Uploading this was a buttmunch.

"You came?"

He gave a snort. "Well hello Captain obvious."

"I just didn't think you would show today, that's all."

Was he forgiving her? It just seemed too easy for what she had done. This thought put her brain on high alert. There had to be a catch. There was no chance this was happening or would be that easy.

Castle quirked an eyebrow at the book in her hands. It wasn't just a novel, Kate had been plowing through "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".

"That seems like a hefty book there, Beckett. Doing some reading in your spare time?"

She did not look him in the eye, instead she only placed the book into her bag and stared at the children sprinting through the playground. Rick's eyes were boring into the side of her face and his mind was going into overdrive.

He couldn't explain to anyone why he came. The second Kate left the night before he promised himself he would not go. Yet, once the clock hit nine the next morning, there was no way he could stay inside. Castle was getting pulled back into the world, whether he was ready or not.

"Well, I'm guessing I missed the coffee part of today, huh?" When she still didn't look at him, Castle acted on impulse. He snaked his hand between her right arm and her body pulling her down the street. The action was rewarded with a small confused squeak from Kate, and he could feel the confusion radiating off of her body.

He had no idea what he was doing. There was no plan in his mind, no thinking about what he was doing, or where they were going. And somehow that made the decision to come this morning better. This was completely full of spontaneity, only the way Castle could create.

The world was a blank page, and today, Castle finally found the colors that he wanted to paint it with.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are we going?" Kate was stumbling along after him, feet desperate to keep up with his long strides.

"Would you hate me if I told you I have almost no idea?"

"Almost? Castle, not that I don't appreciate you coming today, but what if I had plans after this?" He looked at her and gave a snort.

"Oh shut up Castle."

"Hey now! Be nice to your kidnapper!" This comment was rewarded with a slap to the arm and an eye roll. "When was the last time you visited a museum?"

This took Kate a moment to remember. For the last year, museums had not been on her mind, even on her days off. This was unusual behavior for her, but she had not even noticed their absence.

"By the confused look on your face right now, I'm going with 'a long time'."

Kate barely noticed where they were until they began to stumble down stairs to the subway. Her noise of annoyance went unnoticed by Castle as he paid the fees for both of them and they stood waiting for the machine to carry their bodies uptown.

The station was packed when Rick and Kate arrived, so as they fought for space on the car they became aware of their positions. Kate stood flushed against him, holding onto the bar near the dead center of the subway car and could feel his breath wafting across her hair and down her neck. Without her heels, his chin was closer to the top of her head then she was used to.

Castle felt Kate tense up when she realized how they had to stand. "You don't need to be nervous, Kate. I'm not going to go anywhere."

At that Kate looked over her shoulder in surprise. Her eyes were wide and her lips parted in a way Rick found adorable. Shit, he really found her adorable.

The way she curled her hair was adorable. The way her eyebrows moved was adorable. Her clothes were adorable. Her heels were a pain, but adorable. Every single thing about her was infuriating. But every single thing about her was perfect.

How had it come to this? When did he stop hating her? Had he ever really hated her?

He couldn't remember.

All he could see right now is what was in front of him. She was alive and breathing and standing against him with that look on her face. I think they were both in shock from what he had uttered.

It was a moment of brutal honesty. His mouth worked faster than his mind sometimes, and most of the major fights in his life had come from that. But this did not seem like fight material to him. Maybe it would be okay.

"Sorry. Our stop is the next one just get ready to move."

Maybe if he ignored it for the moment, it would be okay. That's it. Because ignoring how he felt worked out so well before.

Suddenly, Kate was dragging him forward into the surge of other people exiting the subway. Her hand was linked into his, fingers intertwined, and Rick kept staring at them instead of watching where he was going. It only took one trip on their way up the stairs before Kate turned to glare at him.

And they were back.

Once they reached the cool air, Kate looked at him expectantly. There were two choices he could make. One that involved dinosaurs and one that involved staying quite and staring at things.

"How are your views on dinosaurs?" The look on her face was enough to split his own in a wide grin.

The Museum of Natural History was only a few blocks away from where they were standing and they walked them, hand in hand, fighting the growing wind that was ripping through the city. Kate's green coat stood out sharply against Rick's dark grey one, her still black hair blowing across the fabric.

The museum lobby was filled with children running around in small groups, being led by haggard looking student teachers. Kate stood in the middle of the lobby, staring up at the giant bones of the dinosaurs while Castle stood in line for tickets.

She had forgotten how much fun a museum could be with someone. Even when she went before, it was fun, but there was a feeling you could not achieve unless you were with someone who could view your surroundings like a child for the first time. Castle was amazing at that.

Kate was zoning out staring up at the bones and did not see Castle begin to walk over to her. An idea sprung into his head once he realized that she could not see him. Creeping as silently up to her as possible, he tapped her on her right shoulder while standing on her left. The confusion on her face as she completely turned around made Castle give a short laugh before he brought her lips to meet his. He gave her another mile wide smile before dragging her toward the giant whale model a few rooms down.

It took Kate a moment to come to her senses after his kiss. Did he just casually kiss her in the middle of the museum? This was what she wanted for the past months, but now that it was happening it seemed strange to her. Like they were almost to something great and perfect, but it was off. They needed to do something Kate was still terrible at, even since her shooting. They needed to talk. Really talk. Not any more of this 'I love you but you hate me so we can just be friends' shit. They needed boundaries, rules, and to understand exactly what each of them wanted and is willing to give.

The start all or end all talk.

So what do you think? :)