I was a litle sad at the lack of reviews given the amount that was written for the previous chapter but I guess there isn't much I can do about it is there? Well I suppose I *could* withhold chapters but that would be mean wouldn't it...hmm...

Anyways, a few people were wondering why Rick didn't recognize her and I can only point out that he hasn't physically seen her in almost fifteen years. That's a long time and people's features change. His image of Allison will always be of that high school girl. just saying...

Umm, I think that's it. We're going along our little pathway of Castle leading up to a very happy ending so please just keep reviewing because that's the only way any author knows if you're reading or if you're liking what we're reading.

And of course I'm promoting my collab-fic that just posted it's third chapter called 'Armed and Dangerous' found on my profile page or by doing a quick search. Please review it and spread the love.

Please review and as always you can follow me on twitter you can find me at vatrask

Enjoy 3

Will Sorenson comes back. It's been years since they've spoken to each other but he requests her when he has to work with the NYPD, like maybe he's hoping for something. And the spark is there; she can feel it every time he smiles that crinkly smile at her. But things have changed – they've both changed – and that spark of burning desire stays in her belly. It doesn't spread through to her fingertips like it used to. But it's there.

And more than that, she finds herself a little on the defensive whenever he's around; like she has to make excuses for the choices she's made without him and the people she's made company with. Like Castle. Will makes a joke and she automatically thinks 'that's something Castle would say' she doesn't realize she's said it out loud until he calls her on it. "You like him."

"I think he's interesting." She shrugs, and she's not wrong. Castle, for his immaturity, is not a dull person. And he knows she's a fan of his work; but he'll never know just how much. After all, after his book comes out, he's gone and this will just be one of those crazy stories she'll tell her grandchildren. 'So there was this one time when I met Richard Castle; he was a famous author back in the day' – she was feeling old already. Will talks to her like an old friend, knowing every little tick of hers that hasn't really changed since they were together back in ancient history. But then he's kissing her and the spark spreads from her belly to her toes but her fingertips are unscathed. He kisses her like a former lover; desperate to reclaim something lost and yet still sinfully sweet in every sense of the word.

And then Castle comes in and they break apart slowly like a couple of teenagers who remembered that they were allowed to be kissing. But she blushes nonetheless and suddenly feels the need to explain it to him even as Will smirked because as much as it stings that she's focused on this new man, he can tell she's got a little crush. He just hopes she doesn't get her heart broken like what he did to her.

Castle, of course, his very casual about the whole situation, reminding Beckett that she and Will are both consenting adults and she doesn't need to explain her actions. She bows her head, completely missing the look Rick tries to hide – like someone kicked his puppy. He had honestly thought that she was letting him in. When this case had started they had been working side by side for a few months and although she had rejected him on a personal level, he was determined to impress her with his powers observation so that maybe, she'd accept him on a professional level; can't have his muse rigid about opening up to him. So he studied her, noting every little detail of her personality that he could see through the curtain and he finally found the one thing that could get him in the front door instead of peering in through the front window.

Coffee. A grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla to be exact. He's seen her order it every time they go out for coffee on their way back to the precinct, can smell it on her breath every time she gets too close to him – and he ignores the urge to grab a taste of it off her tongue. So on a seemingly random morning when they get a case, he moves quickly, grabbing her two pumps of sugar-free vanilla – and one for himself as well, a compromise on the tongue situation – and presents it to her with smug anticipation in his eyes. He's figured her out but he's also terrified of her reaction; the woman was unpredictable. But she just gaps at him in amusement with one of those 'what am I going to do with you' looks but she asks him why he isn't slinking home from some scandalous liaison and it occurs to him that on any other Monday, he would still be sleeping but this is murder we're talking about here; the chance to see it up close and personal while standing next to a gorgeous woman is like a dream come true. So yes, he normally would be out with some woman into the wee hours of the morning but this time, he's just here – with her – about to learn the story of another murder.

So he tells her that in his dreams she wouldn't be jealous if he had been slinking home, she would just- of course he doesn't get to finish that thought because she's stuffing the bearclaw he'd also bought into his mouth. But he'll swear up and down that she was smiling when she does it. It's all in her eyes – those gorgeous hazel eyes that he could have sworn he'd seen before – but then again, he's observed her so many times that it could all just be in his head. God, she's a beautiful woman. Her eyes, her perfect nose, that perfect, creamy skin that he's only imagined himself to touch, her legs that go one for days – and he'd spend just as long describing and exploring them if he could – and her mouth, thin and full and perfectly shaped to fit another mouth as though it were just waiting for someone to kiss her. And of course her hair, short and a sun-kissed brown that bounced whenever she moved and yet always in perfect condition. He thinks not many women could pull it off but she'd look great with long hair as well. It would make her look softer, long flowing locks down past her shoulders so he could run his fingers through it.

He stops that train of thought as she turns away and he pictures those long finger-running tendrils and he thinks he's seen that look before on someone he knew more than a decade ago. But this isn't Allison before him; it's Kate Becket, a kick-ass, gorgeous woman whose mother's murder drives her through life. Allison, the cute freshman he'd met once in his lifetime still had her mother at age nineteen when he met her so that was just one more reason to focus on the present. His face falls when he remembers Johanna Beckett. He pulls out his cellphone and makes a little note for himself to call "Doctor Death" his criminal pathologist source and have him take a look at some case files that he shouldn't have but is compelled to. He wants to save her if only a little bit and finding something – anything – in terms of her mother's murder because if he can give her a lead, that'll be better than all the coffee in the world for her. He knows that; but now is not the time for serious emotional thoughts. Right now is a time to make her smile because when she's smiles, he swears his heart stops and he's an adrenaline junkie. Time to make Kate Beckett crazy.

But now he's back in reality and he's just walked in on Will and Kate kissing and though he jokes to make his presence known, it still stings that they were together. Will came back; but he wouldn't stay long now that Castle was there.