A/N: Thank you to those of you who are still reading and reviewing! I appreciate you all so much! :)
Chapter Eleven
It had been quite a long day, starting with Espo coming in with an update that there still wasn't a real update on the Maelstrom attacks. He had almost leveled Grand Central last night, and it frustrated Kate how tough her nemesis seemed to be. There was still no clue who the man was, and it was more than frustrating that, basically, they were still on page one.
She had just finished pouring a coffee and added a new combination of flavors she was trying out. It was a thing she had started this morning, this mixing and matching flavors, and she found it calming. And after the beating Kate gave and received last night, she needed all the calm she could get.
Kate was more than happy to see Rick when he entered the shop. She smiled when he stepped up to the counter. "Hey, Rick. You feel like being a guinea pig today?"
The look he gave her was priceless and made her cheeks feel warm. "Depends. What kind of experiment are you trying?"
"This." She set a cup of her latest concoction in front of him.
He raised an eyebrow and studied the steaming mug. "What's in it?"
"A little bit of everything," she answered, and leaned on the counter, "I think you may like it."
Rick slowly took a sip and smiled. "This is really good, thank you for letting me try it."
Kate thought her cheeks might split with the smile that spread even further across her face. "You're welcome," she said, then saw him reach into his pocket. "And it's on the house."
"Are you sure?" He asked, then took another drink.
"Absolutely, just keep writing and we'll call it even."
He choked on his next swallow, coughing a bit as he said, "I'll see what I can do. Thanks. "
She watched him as he walked to his usual table. He seemed flustered as he took out his laptop out, but she shrugged it off. There wasn't much telling what a day in the life of Richard Castle was like.
Over the next few hours, customers filtered in and out of the coffee shop, and soon, only the two of them remained. She was getting ready to close it for the day so she would have time to rest before whatever the night had to bring.
"Hey, Kate," Rick called, "There's no one here at the moment... join me?"
"Sure," she carefully made her way over and took the seat across from him as he folded his laptop and put it away.
"I know you're going to close the shop soon... if you don't have any other plans, would you like to go out?"
Kate's eyes widened and her heart fluttered wildly in her chest. She wanted to say yes, but what if Maelstrom attacked again?
Rick must have picked up on her hesitation. "If you're busy, it's all right. Maybe we could try another time?"
"No!" The word came out a little louder than she meant. "No, tonight would be great," she answered. If the guy attacked, she would figure it out. "I would really like that, Rick."
"Great!" he took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Meet you here when you close?"
Kate shook her head, "With no one else here, I can shut it down now and we can be on our way in about twenty minutes. That is, if it's all right with you?"
"I love that idea," he said, then his eyes opened wide, "I mean-"
"I know what you mean," she replied, trying not to laugh at how awkward the situation suddenly turned. "We haven't even made it out the door yet, and we're already acting like our parents may walk in."
When Rick laughed, she joined in, and thankfully, it broke the tension. "I know, right?" he said, "This is something new to both of us, I guess."
"It is," Kate agreed with him. It had been a long time since she'd found a real connection to anyone. "Keep your seat while I get the doors locked and put everything away for the night."
As they followed the waiter to their seats, Rick was beside Kate, his hand set gently on her waist.
She winced as he pulled back her chair, and he must have seen it. He asked, "Kate are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, "Just, um, tripped last night, that's all."
"Oh, okay." It almost sounded like he didn't believe her, but he seemed to let it go. "If you're hurting, we should have planned this for another time..."
She shook her head and took his hand as he sat in the chair across from her. "It's fine, really. I wanted to do this."
"All right," he said, "and thanks."
She opened the menu to the dinner selections while the waiter set two glasses of water on their table. "You know, you're the only person I've talked with who hasn't brought up anything related to the Maelstrom and HeatWave craziness that has been happening all over the city."
Rick slowly took his hand from hers and began looking through his menu. It was like he had suddenly become frozen. "There's nothing I can do about it, so what is there to talk about?"
"I didn't mean anything-"
"No, it's okay... just... the man tried to take out the company I used to work for, so that's a little - I don't know - stressful, I guess." He smirked and let out a soft laugh, "But then, I guess I should thank the guy, really. They had fired me not long before the attack happened. One might call it poetic justice."
His words were... different... somehow. She decided to let the subject drop, not wanting to mess up their date. After a long moment, she tried again, "Have you been to this place before?"
"Yes, but it has been a while," he answered, then took a long drink of water. He set the glass back down with a clink and looked at her, then breathed deeply and smiled. "Listen, I'm sorry about that... there have been a lot of changes in my life lately, not to mention this really awesome date that I am in the process of turning into a disaster."
"No," said Kate as she took his hand again, thankful he seemed to be as into this as she. "No disaster. Just learning more about each other. I, for one, find it refreshing you don't want to talk about... certain things. I guess I just needed to state how nice it is to have someone *not* talk about it for a few."
And hopefully, there will be no 'new' news to ruin the evening, she thought.
The waiter returned and poured wine for both of them and took their orders.
"You're right, it is," Rick said when the waiter was gone. "It's almost like we're the only ones who have other things in our lives to worry about besides what's in the news."
He then held his glass up and offered, "To keeping our heads in the clouds?"
"Exactly," she agreed, and clinked her glass against his. This was sure to be an interesting night.
