Chapter 10

Rick Castle was sitting on his couch, his forearms braced against his thighs as one foot anxiously bounced up and down when he heard his doorbell ring. He hoped up as though he'd been electrocuted and raced into the foyer to let his guest inside. He reached for the door, but then gasped, "oh!' when he realized he'd forgotten his "costume." He hopped two steps to his left, snatched the mask off the small entryway table, and pulled it on.

"Happy Halloween!" he proclaimed when he flung open the door.

Predictably, Kate rolled her eyes at his classic Jason Voorhees mask and said, "Nice, Rick. I thought—wow!" her thought was lost to shock as she walked further into the apartment and surveyed all his décor and displays. "You weren't kidding when you said you went all out for Halloween."

"It is one of my favorite holidays."

She turned and eyed him skeptically while shrugging off her jacket. "I feel like almost all the holidays are your favorite holidays."

"That's not true; I don't care too much about Flag Day."

"I don't think that's an actual holiday."

He merely shrugged, took her coat, and moved to hang it up in the closet. "Well, I admit to an appreciation for thematic decorating—and I believe can blame my mother for that. And, honestly, this is even a little tame. I didn't put everything up since I'm not having my usual party this year."

"I'm sure that would have been a sight," Kate said pointedly.

He grinned. "It always is. You'll definitely have to come next year." For Rick, his annual Halloween party was truly one of his favorite weekends of the year. He loved that Halloween involved not just festive decorating but decorating oneself by means of a costume. Typically, he started planning his costume in January so he made sure to have enough time to get it all done. That year, however, his plans were thwarted just two weeks prior when his daughter came home from school to excitedly tell him that she had been invited to a friend's Halloween event.

Evidently Alexis's new friend, Callie, had a birthday on the twenty-ninth so she was going to have a combination birthday and Halloween celebration. Rick commended the soon-to-be nine-year-old on her thematic choice and of course allowed Alexis to attend, but because he would be helping her get ready—and wanted to be available just in case something went awry—he decided to forgo his party as they would have fallen on the same date and time. Though he'd been slightly disappointed, the look of excitement on Alexis's face as he'd wrapped her body up in "decaying cloth" for her mummy outfit had been totally worth it.

The day prior, while she was finishing up paperwork for a closed case and he was helping (okay, distracting) her, she had asked what he planned to do instead of hosting his party. To that point, he hadn't thought of anything specific, but in that moment a brilliant idea came to him and he told her he'd be watching some cheesy horror movies. Then, after a beat, he asked if she wanted to join him. The invite was a gamble, but he happened to know she did have a weakness for the genre and he hoped to leverage that to his advantage.

He really thought he would need to cajole her into it, but much to his utter shock she said, "That actually sounds fun—I'm in." And thus, their plans were set. He'd ordered pizza, made his infamous dip, and organized everything he possibly could to make sure Kate had an enjoyable time on their friendship date. Er, friendship non-date…friendship hangout! Yes, that was the best way to put it!

"So, uh, pizza should be here in about ten minutes, but do you want to go ahead and get drinks and chips and stuff?" Rick asked, gesturing towards the kitchen table, on which he'd set out everything he thought she might possibly want.

She let out a surprised little laugh and said, "Oh Rick you didn't have to go to all this trouble."

"No trouble at all," he said as a little white lie.

She hummed and surveyed the food before asking, "So what movie did you pick for us to watch?"

"Ah!" He held up his index finger to pause their conversation then dashed towards the sitting area to grab the DVD box he was quite proud of himself for selecting. He held it up and the look on Kate's face was worth his agony over the decision ten times over.

"Hocus Pocus? Really, Rick? I thought we'd watch something like Hard Boiled."

Rick's heart fluttered with delight. "I love that movie and we can if you'd rather but technically this is a horror movie and it is cheesy…"

"I'd hardly call that a horror movie."

"It has black magic and zombies."

"It's for kids!"

Rick scoffed. "What? No. This movie is timeless. Plus, you know, for nostalgia sake."

