Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

The cab ride back to their apartment had been too long for Kate's liking.

Al had been overjoyed from the few hours spent in Castle's presence, playing out scenarios with the salt and pepper shakers throughout dinner, making Kate join in with the little ceramic dish of sugars as a family pet. Kate was sill surprised that the girl had managed to eat bites of her macaroni and cheese between acts. During those breaks, Kate caught Castle watching her over the table. They had dropped the subject of the books for the remainder of the night but Kate suspected he had more to talk to her about. What it was, she had no idea.

Kate had snuck the bill from Castle's hand, slipping her card into the plastic slot, and handing it back to the waitress before he had a chance to protest. "My turn," she had said, cutting off any attempts to somehow pay her back.

She had practically needed to drag Al away from the man, the girl holding onto his hand on the walk back up the stairs to the street level.

"Promise you'll see us again?" Al asked, completely focused on his face as if she could force a response from the sheer pressure of her look.

It had worked as he promised to talk to them soon. Then he had passed Kate a napkin from the bar, his phone number scribbled on it with a pen.

"I got yours off your desk." She had raised her brows, trying to figure out where on her desk she had her number listed. Just as she reached the conclusion, he spoke. "The emergency contact list you had taped to the corner. I hope you don't mind."

She did mind a little. People, especially strangers who were also celebrities that she had only met twice before, snooping on her desk was a peeve of hers. "I could have found yours, you know," she had said, slipping the napkin into her pocket.

He shrugged. "Just saving you some time, Detective."

Then he had hailed them a cab, said goodbye to Al as she jumped into the back seat, and told Kate that he'd drop by the precinct Monday afternoon to talk to whoever would need to clear him in.

But now, after the ride back home, Kate was thinking and that was dangerous. As she got Al ready for bed after a quick bath, her mind was anywhere but on reading another chapter of Charlotte's Web to the girl cuddled up under her blankets. Even her goodnight to Al was short, a quick brush of her lips over her daughter's cheek before flipping the lights off and cracking the door open.

Kate changed into her pajamas, held down the speed dial on her phone, and waited to hear his voice.

"Katie. It's late."

A glance at the clock told her that, yeah, it was pretty late. "I can call back tomorrow after I get Al off to school."

He laughed and Kate could practically see him shaking his head. "No, no. What's up? Relaxing Sunday?"

"Richard Castle is basing books on me." It came out in a rush and Kate couldn't stop the smile from creeping back onto her face.

"I thought he had that private investigator that you and your mother had a crush on."

"Dad…" Kate warned. But it was true. Johanna had started reading the Derrick Storm books long before Kate. But then Kate had picked up the first book in the series and read it when her mother wasn't looking. It wasn't until she let a reference slip and Johanna caught it that the theory sessions had happened between the two, much to Jim's amusement. "This is serious."

As Kate pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her back against the headboard of the bed, Jim said, "But how would he even know about you, Katie? It's not like you're plastered on the front cover of the Times."

Had she really not told her father about the multiple run-ins with the writer? Well this was going to be interesting…

"I might have met him. A few times," Kate said, her eyes on the chipped red polish on her toenails. Time to redo the polish with Al some night soon. "In a coffee shop that I go to on the way to get Al from school sometimes."

"And?"

Once a lawyer, always a lawyer, Kate thought to herself as she smiled and rolled her eyes. "We talked." Silence. Another tactic of his to keep her talking, one that she used in interrogations often. It always worked when it was her dad using it. "Three times."

"And in those three times, you managed to charm him enough to get him to base a book character off you? Let me guess, love interest for Derrick? That would have tickled your mother to no end."

Kate had to agree. Her mother would have laughed and teased and then gone to work and bragged to her co-workers at the law firm about how her daughter was inspiring Richard Castle. Kate would have been embarrassed if Castle managed to slip one of his infamously steamy sex scenes into the book. "No, Dad. New book."

