958. Chapter 958

After The Third Man

Episode 2.14

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, Harry Lime, or a zither. Rating: T Time: See Above.

She saw the flash of the muzzle blast and heard the shot all at once. She screamed "NYPD!" at the same time Ryan yelled, "Drop it." She and Espo both yelled at Noel du Preez to get down.

Kate checked her team. Ryan and Esposito were okay. She turned to look for Castle. "You can come out now, Castle. It's all over." There was no reply. She started walking to where Castle had been standing. "Castle, this is not funny. You'd better…" That was as far as she got before she saw Richard Castle sprawled on the floor, bleeding from a head wound.

"Ryan! Call an ambulance. Castle's been shot. Tell them there's an officer down." She knew that was a white lie, but she also knew that seconds could make the difference between life and death.

Three days later Kate Beckett knocked softly on the door of Richard Castle's loft. Castle quickly opened it and smiled when he saw his partner.

"Beckett. What a surprise. Come in. Would you like something? Wine? Coffee?"

She shook her head. "Castle, we have to talk."

He laughed. "That sounds serious. I hope there isn't a problem at the precinct."

"Castle, you could have been killed in du Preez's pet store that night."

He looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean? I wasn't even shot. Du Preez fired at us and I got out of the way. Unluckily for me, I took a header into one of his glass cases. I cut myself on the glass and gave myself a concussion that knocked me out for a while. I'm fine now. I'll be in tomorrow. I've been cleared one hundred percent by the doctors."

She shook her head. "You could have gotten killed that night. You could have been killed when that Nigerian was shooting at us, or when that jewel thief, Nadir, went after you. You could have been killed on any one of our cases. They all involved killers."

"Which is why I want to be your partner, Beckett. I don't think I'd get much interest in Nikki Heat, the meter maid."

She took his hand and led him to the couch, sitting next to him. "Castle, you can't follow me anymore."

"Beckett, that's not your decision."

"Yes it is. You're on my team. I'm responsible for my team, including you."

"You're not responsible for me. I signed every paper the NYPD had that clearly shows no one is responsible for me except me. Even though I'm irresponsible."

She shook her head. "You didn't sign anything for me, Castle. I will not, I repeat, will not let you follow me around on dangerous cases and see you get hurt or killed. Like it or not, Castle, you are my responsibility and there is nothing you can say or do that makes you not my responsibility." She smiled and took his hand. "Look, I'm not saying that we can't work together. You can still come to the precinct, we can build theory at the murder board, you can interrogate with me, and we can interview witnesses together. But you will not, ever, get in a position where you could get hurt. Understand?"

He nodded. "I understand. I'm just not going along with it. I'm your partner and I'll continue to be your partner, Detective Beckett."

To his surprise, Beckett swung her leg over him so that she was straddling him, bringing her face within inches of his. "Rick, this isn't all stick and no carrots. You agree and I'll sleep with you for as long as you're at the 12th. Okay?"

"No. Not a chance." He shot back. He could see anger in her face, and just for a second, pain.

"Castle, I know I'm not in the same league as the women you usually date…."

"Beckett, be serious." He broke in. "You look in the mirror, I assume. You're as beautiful, as sexy and as desirable as any woman I've ever met. It's not that you're not in their league, none of them come even close to being in your league."

She searched his face for some hint of sarcasm or irony, but found none. "Then why won't you sleep with me?"

"A number of reasons. In ascending order of importance: Because I don't ever want a woman to sleep with me as some sort of unpleasant task they have to endure to get what they really want."

"You really think sleeping with you would be unpleasant to me?" She snapped.

"Okay, let's just say that based on your reactions to me so far, it's not something you'd want to do. Next, I need to be with you. I need to see what you see, what you hear, what happens to those around you. I can't have Nikki Heat catch the villain and then just write, "And Nikki got the villain."

He went on before she could respond. "And you need me."

"I'm a trained homicide detective. I have the best closure rate in the city. I was solving murders before we ever met. I do not need you."

"Oh?" He said with a smirk. "Would you and your ex, J. Edgar, have ever wondered why Angela Candela's favorite stuffed bunny was taken? And yes, I could have been killed by our nasty Nigerian, but instead I set him up so you could shoot him. If I'm not around, Karl Nadir makes his getaway and kills again. You need me."

"I'm not denying that you've been a help." Kate said grimly. This was turning out to be a lot harder than she had imagined.

Castle went on before she could continue. "Lastly, and most importantly, you're remarkable. I've told you that before and I meant it. You're not just remarkable as a cop, but you're a remarkable as a person. I want more than to be your shadow. I'd like to be your partner, your friend, your best friend, and your lover. I want us to be a couple. I want us to sleep together when you want to sleep with me. Not when you think you have to sleep with me."

