolate. Kate just grinned at him again and walked away.

They chatted about Alexis while they ate – Castle managing to get Kate to eat something other than chocolate – and for the first time in days it felt normal. Mostly. There were still a few sticky moments. The chocolate was melting, of course, so that caused one of them. Castle regretted finding it with the supplies the minute he saw Kate licking it off her fingers. He was trying not to let his mind take the image further, and it was only partially effective. He needed a minute, so excused himself and went in the bathroom. Maybe splashing water on his face would help.

Kate was feeling much more like herself, but was still exhausted. The two brief naps she'd taken (although the first unintentionally) hadn't really helped, and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. She smiled as her mind flashed back to the conversation they had over dinner. They had been talking about Alexis – a nice, safe subject – when he turned to Kate and said, "She's one of the reasons Gina and I could never be together again. Gina never really cared much for her. She tried… she just didn't have it in her."

By the time Castle walked back into the room she was curled up on her side of the couch, smiling up at him sleepily. It took what remained of his willpower to just smile back, because she looked so damn adorable, her hair falling out of her hair tie and framing her face.

He cleared up the remains of their food, put some fresh bottles of water on the table and joined Kate on the couch, making sure to stick to his side. They still had a good few hours in here, by his estimation, so they might as well get some sleep.

Kate woke to the sensation of lips kissing her neck. Her eyes flew open, only to see a sound asleep Castle inches away from her. Somehow in their sleep they'd both moved towards each other. They were stretched out along the couch, Castle trapped between the back of the couch and Kate, with his arm under her and his hand in her hair. As much as she would have loved to blame Castle (and whatever he was dreaming about), Kate realized that she must have moved towards him too, because her head was now at the end of the couch where Castle had been sleeping. There was also the fact that her leg was wrapped around his, keeping him closer to her than she thought was a good idea. As soon as she registered that fact, she became aware of Castle's free hand on her waist – beneath the shirt, touching bare skin.

She closed her eyes again for a second, not sure how to extract herself from the couch, or even if she wanted to, but opened them in shock when she felt his hand travel down her body to her thigh. She bit her lip hard as she felt his hand reach the back of her knee, pulling her leg further around him.

The shiver that went through Kate woke Castle.

OK, I admit it, I am the slowest writer on here. Seriously I really did try to get this done faster. In the end I banned myself from reading anyone else's fics until I updated (so I have a lot of unread story alerts sitting in my inbox - I read on a different ID btw - again down to nervousness lol) and forced myself to watch the finale to try and get my mind back in the right place (I was going all fangirl over the new promo shots). It's longer than the other chapters if that's any consolation. I hope no one gave up waiting for me. Out of interest should this stay T or go M?