Behind the Glass

A/N: This takes place during 2x22, when Castle is watching Beckett interrogate Maddie. Hope you all enjoy this little short!

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Castle scoffed, appalled at Beckett's audacity. She'd just interrupted a dinner he'd been actually, literally, drooling over, and now she wasn't going to let him in on the interrogation?

"And now you're benching me?" he hissed, indignation rolling over his skin in waves.

"You were just giggling over the risotto with our suspect!"

Castle grit his jaw. He turned to walk away, but stuck his finger at her before he disappeared from view. "Which was to die for, by the way!" he snapped back.

He slammed the door of the observation room, letting out a loud, frustrated grunt. He heard Maddie snap something just as aggravated and shrill at Beckett, but he was too blinded by his own annoyance to make out the words.

Taking deep breaths, he walked up to the glass, arms tight across his chest. He just knew this was going to lead nowhere. Beckett will realize she ruined his dinner for nothing.

And then his stomach took a nosedive.

"No no no, I get it. You're hot for Castle!" Maddie shouted.

Every hair stood on end. Goosebumps rushed across his skin.

"You wanna make little Castle babies!" she continued.

Castle's heart pumped so fast he felt dizzy. He couldn't see Beckett's face from here, but he could feel the thick tension in the room as she gaped and processed Maddie's accusation.

Looking smug, Maddie then added, "Why couldn't you just be honest?"

Castle knew he was blushing. He knew the excited tingle in his chest was just like the feeling you get when you see your crush walking down the hallway toward you, when they flash you a smile or give you a wink, or any other kind of indication that you exist to them. His brain was moving a mile a minute, and time seemed to slow down around him.

Was Maddie right? Had Beckett gotten… jealous… of their dinner?

It couldn't be. But the stunned silence and whispered words from Beckett he couldn't hear indicated that she must be horrified by what Maddie had said.

Then Maddie's attention shifted to the mirror. She was trying to look for him. So, that must have been what Beckett had said. That he was here, listening. She must have been urging her friend to shut up.

It didn't squash the butterflies taking flight in his stomach.

"Hey there!" Maddie called with a little wave. "Sorry we missed the pumpkin gnocchi! They're really good."

He knocked, acknowledging his presence, but it was only half-hearted. His eyes were locked on Beckett's mortified face, searching for any sign of what she was thinking. But she couldn't even look at the mirror. Look his way. Even though she clearly couldn't see him.

Castle sighed, studying her even as she turned around to face Maddie again and continue their conversation. He couldn't help but imagine it all - everything Maddie had insinuated. His writer-brain often got carried away in moments of fantasy, often when he least expected it. It was like his eyes turned off, and he stopped processing what was in front of him. He went away in his mind instead, and saw whatever film playing out that his brain wanted to see.

He thought about children. With Beckett. What a life with her might be like.

He didn't feel old, per se, but he wasn't sure he'd ever seriously considered doing the baby thing again. But with her?

Brown-haired, wily children running through the loft. Laughter and bedtime stories and school plays… He could do it all again. Couldn't he?

He shook himself out of his self-induced hallucination. The butterflies withered and died, and disappointment pulled the flush from his neck. His shoulders loosened and his arms dropped loosely to his sides.

It was fantasy, not reality.

Beckett didn't feel that way about him. Maddie was wrong. If she did, she certainly wouldn't push him away like she'd been doing the last year. She wouldn't scoff at his obvious advances or shy away at his attempts to take her out. She wouldn't insult him every chance she got or keep her distance like she always tried to do.

She treated him like a partner. And sometimes, even, like a friend. That was the best he could hope for, with her. And it was about time he made his peace with that.

The interview ended and Beckett stood to leave. They opened their respective doors at the same time, and he could immediately tell how stiff and uncomfortable she was.

He faced her, business as usual. "You don't really think she did it, do you?"

They walked in tandem. (They were partners, after all.) "Well, until I can rule her out, it doesn't really matter what I think. She has motive."

"But she also has an alibi, which you conveniently ignored."

"I'm not ignoring, I'm just rechecking. I asked her to stay in town, in any case."

"Yes, I know. I heard." Castle couldn't help but grin. Just because Maddie was wrong, didn't mean he couldn't still have a little fun with his favorite detective. He shot her a devious look. "Everything."

For a moment, vulnerability crossed Beckett's face. She looked like a deer in headlights, or a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. He wanted to push - God, he wanted to push - but he knew it would lead them nowhere. If she had something to admit, now was the time to admit it. He wasn't going to be able to shake it out of her. It had to be her choice.

But she pushed ahead, changing the subject like she always did.

Castle took the little kernel of hope he always carried with him and put it back into its little glass case inside his chest. He schooled his expression into neutrality, and followed her lead back to the case at hand.

He'd always follow her lead.