We have another chapter! I'm currently working on two other oneshots (why do I do this to myself) and time to write plus having thhe desire to write are scarce. Thank you so much for all the reviews on the last chap...It looks like I'll hold off on a Castle/Absentia crossover for now, at least until I get a good plot going. Speaking of tv, I use grabthebeast dot com.

And y'all probably aren't even gonna remember this but in the first chapter I said Kate's camera is a Nikon 28TI. It's really the only time I mention it. I was trying to find the camera that Yves uses in For Lovers Only. (Fun fact: I started Toujours the day I watched the movie back in April.) Did a little more research for this chapter and I found it was a vintage Leica used in the movie. So, Rick's gonna get the Nikon and Kate'll have the Leica. I think it fits their personalities better. Nobody probably cares but I am a compulsive editor and these things bother me ;)

Trouver was rather minimalistic. Not the overflowing abundance Rick had expected. Maybe it was the natural light reflecting off white walls and the beautiful vaulted ceiling. Everything was actually quite organized. Women's, Men's, Children's and Holiday items were relegated to their own corners of the open concept with accessories plopped in the middle.

Rick enjoyed the architecture while Kate found the organization pleasing and loved that she wouldn't have to spend hours digging through things that weren't her size or what she was looking for. The modernistic look to the store was elevated by the cashier behind the sprawling bar dressed in all black. They each greeted the woman as they entered the store, having brushed up on their French etiquette.

"Here we go!" Kate smiled as she started for the first rack labeled "£1".

"You know, it's not really a dollar. A euro is like twenty cents off." Rick said, flipping through the same rack at the opposite end.

"Thanks, Castle, I'll keep that in mind." Kate laughed, rolling her eyes and holding up a floral dress before deciding against it.

"I've noticed something changes from when you call me Castle instead of Rick. I like it-wow, that's a lot of pink." Rick's astute assessment was cut off by the neon pink number in her hands.

"I could direct traffic in this thing." Kate quipped, realizing the dress came to about mid-thigh on her tall frame.

"I'd let you direct me any day."

An eyebrow raised, "Mhmm." She folded the hanger over her arm and watched Rick fall into the hole he'd inevitably dug himself into.

"That sounded dirtier than I meant it, didn't it?" It was like he'd heard his own words echoed and didn't have the delete key he probably uses often.

Kate didn't give him an answer one way or the other because watching him squirm had become a pastime she didn't know she needed.

She went back to the rack, finding Trouver had more selections than she originally gave it credit for. Clothing shops were always hard as most people that donated, did so because nobody else around them wanted the items.

There was a black and white plaid, nearing houndstooth coat she was considering when Rick came up to her with a ridiculously tacky clown get up on-wig and oversized shoes included.

Kate just sighed, "Do you know how many people have put that on? In the last twenty-four hours, let alone the years that has probably been in there?"

"Why do you have to be such a mom sometimes?"

"Because sometimes I feel like it."

"Well, let's hope you don't kiss your mom the way you kiss me."

"Castle, that is gross and disgusting. If you ever want me to kiss you again, you really can't say stuff like that because that lovely visual isn't going away. So, please, for the love of God and all that is holy, take that off."

"Here or over there?" He really was a smug SOB sometimes.

"Castle!" Kate exasperated, pointing in the general direction of where he'd come from.

"There is totally a difference between 'Castle' and 'Rick'." Kate heard him mumble and wondered how she'd ended up here, with him, with all his eccentricities and adorable romanticism.

Kate continued to flip through the racks, finding summery dresses on one and work-appropriate button downs and turtlenecks on the next few. She may be a woman in a man's world but that didn't mean she had to completely conform and lose her femininity.

He reappeared, this time in a tweed jacket with elbow patches and fake but no less attractive black frames. Kate found herself quite taken with this Professor Castle look. She watched him approach, trying to formulate her words, before noticing what he held.

"Rick, is that another dress you are holding?" She asked pointedly, acknowledging his presence but forcing her attention back to the racks of the women's section.

"Yes, it was in with the Christmas clothes. I think you would look really nice in it."

The sincerity in his tone made her truly take in what he held before her. It was clear he had a good eye. It was an emerald formal gown that glittered and gleamed in the sunlight. The long sleeves and deep V-neck would accentuate her frame. It was just so impossible how he could know this about her.

"Rick Castle, professional coat rack at your service. I will be holding onto both of these items." He spoke poshly and took the few dresses and shirts she'd acquired over the last thirty minutes. No quippy comeback or sarcastic remark fell from her lips. "Good. The men's section is severely lacking so I will be accompanying you."