Kate huffed but agreed with an, "Oh fine," which Rick happily cheered for. Then he returned to the living area to put the DVD in the player while she filled her plate with chips and dip.

When he first started to plan their evening Rick really was going to use a movie like Hard Boiled but then as he was thinking about their interactions, he remembered their viewing of Hocus Pocus and it seemed too perfect not to use particularly since it was technically a Halloween movie.

Eleven years prior, during their time together at the upstate resort, the lake region had been hit by a rather persistent thunderstorm which washed out an entire day and well into the evening. While the hotel Kate's family was staying at had a few indoor areas, by the evening they were packed with exhausted, frustrated parents and very loud children. Rather than attempt to barter their way into being able to play video games, or the less appealing alternative: join the card game Kate's parents had invited them to, young Rick and Kate had set off on an adventure of their own.

Rick found what he suspected to be an employee break area of sorts, but at that point in the evening it was nearly empty and the weary looking twenty-something who sat eating his Kraft macaroni dinner didn't seem to mind their intrusion. The breakroom did have a TV that had a built in VCR and beneath it in a cabinet were three available films: a Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, Bambi, and Hocus Pocus. Despite the holiday being several months away, the Halloween movie had been the obvious choice.

They'd watched about twenty minutes of the movie before power was knocked out to the hotel complex. The teen employee loped off to investigate leaving Kate and Rick to partake in their newest favorite pastime: making out. That night was the first night that Kate had let Rick touch her breasts without smacking his hands away and thus Hocus Pocus had always had a warm spot in his heart.

After their pizza arrived and they both grabbed slices, they both took seats on the couch and Rick started the movie. He'd forgotten how amusing and weird it was, but it was also surprisingly good. He'd have to remember to watch the movie with Alexis sometime, as he didn't think she had seen it either.

When it was over, Kate smiled at him, clasped her hands in her lap and said, "Okay, that wasn't as lame as I thought it was going to be."

"Good." He concluded. Then, after a moment of silence he asked, "Do you ever think about those ten days we spent together that summer?"

"Ah…" She turned her gaze to her lap and gave a little shrug. "Sometimes, I guess. I…truth be told I don't like to think about times with my mom too often because it's just too…"

Though she let her voice drift off, he still understood her implication and said comfortingly, "Sure; I get it."

After a moment she asked him, "Do you think about that summer?"

He skimmed his hand down the side of his jaw and said, "Yeah, now and again. I think about the relationship we had even for that short period of time and I wonder if we could have made it more if I hadn't snuck out that night."

As a writer, he couldn't really help his mind from wandering through many scenarios and the more time he spent with Kate the more he thought about what their future could have been. Would they have dated through the end of summer and into fall? Would they have stayed together even after Kate's mother was murdered? And after that? If they had, he probably would not have been with Meredith and thus had Alexis. Such a thought was unfathomable, but yet at the same time he couldn't help but wonder if he and Kate would have had children of their own.

As the odds of them staying together through all those things seemed quite long, he knew that was realistically not the case. Still, he wondered. Maybe they would have stayed in touch. Maybe they would have just been friends. Maybe they wouldn't have even lasted the summer, but sitting there beside her then he really wished they'd tried.

"I…" She began then shook her head a little bit. "The thing is: we didn't even have a real relationship. We snuck beers, hung out in the woods, made out, and then had sex a few times. Plus, we were barely more than kids."

He quirked his lips to the side. "Doesn't make it less real, Kate."

They locked eyes and stared at one another for what felt like hours, but was really only about seven seconds before Kate cleared her throat and quietly muttered, "I'll, um, be right back." She hopped off the couch and scurried towards the bathroom. Once she shut the door behind her Rick leaned back on the couch and puffed out a breath.

He hadn't quite realized until that exact moment how much he wanted her. Not to rekindle their post-Hocus-Pocus tradition of making out, not even for sex necessarily; he wanted her. He wanted fascinating, smart, sexy Kate, who was an incredible woman to be his companion more than just for that night.

