For Bean, who needed a hug.

Beckett's phone vibrates for what seems like the millionth time that morning, the incessant buzzing cutting through the peace and quiet of her apartment. She rolls her eyes as her screen lights up with the notification; Snapchat from Richard Castle (2).

Ever since that one moment of weakness while sharing a milkshake with her man-child of a partner and somehow agreeing to install the application on her phone, the messages have not stopped pouring in.

Most of the time she enjoys them, his stupid photos of random things adorned with his messy scrawl, captioned with quirky comments. She loves the wit that accompanies each of the pictures, but she'll never tell him that, not in this lifetime anyway.

She opens the app, presses down on his name as a picture pops up of him with his tongue sticking out, holding a rather cute stuffed tiger next to his face. 'I prefer this one to our last one,'he's written at the bottom, tacking on a tiger emoji at the end of the line.

A small laugh escapes her and she shakes her head, waiting for the timer to run out as the next picture loads. This time it's not one of him, but he's taken a photo of Alexis, an angry scowl on her face, nose wrinkled in displeasure at her father's snap-happy tendencies. 'Shopping with this one is boring.'

Once again, a smile blooms across Beckett's face, wisps of warmth and tenderness unfurling in her heart. She loves seeing this side of partner; the loving dad willing to spend hours with his daughter even if he may not enjoy the finer details of shopping with a female. Beckett traces a finger over her screen, taking in the love that's clear in Alexis's eyes even though they're furrowed in annoyance at her dad.

She can relate to that; she's sure that same expression has crossed her own features more than a few times over the years they've been working together. Since the bombing at the bank, in frequency and then even more so after the case with the tiger. Love and annoyance - two things that go hand in hand when it comes to Richard Castle.

Things have been easier between them since the bank, their banter loaded with more flirting and salacious teasing than it had been before. It's also become a norm for them to wind down after a case together, having dinner at his loft or her apartment, watching movies until the wee hours of the morning.

There have been more than a few nights spent in his guest bedroom on some of these occasions, and while the first few times had been a little awkward, she's now fairly comfortable with the sleepy trek up his stairs and waking up the next morning to the smell of coffee and pancakes.

Much like she'd done this very morning.

They'd ended up at his loft the night before, snacking on popcorn and ice cream as they watched Midnight Run. Before she'd realized, it was two in the morning and her body was close to shutting down from exhaustion. They finished cleaning up, and with a smirk he had offered to share his bed with her, only for her to roll her eyes at him as she trudged upstairs to the guest bedroom.

Hours later, she'd woken up to the noise of the Castle household preparing breakfast in the kitchen. She'd thrown on a T-shirt and pulled on a pair of loose leggings - refusing to acknowledge the fact that she now has a few changes of clothes at his place - and joined them downstairs.

As usual, both Alexis and Castle had fussed over her, piling on the bacon on her plate, making comments about how she needs to eat more, always running herself to the ground. Castle busied himself at the stove making a s'morlette for her; his crazy egg and chocolate concoction that she surprisingly enjoys - something he'll never let her live down - when they'd invited her out for a shopping trip.

Beckett turned them down though, having already planned a day of cleaning and general household chores for herself. She'd smiled apologetically at them, wished them well, and once she'd finished her food, departed for her own apartment.

Now, hours later with everything cleaned and dusted, she finds herself lounging on her couch, basking in the afternoon sun that's streaming through her wide windows. She has Heat Wave open on her lap, had intended to reread it for the upteenth time, but she's been distracted by the constant streams of pictures and messages from Castle and hasn't been able to fully concentrate on it.

She's not complaining; she's doesn't mind their exchanges. She accesses the application again, points her camera at the book resting on her thighs and takes a picture. 'I like you between my legs', she types out at the bottom, laughing to herself at the absurdity of what she's doing.

She sends the snap and bites her lip, humming in delight when a text message arrives almost immediately after.

"Beckett, please do not do this to me in public."

She laughs at his predictable reaction but before she can respond, he sends her another snapchat and her finger flies to her home screen to view it.

It seems he's bought the adorable stuffed tiger from before, holding it up again next to his face in another selfie. 'Do not tease the tiger.'

She arches her eyebrow at the picture and oh god - it's the perfect opportunity. Dislodging the book from her legs she stretches over her couch and takes a picture of her handcuffs, dumped in a bowl on her coffee table. She chuckles as she adds a caption she's sure will send him reeling.

'I thought I said next time without the tiger?'

She hits send and holds her breath in anticipation of his reply.

Nothing.

Huh.

She thumbs through the app, refreshing it, and still receives nothing from him. She shakes off the disappointment, chiding herself for feeling that way even when she has no real reason to.

