Disclaimer: Yeah I own Castle. Ha. Haha. Ha…

As they turned the corner, Kate blinked rapidly against the bright lights of camera flashes that were blinding her face. She turned to look at him and he took her in slowly. She was never like any of the other woman he's seen, or even loved before. Why is she so different? Why wasn't she freaking out?

Rick pulled on Kate's arm and leaned his mouth to her ear.

"Say nothing," Kate nodded and swallowed, her throat dry. She knew she looked calm but she was trying to hard to maintain the stability of a calm person walking through this.. Cult of people. She cleared her throat but Castle was pulling her through the crowd with his head held high. Kate was replaying his words in her head as she heard all of the questions being thrown around the small space.

"Are you his new Mistress?"

"What's your name?"

"Do you go to the college? How old are you?"

Rick's hand became tighter on her elbow when the suggestions started flying out of these vultures' mouths.

"She's just his whore!"

"He's using her to make Meredith jealous!"

"She probably sells drugs!"

Kate was still following Rick, dumbstruck. Where do people even come up with this stuff? A drug dealer? She was wearing jeans and a cardigan, for God's sake!

When they finally cleared the crowd, Rick released her arm but said nothing to her. He didn't even glance at her. When they reached the local coffee shop, he held the door open for her and she thanked him.

Sitting down, he turned to her and clasped his hands together.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't expect it to be that bad."

"It's fine. After my mom died, my dad and I had to leave town for a while because people were so rude and pushy. I couldn't even get to my job without being hounded." Rick's mouth turned upward in a small smile, but his eyes had clear sympathy in them.

The waitress made her way over to the two.

"Can I help you two?" She asked. The girl was sixteen, maybe seventeen and blonde. She had on Chuck Taylor's and ripped skinny jeans. It reminded Kate of herself at that age. The pair looked at each other and simultaneously blurted out,

"Grande skim latte two pumps sugar, free vanilla." Kate's jaw dropped and they both looked at each other. Rick had a smile on his face that made his eyes crinkle. The waitress smirked and walked away to get their coffee.

The rest of their afternoon consisted of Kate and Rick in the coffee shop, chatting animatedly. Kate had met the man hours ago and she felt like she'd known him her entire life. It was a corny thing to think and certainly not something Kate Beckett would think. She'd expected rude and braggy. Egotistical. Once in a while a fan would interrupt their conversation, but Kate never minded.

She didn't tell Rick that she was a fan, or that she had all of his books. That was the exact difference between Kate and some fan of his, she wasn't a fan, she was just a girl in his class. A pretty girl in his class.

He'd noticed a lot of things about her in just mere hours of knowing her. He knew she was isolated. She answered her questions in a brief, protected way. She was stiff when they discussed family, so he tried to shy away from the topic. She had this wall up that he couldn't get through, no matter how hard he tried.

'Maybe with time,' he thought as he chuckled at what she'd just said. When Kate looked at her phone her eyes got wide and she stood abruptly.

"Oh my God! It's 8:45!" Kate took her jacket from the back of her chair and picked up her coffee. "I have to go." Rick stood with her and took her elbow.

"Kate, calm down," Rick chuckled and slid her arms through her jacket. Putting his hand on the small of her back, he pushed her towards the door of the coffee shop. Kate was still trying to put her words together to say something to him, but she found herself with a confused face even when Rick opened the door and ushered her out.

When they were standing on the sidewalk, Rick took out his phone.

"Do you need a ride?" He focused his eyes on her and she finally looked at him, at his face and his eyes.

"No, I was going to take a cab."

"You can catch a ride with me to save the money?" Rick pointed to a nearby gray Sedan, keys in his hand.

"No offense, but-"

"That always means you're about to say something offensive. Are you sure you want to damage my ego?" Kate smiled, showing her teeth, and looked up at him.

"I just don't want to take the risk of you kidnapping me and killing me." He mocked offended, putting a hand to his chest and inhaling sharply.

"Ouch, that hurts, Kate. But I understand." He stopped his hand and smiled a smile that reached even up to his eyes. It even made its way into Kate's heart. She bit her lip when he called for a taxi, it taking a few minutes because they were in New York. When it came, Rick opened the door and Kate stepped into it. Before shutting the door behind her, Rick poked his head in and smiled at her.

"Until next time, Kate." He whispered.

"Next time." Kate promised, pulling the door shut and leaning her head against the headrest with a smile that wouldn't leave her face until the next morning.

A/N: I loved doing this chapter! (Chances are, I'll say that for every chapter.) I'm truly awful with titles, so this one will probably be changed halfway through the story, but I hope you enjoy it regardless. To the person that reviewed, the story won't actually be set in college, they just met there. I'm sorry! I hope you guys like this! :D