Chapter 11: Too Much

You make me feel

Like I'm livin' a

Teenage dream

The way you turn me on

I can't sleep

Let's run away and

Don't ever look back

Don't ever look back

Kate comes into the kitchen in jeans and the green sweater she had worn to work. "I see you decided not to change your shirt," Castle comments, pulling a chair out for her. "That's okay. It's one of my favorites."

"So I've noticed."

"I wore my blue shirt for you."

"You own lots of blue shirts, Castle. Sometimes I wonder if you have any other color in that very large wardrobe of yours."

"Everyone says blue brings out my eyes."

"It does," she smiles lightly.

"And you took your hair down."

"You seem to like it better that way. I was just lazy this morning and didn't feel like straightening it so it went up."

"You? Lazy?" he looks at her skeptically as she sits in the seat he has pulled out for her. "It's okay, Kate. I like it better curly," he whispers in her ear before turning away from her.

"Are you coming in tomorrow?" she asks.

"I was planning on it."

"The boys think something is going on between us."

"Really?" he sets a plate in front of her.

"Yes."

"Would you rather I didn't come in?"

"No, it'll just give them more."

"Kate?"

"Yes, Castle?"

"You have to keep them away from me. If they get me alone, I'll never be able to withstand their questions. They'll know about everything."

"You can't lie to them?" she studies him as he sits down across from her.

"No, they're just too good at interrogating people. And they'll threaten me. So you have to keep me beside you all day."

"Are you saying that you can't lie to me either?"

"…Maybe. You know, sometimes I really hate the fact that you're a cop."

"If I wasn't, we wouldn't have met. Or you wouldn't be writing mystery books."

"I wouldn't care what I'm writing about as long as I'm still following you around."

She rolls her eyes, "I think there are some pretty gross jobs out there that you wouldn't want to write about, even if you were following me around while I did them."

"I guess you have a point. So you want to fill me in on this case that you need my help with?"

They eat while she fills him in. Castle shares some outrageously unlikely theories to entertain her. Then he begins to tell her some of the ideas he had for murders in his books. "Castle, don't they always say truth is stranger than fiction? I don't think your readers would believe some of those tales."

He sighs, "Sometimes I hate how nice and neat everything has to end up in the books. Obviously it doesn't happen like that in real life."

"So don't answer all the questions," she says as if it were that simple.

"I tried to do that once. Gina sent it back to me and told me to rewrite it."

"Then art really doesn't imitate life after all."

"Actually I was rather hoping that it does. Or more so that life imitates art. I was hoping you'd let me in, Kate. Like Nikki is doing with Rook."

She looks away from him, "Castle…"

"No, not like that. I want you to be ready for that so I'll wait as long as you need. I'd wait until marriage for you, Kate."

"That won't be necessary, Castle. I'm not that old-fashioned."

He finds himself staring at her, suddenly wanting to kiss her again. Not that he thought that she would let him in that far tonight, even with her admission. To busy himself, he stands and takes their plates to the sink. "So… what do you want to do the rest of the evening? I brought a couple movies if you want to watch one. Or we could just talk some more."

She too stands and wanders over to the counter to look at the stack of movies he had brought. "Why do they all have Gerard Butler in them?" she asks, looking at him curiously.

"I thought you'd want to stare at him some more."

"And why would I want to stare at him when I have you?"

Castle pauses in rinsing the dishes but does not turn to face her. "I thought you liked him."

"The best movie you have here is Phantom of the Opera, and it's not because he's hot. He's got his face covered most of the movie. But he is a very good singer."

"Would you like me better if I could sing?"

Kate walks up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist. "Nope," she whispers. "I already like you too much for my own good."

"Too much?" he asks, turning around in her embrace.

"Yes."

"I don't think that's possible," he leans in to kiss her. She doesn't reply, content to continue kissing him. After a lengthy and rather passionate kiss, he pulls back, resting their foreheads together. "Kate, we don't have to do anything tonight."

"You can't just keep kissing me like that and expect to stop," she whispers. "I want to keep moving forward, Castle."

"As long as you promise not to hate me for this in the morning."

"I may be angry, and I may want to shoot you, but surely I won't hate you," she flashes him a mischievous grin before pressing her lips against his again.

"Because wanting to kill me doesn't mean you hate me," he mumbles in between kisses.

"Definitely not," she whispers back. "If I hated you, I wouldn't let you near me again."

"You cruel woman," he flips them around so she is the one pressed against the counter. He lets his hands sneak under her sweater to rub circles on her skin. "Wait," the writer suddenly pulls back from her, "your gun?"

"I put it away already. I didn't think I'd have to worry about you doing anything."

"It's not under your pillow or anything because I really don't fancy getting shot in the middle of the night accidentally?"

"It's in the nightstand."

"Okay. But I was kind of looking forward to finding where you hide it on a date," he says, trailing down her neck with his lips.

"Patience, Castle."

"I really don't want to be patient right now, Kate, so we'd better take this somewhere else," he easily lifts her up and takes her to the bedroom.

A/N: So... Hope you enjoyed it. Two chapters to go. I've got a lot of the next story written, but school started again and I kind of stopped writing. Maybe I'll get back to that now since I'm kind of bored. Anyway, please review.