Paparazzi, one of Rick's pet peeves. He couldn't help it tonight though; he had to be there for Kate. Sure, he hated these events but Kate hated them ten times as much and she was forced to attend.

This wasn't his first book party. His mother was once invited to the second Harry Potter book launch. He had no idea how she got invited and how she was allowed to bring Rick along, but Martha had always told him that she knew a guy that knew a guy. That was her answer for everything. But unlike last time instead of 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets by JK Rowling' written on the walls it was "Deadly Heat written by Kate Beckett".

As he entered the main hall he was bombarded by a young red head.

"Richard!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I'm happy to be here. Have you seen Kate?" he asked.

She smiled as a young man walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "She's always late to these kinds of things." She twisted her head around and pecked him on the cheek. Rick knew him from somewhere but couldn't quite pinpoint the exact place. "Richard this is Ashley forest, Ashley this is Richard, Kate's new inspiration."

"Pleased to meet you Richard" Ashley said and released one of his hands from around Alexis and put out a hand for Rick to shake.

"Ditto" Rick replied happily taking the young man's hand shaking it firmly. "But please call me Rick."

They talked for a while just about the work that Ashley does and Rick being a police officer. He finally realised where he'd seen Ashley from, he was an actor and had stared on some of Rick's favourite movies. They did this for a while until Ashley was torn away by Alexis who wanted him to talk to other 'more important' people.

It wasn't like it was awkward for Rick. He did find some people that he did know; most of them were friends with his mother. He wandered around the room striking up convosation with various people.

He was talking a Miss Florence Harbour who just happened to be his old publisher. They were talking about his old books and his writing that he was doing now. It was the first time that they had talked in almost five years. The convosation didn't last long though; Rick was tackled from behind from a tiny body.

"RICKY!" the little girl exclaimed.

Rick turned around and picked Rory up to sit on his hip.

"Hey princess" he replied ad started to tickle the little girl. "How are you?" he asked.

"Good" she giggled.

"Well that's good" he answered. "Where is your mum? And oh where are my manners? Flo this is Rory, Rory this is Flo."

"I didn't know you had child Rick" Flo asked. She had a quizzical look on her face.

"Ricky's not my dad silly" Rory said, like it was so stupid that she had assumed.

Flo laughed, "Okay I will leave you two now. We will have to catch up later Richard."

"Definitely" Rick replied before Florence walked off.

Rory reached up and gave Rick a peck on the cheek. It made little butterflies start in his stomach. Giant moths soon invaded when he saw Kate. She was wearing a medium length, plain black dress that fitted her perfectly. It left the perfect amount to the imagination and Rick instantly imagined himself taking that dress off of her body and throwing it across the room right now; even in front of all these people.

"Rick, hello" Kate exclaimed. She seemed exhausted after just fighting her way through the paparazzi. She walked up beside him and kissed him on the cheek on the exact place that Rory had just before.

"Hey Kate" he replied and kissed her back on her right cheek.

Kate looked over to Rory and laughed how she had already made herself at home on his hip. "So how's the party been without me?" she asked.

"Dead until you two came."

"Well at least we are here now" she laughed. "We couldn't not come and leave you here with all of these overly boring people."

"Oh I don't think that you are overly boring Kate" Rick laughed and gave her a wink.

"Shut up" she exclaimed and gave him a tap on the shoulder.

Both of the adults turned to Rory as the little girl started giggling immensely.

"What are you laughing at princess?" Rick asked and gently poked the little girl in her side.

"You said mummy is not boring" she giggled.

"You think I'm boring?" Kate exclaimed playing a hurt look on her face.

"Well duh" she replied, "You don't give me ice cream!"

Both of the adults laughed and walked off towards the bar to get a drink.

Kate was so thankful that Rick was here; she wouldn't be able to get through this night without him. Usually Rory was ushered off to a children's play room while she was at these functions, which she was still planning to do, but Rick had already taken her. Later she knew that Rory would have to go; when the crowd got a little too rowdy. Maybe then she could dance with Rick?

