Setting: AU/Pre-Series meet (Part 2 of 2)

Kate Beckett was thoroughly entrenched in writing an email explaining just why she and her team needed their warrants processed in a timely manner when she was interrupted by a purposeful throat clearing. The hair at the back of Kate's neck stood on end.

No…no—it couldn't possibly. He wouldn't. He absolutely would not! She refused to believe her betraying ears until she dared to glance to her left and caught glimpse of the tall figure behind the curtain of her hair. "Wha…" She croaked out, completely stunned. Turning to face him properly, she found that he wore a grin and clutched a bouquet of bright flowers in his fist.

"Happy birthday," he said quiet proudly, holding out the bouquet to her.

She croaked again, now even more shocked—if that was even possible. Castle randomly showing up at the precinct? Okay, that was surprising, but believable. He had been texting her on occasion, asking her to meet him for drinks or meals (naturally, she never answered), but how had he possibly known the date of her birth? How had he known she would be at her desk and not off-shift or working in the field somewhere? How had he even been allowed up to the homicide floor? "Wha…how?"

He grinned. "A writer has his secrets."

Refusing to accept that answer, she stood from her chair and folded her arms over her chest. "No seriously—how did you know it was my birthday?"

"Um…"

"Castle!"

"So, uh, I might have gone to see your father."

Kate nearly choked. "M-m-my FATHER!?" She had anticipated him telling her about his hours of research on the internet, how he'd called and sweet-talked her captain. Him hacking into the NYPD database might have made more sense. How in the hell had he found her father?

A wince crossing his face she said, "Yeah…."

"How?"

"Google."

"That's not an answer."

"Sure it is. I was Googling you and, um, found your mother's obituary…"

Kate raked her hands through her hair and turned away from him. It was getting worse! "Jesus…"

"Sorry about that, by the way. Anyway, I got his name from there and I started Googling some more… I found his office hours posted and I just sort of popped in."

She turned back to face him and his sheepish expression did nothing to assuage the blind furry burning within her. "Castle!"

He almost appeared as though he was ready to duck when he asked, "Are you mad?"

Mad? Was she mad? She wasn't even in the same galaxy as mad; mad was a distant memory to her. "I—I don't even know where to begin. You need to go."

"Wait." He reached out a hand to her, but she twisted away from his grasp and balled her fists as she stared him down.

"No, Castle, no. This is so completely far out of bounds I don't even know where to begin."

He held out his free hand to her, palms up as though his words alone would make amends. "I'm sorry but you wouldn't talk to me and I know you were just ignoring my texts. I wasn't sure what to do—I just wanted to know more about you."

She sucked in a breath through her nose attempting to calm her heart rate and thus stop the trembling in her limbs. "So, let me get this straight—you're blaming me for this?!"

"No—no! Not blaming. I'm not blaming anyone. I'm overzealous; it's one of my worst flaws."

She gave a derisive snort in response to his rather pitiful expression. "I can imagine."

"I am sorry. Let me make it up to you—I'll take you to dinner."

She groaned and threw up her hands. Just as she was almost about to relinquish her fury there he was again—making her mad. "You're insane and you need to go!" To add force to her statement, she turned and walked away from her desk to disappear into the break room, but of course he followed her.

"Kate!"

She whipped around and nearly ran smack into him. He stumbled back as she said, "This is harassment; I can arrest you."

"You wouldn't …?" His tone ticked upwards at the end making it sound as though he was asking a question.

She growled. "Try me."

He clasped both his hands around the flower bouquet and held it out in front of him as though it were an amulet of protection. "Kate, please. Okay I admit—contacting your father without your permission was toeing the line—overstepping! Overstepping the line!" He added frantically as she took a menacing step towards him.

"You're damn right it was."

"I'm sorry," he said, holding the flowers out even further. "Please take them. I know you're probably mad at me, but they're for your birthday."

She reluctantly accepted them and thanked him, hoping this act would make him leave, but of course it did not.

"Let me continue to grovel tonight at dinner—my treat."

She rolled her eyes and turned to go to the breakroom in hopes of finding a glass for the flowers to fit into. "No."

He slid into the room after her. "But I even made reservations. Ristorante Italiano – your favorite."

