Spoilers to episodes 3.12 Poof, You're Dead and 3.13 Knockdown, so if you don't know what's about to happen and don't want to know, skip this story for now. The title of my story has nothing to do with the movie by the same title (I haven't seen it) but it came to me as a great way to think of the cover kiss. I'm going with the prevailing theory that there are two kisses, and in my imagination the first one is a cover; that's the six second clip I've seen online with her approaching him with a serious expression. In the kiss her eyes are open, looking all around. The second is the one we've seen in the promo clip aired at the end of Castle where she is laughing and he approaches her, so I'm guessing that's going to occur after everything has been resolved. This is my take on the first kiss only—if you're interested I'll attempt to write another chapter about the second kiss.

Please read and review. This is my first fanfiction (I just couldn't help myself!) so constructive criticism is appreciated. Please, no flames.

Castle and its characters do not belong to me and no copyright infringement is intended. I'm just enjoying some time with a few of my favorite characters. The story is mine, however.

Prelude to a Kiss

Focus, Castle. Focus.

This was just for the case, a diversion. But, oh, what a diversion! How in the world was he supposed to think about what was going on down the way when his lips were at last on hers? He had dreamed of this for a very long time. Occasionally he imagined this moment while his mind wandered during the daytime, though he tried to put it out of his thoughts when around Kate. More and more often, though, he thought of her when he slept, while his defenses were down and his mind pushed past the barriers he had built up during his waking hours.

This was nothing like what he had imagined, however. When he had let himself think about what it might be like to kiss her, he had wanted it to be special, meaningful, unforgettable. He wanted it to be a kiss he could pour his pent-up emotions into, to let Kate know that what he felt for her was genuine and lasting; he didn't want her to ever doubt that she was unlike any of the others. Never had he imagined that when he finally kissed Kate Beckett it would be nothing but a pretense. Not that the kiss wasn't real in the sense of lips connecting, but any kiss he had to hold back on was only an illusion; it wasn't an authentic kiss because it could not convey the depth of emotion he felt for Kate.

But this was not the time; not to tell her, and not to show her. This kiss could not be genuine, no matter how much he longed for his dreams to become reality. This was just a cover kiss—a mere performance for the man out there, the one they believed was at least partly responsible for taking Kate's mother from her.

The thought that he might never have the chance to really kiss her grieved him until he realized that this kiss still held enormous potential: in truth it could be a prelude of sorts; a short taste of something far more important, an introduction to how much he loved her. And perhaps, even in her distraction with the case, a part of his kiss might linger in her mind to make her wonder if maybe there was more to it than just a spur of the moment screen for their true purpose in being here.

Rick would do anything for this extraordinary woman, anything including this counterfeit kiss, to give her the chance to have some closure on that very painful chapter in her life. Even if it cost him that final portion of his heart, it would be worth it to see her smile again when her mother's killer was finally behind bars. Truth be told, he had already lost his heart a long time ago, and in its entirety. That why he and Gina hadn't worked out yet again; she wasn't the one he wanted. Kate was. No other would suffice, and he was going to stop trying to replace her in his heart.

There would be time for this dream to become reality later. He hoped. He just had to find the right moment.