Loving this story even more… if that's possible!

Awesome. I haven't been able to post b/c I've been out of town and haven't had much computer access. I'm so glad I caught up again. Can't wait for the next update!!!!!!!

dmcw: lol, glad you got a kick out of that. My mind gets some weird ideas sometimes. The mystery is getting tough, I know how I want it to end, just gotta make sure I don't paint myself into a corner and drop the right clues as I'm making this all up as I go

musiclover: lol, what's wrong with twins? It's a bit of a cop-out, but eh, I'm doing what I can.

Widget: Glad to hear you're all caught up and still enjoying it! 

bookish7: lol, well to be honest, I'm right there with you as I'm not sure what's going to happen next until I write it

ASTAR: Thanks, I tried to make the scene believable, as I need them apart for the next idea I have, but wasn't sure if I succeeded. Thanks for the kind words as well

mikaaeleyy: lol, no problem

Okay next part but to read it you need to agree to this license that my friendly lawyer wrote on a bar napkin:

You, reader, agree not to kill, xonze, author of the following story in this post. You also agree to trust said author and not tie him up and torture him (unless you take him to dinner first and maybe a movie… actually author says movie is mandatory,) because of what happens in this part. Also this license extends to the next chapter, but said author requests that you stick with him because it'll be worth it. He hopes…

Thank you for your cooperation

————

“What the hell was that all about” Kate said, standing at the door and looking out after Castle. It didn’t make sense for him to get so annoyed, she was just joking like he did to her all the time so what was the problem? She didn’t think she was being that mean or rude, especially not mean enough for him to walk out.

“Sounds like he’s jealous,” She turned to look at the officer next to her and he smiled wildly at her. 

“Thanks, I heard.” She said and moved away from the door. She had forgotten all about the officer next to her as she was too fixated on Castle. He had said he was jealous, but why? And since when did Castle get jealous… of her? Sure she was jealous of him from time to time, well, more jealous of the girls he was with. She didn’t want to be those girls because they didn’t seem to mean much, but they were with him and having fun, and really she wouldn’t have minded that if the relationship would last.

With Castle though, she couldn’t be that sure that it would. He had a history of going from girl to girl and Kate couldn’t deal with that. Not then and not ever, but she did have feelings for him. She was in love with the words in his book and now she was finding herself in loved with the man himself, when he actually acted like the man she saw in his books. Mature, thoughtful, charming and funny. He could be all those things and could do them well, but he always seemed to fall back into the smart-ass Castle that never got them anywhere. 

Was that really who he was though? Was he normally smart-ass Castle, and not the charming, funny guy that he could be? She had seen both. Lately though she was seeing more of the second than the first and it was drawing her closer. At least it seemed that way, but how much did she really know about him?

She went back up the stairs, taking the steps slowly. She would not follow him out there, and she wouldn’t be the first to talk to him. Either he was annoyed, in which case it was better to just let him sit, or he was playing a game, in which case she wasn’t going to play along. 

She still had to get CSU to check the attic and the only person around to help was Demming. She wasn’t really looking forward to being alone with him. Before she loved being around him, just enjoying each other’s company. Something changed though and she was thinking it was the stupid rivalry that was between him and Castle that was starting to get on her nerves. 

She found herself actually mumbling curses at both of them when she reached the top of the stairs. She swallowed hard and made for the room where Demming was. 

He was standing at the foot of the ladder, his thin face showing sharp lines of muscles underneath as he clenched his teeth. He was shining the flashlight back and forth into the darkness as if hoping that shaking the light would make more appear in the attic.

“What are you doing?” She asked, a smile creeping in before she could stop it.

“Just killing time. CSU is still processing the scene next door and then they’re going to go through the attic just in case our killer did go out that way or something.” Demming clicked the flashlight off and turned around, leaning against the ladder. He crossed his arms and smiled at her and she felt her heart go just a bit faster.

“Where’s Castle?” He asked and she saw the grin grow just a bit. He was enjoying this and that was fine, but Kate was feeling pretty torn inside. She was doing her best not to show it even when in reality she couldn’t keep from thinking about either of them. There was pluses to both and yet minuses as well. 

Castle was like a game of Russian Roulette. Things could go amazingly well or they could break apart in about a month, maybe even with Castle dead. She cared about him, but she wasn’t sure she could deal with him twenty-four hours a day. Not unless he calmed down a little, and she wasn’t sure that would ever happen.

Yes, it was nice sometimes and he seemed to know when to cut it out when he had to, it was just other times he just didn’t seem to be able to stop. She didn’t want to change the man, because you never really could but could she really deal with that? The more she thought about it she was thinking she could, though only trying would tell.

While on the other hand, Demming was a lot like getting insider information on a race. He looked to be a sure thing, but how much could she trust what was being told to her? He was smart, funny, charming, insanely good looking, and yet all of that had to have something else underneath it. There had to be something bad about him which she would only find out after a long time of dating. Castle was up front with how he was and a lot of it was good, but Demming… it just seemed like a bit of a mask to something. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to peel that mask away and see what was hiding in the depths. 

“He’s out for a walk,” She said, raising her brows as she spoke and keeping her gaze down. “I think he needs a little time to cool off, he always gets a little heated when things don’t make sense.” 

Demming nodded and pushed up off of the ladder. “So, how long is this going to go on?” 

