A/N: Okay, so updating really quickly because I already have this written; this is again a pretty obvious Baby Caskett scene, but it's adorable so I did it from both perspectives. (This is the end scene at the Storm Fall launch)

Kate sauntered into the bookstore just in time for the end of Castle's reading. She'd already read Storm Fall twice, so she knew the passage, though she'd never admit that to anyone.

"'Good, she thought, as the wind gathered up her hair,'" She heard Castle read as she neared the back of the group of fans assembled. It did not escape her notice that the gathering was mostly women, but she put that out of her mind as she worked her way through the crowd as he continued.

"'No on,'" Castle's flawless cadence faltered when his eyes found her, which was exactly what she'd been going for.

Keeping steady eye contact, Kate let her jacket fall off her shoulders, drinking in the dumbstruck look on Castle's face. His eyes never left hers, but somehow he managed to finish his reading, albeit with much less attention to what he was saying.

"'Will see my tears.'"

The room applauded and gave him a standing ovation; Kate simply smirked at him and slow-clapped while raising an eyebrow at him.


Why do I even have to be here? Rick asked himself as he began the final paragraph of the passage Gina had chosen for him to read. Do they really all want to know the ending before they read the book? What's the fun in that? He hated readings. Signings he didn't mind so much, especially when they led to him signing breasts, you'd never hear him complain about that. But readings were torture. Despite popular opinion, he really didn't enjoy hearing his own voice speak his own words. And these words were particularly hard to choke out, because he finally felt like he'd left Storm behind; he really didn't want to revisit him.

Just when he thought he'd so much rather be sitting at his desk writing Nikki than staring out at thirty plus fans, most clutching tissues, there she was. Or rather, there Kate Beckett was, looking for all the world exactly how he'd pictured Nikki Heat.

He knew she'd kill him for that name, but he liked it, and if that hot pink dress was any indication, he had vastly underestimated just how much like Nikki Beckett was. But he couldn't think about that at the moment; what had he been saying? Somehow he managed to finish his reading, though his eyes never left Beckett. She had to know what she was doing to him, had to know it wasn't fair.

Rick barely even noticed the standing ovation the crowd gave him, only the quirked eyebrow from the back of the room. Not for the first time that day, he wondered if she'd read the copy he gave her yet. He hoped so, or maybe he didn't. He was sure when he'd given it to her that she had indeed been a fan, he hadn't been lying when he said Flowers For Your Grave and Hell Hath No Fury never got much readership. But she never said anything about it, so he couldn't be sure she'd even read it.

In all honesty, his mother could spout all the terrible reviews she wanted, he didn't care, if Beckett liked it, or even merely didn't hate it, he would consider the book a success. But he guessed that he would never know Beckett's take on Storm Fall, though if there were any time to ask, wouldn't it be here, at the book's launch?

Rick fought his way through the crowd, trying to find her, praying she hadn't left yet. When he finally spotted her chatting with a man he remembered seeing near the back during his speech, jealousy flared deep in his chest, unbidden and certainly unwelcome. He had no claim over Beckett, and he knew that, nonetheless he

quickly worked his way to her, most definitely not missing the way her legs looked in that dress.