Thanks to everyone for reading and for those who left comments on the last chapter!

One thing I want to make clear that I'm not sure some of you get–I do NOT necessarily personally believe that Castle is solely responsible for the catastrophe that was the Hamptons Memorial Day invitation disaster at the end of season 2. My personal feelings are one thing, but when I'm writing, I'm channeling the character's feelings. And in that moment after emptying 2 bottles of wine with Lanie, Beckett's filter was gone and she was feeling frustrated and emotional…so yeah, she had that line about if Gina hadn't shown up, there wouldn't have been Josh. So no, that was not me personally blaming Castle for the disaster of the season 2 finale…or even Beckett completely blaming him. That was one line from a romantically frustrated woman who had a lot of wine. All that to say…just because a character says it in my story does not necessarily mean it is my own personal belief. I am writing that character.

Now, this chapter is based around the episode "Law and Murder," which aired March 28…so in the timeline, it is within a week of the last chapter.

I still do not own Castle…

xxxxx

Thankfully Kate had the day off after her night of wine and conversation with Lanie. She wasn't hung over from the alcohol…no, it took more than a couple bottles of wine split between her and her best friend to give Kate Beckett a hangover…but she was definitely emotionally hung over. She couldn't help but contemplate how and when her personal life had started to read more and more like a storyline from Temptation Lane. Groaning, she pulled her pillow over her face.

After a few minutes, she pushed herself out of bed. She needed to move, to do…something. It was the perfect opportunity to practice some yoga. Not only would that give her body an outlet to get rid of her pent-up restlessness, but it would help her mind refocus and recenter as well. Hopefully, after an hour or more of yoga and some meditation, her mind would be much more clear and her body would have expended enough energy that she didn't feel the need to pace her apartment like a caged tiger.

xxxxx

"Oh Richard…you actually said 'Pick me. Choose me. Love me?'" Martha asked her son as he sat slouched over his desk with his head in his hands.

"She'd just made a statement about wanting a man to be there for her…she was on the outs with her boyfriend. I wanted to shoot my shot by being…I don't know, poetic or romantic or something. What was I supposed to say?"

Martha shook her head. "Well you could have at least come up with your own original speech instead of going all Grey's Anatomy on the poor girl."

"What? I didn't go Grey's Anatomy on Beckett."

"Richard, please. You stole Meredith Grey's speech to Dr. McDreamy when they were in that salacious love triangle with his wife…who, by the way, is also a gorgeous redhead," she chuckled.

Castle was silent for a minute and sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. "God, she's got me plagiarising from a TV show!" He leaned his head against the back of his chair and dropped his hands helplessly at his sides. "It doesn't matter…she walked away with Motorcycle Boy almost a month ago. Obviously, she picked him."

"Are you sure she picked him?" Martha asked her son.

Castle just looked at his mother like she'd grown another head. "Of course I'm sure. It was obvious from the way she walked off with him with her arm around him that she chose him. Why would you ask me that?"

"Just…hear me out, kiddo. Because it seems to me that you're making assumptions instead of getting the facts. You sprung your little speech on her in the middle of a case…a serious case. And ending a relationship with someone you care about isn't as simple as just looking at the other person and saying it's over; Katherine hardly had time to do so during the case you two were working, and it's not like she could end it in the precinct when he showed up. Those things should be done in private, and you didn't give her a chance to end it before you started assuming she'd made her choice," she pointed out.

"It's been almost a month. If she ended it with him, why hasn't she said anything?" Castle countered.

"It amazes me that you can be so clueless when it comes to a woman you are supposedly completely infatuated with. Really, Richard," Martha shook her head. "Katherine values her privacy. She's hardly going to broadcast her personal life around at work. She's also not the type of woman to end a serious relationship and jump right into the waiting arms of another man, no matter how she may feel about him." Seeing Castle about to say something, she held up a hand to stop him. "She obviously cared about this motorcycle man to have stayed in a relationship with him as long as she did. Assuming she did end the relationship to be with you, it's still going to take her time to process things."

"What your point, Mother?"

She reached out and gently patted his forearm. "My point is that you have no idea what she has decided to do unless you talk to her. You have to give her a chance to tell you what she decided before you start assuming anything."