(…)

They were so in sync. Every move he made she followed perfectly. They flowed across the dance floor like they had been doing it for years.

Rick was the perfect gentleman. He kept his hand not too far down her back that it was uncomfortable, but just far enough that it was new, something exciting. He led with the upmost confidence; guiding her across the dance floor perfectly avoiding the other couples that were dancing.

"You're a great dancer" Kate laughed and lifted her head off his shoulder.

"I was taught well" he laughed back, "You're not so bad yourself Miss Beckett, lessons?"

"Haven't you ever heard of natural talent?" she replied and winked back at him.

They danced for over an hour; neither of them tiring or wanting them to break contact with each other. Finally they had to break apart ruining the kind of intercourse that had been going on. Kate walked up to the stage and stood at the podium.

She found Rick's eyes in the overly large crowd of people and gave him a smile. He instantly smiled back and Kate's heart warmed as she saw that he had gone and picked up Rory from the play centre. He truly did love her daughter, and it was so cute how he acted around her. He has an innocent soul she concluded. Well really it was the only explanation of why Rick could play so well with her three year old daughter.

"Hello to everyone who could make it tonight" she said into the microphone. She hated doing these kinds of things; she definitely wasn't the public speaking kind of person. "Today we are here to celebrate the final Nikki heat book, Deadly Heat. Although we will be moving on from this character, another character is forming and I would like to thank everybody who is helping that character develop." She again looked over to Rick and she smiled at the sight where Rory was pointing to Rick's nose and saying "that's you!" She looked back down to her paper to catch up on where she was. "So I hope you all enjoy your night. Enjoy the open bar and I will be signing books at ten. Thank you for all coming" she concluded and walked off the stage to a round of applause.

"Nice speech" Rick teased and copped a punch in the arm because of it. A ghastly look appeared on Rory's face.

"Mummy why would you do that to Ricky?" she exclaimed.

"Yeah Mummy, why?" Rick teased. He pouted his lips and Kate couldn't help but smile.

"He deserved it sweetie" she replied to the little girl.

(…)

"Can we get ice cream Ricky?" Rory asked as they headed to Rick's loft in one of Kate's town cars.

"Not tonight Princess. As soon as we get to my house you are going straight to bed."

"Awww you're no fun!" she protested.

"Yeah well sometimes life isn't fun sweetie" he replied. He knew that she would have no idea what he was talking about. He had enough on his mind. Did that really just happen? Did he just offer to take Rory home and Kate kissed him because of it. Yes it may have only been a small kiss on the lips, but it was still something. Kate and he had become really good friends but that wasn't 'just friends' behaviour was it? He couldn't decide so he would have to let Kate decide on that one.

Ophelia was tucked into her big queen size bed with a teddy that Rick had bought her and she was all snuggled into her unicorn PJ's.

Rick left the room and didn't close the door fully so that the room wouldn't be completely dark is Rory ever woke up. He now started to ploy his master plan.

(…)

She absolutely hated when these events ran for so long. She hated that her friend had to take her own daughter home to his house because Kate was too busy to take her home herself. Kate hoped what had happened before didn't confuse him. She was really thankful and she couldn't thank him enough for it.

She pushed down the door handle and walked into the loft. Again there was a child's whiteboard sitting in the centre of the lounge room. It said: 'Kate, Rory is asleep. Here are some toiletries and if you wish you can have a bath in my bathroom. Try not to wake me ;) – Rick'.

'That man' she thought to herself. But she really did want a bath so she snuck into Rick's room and slipped into his bathroom. She closed the door and turned on the lights. His bathroom was beautiful and his bath was huge. It was comparable to a swimming pool.

She looked around the room and found bubble bath and bath salts, both lavender scented. Kate then turned on the water and added both to the sea of splashes. She found that Rick had left some PJ's on the basin for her, he had planned this whole thing and Kate wasn't about to ruin a great plan.