"When I want to sleep with you?" Kate yelled. She pushed herself of the couch. "You are the most impossibly, arrogant, self-centered, egotistical, conceited, vain….OH!" Kate turned around and walked out the door.

The next morning, Castle appeared a bit earlier than usual at the precinct, and he made sure that he had a bear claw for Beckett from a little place they'd found one day in the Bronx, that she had just loved. He gently put them down on her desk and sat.

She turned to him and nodded. "Thank you, Castle." Then went back to reading a file. Castle decided to keep quiet until he could see how things were going to go that day.

Ryan and Esposito came in with some street cam video that they watched and then went to the murder board. Beckett was polite but distant. Castle tried to come up with a theory that would both interest Beckett and not upset her by being too wild. He failed. Nothing came to his mind at all.

Ryan and Espo were sent off to try to find another witness.

"Wil you make me a cup of coffee, Castle? I can't seem to get the hang of that machine you bought."

Castle smiled. "I'd love to make you a cup of coffee. Come with me."

When he turned around with her coffee, he was shocked to see that Beckett had unbuttoned the top three buttons on her blouse. He could see she was wearing a very sheer, black bra. She was playing with the fourth button. She smiled at him. "I know you've been wondering what my boobs look like, haven't you? What they feel like? What they taste like? Now's your opportunity."

Castle hesitated a second, then backed away, but found himself between Beckett and the espresso machine. She reached out for his hands, which he quickly put behind his back. She moved towards him but, luckily for him, the elevator door opened and Karpowski and her team came in, herding a very uncooperative suspect. Beckett quickly buttoned her blouse and went out to help. Castle let out a sigh of relief.

Nothing happened until the next day when they were on their way to a crime scene. As Castle played with his phone, he felt something soft and warm on his thigh. It was Beckett's hand and it was going up his leg.

"Both hands on the wheel, Detective. Pay attention to your driving." He squeaked, removing her hand.

"Oh, I can multi task, Castle. You'd be surprised at all the things I can do."

Castle pushed himself all the way to the other side of the car and hoped they wouldn't get stuck in traffic.

When he finally got back to his loft at the end of what had been a very, very long week, he was exhausted. He went straight to his bathroom and turned on a cold shower, undressed and got inside. After a few minutes, he decided he hated cold showers and turned the tap to hot. He relaxed in the shower and thought.

This is bizarre. It's like some crazed out take from the Twilight Zone. I have a beautiful woman who's trying to get me into bed, and I'm fighting her. His mind went back to crime scene he and Beckett had gone to that morning. He and Beckett were standing behind the kitchen island in a rather nice apartment while Ryan, Esposito and Lanie were examining the body just on the other side of the island. As they stood there, he felt Kate's hand begin to rub his butt. He moved away from her, but she followed. He got to the end of the island and had to decide whether to move out from behind the island and take the chance that Beckett would follow him and grope him in front of the detectives and Lanie, which would embarrass both of them terribly, or stay behind the island. He stayed for a minute, trying to decide until fate intervened. Ryan found something on the vic's computer. Castle shot out from behind the kitchen island before Kate could follow.

Looking down, he saw he had an erection. "The shower isn't helping at all."

He left the shower and stood in front of the mirror. "Castle, what's wrong with you?" He thought about that and also what he thought about Detective Kate Beckett. Okay, she's beautiful. I saw that at once. And she is remarkable. She's also terribly, terribly hurt. Her mother's death changed her life in ways I can't imagine. And try as I may, I can't really get inside the mind of Kate Beckett. Should I sleep with her? Would that help or hurt our odd but interesting relationship? No, I know it would hurt. I don't want a one night stand or a fling with Beckett. So what do I want? Would she end up as just another "guy" I know? No, she's more important than that. When I walked in on her and Sorenson making out in the break room, it didn't bother me. I was positive she was over him. That firefighter, Brad, did bother me, though. I didn't like the idea of Kate Beckett going out with someone for a nice dinner and a little meaningless sex. She's not that kind of a woman. Was I really jealous? No. Not me. Maybe? Okay, just a little bit.

He went to his office and began writing in a haze. When he was done, he saw he'd written five chapters. As he read them again, he thought they were some of the best he'd ever written. Then he read the fifth chapter. It was the most pornographic love scene between Nikki and Rook he could imagine. It was the most pornographic thing he'd ever written, and that included some revenge porn he'd written in college to get back at various girls who had dumped him.

He deleted the fifth chapter.

TBC