When cases were solved early, it annoyed Rick to no end. Sure it wasn't exactly his job to hang around there, but he was there so much, it could fool him. Well it could if Kate didn't constantly remind him that he was there for reasons she just didn't understand. He always had to remind her constantly that he was doing research, though as their bond grew stronger, they both knew too well that he was there for something more. While research was part of it and Kate was constantly inspiring him, he just loved being around her. Waking up every morning and taking the risk of getting shot while following her around was something he was willing to take just to see her.

Anyone would tell him he was an idiot, or at least anyone who didn't understand how he felt. While he had his mother and daughter back home, constantly worrying about him, he couldn't find it in him to permanently put himself back in his office and research online and through books like he had in the past. No one could deny that his books were better now that he was getting real life experience. Not only that, but Nikki Heat stood no chance of failing. Not when she was based of the even more amazing Katherine Beckett.

His family understood why he was doing this. They knew how he felt about Kate before he even had the courage to tell them. He was taunted since day one but he knew it was just their way of trying to get him to go for it already.

It's been on his mind to sweep the detective off of her feet, but she wasn't like any other woman he's dealt with before. She challenged him and she always turned down his offers in the past. He always jokingly told people that it was just a matter of time before they were together, and usually around her, but he never got to seriously ask her. The idea of being turned down by this woman ate away at him. No one's ever gotten him like this. She was something special.

So the night ending early sucked to put it simply. It was good that they wrapped up the murder and the woman responsible was locked up. But that also meant that he had less time with Kate than he would have liked. He almost hoped his phone would go off and they would have another murder to bring them together. It was sad how he hoped for someone to get killed just so he could be graced by his muse.

"Hey dad," he turned his attention to Alexis and watched as she came into the living room. She sat next to him on the couch and hugged him.

"Hey kiddo," he smiled as he kissed the top of her head. He knew 'kiddo' has long since expired, especially since his daughter basically took care of him. "Where are you going?" when he first came home, she was in pajamas, but was now she was definitely dressed to go out.

She shrugged. "Just out. I am allowed, right?" she looked up at him with an innocent smile. She always got what she wanted. It paid off being pretty much perfect. Alexis never did wrong and she knew it all too well to not bring it up every now and then.

He didn't like the way she completely avoided answering. It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He just didn't trust other people. Hanging around with a detective all day made him way more paranoid than before. Not only that, but he just loved to know everything. "Why can't you tell me?" he pouted a little. "Wait. Are you going out with that boyfriend of yours? Ashley?"

She shook her head. "I am not going out with Ashley tonight. Besides, I was with him a couple hours ago and I just got off the phone with him," she knew that never stopped her before. "I'm going out with someone else. Don't worry, I'm completely safe. Just trust me."

There was a knock at the door and Alexis jumped up. Rick got up and childishly, pushed Alexis back onto the couch. She heard him call out to him, but he ignored her and went straight for the door. He swung it open; ready to think of all the ways he could scare their guest. "Hey!-" he stopped for a moment as he tried to think of what to say.

"Hey!" Kate shot back in a more than mocking tone. "Are you going to let me in? I don't need your permission, you know? I have my gun on me," she teased before stepping passed him.

Still in shocked, he held the door open as Kate walked in. "Beckett?"

"Castle."

He turned around to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, but sure enough, it was Kate. If there was really a god, they just answered his prayers. "Is it just me or are you not wearing the same thing you had on before?"

She laughed softly. "I'm allowed to change after work, right?"

He looked over her body. She was now in a pair of black skinny jeans and her matching pea coat opened up to show off her hot pink halter top. Her heels were black and lined with hot pink and her neck was dressed with silver chains. Her hair was still wavy and long, just touched up a bit from when they last saw each other. She looked perfect. "You can change," he smiled.

"Okay," Alexis linked arms with Kate. "I'll be home later dad."

"Wait," he felt his heart sink. "You're going out with Kate?"

"Yeah."

"Why, is there something wrong with that Castle?" Kate asked as she studied him carefully.

"No, it's just nice to know you come here to see my daughter and not me," he shook his head, trying to show that he was hurt. It didn't take much. "And I'm nice enough to spend all my days with you."

"Exactly," she smirked. "I spend enough time with you," seeing the look on his face, she sighed. "Look. If I had one of those 'fav five' plans, you'd definitely be on my list."

He smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah, right after Alexis."

