When Castle heard about the baking of their victim later that day, he had to bite his fist to stop his joyous scream. "This case gets better by the minute!" he exclaimed, his eyes as big as a kid's on Christmas. He looked at Beckett with that childish expectation but she simply arched an eyebrow.
"Oh come on Beckett, you must admit it's a good story! Our Mr. Crisp wasn't actually barbecued but rather gently heated to 450° F and then smoothly flambéed!"
Beckett rolled her eyes at his macabre excitement about the death of a human being. "'Mr. Crisp' has a name, Castle and it's Robert Harris." She glared at him but he either didn't notice or didn't care. "I know what it reminds me of!" he declared and jumped up from his seat next to her desk. "It's like the Hansel and Gretel fairytale and Harris is the cannibalistic witch that got stuffed in her own oven! This is amazing, I've so got to tweet this…" he said and already had his phone out. Beckett just shook her head at him and looked over to Ryan who had just hung up his receiver.

"They're bringing in the bakery owner right now" he announced and Beckett got up to walk to the interrogation rooms. When she reached the hallway she turned around to find Castle still in his chair, phone in hand, apparently oblivious to her departure. She smiled a little and turned to Esposito to tell him that he and Ryan should start the interrogation without her. She then proceeded to the observation room to her left.

Almost 5 minutes went by until Castle arrived at the door, pouting and just a little annoyed. She watched him come in and turned back to the one-way mirror.

"You could have told me you were in here, you know."

"It's not my job to make you follow my every step, Castle. Usually you do it by yourself and it's annoying enough." She noticed him getting closer in her peripheral vision and felt his stare on her. "It's creepy, too. Almost like a stalker" she said without turning. "And you're staring again."

"I kind of am your stalker. And I like to be, Kate. I also like staring at you, because you intrigue me." She silently cursed him for using her first name because it always sent shivers down her spine, no matter how hard she tried to fight it. Why did his voice have to be so soft and friendly when he said such stupid things about her? She sensed him coming closer still, but she didn't allow herself to draw away. It would just be evidence of the effect he had on her and she wasn't going to give that to him.

"You're beautiful" he whispered and his breath tickled her neck and brushed against the long strands of brown hair flowing freely from her head. She could feel the heat radiating from his body on her side but she stared on stubbornly into the glass wall even though she had completely lost track of what Esposito was talking about.

"Let me take you on a date" he proposed out of the blue and she finally turned to him. She immediately regretted it because he was even closer than she had thought and his blue eyes were piercing her green ones so intently that she involuntarily stopped breathing for a second and her heart skipped a beat.

"Okay" she heard someone say and it must have been her because his face lit up in surprise. "Just like that? Okay?" he asked to make sure he had understood her, but she didn't answer, just stared at him. Slowly the voices of Ryan and Esposito behind the magic mirror drew their attention back to their case and they reluctantly turned towards the glass again.

Beckett tried to get back to the conversation in front of her but her mind wouldn't cooperate. Her thoughts wandered off to the memories of his lips on hers and her body responded of its own volition. Every hair on her body was standing up and her senses were aware of every single breath he took.

After a minute or so she felt Castle's hand touch her arm and shuddered. She didn't dare to look up at him because she was afraid to fall right into his eyes again, but she also didn't pull away. Her heart thundered in her chest when he started to gently rub up and down her arm. She wondered what she had done wrong to deserve getting punished with someone like Richard Castle. Although her heart vehemently screamed at her head that he was more gift than punishment, her head denied her heart the democratic right of co determination. She really didn't understand how she could have accepted his invitation to a date. Her head must have been offline during that minute.

Castle's hand slowly moved to her back and gently started rubbing circles. He was so amazed at the fact that she hadn't shot him yet or even moved that he didn't dare to speak for fear of startling her.

He tried to get his attention back to the interrogation just when Ryan scooped his papers together and started to get up. Esposito followed his partner's lead but addressed the bakery owner, a businessman in his late 50s, once more while Ryan already went for the door.

"I guess we're done here. We shouldn't waste any more time on you, we might better spend it on your bakery."

"My bakery?" the man asked stupidly and Beckett had to grin at one of the oldest interrogation techniques known to mankind. Apply pressure on weak points. Make them squirm. Watch them crumble.

"Yes, your bakery" Esposito answered calmly and Ryan turned around at the door. "If you're lucky you might be able to reopen by next Monday. We need to take your convection oven, though. CSU's definitely going to take at least a month for that."

Beckett knew that Esposito was making most of this up, but the fib worked nonetheless.

"Wait" the businessman said and brushed trickles of sweat off his forehead. "I didn't do anything, I swear. It was Laurie's idea!"

Beckett knew that from now on the rest was going to be a piece of cake. Castle had obviously paid attention, too, because his hand on her back dropped back to her side. She was surprised, though, when he tentatively took her hand in his.

"Let's go out tomorrow night. I'm sure you'll have your paper work done by then."

She looked up into his eyes and saw anticipation flickering over them, covering deeper emotions that were lying beneath. His gaze was drawn to her enticing lips and the hunger was portrayed clearly in his eyes. Her skin heated up at his piercing look.

Detective Beckett slipped her hand out of Castle's and stepped to the side. After a last glance through the mirror she walked around him towards the door. Her hand was already on the doorknob when she turned and rushed back. He didn't even so much as blink and suddenly her mouth was on his and her hands all over him. Passion and lust rolled over him like an avalanche when her lips started to devour him. One hand tugged at his hair now, the other was on his back, eager to press him into her. Under his closed lids he saw flashes of red as his mind crumbled under the impact of her desire.

As quickly as the fiery kiss had started it was over. They drew apart, deranged and out of breath. Beckett turned towards the one-way and smeared lipstick from her mouth. She then tied her disheveled hair up into a bun and brushed some of the wrinkles out of her neat white blouse. She didn't quite look like the by-the-book Beckett she'd arrived as, but it was good enough. Without looking at Castle, who stood stunned and speechless in the middle of the room, his hair standing up in cute odd angles, she left.


A/N: I hope you all liked it! This is the chapter I'm the most unsure about of all the chapters so far, so please tell me what you think! And don't forget to leave a message as to where they should go on their date!
Another question: How would you feel if I let this story go M at some point? I'm not sure about it yet and it will be definitely several chapters until we even get close to that, but still...

Thank you so much for reading this story and being so supportive of it!
*Lina*