Sorry! I'm so sorry it's been so long but life is hectic right now but thankfully I am now on Spring Break so I can relax for a little while =D and hopefully catch up on my writing for you guys. Enjoy!

Chapter Fifty

When Castle and Kate reached the lobby, he turned to her, keeping her from walking any further with his arm around her waist, pulling her to him, pressing their bodies together. Kate looked up at him, quizzically, and he smiled down at her, bringing his lips to hers for a slow, sweet kiss. When he pulled back, both had wide grins on their faces.

"What was that for?" Kate asked, not complaining in the least.

Castle shrugged. "Just 'cause," he replied, cutely. "Also, I just want to warn you of something."

"Oh?" Kate asked, playing with his bowtie. "And what is that?"

Castle was silent for a moment or two more before taking a deep breath and just deciding to get on with it. "I may have gone a little overboard with transportation tonight…"

Kate's eyes widened, then her eyebrows furrowed. "What? You got a limo?"

"No…not a limo," Castle responded, a light blush on his cheeks, "just come on and you'll see what I mean. Oh, and try to suppress that urge to roll your eyes at me, okay? I put a lot of thought into this."

"No promises," Kate replied, following him outside, her breath catching in her chest as she spied the beautiful Friesian horse attached to a large, old-fashioned open carriage that she often saw in and around Central Park. "Oh my God," she breathed, tightening her hold on Castle's hand. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "You…you got us a horse and carriage?! Wh-where…how?"

Castle shrugged. "It wasn't very hard. You just have to go to one of the guys in Central Park and offer them a lot of money and then they agree to be your transportation for the night, so long as you buy their horse some oats. Why? Do you not like horses?"

Kate beamed up at him. "I love them! My dad used to take me riding all the time when I was little. I never got really good at it, but I always loved them. And she's a real beauty," Kate said, letting go of Castle's hand to walk towards the horse and pet her nose. The large horse was very docile, sniffing Kate's hands and nudging at her arms, making Kate giggled.

Castle watched with an awed smile at the interaction. The young woman who sometimes seemed years older than him in maturity looked like a little girl right now, so taken aback by this beautiful creature. It was something else to see the woman he considered the love of his life and sort of pseudo-mother to his child acting so youthful. It made his heart swell with even more love for her and the need to tell her grew even stronger. Thankfully, he was able to suppress it for just a while longer when the coachman jumped down from his seat at the front of the carriage to greet him.

"Mr. Castle!" he greeted, clasping Castle's hand. "It's nice to see you again, sir. Is this your date?" He motioned towards Kate, who was still petting the horse. She smiled at him and Castle grinned back.

"Yeah, Tony," he said, "this is Kate. Kate Beckett. Kate, this is Antonio Mastriani, the best horse breeder this side of Manhattan."

Kate shook the coachman's hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Mastriani," she greeted pleasantly.

"Likewise," he responded, "and, please, call me Tony. Mr. Mastriani is my father."

Kate nodded and smiled before letting go of his hand and allowing herself to be pulled into Castle's side, receiving a kiss on her cheek.

"And of course you already know my writer, Rick Castle. How did you two meet, by the way?"

"Oh, Mr. Castle and I go way back! Okay, well back about a year ago when his daughter, cute little thing, decided that she wanted to take riding lessons and he took her up to my stable. Little thing couldn't have been any taller than Sheila here's shins and yet she wanted nothing more than to climb onto my biggest possible horse and ride like Annie Oakley!" He laughed loudly at that.

"But she was fine with that pony you offered her," Castle reminded him.

"Not for long. You remember how she was always sneaking into the stables at the end of the day while we talked? She always had her eye on Sheila and wouldn't stop begging until I finally let her have a ride. Only lasted about five minutes but you would think it lasted hours for how long she went on about it to Mr. Castle here. You plannin' on bringing her back in the spring, by the way? Lacey's missin' her favorite little jockey."

"Most definitely!" Castle agreed, nodding. "We'll even have Kate join us so she can show me those horse-riding skills of hers!"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I just told you I wasn't very good, Castle, and besides, I haven't ridden a horse since I was twelve and it stopped being cool."

"Riding horses not cool?!" Tony gasped. "Well, that's news to me. Oh, well, I was never really the Fonz anyhow. So, shall we get going then, Mr. Castle? Sheila's getting' a tad impatient."

It was true. The large horse had started to huff and stomp her foot, impatient to get moving again. Tony pet her back, trying to calm her down a bit as Castle helped Kate into the carriage before lifting himself into it, moving next to her and allowing Kate to rest her head on his shoulder.

And, after a couple of moments, Tony was situated in his seat and pulling on the reigns to move Sheila out into traffic.

Castle and Kate were silent for a while before Kate spoke.

"If I had known you'd gotten a carriage, I would have dressed a little more appropriately," she motioned to her legs, only covered by the sheer stockings she wore which made them very cold.

Castle grinned down at her, lifting her chin so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "You look perfect, Kate," he said, pecking her lips, before reaching under their seat and pulling out a blanket and what looked to be a thermos. He gave the thermos to Kate to hold as he draped the blanket over them, tucking the edges underneath them to keep in the warmth, before taking back the thermos and opening it. "Coffee?" he asked, smiling at her. Kate beamed back.

This man was perfect. He was kind, caring, funny, intelligent (though, sometimes, it was hard to see with his childish antics), handsome, a wonderful father—and lover—and so thoughtful. And it was with great surprise and shock that Kate realized that she was feeling things for him she thought she'd never be able to feel again after her mother's death.

It was at that moment that she realized that she was falling in love with Richard Castle.

REVIEWS! The rest of the date will come in due time, I swear! And I'm sorry it's so cheesy but I love writing fluff!