"Bye daddy," Alexis leaned in and kissed Rick on the cheek.

"Bye daddy," Kate smirked, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. With that, the two walked out.

Rick stood in silence for a minute, trying to figure out what just happened. His biggest worry was trying to figure out why Alexis and Kate were going out together. Although he couldn't quite focus on that just yet. Sure it was a playful kiss on the cheek, but it was still the doings of Kate. That was enough to get his imagination going.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the steps, but Rick didn't look up. "Cold shower, darling," Martha said as she walked passed him.

Ignoring her much needed suggestion, he looked over at her. "Do you know why Kate and Alexis are going out? What's going on?" he studied her face for a minute. "You know why. Tell me."

She nodded her head with a satisfied smile. "Ah, I do know, but I am not going to tell you. Where's the fun in that? Plus I promised your daughter I wouldn't."

"Are you telling me you've kept every promise you've ever made me?" they both had a stare down.

"If you think I ever failed, then that's all the reason for me to try harder now. Thank you, boy."

"Can you at least tell me if Alexis is okay?" he knew that wasn't unreasonable. "Please mother."

She knew she could leave him hanging, but she wasn't that cruel. She knew how important Alexis was to her son. "Alexis is fine. It's actually the other way around."

"What do you mean?" the idea of something being wrong with Kate made his heart pound.

"Kate isn't in any trouble," Martha read the look on her son's face. "She just needed to ask Alexis something. Stop worrying and shower darling. You've been running around all day."

He couldn't help but feel like a child at the order his mother had given him. It didn't help that he obeyed and walked up to the bathroom.

After his shower, Rick dressed in a pair of jeans a clean shirt before going down to his office. He spent a little bit of time working on a new chapter. He couldn't focus though, and eventually found himself back in the living room on the couch. In attempt to distract himself, he turned on the television and started to go through the DVR list.

The front door opened up and he expected it to just be Alexis. She'd come in and see how he was doing as she always did, so he continued his way through the list to try to find a show he wanted to catch up on.

"Your DVR is a nightmare," a familiar voice sliced through the silence. "And I thought mine was bad."

Rick watched as Kate sat next to him on the couch. Alexis wasn't in sight and finally, he heard footsteps disappearing up the stairs. Something was going on. Was Martha lying before? Was something going on with Alexis? He could imagine his daughter asking Kate to break whatever news it was. But that was only because he had a broad imagination.

When he didn't say anything, Kate pulled out her phone. "I have to show you something," she pressed a few buttons before holding her phone out to Rick. He took it and couldn't hide the smile back as he looked at the screen. It showed his number and the newly edited contact name 'Castle is #1'

She was shoulder to shoulder with him as she looked at the screen. "Since I don't have a 'fav five,' I thought I'd make one up. And since I feel bad about what I said before, I decided to put you before Alexis," she smiled.

He loved when she was like this. Since they've gotten closer, she had her playful moments and they were to die for adorable. He knew he was one of an extremely select few who were blessed enough to see this side of her and he reminded himself that there really must be a god. Better yet, she was so close to him right now, he could actually smell her. He loved the cherry scented shampoo she used and he was sure if he smelled it on someone else, it wouldn't drive her nearly half as mad.

"It's about time you admit I'm number one," he finally said with a smirk.

"Oh please," she laughed. "I knew you'd get a big head if I shared this. You love yourself, don't you?"

"Everyone should love themselves."

"Okay writer boy," she took her phone back. "Anything you say."

"Oh you don't want to say that around me."

She thought that over for a moment, and then nodded in agreement. "You're right. That could end dangerously."

He nodded his head as he pulled his phone out of his apartment. "I'll go easy on you since you and Alexis had some sort of heart to heart that I need to know about," he went through his contacts and went to edit Kate's name. "That's why you're still here, right?"

She shrugged. "Well sort of, but it's not what you think."

"Here we go," he handed Kate his phone. Her contact now said 'My BFF Kate,' he caught a smirk on her face as he took his phone back. "Love those commercials. I haven't seen them in a while, but I never forgot them. Good advertisement."

The detective smirked as she listened to him. "Yeah I always liked that one."

"So back to you and Alexis," he wasn't going to let that go. "Please don't tell me my daughter's pregnant."

She shook her head. "Have a little faith in your daughter. You don't have to worry about that right now," she told him confidently. "I was asking her about something."

