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Kate screamed and Rick held her tight as they fell...then it stopped, shuddered, and then the doors opened with a familiar ding. The lights came back on and everything about the elevator was completely normal again. They were on the ground floor now, where they had been going when they got stuck between the second and third floor. They were shaken, but they managed to keep a stable state of mind long enough to scoop everything up and shoot out of the elevator and back onto stable ground. They leaned back against the wall and both breathed loudly before looking at each other and breaking out into laughter.

Lanie and Esposito came charging down the stairs and both sighed with relief when they saw that their friends were ok. Ryan appeared soon after with a proud smile on his face, Rick had no way of knowing but he guessed that he had been the one responsible for maintenance finally doing their job. He glanced up at the clock and noted that it was 11:24pm, they had been in there for two hours but it felt like it had been two days.

As Rick lay in his bed that night, he thought over everything that had suddenly changed between him and Kate. He could do this, couldn't he? He had been waiting for this for so long...but he couldn't shake that nagging feeling of betrayal. She had lied to him, right to his face for months and he was just letting it go? She had lied to him and then left him in the dark for three months and then showed up expecting him to be waiting for her. He had been trying to move on and instead he was back as her partner in five seconds flat and she was still lying to him. There was only two ways he could go from here: either he just dealt with the pain and betrayal and decided to let it go and start building something with the woman he loved so much...or he could walk away. He couldn't do that, not to her, she had put herself out there to tell him the truth, walking away would destroy her. Maybe she should have thought about that before she lied to me. As much as he loved her, he couldn't ignore the fact that she was treating him poorly; if he just kept going back to her then he was just becoming more and more pathetic.

She lied to him, she abandoned him, she left him, broke his heart, died on him twice, and then she made up all sorts of excuses for it all. And he still went back! It was just so hard to live without her, but did it hurt more to live without her...or to live with her? They had been partners for three years, they had trusted each other with their darkest secrets and had been there for each other through thick and thin, and yet it had been so damn easy for her to lie to him and for so long she had kept it up. What she had said in the elevator, he didn't believe that was the whole story. She had told him she didn't remember anything so she could buy herself some time and then once it was done she couldn't find the courage to tell him the truth. Maybe he just needed to drop it and see how things went between them, he would be seeing her again in the morning and maybe they could sort all of this out. After all, she wasn't the only one who was keeping secrets. But his secret was to keep her safe, her secret had been to keep herself safe too, it had nothing to do with protecting him from anything.

His eyes were drooping closed and he finally decided to let himself succumb to sleep, it had been a stressful night and he really just needed to rest. Maybe he was thinking about all this the wrong way, maybe it would be perfect and they would be perfect and live happily ever after together...yeah, it was definitely time for some sleep.

When he walked in the front door of the precinct the next day, he found Beckett waiting for him inside the door. She smiled at him and bit her lower lip, he handed her a coffee and a bear claw and they started walking together.

"Good morning, Detective." Castle said in his usual jovial way, barring the slightly cracked smile on his face.

"Good morning Castle, did you sleep alright?" Her eyes seemed to be flying all over the place, sometimes looking at him, sometimes looking straight ahead or looking to the side. She seemed really nervous.

"Well enough, and you?"

"Yeah, good."

She had been up for half the night, but once she had gotten to sleep she had slept alright. She was still trying to wrap her mind around what had happened last night, the talk, the kiss...was she ready for this? She had told him that she couldn't have the kind of relationship that she wanted until her mother's case was solved, well the case wasn't solved, nowhere near it, but she had already opened up that door to him. It was too late to close it now, even if she tried to she would lose him forever. He had given her too many chances, come back too many times; now that everything was out in the open she knew he wasn't going to do that again. But she wasn't sure if she could ignore the almost sickening fear inside her. She couldn't lose him, not again, she wanted this, she wanted to be with him but she knew she couldn't put everything she had into it and that would make things fall apart.

They walked together, side by side and both stopped outside the elevator. They looked up, paused and then looked at each other.

"I think I'm gonna take the stairs today, want to join me?" Castle asked, pointing towards the staircase.

"I'd love to, sounds like a good idea."

Awkward, and yet slightly humorous smiles were shared between them as they tried not to both bolt up the stairs. They had been stuck in that thing for more than two hours and they were not too eager to put their trust in that old thing again so soon. The walk up the staircase wasn't too bad, it was a little bit cramped as they continued to walk side by side, but it only gave them a good excuse to brush up against each other. They were both inching closer and inching away from each other, it was a bizarre state of affairs. They hadn't talked about anything, but after she had kissed him, it was clear that things had changed.

They reached their floor and as they stepped out and walked over to the bullpen, making jokes and sharing playful banter, they noticed that things were unusually quiet. Beckett got to her desk and stopped to look around, only to find that everyone else was staring at them. She was going to kill Lanie and Esposito and Ryan. She cast a glare around the room at each and every one of them and everyone suddenly bustled back into action, filing, talking, drinking coffee, as if nothing weird had happened. Beckett sat down and cast a glance at her partner who was already seated.

"You think they could at least wait until we're not looking."

Beckett frowned at his statement, and then looked over to where his eyes were locked and saw a few pretty pieces of paper swapping hands. She signed in annoyance, they didn't even know what was going on between them but that didn't stop everyone from collecting on their bets. She looked around again and noticed that, even though it appeared that everyone was behaving as normal, that almost everyone in the precinct had their wallet in their hands.

