It had been easy at first, when he was still only a memory. It had been easy when she had convinced herself he had been the makings of her drugged out delusions. It had been easy before she'd seen him, heard him, smelled him… before she'd touched him.

Had. It had been easy.

Because he was real, he'd been more than real; he'd been there, just like that. And her body was reacting, like an addiction she'd entertained for so long and couldn't get rid of, the need, the longing.

Before the baseball game she had been able to ignore it, and she'd been successful enough, or had she thought. But now, she was finding it more and more difficult to ignore, ignore him. She wasn't even sure it was worth the fight anymore.

He was real. He was there, and she couldn't remember why she had even fought it to begin with.

Her day had been completely normal. She and Nikki had always spent their days like that. She wasn't a stalker. It was routine, just like every other day. Almost.

Maybe it was Nikki. Yes, it was her son's fault, wasn't of her makings; he was to blame. That's what she'd tell herself.

Kate hadn't purposefully left a little later than usual from the apartment. They hadn't lingered longer than they usually did at the park. She didn't have an ulterior motive for her extensive bird, and people, watching this afternoon. She had absolutely not given more than a thought to the route she would be taking home today. The new itinerary was hardly even longer. There was no reason Kate had made them walk by this particular coffee shop that afternoon. It was just a coffee shop and she really did want one. She did.

As she entered, she wasn't hoping he'd be there, writing. It hadn't even crossed her mind, because her dad hadn't casually mentioned the week before that Rick would sometimes write there, on Wednesday afternoons, waiting for his daughter's violin lessons to finish. She wasn't.

She wasn't a stalker. It wasn't weird. This was completely, utterly, normal.

Taking a step towards the counter, she saw him, from the corner of her eye. She placed her order, casually observing him from afar. He was intently staring at his laptop screen, oblivious to the world around him and she wasn't sure she had the courage to walk up to him. Not when he was this concentrated, this imbued in his work.

Just seeing him could probably be enough for now. It had to. It had to be enough to drown that fire that had wouldn't die out. Because she couldn't keep ignoring it, it consumed her. It stopped her from functioning properly, ever since the ball game almost 2 weeks ago and it needed to stop.

She was pensive, contemplating her next move when she heard her name being called. Her head jerked up, and the barista smiled at her, extending the fuming paper cup; her coffee order was ready. She turned around, looking at the door, weighing her options, when she heard it, "Kate! Hey!" and finally she began to breathe again.

He had his hand in the air waving, in a totally Castle, 'I-like-people-to-notice', way.

She couldn't tell if she was surprised or relieved, probably a little of both, but she exhaled a soft, "Hey, Rick."

Turning around, she expertly manoeuvred the stroller through the narrow spaces between the tables towards Rick's. Once beside his, the writer motioned to the empty chair in front of him, giving her one of his million dollar smiles, making her heart clench. And that was it. She was done fighting. Her heart was already too deeply involved, too deep into this to back down anyways. Plus, she had nothing to lose.

Kate locked the stroller's wheels at the end of the table and sat down. Rick diverted his attention to her son, still buckled into place. He playfully pulled on his foot, smiling, "Hey, little man. You look good."

He added turning towards her, "You too."

"You're not so bad yourself, Castle," she answered slyly, carefully placing her hair behind her ear.

He smiled and shrugged his shoulder, nodding cockily and she rolled her eyes.

"Hey you said it," he beamed out.

She shook her head and gave him another eye roll and he laughed. She unzipped her coat, because although it was chilly outside in the late October, the crowded shop was well heated.

"Is it getting hot in here?" he inquired jokingly.

"I'm dressed for outside," she stated ignoring his childish jokes and stripping Nikki of his light green jacket. "We were coming back from the park, funny running into you here," she added casually.

"Alexis has her violin lesson in the building in front. I usually wait here, the coffee's amazing. Plus, I take the time to catch up on my writing."

"Oh, we're intruding?" she asked.

"You're a very welcome distraction to say the least," he stated as he tickled Nikki's tummy with his left hand.

She laughed, "I bet we are. Stuck, are you?"

"You can say that."

"So what are you working on?" she asked as she proceeded to sit straighter in her chair.

"Latest Derrick Storm," he answered without much enthusiasm.

"Oh," she said, disappointed. She had no reason to be, he obviously wouldn't be writing any Nikki Heat books.

"I'm almost done; I just can't seem to figure out the ending."

He stared at his screen while she stared at him and suddenly it hit her, "Just kill him."

"What?"

"Derrick Storm, kill him. Bullet in the head, then move on-"

"Shhhhhh… Beckett! Spoiler alert much? Do you want to start a riot?" he whispered as he looked around.

"Get a grip of yourself Castle, this isn't Harry Potter."

"Ouch, Beckett. That hurts."

"I'm pretty sure you'll survive," she laughed.

"I don't know. Just to be sure, you do know mouth to mouth, right?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"What? You'd let me die?" he asked faking offended.

"I wouldn't let you die Castle," she added resigned.

He smiled cockily and she added with a playful smile, "I'm sure the old lady sitting two tables back staring at you would jump to the occasion to give you some mouth to mouth. I could probably call 9-1-1 for you though."

He turned around, to the woman in question and the elderly gave him a toothless smile. He had no other choice but to smile back and wave. The hurt, puppy dog, expression on his face when he turned around made her chuckle.

"Let's just say-" he started, but was interrupted by Nikki's cries.

"You don't like being all alone in that stroller do you now? Feel like you're missing all the fun," she told the boy, as she unbuckled him. Grabbing him under his arms, she pulled him out. As she did, both Rick and Kate, exclaimed, "Phewww" at the same time. Castle crinkled his nose in disgust, "That's… woaw… What the hell do you feed him?"

She chuckled. "Yup, duty calls. I'll be right back" she stated as she grabbed the diaper bag and hurried towards the washroom.

Rick sank back in his chair, watching her as she walked away, the short bob of curly hair bouncing just above her shoulder. She wasn't the same person he had met all those months ago. She wasn't the woman that had made such an impression, wasn't the woman who had completely stripped him of his ability to write. She wasn't, she was much more. She was different from what he had remembered, though it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

The woman he had met, that he had helped, that had intrigued him, fascinated him, she was still there. Only she was a lot less tense, a lot more care-free. The tension in her body was slowly dissipating and with that his was also. He smiled to himself because maybe he'd finally met someone capable of throwing him back the ball.

Rick checked his watch and the numbers that stared back had him discouraged; he didn't know when he'd see her again. Alexis' lesson was almost over. He'd need to leave, soon. Slowly, he saved the files he'd worked on, though not much had been done and closed his laptop. He drank the last gulp of his now cold cup of coffee and sighed.

"Are you going already?" she asked walking back to their table, a clean smelling baby in her arms.

There was absolutely nothing worth his time on Tv Jim had decided as he laid the remote on the coffee table. Suddenly, his cell phone right next to it chimed. Picking it up, he smiled as he read the message on the screen:

Getting a bite to eat with Rick and Alexis. Won't be home late. -KB

So, short-ish chapter. But it was either that or an extra-extra long chapter next time. Still hope you enjoyed.

I really, really love reading what you guys have to say! You guys are all awesome!

(Feel free to criticize also if you feel like it, I can only grow from that.)