After Castle had stealthily escaped his apartment building that morning with Alexis in tow, he dropped his daughter off for her late bird kindergarten class before heading over to the hospital. He had to pick her up in a little over an hour and a half now, so it didn't really give him too terribly much time to spare for going out and dining. The best food spots in Manhattan would all have lines for lunch this time of day. Add in walking or public transit time, and the need to evade all of the reporters still out there trying to get their exclusive, and it left Castle very hesitant to even leave the hospital with Johanna Beckett's daughter at his side.

That's all they needed; Kate getting dragged into even more of a media circus if they were seen together.

Fortunately, the press had a lighter presence outside when Kate arrived at the start of visiting hours. Mostly only the most obstinate reporters were there in the morning, but it was still enough to be sufficiently annoying and intrusive. She'd simply done as she did the day before and brushed past them this morning, muttering "no comment" before making her way inside. They followed her as far as they could until being stopped by a security guard. They weren't allowed anywhere near the ICU, especially with their cameras, and so mostly stayed camped out in the lobby on the first floor or waiting outside by their news vans, eyes peeled for arrivals or departures.

Castle's visit was mostly kept on the down low with Bellevue. He'd managed to sneak in unnoticed by the press through an employee service exit on the other side of the building with help from some kind and understanding staff members he'd spoken to when arranging the visit with help from his publicist. Once inside, he was golden. Neither party wanted any undue or negative attention, especially inside the hospital, so the whole plan really went off without a hitch.

But it still meant leaving the hospital was basically out of the question for him with this impromptu lunch.

Castle was sheepish after he explained the situation to her, and she was understanding, but it did leave Kate feeling rather bummed out about the whole thing. She had to admit that part of her was hoping for a booth in a nice restaurant, a special moment of alone time together, getting to know him more, and learning more about his life, maybe even sharing some more of her own.

When he asked if she'd be okay with heading downstairs to the cafeteria, that little fantasy of hers shattered like broken glass. She tried not to let her disappointment show when she smiled, shook her head and said, "No, of course. That's fine."

She liked him. There was no sense in denying it to herself now because she did. She really liked him. What she felt when she was in his presence truthfully was unlike anything she'd ever felt with another guy before. He gave her such a case of the butterflies just by walking in the room, and he was her mother's hero. Her hero in effect, too...and she did admire him for other reasons, but that wasn't all.

It was everything else, too. Not just the ease with which they interacted, but that instant connection they shared, and the powerful magnetism they seemed to have with one another, even when just chatting about mundane, ordinary topics. And just the lightest of touches to her skin set her nerves ablaze from him. That feeling, his skin against hers, drew her to him even more, made her want to do stupid things like throw caution to the wind and seal her lips over his own.

She couldn't possibly allow herself to let someone like that just slip away.

But as they wandered the halls of the ICU, her arm still lightly hooked into his, Kate's mind started to wander just as well. She wondered if Castle felt the same as she did. If his hesitance and distant behavior towards her before was a sign that he wasn't interested.

He's a lot older than you, Katie.

Had her mother had an inkling that this would happen all along when she sent them on their way? That he'd just whisk them off to a plain hospital cafeteria instead of the restaurant she was fantasizing in her head?

No.

She was being ridiculous.

Johanna wouldn't have known. She couldn't. She was just putting far too much thought into things now after that conversation with her mother. She was so skeptical of Johanna's intentions in sending them off to lunch that she was hellbent on finding her mom's trademark "I told you so" in an innocent gesture.

Besides, it was just lunch. It wasn't like they were going out to dinner on an actual date. He obliged only after her mother insisted. Johanna felt indebted to him, and wanted to find a way in which he'd be comfortable with in order for her to pay him back for all he'd done.

Oh god, she thought then. Was that all this was to him? Just helping her mother settle a debt?

As they stepped up to the elevator, Kate's arm relinquished his and retreated back to her side. Castle looked down at her curiously as she pulled away, but didn't find it to be anything to comment on. He instead assumed she was worried about their destination, and so turned to her and said, "Now, I know a lot of people knock hospital food but the cafeteria really has some pretty amazing stuff cooking down there."

