The wait time at the new Indian restaurant had been longer than they anticipated and the noise level had been more than they bargained for. So they manage to place their order to go and wait huddled together in the crowded waiting room, making quiet commentary to each other about snippets of conversation they pick up. One lady is distraught over how her 30th birthday has been ruined by her mother.

"What do you think her mom did?" Castle whispers into Kate's ear. "Slept with her dirty, cheating boyfriend?"

She bats at his chest. "Shut up so I can hear what she says."

"You're invested in this one now, aren't you?"

She ignores him, listening in as the woman goes on to explain to her friend that she was named after the woman her father was having an affair with while her mother was pregnant.

"Did we just walk onto an episode of Jerry Springer?" Castle whispers again.

"Like our lives are any more normal," she says rolling her eyes.

"Really? Does Jim have a friend named Kate I don't know about?"

She hits his chest again. "A serial killer kidnapped me last week and tried to kill me to steal my identity. You think that's normal?"

He sighs, one arm slipping around her waist. "Point taken."

"Look at that couple over there," Kate says, nudging him with her elbow. "His hand has been in his pocket since they walked in and he looks sick to his stomach. I bet he plans on proposing tonight."

His eyes follow her gaze. "Or maybe he just plans to break up with her tonight."

She smirks. "I'd take that bet if we would still be around to find out."

"At this rate, we could have had a table by the time our food is ready."

"Yeah but then we'd still have to wait for the waiter and our food and put up with this noise for a while longer."

"I can't believe we thought our beautiful quiet loft was too quiet," he groans. "We could have made it plenty loud ourselves."

She smiles, pressing closer to him to move out of the way of the opening door behind them. "We have all night for that. The rest of our lives, really."

"I still can't believe mother and Alexis are moving out. It's almost...bittersweet."

Kate presses even closer into his side as a party of six adds to the crowded waiting room. She gives in and lets her head fall onto his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Castle. I'll keep you company."

He hums at that, lifting her chin up so he can kiss her. When he pulls away, he catches an older woman staring them, her gaze looking awfully judgmental.

"I don't think everyone here is a fan of PDA," he says, nodding in the woman's direction.

She laughs. "Do you think people are talking about us like we're talking about them?"

"I wonder if any of these people recognize me," Castle says, tapping a finger to his chin.

"Let's say they don't. Who are we to them?"

"Hmmm that annoying couple that can't keep their hands off of each other?"

"Are we annoying?"

He shakes his head. "Not to me, we're not."

"To go order for Castle?" the hostess calls, hoisting a bag of food onto her podium.

Castle leaves her side to wade through the crowd to collect their dinner. He makes it back to her and takes her hand with his free one, guiding her back outside.

"Let's go make our own noise."


Kate flips through their joint collection of music, looking for something to fill the quiet with, while Castle sets the table and pours them glasses of wine. She settles on some Sinatra, humming along as she makes her way back to the table.

"Going old school tonight, are we?" Castle asks, handing her a glass of wine.

"It spoke to me," she smiles, sitting down next to him and eyeing their spread of food. Perhaps they're still used to ordering take out for four, whether it be Martha and Alexis or Ryan and Esposito joining them during their meal.

"You just miss baseball season," he muses as "New York, New York " hits its crescendo in the background.

"It's on shuffle. I didn't tell it to start with this," Kate protests, scooping food onto her plate. "But I do miss baseball season. I heard A. Rod is planning his comeback, and I'm dying to know how that works out. And with Jeter retired this year - remind me to call my dad later."

Castle laughs, taking the container from her to add some to his own plate. "You don't want to talk baseball with me?"

"You don't actually care."

He mocks offense. "I care. Just not as much as your dad does."

She shoots him a look, reaching for her wine glass. "So, think you can use your connections to get us some good seats this summer?"

His face pales and she looks at him in confusion, trying to figure out what it was that she said.

"What? Did you lose your baseball connections?"

"I was supposed to get you tickets last summer. Jeter's last season."

Understanding washes over her and she reaches for his hand. "It's okay. Dad took me to a game to try and help me take my mind off of things. Jeter only hit a single the whole game. We weren't that impressed."

"Did it help take your mind off of things?"

Ever since Nieman and Tyson took her, he's been extra on edge when mention of last summer comes up. He's had his own dose of her painful two months alone and the guilt has been eating away at him.

"A little," she shrugs.

He lets out a sigh, his gaze dropping down to his plate.

"Hey," Kate starts, her hand sliding up his arm. "It's not your fault, okay? All that matters is that I got you back in one piece. You know that."

Castle places his fork down on the table, and covers her hand with his own. "Yeah. It's just that last week -"

"I know."

He squeezes her hand, giving her a tight-lipped smile, and moves to pick his fork back up and dig in. "I'll get you the best seats in the stadium that I can."

Her fingers give his bicep a small squeeze before she starts to eat her meal as well. The song changes to a slower ballad, one of the ones she had originally argued to be their wedding song before they settled on "In My Veins." She starts to mention that, but stops, not wanting to give him more guilt. He's still upset that he wasn't able to give her the perfect wedding, no matter how many times she's insisted that he was the only thing she needed to make it perfect.

"Are we finally going to get to share that shower later?" Kate asks instead, trying to bring the mood back up.

She watches the spark enter back into his eyes. "Ooo or we could take a nice, long, hot bath."

She hums, sipping at her wine. "Hmm that does sound nice."

"After all, there's no need for a quickie in the shower when we have the whole place to ourselves."

She laughs around her mouthful of food, shaking her head.

"The annoying couple who can't keep their hands off of each other," she parrots back his earlier description of them. "Yep, sounds about right."

"At least we keep it professional at work," Castle tries, pointing his fork in her direction.

"Yeah because Gates would kill us if we didn't. And you just got your shadowing credentials returned."

"Really? It's been seven years and you still refer to it as shadowing?"

"You may be my partner, but you're still not a cop. The NYPD doesn't pay you to do this."

He huffs, reaching for his wine glass. "I'm a licensed PI now. That should mean something."

They finish their meal, arguing about what benefits he should be entitled to at the precinct now that he's a licensed PI. They start to clear the table when the song changes, and another ballad, one of her favorites, starts playing.

"Oh I love this song," Kate smiles as she picks up her plate to carry into the kitchen.

Castle takes the plate from her hands and places it back down on the table. "So then dance with me."

She raises her eyebrows at him in response. "Dance with you?"

He extends his hand toward her. "Come on. I know you wanted to dance to Sinatra at the reception we never got. So dance with me now."

She smiles and takes his hand, letting him lead her into the open space of their living room. Her arms lace behind his neck and his around her waist, her chin coming to rest on his shoulder, as they sway in time to the rhythm of the song. She hums the melody against his ear, occasionally letting a lyric or two break into song.

"Now this is perfect," Castle says softly, when the song breaks into its instrumental bridge. "We should use our alone time to do cheesy married people things more often."

"Cheesy married people things?"

"What else would you call this?"

The song ends and she pulls back to look at him. "Silent noise."

"That's an oxymoron."

She hums, pulling away to go finish clearing off the table. "Yes, but it fits don't you think? Now help me with this so we can move on to that bath."

"Silent noise," he says, trying it on his tongue as he moves to help her. "You know what, that's exactly what this. Noise without the chaos."

"Revel in it while it lasts," she tells him. "Once we start trying to have kids...I hear they come with chaos."

"Leave the thoughts of chaos to another day, Kate. Tonight is just about us."