Sorry again for the lengthy gaps in updates... I wrestled this one out of my muse. I had to. She's being mean to me. I hope you like it, because I honestly just wrote and wrote, and I really didn't find anything I wanted to edit when I read it over. That never happens. I cranked it out.

Take that, muse. ;)

Enjoy!

This time, don't need another perfect line

Don't care if critics never jump in line

I'm gonna give all my secrets away

The walk to The Old Haunt was taking much too long. Kate had insisted that they take their conversation elsewhere, and Rick's newly acquired bar seemed to fit the bill. Despite their mutual urgency to get where they were going, the pair seemed to lollygag, enjoying the simple action of taking a walk together.

When they arrived, they still held off, knowing that the moment they spoke seriously, the line between them would forever blur. Instead they both ordered drinks, an appropriate glass of Jameson for him, and a Cherry Vodka with Coke for her. They bantered easily back and forth, per usual, talking about recent cases, Kate's new apartment, and a project Alexis was working on for school. The more they talked about everything other than 'What they were thinking', the more they fidgeted.

Kate brushed her hair behind her ear.

Rick drummed his fingers on the bar.

She toyed with her mother's ring.

He adjusted his collar.

She touched his arm in a fit of laughter.

He patted her knee after a sarcastic comment.

She looked up.

He looked at her.

She rested her hand gently on top of his, giving him a small smile.

He stood, taking her hand fully in his, tugging on it to urge her to stand as well.

She followed as he led her downstairs into the basement, where he had set up his private offices.

"Wow Castle, I haven't been down here since that case." She looked around. It was unmistakably his space. A laptop sat on the desk, idling along with a few other trinkets, including the Eastern European Egg Dolls that he had purchased while investigating a case. The harder she looked, the more she saw that nearly every item in the room had some reference to his time at the 12th. From his 'Writer' vest to a framed reprint of the painting that they recovered in the Victor Fink case, the place was filled with little momentos. "It really looks... great down here." She said, unsure of what else to say.

"It's kind of my trophy room," Castle explained, with a slightly goofy look on his face. He began to look around too. A sullen look came over his face eventually, and he turned to face her again. "... Gina... She hated that I kept bringing things home. She thinks I got rid of all this stuff..." He sighed heavily. "She hated that I went to the station all the time. I have a feeling it became less and less about my safety, and more and more about... Well..." he trailed.

"Me?" Kate finished softly for him.

Rick didn't say anything. Instead he walked to the luxurious couch he had brought down there, and flopped down on it, half leaning back over the arm. Kate followed tentatively, still letting him take the reins on this one. As much as she loved being in control of her situation, she was glad to give it up for this one instance. Not only did it give her a little extra time to think, but she also knew that Rick had to suss his own statements out. She sat down, leaving a decent amount of space between them.

A moment passed as the sounds of the bar, rattling and muffled, echoed above them.

"Do you know why Gina and I don't work?" He said, breaking the silence between them.

"No."

"She was safe. For a while at least. And the only real reason I can come up with why I married her was because I felt so guilty for raising Alexis without her mom. I wanted her to have someone, and Gina played the part. Mostly. But she never cared for her the way I do. She couldn't. I always said, 'It felt right at the time.' But the truth is, it never felt completely right. And as of recent, we just kept fighting about the same things over and over, and it felt like deja vu. It was fine. It was ordinary. Then we started fighting about something new."

Kate gulped slightly, knowing what the topic of their new fights were. She started to speak. "Rick, I never meant for-"

"No, Kate. It doesn't matter now," he said, shaking his head. "She was mostly being irrational, but she had a point. Nothing was going on, but it very well could have been, because..." He hesitated. "Because... I wanted something to be going on. But either way, it wasn't. But I realized in those fights, that no matter what I thought I had with Gina, it never compared to what I have, or could have with you."

Kate was touched by his admission. One of the huge barriers that held her back from him was the fact that she never really knew what happened with his marriages. This was a huge step in realizing that he was not the man that always left, and that maybe, just maybe, she could trust him with her heart.

She already trusted him with her life, why not add her heart in the mix as well?

He continued. "And that was the second time. The first time we really tried. Hard. But it never worked. We just aren't compatible."

Kate finally managed to speak. "The second time? Are you- Did you two break up?"

Rick chuckled at this. "Don't tell me you didn't read it on page six. The paparazzi were all over it. It was embarrassing." He offered a small but teasing smile, lightening the mood.

"I wasn't sure," Kate admitted. "I didn't want to pry. I knew something was up, but I figured you would tell me if you wanted to."

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Not a problem," she replied. She inched closer, resting her hand on his knee. "You know you don't have to explain yourself, right?"

"I know," he said, grasping her hand gently. "But I want to. No, I need to. No. I want to and need to. It's the only way to make you understand. I know the reputation I have."

"I'm sorry that I bought into it," she murmured.

"It's not your fault. People saw what I portrayed."

"I know, but still. I should have trusted you."

He gave her hand a squeeze, but said nothing. She picked up their hands with hers, and kissed the back of his hand, covering the kiss with her other hand, as if to seal it there. His eyes flickered to hers, questioning. She knew what he was 'not asking.'

"You want to know, 'What about Motorcycle Boy?'"

"Dr. Motorcycle Boy," he corrected, deadpanning.

She couldn't help but let out a soft giggle, which had Rick doing a double-take. Beckett didn't do things like twirl her hair, and she especially didn't giggle... But she just did.

Meeting his eyes again, she continued with a shrug and a half-defeated smile. "Yin/Yin again. We were too much alike. Both busy, both workaholics. We barely had time for each other, and when we did, things just..." She shook her head gently. "They fizzled. He thought everything was fine, that we were both just stressed. I knew better. My intuition was screaming at me that it would never get more..." She fumbled for the right phrase. "...out of the ordinary with us. We were rushing around with our lives at the speed of light, but when we were together it was stagnant. Ordinary." She found herself shaking her head and smiling at how her words echoed Rick's. She finally finished,"I don't know about you, but for me, ordinary is never enough."

That was all it took: Those words, and her eyes flickering with the same flame that Rick felt in his own body. No more words were needed as he interlaced their fingers and looked into her eyes, feeling the warmth of the look she was returning. She lifted their hands again and kissed each one of his fingers individually. She took her time, not intending to rush a bit of their time. After kissing the flat of his hand one last time, he lifted her chin, and she raised her eyes to his slowly. Green-brown locked with ice-blue, and he reached around to caress the back of her neck with his free hand.

She surprised him by moving first, dipping her head to the right and letting her eyelids flutter closed. He met her half-way, like he always did, regardless of the situation. Their lips met, softly and fluidly. They moved together, as if they had been kissing each other their entire lives. She went for his top lip, biting on it softly, while he sucked on her bottom lip, drawing a small whimper from deep within her. Moving closer, she wound her fingers in his hair at the same moment as he wrapped his fingers in her soft curls and drew her towards him. They tasted, touched, and learned, never once missing a beat. It was so natural, and yet so new.

After a few moments, they mutually pulled away, lips swollen, eyes wide, and breathless, only to sink into each other once again. They even thought the same thought: 'Why did we wait so long to do this?'

They couldn't stop, even if they wanted to. It didn't just feel good-

It felt extraordinary.

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