AN: Okay, so I didn't get this up as soon as I planned to, but at least it hasn't been a whole month, right?

I love this scene where Beckett and Castle fight about Ellie being Nikki. And I think I went a little far from canon near the end of this, but I couldn't resist adding a little doubt into Beckett's certainty that she wasn't jealous. I hope you guys forgive me.

I already have the next one written; I just have to edit it a little, so it should be up later tonight (I won't flake this time, I promise).

Please review to let me know what you guys think!

Kate didn't make a habit of listening in on Castle's calls, but when he started talking about movie moguls, she couldn't deny that her interest was piqued.

"Yes, right? She'd be perfect for Nikki." What?

He had to be kidding! Was he really considering Ellie Monroe for Nikki?

Of course he was. She was obviously gorgeous (should she take that as a compliment?), and she sweetened up to him pretty fast and well... But he couldn't be doing this just because she slept with him right? No, Kate was certain that Castle... what? Respected Nikki too much? She knew he cared about his characters; otherwise he wouldn't need to follow her around all the time. But there was always the possibility that he was being duped.

"Thank you." Castle ended the call and realized Kate was watching him.

"That's a Heat Wave producer."

"That wasn't about Ellie Monroe was it?" Who else would it be about? And why did she have to ask at all? Why did this bug her? Did it bug her?

Of course it bugged her.

"Yeah, why?" Was he really that clueless? Ellie Monroe? He writes a complex character, a cop, and he wants to give her to Ellie Monroe? Granted, she's not necessarily a bad actress, but still.

"Oh." She wasn't actually going to tell him she didn't like Ellie; he'd have a field day with that information. He'd saw she was jealous again, which was definitely not the problem here. And she wasn't going to try to explain why Nikki deserved a better actress, because then she'd have to admit that she really, really like Heat Wave, and Nikki.

And shouldn't he already know that anyway. That Nikki deserved better, not that she liked her; he shouldn't, and wouldn't, know that if Kate had her way.

"What?" He just couldn't leave it alone, could he? Neither of them wanted to have this conversation; he just didn't know that yet. Sure, he'd be happy to make fun of her for knowing his character and book as well as she did, but Kate doubted that he'd really want to be told he was wrong about his new girlfriend, or whatever he thought she was.

So to avoid going down that rabbit hole, she chose another.

"That's why she was throwing herself at you. She wanted you to recommend her for the part." She'd be lying if she said that was the only reason to throw oneself at Castle, but it seemed like a likely enough motive at this point.

"What?" Castle, and his ego were of course rightly outraged. But now that she'd latched onto a theory that didn't involve Nikki at all, Kate didn't much care. His ego could use a swift kick right about now anyways; she could feel bad about it later.

"And for the record, she's nothing like Nikki Heat." Wait; wasn't she trying to leave Nikki out of this?

"Oh, you just can't stand it that a beautiful actress is actually interested in me." No. The word popped into her head without warning, and she couldn't tell if it was an answer or an expression of indignation.

Either way, it wasn't important at the moment. It was just in the way of her argument.

"Why would I care?" She didn't. She honestly didn't, despite her ambiguous response to his accusation. He could sleep with whomever he wanted. She had no claim over him, and neither did she want to.

"Exactly. That's a good question. Why would you care?" He took a step forward, infringing on her personal space. He thought she cared because she was jealous. Well, he had another thing coming to him.

"I don't." She didn't. The idea was laughable. That she cared, that she would be jealous.

"Fine! I'm going to go get some coffee." He seemed to care more than she did about this. Yeah, she'd just told him he was being used, but he seemed to be more concerned about why Kate had said anything than what she'd actually said.

"Fine. I've got work to do." It was actually kind of fun, watching him stress about this.

They both turned on their heels in opposite directions. But of course, they were the wrong ones. She turned around just as he did, and walked back past him.

"Break room's that way."

"Desk."

Great, that was one way to ruin an exit.

AN2: So there you have it. Let me know what you think in the reviews.

If you're following The Fall, I'm just starting a new one today, so we'll see when that gets finished (I'm shooting for early next week if not before).