Thanks to everyone for making it this far, and for still being interested in the story. I'm going slowly (time-wise), but I hope it still continues to be interesting for everyone even though it doesn't move terribly fast. But that should be good because slow passing of time in the story = more chapters, right? ;-) And thanks so much for the awesome reviews for the last chapter!

Sorry this chapter took so long. I wanted give the next morning the right flavor of an emerging relationship without going too fast or too slow. I hope I did OK.

Rick was having a really good dream. He could feel a warm body cuddled up on his left side. The soft body under his left arm was breathing evenly, and his left arm was encircling the person, her head resting on his chest. In his barely conscious state, he didn't really question it, but just briefly opened his eyes to survey the situation. It was dark outside. The lights were dimmed, the TV was off, and he was half sitting, half laying on a very soft, comfortable couch. And then he saw that the soft body that he was holding belonged to Kate Beckett. And in his barely conscious state, he didn't really question it or think about it; he just simply smiled and turned toward her a bit more as he tightened his left arm around her, and put his right around her too. And as he did that, she sighed and turned toward him in her sleep, and snuggled in closer.

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The early morning light began to filter through the blinds. Rick was waking up slowly, reluctant to leave the delicious dream he'd had of snoozing with Kate in his arms. As his brain was claimed by consciousness, he realized that he wasn't in his bed. And then, his eyes flew open as he realized that not only wasn't he in his bed, but Kate wasn't in her bed, and they were curled up on the couch...together!

How did that happen? The last thing he remembered was shouting words at the TV game shows. And then, of course, that delicious dream about sleeping with his arms wrapped around Kate. But, looking down at her again, he realized that it wasn't a dream at all.

He had slept with Kate Beckett! In a very platonic sort of way, just sleeping, but nonetheless, he had spent the night with her, arms wrapped around her. And she hadn't killed him. Wow. So much for his plan of keeping his distance.

He stayed that way for at least another five or ten minutes, with her laying on his chest, just enjoying the sensation of being cuddled with her. Then as the light got brighter in the room, he felt her begin to stir. There was no way he could get out of this without fully waking her up. So he enjoyed the last few moments of this unexpected bliss, and braced himself for the wrath of Kate Beckett when she woke up and saw where she was, and who she was with.

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Kate had never traditionally thought of herself as a good actress, but these last few days were proving her wrong. She actually woke up before Castle did, and spent her time staring out the window at the lightening sky as the sun rose. But she kept oh, so still, not wanting to wake him, just enjoying the newness of the feeling, of laying against him, being wrapped in his arms, the rhythmic feeling of his chest going up and down as he breathed in his slumber. And just like last night, she realized that she really liked the feeling. Her, cuddling with Castle, willingly, and liking it...who knew?

She could tell when he started to awaken, and she closed her eyes again to pretend like she was still asleep. She kept her breathing even. She knew the moment that he realized that he wasn't alone...he gave a subtle little jerk and she could feel his head lifting just a bit before laying back down. And she also knew the moment he was fully awake and he realized where he was, and with whom. He tightened his arms around her just a bit more. It was subtle; it wouldn't have woken her up if she had still been asleep, but she could feel it since she was awake. And it gave her kind of a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach to know that, for a change, he wasn't trying to push her away as he had done for the last couple of days, but was just trying to hold her closer.

She stayed perfectly still for a while, and so did Rick. As they laid there, she was somewhat puzzled as to why, after she knew he was awake for a while, he didn't pull away like he had been doing for the past couple of days. But she wasn't going to question it, she was just going to enjoy it while she could.

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Kate stirred and shifted. She lifted one hand to her eyes and rubbed it over them. Then she opened her eyes. She turned her head slowly toward Rick's face. He held his breath, thinking that these were the last few sane and peaceful seconds that he had before the world was going to explode, when Kate Beckett realized that she was snuggled up with him.

Their eyes met, and then to his utter astonishment, she gave him a little smile and said sleepily "Morning." Then she put her head back down on his chest and continued "You actually make kind of a nice pillow, Castle."

