A/N: Warning may contain loads of fluff… :P

Ch 7: Magical Surprises

Castle took a deep breath, straightened his clothes and knocked on her door. He hadn't been this nervous for a date since high-school. Hopefully she wouldn't notice that, though, he thought.

Beckett took one last look in the mirror before walking to the door. Damn she was nervous. The dress Castle had send her about an hour ago looked beautiful, but still. She took a deep breath and thought, relax it's just Castle. With that she opened the door only to see Castle with a large bouquet of flowers in his hands. Or rather, she saw a large bouquet of flowers and a little piece of Castle behind it.

"Goodnight Kate. I would say you look stunning, which I'm sure you do, but I can't really see you through these flowers." His muffled voice said.

"You didn't need to get me flowers you know." She said.

He sighed loudly before saying, "I wanted to. Just as I wanted to buy you a dress."

She went to her kitchen and came back with a vase. Castle put the flowers inside it for her. Now that was done he could have a clear look at her for the first time. "Wow, you really do look stunning." He said causing a traitorous blush to appear on her cheeks.

"Thanks Castle, you look quite good yourself." She replied.

Castle smiled knowing that was a huge compliment coming from her. "You know, we agreed that you could call me Rick and I could call you Kate right?" He reminded her.

"Yes, I know. So where are you taking me Rick?" She asked.

"Ah… You'll see that quick enough." He answered and walked to the doorway to pick up something he'd left there.

"What's that?" Kate asked suspiciously while she looked at the object he was holding.

"That, my dear detective, would be a picnic basket." He said with a grin. "So are you ready to go?"

"Are we going to picnic?" She asked suddenly not so sure the dress she wore was right for that.

"Something like that…" He replied.

"But then I've gotta change because this dress is way too cold." She said gesturing at the dress she was wearing. I was a beautiful shade of red, and the dress hugged her figure in all the right places. Only it wasn't even knee-length. Way too short for the cold weather outside.

"Don't worry I've got everything covered." He said and helped her into her coat.

He handed her his arm and said, "Let's go."


The taxi drive took about twenty minutes. When the taxi stopped at the address Castle had given him and they got out Kate couldn't believe it. And it wasn't the unbelievable kind that was good. They were standing in front of a building. A building that looked like some kind of haunted mansion, only it wasn't even a mansion. Windows were broke, the paint was faded and the lights were out. It looked deserted, as did the whole neighborhood.

Castle watched her as she watched the building almost in horror. "So what do you think?" He asked her.

She looked at him and he looked serious. "Honestly… it looks like crap." She said hoping this would be some kind of joke. Maybe she was just having the nightmare of the worst date ever.

"Tsss… Kate. Haven't you learned by now, you should never judge a book by its cover? But I agree it looks like crap, that's why I got something…" He said and took something out of the picnic basket and walked closer to her.

"What you got in your hands Castle?" She asked.

"A blindfold." He stated. "You don't have to see the parts of this building that look like crap. So I'm just going to take you to the good part." He said and moved to put the blindfold on her.

"Wait." She said and held her hand up to stop him. He just shook his head as he put his arms around her wrists and lowered her arms.

He looked into her eyes, smiled and said, "Just trust me, at least for this once."

When she saw the sincerity in his eyes she sighed in defeat and allowed him to put on the blindfold. When he had done that she felt him grab her hand and guide her forward. Suddenly he stopped and let go of her hand. She heard him walk around her and suddenly he lifted her in his arms, his left hand under the hollow of her knees and the other arm supporting her back.

"Castle what are you doing?!" She exclaimed.

"It's Rick. And what does it look like I'm doing?" Immediately realizing his wrong choice of words he corrected, "I mean what does it feel like I'm doing?"

"Why are you carrying me? I can walk myself." She said.

"Oh I know, but I don't want you to accidentally walk into something. It is quite dark in here." He replied.

Finally he stopped and put her down. When he took her blindfold off she gasped at the sight in front of her. They were standing in a courtyard. In the middle was a picnic cloth, and next to that was a crackling fire burning in a fireplace. A few beautiful candles were burning in the middle and the walls were decorated with thousands of little lights. It looked magical.

"Do you like it?" Castle asked after a few moments of silence had passed.

She had a hard time tearing her eyes away from the beautiful scene in front of her but finally turned to him. "Yes, it's beautiful." She answered him with a smile.

He leaded her to the picnic cloth and took her coat before she sat down. He took off his coat too and put her coat on top of his beside him. Although it was cold outside the fire kept them warm. On the cloth were already empty wine glasses and cutlery.

"What would you like to drink?" he asked her and opened the picnic basket.

"What's that?" She asked in shock as she saw the contents of the basket for the first time. It was filled with different bottles of wine, and some other drinks.

