Author's Note: Not exactly a date since Martha and Alexis were there as well...but we can pretend it counts as one anyway.

2x07 – Famous Last Words

"Skye is performing tonight."

"Hayley's sister?" Kate asks, faltering only slightly as she continues filling out paperwork.

He nods, reaches out to trace the border of the name plaque that rests on her desk.

"And?" she asks when he doesn't elaborate.

"Just thought you might like to know," Castle offers with a noncommittal shrug.

She hums her response, signs the bottom of the form before setting it aside and starting on the next one, and then the next.

When Castle is still sitting there, completely motionless, eyes glued to her hunched form, Kate finally sets down her pen and lifts her head.

"What, Castle?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're still here," she gestures as though it is obvious. "So what do you want?"

"Why do I have to want something?"

Kate sighs. "Because the case is closed and your daughter is upset and yet you're sitting here watching me do paperwork."

"Point taken," he concedes.

She sighs again when he still says no more.

"Spit it out," Kate finally demands, fixing him with a stern glare.

He hesitates before clumsily blurting out his request. "Come with me."

"Excuse me?"

"Come with me tonight. With us."

"To Skye's concert?" she clarifies.

Castle nods. "I...you...it would mean a lot to Alexis," he manages, a poor cover-up but he hopes she understands. Somehow he doesn't think that 'I'd like to spend the evening with you' would go over too well at this point.

"Castle, I barely know her," Kate protests weakly.

"But you solved the case," he points out. "You found the truth. And I know Alexis is thankful for that."

"I, ummm, have paperwork," she hedges, because it's hard to argue with his logic but perhaps she can excuse her way out of this.

"It can wait," he offers easily. "And the concert isn't for three hours still. Plenty of time."

She hums a non-answer, retrieves her pen and bends back over the paperwork. Maybe he'll take her lack of answer as his cue to leave.

She should have known better than to expect that.

After a few more minutes she tries a different tactic. "Castle, go be with Alexis."

He sighs, finally takes her hint and stands. "I will. Just..." he pauses, bends down to gather her attention. "Come, Kate. Please."

He leaves without waiting for her reply.

When she shows up at the concert venue, he doesn't look the least bit surprised.

"Hello, Detective Beckett," Castle husks, stepping up behind her and standing far, far too close. She can feel his breath on the back of her neck and the heat radiating from his body and she fights the urge to elbow him and force him out of her personal space.

He spends way too much time invading it, and she refuses to admit that it has any impact on her whatsoever. Except for annoying her.

She whirls around, steps back as she lifts her eyes to find his face way too close to hers. "Hi Castle," she offers awkwardly.

"Oh, Detective Beckett," Martha offers with a flourish. "So glad you could join us. Richard mentioned that you'd be here."

Kate wants to be annoyed at Castle for being so sure that she would show that he told his family. She also wants to smack the smug smile off of his face right now.

Instead she replies politely, "Hello, Martha."

Castle steps closer again, ushers Kate over to the spot they scoped out upon arrival. Alexis stands there with a cluster of candles in her hands and Kate assumes there must be some sort of candlelight vigil planned.

"Hi, Detective Beckett," the girl offers as the other three rejoin her.

She smiles, can't help herself, because big Castle may be annoying as hell but little Castle has always been nothing but well-behaved and sweet. "Hi Alexis. Are you doing okay?"

The girl shrugs, hesitates as though she's not quite sure how to answer. "I will be." It's slightly awkward, the relationship between them somewhere between familiar and strangers, as though neither knows exactly how to act. "Thanks for coming," she adds as an afterthought.

"Of course," Kate replies with a smile. She's here for Alexis after all, not for her father.

Absolutely not.

Up on stage, a sound guy taps the mic, speaks a brief introduction, and all the attendees begin to congregate in front of the stage. Somewhere near the front the first candle is lit, and individuals begin to pass the flame around. When it reaches them, Castle tilts his candle toward Kate's, reaches out with his free hand and covers hers, helps to angle the candle just so. She wants to roll her eyes at his ridiculous excuse to touch her but instead she finds herself fighting to remain steady beneath the heat of his palm.

He can probably feel the shakiness of her hand anyway but she silently hopes he can't hear the heavy beating of her heart, and how does a mere touch from him manage to have this kind of an impact on her? She doesn't even like the guy. Her interest in anything about him or his life is strictly professional curiosity.

And she's only here for Alexis.

The music begins and Skye's voice croons through the microphone. Alexis sings along softly, her head resting on her dad's shoulder, and Castle not-so-sneakily leans closer to Kate, his shoulder brushing hers as he sways to the music. Kate rolls her eyes but goes with it, deciding that moving away would be too obvious.

It's not like his proximity matters anyway. It's just annoying.

The concert is short, just a few songs, but Castle takes every chance he gets between numbers to lean in close and speak to Kate. He brings up any topic he can think of, from the case to the weather to his daughter's taste in music. Kate plays along, indulges his incessant need to talk because, well, she can. And she might actually be a little bit thankful that he invited her. It's not really her kind of music but it's been a long time since she's been to a concert. And it's kind of nice.

When the concert ends and Castle once again covers her hand with his, steadying it as he blows out her candle for her, she changes her mind. It was nice to be here when he was paying attention to the concert and wrapping an arm around his daughter. Now it's just irritating and suffocating the way he keeps finding excuses to touch her. The candle incident. His hand on her back as they exit through the temporary fence set up for crowd control purposes. The way he leans in far closer than necessary to thank her for coming.

The way her entire body responds to the timbre of his voice, the sincerity in his tone.

The way her carefully crafted defenses seem to be worthless against him now despite the fact that there's really nothing she would like more than for him to not keep weaseling his way into her life and her...feelings...and everything. It's enough that he follows her around all day and always has a snarky comment for every situation. But now he's in her head and he sticks his nose into her work and writes books about her and it's just...beyond annoying.

And when he makes an appearance in her dreams that night, leaving her flustered and baffled upon waking, she decides that maybe annoying is too tame of a descriptor.

Maybe 'incredibly frustrating' is much more accurate.

Thoughts?