Castle sighed. "What if she says she picked him?"

Martha gave him a sympathetic smile. "Then you're going to have to get over her, kiddo."

"There is no getting over her. I don't know how to get over her. She's in my veins...I can't get her out. I've tried, believe me. Last summer when she was with Demming…I tried to get over her, cold turkey, in the Hamptons with Gina. I've tried to distance myself…I just...nothing has worked."

"If you won't walk away, then I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait her out and hope for the best," she advised him.

xxxxx

The McUsic case had taken up most of her time over the next week, and Kate was relieved that Castle seemed to be acting normal…or at least normal for Castle…again. They seemed to have slipped back into their old roles with their old banter…they were once again Castle and Beckett. He'd even confided in her about his worry over Alexis lying to him as well as their argument when Alexis figured out he had tracked her phone…which Kate had to admit, Alexis had a point. So when the Captain had bid them goodnight, she'd given Castle a smile.

"I'm gonna get out of here…Forbidden Planet is playing at the Angelica," she told him.

Castle did his best to hide his surprise that she was a fan of the very movie he was planning to see himself. "Date night with Josh?" he asked, trying to be casual with the question. His mother had suggested he ask if she'd made a choice; this was as good a time and way to ask as any, he figured.

Kate paused slightly at his question. She knew she had to tell him about Josh; that much she'd decided the week prior over wine with Lanie. But she wasn't completely comfortable having the conversation in the middle of the precinct bullpen where anyone might overhear. "Um…no," she stated, grabbing her coat and purse. "You want to come with me?" she offered, doing her best to mitigate the hopefulness in her tone.

He was trying to figure out what it meant…or didn't mean…that she told him she didn't have plans with Josh. She hadn't said that she'd ended things with Josh, but he remembered his mother's words about how Kate was private and wouldn't necessarily tell him about her personal life at work. She'd urged him to give Kate an opportunity to talk to him; maybe this was it. "Forbidden Planet…is that the one with the robot?" he asked. Maybe if he played it like he didn't know the movie, accepting her invitation wouldn't make him feel so desperate.

She stopped in her tracks. "You've never seen Forbidden Planet?"

He shrugged, continuing to play it nonchalantly. "More of a Star Wars, Matrix man myself."

"Oh my gosh, Castle. This is the movie that inspired those two. That's it, I'm taking you. My treat. I won't take no for an answer," she insisted, starting for the elevator.

"Oh no, no. I have plans…" he protested.

She shook her head as she continued toward the elevator. "Nope. Not anymore. We're going to the movies." He smiled slightly as he followed her to the elevator. "Oh, Castle, you're going to love this. This is Leslie Neilsen before he became a comic genius," she continued as the elevator doors closed.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," she looked over at him with a smile. She was silent for a moment. They were alone now…no one could overhear them. "I…there is no Josh, not anymore. We…I…broke up with him…" she said quietly, looking straight ahead as she delivered the news.

Castle's eyes widened. "There's…I mean…you…uh…you broke up…with him?" he stammered over his words. She said she had broken up with him. That meant it wasn't a mutual breakup, that she had been the one to end things.

"Yes," she answered, keeping her eyes glued to the elevator doors in front of her.

"Oh…" he nodded. So what did that mean? Did that mean she picked him? Did that mean she was ready for a relationship with him? Did that mean she ended things with Josh but wasn't going to be with him either? A million thoughts flooded through his head, his overactive writer's imagination coming up with both good and bad scenarios. Then he heard his mother's voice again telling him she may need some time, to stop making assumptions and to talk to her. "Can I have candy and popcorn?" he finally asked as the elevator doors opened.

She smiled because once again, that was so him to ask that question. Everything was okay between them. "Yes," she agreed as they exited the elevator to head for the doors of the precinct.

"Can we stop at Remy's for burgers after?" he asked, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. She'd broken up with Josh. She was single. He had a chance. He hadn't felt this free or happy in months.

