602. Chapter 602

After Little Girl Lost

Episode 1.09

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Do I have to paint you a picture? I don't own Castle. Rating: T Time: See above.

The bullpen was deserted by the time Kate Beckett finished her report on the Candela kidnapping. Hearing footsteps behind her, she smiled. Castle just can't stay away. But when she turned around, it was Will Sorenson.

"Will, what do you want?"

He smiled at her. "I just wanted to make sure you had all the info you need for your report."

Kate tapped the almost completed file on her desk. "Got it all right here."

Will looked over at the break room. "Can I buy you a cup of coffee?"

Kate thought for a second, then nodded and followed Will.

Once they had made their coffees, Will spoke. "We were good together, Kate. We still can be."

Kate shook her head slightly. "Were, Will. We were good together. Past tense."

When she looked up, his face was inches from hers, and then he was kissing her. In spite of his tongue rubbing her lower lip, she kept her lips together and gently pushed him away. He smiled at her and kissed her again. This time his hand slipped over her boob and began caressing it through her blouse.

She pushed him away a little harder this time. "Will, I just told you…" She stopped as he heard footsteps headed for the breakroom and took a quick step back. It was Castle.

"Am I interrupting anything?" He asked with a smile.

"Not at all, Rick." Kate stepped away from Sorenson and walked quickly to Rick, reaching up to kiss him. "Are we ready to go?"

Castle looked at her with surprise all over his face. Kate glared at him, but then kissed him again. This time Castle let his tongue slide along her lips. She broke the kiss, glared at him again, then turned to Sorenson, smiling. "See you later, Will. Rick and I have to go."

She grabbed Castle's arm and marched him to the elevator. Once on the way down, she turned to him. "Don't ever do that again!"

"Don't do what? Allow you to kiss me? Next time give me some advanced warning and I'll fight you off." He said, offended.

"Don't try to put your tongue in my mouth."

Castle shook his head. "What was that about anyway?"

"He kissed me."

"So?"

"He kissed me and I told him we were over. Then he kissed me again and ….put his hand somewhere he shouldn't have."

"What? Some guy groped you and you didn't rip his arms off and bash his skull in with them?"

"I'd like to stay friends with him. Besides there are very strict laws against ripping people's arms off. So, I pretended you and I were….together."

Castle chuckled softly. "How big a fan are you, anyway."

She ignored the question and glared at him again. "And if you see Will any time after tomorrow, tell him we broke up."

When they reached the sidewalk, Kate turned to Castle. "I shouldn't have snapped at you for kissing back. I'm sorry. I just wanted to get out of there. Have good night, Castle."

"He's watching us."

"What?" Sure enough. Sorenson was standing by the precinct's garage, watching them.

Castle offered her his arm. "Can I buy you dinner at Remy's, Detective?"

Kate sighed. "Sure."

When she arrived at the precinct the next day, she was sure that Castle would have plenty to say about last night. But as soon as she headed for her desk, she saw Ryan stuff something in his desk and Espo quickly turn to his desk.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing." Ryan said, guiltily

"Ryan?"

He reached into his desk and handed her the Ledger, open to Page Six. There was a photo of her and Castle, taken in the bullpen. He was leaning forward and it looked like his lips were almost touching hers.

"He is not kissing me!" She hissed. "He was leaning over to look at some evidence photos. He was a good foot closer to the camera than I was. It's just that the perspective in the photo is….Damn it!"

She started to read the caption. "Best selling author Rick Castle seems to be involved with his muse, NYPD Detective Kate Beckett."

Just then, Castle walked in, unaware of what was in store for him. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into an empty office. "Do you think this is funny, Castle? Do you?" She said, shoving his the photo into his hands.

"What? You think I did that? Look at the photo, Beckett. I'd have to have arms thirty feet long to take that picture."

She grabbed the paper back. He was right. There's Espo's head and Ryan's arm. Montgomery's office is empty. "Sorenson! I'll kill him."

"Remember the laws about…" Castle began. Beckett's glare silenced him.

She called Will Sorenson and had a very unsatisfying conversation with him. He absolutely denied ever having taken a picture of her in the precinct or sending one to anyone. Then he hung up on her.

"I'm going to demand a retraction." Kate said, looking for the Ledger's phone number.

"Beckett, "Castle said, "I wouldn't. I know how they think. Demanding a retraction won't work. That's an un-photoshopped picture of us and they didn't claim we were kissing. Just involved."

"We are not involved." Kate said angrily.

"I follow you on your cases. They'll say that that's involved. And they'll be right."

Kate ignored him and had another deeply unsatisfactory conversation. This time with the Page Six editor, who basically told her to sue if she was unhappy. Then hung up on her.

"Beckett. Just forget it, okay?"

Whatever Kate was going to say was lost when Ryan opened the door. "Got a body drop. You two coming?"

That afternoon, Castle and Beckett were trying to track down a possible witness. Kate stopped in front of a store front. "Officer Angelino said he thought the guy worked at Angelo's Pizza on this block, but the only pizza place is called Gino's." She was so busy thinking she didn't notice the skateboarder coming down the sidewalk. The skateboarder didn't notice the old lady until he knocked her into Beckett who was knocked into Castle, throwing them both up against a plate glass window. Castle did notice a photographer across the street on a motorcycle, taking pictures of them. The skateboarder skated on.