Kate gripped the edge of the kitchenette counter so hard she bent the bottom stems of her bouquet. She didn't even have to turn around to know that the writer was grinning proudly; she could just feel it. "My father told you."

"Yep."

She turned around and felt her blood pressure spike at his unwavering smile. "Does he know we're…you know?"

He shrugged and dipped his gaze. "Had to explain who I was somehow."

"Perfect." Of course she had not told her only living parent that she had matched—why would she? As far as she was concerned, the match was utterly pointless; it meant nothing. Was she, perhaps, moderately interested in seeing what Castle was like as a person during their pre-planned January meet up? Well, she had been before he'd been so damned annoying. Now all she wanted was to be rid of him.

The writer took two steps towards her. "Your father actually seemed quite pleased about it."

"Did he?" she responded, her tone flat. He nodded and she asked, "How long did you talk to him?"

"'bout an hour."

God, it was getting worse.

"So…dinner?" he asked enticingly. "C'mon…what else were you doing tonight?"

She rolled her eyes. "You mean on my birthday? You didn't think I had plans?"

He shrugged. "It's a weeknight; I took a gamble."

Narrowing her eyes, she stepped towards him so they were almost toe to toe. "If I agree to do this, you have to promise to leave me alone. No texts. No phone calls. No randomly showing up here. We don't speak again until January."

He remained expressionless for several moments, obviously considering her offer. "Can I send you a Christmas card?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Okay, I'll take that deal—IF you still feel the same at the end of dinner."

She held out her hand for him to shake. "Deal."

"Deal," he said, shaking it.

Then, she turned back to her search for a flower-container as he added, "Reservations are for seven-thirty; I'll meet you there."

"Fine."

"See you later, Kate."

She didn't let out her breath until she heard the break room door shut behind him. Once he was gone she leaned against the counter and exhaled. Just a few hours—just a few more hours and she'd be rid of him for…well, two months, anyway. That was better than nothing. And she would be rid of him, because there was absolutely, positively no way that anything that happened over dinner would change her mind.

When he heard the knock at his apartment door, Castle nearly jumped with excitement. He pulled the skillet of vegetable medley off the stovetop and hurried to welcome his guest. Her arrival in his apartment had been a long time coming and he definitely did not want to make her wait an extra second. "Kate!" He greeted her with a grin. "Good evening."

"Hi." She spoke with a nervous edge to her tone as she stepped inside and loosened her scarf. "I brought this; hope it's okay," she said of the bottle of red wine she held out to him.

He smiled, took the bottle and thanked her before adding, "C'mon in; let me take your coat."

Even as the heavy wool item slid from her shoulders and he hung it beside his in the closet, Castle still could not believe that she was really there—that he'd talked her into it.

Kate's birthday dinner had gone well, very well—particularly after she moved on to her third glass of wine. He had her laughing, keeping all the topics light and Timer-free, per her request. Mostly, he told funny anecdotes from book signings and stories about Alexis. When she said, "I'd like to meet her someday; she sounds like a riot," he'd lunged at the chance.

"Have dinner with us next week," he'd said.

Her refusal was immediate. "I can't."

"Sure you can."

She'd dropped her napkin on the table and was pushing her chair back from the table as she said, "We agreed Castle," in an exhausted tone. He knew he had just one more minute of her attention, so he tried to sell the invitation as best he could.

"C'mon; what's one more dinner going to hurt? I'll make you my world-famous chocolate lava cake dessert."

"Does it come from a box?"

"Perish the thought!"

With thirty more seconds of him staring intently at her she'd finally agreed to eat with them. A few days later, when he'd called her to solidify the plans, she'd tried to back out, but he had once again twisted her arm into it, though had accepted the possibility she might bail at the last minute; he was glad she had not. They were going to have a nice evening together—all four of them; his (soon to be) family.

"This is my mother, Martha, and this is Alexis."

Kate shook hands with the elder woman and then smiled at the little girl. "It's nice to meet you both."

Alexis stepped forward, eyed Kate curiously for a minute and then asked, "How come you don't like my dad?"

"Alexis!" He spluttered out, stunned. She hadn't even said a polite hello before asking a question like that!? She was usually much better at interacting with strangers.

To her credit, the unusual question did not seem to ruffle Kate one bit. "I do like him. I just want us to be friends," she said pleasantly.

