Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't

Last chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

…After a minute she scooted the chair back and walked past him for the door. The still guarded look on her face caused his throat to constrict slightly and had him silent as she brushed close by him.

"I found two typos, Castle."

"What?" he startled, automatically moving for the laptop. "Where?"

He lifted his head but she was already gone. On reflex he carefully rechecked the scene and then he checked it again.

He didn't see any typos.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

…

"Richard Castle!"

The voice's explosion on his unconscious mind foreshadowed the pain that cracked through his face. It wasn't possible to see anything through the rapid blinking and blur of tears but there was no mistaking the throbbing in his nose.

Fortunately, the owner of said voice was not concerned with waiting for him identify them when he had recovered his sight.

"I knew there had to be a reason you were avoiding me. More than usual."

"Paula?" There was no mistaking that nasal voice, or the slight lisp. "What are you doing here?" He didn't wait for a response, but turned to his partner. "Kate? You okay?"

He stopped blinking long enough to see her position mirrored his own, though she was cradling her head while he had gripped the bridge of his nose.

"I'll live." She left one hand on her head and shooed his hands away so she could look at his nose. "Got you good, huh?" she asked as he winced under her probing fingers. "You'll be fine."

"Well, now that we have that established," Paula broke in. "Perhaps you'd like to tell me what is going on?"

"We were sleeping," Castle answered as Kate bent to retrieve the laptop which had slipped dangerously towards the ground.

"Something else you could have told me about. Rick you know the field-day the press is going to have when they find out you are sleeping with the muse. Don't you think your agent should at least have an advance warning?"

"Whoa!" he held up both hands, though his eyes were still watering. "Firstly, 'the muse' has a name. And secondly, we are not sleeping together."

"Ricky," she looked at him plaintively, how-stupid-do-you-think-I-am?

"Paula," he insisted.

The dark haired agent flicked between him and Kate and seemed to back down, relaxing her rigid posture.

"If you say so," she sounded resigned. "If that's the case, I assume the reason you've been avoiding me is because you've gone and done something stupid again," she waved a hand absently at his cast. "I've got to say, it's been a while."

He looked disgruntled, but was imminently relieved she deigned to drop the earlier subject.

The last week had been careful between the two, though for once Kate seemed more at ease than he was. She had been the one to invite herself over the day after reading his scene.

"You still have two weeks in that cast, Castle," she had said. Completely offhand as well, as if she couldn't comprehend his bemused joy at her presence.

A week later and they were back to where they had been. Well, not exactly, there was an air of confidence she hadn't had before - at least not outside the precinct. She was more open. Stronger and a little vulnerable. And inspiring enough that they were already in the process of writing the last chapter. A whole novel in a little over five weeks.

He should give her hands a massage. Even one handed.

"I suppose I should thank you for not breaking his nose," Paula added as offside to Kate, bringing him back from his wool-gathering. Kate merely raised an eyebrow in return. "It makes photo shoots so much more trying. It was bad enough when he burned off his eyebrows," Paula sounded aggrieved and put out over the incident a decade old.

Castle deliberately ignored the amused stare Kate directed at the side of his face and directed the next comment directly at the dragon in front of them.

"So, Paula. I assume there was a reason you tried to shave a year off my life, unless of course, you were secretly hoping that Beckett would break my nose."

Paula ignored the pointed words. "I'm here to talk about the new book obviously."
"Obviously. And this couldn't have waited?"

"I've been waiting a week for you to call me back."

"Castle!" Beckett huffed.

"We were busy!" he defended himself.

"Not that busy."
"So, the new book," he grasped at the subject a little desperately.

Paula still didn't look happy, but condescended to sit in the armchair beside the couch. "Yes. The new book. Gina sent me the first few chapters," she frowned.

"I imagined she would," he replied, beginning to see where this was going.

"Not quite your usual style, Ricky."

"I would imagine not."

"But that is between you and Gina, and Kate now apparently."

"Would somebody care to fill me in?" Beckett asked a little wryly.

The agent's attention swung to focus on her and Beckett understood why Castle had hired her. She was very good at her job, and very commanding.

"Has Rick here told you what he gave as the tentative title when he admitted those chapters?"

The very blunt question had him shifting in his seat a little uncomfortably. Paula already knew the answer to the question. He hadn't told Kate yet, but he hadn't been keeping it from her, just waiting for them to finish the book first. Feeling the strength of the stare she rested on him, he hoped he would have a chance to explain that.

Her eyes were intent on him when he shifted a little to face her, but she didn't seem offended. In fact, she must not have been too worried at all, because she hadn't shut down her face. She trusted him.

"I was going to wait until we were done, or at least until it came up naturally," he offered and her eyebrows rose, prompting his to continue. "It's not finite, but I like it and I think it makes sense, for them," he didn't look away. "And for us."

"And what would this name be, Castle?"

"Shared Heat." He held her attention, bracing himself.

"Shared Heat," she repeated.

He nodded slowly, holding his breath while he watched her process it.

A small, shy smile danced across her lips. "I like it."

…

"So, Shared Heat?," Kate questioned after hurricane Paula had blown out.

The agent had left almost as agitated as she had arrived; it didn't take an expert to see that Castle had been stalling her. Whenever the talk tended towards signings and public appearances he would shut the topic down. When the phrase 'book tour' came up, she was grateful.

"Too easy?" he questioned.

"What's in a name?" she shrugged.

