"We should date. For Christmas." / AU

Photographer Kate Beckett and aspiring novelist Rick Rodgers are perfectly content in their solitary lives. But it's only after an unlikely matchmaker conspires to have them meet that they realize how extraordinary their lives could become. A Castle AU for Summer Ficathon 2016 co-written by airbefore and caffinate-me.

A little bit of season four holiday fluff. One shot, complete.

A 'What if...' for Need to Know - what if Beckett had been able to surprise Castle away from the precinct? *One shot, Complete*

They've been together almost two years before she tells him. *One shot. Complete*

Sweat beads across her forehead as Kate jerks awake for the fourth time, too vibrant images of his mangled body lingering in her wine soaked brain. Awake or asleep, she can't escape it. *Cops & Robbers post ep. One shot, complete. Posted for Fanfic Monday*

A collection of filled prompts.

A small series of vignettes to fill in those seven years between the kitchen and the kids. Post ep for 8x22. One shot. Complete.

She holds his hand on the plane. *A post ep for To Love and Die in LA, set in season 5* One shot, complete.

An AU one shot based on the prompt 'What if The Good The Bad and The Baby happened before they were a couple' *Complete*

He fell in love with her hands first.

The tires chew up the road, carrying him back to the city he escaped from less than two weeks ago. Back to the oppressive heat radiating from the sidewalks and the cold loneliness of an empty loft. Back to the haunted streets, where the ghosts of happy memories and what-might-have-beens lurk around far too many corners. Post season one AU.[Summer Hiatus Ficathon Entry]

"Don't do that," she says.. "Don't act like this is some sort of gift." One shot, set after Always. Complete.

She wakes to a curious numbness in her right leg and a mouth full of cotton. One Shot, complete. Posted for Castle Fanfic Monday.

She doesn't really know the reasons she comes to this rickety old shack in the middle of the woods except that here is better than there. Better than being surrounded by the reminders of all the ways she failed. All the things she's lost. *One shot; complete*

"She's so ready for this. For him. For happiness and love and movie dates." AU - what might have happened had they gotten to have that Jon Woo marathon. One shot. Complete.

This is her home. The place where she grew up, trekking up and down the mountains and racing through the fields. Where she learned to cook and drive and dance. The place where her memories live, where she can close her eyes and take a deep breath and almost hear the fading echo of her mother's voice. This is her home. And damned if she's going to give it up. - AU Christmas-type fic

Only one person can make him start to feel whole again, like something more than a broken shell of a human. One person. And he doesn't even know her real name. *AU based loosely on 4x12*

The candles on the nightstand flicker, flames dancing in the breeze created by his body as he tumbles off the bed, mouth still gaping. *Post ep for 7x03*

The package comes on a Tuesday, two weeks before what would have been their first anniversary. (An AU take on the first two eps of S7)

And as much as he tries, as desperately as he wants this experience to be filled with nothing but joy and positivity for her, he knows that in the end, there are going to be these moments of emotional pain that he can't shield her from. All he can do is hold her, curl his body around her and their baby and hope his love is enough.*Complete*

"You like that I'm going to be walking around for the next however long with your name written on my skin." Early Season 5 *One Shot*

"You all think - All anyone has done for the past three days is crack jokes and call him my husband and I hate it. This isn't funny. Not to me." *scene insert for 6x23 (For Better or For Worse)*

They don't go back the precinct. *post ep for Veritas*

The beat changed long ago - something driving that rattles the floor and echoes in her bones - but still they sway, caught up in the moment. In each other. *Smells Like Teen Spirit post ep*

He can't stop thinking about her mouth. (mid-season three)

He loves watching her when she's unaware of his gaze.

He runs into her at Starbucks ( An expansion of Chapter 11 of 'a story's a story...')