When the bath was full she turned off the tap and jumped in. She had even found that Rick had left a book for her to read, 'Dead Nights' by Richard Castle. She had to admit it was good, maybe even better than his other one that she had already read. She was probably in the bath for a good hour until the water turned cold. She got out and dried herself off with a towel then got changed. Finally she went to brush her teeth and wipe her makeup off.

She walked back into Rick's room and she stopped right beside his bed. Was the whole meaning of this to get her into his bed at the end of the night? She decided that it was and she secretly liked the plan.

She lifted up the doona and scrambled in so she wasn't touching Rick, but could still feel his warmth. It didn't last long though, soon after she felt Rick move over to be right beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist. She didn't mind at all and even dug a little deeper back so she could be encased in his body. It had been a long time since she had been in bed with another guy who didn't have any other intentions other than just cuddling. She hoped that that 'other' stuff would maybe come later in the relationship, if there was even a relationship at all. They had a lot to talk about tomorrow.

(…)

Kate woke to the feeling of kisses running down her back.

"Rick what are you doing?" she asked sleepily, she still couldn't open her eyes.

"Savouring the moment" he replied and continued to kiss her spine.

"You should stop" she said sarcastically and laughed.

"Miss Beckett don't tell me that you don't like it?" he teased.

"Oh definitely" she replied and turned around to face him.

He wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her close. Butterflies were fluttering around in each of their stomachs and neither of them moved. Both of them just laid there and took in each other's eyes, basking in the beautiful moment. Kate suddenly started giggling and turned her face away from Rick.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked with a grin.

"You" she replied and dove in and kissed him passionately.

They finally broke apart as they both needed to catch a breath.

"Well I will accept a lot more laughing if I get more kisses like that" he said with a smile.

Kate flipped them over so she was on top of him. It was like they were in high school again, just messing around not really knowing what they were doing and had no idea what it all meant.

She leant down and started kissing him. She thought she had control over the situation, that she could make Rick ponder over every move that she made; she was wrong.

Rick somehow flipped them over again and now he was on top. He encased his legs with hers, rubbed her back with his hands and leant down to kiss her. Groans escaped Kate's mouth as he seductively bit down on her lip. She was wrong before, they certainly did know what they were doing.

They did this for a while, just playing a game with each other until Kate broke them apart by pushing herself on top again.

"Rick" she said seriously. The seriousness didn't last for long as Rick began to tickle her stomach but she slapped his hand away, they needed to talk about this now. "We need to talk."

"I know" he replied with a pout on his face.

She leant down again and pecked him on the lips. "What is this?" she asked.

"Well I like you and I love your daughter. I presume that you like me so I guess we have that" he answered with a smile.

"Yes but are we dating? Are we just friends?" she asked hesitantly. There was nothing worse than bringing up the 'dating' card too early.

He sat up against the head board of the bed and got Kate to sit on top of him.

"Kate there is nothing more that I hate then a couple who is clearly together but call themselves 'just friends'."

Kate smiled and answered with, "Mr Castle are you telling me that you would like to date me?"

"Why Miss Beckett I believe I am" he replied. "But I want to take things slowly. There would be nothing worse than us rushing into this and making a mistake. Rory can't get hurt because of this. We will need to talk about that later too."

Kate bent down and kissed him passionately. "We will" she answered and kissed him again. "Aren't you going to ask me properly Rick?"

Rick laughed, "Katherine Beckett will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes I will" she replied and kissed him again. This is the last thing she thought she would wake up to tomorrow when she woke up yesterday morning.

They continued on playing around until they could hear Rory crying from her bed. They got out of bed and Rick rugged Kate up in his dressing gown and they walked hand in hand upstairs into Rory's bedroom.

Hey guys! Sorry that this chapter took forever! I just haven't had time t write much! Hope you liked this chapter, please leave a review and tell me what you think!

-Ainsley