For the prior two months he could feel them drawing closer, but he didn't allow himself to get too hopeful about it. He was just glad to be shadowing her again, glad that she'd accepted his apology and they'd agreed to leave the past behind them. He didn't allow himself to hope until that moment and now all he could think about was going to sleep with her curled in his arms and waking up the same way. Making her pancakes and coffee and teasing her about how messy her hair had become overnight even though she still looked as gorgeous as ever. That was what he wanted, and he could only hope she wanted it too.

Kate stepped out of the bathroom and felt her heart lurch up into her throat again. So much for the impromptu escape to give herself a chance to breathe. Watching him as he cleaned up their plates and empty beer bottles, though, she felt more confident than ever. Terrified, but confident that she had to give them a chance, as crazy as that would have seemed several months earlier.

"Hey, you want some water or anything else?" Rick called out from the kitchen.

"Oh, um, no I'm okay," she told him. Her thundering heart begged to differ, but she did feel fine thirst-wise.

"Okay, did you want to…what? Is something wrong?" he asked, presumably picking up on her pinking cheeks or brow sweat. Or both.

"No, no, not wrong I… I was just thinking about the past."

"Your mom?" he asked with a slight cringe. "I'm sorry, Kate, I didn't mean to make you think of her and-"

"No, no." She shook her head and held out her hand as she approached him. Giving his forearm a squeeze she promised. "No, not about that. About me. About… how I was before I met you."

His brow arched curiously. "Oh?"

She nodded and hooked her thumbs into her jean pockets as she spoke. "Before you I… well, I started out dating bookish, serious guys who were kind of boring." She let out a light laugh at the memory of her first boyfriend from junior high who later went on to wear a pocket protector and a sweater with elbow patches despite only being sixteen at the time. "Then, I moved right into my rebel phase and picked grunge rockers or guys with motorcycles who I didn't even actually like that much; I just wanted them to fit into the rebellious idea I had of myself. I was never with anyone…fun.

"Then, that summer, we met and you were…" She let her gaze drift towards the ceiling as she struggled to find the descriptor most fitting. "unexpected—and nothing like someone I would have considered dating, which was why I thought you'd be the perfect summer fling. We could laugh, have fun, take nothing seriously, and then be done with it…and that was true, but now…" She took a deep breath and felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle from the way he gazed at her with such devotion.

"Now, I like that you remind me to have fun; you make it easier for me to have fun and I missed that," she confessed, her voice breaking slightly on the final word. "I didn't even think about it. I just did my job day in and day out. I was so focused; I couldn't even see how much I missed out on until you came in and I realized how much less stress I felt when you were around. I was…happier. I am happier."

"I'm really glad to hear that—truly—but…what are you trying to say, Kate?"

She laughed a little, shut her eyes and dropped her chin to her chest as a single tear fell down her cheek. A tiny voice inside her brain told her to stop before she hit the point of no return. It told her this was a mistake that would end in a broken heart, because how could Rick Castle be her boyfriend, her partner, when he was just a silly kid, but the louder voice knew better. The louder voice told her that while it was a leap—and a pretty big one at that—something about him just made sense and so she just had to try.

Lifting her head once more, she gazed at him, ran her teeth across her bottom lip, and then gave a silly little shrug.

Rick's eyes lit instantly, and he asked, "Really?"

"Why the hell not," she proclaimed before stepping forward and pressing her hands against his chest.

He put his hands against her shoulders and stopped her from moving in to kiss her saying, "Wait, wait—I actually kind of want to date you and not just be friends with benefits."

She nodded. "I kind of want to date you, too."

His gaze turned skeptical. "You say that like you're suffering."

"I think I will be," she said half seriously.

He groaned, "Kate!" and she laughed before hushing him, standing up on her toes, and giving him a sound kiss.

"Mm Kate." Rick hummed when they broke their kiss. He brushed his thumbs against her cheeks and smiled down at her. "Best Halloween party ever."

She threw her head back in a laugh then linked her hands behind his neck and pulled him down into another kiss.

A/N - and now you see why this barely fits the Halloween Bash theme, but still technically does :)

Epilogue will be up soon! Thank you all once again for reading!