A throat clears from somewhere nearby but she doesn't move away. Not tonight. Tonight, she doesn't care. *Post ep for 6x04, Number One Fan*

He unpacks while he waits. Unwinds the bubble wrap from a few knickknacks he himself wrapped and boxed six weeks ago. The delicate little bird on rocker legs, a silver paperweight in the shape of an asterisk, the parade of elephants that sat on her desk at the precinct for five years. *6x01 post-ep/scene filler* Complete*

They haven't spoken in three days. Not since the night they'd shouted at each other over the phone, the two hundred miles of earth between them fracturing, a chasm spreading wide and threatening to swallow them whole.

In that one moment, he knows he's ruined.

It floats across her mind, her history. Her past. The reasons why she is what she is and why she can no longer be who she was. Why Kate Beckett disappeared and Lone Vengeance was born. AU.

But it's the hair that gets him. Thick and brunette, the ends perfectly curled and spilling over her shoulders, brushing along her collarbone, marking a path he wants to trace with his tongue. (Set mid-season three)

The tone of the heart monitor rings in her ears, the length between beeps steadily growing. She holds his hand, trying to focus on anything but the way his skin is already cooling, the way his fingers weakly grip her own.

It doesn't hurt as much now.

It's different now, seeing him with their kids. (Father's Day fic)

"I needed something to lose myself in. A place to hide." She lifts her head, looks up at him. "I don't want to define myself by the things that I've lost anymore, Castle. I don't want to hide."

Her dad takes her to the airport. He doesn't ask where Castle is and she doesn't offer. *Watershed post-ep*

Under normal circumstances, she'd assume he was doing something as innocent as visiting the bathroom but she knows him too well for that. It's late, they're alone, and he's restless; the perfect conditions for him to wander off in search of trouble.

The sun beats down on her back as she leans forward, hands planted on his chest and her hair falling in a curtain around their faces. "Don't you know what day it is?" *One Shot. Complete*

She lied. She did have regrets. **Post ep for Still**

Speak a new language so that the world will be a new world - Rumi

He starts out slowly. Subtly. A light touch at the small of her back to usher her through a doorway. Grazing his fingers across the bend of her elbow to get her attention in the bullpen. Freeing the hair trapped in her collar after helping with her jacket. Small gestures of physicality meant to acclimate her to his touch, the feel of his hands on her body. One Shot. Complete.

A collection of unrelated ficlets.

Of course he believes it's real. He's - well, he's him. Magic and curses and zombie apocalypses are right up his alley. *An insert of sorts for 5x17, vague spoilers* Now a two shot. Complete.

But now, watching her slumped against the wide door, her eyes closed and a trembling hand held to her lips - Now she sees. Understands. Martha is just as human, just as breakable, as the rest of them. *Post ep for Hunt*

She'd almost run out and bought him something on at least three separate occasions. She's so glad she didn't. **Post ep for 5x14. One shot. Complete.**

They're in this whether they like it or not. But they're in it together. He takes comfort in that. The knowledge that she's ready for him, willing to let him stand by her side and accept his love and support. Post ep for 5x13. One shot. Complete.

The thumping pulse of the music vibrates through her body. Her bones sing with it, a high pitched resonation that rings in her ears and echoes inside her chest. She lets her spine sway and her hips roll, losing herself in the movement, the freedom that comes when she shuts off her brain and just feels. **An ode of sorts to 5x12* One shot. Complete.

It's not her first time doing this and judging by the way she can feel Castle staring, it won't be her last. *One Shot. Complete*

Anxiety knots in her stomach as she fills the sink with warm water, touches her fingertips to the assortment of items she needs for this. Her body aches with the weight of the week and she wants nothing more than to crawl into bed next to him, to feel the solid presence of his body against hers as she tries to sleep. One shot. Complete.