"You're going to keep this up the whole time, aren't' you?" Kate sent a knowing look his way. But this wasn't the same as ones she had been offering up throughout the morning. It was the 'you're toeing the line and you know that but I'm going to let you anyways because I like seeing where it'll go' kind of looks.

"Perhaps."

/

Castle was getting bored, she could feel it radiating off him in waves. He'd been doodling and scribbling in a pocket-sized notebook for the better part of twenty minutes, having purchased the tweed jacket, frames and a few ties earlier.

"Ok, ok, let's put you out of your misery. I'm gonna go pay and I think you'll like this next shop a little better. You said you'd be interested in learning how to shoot, right?"

"A gun? We're going to an antique gun store?" He definitely perked up at the sound of weapons.

Lanie had once told her she envisioned her as a boy mom. Maybe Kate should correct her one of these days and say she already is.

"No! Shoot a camera? I probably should've clarified that but the fifth has a camera shop and I thought maybe they'd have an idea where to get all of my pictures developed."

"If what's in those tiny rolls of film is anything like your portfolio, I can't wait." Rick smiled wide, looking up to her with what she thought might be pride. Why, she didn't know, but it still bubbled warm in her chest all the same. "There's no internet in here, I'm gonna go get some service and see where we need to be."

"Ok."

Kate walked up to the register and set down the pile of clothes she'd collected. "Un moment." She spoke quickly, dashing back for the rack of formal dresses. She'd made Castle put back his selection on principle and chose instead a simple black one with a large open back. "Ceci en bas s'il vous plaît?" She returned, asking the cashier to hide it at the bottom. Castle didn't need to know everything she smirked to herself.

"You see, I'm out here looking like some lost American tourist and you've got that Parisian chic thing down pat." Rick chuckled at Kate looking like she'd just walked out of a fancy department store with those Jackie O sunglasses.

"I like clothes and I'm cheap. There are always loopholes to be found. Especially one dollar loopholes that let me buy outfits for one picture because black and white doesn't care if something is a crazy shade of purple."

"Well, it will be when I take the picture." Rick quips, fully intending to shoot in color. Kate handled black and white with a grace and elegance he certainly didn't possess.

A brief sense of panic flashes across her face, her features schooling almost immediately after, "How about we stick to some still shots?"

Rick shook his head, obviously set in his way. "I was looking at the Un Moment Dans Le Temps website while you were paying and I will definitely be getting a camera. I already view the world through words, let's see what it looks like through a picture or two."

/

The brass bell above them jingled and Kate could feel the atmosphere envelope her as she stepped into the shop, all glass display cases and wooden interior. She noticed spinning racks of what looked like sheet music lining the back wall. It wasn't hard to tell this was a place of artistry and creativity run wild.

Kate truly loves the little shops she was discovering. The light casting through the windows, creating perfect swaths of light. The long-forgotten items holding hidden stories and details unseen to the naked eye.

She's immediately drawn to an upright piano settled into the front wall, it's back facing the street. Castle begins to wander around and Kate marvels at the intricacy of the piano. The front has been raised, showing the internal structure and she runs her hand along the keys. It's seen wear and tear but she knows it's made beautiful music in it's day.

She remembers her camera in her bag and squats down diagonal to it, letting the natural light show the grain of the wood, the dust settling on the pins. It would be easy for someone to cast aside such a piece. Kate wonders how she would view the world, not constantly looking through a camera's lens. The thought of who she saw herself becoming all those years ago makes a shiver run down her spine. According to some, she was already cynical enough.

"Vous aimez le piano?" The shop owner approached her, as she tucked her camera away.

"Oui, monsieur, beaucoup."

"Vous avez un bon œil. Votre ami aussi." Often she doubted her abilities, not always seeing what others seemed to; and recently, what Rick seems to.

Kate looked behind her and studied Rick fiddling with the different designs on display. There was something so innocent about the whole thing she couldn't help but smile.

"Quelquefois." Kate shrugged off the compliment, turning back to the man, "J'essaye de trouver un endroit pour développer le film."

"Oui, Claire a une superbe boutique dans le dixième. Je vais vous donner l'adresse."

Good places to develop film were rare, not any computer program or CVS-if you were old school-would do. He handed her the address to Claire's shop and Rick joined their conversation.

"They have a Mickey camera!" Rick exclaimed, excited by his find and Kate laughed at his burning desire to tell her. She was certain he was going to pull her by the sleeve and demand to show her.

