What if Rick had told Kate what Serena had said, and questioned her about it.
"Thank god I'm rich," Rick said as they entered the elevator.
Kate laughed. "Too many bills like that and you won't be rich for much longer," she teased.
Rick sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I really would struggle, guess I need to avoid destroying any more art in the near future."
Kate laughed again and the two of them made their way towards Remy's.
It was busy but there was an empty booth that they headed for. Kate slipped into one side while Rick took the other.
"So do you think the department will be able to stretch for a shake Detective?" Rick asked.
"I'll have to think about it," Kate replied with a smirk.
Rick smiled back but didn't speak as the waitress appeared at the table. "Mr Castle, Detective Beckett, good to see you again," she greeted with a smile.
"Evening Bea," Rick greeted with a smile, "Looks like you're busy tonight."
Bea looked around the diner and nodded. "We are," she agreed, "Which does mean there might be a bit of a wait for food."
"That's fine," Kate assured her.
Bea smiled at her. "Do you know what you want to order or shall I come back?"
Rick and Kate shared a glance. "Can we get our usual?" Kate asked, "Two burgers, fries, and shakes?"
"Sure thing," Bea said with a smile. She made a quick note on her pad. "I'll get the shakes out to you soon and then the food out once it's done."
"No rush," Rick told her, "We've had a long day so it'll just be nice to sit and relax for a bit."
Bea smiled at them and then headed back towards the counter. She put their order through and then carried on roving around the diner, dealing with the other customers.
Kate lent back against the booth and let her head roll back until it was resting on the top of the bench. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. Rick was right; it had been a long day, not least because of Serena.
When she'd seen them kissing in the hallway, she should have just left it and she and Esposito could have gotten away without Serena seeing them, but she hadn't been able to help her exclamation which had broken them apart. The stab of jealousy that had hit her had surprised her. Thinking back on it now she knew why, even if she didn't want to accept that reason. She sighed quietly and then opened her eyes and looked at Rick as he cleared his throat.
He was looking at her with a slight smirk on his face. She narrowed his eyes at him. "What?" she demanded.
Rick just continued to smirk at her and her narrowed eyes turned into a full-on glare. "What is it Castle?" she asked him.
"I was just thinking about something," Rick said eventually.
"Oh?" Kate asked, "And what would that be?"
"Something Serena said to me."
"Oh really," Kate said, barely containing a sneer at the woman's name. She really needed to get better control of herself before she did something that she'd regret.
Rick chose to ignore her tone of voice. He opened his mouth to carry on speaking but then snapped it shut again as Bea appeared with their shakes. She placed them on the table and then moved off. Rick grabbed his drink and had a mouthful before he smiled at Kate.
She also grabbed her shake and took a drink and then continued to stare at Rick, waiting for him to carry on talking.
"She said something to me just before she left," Rick said, "And I'm not fully sure I understand it. I was wondering if you could help me out."
Kate narrowed her eyes at him again, wondering where this could possibly be going. "Sure," she said eventually, "Let's see if I can help you out."
"So just before she left she said she would have invited me back to her hotel room but she doesn't steal things that belong to someone else."
Rick was watching Kate carefully as he spoke so she was careful to keep the grimace off her face at the first half of his sentence, and then the surprise at the second half.
"I have no idea," she said eventually. She took another mouthful of her drink and avoided Rick's gaze as he continued to look at her.
"You seemed surprised that I was still there after Serena left," Rick then continued.
Kate shrugged. "You seemed to be having a good time with her in the hotel," she said, keeping her voice level and hoping that the bitterness she felt as she spoke didn't come across, "I figured you'd be happy to go out with her again."
Now it was Rick's turn to shrug. "It was only a distraction," he told her, "And if you hadn't gotten all jealous when you'd come out of the room you and Esposito would have gotten out of there without her even noticing."
"I wasn't jealous," Kate snapped quickly, probably too quickly.
Rick obviously thought so too because he raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't say anything though, just took another sip from his drink, a smug look falling over his features.
Kate bit back a low growl that threatened to escape her mouth. She would not let Rick know how much that kiss between him and Serena had gotten to her, she had no right to feel as jealous as she had.
She was saved from having to say anything, or listen to Rick say anything else, by the arrival of Bea with their food.
"Here you go dearies," she said, putting the plates on the table in front of them, "Can I get you anything else?"
Both of them shook their heads. "Looks great," Rick told her with a smile, "Thanks, Bea."
"Enjoy dearies," Bea said before she left them to it.
The two of them stayed silent as they started to eat, Rick was too busy cramming as much food as possible into his mouth and Kate didn't have anything she wanted to say.
