Thanks for the reviews and story alerts! This chapter sort of took on a life on its own. It turned out to be a built up for the next one. I hope you enjoy it anyway. ;-)

xxxxxxxxxxxx

She had 15 minutes. 15 minutes until the town car would pick her up. And she still didn't know what to wear. She had attached her make-up, had done her hair and stood almost naked in her bedroom, not being able to make a decision. For what felt like the hundreds times she looked at herself in the mirror and compared the red dress in her right hand to the dark blue one in her left. She sighed in frustration and threw both of them on her bed. Why was it so hard to find the right outfit? Before the shooting she would have opted for a green one with a deep neckline she had always saved for a special occasion, but now that wasn't an option for her anymore. At least that was how she felt.

"Think, Beckett! Think!" she told herself and looked one more time at the two dresses on her bed. And then out of pure instinct she grabbed the blue one.

20 minutes later she sat in the back of the town car that was bringing her to his loft. She had argued that it would be easier to take a taxi, but he had insisted on getting her picked up. So she was sitting here in expensive leather seats, fumbling nervously with her hands and trying to calm herself down. It was just a date. It was just Castle, right? She took a steadying breath. But who was she kidding? It was DATE with CASTLE! She grunted and sucked in her lower lip. Causing the driver to turn around, "Everything okay, Ma'am?"

She nodded, "Yes, I'm fine." Embarrassed that her current stayed of mind was this obvious, she forced herself to remain still for the rest of the ride and stared out of the window, watching the illuminated New York pass by.

Five minutes later they pulled up in front of his building, thanking the driver and taking one last deep breath she got out of the car and walked into his building. Stepping into the elevator she pushed for his floor. "Relax Kate!" she mumbled to herself. "You made out with him in the cabin. You kissed him in this very elevator just yesterday. There's nothing to be nervous about!" And yet she knew there was.

This date was proof that it was real. That what happened between them was not a spur of the moment thing in the woods and not only built up sexual tension that needed to be released. Well maybe that too, she could feel herself blush at that thought, but most importantly there was the promise of more. The promise that this was the beginning of something they both wanted. The thought of this lingered on her mind, when she finally raised her hand to knock on his door.

The door swung open momentarily and she was greeted by his bright smile, "Kate! Hi!" She stepped into his apartment allowing him to help her out of her coat. "Wow! You look," he stuttered, not knowing how to put into words what he saw in front of him. The blue dress she wore matched his blue button-down shirt, not to mention that it fitted her perfectly. It clung to her like a second skin and he didn't know where to look first as it hugged all the important body parts and made her look more feminine than he had ever seen her. "You look breathtaking!"

She smiled shyly, "Thank you!"

He reached for her hand and pulled her close to place a soft kiss on her cheek, before he guided her further into his apartment, letting her take the lead. He followed her and while seeing her front had taken his breath away, her back side nearly gave him a heart attack. The low-cut back of her dress left little to his imagination, making absolutely clear what she was not wearing under it. He tried to breathe, but it sounded like a whimper and made her stop in track and turn around to look at him. Satisfied with his reaction to her wardrobe and feeling just a bit more confident than she had 5 minutes ago, she cocked one eyebrow and said: "Are you joining me or are you planning to guard that door for the rest of the evening?"

He shook his head to get rid of his widely inappropriate thoughts of who he actually wanted to guard, "Yes, yes. I'm coming." He muttered between clenched teeth and rushed over to her side, trying not to make a complete fool out of himself. He stepped behind the kitchen counter and fumbled with a bottle of red wine. They clinked glasses and she got lost in the smile he gave her while doing so. Both took their first sip, without breaking eye contact and Beckett realized that it was getting more difficult to get enough air into her lungs. She needed a distraction, before she totally lost it right here and right now.

"Where are Alexis and Martha?" she asked, going for the safest topic that came to her mind without having to talk about the weather.

"Alexis is spending the night at a friend's house. Girls night out or something and my mother is seeing a play tonight," Castle elaborated and was glad that he sounded almost normal, because looking at her made his mind fuzzy and stirred other body parts of him into action that shouldn't be stirred. At least not yet.

He was about to lean a bit closer into her personal space when the front door suddenly opened and they both shot up like teenager that got caught in the act.

"Mother!" Castle exclaimed. "I thought you were at the theatre?"

"I was on my way Richard," she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Kate, raising a question brow when she took in her appearance, "I forgot my tickets." She finished her sentence before she looked from her son to Beckett and back. "So what's going on here?"

Castle looked at Kate, not sure how to answer that question.

"Is this another undercover thing you two are getting yourselves into?" Martha asked and was already grabbing for her tickets that lay on the coffee table.

Kate gave Castle an approving nod. A silent agreement that he was allowed to tell his mother the truth, "Actually Kate and I are going out tonight." He waited for his mother to register what he had said, but to his surprise she kept heading for the door. Calling out over her back, "You kids have fun!"

"On a date!" he clarified and this time she froze. She slowly turned around, facing the two of them.

"You mean on a real date?" Beckett and Castle both nodded. "And you're not kidding me?" Both shook their heads. "Oh!" she squealed in delight and rushed over, hugging first Beckett and then her son. "Finally! You know I really started thinking that you two would wait until I'm six feet under!" For what felt like an eternity she didn't move and just stared at them like a five year old on Christmas Day until Castle cleared his throat.

"Mother?" he gave her a pointed look.

"Uh? Oh right. I'm gone. You two have fun," she headed for the door, standing on the threshold she turned around once more. "Don't wait up for me, kiddos! I will spend the night elsewhere." She gave them a knowing wink, before she shut the door behind her.

For a minute neither of them spoke, both dealing with the implications his mother had made, "So you're ready to go?" he finally asked when he managed to get certain images out of his head.

"Yes," she replied and placed her wine glass on the counter. "Where are you taking me?"

He shook his head grinning, "We don't wanna spoil the surprise now, do we?"

She rolled her eyes but followed him towards the door where he helped her into her coat. He took advantage of the situation and placed a tender kiss on her shoulder, while he was holding her coat out for her to slip in. To her it felt hot and cold at the same time and made her tremble. No man had ever had such an effect on her. And part of her wished she could just turn around and rip his clothes off him. Right here, right now and make love to him. Weren't dates highly overrated? But the other part of her was eager to find out what it felt like to be on a date with Richard Castle, so she let him guide her out of the apartment. His hand on the small of her back and butterflies doing a rollercoaster ride in her stomach, she was curious where this night would take them.