Kate hummed a flat response and when the elevator arrived, they both stepped inside and Castle continued on with a story.

"I followed a pulmonary specialist over at Langone around for a week so I could get these important details in Death of a Prom Queen down accurately—you should read that one next, by the way. Oh, or A Rose For Everafter. Yeah. Read those two. They're much better than my other lesser works, trust me."

She smiled, but Kate didn't look at him, just kept her eyes cast downward on the interior of the elevator as she leaned against one side of it. It was getting harder by the minute not to feel so...what? Cheated?

More like delusional. He was taking her to a hospital cafeteria. She felt like such a fool.

"Anyway," Castle went on, his mind immersed in his story as he pressed the button for the ground floor, oblivious Kate's inner turmoil. The elevator started its descent.

"He was working 24-hour shifts and I swear I ate nothing but hospital food for the entire seven days I was shadowing him. They had this meatloaf that was to die for and the salad and baked potato bar at lunch time was amazing. Anything you could think of, they served it at some point. Really, it's nothing like the special diets they serve to patients that taste so bland and disgusting."

Kate's reply lacked any heart to it. "I'll have to take your word for it."

Castle finally took note of the change in her mood, but he didn't get the chance to throw in the cheesy question of Hey, what's eating you? before the elevator slowed to a stop. Just as the doors started to open, he peered out and muttered, "Oh, shit. I forgot about those guys."

Kate's head snapped up. Castle had unwittingly had the elevator stop in the lobby on the first floor, and as the elevator doors opened wider, she could see right there in front of them, maybe forty paces away, some eager tabloid reporters and slew of idle cameramen. One of them—a petite, older blonde woman—happened to turn her head and look at the sound of the elevator arriving, and it was easy to tell by the look on her face that she'd made Castle instantly.

"Hey that's...!" the reporter gasped, throwing her hand out to hit the arm of her cameraman.

"I'm terribly sorry, guys," Castle said quickly to the three people with visitor badges whom were standing outside the doors, waiting for the elevator, all intending to step inside. "She's really contagious and I would hate for you to catch it. Really, it's for your own sake. You're better off waiting for the next one."

Kate looked at him incredulously as he mashed his fingers down on the elevator close button incessantly and tried to forcibly close the doors at the same time. The reporters were making a beeline for them, but Castle started taunting them from inside as the doors closed in the nick of time, the lift sailing back up to another floor above them.

"What are you doing?" Kate shrieked in surprise, as Castle bolted out the door on the next floor up.

"Uh, second floor. We'll take the stairwell the rest of the way down. They won't think to find us down in the cafeteria."

"Won't they just try to take the stairs up to find us, since you hijacked the elevator?"

"Oh. Right." He pondered a moment before looking like he'd been struck with an idea, and then he was grabbing her hand and dragging her along after him.

"Castle, what—?"

"We'll find another set of stairs. Or another elevator. Something. Come on!"

Kate stumbled behind him, and couldn't help but think that this arrangement she'd be feeling so miserable about had taken a complete 180 degree turn for the better in a matter of minutes.

Maybe he was only doing this as a favor to her mom, but regardless of the situation, now they were on the run from zealous paparazzos, and their little lunch date had quickly taken on the form of a whirlwind adventure like something out of a crazy movie. He could have easily taken her back upstairs to her mom's floor, and called an end to the whole thing, but he didn't.

No. Castle had his hand wrapped firmly around hers, and he was pulling her in tow, his head swiveling left and right, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be chasing them, and his eyes darting around for what Kate could only presume were directional signs, or maybe a map of the building, too.

"Crap. I have no idea where to go," Castle muttered, when they came to a dead end in a hallway, patient rooms on either side of them. She was honestly surprised no one had approached them for suspiciously jogging down the halls.

"Excuse me, there are no cameras allowed here," they heard someone say from somewhere behind them, and Kate grabbed onto the sleeve of his jacket, yanking him back with both of her hands to pull them both into a small corridor out of view.

