A/N: This is set during s3 after setup/countdown and inspired by the song Heartbreak Girl by 5SOS. I know I owe other stories chapters and I'm working but I got stuck and this came to mind while trying to work those out. Plus I started school so I don't have lots of free time anymore.

They knew this was dangerous. They were walking a fine line but neither one of them ready to step back. If they did that meant denying what was clearly there. Although they've been doing that since day 1, neither was brave enough to cross the line either. So they walked along it every night. It started a few months ago after the freezer incident. Feeling her freeze in his arms until she passed out shook him up, shook both of them. That was a little too close to death for him. One scary thought led to another and soon he was calling her in the middle of the night to make sure she was okay. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he heard her voice, not after that particular nightmare. Soon talking before bed was a nightly routine.

"Where's doctor motorcycle boy tonight?" he asked in a low tone.

"He's off saving the world," Kate responded, her voice still a little bit sleepy but the hint of resentment was creeping through.

"How long is he gone for this time?"

"Who knows…" The exhaustion evident in her voice.

Castle was mad, he knew he had no right to be, but how could he do this? Didn't he realize how lucky he was to be with Kate Beckett? If he was in his spot he would never leave her side, he would lock her in the loft. Well he was tempted to do just that several times before, but unfortunately she knew her rights.

He opened his mouth to say what was always on the tip of his tongue. He wants to shake her, wants to scream at her until she gets it through her head but he doesn't want to scare her off. It's taken 3 years to get to this point and he won't doing anything to push them back. Why can't she see that he's there, that the doctor doesn't deserve her. But he bites his tongue, instead doing what he does best, cracking a joke and even though he can't see her he knows she rolled her eyes, shaking her head but still cracking a smile. He smiles at his accomplishment. He's made it his mission to make her smile at least once everyday.

She ends the call with a "Thanks Castle."

"For what?"

"For being a friend." His smile turned into a tight, forced one. He didn't want to let it show in his voice when he responded, so he ended the conversation with a quick response.

"Until tomorrow Beckett."

"Goodnight."

He quickly hangs up the phone and opens his laptop. Gina has been asking for the Nikki Heat dedication but he hasn't been able to find the perfect words until now.

Beckett checked her mail and saw the package from Black Pawn. A smile spread across her face, new reading material is exactly what she needed after today. Ever since her conversation with Castle about being the muse - she still hated that word - meant that she gets first dibs on reading the manuscript, Black Pawn has been sending her them once completed.

She waited until she was settled on the couch with a glass of wine before opening the cover. The dedication was her favorite part, she knew those words were directly to her. She almost dropped her glass of wine and gaped at the words before storming out of her apartment with manuscript in hand. He needed to explain himself. Needed to explain what those words meant.

She pounded on his door. "Castle open up I know you're in there!" She yelled in her cop voice.

When the door swung open, she pushed past him without letting him greet her. She made it into the living before facing him. "What the hell is this?" She yelled.

"Well it looks like the manuscript you asked for."

"Thank you, smartass. Now will tell you tell me what this is?" She flung the book down onto the coffee table, opened to the dedication.

There in Times New Roman font were the words "To the one that never sees the truth."

"That seems to be the dedication," he said, his voice emotionless and a bit slow. Looking up, he could see her simmering inside, trying to keep her anger in control.

"What does it mean?" She blurted out.

"Why don't you tell me Beckett." He didn't mask the slight anger in his voice, the dark sarcasm he rarely used with her, if ever.

"If you want to say something just say it!"

"I love you!"

She stood there her mouth slightly opened. She knew their relationship walked the line between friendship and something more, but she thought they had a mutual understanding to never ever cross the line, never say the three words she had been in denial of. She wasn't even sure how she was supposed to respond to that when Castle kept talking.

"But you don't see it! Everything we've been through together! Three years I've been right here. Three years just waiting for you to just open your eyes and see that I'm right here….and that I'm more than a friend. Every morning I bring you a cup of coffee just so I could see a smile on your face, because I think you are the most…remarkable…maddening…challenging…frustrating person I have ever met and I love you, Kate and if…that means anything to you, if you care about me at all then say something." His voice had started loud, and angry, but when he said he loved her, it dropped into an intimate whisper that only she could hear.

"Castle you know I'm with Josh."

"Do you love him?"

She stared at him.

"Do you love him?" He repeated.

When she still didn't answer he closed the space between them and pressed his lips against hers, depending the kiss when he felt her respond.

They broke away, her forehead resting against his. "I don't. I don't love him."