Maura drove Mr. Castle and herself to the Meritage, a bay side seafood restaurant. When the two walked in, Maura knew that Castle had done his research about Boston. The place had a romantic vibe and Maura regretted coming. She knew exactly why Jane was jealous, but at the time, she thought going out with Castle would a platonic affair, but obviously Castle had other plans. Maura didn't know why he was making such a romantic gesture; she had seen Detective Beckett and Castle's body language in the morgue, which was why she had agreed to go out with him.

"How may I help you?" Maura was snapped out of her thoughts by the waiter, who was politely staring at Mr. Castle.

Rick was confident when he answered. "Ah, yes. Well, I haven't gotten a reservation, though I would very much like a table."

"Sir, without a reservation…" The waiter stopped talking when Castle slipped him a hundred dollar bill which Maura pretended not to notice.

"I'm sure this will cover things."

"Most certainly sir. Right this way." The waiter led the way, and Maura stiffened when Castle slipped his arm around her waist, though the writer didn't notice. The waiter took the couple to a booth not far from the bar, and Castle immediately ordered some white wine. He smiled at the honey-blonde.

"So, how's life as the Medical Examiner?"

"It's really very interesting. I think I would compare it to a treasure hunt. The detectives put the puzzle together while I help them. I can speak for the dead, when they have no one to speak for them." She took a sip of wine, and remembered how much she disliked white wine.

"Interesting."

Maura decided to change the subject. People usually didn't like it when she talked about dead people. "What are we going to order?"

"Ah, something on the seafood menu, to compliment the wine. Would you like to share?"

Maura did not like the route this was taking. "Sure."

When the waiter returned, Castle ordered for the both of them. "We'll share the Maine Lobster tail with extra snap peas please."

"Right away, Mr. Castle."

Rick wiped his hand on his thighs. He was nervous.

"So, Rick, do you have any family in New York?"

He laughed. "Well, aside from the fact that my mother lives with me. She was an actress, but she still does some freelance. I think she likes the fact that she relies on me and my money. My daughter, Alexis, is in college and she'd doing odd internships. What about your parents?"

"Well, I was adopted. My parents were out of the picture when I was younger, and I was sent to a French boarding school at a young age. What kind of internships?" Maura was a little surprised that he had a daughter, but when she heard him talk about her, she didn't doubt it.

"Really bizarre things, she took one with the NY Medical Examiner, so that was a little weird. But she's enjoying it, so I'm happy for her."

Maura brightened up. "She's interested in medicine?"

"Medicine? More like dead bodies. French boarding school? That's amazing. I speak a little bit, but not enough to carry on a conversation. Do you speak much to your parents these days?"

"Yes, my mother mostly. I've recently come into contact with my biological father, but I don't really want to go into that."

Castle raised his hands up. "Of course. Speaking of courses…" He faded off as the waiter brought their meal. He situated the plate between them and they started eating. Maura watched him inconspicuously, trying to really look at him. He was quite attractive. But he wasn't Jane. Jane was beautiful and handsome, her dark hair and eyes. She tasted a bite of the lobster, and it was really delicious.

Maura pulled at her dress. "What made you want to work with Detective Beckett? I noticed the two of you were close."

"Me and Beckett? No, we're not like, dating. I was a suspect on a case of hers. A killer was copying the murders in my books. I was really digging the whole atmosphere. After the case closed, I asked the mayor to get me assigned with homicide. Kate Beckett is my muse. We work really well together."

They sure do. "What's the weirdest thing that has happened to the two of you?" Maura was just trying to direct the conversation away from her, trying to survive dinner without getting his attracting his attention too much.

Castle laughed his deep bellowing laugh. "Well, Kate and I have been trapped in an infinite amount of places." Maura wanted so badly to correct him. That infinity was impossible to reach. He continued. "We've been in a freezer and almost froze to death, we've woke up handcuffed to each other in a room with a tiger, and two weeks ago we were in a car that sunk in the harbor."

"Wow, that's… a lot of unusual things." Maura smiled. The way he talked about Kate made it seem that he was in love with her. It was kind of the way she talked about Jane. Castle went into the tiger story and when he was done, Maura realized that they were done with dinner. Castle paid for the meal, and walked Maura out to her car.

"I had a really nice time, Rick."

"The pleasure was all mine, Maura." Before she could object, Castle leaned forward and kissed her. It was soft and pleasurable, but to Maura it felt wrong. Horribly, disgustingly wrong.

When the kiss broke Maura couldn't get her words out fast enough. "I'm in a relationship!"