They ate their burgers and fries, Kate reaching across and snagging a few of Rick's fries when hers were all gone, earning a shocked and then grumpy look from Rick in the process. She just smiled at him smugly and quickly ate her ill-gotten gains. Rick laughed and then proceeded to grab a few more from his plate and put them on hers, snagging her pickle in payment.
Kate opened her mouth to protest but Rick bit into it before she could say anything. "Do you want it back?" he offered, holding the half-eaten pickle out to her.
Kate glanced between the pickle and Rick's face and then reached out and grabbed the pickle from his hand. Rick watched in open-mouthed surprise as she quickly ate the other half.
"You just ate something that I'd taken a bite out of," he said.
Kate shrugged. "So?" she asked, "It was my pickle. You're the one that stole it."
"But what about my nasty man cooties?" Rick teased, his five-year-old beginning to show, "Aren't you worried about them?"
Kate looked him up and down and then raised a suggestive eyebrow. "Are you trying to tell me something Castle?" she asked, "Do you have some sort of infection I should know about?" Her gaze lowered until she was looking at where his crotch would be if there wasn't a table between them.
Rick gasped. "How dare you suggest such a thing," he declared indignantly, gesturing wildly with the fry that he was holding, "I'll have you know that there is nothing wrong in that department at all." He gave her a suggestive wink.
Kate laughed, she couldn't help it. "You're the one who brought up cooties," she pointed out.
Rather than falling back into the silence from before, as they continued to eat they chatted. It was mostly small talk, nothing about the case or Serena, Kate asking Rick how Martha and Alexis were doing, that sort of thing.
"So," Rick said, leaning back in his seat as he swallowed the last bite of his food, "If Serena thought I belonged to someone else, I wonder who it was she thought that was."
Kate swallowed hard but ignored Rick's statement as she finished off her food. Rick watched her eat, a tiny smirk on his face. Kate kept her attention on her food, refusing to engage with him. Rick's smirk just continued to grow as Kate took smaller and smaller bites, trying to stretch out her meal as long as possible.
She kept her eyes on her food and then ate the last bite, there was just no way she could stretch this out any longer. She sighed and grabbed her napkin, taking time to wipe her face and then her hands, trying to gain as much time as she could.
Sighing, she dropped the napkin back onto the table. "I have no idea Castle," she said, "As far as I know you don't belong to anyone."
Rick just raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing her.
"We should make a move," Kate then said, "It's getting late."
She looked around the diner, trying to catch Bea's eye to get the bill, but Rick just continued to stare at her.
"Stop staring Castle," Kate ordered, "It's still creepy."
Rick just raised the other eyebrow.
Kate sighed and then caught Bea's eye. She made the check gesture with her hand and Bea nodded. She then returned to delivering the food she was carrying before heading back to the counter.
"Come on Beckett," Rick said, "You said you'd help me out."
Kate ignored him and watched as Bea walked over to them. "Here you go dearies," she said, dropping the bill on the table.
"Thank you, Bea," Rick said, still staring at Kate, who was carefully avoiding his gaze.
"Is something going on between you two?" Bea asked, looking between them, "You look like something's wrong."
"Just Castle being Castle," Kate assured her.
Bea looked between them again and smiled. "You two are just too sweet, you know that."
She turned and left, leaving a smiling Rick and blushing Kate behind her.
Kate turned back to look at Rick and then sighed, he was still staring at her, and he had a knowing look on his face. "Ok fine," she accepted with a sigh, "I was maybe, slightly, a little jealous."
She glared at Rick as she spoke, fighting the blush that was rising up her cheeks. Rick looked back at her and smiled softly.
Kate looked away and threw down some money to pay for their meal before she got to her feet, grabbed her coat, and headed for the door.
"See you around Bea," Rick called as he too got to his feet and followed after Kate, pulling on his jacket as she went.
Bea waved after them and then returned to work.
Rick caught up with Kate just outside the diner and snagged her hand, spinning her to face him.
"Kate," he said, his voice low, "I'm glad I belong to you." He kissed her cheek and then walked on, leaving Kate standing frozen to the spot. She blinked a few times and smiled softly.
"Castle," she called, jogging to catch up with him, "Wait up." She grabbed his hand with hers and lent in close. "I'm glad you're mine too," she said in a low voice.
Rick laughed and leaned down and hesitantly kissed the top of her head. Kate reached up and kissed his cheek. "Come home with me?" she asked.
"I thought you'd never ask."
So this is going to be the last chapter for a while. Work is getting pretty busy at the moment and it's only going to be getting worse over the next few weeks, which means I'm not going to have a lot of time or energy to be writing. Hopefully come April/May I'll be back to posting more regularly.