"You're not a very good friend."

"ALEXIS!" Now mortified, he rushed over and grabbed the girl's shoulders to guide her away from Kate. He was positively stunned; he'd never witnessed her say something that unkind before—to a stranger, no less. After sending her towards the table, he turned back to Kate. "I am so sorry."

"Well it's true." Alexis said from her seat at the table. Looking at her father she added, "You always say she doesn't call you back."

Now at a loss for words, Rick looked at his mother for assistance, but she was atypically silent. Turning his gaze to Kate, he prepared to apologize once more, but she merely shrugged and said, "She's right. I'll, ah, work on getting better at that," before walking over to the table and pulling out the chair across from Alexis.

The young girl leaned her forearms against the table so she could stare more intently at Kate. "My mom doesn't call me back and I don't like it very much so that's how I know Dad doesn't like it either."

"Okay you know what?" the writer said as he gripped his daughter's shoulders and guided her back into her seat, perhaps with a bit more firmness than necessary. "Let's talk about something else."

Alexis tilted her head back and looked at him. "Like what?"

Fighting the urge to wince, he said, "Literally anything else."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Precocious girl you have there."

Castle felt the urge to wince under Kate's half-teasing stare. Fortunately, the rest of their meal had gone by relatively uneventfully, but he could not help but think that beneath Kate's smile she was secretly counting down the seconds until she could sprint from his home, never to be seen or heard from again—Timer be damned.

Resting his hip again the kitchen counter he sighed out his fifth apology of the night. "I'm sorry she's usually much better behaved." He'd sent the girl upstairs with her grandmother promising that they would have a very long talk about how to behave appropriately in front of guests the following day as soon as she arrived home from school.

Kate shook her head. "No, she was fine. Honest; I like honest. She's protective of you."

He shrugged his shoulders as he, too, had noticed that—particularly after his second divorce was finalized that year. "More than she should be, probably."

She nodded. "It's sweet. And reminded me that I probably owe you an apology. I shouldn't have been avoiding your calls that much; it was rude of me and, ah, I will get better at calling you back."

"Really!?" he asked with a bit more enthusiasm than necessary. Backing down on his tone he continued. "Because, Kate, that would be amazing—really. And I know that you want us to take things slow and be friends and I'm totally fine with that. I'll do whatever you want. My divorce is finalized now and-"

"Rick." She stopped him, shaking her head and slipping her hands down into her jean pockets. "I don't want you to…to feel like you have to do things to check off some sort of list of requirements I have for us to be in a relationship."

He blinked at her. "But don't you have that list?"

"No." She half-laughed. "I mean, yeah, I didn't want to be in a relationship with a married guy but that's not unreasonable."

"No! No not at all!"

She lowered her eyes and scuffed the toe of her shoe over the kitchen floor for a moment before saying, "I guess…I guess my intention was for us to have a relationship that started organically—when it felt natural. If we had a relationship at all. I just—the last thing I wanted was something forced by a Timer."

He nodded as her reasoning made sense; he could definitely appreciate what she was saying. "Okay. So, I'll, uh, call you?"

She brushed some hair out of her eyes as she looked at him. "Yeah. And I'll answer—promise."

"I cannot believe I let you talk me into this." Kate signed when Castle joined her on the couch, grin on his face, and a bowl of popcorn in his hands.

He grasped a handful of kernels and dumped them into his mouth before gesturing towards the TV and asking, "Why? Would you rather be there?"

Just looking at the birds-eye-view of Times Square made her shiver. "God no. it's snowing out there!" No, she was much happier indoors—even if it was on the couch in the writer's apartment.

For the prior five weeks, ever since she had promised to be better at answering and returning phone calls, Kate had done exactly that. She and Castle spoke on average of four days a week, and if they had not managed to connect by phone, they usually exchanged a few text messages. After just a few days Kate had to admit to looking forward to their nightly calls and she felt disappointed when they didn't occur due to her varying schedule. The more they spoke, the more at ease she felt around him. They were becoming real friends and she was definitely happy about that.

Due to their increased level in friendship, Kate was not surprised when the writer tried to include her in his family Christmas activities. She had two meals with the family since the first, slightly-awkward one and she and his daughter were on better terms, but she didn't feel comfortable with Christmas as a holiday at all, let alone intruding on what was the most family-centered holiday of all. She brushed him off, though he persisted until she finally explained the details of her mother's murder. After that he'd said, "How about New Years' Eve instead?"