He let out the breath he had been holding. "Uh, thanks," he managed. He was still worried that she wasn't fully awake, that she didn't fully realize yet where she was. And that all hell would break loose when she did.

But she just laid there, with him, her only movement being the lines she had begun to trace on his arm with her fingertips. Who knew that such a gentle touch could set his nerve endings on fire like that? Of course, it probably had at least a little something to do with the person who was orchestrating that gentle touch.

After several more minutes of just relaxing as they were, Rick finally got up enough nerve to ask her.

"Uh...Kate?"

"Mmmm...yeah?"

"Uh...I just have a question to ask." He paused a moment while he thought about what to say. For once, he couldn't come up with a clever way to phrase the question, so he merely asked "Uh...what are you doing?"

"I guess I'm relaxing because I don't feel like getting up quite yet. Isn't it obvious?" She continued to brush her fingertips along his arm.

"Sure, I suppose. I guess I was just wondering if I should prepare to take cover at any minute. Are you sure you're not plotting to hurt me or kill me and dispose of my body somewhere?"

She was thoughtful for a moment, but when she continued, it was in the same relaxed, somewhat sleepy voice. "Well, the thought has crossed my mind from time to time. Sometimes it's actually been a daydream of mine, based upon how annoying you've been at any given time. But now, I can say that I haven't been plotting to hurt, maim or kill you, right now or at least any time within the past several days. That said, I can't guarantee the future. So, tell me, Castle, why do you think I would be plotting your demise?"

She seemed so relaxed and 'with it' when she was talking that he wondered what was going on. She obviously wasn't talking in her sleep. Yet she made no move to get away from him. This wasn't the Beckett that he knew. He didn't get it. He tried to figure out a way to muddle his way through a response to her question without making either one of them more uncomfortable than they already were. Or rather, since she seemed pretty comfortable, he didn't want to make this situation any more uncomfortable for himself. Or make her decide that she really should maim or kill him, after all.

"Well...uh...I'm here, and you're there, and your 'there' is almost the same as my 'here'...well, really your 'there' is pretty much right on my 'here'... Oh, crap! That sounds bad and kind of kinky, and for once I don't mean it that way, but anyway, usually my 'here' and your 'there' don't even come close to each other, not like this anyway...not that I'm complaining, mind you...so I'm just kind of wondering what's really going on here. Or there. Or wherever. And if I should be worried for my safety here. Or there."

He could almost feel her rolling her eyes as he fumbled through his very un-eloquent explanation. She turned her head to glance up and him, and asked rhetorically, "Are you sure you're a writer?" Then she settled back down and said simply, "I'm comfortable. And you do make a good pillow, you know. Okay?"

"Yeah. It's fine." They both went back to being silent, enjoying the early morning, listening to the faint sounds of the waves crashing outside.

After several minutes, Rick broke the silence. "Kate?"

"What now, Castle?"

"This is really nice, and it's comfortable, and I'm really glad that you're not going to kill me. And I'd probably normally just end up falling asleep again..."

"What, Castle?" she urged, in a 'get on with it' tone.

"I'd love to do this again sometime, but right now...I really have to pee." And with that, he gently sat her up, but then jumped up and bolted to the bathroom, as Kate shook her head as she laughed.

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Later, after showering, Kate came down to grab something for breakfast. Castle must be cooking; something smelled really good. She took a seat at the breakfast bar, and when Rick saw her he exclaimed "Oh, good! You're here." He changed into a french accent and became very dramatic. "Ze breakfast for mademoiselle," he said as he put a plate down in front of her with a dramatic flair. "Ees served." She looked at the plate and smiled. On the plate before her was a beautifully made omelet, adorned with one pink birthday candle sticking out of the top.

Then, so fast that Kate feared that he had some sort of multiple personality disorder, his demeanor switched from the flamboyant french chef to a rock star. He started throwing his head around and strumming an air guitar. After his brief solo, he grabbed the spatula to use as a pseudo microphone, and started dancing around the kitchen and singing 'They say it's your birthday!', ending with another rendition of the head throwing and the air guitar. At the end of the performance, he executed a bow. When he stood up, he was rubbing his neck and said, "I think the air guitar did a number on me."

