October 2009

He balanced the box awkwardly on his hip, knocking on the door with his free hand, a smile on his face. She would love this. She would absolutely love this. And if she refused it, or claimed she didn't want it, that changed nothing. She needed it.

He heard the soft thud of Ramona racing to the door, and the more sedate sound of Kate's footfall behind her. "Wait for me," he heard, her voice muffled, and the door swung open, revealing a pajama-clad toddler with a piece of toast in her hand, and - better yet - a pajama clad Kate.

"Rick?"

"Hi." He shifted the gift against his side and raised a hand in greeting before returning his hand to the bottom of what was an increasingly heavy object. Dropping it was not an option. "Can I come in?"

"Um. Yes. By all means." She stepped aside, her head tilted in curiosity, and Ramona threw her arms around his leg. "Let him get inside, Sweetheart," Kate scolded her daughter, and the three year old stepped back, staring at the wrapped box.

"What's that?"

"Say 'hello, Rick' first," Kate corrected her, and Ramona giggled.

"Hello, Rick." She pointed. "What's that?"

"I'll show you," he said, walking through to the kitchen and placing it on the table, up the other end to where the breakfast things were laid out. The apartment was taking shape; most of the furniture was in place now, and every time he came here there were less boxes and more order to the shelves.

"So." Kate raised her eyebrows at him. "I didn't quite peg you as a morning person."

"I'm not," he admitted. "But working so many cases with the guys has messed with my schedule, and anyway, this is a morning thing."

"A morning thing?" If Kate's eyebrows made it any higher they'd fall from her face, and he gestured to the table.

"It looks like I interrupted breakfast which means, if I do say so myself, my timing is perfect."

"Yeah. Well." Kate folded her arms over her chest, and Rick grinned. With her make-up free face, her leggings and sleep shirt… she was adorable.

"Don't be shy, I like the look," he assured her. "Now, sit down and carry on with eating."

She shook her head, rolling her eyes but nudging Ramona back into her seat. "Can I get you anything?" she asked.

"No. I'm good." He beamed at her, sliding a finger underneath the tape. "Do you want to open your present?"

"Um, no." She huffed a little, sitting down. "Why don't you go ahead?"

"Okay." He pulled the wrapping paper from the box, letting it fall to the floor, revealing the contents. "I got you a coffee machine!"

Kate's eyes crinkled as she dropped her gaze. "You didn't have to do that," she murmured, and Rick shook his head as he opened the packaging and wrestled the machine from the box.

"Of course I did," he said, placing it on the counter and plugging it in. "Now. I can't stay long, because Gina's hounding me for a chapter, but I think I can start your morning right-" He reached back into the box, pulling out the fresh beans he'd tucked in there when he bought it yesterday, and tipped them into the grinder.

"For me?" Ramona asked with a mouthful of toast, and Rick laughed. Yeah, get the three year old addicted to caffeine. That was the sure-fire way to her mother's heart.

"How about I make you a hot cocoa?"

She nodded, munching on her breakfast as she continued to stare at him, and Kate looked up at him from beneath her lashes, a shy smile on her face. "Thank you."

His breath caught in his throat and he stilled for a moment, trying to capture the moment in his mind; Kate and Ramona so casual and relaxed at the breakfast table, and for a second this was his kitchen, his family. He exhaled slowly; the sheer domesticity of this whole situation was doing things to him. His mind raced, his hands clammy, and he blinked, swallowing.

One step at a time.

Rick moved forward, brushing a quick kiss against her cheek - forcing himself to stop at that, in case he captured her mouth with his - before stepping back and turning to the coffee machine. "Okay. Are you ready for the best coffee ever?"

The words poured from his fingertips; Nikki chased down the bad guys. Roach provided comic relief. Rook was his most nuanced love interest yet; and still something was missing. There was an authenticity to his fictional detective that wasn't there.

"It's good," Gina had admitted, the note of surprise in her tone a sharp bite to his soul. "But I need to know Nikki. I need to see her at the scene."

"But- what about her back story?" Rick had asked.

"The back story is great." This confession, too, had been an evidently uncomfortable truth from his ex-wife. "And your readers… we both know they'll buy this story, as is. And if you were anyone else, I'd let it go. I'd love to give you a green light on this. But Rick? You can do better. Go deeper. Trust me."

He'd hung up the phone, scowling because… she was right. She might have been his ex-wife, but she was also his publisher, and she was good. Damn good. And if she said he needed more, he… needed more.

