Disclaimer: i own nothing and no one. Again thanks to 4evercaskett for the original (alot smaller than it ended up being) story idea, and to diane (my unfailing muse) for everything else in between! if you have read, reviewed, alerted or messaged me in anyway thank you...and now...someone build me my time machine feb 6th here i come!

He felt her fingers wrap around his, warm, slender, and tight in her grip, as she raised herself up.

She was smiling very widely, grinning at him in fact and it left him feeling confused.

"Whatever you say DICK!"

He jerked in surprise as she clutched at his hand, so shocked she had actually stood up that he didn't even register the comment or the snickers from behind him.

She was smirking again, teasing and light as she suddenly pulled free of his hand and dropped her own to her hips.

"Can we get this over with? Before Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee have an apoplexy."

He followed her gaze to the two Detectives standing in the corner, Esposito was grinning from ear to ear and Ryan was practically vibrating in anticipation.

Then the reasoning behind his suggestion came flooding back to him, he was supposed to be proving the magic behind the forbidden embrace he had been imagining. He had a point to make, and he wanted Kate to believe, feel the intensity of the heated rendezvous.

So he shook off his shock, smiling and got down to business.

"We'll pretend the table is the…"

"Desk?" She asked smirking at him again, reminding him of his earlier slip up.

"Stage, lets go with stage and I'm going to have to…err.. move you so this may get a little awkward."

"More awkward than…?" She nodded over his shoulder ignoring the rest of his comment and he turned to take in the smiling buffoons behind him.

She rolled her eyes at the grinning Detectives who were enjoying the situation a little too much for her liking "Don't you two have work to do?"

"Nope."

"Not one single thing."

"Case has stalled."

"Nothing to do."

They both grinned at her ready for another challenge but she gave in.

"Ok lets get this over with."

"Oh Thank you," he grimaced as she waved away his mock offence and gestured for him to continue "Ready? I'm going to have to position you."

She raised her eyebrows at him "Position me how."

"Well in the story she was just going with it and you being you, there's bound to be more resistance sooo I'm going to have to get you where I want you."

"Oh really?" She raised her eyebrows, challengingly.

"Yeah," he answered, then speaking quietly so the others wouldn't hear he mumbled "first time for everything."

She opened her mouth to speak but his hand moved just as she did, and her head snapped to follow it as it made its way to her waist.

"I'm going to have to touch you." he said grinning again.

She nodded slowly, words disappearing completely as she watched his hand approach, but his fingers didn't settle over her yet.

"Lean back into the table, it's not the right height but you get the idea."

"You want me to sit on the table?" she asked in confusion.

"Just lean back a little into it and open your legs."

"Excuse me." She opened her eyes wide her eyebrows shooting skyward at his suggestion.

"I feel like a voyeur." Ryan said from behind them, she leant around Castle again and stared at him.

"That's because you are one."

"Shhh." Castle said quietly echoing the hushed plea from his story, and he instantly transported her to the world he had created. Vivid images of her pressed against the wall of an alley or a stage (or wherever the hell he wanted to press her) rushed in a dancing blur through her mind.

Reaching forwards, this time his hand did touch her, a firm press of fingers to the bone of her hip as he guided her back into the solid edge of the table.

He nudged her shoes apart with his foot, giving the heels a little tap to make her widen the space between them.

She drew in a deep shuddering breath, forgetting the other men in the room, as she moved her feet for him and he stepped into the gap, one leg between both of hers, crowding her space as he pressed her backwards.

"She would have had her hand here." He said touching the lapel of his jacket with his fingertips, as he recalled how the story had taken place in his head.

His free hand snagged her wrist and drew it up to his chest, twining her fingers with his own until they reached the material, then he pressed them over the edge and felt her grip tight to it.

Visions of bank heists and moments of terror eclipsed by heart breaking relief washed over her as she held firm to his jacket.

Memories bombarding her as she clung on in desperation, her heart pounded erratically, breathing shallow and stilted as she remembered how she had felt when she raced to find him in the settling rubble of the bank.

Her fingers ached as she gripped tight to the cloth, using him as her tether to the here and now.

There was warmth burning through the material of her jeans, the soft denim against her legs heating up rapidly surrounded by the strength and muscle of his own.

She felt him rock his hips forward, an un-intentional rotation of his pelvis as he moved closer, that caught against hers and pressed her further into the table.

She jumped again, a small gasp escaping her, forcing her to lift her head and, as she had so far managed to avoid, finally meet his eyes.

There was no mischief in them which surprised her, no tease or innuendo bubbling under the surface. Just pure molten heat as he stared at her.

She had fought the urge to look at him whilst he was this close, but now she had, she couldn't pull away, they were stuck as she watched the pupils of his eyes reacting to the light of the break room as he blinked.

His gaze never once deviated, even as he spoke and moved her again.

"Her other hand was here." He said, catching at her arm, making her remember she even had another one besides the one that was already touching him.

He lifted it high and drew it around his neck, pressing her palm gently to the skin between his hair line and collar.

She watched then as he broke eye contact, but only to close his eyes, her fingers moving of their own accord to trail the skin briefly before she got them under control and froze.