"Seize millimètre." Kate explained he actually was referring to the sixteen millimeter somewhere in the store.

The brass bell rung again at the arrival of another customer.

"Did you find one?" She turned to Rick, feeling a little silly.

He led her to a case with a 1994 35mm Nikon 28TI. It wasn't too different from her own 35mm Leica M5 from the early 70s.

"Good choice." Kate picks it up cautiously, "Nikon's a veritable brand and it'll shoot color too as opposed to only monochrome."

"Did you just say 'veritable'?"

"Yep."

"Hot."

"Yeah? You should hear me say 'fallacious'." She'd learned early on how to say just enough to keep him going, keep him wanting more of the story. Sometimes there wasn't any grand story to lead him to but the journey was just as exciting as the end result.

She left Rick wide-eyed, camera in hand as she sauntered off in favor of the sheet music stands lining the back wall. The cameras had been beautifully crafted but she knew if she stared too long, there would soon be another lining the shelf in her apartment.

Rick had regained his composure, coming to stand behind her. "You know, Kate, you can't just say something like that and then walk away." He was only a few inches taller than her but the way he was able to whisper husky words in her ear, his breath tickling her cheek, his hands wrapping around her waist like that, she was surprised she wasn't a puddle at his feet.

"Mmhmm." Kate let out the non-committal sound, trying to keep their tension-fueled moment lasting as long as she could. She thrived on the thrill of the chase, the back and forth, the will-they-won't-they that seemed to transpire.

Rick's hands moved from their place around her waist to the top of the labeled spinning rack. Kate leaned into him and they scanned the titles of famous classical pieces. Her piano skills were fifteen years old but she could mostly read the music. Her thumb brushed over Beethoven's 5th in C Minor and the synonymous organ swirled around in her mind.

"Ah, here it is." Rick stopped mid-twirl, landing on Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. "It's my theme song for you. I listen to theme music while I write and this just seemed right for Nikki Heat."

"You're insane." Kate chuckled, matching his soft tone.

"Is this better?" Rick responded, a few moments later, drawing her attention to a random instrumental piece entitled, Pour Toi L'Amour. For you, my love.

He kissed her temple and then down her cheekbone and jaw. Only in between she was able to mumble out, "Gettin' there." They may have been in a public shop but she couldn't be bothered to care about their PDA. Butterfly kisses weren't breaking any public decency statutes, French, federal or otherwise so who was anyone else to judge?

Rick slid over to the next twirly contraption and they scanned the more recent titles. "Oh my goodness, look, Temptation Lane. What a cheeseball. I think that theme song has been permanently singed into my brain."

"You may be bemoaning this but I'll have you know I happened to love Temptation Lane when I was younger."

"Bemoan, huh?" She's still leaning against him, his words laced with overtones against her ear.

"That one does it for you, too?" She smirked,

"Maybe it's not even the words themselves but you using them instead."

"I may be a cop but I went to college, Castle. Pretty good one too, if I can recall."

"Oh, I have no doubt you're much smarter than you give yourself credit for. What's tucked inside that brain of yours, hmm?" He continued to lavish her in small kisses,

"More than you think, trust me." It was an almost self-deprecating comment, however true.

"Trust me then." He turned her words back to her, not manipulative or harboring ill will but in that inviting way he seemed to have about himself.

"I was nine and I had to get my tonsils taken out. I was completely miserable so my mom took time off work and stayed with me and we cuddled up in front of the TV on the couch and we would watch episodes of Temptation Lane. Now, every time I see it, I don't know, but it makes me feel like I'm back home and safe." Kate paused, her mile-wide grin fading, looking back to him, "So, there you go. Judge away."

"No judging required. My DVR would make yours look like Masterpiece Theater. But I am glad to know this about you."

"Now you gotta cough something up." Kate countered, turning around in his arms.

"I got the plot for my first novel by watching One Life to Live. I had a lot of babysitters so you're not the only one with a guilty pleasure soap."

Kate smiles, "The owner gave me an address of a good place to get film. Want to pay and make our way over there? We can eat lunch after."

"I would love nothing more."

There's at least two more chapters to this day and the 'case' will show show up then :)

Also...I really hope the French doesn't tale you guys out of the story. I try to explain what's being said naturally but let me know if it's too much.

ps. Neon pink dress mentioned was from Stana's CBGB premiere (let's just say I couldn't pull that one off) and for the green one, google "Emily and Cal Moldova dress"