"I think a paparazzi took photos of us."

"So?" Kate was still angry at the skateboarder.

"You were pressed right up against me. I put one arm around you to hold you up. The other hand….sort of slid under your shirt. By accident."

"What? What was your hand doing under my shirt?"

"Nothing, I swear. It was an accident."

The next morning Kate bought a copy of the Ledger. To her relief, there was no photo of her and Castle in it. But, when she go to the precinct, Ryan and Esposito showed her a copy of the Journal. There was the photo.

She called up the Journal. She told them in no uncertain terms that she and Castle were not an "item" and they weren't "making out" in public as the story with the photo implied.

When Castle arrived, he just shook his head when she told him what she'd done. "Beckett, when paparazzi and the like hear "we're not involved" what they hear is "we've been making hot, sloppy, messy, sweaty love for weeks."

Kate just glared at him.

The next morning, Castle, Ryan and Esposito were waiting for her when she arrived at the precinct. "You made Charley Swanson's gossip column in the Journal." Castle said. "It's the section headlined, "Methinks the lady doth protest too much.""

Kate grabbed the paper and quickly read the item. "He can't do this. He's all but calling me a liar. He's practically accusing us of being lovers!"

"Practically. Almost. All but. Beckett, I talked to my lawyer first thing this morning. Swanson is being skeptical about what you said because so many other people have lied when they said the same thing. We went over it. There's nothing you can do except wait for it to go away. And it will, soon enough."

Kate just walked to her desk and sat down. Castle followed her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Castle. It's that rat Sorenson's fault. It's the celebrity gossip sites fault. It's the fault of…Just forget it."

"It is my fault. If I hadn't been shadowing you, this wouldn't have happened."

"I told you, it's not your fault. I don't blame you at all."

"For once." Castle said with a smile.

Kate smiled back. "For once."

The next day was hot and muggy in New York. An early summer thunderstorm swept over the city. For fifteen minutes sheets of rain poured down and then went away. A shopkeeper came out and saw that his awning was sagging under the weight of water in it. He got broom and pushed up on the awning, causing water to pour out. Faced the wrong way, he didn't see a preoccupied detective or her sidekick. Water drenched Beckett.

"Watch, it, dammit?" She screamed. The shopkeeper just shrugged.

"Beckett, you're not wearing a bra today." Castle said, looking away.

"It's hot and muggy and I…"Kate looked down. Her nipples, stiff from the sudden bath, were poking out her thin shirt.

"And there's a blonde across the street, taking pictures."

Kate made it half way across the street before the blonde took off, leaving a cursing Kate Beckett in her wake.

"You're soaked from head to toe, Beckett. My loft is just a bit over a block away. You can dry off there and put your clothes in the dryer.

Once back at the loft, Kate went into Rick's bathroom and stripped, then cleaned herself up.

"Beckett?" Castle called from outside. "I don't think Martha or Alexis's things will fit you, but I got out a pair of my boxers with a drawstring top, some sweatpants and a sweat shirt. The dryer is down the hall to your left. Want lunch? I can make soup and sandwiches for us."

Kate came into the kitchen wearing vastly oversized sweats. "I'm sure the photos will be all over town tomorrow."

"Beckett, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"

"Castle, stop it. This is not your fault. In fact you've been very sweet, trying to help me. Thank you. And you've been a help to me and you were very brave, delivering the ransom like that. Thanks for that, too."

Castle smiled. "Really? Brave? Me?"

Kate took a step towards him, then rested her head on his chest.

"Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Sometimes it just gets to me. My mom's case. A kidnapping by a mother of her own child. People who murder for money. Out of jealousy. To keep a secret. It just is too much."

Very gently Castle put a hand on her shoulder and then his other hand around her waist. She leaned into him. Then she looked up at him. "Oh, to hell with it." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him, running her tongue along his lip. He allowed her entrance, then she pulled him to the bedroom.

An hour later, Kate lay naked on his bed, his arms around her. "Are you going to stop shadowing me now?" She asked softly.

"What? Why? No, I never thought about not following you. Did you want me to stop? Now? Why?"

She moved back a bit so she could look him in the eye. She had expected him to tell her that of course he wasn't going to leave, and then leave. She hadn't expected him to be so vehement. "The book is almost finished and you've slept with me, so…?"

"Did you think that the only reason I shadowed you was to sleep with you? I guess that's exactly what you thought." Castle put an arm around her. "Beckett, you are the most fascinating woman I've met in years. I'm entranced by you. I'm excited by the idea of going out on cases with you. If you don't want more sex, well, okay. If you just want sex, okay, too. But I want more. Lots more."

Kate frowned. She hadn't expected this. "Friends with benefits?"

"I hate that term."

She thought again. "Lovers?"

He shook his head. "That's sounds like it's just sex."

"I'm your girlfriend?"

"That'd be okay if we were in high school. A couple. I want us to be a couple."

Kate thought for a second and took the plunge. "Okay. We'll be a couple."

Castle pulled her close and kissed her. "A couple."

"You know what I'd like to do?" She asked.

"What?"

"Tomorrow I'd like to track down one of those paparazzi and give you a ten minute kiss right in front of them."

Castle laughed. "Maybe not tomorrow, but we will someday."

And they did.