"So you met him, managed to not faint in his presence, and got him to like you to the point where he's writing an entire book based on you? I'm impressed, Katie."

If he were sitting next to her, Kate was sure she would have shoved him. "Yes," she hissed, rolling her eyes again. "If you're going to tease me, I'm hanging up."

"Serious girl. You always were," Jim mused on the other end of the line. "It's exciting, right?"

Kate shrugged, pushing her toes under the sheets. "Right now. Dad, he wants to come shadow me at work. What if he screws something up and cases get tossed out of court?"

"You won't know until it happens. Give him a chance. You can always kick his ass later because we both know you can."

"True. Talk to you tomorrow, Dad."

If I survive tomorrow, she thought as she plugged her phone into the charger and pulled the blankets up over her head. Maybe the boys will haze the writer into leaving. That would be good.

Al wished her good luck as Kate dropped the girl off at school. She did it with a little wave before skipping over to join Maria inside the doors.

And that just had Kate doubting herself and this deal all over again. It was one thing for Castle to follow her in theory and another to put it into action. It was dangerous. Really dangerous. Kate wasn't sure if the writer understood the type of people Kate came in contact with daily. Murderers, drug addicts going through violent withdrawals, convicts who didn't care what they did since they were away for life, hostile witnesses. They didn't care if they were facing a cop who had a daughter waiting for her at home or a New York Times Bestseller worth millions.

Kate hoped that Captain Montgomery had the ability to talk sense into Castle that Kate seemed to lack. She sensed most of that ability was lost due to the way his eyes focused on her when they were in the same general area.

She parked in the garage, swung her bag over her shoulder, and headed toward the precinct door. Al's eyes, she thought, breezing past Peters without giving his current novel a glance. Eerily similar to Al's eyes. Kate shook her head as she sat at her desk, giving the banged-up metal a little kick. Not possible. Was it?

"Heard you made a friend."

Ryan had appeared at her side, a cup of coffee in one hand, a file in the other. He was grinning and Kate secretly wanted to slap it off his face.

"Of course I did, Ryan," she said, tossing her keys onto the desk and crossing her legs. She typed in her password for the computer and waited while the screen loaded. "I'm a charming person. I make lots of friends. Why? Need to borrow one?"

"What? No." She smiled when he sounded affronted. "I meant, a friend of considerable wealth."

Kate turned her eyes to look up at the other detective, a brow arched. "I have those too. Looking for an heiress?"

"Richard Castle."

Everyone knew? Well shit. Kate just shrugged. "Yeah. Met him in a coffee shop a week ago. No big deal."

"Heard he's going to be making an appearance in our lowly precinct," Ryan said, intelligently moving away from her desk toward his own. "Which would also explain why you look like you decided to wear such a fetching outfit today, Beckett."

"Ryan, remember who decides which detective does the paperwork in cases," Kate warned, flipping open a folder in the steadily-dwindling pile of unfinished paperwork on her desk. "I can keep you buried in files for years."

That shut him up.

Esposito came in a few minutes later from the break room, a doughnut balanced on top of his coffee mug. "Mystery royalty in the precinct today, Beckett. You ready?" The end trailed off as Ryan made frantic cutting motions across his neck.

But it was too late. Kate was up, a pile of folders in her hand. She dropped half of them on Ryan's desk, the other half on Esposito's. "That'll keep you busy until the writer shows up."

"Beckett!" Montgomery was in the doorway of his office, gesturing for her to talk. He waited until she shut the door before sitting behind his desk, hands clasped on the cleared blotter. "Got a call yesterday afternoon from Richard Castle's agent about shadowing you for a few weeks. For research."

Kate sat in the visitor's chair thinking through her response. "Yes. He mentioned someone would be calling to talk about it." Montgomery only raised a brow. Kate sighed. "We met in a coffee shop. He was there when Al was approached by the man I shot. He wants to get details right so yesterday, he asked if he could try and follow me for some of my cases."