The story itself was more than enough to negate whatever impressions of the mundane the title might imply. Though she had her suspicions that Paula loved the title and the rumor-mill it was likely to restart. It was probably the reason she had made the trip: to see for herself so she could start planning statements and whatever else she was in charge of. It certainly wasn't going to hurt sales.

He frowned and lifted his eyebrows in easy defeat. "I call you Beckett, I call you Kate, Detective. I might have preferences, but at the end of the day you're still you: an overworking coffee-addict with a beautiful mind and a sharp tongue."

"Unless you want to find out just how sharp my tongue is, you should stop now, Castle."

He just leered at her and she didn't mind much.

He had a point though. She could call him Rick; it wouldn't make any difference or even mean that much because the feelings behind it were the same as when she called him Castle.

Her eyes drifted back down to the computer on her knees and quickly re-read the last paragraph they had written together. All that remained now was to write the last scene and those two small words which would put an end to her brief excursion into his world.

"Hard to believe isn't it?" he asked.

There he went again, reading her. It didn't seem to matter how much dust she threw up, he always saw through it. Hadn't he proven it when he wrote the shoot-out scene? He had allowed Nikki weakness, forgiven Rook his flaws and more than that, he confessed. He confessed how messed up he was after her shooting, maybe even now.

She felt he deserved honesty after all this.

"I'm going to miss it," she admitted. She was going to miss making something new. She was going to miss this new side of them and the feeling like she had something to come home to. Because it really had started to feel like home. The week that saw her returning home to her own apartment had become alien. But she was just going to have to get used to it again.

He smiled gently and laced his fingers through hers. It was a tight fit, but she was more taken with how well she knew those fingers even though she had been the one typing.

"Me too. But we're not done yet."

She straightened and squeezed his hand before retreating and readying her fingers over the keyboard. "How about we get on that?"

"You got it, partner."

…

He had his final appointment in three days. Gina had received and accepted the manuscript a week ago and Castle was on edge waiting for his decision to blow up in his face. This phone called seemed like somewhat of an omen.

"No, you can't come here." Kate would kill him if Paula stormed in here. "Why? Why do you think Paula? She's busy, we're busy…Funny…No seriously," he cast his eyes around until they lighted on the murder board.

Delay, delay.

"Paula, I'm doing what's best for all of us, we're working on a really grisly one at the moment and I remember what cleaning up after you is like. That night in L.A after you decided rum and tequila would work well together? This case is like drinking rum and tequila all night."

Kate's eyebrows had gone skyward but she didn't bother looking away from the warrant she was filing for on her computer. His partner.

Yeah, he made the right choice.

"If it's so urgent I'm sure I can convince her to come over to the loft after we finish," he looked over at her and she shrugged.

"How about I just give you a call?...Who do you take me for, of course I'll call you back. You have so little faith in me." He ignored the little snort he heard over his shoulder and hung up.

"Why does she want to talk to me?" Kate sounded resigned.

"She doesn't." At least not yet - one good thing about that conversation.

She looked up from her computer.

"Really," he assured her. "Gina is the one who wants to talk to you. Paula wants to talk to the Captain."

"Why'd you look at me when you said you'd be able to convince her over to your loft, then?"

"Because you're going to help me."

"Confident aren't you?"

"Cautious. I can't get thrown out of my own house."

"Castle, what have you done that would make Gates want to throw you out?"

"I'm sure you'll hear all about it." Probably you and the rest of the apartment building. Castle's imagination was more than vivid enough on speculate on the reaction Gates was going to have when she found out he would be stealing her top detective.

The detective who was still unaware of the fact. Oh, this was going to end badly.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with why Gina wants to talk to me now would it?"

"Gina didn't tell me why she wants to talk you," he sidestepped that not-so-little landmine.

"But you have an idea," she observed, leaning back to fix him with an intent stare.

"I always have ideas."

"Great. It's going to be an ambush," she sighed. "Is there anyone else we should invite to this party? The Captain, Paula, Gina…"

"At least we can get it all done at once. Like a band aid."

"Telling me it's going to hurt isn't making me feel any better."

"Then how about I consent to sharing some intel with you?"

Maybe it wasn't the best game plan to admit that he had information in the first place. Her gaze had zeroed in on him and he tried not to squirm.

"You better not have been holding out on me again, Castle."

"Well not really. I only found out this morning."

She didn't even blink, increasing the tangible pressure. He suddenly regretted not telling about his intentions two weeks ago. She was going to kill him though he couldn't see how he'd had any choice. He wouldn't have it any other way, but if he were able to relive the last month or so, he would tell her earlier.

"How about I tell you over lunch?" he suggested feebly. Give me time to update my will. "Coffee?" he amended when she made no signs of accepting his earlier offer. "Look," he hoped he sounded reasonable. "I'm not going to tell you in front of everyone."

Please may that have appealed to her logic. Possible castration was better left for private.

Her mouth pursed as she considered him. He felt like a piece of evidence on the murder board. In a preventative move born of pure self-preservation, he made for the observation room as being the most private and accessible. The sound of her heels following was audible before he made it ten feet. Both of the boys took one look at their team leader before fixing him with genuinely sympathetic eyes. He crossed his fingers on one hand and dug out his phone with the other, calling up the email he had received from Gina that morning.

He had planned to tell Beckett tonight after coaxing her out to eat somewhere, but he valued his life.

Final Confirmation : Shared Heat co-authored by Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett.

Publishing commences on approval.

I hope she doesn't kill you, Richard.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading.

Review?

Good luck with the hiatus.