When she stilled her movement he opened his eyes again and blinked at her, somehow moving closer still. He dropped her hand and they stood, with her clinging to him, for a few seconds before she spoke.

Her voice a quiet, cracked, whisper as she asked "And him?"

"His hand would be here." Castle said immediately, encouraged as he moved, a soft rustle of material as his hand snaked to her hip, his thumb brushing over the arch of bone he could feel pressing through the edge of her shirt.

He let it linger before he moved it further and settled just above her right back pocket, with a little tug he pulled her against him.

Suddenly he was supporting more of her weight than she would have thought possible. The table at the edge of her back and her death grip on his shirt coupled with his hold on her hip meant she wasn't properly balanced, and she was forced to cling to him to stay upright.

"And here." He said quietly, moving fast.

She felt the shudder wrack her body as the tips of his fingers moved over her neck, his thumb skirting the thudding pulse in her jaw before they wound their way into her hair.

He pulled, tugging the strands with the lightest of pressure so that she would tip her head back, arch her neck and he could lean into her.

His lips ghosted over her jaw, his nose skimming lightly at her cheek before he whispered, the warm air of his breath tickling the words into her ear "Are they still watching?"

She froze at his question, not at all what she had been expecting, she lifted her eyes over his shoulder catching sight of both Ryan and Esposito, who, whilst both looking a bit embarrassed, hadn't turned away "Yeah."

She felt his lips settle over the skin in between her ear and her cheek, felt them lift and raise as he smiled against her. "Then lets give them something to talk about."

"What?" she swallowed most of the word as he startled her with a swift movement, dipping her further back.

"Just go with me on this." He whispered his lips brushing lightly against hers as he spoke before they closed over her mouth.

He didn't deepen the kiss, press to invade her lips or do anything other than lay his gently over her own, but it was enough to send his head spinning.

A 'stage kiss' his Mother called it. The settling of his lips next to and slightly over hers for the benefit of the audience.

He had to do it, so close and months of knowing that one day she might be ready for more, with him, he had tried to keep his distance, but with her in his arms, and a plausibly deniable excuse, he couldn't resist.

No, more than that, he didn't want to.

But he would give her an out if she needed one. It didn't really count if they were acting.

What he wasn't prepared for was her reaction, how deeply she was effected by the words he had surrounded her with, how very much she wanted to be the girl in the story with freedom and the self assured ability to act as she chose, to kiss when she was in love.

When his lips descended on hers she gave up all pretence of being unaffected and threw herself into the kiss.

Her right hand already where she wanted it, where he had placed it, meant she could let her fingers glide, raking at his scalp as she trailed his hair. Soft and gentle wisps against her fingers as she imagined, as she remembered.

Her left hand served an even greater purpose, it held him firm, her white knuckled grip stopping him from retreating in gallant stupidity when he thought he should.

Her mouth opened eagerly before his lips met hers and she sucked his bottom lip between her own, rolling her tongue across it.

She knew he would gasp, maybe even give a girly squeal as she did, and open his mouth wide enough that she could ravage him with her kiss.

She felt his fingers tense against her hip in surprise, a split second of amazement and shock before he pulled her close and gave her what she wanted, the kiss from his story.

Their kiss.

His fingers already in her hair, his thumb sliding across her cheek in the way that made her bones disappear, poof alakazam, like magic.

Because it was magic.

Their own brand of made-up make believe that came to life in the meeting of their lips, the gentle greeting of tongues, the soft sigh and moan he loved already that reverberated between them.

He loved her, and she knew.

She loved him, and if he didn't know before, he couldn't doubt it now.

She trailed her fingers through his hair in repeated patterns and felt her foot lift from the floor and curl around his calf, she pulled him closer, wanted him to crowd her more into the table.

After several frantic seconds he felt her lips part under his again, only this time it was as she pulled away enough to speak, the side of her mouth brushing his.

"Err Castle" she panted "we have an audience." She said it quietly, when she finally regained enough control to remember they weren't alone in the room.

She was loathe to stop, but she had a deep, hungry, achy, excited feeling it was about to get very out of hand, not to mention embarrassing for those watching.

There would be consequences, ones she wasn't entirely ready to deal with yet, but she was getting closer, closer every day, and maybe taking small steps with him, small kissey kinds of steps, she would get there faster.

"Time to take our bow Beckett," he said quietly as he lifted away, answering her look of confusion by saying "acting it out remember."

He held her hand tightly, felt her foot leave his leg and plant itself firmly on the floor before he spun them to face the two men, so she could bob a curtsey and he could bow, but turning, they found themselves alone in the room.

"I wasn't acting Castle and where did they disappear to?" she asked.

He turned staring at her, waiting for her to laugh or shake him off, but she just held his gaze, blinking steadily as she waited for him to answer."I have…no idea, we must have scared them away with the…"

He stopped not really sure of how to continue as her teeth began to worry the edge of her lip. He didn't question her words, or try to make her explain them. He just let her statement linger as he held tight to her hand.