She rolled her eyes at the question, but she couldn't hide the slightest hint of a smile as they headed outside. "We'll see."

xxxxx

It became clear not even five minutes into the movie that Castle had absolutely gotten one over on her when he'd told her he'd never seen the movie as he seemingly couldn't help himself but speak the words along with the characters. But she didn't care; sure, she'd give him hell for it after the movie, but she didn't care that he'd pulled her leg to get her to insist he go to the movies with her. She actually kind of thought it was…sweet; obviously wanted to go to the movie with her, but probably didn't want to pressure her, so he let her decide how badly she wanted to go with him. And ultimately he was there with her…that was all that mattered.

"So…is that a yes for Remy's?" Castle asked as they exited the movie theater.

"You just had popcorn. And candy." To anyone overhearing her, it sounded like she was talking to a child, not a fully grown man.

"That was movie food…you know, a snack," he shrugged. "I'm talking about dinner. Burgers…those shakes you love…" he added with a smile.

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Fine. But you're buying."

"I thought you said tonight was your treat?" he countered with a smile.

"I said I was bringing you to the movie as my treat because I thought you'd never seen it before," she laughed. "Oh, don't give me that look. You've totally seen the movie multiple times…you knew all the dialogue," she pointed out.

"Did I?"

She laughed again. "You didn't even realize you were speaking it, did you?" she tugged her lower lip between her teeth as she shook her head.

He chuckled at that. "I guess Remy's is on me."

She smiled and lightly nudged his shoulder with hers as they walked down the street. "I would have taken you to see Forbidden Planet even if you hadn't tricked me, Castle."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she smiled.

xxxxx

Dinner at Remy's was pleasant and normal; they bantered as normal; they talked and laughed like normal; she even stole a couple of his fries when hers were gone like normal. The drive back to his loft was silent…but it was a comfortable silence.

"You want to come up? I can open a bottle of wine," he offered when she pulled up in front of his building. Aside from the information that Josh was no longer part of the picture, they hadn't really talked about them, or even aknowledged all of the events that had transpired between them since January. Castle didn't want to push…or assume. But he also wasn't sure where he stood, where they stood. He wanted to give her...them...an opportunity to talk about things.

She toyed with the idea for a moment, but then she remembered the last time she'd gone to his loft and they'd shared a bottle of wine on Valentine's Day; that was not going to help their situation at all. And though she was now single, she wasn't sure she was completely ready to be with him. "I'm on call tonight. It's late, and I work early in the morning, so I don't think that's a good idea," she finally answered softly.

"Oh…oh, I just thought…uh…with, you know…um…you might…you know, nevermind," he shook his head, offering her a reassuring smile.

She stopped him with her hand on his arm when he moved to get out of her car. "Castle…" she started softly. "About what you said before...during the case with the bomb…I…I just…" she struggled over her words. Kate Beckett was not a woman of words, she was a woman of action. But Castle was a writer, a man of words, and she knew she needed to give him some…he deserved that from her. "I don't want you to think that I don't…I just need…can you give me a little time?" she finally asked. "I'm on the same page, you're just…ahead of me. I need a little time to catch up," she tried to explain.

He followed along with her words, his eyes never leaving hers, and his smile grew slightly the more words she got out. She wanted to be with him, she just needed him to wait a little. That was something he could definitely do. "No surprise there...I am a speed reader," he smirked. It had the desired effect when she gave a smile and a soft laugh. He gently took her hand before continuing. "I'd wait forever if you asked me to," he told her seriously.

"I'm not asking you to wait forever," she promised him with a smile. "Maybe just…a few weeks…" she tugged her lip between her teeth.

He nodded with a smile. "Ok." He leaned over and kissed her cheek softly. "Until tomorrow, Kate."

"Hey Castle?" she stopped him once again before he could get out of the car. "Thanks."

He gave her a genuine smile. "Always."

xxxxx

I hope you guys liked this one!

I honestly thought I would be able to make it through the last half of season 3 with being able to write a chapter for every episode. However, despite my best efforts, I am going to skip over the next episode, "Slice of Death," because try as I might there is just NOTHING in there I'm going to be able to really do a chapter around, especially since I've got Castle and Beckett in a really good place right now. So the next chapter will be based around "The Dead Pool," which you all may remember is the Alex Conrad episode. Don't worry, there is plenty I'll be able to use for a chapter with that episode!

As always, I love any and all comment you guys have!