"Castle what are you doing?" Detective Kate Beckett asked looking up from her paper work into the eyes of New York City's best selling mystery author.
"I'm watching you work," Castle replied as if it were that easy.
"And what have I told you about that?" Kate asked putting her pen down and leveling her gaze at him. Richard Castle let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.
"That it's creepy," he said in a defeated tone.
"Right," Kate gave a small nodded and turned back to her paper work.
"It's just," Castle began but quickly stopped himself.
Kate put down her pen and leaned back in her own chair letting out a sigh. "It's just what Castle?"
"You're the only one doing paper work. In fact you're the only one here working," He stated. Kate looked around the precinct and noticed he was right. Everyone had seem to have gone home for the evening.
"What's the point to this Castle?"
"Why are you still working?" Castle said the last word as if it were a type of disease.
"Because I have a job to do," Kate stated obviously. The look on Castle's face told her that he wasn't going to let her get away that easily. "What would you rather do?"
"Play a game?" Castle suggested sitting up straighter.
"Like?"
"Twenty questions?" He smiled brightly.
"I feel like I'm already playing that one," Kate smirked as she stood grabbing her coffee cup and walked to the break room. Castle got up and followed slowly.
"But this game would be better. We'd be getting to know each other."
"We already know each other," Kate laughed as she refilled her cup and took a sip.
"We don't have to ask questions, Kate. We could just remember moments," Castle said taking a seat on the couch.
"Moments, Rick?" Kate repeated smirking as she said his name. "What kind of moments?"
Castle smiled hearing his name. She only called him Rick when they were alone. "Moments that we've needed each other or thought of each other."
"What makes you think I've needed or thought about you?" Kate smirked as she took a sip of her coffee and sat down next to him.
"Well I could start and if you think of anything you can jump in," Rick raised his eyebrow playfully. "But I doubt you'll need any help detective."
Castle took a breath and tilted his head to the side as he looked up as if trying to remember a moment.
"Can't think of any Rick?" Kate asked skeptically but inside she worried if he really couldn't think of anything.
"There's a lot of moments. I'm thinking!" Castle whined. "Ah I got one," He smiled snapping his fingers.
"How about the time that you burnt my birthday cake?"
Kate almost choked on her coffee. "How is that a moment?"
"Don't you remember how the smoke alarms were going off? You were so cute trying not to cry," Castle smiled.
"So you laugh at my imperfections nice," Kate huffed as she stood up ready to walk out of the room. Castle grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her down to sit on his lap.
"It's those little imperfections that I love the most. If you were perfect, life would be boring. I love that we'll have these sudden changes in our plans. Like that other time when we found that little rest stop on our way back from Pennsylvania." Castle hugged her close. Kate smiled and leaned against him.
"You know when you started this game, this isn't what I had in mind."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well I thought you were going to tell me an actual moment that meant something like that song."
"What song?" Castle gently prodded.
"You know the one that goes 'I rely on you like yellow, yellow does on blue'?" Kate gently sang to him.
"How's the rest go?" Castle gently nudged her closing his eyes slightly.
"And I fear for you forever," Kate continued to sing gently. "And I'm always here for you. I'll wait outside your window in the pouring rain. Catch a glimpse of my angel so I can sleep again."
"And I live, And I wait," Kate ran her fingers through Rick's hair. "For this to come again Cause you are my one, my solution, yeah. Let me take your hand. And I'll take you home again. Let me look into your eyes And remind me of the time. When I asked you to be mine. But you graciously declined. But I'm begging you to see. How much you mean to me. How much you mean to me, oh yeah."
"How much do I mean to you?" Rick whispered. Kate stopped her singing and looked at the man before her.
"You mean a lot to me. You saved my life once," Kate said in almost a whisper as she dropped her gaze. Rick looked up to her
"Are you talking about the time with Baylor?" He asked studying her expressions.
Kate shook her head no. "It was before that. Before we official met actually."
"Can you tell me?" He asked gently.
"It was right after my mother died," Kate almost whispered. Even though the murder happened almost eleven years ago, the shock of the event still took her breath away. "I kept thinking it should have been me."
"You have to understand back then we thought it was gang violence. We didn't know she had been targeted. I was the one who was supposed to go out that night. For months I thought I should have been killed not her. I remember this one time, I was in some store. I saw a mother and daughter shopping. They were have one of those mother-daughter moments. It was just so sweet and I couldn't handle it. I walked to the office supplies and grabbed a pair a scissors. I started walking towards the bathroom with every intent of completing my mission."
"What happened?" Rick asked hanging onto her every word.
"As I as walking I passed a book display. You know the ones with the cardboard cutouts of the author. It was for your book "A Skull at Springtime". I remember being drawn to your picture."
"It was my ruggedly handsome looks, wasn't it?" Rick playfully teased.
"Actually it was the book.," Kate smirked. "When I opened the book I was immediately sucked in. I couldn't tear myself away. That day I traded the scissors for your book and never looked back."
Kate took a deep breath. "See you saved my life before we even met."