Kate had merely croaked out a response, her mind immediately battling between answering in the affirmative or declining the invite. Spending an evening watching TV in Castle's apartment wasn't the issue; were that the only part of the event she would have happily agreed. However, the fact that it was New Year's Eve changed things. If they watched the Times Square activity from the warmth of his apartment, would he be expecting, as was tradition, a kiss at midnight? Did she want to kiss him? And, if she did kiss him, could that kiss potentially lead to…more?

After considering the possibilities Kate ultimately agreed to join him and she could hear the sheer relief in the writer's tone when she did so. He'd promised a low-key, casual affair, so naturally she'd expected something over the top, but he was true to his word and they'd settled on the couch after the petite red-head went to bed. It was…nice—just the two of them; comfortable.

"You ever do this? Times Square?" Castle asked, pointing to the TV as the camera man panned through the crowd of bundled up, cheering people.

She popped a few more pieces of popcorn into her mouth and shook her head. "Nah, never saw the appeal of being stuffed in like sardines—and not being able to pee for ten hours."

"You can pee; that's what adult diapers are for."

On pure reflex, Kate smacked the back of her hand against his arm. "Castle! That's disgusting. Did you do that?"

He chuckled as he smiled over at her. "No I peed in a cup."

She rolled her eyes and felt a shiver go up her spine, so she tucked the loosely knit blanket a bit tighter around her lap. Evidently noticing this, Castle asked, "You cold? Want me to turn up the heat?"

"No I'm fine," she said, not wanting him to change the climate of his space on her account.

"C'mere then; I'll warm you up."

She hesitated for a moment before sliding across the cushion and ducking under his extended arm. She leaned her body against his and relaxed her head against his shoulder, immediately feeling the warmth of his body cascading over her. That was nicer—better—particularly when watching the snow collect on the hats and jackets of those several dozen blocks away.

For the next hour they watched the festivities unfold on the TV and commented occasionally. At quarter to midnight, Castle asked if he wanted her to open champagne and she said there was no need. They then proceeded to have a fourteen minute discussion on their varying opinions of the importance of the New Year's holiday until the countdown on the TV interrupted them.

"Well," Castle said around the fifty second mark, sitting up and removing his arm from around her back, "if we can't toast champagne at midnight, we're going to have to kiss."

She dragged her teeth over her bottom lip and said, "I guess I can suffer through that."

"Suffer! I'll have you know that-"

"Castle."

"What?"

"Fifteen seconds."

They remained quiet for the rest of the countdown, and at the exact strike of midnight they faced each other and said in unison, "Happy New Year." Then, Castle slid his hand beneath her jaw and used it to guide their lips together.

When their mouths met, Kate breathed in sharply, feeling a buzz in her chest, and a crackle in her wrist beneath her Timer that was not unpleasant. She sunk against him, a soft moan escaping her lips as her hand fell against his chest. Their lips broke apart, but only for a moment before she kissed him again, and again, and again, and—god—who ever knew kisses could be this good?

They finally separated a few minutes later, and Kate took note of the writer gazing at her, his lips parted and slightly swollen, his eyes and equal mixture of wanting and amazement. His thumb grazed down the side of her neck, her whole body shivered and she knew in that moment that the only thing she wanted that night was him. Without a second thought, she pushed herself up on her knees, swung her left leg over his lap and collapsed down against him.

His hands naturally settled at her hips as she cradled his face, kissing him again and again. Every inch of her skin felt electric—like finally she was in the right place at the right time doing the thing she was meant to do. She let out a soft whimper when she felt his hands splay against her back, his pinkies grazing against the spot where her sweater rode up and exposed her back; she rolled her hips against his trying to alleviate the aching growing in her low-belly.

"Mmm Kate." He moaned out her name.

"Shhh."

"No wait. Wait." He pressed his hands against the tops of her shoulders, gently holding her back. She gazed down at him, unable to process exactly what was happening due to the fact that her brain was foggy from their kissing. It appeared he may have suffered the same affliction due to the fact that he stammered out his next few words. "I need…I don't want…not…not unless it's real. Not unless it's the start of something. I deserve that."