"And are you okay with this arrangement?"

The question of the hour.

"Sir, I think it's-"

"And here's Captain Montgomery," Esposito said, interrupting her sentence. "And Detective Beckett. What great timing, Mr. Castle."

Both Kate and Montgomery stood up as Esposito opened the office door and waved an arm in. She stepped back, letting Castle take her previously occupied chair after shaking Montgomery's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain," Castle said, giving Kate a glance out of the corner of his eye. "I assume Paula called you sometime yesterday?"

"She did. I was just talking to Detective Beckett about your proposed arrangement." That earned her another look from the writer. "It's okay with me if you shadow her but you'd have to follow her orders. She's in charge."

"Women always are, aren't they, sir?" Castle asked. Winning over everyone so that Kate had no out in this situation. "No offense, Detective," he added, smiling at her.

Kate smiled back, half listening as they talked about forms for the lawyers to sign about liabilities involved and his safety while following Kate. She was looking out at the precinct where Ryan and Esposito had their heads together suspiciously and she figured they were starting a pool of some kind. Days until she shot Castle in the leg was weighing heavily against days until he stole a kiss in the break room and at the moment, Kate wasn't sure which one she preferred.

"Beckett!" The shout belonged to Esposito as he waved a piece of paper in the air. "You'll excuse me, boys," she said, slipping out of Montgomery's office to go see what her co-worker had for her.

Ryan was pulling his coat on as Esposito filled her in on a case out near Times Square. The three of them had just reached the elevator, Kate pressing the down button, when "Wait!" is called over the bullpen. Castle jogged over, grinning like a kid as he reached the trio.

"I'm coming with you."

Kate, Ryan, and Esposito exchanged looks of disbelief before Kate stepped up and spoke. "You have paperwork to fill out before you can be out in the field."

"Montgomery said I could go. Just a crime scene so it's not like the perp will be there."

The elevator isn't crowded with four people but Kate feels claustrophobic as Castle's shoulder brushes hers. "Remember what he also said," she said, pushing her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket.

Castle shrugged. "Something about listening to your orders." Then he raised his hand in a cheeky salute. "Yes, ma'am, Kate."

She ignored the other two detectives and stepped a little closer to Castle. "It's Detective Beckett when I'm not with Al. Got it?"

"Got it."

But that smile told her that he might be planning on dropping her first name a few more times during the course of the day. The man was a joy when he interacted with Al, a charmer during the times they had met, but Kate had a feeling he could quickly start to grind on her gears if he really put his mind to it. She took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator before the three men.

"You riding with me or with Ryan and Esposito?" she asked over her shoulder.

"You. Duh."

Kate paused at Peters' desk this time, tilting his book up with a finger. The second book in the Patterson series. "Slow going this time, Peters. Not catching your interest?"

The man was speechless, his eyes darting from Kate to over her shoulder where Castle was looking at one of the memorial walls for fallen officers. "That's… That's Richard Castle."

"Yeah. He's going to be following me. Go ahead, Peters. Freak out," Kate said, moving away from the desk to gather her shadow. "Come on, Castle. Off to live the glamorous life of a cop."

"Doughnuts and bad coffee?" he asked as they walked down the sidewalk toward the garage. Esposito was pulling out of the entrance and gave her a wave as they started toward Times Square.

Kate looked at Castle from over the hood of the car. "A victim, Castle. Someone is dead. Respect."

"Of course." He slid into the passenger seat and Kate watched his nose wrinkle from the smell. She kept the car clean but years of cops tossing coffee cups and take-out containers into the back seat seeped into the fabric of the seats. "God, this is gross."

"Step one of living the life, Castle. Quit complaining."

He was still trying to stop the twitching of his nose when she pulled out onto the street to follow after her co-workers. The image in her peripheral was amusing and she had a hard time holding the laugh back from bubbling out.