Authors Note: This is my first 'Castle' fan fiction story. I had not planned on writing one at all, but this story would NOT leave me alone. So I finally had to sit down and type it out. The chapters will generally switch POV, but it will be obvious which characters it is. I hope you enjoy it!

Standard disclaimers apply. All Feedback is welcome.

With You

He'd never realized how many steps there were to the elevator until now. He was walking away from Beckett, leaving her in the arms of Josh. Moments before he'd been about to say something profound. He wasn't sure what it was, but he'd known that it was important. After nearly dying with her three times in twenty-four hours, he felt like there were so many things that he needed to say to her. But as he was speaking he'd seen Josh walking toward them. And in that second Richard Castle decided to be a gentleman, and had simply said he'd needed to go home and walked away. Leaving her with what she professed to want. She wanted her and Josh to 'have a chance'. And in one of the few purely unselfish desires he had, he truly just wanted her to be happy.

So he walked away.

Each step getting harder and harder to take, he continued to put one foot in front of the other, making his way to the elevator. He felt as though there was some invisible force trying to pull him back to the place that he'd just been, back to Beckett. But he ignored it and kept walking, step by step, until he'd reached the elevator. He stepped on, leaned against the back wall, and very pointedly did not look over at Beckett and Josh wrapped in each others arms.