Beckett rests her head on the back of the couch and sighs. Maybe she's gone too far. Their relationship may be in a good place at the moment, but it's still raw, tentative from his confession and her outright lie. Her sessions with Burke have been helping, steering her towards a place where she can be comfortable with herself, building back up from the mess she'd been in almost six months ago, but she's still not at a hundred percent.

She does feel like she's getting there though, and lately, more often than not she's toyed with the idea of moving things forward with Castle. She wants to throw caution to the wind - jump into things with him, let him fall with her into whatever it is they're destined for. Her heart flutters, allowing herself to entertain the fantasy; coming home from work with him, collapsing into bed together, exhausted but heady with love and adoration, spending her nights in his arms, cuddling together until sunrise.

Heat pools low in her body at the thought and she feels a warm blush creeping up her face. So maybe they'd be doing more than just cuddling, way more, but it's still just a fantasy. She groans, tamping down the desire to grab her vibrator from her bedside table and ease the tension thrumming in her veins.

Well, she could just-

Her phone chimes, loud, and her fingers pause in their journey downwards. Relief washes over her when she sees that he's sent her another picture and she grins. They're still good. She hasn't in fact crossed some invisible line that marked the boundaries of their relationship. She's fine. They're fine. Thank god.

It's a video this time, but the first few seconds are weird. She can hear Alexis's voice in the background, but Castle's face is stock still. She wonders if he made a mistake and thought he was taking a photo instead but the timer is still counting down and she waits it out.

He then opens his mouth and her heart jumps as she watches the video unfold, skipping a beat as it threatens to fly out of her chest. The hand not currently wrapped around her phone claws at her shirt as if it's trying to shove her heart back beneath her ribcage, her mind racing a million miles an hour as she tries to comprehend what she's just seen.

The video vanishes and she gasps, not ready for it to go. 10 seconds and it's gone, the app reverting back to the home screen. She jams her finger on his name once more, recalls how he taught her to 'replay' snaps in case she needed to see them again. The video comes alive and this time, she stares at it with focused intent, making sure she's actually seeing what she thought she'd seen.

Castle's mouth falls open in an 'O' on her phone screen and a weird mist creeps across the video - some kind of filter overlay, she figures - but a second later, words appear beneath the mist, slow but written as clear as day.

'Love you.'

With a heart pierced by an arrow etched between the two words.

The world around her vanishes as she stares at her phone. The video's disappeared, but she's sure she'll never forget it even if she tried.

Love you.

He-

Damn.

Yes, she heard him the first time, but he's never repeated the sentiment and she's been able to live with that. She'd thought that for as long as he didn't bring it up again, she could put in the work until such time she's better for him - until she's worthy of his love.

She'd been afraid that he'd give up on her, fall out of love with her, lose interest the longer she made him wait, but their recent closeness and interactions had eased her fears.

And now…

Unidentifiable emotions spread through her being, uncoiling from her heart, tendrils of acceptance reaching out all the way to her fingertips.

His video hits her like a sucker punch in her gut. Maybe, just maybe, she doesn't have to wait. Maybe they can be more than partners and work on her issues…together. She swallows, trying to contain the flame that's igniting from deep within her.

He loves her.

Oh thank god.

He still loves her.

Several blocks away, Richard Castle sits on a bench outside Victoria's Secret, freaking out at what he's just done. He'd only just discovered the new filters for the Snapchat app, realised that he can overlay images over his own face as he's taking a video.

He'd scrolled through the vast array of filters, impressed at the selection but had settled on an adorable 'love you' one. He had taken the video, intending to send it to Alexis as a 'sorry for being a lame shopping companion' but that was when his finger slipped.

It's a force of habit, he thinks, and the fact that he has stupid fat fingers, but instead of hitting Alexis's name, he had selected Beckett's as well and before he realised what he had done, he had sent the dumb video.

He actually sent her a video saying he loves her. What an idiot.

Well. It's true. He does love her.

But they're not there yet. They're still toeing the line between friends and … more than friends and he has been content with that. He's happy with their relationship, enjoys the bubble they're in, promised himself that he was going to give her all the time in the world to knock down those walls of hers.

Oh, god, he's so stupid. They'd been teasing and flirting all morning, nothing serious - and he goes and tells her he loves her. The last time he did that, she ended up freezing him out for three months in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Crap. Fuck.

He's holding his head in his hands, bowed over on the bench, still panicking when his phone beeps at him.

He gulps, licking his lips as he swipes the screen. It's not a picture. She's sent him a text message. He blanches - what if she's decided she needs space? What if the message is her telling him to leave her alone?

He pales at the thought, but summons the courage to open the text and reads it.

His mouth falls open.

"I love you too."

Major thanks to the girls who beta'd this for me. Me love you long time :)

Twitter: estheryam
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