She had been asking herself the same question. How long was she going to drag this out, and why was she? She was with Demming right now and things were going well. If Castle hadn’t kissed her would she really be trying to decide if she wanted to break up with him? No, she as pretty sure she’d be enjoying her time with him, going out on dates, kissing and maybe more. Castle’s kiss changed everything, or at least she thought it did. 

“Kate? Come on, I can see it’s tearing you up. If you want I’ll back off, that way things don’t have to be so strained.” He wasn’t smiling anymore and Kate thought she saw the smallest bit of sadness cross his face. “I’m not going to be happy about it, but it’s obvious that you can’t make the choice. And after… “ He trailed off as he spoke and dropped his hands to his pants which fluttered. 

She waited a minute and it when it didn’t seem like he was going to finish she spoke up. “After what?”

“After I saw you and him working together,” He began and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders before letting them slip down to her upper arms. She looked up to him, enjoying the feeling of his hands on her. She almost wanted to kiss him with how close he was. “I can’t compete with that, can I? You two are pretty well in sync. I care about you Kate, but maybe…”

“I’m sorry, Tom,” She said looking down to the floor as she spoke. She felt slightly ashamed, and she wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t feeling like herself any more, like someone else, a more weak version of herself had taken over. She shouldn’t be feeling this sick and hurt over this. “I just…”

She dropped into his shoulder but didn’t cry. She’d be damned before she let anyone see her cry over this. It was stupid and meaningless but she still needed some comfort and she found it in Demming. She felt his arms warp around her and hold her tight against him. She breathed in deeply, his cologne tickling her nose but she loved the smell. She could only describe it like Old Spice mets Irish Spring, but even that wasn’t the complete of it.

She wanted to stand there the entire day but she knew she couldn’t. He felt so good against her and she reluctantly pulled away from him and looked up, her hands against his chest. He was looking down at her, a small smile on his face and she found she couldn’t resist kissing that smile. She leaned forward, not even thinking about what she was about to, and if she had she might have stopped herself, but she might not have either. 

Demming didn’t pull away, instead he bent his head down enough to met her halfway. Their lips met and just stayed there, no movement came from either of them, their lips were mostly still and tongues were kept firmly in their place. It was a kiss, a gentle one that in Kate’s mind shouldn’t happened, at least not then and there and not when she still wasn’t sure of herself. It was though, and it was wonderful.

“Beckett!” They broke apart quickly, and she turned around to look at the door, her hair falling into her face. She heard Demming make a spitting type of noise and she figured he just got a mouth full of her hair. 

There was no one at the door, but she was sure she had heard Ryan call for her. She gently pushed away from Demming and walked to the top of the stairs looking down. She found Ryan standing on the landing, leaning against the banister.

“I’ve called you like three times,” He said, watching her closely. He looked a little annoyed.

“Sorry, was in the attic,” She said and shrugged. “What’s up?”

“Yeah, sure,” He said, turning away from her and looking to the living room. “Look, anyway, a neighbor thinks they saw a young guy here every night for the past week. Esposito is getting the information from him. Want us to take him to the station and see if we can get a sketch?”

Since when did Ryan get mad? And what was he mad about? This wasn’t a, you guys need to lay off, kind of thing, she had seen that with him enough. Instead it almost seemed like he was getting pissed at either the case, or at her. What the hell did she do to piss him off? “Yeah, do it.”

“Aye, aye.” He said and she thought she saw him sneer at her as he began to step off the landing.

“Ryan, do we have a problem?” She asked, and made her way down the stairs to stand next to him, making her voice low but harsh. He stopped where he was and turned around to face her. “Because if we do we need to figure it out.”

Ryan just dropped his eyebrows down and looked at her, turning his head to the side slightly. His blue eyes were piecing as he looked into hers. 

“I don’t have a problem, but you seem to.”

“Sorry?” She said, feeling a bit of anger well up. This was Ryan she was dealing with, the guy had the nature of a bunny rabbit most of the time. She wasn’t sure if she should push and get rough or just let it go and maybe talk to him later. There was no way of telling how this would really play out. 

“You know what I mean. It’s causing problems for everyone here,” His voice was heavy, almost not fitting his frame and it was kind of disconcerting. Kate took a slight step back before stepping forward again when she realized what she did.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Look, I know you’re having a hard time, but you’re playing with feelings right now and to detriment of everyone.  But what I really don’t like is that you’re playing with Castle.” He paused and swallowed hard, an inkling of the normal Ryan poking through. “I know you’re my boss, and you’re an awesome boss but this really needs to end and soon.”

She didn’t get to speak as he left the landing and walked quickly to the door. Was she just told off by Ryan? She could see Esposito doing that, or even Castle, she guessed, but not Ryan. She sat down on the step and weaved her fingers together in front of her.

This was getting bad. He was right, she was playing with their feelings, she didn’t mean to, but she was. It was Castle own fault though, he was the one that kissed her… but she had been the one to say she needed time. She should have told him to never do that again and if she had she wouldn’t be dealing with this right now. Why does this stuff get so complicated?

She sighed, turning her head from right to left trying to remove a kink from it. She had already started to come to a decision, but she didn’t have time to think about it anymore. 

Maybe she really just needed to end it all? Go back to the way things use to be, but could she do that? After all that’s happened? No, she really didn’t think she could. She squeezed her hands together and breathed in deeply. 

Standing, she headed back up the stairs. She needed to talk to Demming.

Woo Ryan! You tell her! I liked that it was Ryan to set her straight, well attempt to anyway. It really is uncharacteristic of him, but in a way that probably made her think about the way that she was acting. Great continuation! As always, looking forward to the next installment