He didn't want her to withdraw or, in all honesty, start thinking, because she might pull back and retreat. She might run again, and he didn't want to have to chase her, he just wanted to hold her.

He tugged on her hand and gestured towards the journal "Are you sad it ends there? KISS ALWAYS and no real resolution?"

She shook her head, realising their fingers were still laced together, she looked down at them briefly before she used them to pull him to the table so they could sit back down. "Not really, we knew it was unfinished going in, part and parcel of this insane case and, who knows, as we investigate Stan's murder maybe we will find out exactly what happened to them."

He looked at her, smiling at the optimistic outlook she took on the case. It was a new approach for her, the darkness shifting away a lot more lately, a lot easier than he was used to seeing, it set free a truly beautiful woman underneath. One he had loved for longer than he realised, one he planned to love forever.

The woman who had just kissed him in the precinct and the one whose hand he now sat holding. "And if we don't?" He asked, his thumb brushing in light circles over her skin. "If we never learn the truth and the last thing we ever know about…"

"Dick?" she asked smiling.

"And the fox who owned The Blue Butterfly…"

"Castle" she gripped his hand tighter as she leaned forward across the table "if KISS ALWAYS is the last entry in the journal and the very last thing we ever know about them I think it's a pretty good ending…"

"I sense a but coming." He grinned at her, fairly certain he knew what she was about to say.

"BUT…" She smiled at him again, "If you don't like it," she dropped his hand, raised her elbow to the table and rested her chin in her cupped fingers "you could always tell me a story."

He laughed as he watched her settle in and close her eyes in anticipation of his words.

Her belief in her writer man shining through as she waited for whatever tale he would spin, and whatever wonderful love story he would place her in the middle of.

Sure there would be danger, and intrigue and even possibly death, but in the end, they were the things that made love worthwhile, made it special.

They were the things that you overcame to make love last forever.

His mouth settled over hers in a new yet familiar way as he finally kissed her, his fingers were still sliding through her hair, their mouths dancing in greeting, less than 24 hours apart felt like a lifetime and they poured how very much they had missed each other straight into that kiss.

He felt her shudder, her lashes fluttering erratically against his cheek as she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him devastate her mouth with kiss after intoxicating kiss, relishing every one, savouring each moment that they could be together, touch each other, hold on tight and show their love.

She breathed around him as best she could, but he totally invaded every aspect of her being, she fought it for a few seconds trying to hold her own until she gave in and let him enfold her in his love.

She let him tear down her defences, step inside and barricade them alone, together, away from the rest of the world.

He pulled back from her just enough that their faces rested against each other, cheek to cheek, as they sucked in every ragged, heaving, lungful of air, of each other. She sighed even as she panted and he dropped his forehead to rest against hers.

"Yes." He said quietly in the soft hair at the edge of her brow "I missed you."

He stepped away, watching the smile spread across her face and light her up from the inside, even more beautiful as she let her happiness run free.

He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing the back of it before he reluctantly let go, letting it fall between them.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his journal.

He didn't know what made him bring it tonight, what made him feel he needed the journal close, pressed over his heart inside his jacket.

Maybe it was the fact that he spilled his love through the pages and he couldn't bear to be parted from them. Maybe it was just stupid superstition that by having the words close he would keep her safe.

But now he had her near he wanted her to see it, to understand that he was filling the pages with them. With love.

"What are you doing?" She asked confused, her brow furrowing.

He smiled at her, gleefully folding back the pages so she could watch as he wrote the date and the location. He stepped forwards, pulling her in, lifted her chin and kissed her again, tenderly and softly, just once against her lips.

When he moved away she was smiling at him and he made sure she continued to watch as he wrote in the book.

Two words that alone held no meaning, two words that out of context and to anyone but them would be a little side note jotted down.

The act and the song recorded forever in two words that would transport them back to this very location, two simple words

KISS, ALWAYS.

He felt her arm move, her hand reach and her long slender fingers run over the words on the page. She laced the book with a little of her own magic, he thought, as she touched at the words tenderly.

She pulled her hand back and he put the journal away, in the inside pocket of his jacket, listening as she sighed and stepped into him, her hand resting over where it now lay, hidden next to his heart.

She leant into him for support, for strength as her own drained away, emotion was bubbling up from inside and the power and the intensity of it were taking her by surprise.

He reached for her, drawing her in close and wrapping his arms around her, he brushed his hand gently over her hair, stroking away the enormity of what she was feeling and replacing it instead with simplicity, with the soft embrace of his arms and repetitive thump of his heart beat in her ear.

He opened his mouth to speak but she got there first.

"I'm fine." she whispered with a smile as he closed his mouth and grinned at her. She had read his mind and pre-empted his question, their connection gaining power with every second.

"Never again." She said softly echoing his early declaration, his eyes finding hers as she leant away from him, keeping her arms wrapped around his stomach as she smiled at him.

"Ahh see," he grinned, unable to resist giving her a cheeky wink "I knew you liked me."

"I love you," she said, her smile matching his tipping up onto her toes to kiss him lightly on the lips "and nothing is going to keep us apart ever again."

THE END