He orders a cappuccino, and Kate grins wryly. "Pretty disappointing coffee for you this morning, huh? No milk at my place?"

"Well." It's not an admission, because he can't stand to disappoint her- he's kind of aware how ridiculous that is, when it's just a question of milk- but he's not going to lie either.

"Yeah, well. I don't really like black coffee, either." Kate bites her nail.

"Beckett?" She looks up at him, her thumb still curled into her lip. "Not a disappointing morning, though." And she smiles back at him, the smile reaching her eyes for the first time since he saw the file on her Mom's cold case, messily shoe boxed, literally under her bed.


Kate looks up at Rick almost shyly. "So. What do you guys have planned for today?"

She's pushing herself out of their vision of the day, he intuits, the way she phrased that, as though she thinks they'll want to do their own thing, spend the day without her. Hardly. "Well, you were talking about ice skating, before, so…" he meets her eyes. She's still smiling, but the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.

Alexis' eyes widen. "Skating? Really?" She looks at Kate rather than him. "Can we?"

Rick sees her hesitation. "Come on," she says, to him, not Alexis, pleading. Now he's stuck. If she really wants to be left alone, he'll leave her alone. But if she's just being polite- well, no. He's not down with that, not in any way, shape or form. Damn. This is hard, with Alexis here. Sometimes he thinks Alexis is his wing man- he's never used her as such before- (well, not since he was picking up women in the playground, but those days are so long gone it's ridiculous-) but it also makes it harder. To just talk, to Kate, without little ears hearing way too much.

Fine. He'll bite the bullet. Alexis can handle it. "Kate," he says, softly. Her eyes jerk up to him. "Kate- if you don't want to ice skate, that's okay. If you don't want to hang out with us today- that's okay too. But Alexis and I would love to go skating with you."

She scrunches up her face in a half smile- another look to catalogue, he thinks, and nods. "So."

"So?" he prompts, when it seems like she's not going to say anything else.

"Today. Skating. Tonight- we-" She pauses again, looks at him like she wants him to read her mind. He can only stare back. Alexis is watching her too. "What are your plans for after skating?"

Oh. Oh. He gets it. "Today skating. And tonight." He grins. "Are you up for our date do-over?"


Kate doesn't know when she last had this much fun. Rick had assured her that he was good at ice skating, but Alexis' look had betrayed that. Well, what he lacked in skill he certainly made up for in enthusiasm. Alexis, on the other hand, has been doing well and skated away from them without looking back.

"Should you be skating?" she asks him, after he tumbles for the fourth time. "Falling this much can't really be doing your wrist any favours."

"You'll have to hold my hand, then," he tells her, grabbing at her and almost pushing her over as he lunges forward.

She shakes her head, but accepts his hand- strong, and warm, even through the gloves, and she doesn't want to skate anymore, just wants to take him back to her place and have those hands on her. "Come on then. Once more around, together, this time." She's kind of pulling him along, but he doesn't protest. It's not like they can go all that fast anyway.

They're not the only New Yorkers to take advantage of the clear day, and the rink is packed. They reach a patch of ice that's not as crowded as some of the other sections, and Rick pulls her back. "Wait," he whispers, as he pulls her closer to him, wraps his arms around her waist.

"Mmm?"

"Thank you," he whispers into her ear, his breath hot on her neck.

Kate pulls back, looks at him. "For what?" God, she should be thanking him. Some days she looks into that box under her bed, and she can't get her head back out of it. Rick didn't give her a choice, this morning, Rick and his daughter, pulling her into their world without a second thought.

"For coming skating with us. For yesterday. For looking after my daughter-"

"No- I just- no," she says. "You don't have to thank me. Just- of course. Of course I helped-"

"No, Kate. Helping would have been if I got a sitter to look after Alexis, or if her friend's Mom collected her from school. I don't know what you said to her, but my daughter- you really took care of her yesterday. And I'm grateful."

He's grateful. For a second Kate is sideswiped, remembering again, who she's with. How, she doesn't even know. Richard Castle's arms are around her, she's ice skating in New York, like a damn fairytale, and he is telling her that he's grateful for the day she spent looking after his daughter. No. This isn't how it goes. Kate Beckett doesn't do this. Because this is beginning to feel suspiciously like- family.


When Kate heads back to her place after skating and hot chocolate, Rick calls his mother, from his new (old) green phone. After skating, Kate had suggested they stop in a few stores and look at new phones, but he's kind of keen to hold on to this one for a while. It's clunky, and texting is a nightmare, but it's from her and he likes that.

"Richard, darling," Martha greets him, when she picks up.

"Mother. How was your trip?"