The moonlight casts a silver glow across the walls, a shimmering haze that draws her attention, the edges waving as the clouds roll past. She can feel the remnants of the champagne working through her body, the little bubbles hitching a ride in her blood, making her head float and her skin tingle. *One Shot. Complete*

He loves this time of year, the way the whole world seems to soften and slow, wrapped in a haze of twinkling lights and the spirit of the season. *Written for the Christmas fic competition at 12th Precinct. First place winner of public and judges' vote.*

She grins and rolls her eyes but lets him keep a hold on her foot as she turns back to her book. His book. **vague Frozen Heat spoilers** One shot. Complete.

The tree shimmers merrily in front of them, the strands and strands of twinkle lights casting the loft in a warm haze. Bing Crosby's rich tone floats on the air, wrapping around them, warming her heart. *Post ep for 5x09* One Shot. Complete.

"The tree is small - no more than three and a half feet, barely filling a corner of her living room - and sparsely decorated, just lights and a strand of garland twined through the branches, a silver star perched on top." Castle tries to bring Beckett some holiday cheer.

Two weeks. Two weeks of late night texts and missed phone calls. Of missing his voice and his hands, the soft curve of his smile in the morning. Two weeks without him.

She arrested him tonight. For the third time. This is the first time it's broken her heart. ***Spec fic for 5x05. Spoilers from US promo only ***

The box is plain, unassuming. A hard plastic tub that he's glanced at dozens of times over the past few months, used as a way station for his spare clothes and overnight bag. He'd assumed it was nothing more than storage - books and papers, maybe, out of style clothes or shoes. He's never been more happy to be wrong. **post ep of sorts for 5x03**

"You can't expect me to believe that this was never suggested. That it never crossed your mind." One Shot. Complete. PWP.

"I'm sure somewhere in this great big city of ours, some poor unfortunate soul has lost their life but today you're going to let the justice seeking be someone else's job. Today, you're going to take a little trip with me." - Scavenger hunt, Castle style. ***co-authored with sparklemouse***

The smile he was trying to suppress explodes. His cheeks actually ache with the ferocity of his joy. "What are you grinning at?" "You just called me your boyfriend." *****Post Ep for 5x02***** Spoilers*** One shot. Complete.

It's the game they play; four years of teasing comments and loaded looks swirling between them, egging them on. They've finally given into each other but they've never stopped teasing, chasing. **Spoilers for 5x04 "Murder, He Wrote** One shot. Complete.

It's two o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and they've yet to get dressed, have spent the entire day camped out on his overstuffed leather couch, watching movies and teasing each other mercilessly with fleeting caresses and innuendo laden comments. One shot. Complete.

Sometimes he thinks his blood has been magnetized to respond to the electrical field that sizzles around her body; it pulls him unerringly in her direction, a liquid divining rod that always hits its mark. One shot. Complete. No spoilers.

She's been struggling to find the words for months, to tell him how much she loves and adores him, how happy he makes her. How she feels like a whole person when she's with him. How he fills the empty places inside her chest with his love and his smiles.

"For the record, this," she rotates a finger around the moldering room, nose crinkled in adorable disgust, "is why I don't let you drive. I fell asleep in civilization and woke up in the middle of nowhere." One shot. Complete.

They've tried. For months, they've tried to make it work, to force themselves into something that comes within a mile of being healthy and functional. They love each other desperately but it's not enough.

She likes to dominate. And he is more than happy to let her.

Tousled hair and long toned legs are all he can see as she moves across the room slowly, the tails of one of his shirts brushing along her thighs, the cuffs hanging low over her hands. ***Spoilers for the promo for 5x01***

She's driving him crazy. Slowly and completely mad. And she damn well knows it too.

The desire he harbors for her flares in his chest, spills over into his veins without his permission. He wants to follow her. Wants to take her by the hand and tug her into the back of her cruiser. Crush her body between his and the stiff vinyl seat, hands and lips roaming.

She finds him in her laundry room, shirtless, transferring tangles of wet clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. His jeans rest low on his hips and her eyes trace over his back, a lazy hunger stirring inside her chest.