The problem, now, was visualizing the whole thing. He knew Nikki. But Nikki was Kate, there were no two ways about that, and he wanted - no needed - to see her at a crime scene. Just once. He could create fiction from fact without any trouble, but he needed to start somewhere. With Rook, Nikki was natural, real; but even with Roach… Ryan and Esposito worked so well together, it was hard to imagine them a team of three. How would they react with another detective in the mix?

He shrugged, pausing mid-sentence and flexing his fingers. Coffee; he needed a break. And he needed to get a handle on Nikki. He wandered out to the kitchen, pouring himself a cup on autopilot as he tried to figure out what to do.

Cop stuff. He could do that. Even without the guys he could do that, although hanging out at the Twelfth certainly added some depth to his story. Not to mention the fact it was fun, even if he was sick of calling shotgun only to be shot down by Ryan or Esposito. Every time. Would it hurt to let him sit in the front for once? Or even drive. He could drive!

Nikki's tragic background; he had that in spades. And the romance was practically writing itself, although he did wonder just what Kate would say when she read his words. Would she see herself? Would she see them?

He leaned back against the counter, letting himself slouch, coffee cup in hand, as he stared across the loft.

No matter what came next in the story, he would have to find a way to tell her about Nikki Heat before she came across the book in stores.

Kate's phone rang from across the room and she narrowed her eyes at it, standing with a sigh. Her first night alone in months, and if that was Gabe letting her know he couldn't collect Ramona from daycare... She'd kill him. She'd kill him, bury the body… and get arrested by Rick's friends.

Rick. His name lit up the screen and she grabbed at it, answering breathlessly. "Hi."

"Hi." He chuckled down the line. "Did I interrupt something?"

"What? No! I was just… reading."

"Oh! Was it Storm? Was it a sexy scene with Clara Strike-"

"No!" she denied, shaking her head. Every damn time. Could his ego be any healthier? "I don't even have any of your books," she lied, before correcting herself to be a little more truthful. "Not here, anyway."

"Try that box that's still behind the couch," he suggested and she let out a strangled groan of frustration.

"You've been going through my things?" She sidestepped the sofa, crouching down behind it to look in the last of the boxes. Sure enough, one of them was open, the Castle books that had been at the cabin now lying in pride of place above her comics. "I didn't even know my dad sent these," she protested, and he laughed.

"Saw them yesterday when I came round for lunch and Ramona wanted to play cars," he admitted.

"Right. Of course you did."

"Anyway- I know you're free tonight, and I wondered- will you come out with me?"

"Like a date?" Her eyes widened, and she leaned against the back of the sofa. A date? It was too soon. Wasn't it? Or was it?

"I…" He hesitated. "I want to take you out for a date, I really do. But… I was actually planning on getting drinks with a couple of guys from the precinct, and I wondered if you wanted to join us?"

"Oh." She bit her lip, pulling the tender flesh between her teeth. Not a date. But a chance to go out, be an adult, have a drink, and be around grown-up company. That sounded… good. Really good. "Yeah… actually. I… think I'd like that."

"Really?"

She smiled at the surprise in his voice. "Really."

A summer of abstaining from alcohol while Jim dried out up at the cabin had turned Kate into a lightweight, and the first sip of wine had gone straight to her head, a pleasant but now unfamiliar buzz warming her veins; this felt like the first time she'd had a drink after Ramona was born. The stamina that college girl Kate Beckett had thought would be hers her whole life? Her grasp on that was tenuous, at best.

She looked around, letting her gaze fall across the dimly lit establishment. The dark wood of the walls and the timeworn counter top of the bar were the opposite to the kinds of places she'd imagined Rick visiting; this was grungy and if she had to take a guess, most of the patrons were cops. It was nothing like the glossy, polished bars she'd been to with Gabe at the beginning of their relationship, either, and she smiled, nudging into Rick as she took a sip of the wine he'd carried over to their booth.

"You okay?" he whispered, and she nodded as he checked his phone. "They're on their way," he said, shoving the cell back into his pocket and tapping his fingertips against the table.

"Shouldn't I be the one who's nervous?" she teased.

"You've met Esposito," he pointed out. "And Ryan's a real softy."

"Homicide cops can be softies?"

"Wait until you meet him," Rick promised. "You'll see."

"Yo!"

Rick's eyes flashed up and she followed his gaze to the entrance, watching as Esposito swaggered in and headed for the bar, followed closely by a fairer man, and a darker woman.

"Interesting," Rick mouthed under his breath as he raised a hand in greeting. "That's Lanie."

"She's not a cop?"

"Uh-uh." He wrapped a hand around his beer, taking a sip, his eyes never leaving the trio. "She's the medical examiner. I've never even seen her at the precinct before, we usually go down to the morgue to talk to her, so…" He grinned, his eyes lighting up. "You know what I think? I think there's something going on!"