"Shhh," she hushed him, when he startled at her actions and tried to protest, ask what she was doing.

The voices continued but a short moment later, it was quiet again.

"I think they left," Kate said quietly, and they both peeked their heads out and found no one but a lone janitor left in the hallway.

"Hey, we could always just...ask that guy where to go," she offered, lifting both her brows and her lower lip as she shrugged.

Castle's eyes lit up when he turned them on her.

"You, Kate Beckett, are a genius. Yes. Let's do that."

She couldn't help it. She barked out a laugh. Did the thought really never occur to him? What a stereotypical man. Never asking for directions.

It made her happy with the realization that behind the narrow fame and the legion of fans he was steadily gaining with his rising success, Richard Castle wasn't some jaded superstar that the press made him out to be. He really was just a normal guy in many ways underneath that exterior he played up for the media.

The man in the hallway had just started mopping the floor and dropping down orange "Careful - Slippery" cones as he went about his work. They approached him cautiously and Kate quickly rattled off the situation to him.

"Um, excuse me. Do you happen to know if there are any additional stairways or elevators in this building that will get us to the cafeteria?" She hooked her thumb backwards in the direction that they had originally entered from. "Besides those ones."

The man looked from Kate to Castle, and scrutinized the writer before replying, "What's wrong with the other one?"

"Well, you see...he's famous." Kate wiggled her hand out from Castle's grip and hooked her arm through his instead. She tugged him forward in front of her and he stumbled, looking down at her in confusion. Off her look, he gave the janitor a goofy grin. The man was not impressed, and simply stared at him in disbelief. Castle scratched the back of his head self-consciously.

"We just want to be able to go eat, but we're sort of being chased by the paparazzi. Please, can you help us?"

The janitor seemed dubious at first, but then Castle watched as Kate reached into her jeans pocket and turned on the charm.

"Here," she slipped the man a twenty dollar bill. "This should make it worth your while. Please?"

Once she ducked her head and started batting her eyelashes, Castle knew the guy wouldn't be able to resist. Hell, he was falling under her spell all over again and she wasn't even looking at him. The janitor coughed up alternative directions for them rather quickly after plucking the note out of Kate's fingers. "But if you and your Jason Bateman look-alike here get caught doing something stupid around here, I don't know nothin' about it, ya hear me?"

Kate had to drag Castle away before he could start trying to illustrate the vast number differences in appearance and degree of talent between he and the actor.

"I guess it's a good thing we're only going to the cafeteria and not someplace fancy," Kate mused aloud as they hurriedly stepped down another hallway that curved around a totally opposite side of the hospital wing, and ended with an entirely different stairwell entrance. It would be an extra long walk, but at least they'd be sure no one would find them.

"Oh?" Castle questioned curiously, still happily getting pulled along with her by his arm. "And why's that?"

Giving him a coy little smirk, Kate shifted her eyes down to his back pocket, then pulled another twenty dollar bill out from her own.

"Because now we've only got one of these left," she said smugly, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Castle's mouth dropped open and he halted his steps. "You had your hand in my pocket and I didn't even feel it?"

She released his arm and moved ahead of him, throwing another smirk back at him over her shoulder as she did. He moved to catch up as she opened the stairwell doors and he entered after her. As they descended, she saw Castle keep looking back at his ass, surveying his pockets as he patted them down with a hand.

"How did you even do that?" he asked, taking step by step beside one another. Kate smirked again.

"Why so flustered, Castle? That can't be the first time a girl's had her hand in your pants."

Taking another few steps down, she found herself alone on the landing. Castle was frozen in place above her, staring after her with dark eyes.

Realizing what she had said, a bright red blush crept into into her cheeks and she gulped.

Biting her lip and not really meeting his eyes, Kate asked, "You uh...you coming, Castle?"

She nodded her head in the direction of the exit, and Castle worked his jaw a moment before he could answer.

"Y-yeah."

He stumbled behind her, but didn't take his eyes off of her hands the rest of the way to their destination.


He was right. The food choices were varied and the taste really wasn't that bad at all.