"Oh, just about the most expensive bottles of wine I could find in my liquor cabinet. I mean, although I do know how you take your coffee, I don't know what kind of wine you like yet. So I wanted to come prepared." He said.

"Didn't you bring any food?" She asked in an astonished tone.

He grinned and said, "You didn't honestly think that I would take food with me? Then it would get cold way too soon and it wouldn't taste good."

Her brow knotted in confusion. "Well, what are we going to eat then?" She asked.

"Whatever you want. I hired a chef to cook for us. Usually he works at the most expensive restaurant in the city but he owed me a favor." He answered. "Now, what did you want to drink?"

She raised an eyebrow challengingly before saying, "I'll let you choose Rick. Pick whatever you think I would like the most."

He smiled before getting a bottle of wine out of the basket. He opened it professionally and poured it into her glass. Red wine, her favorite. He looked at her expectantly as she raised the glass to her lips, gauging her reaction closely.

When she tasted it her eyes grew wide. It was the most delicious wine she'd ever tasted. Sweet, but not too sweet. "This… Is the best wine I've ever tasted." She said after taking another sip.

Castle grinned triumphantly. "It figures." He said.

"Why…?" She wanted to know.

"Because it's the most expensive wine I've got. You do seem to have an costly taste." He replied while he grinned cheekily.

At that moment a waiter walked towards them and gave them menus.

"So Rick, what made you choose this instead of some fancy restaurant?" She asked, curious about his answer.

"Well there are a couple of reasons. First of all, the paparazzi. If they saw me having dinner with you in some fancy restaurant it would be on the cover of some gossip magazine the next day." He told her. "And I did it because I knew you'd like this better. That's because I just found out after the case with Jeremy that you are a romantic. And well, this is a lot more romantic than having dinner in the same room as hundred other people." He said and gave her a crooked smile that almost made her heart jump out of her chest.

All she did was just smile at him until the waiter returned to take their orders. After the waiter had left she had another question. "How did you find this place anyway? And does it even have a kitchen?"

"A hobo." He said. "I found this place because of hobo called Steve. I was doing research for one of my Derek storm novels about the live as a hobo. This one guy, Steve, really helped me out. So in return of his help I gave him enough money to buy a descent apartment. But he decided to buy this. Although the outside may seem a little… crappy, he has built a giant kitchen and a beautiful bed- and living room in the heart of it. He kept the hallway and the front like this to remind him of his old life." He said.

She smiled and said, "You really take your research seriously don't you?"

"As a heart attack. That's why I chose to base Nikki Heat on you. Because you're not just some hot detective that is a good murder-solver. You're more than that…" He said and leaned slightly forward and looked into. He tilted his head a bit before whispering, "You're extraordinary."

Damn it. How did he always do that to her? She shivered the moments those words left his mouth. She was breathless. He got her breathless with as much as a few whispered words. What was he, a detective whisperer or something? Her heart thudded loudly in her chest as she saw his eyes stare intensely in hers. She couldn't deny the obvious attraction, not anymore. Although she hadn't been able to that since their first kiss, she still tried to. She had convinced herself that it was just physical, nothing more. But those eyes. Those damn eyes that seemed to be looking straight through her soul. Straight through all the defenses she had carefully built up around her.

The waiter arrived again with their food and they broke their stare. They ate, sometimes just staring at each other, sometimes talking. Every once in a while he made a joke, and made her laugh. God, did he love to see her laugh. He was pleased to see that she was having a good time. Every time he saw her smile at him, or looked into his eyes, he felt warm inside. Yes, he had fallen for her, hard. At first when they just met, he didn't really have feelings for her. He thought she was undeniably hot and incredibly attractive but once he started to know her better it became more. Much more.

She noticed a faraway look in his eyes. " What are you thinking about Castle?" She asked, and immediately remember she should call him Rick and corrected herself.

He gave her a heartwarming smile and replied, " You."

He did it again. This time with one single word. He let her insides melt for him and she felt a blush come up to her cheeks. She had a good time with him tonight but still, out of old habit, she kept building up defenses around her. But he shattered them every time.

" So did you like the food?" He asked when he knew she wasn't going to reply to his comment.

" Yes it was delicious." She answered and gave him a warm smile.

"So that only leaves dessert…" He said. "Do you like Sundays?" He asked her.

"Yes I love them." She replied.

"Good." He said, got up and handed her, her coat.

"Where are we going?" She asked curiously.

"To my apartment." Seeing her look of confusion he clarified, "I make the best Sundays in town."

" Hmm… We'll see about that." She said playfully as they outside, into the beautiful winter night.

-

A/N: So far for the hobo, the blindfold and a couple of candles. You might expected something completely different, but I hope this is satisfying enough. This chapter is the longest so far, because I have a busy week ahead of me. Meaning, I probably won't be able to update again until next weekend. So… Is one week long enough to write a review? I think so, but I'll just have to wait and see…