"He likes you a lot."
Kate turned around to see Mel standing behind her, the sassy girl snuck up on her.
"I'm sorry, who?" Mel had caught her off guard."
She took a step forward. "My brother, Rick."
Kate was never one to suck up to anyone, but she felt as though she had to with Mel. Mel had a lot of power and resources here at the agency. "I'm sorry, Mel."
Mel cut her off. "Why are you sorry? Kate, this is the happiest he's been in a long time."
"Really?" Kate blushed and bit her lip.
"Yeah, we had a family dinner last night, and all he could talk about was you."
A smile spread over her face and butterflies fluttered through her stomach. Just thinking of him made her feel different; she didn't know what kind of different, but it was good. He had a way of making her feel special, and wording things that made the tips of her fingers and toes tingle. She never wanted it to go away.
"Come sit with me?" Mel offered, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah."
A young, blonde girl was already sitting at the table in the small cafe in the agency. Kate set her coffee down as Mel gestured to the girl. "Kate, this is my cousin, Gina."
"Hi." Gina spoke shyly, but threw in a wave to be friendly.
"Gina, this is Kate. Rick's girl." Mel smirked."
Kate's eyes grew a little wider. "Uh, Rick's girl?"
"Ye, Rick's girl. He's like a love sick puppy. It's kinda weird, but whatever." Mel took a sip of tea before speaking again. "You know the night that you too danced, he wrote almost an entire book?"
"Wait, you saw us dance?" Kate was getting thrown information left and right.
"Are you kidding? You two were the talk of the party. I saw the looks you were exchanging from opposite ends of the room." Mel sipped at her drink again, a small smile on her face. She examined Kate's face, seeing the confusion. "You're very doubtful, aren't you?"
"I'm sorry."
"And you like saying sorry. You are banned from saying sorry."
She was about to say it again, but sat back, clamping her mouth shut. "Okay."
All three girls looked at each other before they all burst into laughter.
Rick put the last box in the middle of Kate's new studio apartment. She had decided it was time to be on her own, and found the perfect place.
"Thanks for helping me." She paused. "And I never got to apologize for that day you found me in my dressing room crying."
It had been a while since then, but it had never come up, and Rick had let it go. But if she was willing to share, that meant that things kept getting more and more serious. "No, it's okay. What was wrong?" He stopped himself. "Or is it too personal?"
"No, it's not. I had told my parents that I wanted to go through the academy become a homicide detective. They hadn't taken it well and it was a bad day in general, and I kind of just snapped.
"I think that being a detective would be awesome!" Castle got excited. "Why don't you?"
Kate looked down. "Because I don't want to disappoint my parents."
He chose his words carefully, making his way to her. "Look, Kate, I know that we've only been on a couple of dates, and we're still getting to know each other, but I've noticed that you think too much about making other people happy. And then you're not happy. If going through the police academy and solving homicides will make you happy." He pointed at her, a serious look on his face. "Then you go for it."
She hugged him tightly, his words getting to her. "Thank you." She realized that he was smelling her cherry scented shampoo. She couldn't help but smile. "Are you smelling my hair?"
"They broke from their hug. "I'm sorry, you must think that's weird."
She cocked her head, smiling, "A little, but it's mostly cute."
They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before she wrapped her arms around his neck. He bent down to pick her up and spin her around. And then, as they stood in her new apartment, they shared their first kiss.