Having a case of the butterflies now, Kate went lighter on her meal choice. She tossed together a mix of spinach, kale, and other fresh greens on her plate and ambled on over to the wide selection of salad toppings. Throwing in some sliced strawberries and feta cheese, she topped it all off with slivered almonds, red onion, a few croutons, and a delicious raspberry vinaigrette. Castle's appetite clearly wasn't affected by any nervous stomach he may have had, as he opted to go with a heavier meal, heading straight for the three-cheese lasagna that they could smell as soon as they entered the cafeteria. He completed the meal with a side of freshly baked breadsticks that Kate was certain she may end up having to steal one of before their lunch was through. They looked and smelled divine.

They took a seat opposite of each other in a rather secluded area on the far side of the dining area, just in case anyone did manage to track them down to the cafeteria. Castle's seat gave him a nice vantage point of the door to be able to react quickly enough, and the way he described the plan to her, it was like he was playing some sort of spy game.

She found it amusing. He was like a little boy.

Their hunger left them in companionable silence at first, other than the typical "Oh, this is good", and "What'd I tell ya?" and smiling over their drinks whenever they'd take a sip. He offered to top off her glass of iced tea when he went back to refill his Coke, but upon his return, Castle seemed bit with the chatter bug again. He started asking questions, making conversation.

Not that she was at all opposed to the idea. This was what she had hoped for all along, wasn't it? Getting the chance to talk to him in private.

"So, I'm curious," Castle said between bites of a breadstick. He at least had the decency to cover his mouth and only talk with it slightly full. "You said you go to school at Stanford, right?"

"Right."

"What are you studying?"

Kate met his eyes briefly across the table, his blue orbs sparkling back at her with interest, before she dropped her gaze back down to her plate. She speared a strawberry with her fork and twirled it around momentarily.

She didn't mind telling him. She just wasn't sure how he'd perceive it.

"I'm pre-law," she said at length, then popped the fruit into her mouth. Sure enough, Castle's eyes widened with the newfound knowledge.

"Wow. That's a really difficult program to get into at Stanford, isn't it? Their acceptance rate as it stands is well below ten percent."

Kate shrugged her shoulders, trying to hold back her proud little grin. It was true. Her school was highly competitive, especially for those wishing to enter a law program after completing their undergraduate degree. But she worked her ass off in high school, keeping a perfect GPA, and taking and excelling in as many high-level prep courses as possible. Getting into Stanford had been her proudest academic achievement to date.

When she chanced a look back up at Castle, he had his fingers laced together in front of his plate, the small portion left of his meal forgotten as he grinned at her, looking at her in a whole new light.

"Well, now that we've established that you're brilliant," he started again, and Kate huffed out a small laugh, smiling as she ducked her head slightly. "What's an accomplished Stanford pre-law student like yourself doing so far away from school right now? Like before what happened, I mean."

Oh. Well, she should have seen that question coming. It would seem odd for someone who went to college now in California to be hanging out in New York during the school year. But she had her reasons.

"Um...well, the winter quarter started up last week, but I flew back in for the weekend. I took a leave of absence from school now, though. Because of my mom."

He nodded his head in understanding, but curious Castle wasn't content with the vague answer and without missing a beat asked her, "Flew back in for the weekend why? For what?"

She could practically see the thirst for knowledge within his deep, blue eyes. He had no shame prying into her life. Normally, that would piss her off a little with most people. She wasn't exactly a shy person, but she did value her privacy. She wasn't like the man in front of her, who'd been recently living much of his life in the spotlight of tabloid magazines. But there was something about Rick Castle that made her a little more inclined to offering pieces of herself up.

Didn't mean she couldn't call him out on being nosy first, though.

"I get the feeling you have an absolute disregard for respecting people's private lives, don't you?"

There was a teasing bite to her words, but Castle remained unaffected. She should have figured as much.

"Novelist's habit," he explained, as if it was no big deal. He was leaning forward on his elbows, one of his closed fists tucked beneath his chin and looking like an expectant puppy waiting to be tossed a bone.

