Prompt: "My family insisted on going to the pantomime this year and I was the one who had to sit next to a stranger, meaning I sat next to you, and did I mention you have a cute laugh?"
The show has just wrapped and he's surprised by how much he actually enjoyed it. He had been sure that mimes would be the least enjoyable form of entertainment he's ever encountered, but the silent actors had cracked him up and the woman next to him had definitely added to the experience with her adorable bouts of laughter.
His heart leaps in excitement when he sees her in the crowd, her short auburn hair standing out in the sea of people, and he pats his daughter on the shoulder.
"Sweetie, I'll be right back. Keep working on getting us a table," he mumbles and Alexis nods her assent before returning to her phone conversation with the host of a nearby restaurant while his mother continues to gush to one of the performers, who continues to reply with silent gestures.
Castle breaks away from his two redheaded companions and maneuvers his way through the crowd in pursuit of the woman with the cute laugh, growing more excited the closer he became to reaching her.
Until he sees her meeting with a tall, square jawed man on the sidewalk.
Rick pauses, causing a bitter mumble or two to be thrown his way, but he's too distracted to care. The woman with the cute laugh doesn't look pleased to see square jawed, a frown creasing her once smiling lips, and he watches the quiet argument brew between them.
He inches closer, catching words, her name being one of them. Kate. He likes it, it fits her, fits that gorgeous laugh that keeps playing on a loop through his head.
Kate attempts to sidestep square jaw, but he blocks her path, holding up a hand between them as if he's pleading with her, but the look on his face is demanding and Castle gets an idea.
She may appear as though she can handle herself, he'd bet money that she could take square jaw here down with one hand tied behind her back if the tension crawling along her spine is any indication, but he sees an opportunity to save her from this seemingly awkward situation while breaking the ice at the same time.
And he takes it.
"Kate, there you are," he huffs, plastering on his most charming grin as he sidles up beside her. "Sorry I let us get separated in the crowd."
Kate glances over to him in utter confusion, but with a threatening hint of warning in her eyes, and something else… something like… recognition? Could Kate with the cute laugh possibly be a fan?
"Anyway, the cab's here if you're ready to go and - oh, who's your friend?" he babbles on, willing her to trust him with nothing more than the sheer determination in his eyes.
He catches the moment she realizes what he's up to, those hazel orbs flashing green with something like amusement.
"Rick, this is Will Sorenson, my ex," she finally chimes in, surprising him with the arm she hooks around his waist while she returns her attention to her ex. "Will, this is Rick Castle, my…"
"Boyfriend," he supplies with ease, nearly jumping at the hard pinch she delivers to his hip.
"I see," square jawed Will appraises, disappointment coloring his darkening blue eyes and Castle straightens up beside her in triumph. "Well, Kate, it was great working with you again, but I guess I'll let you go."
"Have a nice flight, Will," she returns with a nod.
Will Sorenson disappears into the street and as soon as he's out of sight, Kate spins, poking him in the chest, hard.
"What do you think you're doing?" she hisses. "I don't even know you and you just come up and-"
"I'm sorry!" he exclaims, dodging another incoming poke from that dangerous index finger. "I was just trying to help you out!"
"I didn't ask for your help," she snaps, turning to leave, but he darts in front of her.
"Wait, I just - I wasn't trying to be an ass."
Kate's perfectly groomed eyebrow curves and her arms cross and she still looks ready to punch him, but at least she's listening.
"See, my mother dragged me and my daughter to this thing," he tries to explain, motioning towards the theater behind them. "And I sat next to you throughout the entire show and we got lost in the crowd before I could talk to you inside, but then I saw you when my family and I stepped out here so I just thought…"
Kate's head tilts in curiosity when his sentence trails, her piercing eyes softening to a sparkling amber.
"What did you think, Mr. Castle?" she prompts, almost challenging in her use of his identity when he still hardly knows hers.
"That you had a really cute laugh," he admits, feeling his ears heating up. He's usually more charming than this, but his shy admission causes her own cheeks to flush just slightly. "I was going to ask if you wanted to have dinner with me sometime, but I think I may have torched my chances."
"Maybe," she chuckles, burying her hands in her coat pockets. "Maybe not."
His head jerks up to meet her smirking expression.
"Why didn't you just talk to me in there if we were sitting beside each other for the last two hours?" she murmurs, cocking her head towards the theater behind them.
Castle swallows and shifts nervously. "I - I didn't want to disturb you during the show."
"Ah," she hums, as if she doesn't quite believe him, and isn't he supposed to be a suave playboy? Where did his reliable persona run off to when he could use it? "Well, there's another showing here next weekend. Why don't you meet me here for it?"
Her eyes sparkle with mischief, golden in the light of street lamps.
"Like a date?" he questions, eager anticipation filling his veins and she bites her lip, shrugs her shoulders.
"Sure. I'll see you in a week, Rick," she murmurs as she strolls away, flashing him a smile over her shoulder.
He ends up staring after her long after she's disappeared and his daughter has to break him from his trance to drag him to their town car.
A week later, he finds Kate outside the theater and revels in her laugh for the rest of the night.
Six years later, he gets to introduce Kate with the cute laugh as his wife.