"Kate Beckett, are you telling me you don't know all of the answers?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," she bit her lip and moved her hair behind her ear as she tried to think of what to say. "I broke up with Josh."

Rick wanted to smile more than anything, but he had to remember that this could potentially be a sensitive topic for Kate. He also had to remember at that moment that they were friends and that was probably what she needed. "I'm sorry," he was sincere. "What happened? I thought you two were doing great?"

She shook her head. "It's kind of been over for a while. I haven't felt right with him but I kept trying and trying," it was hard to believe that there was once a time when they couldn't talk like this. "After the whole dirty bomb thing, I knew it wasn't going to work."

"Wait," he couldn't hide the look on his face. He was beyond confused. "I thought you were all excited after the whole freezer danger, saying how you two had a chance?"

She shook her head. "I know I did, but I was wrong. After it all ended and after you basically saved everyone, I wanted to talk to you about it but I couldn't. I was ready to, but then Josh showed up at the precinct."

He remembered that day, and not just because it gave him the scare of his life, but because he swore his heart actually broke that day. He was going to ask Kate out until Josh walked up and he realized she was still with him. Thinking about that day that was just a few weeks in the past, brought back the pain.

Kate could see that and decided to just go on. "That day didn't go the way I wanted it to."

"We lived," he smirked. "I thought it went pretty well."

"I know, but there was so much I wanted to come out of that day afterwards. So much that just doesn't involve Josh and that's why I was talking to Alexis. I don't have many people that I'm close to," she could have gone to Lanie and she must have caught on because she corrected herself fast. "I needed Alexis's opinion, specifically."

"What are you getting to Kate? You're usually right to the point."

"Do you want to go out with me?"

Those words played over in his mind a couple times and he looked up at her to see she was serious. The longer he stared; he started to notice her getting uneasy, as though she regretted asking. That could be because of the fact that he sat there silently. He just never expected that. He's been trying to figure out ways to win her heart and here she was, trying to win what was already hers. Or was he just over analyzing?

"When you say go out, what do you mean?"

She smiled. "I mean a date."

"Really? You're not going to drop kick me or go ninja if I say yes?"

She shook her head with a laugh. "No Castle. I want to go out with you. I was with Alexis because I wanted to know how she felt about this. I know you two are close and I didn't want to do to mess with that," she studied his face. "Are you okay with that?"

He smiled. "I'm okay with that. That was pretty amazing of you," he couldn't believe this was happening. To make it better, Kate truly cared about what Alexis thought. This woman really was a dream come true.

"So about that date?"

He offered a million dollar smile and pulled out his phone, starting to play around with it.

This wasn't what she expected. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Changing your name in my contacts."

"Wait, what?"

"You're not 'My BFF Kate' anymore. More like 'My GF Kate,'"

Kate smiled as she ran a hand through his hair. "I asked you out on a date. What makes you think I'm your girlfriend?" she teased.

He looked up at her. "Oh it will happen," he nodded to affirm it.

"Yeah I think it already did," she admitted as she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "So can I please go out with my number one?"

Rick got up, a smile plastered on his face now. "I've been waiting for this moment," he offered his hand to her and once she accepted it, he pulled her up. "But just because you asked me out, that doesn't mean I'm not paying."

"Fine, I'll let you wear the pants tonight."

He held back a laugh, but he still couldn't wipe off the smile. "I like to think I always wear the pants," all the images of him getting scared on cases and her kicking ass flashed through his mind. "Can we at least tell my family I do?"

"We can tell them whatever you want," she swung their hands playfully as they walked out of the apartment. "But I'm pretty sure they already know the truth."

He thought about arguing with her, but then reality set in. "Yeah," he sighed.

"It's okay, I think you're perfect just the way you are," Kate let go of his hand as they walked and wrapped her arm around his waist. She smiled as he did the same.

This was all too perfect. Rick almost expected to wake up in his office or on the couch and realize his imagination stretched a little too far beyond reality once again, but this was real. He went from worrying his daughter was in trouble to finding out Kate's been just as anxious to be with him as he's been to be with her.

"I'll remember this the next time you shoot me down at work," he winked playfully.

"You mean when I'm at work? That place you hang out at all day and I have no idea why?" she laughed. "Okay, tell them I think you're perfect. They'll just think I'm a little crazier than I already am."

"Well you're dating Richard Castle," he loved being able to say that. "You're entitled to insanity. Much of it."