She looked up from the menu to find him still lost in it and smirks.
"I'm in the mood for cake", she announces.
"It seems like they have great selection here. What do you fancy, Beckett? Think I'll take the cream cake."
"You are so disgusting, honestly. I'll take the apple pie.", she says, and he waves the waitress to their table.
After they ordered, she looked around. They found the café they're currently sitting in a side way street, away from the main streets. Castle suggested taking a walk, discovering what the city had to offer beyond the well-known shops and restaurants, and she agreed, indulging in his wishes every once in a while. That's how they found themselves in this cute café with the wide windows they were sitting near.
"So, how are Alexis and Martha?", she asked while she's redirecting her attention back from the gorgeous autumn landscape out the window back to him.
"My Mother is still convinced that she can cook and Alexis and I are still trying to get her to order take-out on the days when she cooks", he smiled.
"Hasn't she cooked in your childhood?", Kate answered with a grin.
"She did, but that was basic stuff and there was a friend or co-worker helping her out a lot of the time. My mother is a woman of many skills, cooking however, is not one of them."
That line got him a laugh from her. She loved hearing about his life before she stepped into it and it always interested her how Rick and Martha got along in his young years, before Alexis was there.
"It's sweet?", she offered.
"Nice try", he smiled.
"Are you waiting for something?", he asked upon noticing her frequent looks to the kitchen.
"I want my coffee to arrive. I only had one coffee so far, the one you brought me when we met. My coffee machine stopped working this morning.", she groaned.
"God, Beckett, how did you survive?", he gasped in pretend shock, and she slapped his arm lightly.
"It's not funny, Castle.", she pouted.
"I'll get you a new one, Beckett, can't have you suffering like this"
"I don't want it, I'll swear I won't let you come to crime scenes any more if you order me a new one.", she cursed at him.
He just smiled and made a thought to look up coffee machines later once he was back at home.
After a few minutes filled with laughter and banter, their order finally arrived.
After taking a bite from his cake, he moved his fork over to her plate, but Kate swatted his hand away.
"What do you think you're doing?", she said while she looked at him like she was interrogating a suspect.
"Trying to get a piece of your cake?", he asked innocently.
"Dream on, Castle.", she rolled her eyes and took a bite of her cake to exaggerate what she just said.
"Well, in my dreams we're usually doing something very different –", he was stopped mid-sentence by her.
"Shut up, Castle.", she growled and slid her cake over to him.
"Thanks.", he smiled.
After at least three rounds of coffee and a date that turned into a dinner date, he picked up his phone.
"I didn't realize the time, look how late it, Kate.", he said and held his phone in front of her.
"Time really flies when you're in good company, huh?", she chuckled.
He smiled back at her. He loved that they could fill hours with conversation about meaningful topics as well as entertaining ones (he's been dying to know what her stance was on the Marvel Comics, as well as what her favourite piece of science fiction media was), but they also sit together in silence without it feeling forced. It always did with Meredith and Gina, which was why they either stopped talking or spent a lot of time outside the loft, and he was just too grateful to say anything against it. But with Kate, it was different. Everything was different with her, and he was just so happy that she walked into his life a few years ago.
Kate took a sip from her coffee and returned to looking at him to find him already smiling at her. Castle saw the excited twinkle in her eyes, but she started speaking before he could figure out what it meant.
"This is a nice date, Castle", she smirked and drank her coffee.
It caused him to almost choke on his own coffee, and she laughed.
"Date?", he choked out, and she raised an eyebrow as if to tell him that's all you've got?
He cleared his throat and tried again.
"This is a date?", he said with a much stronger voice.
Yes, this is a date.", she agreed softly and took his hand and let them rest intertwined in each other on the table.
Castle smiled at her with such a wide, genuine smile that she just had to reciprocate his smile as well.
Kate didn't know how she was suddenly brave enough to admit this was a date, she's used to treading these waters very lightly, but the way he looked tonight, the way he smiled and shared bits and pieces of his story with her made her feel confident enough to finally admit what was right there all this time. She hated his meddling and following her around in the beginning, but she knew that he would be important to her, he hit all the right boxes and besides, working with your favourite authors and letting him write a book inspired by you wasn't too bad either, even if she would never admit that too him.
They eat cake and hold hands and it's much more than she would usually allow on any date, but with him, it's different. It's Castle, with whom she already shared a heart (and a brain) and it's Castle, who knows all about her mother's murder, knows about her favourite food, knows what to say on a bad day to cheer her up and how to make her coffee. It's Castle, who already holds her heart in his gentle, protective hands and it's Castle who she wants to come home to at the end of the day instead of going home alone and only keeping him with her in her mind.
Kate thinks about how much she likes this already and how soft and warm his hands are even though the autumn air outside gets colder each day and sends a chill through her veins. It's so much easier than she thought it would be like, and she finds herself incredibly relieved by this revelation.
When she came back from the bathroom, he had already paid for everything.
"You couldn't just split the bill?"
"Well, you do live on a cop's salary, and I am plenty rich –", he starts saying.
"Oh, shut up. I'll just pay next time.", she smirked.
"Next time?"
"Yes", she agreed before she could think about it. Normally she would take her time and then answer or feel scared by her instant response, but it's castle, it's castle and her, and she can't wait to go on another date with him.
Usually, Kate takes her time to answer if a guy asked her after a second day, but she also expected to feel scared by her instant response, so there was nothing normal about it. Its Castle, it's Rick and her, and if she's honest with herself, she can't wait to go on another date with him.
Castle smiled and took her hand in his as they walked out of the café they spent the majority of the afternoon in.