"I am going to kill Lanie, you know that she is the one who narked on us."

She said, glaring at anyone who looked their way. The speed in which those wallets disappeared once they noticed she was watching them almost made her burst out laughing, instead she just smiled. She loved the power that she had, everyone remembered what had happened the last time they had made a bet that involved her and Castle, and actually Castle had been one of the initiators of it, and so they were all scared of getting caught by her. Her eyes suddenly landed on a rather bitter looking Gates and she quickly focused on getting out her paperwork from the last case. Castle noticed the sudden work-time-NOW state of his partner and he quickly started discussing their last case, being careful to keep everything he was saying in the fact section. She spoke back and they talked about the murderer and his motives until they were both sure that Gates wasn't looking in they're direction. However, just because she was not looking at them didn't mean she wasn't thinking about them.

"Beckett, in my office now."

Beckett cringed and Castle gave her an encouraging smile as she closed the file, stood up and walked tensely into the Captain's office.

"Yes, sir?"

"Close the door."

Beckett quietly shut the door and stepped back in front of her boss, and she felt a pang in her chest at what was missing from the room. All of his awards and his nameplate and everything that told anyone that this was his office; Gates was no Montgomery.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, I want to know why everyone seems to be so interested in you and that pal of yours today. I heard that you two were trapped in the elevator last night, and today I am seeing more money than I care to note being passed around by your co-workers. Do you have an explanation for this behaviour?"

Oh crap, this is so not what I need today. "I have also noticed money being passed around, but I am afraid I have no idea why or whether it is connected to Castle and I getting stuck in the elevator last night at all. I know just as much as you do about all this...sir."

She wasn't buying it, she so clearly was not buying it. "Very well then, Detective, I expect to see all your paperwork completed by the end of the day unless you catch another case. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Now get out of my office."

If Beckett could have run from the office without looking suspicious, she would have done so, however a speedy walk was all she could manage. She sped back to her desk and dropped back into her seat, getting her paperwork out again.

"So, what was that about?" Castle asked.

"She wanted to know why everyone is giving each other money today." She didn't make eye contact, keeping her green eyes on the work so that Gates didn't have a reason to call her back into her office anytime soon.

"Oh, that must have been awkward."

"You have no idea."

Silence settled between them as she worked on filling in forms and signing papers. Beckett really didn't want to be doing this right now, as every time she started doing paperwork Castle would either sit there and stare at her the whole time or he would disappear, and she really didn't want him to do that right now. She hadn't meant to jump into this so soon, but just hearing the pain in his voice when he had whispered to her last night made her realise that she wasn't going to be able to keep this up any longer. So she had sucked in a breath and hoped he would forgive her for her lie. She had been scared and vulnerable last night sitting in the dark for so long thinking that she might have lost him, it had really shaken her up.

But while she was praying that a murder would come in or that Castle would start playing Angry Birds on his phone or something, anything that would keep him here long enough for her to finish off this work and take a lunch break so that maybe they could talk. But all he was doing was sitting back in his chair and staring off into oblivion with a worrying expression on his face. He was trying to get back into the swing of things, get back to what they had before but he was spending so much energy on just keeping himself from losing it. She had lied, to his face, after everything he had done for her. He was there whenever she needed someone, he was always there for her, he brought her coffee, he bought her flowers, he fought for her life, he always dropped everything he was doing for her...he gave up his old life because she made him want to be a better man, he wrote whole novels dedicated to her. He gave her everything he had every single day and every single day she pushed him away. He never asked her for anything except the truth and she hadn't respected that. How could she do this to him?

Watching her die had almost killed him and then having to sit in silence for three months wondering if she was ever going to speak to him again, wondering if she was alright or if maybe she had gone back to work and gotten herself shot again. What if she hadn't called because she couldn't call? The boys would have let him know if something like that had happened to her but what if they didn't know.

He was finally back in her life, she had finally admitted that she remembered what he had told her and there was finally hope for them...but he couldn't do it anymore. He had waited for three whole years for her and he knew she wasn't ready, but he couldn't wait anymore. He simply couldn't do it.

"I can't do this anymore..."

"What?"

"Not anymore, I can't...three years, three whole years Kate, I have forgiven you and come back and you...you always push me away, I trusted you, I loved you...but you...I tried to take that bullet for you, I tried but I didn't reach you in time. Every time I look at you I think of how close I came to losing you...maybe it would be better for both of us if I stopped following you around, pretending to be something I'm not. You should have a real cop for a partner, someone who is trained for the job...and I should have someone who won't keep trying to cut me out."

Kate couldn't breathe as he stood up and headed towards the elevator, he made it far enough to push the button before she flew out of her seat and ran towards him.

"Castle, wait! Please! I don't want to cut you out anymore, I didn't mean to I just...I'm sorry."

He stepped into the open doors and turned back to her, but didn't meet her eyes.

"It's too late for that Kate, the damage has already been done and I can't keep pretending like everything is ok anymore...I can't do it any longer."

She tried one last time before the doors shut on them for what she knew would be the last time. She didn't know what to say, how could anyone say everything in mere seconds? So she said the only thing she could think to say that might get him to stay.

"You said you forgave me."

"I guess I lied."

And then the elevator closed.

Oops, don't know what happened there, I'm sure things will get better in the next chapter...or will they?