"You-"

"Shh!" he stage whispered as they approached with drinks in their hands. "Kate! You've met Esposito. This is Ryan, and this is Lanie."

Kate offered her hand, greeting them and Rick shuffled around in the booth to give them room, his thigh pressing against hers.

"So. Castle. Where were you this morning?" Ryan asked, and Rick shrugged.

"I, uh- was busy," he hedged, making a face at Kate.

"Busy? At four in the morning? I don't want to know, man," Esposito said, grinning at Ryan, and Rick held up his hands in protest.

"Hey! You get paid to go in at that time of morning. I was asleep. I'm not going in at that hour."

"Yeah, really? I thought following us around was a priceless experience?" Ryan shrugged, and opposite Kate, Lanie laughed.

"You ignore them, Castle. They're just jealous, and from what Javier tells me, they're more than just a little envious of your main character."

Rick coughed. "Well."

"Castle?" Kate asked. "They really do call you that?"

"I told you," he whined, and she laughed, taking another sip of her wine.

"Castle tells us you're a lawyer?" Lanie said, and Kate inclined her head a little in a half shrug.

"An unemployed lawyer," she clarified. "I've been away for the summer, but I'll start job hunting again now we're back in the city."

"Still… sounds a hell of a lot more hygienic than our jobs, some of the time."

"What did I miss this morning?" Rick asked, and the three groaned in unison.

"Floater in the Hudson. Put it this way, man, the good thing about the four a.m. call out was no one had eaten breakfast it was that damn early."

Rick paled, and Kate chuckled, leaning back against the booth. "You must get used to it though, right?"

Lanie nodded. "Sure. The normal ones, you get used to 'em. But this one… there wasn't much left of him!"

Esposito and Ryan made identical faces of disgust and Kate leaned in, fascinated. "So how do you get an ID like that? Dental records?"

"Look at Nancy Drew here," Esposito chuckled. "Tell me, Castle, is an interest in creepy murder a prerequisite for dating you? I mean, it's our job. What's your excuse, Kate?"

"Hush," Lanie insisted, swatting at the Detective, and Kate watched as Rick's eyebrows raised, the pieces obviously falling into place. No question anymore whether Lanie was here with Ryan or Esposito; that familiarity had just given them away.

Kate laughed more easily than she remembered doing in years, draining her wine glass.

"I'll get you another," Rick said, and she stepped out of the booth so that he could make his way past her and to the bar.

She watched him walk away - and that wasn't exactly a hardship, the man sure was something to look at - before sitting back down at the table to find three eager faces staring at her.

"What?" she laughed, and Lanie grinned.

"It's good to meet you, Kate, is all. That man has been talking about you all summer."

She smiled, throwing another glance at the bar to see Rick leaning over, engaged in conversation with the barman. Yeah. Well. If anyone asked her father, they'd probably find out that her conversation this summer had been pretty focused on Rick in turn.

"You can't invite me up to my own place for coffee," Kate protested, letting Rick guide her from the cab to her front door.

"No. But I can make sure you make it safely inside," he insisted, taking the key from her hand and unlocking the door. "And I'm not going to make you coffee. Not at this time of night. I'm going to make sure you drink a glass of water, and then I'm going to go."

"Okay."

He grinned, taking her hand and leading her up the stairs and she laughed. She was a tiny bit tipsy after more glasses of wine than she was used to, not completely wiped out, and Rick was being a complete sweetheart.

"You're sweet," she whispered, as he unlocked her apartment door, swinging it open and ushering her inside.

"Don't tell anyone," he threatened. "Especially not Ryan and Espo. Did you hear how much crap they were giving me for missing this morning's crime scene? I mean… I want to go to the scenes, but I don't want to see a body like that!"

She rolled her eyes, pushing the front door shut and padding after him into the kitchen, accepting the bottle of water he pulled from her fridge.

"I'm going to go," he told her, handing her the bottle, his eyes dark as he nudged into her, his shoulder brushing against hers before he pressed his lips against her mouth. "Because if I stay…"

"If you stay…" she echoed, and he shrugged, pulling away from her, his expression soft.

"If I stay…" He smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek before pointing at the coffee machine. "Call me. First thing in the morning. If you have any trouble working it, I'll be over right away."

"I can work it," she said, shaking her head, and he wiggled his eyebrows at her as he walked backward toward the front door.

"What can I say, Beckett? I like it when you rely on me for coffee."

"Really? So if I call you to come over at six in the morning, you'll be here?"

He smiled as he opened the door. "Always."