Throughout the whole thing, Kate had been watching him with interest. Re-emergence of the man-child, she thought. But at the same time, she realized, while unorthodox and kind of...weird, it was kind of fun. Still weird, but fun. She had certainly never been given a birthday omelet and then serenaded by a bad rock star wannabe. She picked up her fork and said "Thanks, Castle. That was...a very new experience for me, and definitely an interesting way to start my birthday. Although it did have some scary overtones," she finished as she picked up her fork to take a bite of the omelet.

"Wait!" Rick exclaimed suddenly. "You can't eat it yet! You haven't blown out the candle and made a wish. Allow me," he said, striking a match and lighting the candle.

Kate stared at the flickering flame against the yellow background of the omelet. Trying to match his drama, she closed her eyes for a moment before opening them, pursing her lips and blowing out the candle. Then she looked at him as if to say 'can I eat now?'.

But instead of answering her unspoken question, he asked excitedly "And what did you wish for, Detective?"

She narrowed her eyes and looked at him seductively as she leaned forward a bit in her chair. "Wouldn't you love to know?"

Her heated look was interrupted by a crackle and fizzle on the counter below her, as the candle flame, the one that she thought she had blown out, sprang back to life. She looked up at Castle, who was trying to hide his amusement but wasn't succeeding very well. She glanced back down to the candle, blew it out again, and then looked back at him. "A trick candle? You loser!" she said, laughing, while she picked up the candle and jokingly threw it at him.

But then they both watched in morbid astonishment as the candle got caught in the fold of his t-shirt, and once again flickered to life, starting his t-shirt smoldering. Later, as she remembered it, it seemed to unfold in a surreal sort of slow-motion. Rick started to jump around the kitchen like a madman, pulling the front of his t-shirt in and out like a bellows, while yelling a chorus of "Ah!" and "Oh!" in a very girlishly high voice (which Beckett made a mental note to remind him of later). His antics snapped Kate into action, and she very calmly but quickly walked around the counter and over to the sink, grabbed the sprayer part of the faucet, turned it on full blast and aimed it at his chest with perfect precision, as if she was unloading her clip full blast into the chest of a deranged psychopath. For good measure, and well, just because it was fun, she altered her aim a little bit and sprayed him full in the face for a quick second and had some brief enjoyment of his shocked sputtering.

After she aimed the water stream at the candle on the floor, just in case it didn't get put out by the dripping Castle, she turned off the water. She put the faucet away, swiped her hands together several times as if to say "My work here is done," stepped around the puddle of water on the floor, and went back to sit down to eat her rapidly cooling omelet. Castle was still standing in the middle of the floor, holding his drenched and now charred t-shirt away from his body, looking shell-shocked. Then as Kate wordlessly sat down and began eating, he opened a drawer to find several towels and threw them down on the floor to soak up the excess water from the impromptu fire extinguisher.

Kate surveyed the whole thing out of the corner of her eye, never commenting. She pretended to be immersed in eating her omelet, so she wasn't really expecting it when he came around behind her and, without warning, hugged her tightly from the back, trapping her arms with his, and pressing his still-dripping wet t-shirt tightly onto her back, effectively drenching her clothes too. She could feel the cold water seep through her thin shirt and she let out a little shriek from the shock. He put his lips close to her ear and, letting her know the intent of the hug was devious, said sarcastically "I wanted to give you a little hug, Detective, for saving my life from the blazing inferno that was my t-shirt. Although since you caused said blazing inferno anyway, I also wanted you to feel the effects of your fire prevention efforts. Smokey the Bear would be proud of your quick thinking."

And he quickly let her go and scurried up the stairs to his room. 'Damn,' she thought, feeling the air conditioning on her now-wet back, 'now I have to change too.'

This was certainly starting out to be a very memorable birthday.

Stay tuned for more Castle and Beckett birthday goodness!

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and brighten my day (especially the good ones!) Thank you all SO MUCH for reading!