"Oh, lovely, lovely," she tells him. Rick can hear the smile in her voice, the dramatic flair that assures him she's been having altogether too much fun- or been doing far more than he wants to know, in any case. "And how was your date with the lovely Officer Beckett last night?"

He clears his throat. "Well- we didn't quite make it to our date-"

"Oh Richard! What did you do- oh!" She gasps delightedly, much to his chagrin. "Did you not make it your date because-"

"Mother! I beg you. Please don't finish that sentence. I- I needed to take a raincheck." Hmm. How to tell his mother about his accident? She's not the most sentimental of parents, but he figures hearing that he was hospitalised isn't going to please her. "I was in a minor car accident yesterday- so we postponed the date."

He grimaces, waiting on his mother's inevitable chiding. She doesn't disappoint, although it's not quite the loving parental response he'd find himself giving, if, God forbid, Alexis was in danger. "Oh, darling! Did you wreck the Ferrari?" He thinks there's actually genuine concern behind the curtain of drama in her tone. Maybe.

"Mother! I'm fine, thank you so much for your concern."

Laughter trills. "Oh kiddo- of course you're fine- you're calling me a full day later. Now. Your date with Officer Beckett. Let me guess- you need someone to look after Alexis tonight? I can be over by six."

"Thank you, Mother."

"But, Richard?"

Oh. A catch. Of course. But his mother's words surprise him. "Don't screw this up, kiddo."

Well. His mother has never been this nice about any of the other women he's ever dated, Meredith included. He figures that since he's usually shit out of luck in lasting relationships, this is encouraging.


The last of the evening light is fading fast when Kate gets out of the bathtub. She'd come home after skating determined to take some time to herself before her date. Castle had assured he would be able to get a great table at whatever fabulous place he knew, even at this late stage, and she'd shrugged, giving in to the idea that a real date might actually happen this time. Apparently his mother would be back and come hell or high water, she would be watching Alexis.

Kate had come back to her place and run a hot bath, liberally adding bubbles, and easing into it with the book from her bedside table in her hands. It was in a different position on her side table when she'd come out of her bathroom after Castle this morning, and she's a little embarrassed that he's seen how big a fan she is- to have him in her bed before breakfast, and his words all the while so close. Having his book in her bedroom seems suddenly indecent- but she can't resist plucking it from its resting place and taking it into the bathroom with her.

It's only when the water cools and she forces herself to get out of the tub- the words are familiar, she's reread them over and over in the past, the book opens to her favourite passages by itself- that Kate looks critically at the cover. Kissed and killed is kind of sexy, and she hopes Castle didn't open it and see just what scene she had bookmarked. Wow. And shit. Because this is sexy, and he claims she's inspired his next character- (Next book? Next series?) and is their bedroom stuff going to find its way between the pages? And the scenes in Kissed and killed- were they inspired by- who? Alexis' mother? One of the many women happy to be photographed for the tabloids?

Kate's determined she won't be mad- the guy's allowed to have a past. He is, she tells herself. It's not like she's exactly been saving herself- hell no- she just doesn't think she wants her fictionalised self between the sheets- of paper, so to speak. Well. She guesses she doesn't need to deal with this right now. No, now- she glances at her watch- she has less than an hour before Castle's comes over to pick her up.


Castle's oddly nervous when he knocks on Kate's door for the second time that day. He tells himself that there's no need for the butterflies- he's had breakfast and lunch with the woman, and he was in her bed this morning. But, there's a different kind of pressure on a real date- as though everything up until now has been a rehearsal and this is the opening night performance. And the flowers are wrong, but he doesn't have time to do anything different, and yesterday's intended romance had turned out badly. So, daisies from the corner store across from his own place is his concession. He realises he left her tulips in the hospital when he was discharged this morning and mentally kicks himself.

Kate's stunning when she answers the door- black dress showing oh so much, and not at all enough of long stockinged legs. Her eyes are greener than ever, and he can only beam at her as he thrusts the flowers awkwardly forward. Smooth, Rick, he thinks to himself. When she smiles his heart swells. Man. He's a sap. How he has the reputation he has is beyond him, because to Rick it's patently obvious that anything else, other than this, is mere pretense.

"Thank you." Kate accepts the flowers and beckons him in as she grabs a vase from the kitchen and quickly fills it with water. She unwraps the flowers, trimming the stems before putting them into the vase. "Ready?"

Castle nods. "Ready." Kate grabs a jacket he hasn't seen before from the back of the couch, and he helps her into it, using the opportunity to let his hand linger on her shoulder. "Kate?"

"Mmm?"

"Just wondering- exactly how many jackets do you own?"

She throws her head back, a genuine laugh that has him chuckling too. "You're cataloguing my jackets now?"