Title: One Hundred Coffees
Summary: The story of each and every one of those one hundred coffees that Kate owes Rick. Castle/Beckett.
Warnings/Spoilers: Dial M for Mayor
Disclaimer: All rights for the characters and the world go to their owners. I, in no way, believe – or would lead others to believe – that I own Castle.

Author's Note: Another episode, another chapter, another five coffees. Hope you like them.


fifty-six to sixty


56:

Tensions are high when Kate buys a coffee after the video viewing. Well, Kate's are. Rick's just quiet. Eerily quiet, like he's thinking a mile a minute about everything under the sun and can't stop. He glances up at her for a second when she stops the car at the drive-thru Starbucks. The look in his eyes... it's chilling, like he's seen too much and known too much. It's the same sort of look he gave her at the end of their first case back after the shooting. She almost wants to question it, ask what about this has him so shaken. It can't just be his friendship with the mayor. The way he's fighting her on this is like it's life or death, like his entire world will fall apart if this isn't handled properly. It's crazy, and she doesn't understand. She wants to ask to understand. But, instead, she hands him a cup and waits it out on the mostly silent ride back to the precinct. He doesn't start talking until they're in the elevator and it's only to say that the mayor can't be involved. Kate tunes him out and focuses. Finding this girl's killer - Laura's killer - is the most important thing. Nothing else matters.

57:

Rick calls her and tells her to meet up with him after the case. She figures paperwork can wait and heads to the loft. He doesn't talk about the case. Neither does she. They start off with him offering Chinese food. Obviously, he has an ulterior motive behind this. So they eat and they talk. Martha breezes in and steals an egg roll. Alexis swipes a carton of broccoli beef. It's calm, normal, in some alternate universe sort of way. And they're Kate and Rick, two laid-back people enjoying dinner. Except, they can't just enjoy dinner. They've got to think. Got to put together the pieces in the few brief silences. Between a bite of steamed rice, Kate thinks about the conspiracy theory. Thinks of what it reminds her of. She wonders if it's the same ballpark. If whoever's pulling the strings here is the same one pulling the strings for her mother's murder and her shooting. She tries to chase the thought away, tries to forget. She's not obsessing over that again. Not thinking about it at all.

He cuts into her thoughts. "What are you thinking?" he asks.

She shrugs. "The case. The killer. Everything."

He gives her a look, an imploring one. "Everything everything?" And she has to wonder if she's that obvious. Is there something that flashes across her face when she thinks about her mother?

"Yeah. But it's nothing. It's..." She shakes her head. It's not crazy. She's not hunting down firemen. She's just questioning. It's reasonable. "It's not crazy, right? I mean, it fits."

He gets this look, a brief glimpse of fear in his eyes, before he says, "It doesn't. The only things that fit here are my chopsticks in that rice container. Hand it over."

It's a bad deflection technique, but she lets it happen. She lets a lot happen that she wouldn't normally. She called him 'Rick.' The only other time she's ever done that is when kidding around, but she actually called him by his first name while working. She also held back. She let her own personal fears and feelings get in the way of a murder investigation. That can't happen. Not again.

"Castle," she begins, and she can tell from the way his eyebrows furrow that he senses the shift in her. She hates that he can read her so well. She hates that she reads him so well. She hates a lot of things, but only because she has to, not because she wants to. "This can't happen again."

He feigns innocence, tries to sidetrack her again. "What? We eat out of the same containers all the time. I don't have cooties; I promise."

She sighs shortly. "When we're working, all of the personal stuff can't get in the way. Not now and especially not if-" and she stops herself because that statement is headed for dangerous territory.

"If...?"

Oh goodness, what can she say now? 'Not if we start dating.' 'Not if we get married.' 'Not if we live happily ever after like I'm sure we will once we get all of the other bullshit out of the way.' Not any of those. She goes for, "If we want Gates to like you. And, between you and me, I think she does."

He hesitates before grinning smugly. He's putting on an act for her. He says, "Oh, she totally does. Women can't resist me."

Kate grins. He's kind of right. "Just for that, I'm taking the fortune cookies." She pulls both towards her, cracking them open and popping a small piece of each into her mouth before he can protest. He frowns.

"Can I at least have my fortune?"

She looks down at the slip of paper from the cookie that was closest to him. She grins and heads for the kitchen cabinets. He watches confusedly as she pulls down a mug that doubles as a chalkboard and writes the fortune down on it. As she starts his machine, he grins. He gets it now. She walks the cup back over to him and presents him with his fortune. It reads: You are not always right.

He gives her a new look, one of pure disbelief. But it's true. He isn't.