Kate took in a breath, trying to moderate her heart rate. He didn't want a one night stand on New Year's Eve only for her to tell him they weren't going to speak again until January, February or whenever she saw fit—that was fair. "Okay." She tried to kiss him again, but he stopped her.

"I'm serious."

She sat back on his knees so their faces were several inches apart. Though she had been what she considered to be a good friend over the prior month, she understood his hesitation, and thus felt it only fair to show him just how serious she was taking this upgrade in their relationship status. Lifting up her right arm, she pulled up her sweater sleeve and displayed her inner wrist to him. "So am I."

He moved his hands from her waist to cradle her arm. He gazed down at the now plainly visible Timer display for several moments before meeting her eye and asking. "You cleaned it off?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Christmas." She had just ended her shift late in the afternoon on Christmas Day and left the precinct unsure of what to do with herself. Castle had insisted she could join them for dinner, but it still didn't feel right. As she walked into her apartment alone, she thought for the first time that year might be her last Christmas of solitude; that she had finally found someone worth changing for and that person was Castle. She'd spent the next hour working diligently to pull the duct tape from her Timer and clean it of any remaining sticky residue. Then, as she gazed at the date for the very first time, she smiled softly.

"Kate?" he said softly, his fingers grazing the back of her hand.

She smiled and looked at him steadily. "I'm in this; I promise." And then she kissed him.

Castle awoke in the middle of the night, unsure of the time. He looked to his right and saw the bed empty, but with the bathroom door open and light off, he doubted she was inside. "Mm Kate?" he grumbled softly. Looking left he squinted at the clock on the nightstand to see that it was barely after three a.m., meaning he'd been asleep for less than two hours.

Sitting up, he blinked and looked around his room again, searching for signs of his companion, but found none. Had Kate really left in the middle of the night? When it was snowing, no less?

Refusing to accept that as a possibility, he pushed himself from bed and walked out into the living area of the loft when he spotted her in the kitchen, standing by the island with only a small light on overhead. "Kate?" he asked again as he sleepily stumbled through the room.

She set down the mug she cradled and said, "Sorry. Couldn't sleep."

"I didn't tire you out enough?"

She smiled momentarily, but then looked down towards the counter and shook her head. "No I just…I was thinking."

He stopped walking a few feet from her. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I just…I guess I never expected you to be you."

Her comment confused him, but he wasn't sure if it was the sleepy state of his mind or if it was because she truly made no sense. Before he could inquire as to her meaning, she continued.

"When we met I saw Richard Castle, the author, and I loved his books; they meant so much to me but the person? He was kind of a lot to handle, so I kept my distance. Plus I have severe emotional intimacy issues."

He almost laughed—that was one way to put it. "Could have fooled me."

She shook her head. "But I…when I finally let myself get to know you I found this sweet, wonderful, amazing man who's a loving father and a good friend. And I just never expected it. I'm glad, though, very glad."

Unable to stop himself, he walked over, placed his hand in the center of her back, and leaned in to kiss her. "Me too. And you're in this right?" he asked to confirm what she had said earlier.

"Yeah. I'm in this. Especially after that." She nodded her head towards his bedroom. Then, lowering her tone, she said, "Is it just me or does the Timer…boost things?"

"Oh you think it's the Timer?" He had noticed the intensity of things, but never considered that to be the reasoning. "I just thought it was because I haven't had sex in eight months."

Her eyes widened. "Eight months?!"

He shrugged. "Told you Gina and I shouldn't have gotten married." For many, many, many reasons, as it turned out.

Smile blossoming across her face, Kate reached out and grabbed on to the sleeve of his t-shirt, pulling him with her as she made her way back towards the bedroom. "C'mon. As long as we're up, let's go celebrate the New Year again."

Grinning, Castle happily followed her; he could not have thought of a better plan himself.

A/N: Glad to see everyone was so excited about this Timer insert - hope you enjoyed the conclusion. Thanks again to Lou for the idea (quite honestly I'm mad at myself for not thinking of it from the beginning :) )

Up next: 3x01 A Deadly Affair which was requested by Alyssa86InMN

and then as promised Flowers for Your Grave (in several parts) will end this series

Thanks!