The adorable display made her cave in so quickly that she was even appalled with herself.

"Okay, fine. I flew in to attend a convention with some friends of mine from school."

"A convention. Like, an art convention?"

"Uh, no." She hesitated for a moment, ducking her head a little shyly. Her next words came out much more quietly than before. "It's kind of a low-scale, indie sci-fi and comic convention."

"Oh my god, SuperpowerFest?"

His voice had gone up an entire octave and Kate recoiled in her seat in surprise. He had that excited, expectant puppy look back in place so she nodded to confirm his guess. She was only a little surprised to hear that he knew of it, but his reaction took her even more by surprise. He looked positively ecstatic now.

"You like comics? And sci-fi? Wait, who's your favorite superhero? Star Wars or Star Trek? They've got a new Star Wars movie coming out this summer and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Oh, hey! Have you ever seen Forbidden Planet?"

"Geez, Castle. Slow down," she laughed. "Give me a chance to answer."

"Right, right. Sorry."

As she regaled him with tales of her first comic book purchase, her regular attendance to SupernovaCon, and how she'd made first time plans to attend San Diego Comic-Con before returning home from school for the summer, Castle looked upon her with awe. He had a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face, and her cheeks were starting to hurt from all the times she was both blushing and smiling. He ribbed her about her affection for the ill-fated "Nebula-9", but shut up quickly after she finally stole one of his breadsticks and teased, "I guess I won't show you my Lieutenant Chloe outfit then."

He may not have liked the show, but no man familiar with it wasn't allured by actress Stephanie Frye, especially in that space dress of hers.

And the thought of Kate Beckett in Lieutenant Chloe's dress? Or any dress, really. Ooh, those long, slim legs of hers would look heavenly.

"Castle. Hey," she snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Stop spacing out about my body, you perv."

The snap of her fingers together snapped him right back to attention, and while she was smirking at him knowingly, she still had a tinge of pink painting her cheeks again.

Castle had a feeling it was a reflection of his own, too.

After they finished their lunch, he offered to see her back up to her mother's room. He wanted to say a proper goodbye to Johanna, and it seemed Castle's little spy game was on again as they walked their way back. He made a show of ducking around corners and peeking out the stairwell doors for any unwanted guests in their midst, and Kate kept laughing under her breath at his stupid antics. What was he, nine years old?

As they stepped onto the elevator for the final leg of their return trip, Kate asked him, "So who are you trying to channel right now, Castle? James Bond?"

She meant it as a sarcastic joke because he was really so terrible at it. He hadn't been inconspicuous at all. If someone had actually still been looking for them, Castle would have given them away ages ago. But then he turned to her with such a soft look in his eyes that it knocked the breath out of her.

"You like James Bond?"

"I uh...I've seen a few movies. Read a couple books. There's a new Bond movie coming out later this year, too, isn't there?"

Castle's lips curved into a smile but he didn't say anything, just watched her.

"What?" she asked at length, a higher inflection sneaking into the word.

He shook his head lightly, gave a small shrug. "You just...never cease to surprise me, Beckett. That's all."

Her lips pursed with a compressed smile and she bumped her arm into his. "Well, stick around awhile, Castle. I'd be happy to surprise you some more."

He grinned back at her, but once the elevator doors opened and they headed back for the lobby of the ICU to check in and be let back inside, the beaming looks on both of their faces were instantly wiped clean off. The nurse at the reception desk was both on the phone and waving them over frantically as a security guard was standing by.

Even without them saying anything to her, with a sick sense of dread in her gut, Kate knew.

Something had happened to her mother.


SuperpowerFest does not exist, that I know of. I made it up. In researching Stanford's academic calendar for future reference with dates in this story, I found that winter quarter typically starts the first week of January. So, how to explain why Kate was home the weekend her mom was murdered? New York Comic Con did not exist until 2006 and the fictional SupernovaCon on the show presumably occurs in October. So, my lamely titled SuperpowerFest was born! I hear it was popular with fans of rejected shows like Nebula-9, and its existence probably lasted about as long as the show itself did.