58:

There's a simple murder a few days later. The best suspect winds up being this guy who no one has seen for a week, other than their victim of course who had a very unfortunate run-in with Marco. Now, Marco always went to see a movie with his mom every Sunday. He never missed one, especially after committing a crime since it might be their last one together. So Rick and Kate decide to check the movie to find the guy. They follow his mom into the theatre, sitting a few rows back so they have full visibility of all of the entrances and exits. Their phones are on silent and it's kind of like a date. Rick pays for the tickets, and Kate pays for the popcorn and coffee. It doesn't help that the movie is a total chick flick. It's sappy, and their all sorts of moments where the main characters do cute things that are eerily similar to what Rick and Kate do every day. As the movie goes on, Rick and Kate get closer and closer, whispering little comments and laughing at the same jokes. At one point, Kate turns to say something and finds Rick staring at her. They look at each other, hearing the music in the background, feel the moment approaching. It's not clear who starts the lean, but the lean is happening. They're so close that they can nearly taste this kiss, feel it. But then Rick spots the suspect sneaking down the aisle towards his mother. Rick hesitates, sighs, and points to the guy so Kate can see. She does and even sighs under her breath before getting up. They arrest the guy and head on back to the precinct where Esposito is waiting with a smirk.

Espo asks, "How was the movie? Or were you too busy to watch it?" Ryan makes kissing faces in the background just to clarify.

Kate says, "Definitely too busy." As the boys drop their jaws, she adds, "You know how it is. The music's playing, the lights are low, the suspect is there." She gives them her sobering glare. It doesn't work.

Ryan says, "But if the suspect wasn't there..." He wiggles his eyebrows. Kate doesn't even acknowledge him. She just walks into the interrogation room. Rick follows. Espo nods though.

"They'd totally be going at it. Do you see how close they've been?"

"But it's not making out in the movies close. It's maybe holding hands when you're walking in the same direction close," Ryan says.

Espo says, "I don't get them. Elementary school kids move faster than they do."

"True story."

59:

Gates is obviously having a bad day. And by obviously, I mean she's locked away in her office and pacing. She's groaning and sighing and looking at the ceiling as if asking for someone to just smite her right that second so that she doesn't have to do another damn thing. It's a really bad day. Meanwhile, Kate starts fixing some coffee in the break room. She hands one over to Rick who takes one look at the dark swimming pool of deliciousness, snatches up a few sugar packets, and heads for the Captain's office. He knocks twice and then presents it to her. And Gates smiles. She smiles. At Rick. It's mind-boggling and Espo actually pinches himself because he can't believe it just happened. Rick walks back in to the break room and only says one thing, "Irresistible." Kate rolls her eyes.

60:

"So you've just won the lottery, what's the first thing you do?"

Kate glances up at Rick, a mixture of disbelief and amusement on her face. She slides his coffee mug towards him while saying, "We've already talked about this, Castle."

"No, we said what you were going to do with the money. What's the first thing you actually do?" he asks.

She pauses. Hmm. "I don't know, Castle. I'd probably call you." His eyes light up. She expects him to say the same thing back at her.

"I'd call Gina." Her face falls. He adds quickly, "And tell her that I'm ignoring her latest deadline and running off on vacation for a week."

"Vacation, really? You have the money to go on a vacation whenever you want," Kate says.

He nods. "Ah, but with the lottery money, I'm taking all of you on vacation. Esposito, Lanie, Ryan, Jenny, Mother, Alexis, and you."

Okay, that's kind of sweet. "And where are we going in this hypothetical vacation?" Kate asks.

He shrugs. "Not that far yet. I'm thinking somewhere tropical, hot." He gives her one of his suggestive looks. "Maybe somewhere with a nude beach."

Kate only needs to say "Alexis-" before he covers his ears and sings a little song to himself.

"La la la, never mind. Bad idea. We're going skiing where there are many layers of clothing, so many that you can't tell anything from anything."

Kate laughs. She asks him, "Why are you thinking about this, Castle?"

"Because we've all got some vacation days coming up. I want to do something. I probably could have led with 'what is the one place you want to go more than anywhere' but-"

"Russia. I'd be more specific, but it's everywhere that I studied abroad. The culture and the language were magnificent. Alexis would probably like it too."

Rick grins. "I think that might be a bit too far fetched for what to do in two weeks. Next time?"

She nods. "Next time."


Feel free to suggest coffee ideas in your reviews.

I'm sad to see that this is almost over (forty to go!). I'm trying to think of possible sequel ideas. I have a little list of different thoughts I've had, but I'd love to have any ideas from you guys on what I could do with a sequel or how to do it. Would you guys want something styled like this? Another one hundred _? Or…? So, folks, readers, lovelies, tell me - what are you thinking now?