Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

The room was dark, the lights from the city providing the only illumination through the slats of the closed blinds. His arm was a comforting weight resting over her side, fingers playing with the hem of the t-shirt she had thrown on before falling into bed after getting home from the baseball game. Al had stayed asleep the entire ride back to the apartment, barely waking as Kate changed her out of her jeans and navy shirt and into pajamas. She'd probably be asleep for most of the morning, making up for the adrenaline and excitement from a birthday and a game.

"Rick?"

He hummed, not really listening until that moment. "Yes?"

Kate rolled over, keeping his arm in place as she curled her hand up under her chin, tucked against her chest. "Will you marry me?"

Castle blinked, searching her eyes for a sparkle of teasing or signs of a joke. All seriousness even in the dim light. So he responded in the same straightforward tone. "Yes."

"Really?" The surprise laced through her voice as her eyes widened. "You'd really marry me?"

"Of course. I love you, Kate. I love Al. I wouldn't hesitate to marry you." He reached out, his thumb brushing the area right below her eye, swiping over the skin on either side of her face before letting his palm settle on her cheek. "Why're you crying?"

"I didn't think men like you existed outside of books and movies."

He leaned over, slanting his lips over hers. "Sometimes it's nice to step into reality for a while."

As if to prove the pros of forgetting about fantasy worlds, Castle balanced himself over her, feathering light kisses over her nose, ears, cheeks, until he finally settled on her lips. Her hand looped around his neck, threading through the fine hairs at the nape. She turned her head, felt his lips skim along her jaw. Gentle and sweet and loving.

"We should ask Al," she gasped as he moved to her neck, nipping at the tendon. "Today."

When he spoke, Kate felt it as much as she heard it. "Of course." Edging back up, his nose brushed hers as he looked into her eyes. "I love you so much, Kate, I don't have words for it."

"You silly, foolish man," Kate laughed out, placing a hand against his neck. "Don't need words."

Castle tugged on her t-shirt, pulling it over her head. "No words then."

But she continued talking even as his hands teased along her sides to that one spot he knew made her gasp. "At the coffee shop. Ask her there."

"Why?" he asked, attention split between responding and seducing.

Kate smiled. "She calls it our coffee shop. Ours." Her swat at his hands had no force behind it and she had to squirm from his reach on a breathless giggle. "It's Saturday. We can do presents during breakfast then maybe have lunch at the shop. Ask her there."

"Will she say 'yes'?" he asked, suddenly nervous. "Wait. You asked me to marry you." His mouth was gaping open, his fingers finally stilling. "But… but I don't have a ring or anything."

"No clue," Kate hummed, taking advantage of his distraction to flip them over with a leg hooked over his thigh. Tracing his brow with her thumb, she leaned down to press an open-mouthed kiss to his lips. "Guess we'll have to remedy that, won't we?"

"As long as I don't get held up in the jewelry store," he muttered. "But I trust you to talk the hostage-taker down."

"Oh my God!" she said, pushing off him to dance out of his reach. "You, Richard Castle, read Nora Roberts?"

He had hoped she wouldn't get the reference. Now he couldn't deny anything so he played it cool. "So?"

"So how delightfully unlike you, Cooper," Kate teased, picking her shirt up from where he had dropped it off the side of the bed. "Besides, no hostage negotiation training. You'd be on your own, relying on that famous charm and wit to get you out alive."

Mildly disappointed as she pulled the t-shirt back on, Castle shrugged. "One can never have too broad a repertoire of literature. And yes, that includes Miss Roberts."

He still rolled his eyes as she walked out of the bedroom whistling the theme from High Noon. "Never gonna live that one down," he whispered to himself.

The shower turned on and he was out of the bed, scrambling toward the bathroom. She may have escaped him in bed, but there was nowhere to run in the bathroom. Steam was already curling against the mirror as Kate brushed her teeth. She had brushed out her hair, untangling the mess it had become from sleeping in a ponytail, and he had to reach out and run his hand through the brown curls.

"Move in with me," he blurted out, stepping back as she whirled around.

"What?"

Castle shrugged, pulling his own t-shirt off. "Move in with me. Mother's found a place so the loft's empty. There's plenty of room plus if we're going to, you know, get married, it'd make sense." He caught her reflection in the mirror, a little blurred with the fog coating the surface, but still clear enough. Confusion mixed with a healthy dose of shock wrapped up with happiness. An interesting combination. "So?"

"Move in with you," she stated, testing the water with the back of her hand. "When?"

"Next weekend?"

Kate got into the shower, peeking her head out through the curtain. "And my place now?" she asked, moving so that he could join her under the water.

"Keep it." When she laughed, he shook his head. "For Al. When she wants to get away from us once she's in college."

She reached around him for the shampoo. "God, Al in college. That's scary."

"Avoiding the question, Kate," he muttered, taking the shampoo bottle from her. He twirled a finger, having her spin around. "Think about it. But don't avoid it."

"Yes. Next weekend. But," she said, pushing a finger into his chest, "you have to help me move our stuff."

"Promise," he responded, dipping his head to kiss her.

They started out sitting side by side on the couch, her hair drip-drying over his arm. She would have to brush it out as soon as it wasn't still wet, work out the mess of curls that had developed post-shower. He never told her but he loved the wild woman look she took on when her hair framed her face with those tight ringlets, making her look like some sort of Celtic warrior.

But after Al opened up the first present, one that Martha had sent over with Castle last night, Kate had let the man snug her into the vee of his legs. His arms were looped over her shoulders around her neck, her head resting on his chest as she watched Al dance around the living room.

"Piano lessons?" she asked, turning her head to see his eyes.

He shrugged. "Mother thought she'd like to really learn how to play. Al does okay with fiddling at the apartment so she figured, why not? You played piano as a kid, right?"

"Not the same thing," she muttered.

"You played piano?" Al shouted, throwing herself half onto the couch and her mother's legs.

Kate ruffled Al's hair, tied up in a messy braid that Al had done herself – half of her hair was already falling out and Al refused to let Kate re-do it. "Yes. Grandpa and Grandma had me take lessons when I was little too."

That put Al on edge. She slid off the couch, hands on her hips. "Not little. Six."

"Of course. Open Grandpa's present next," Kate said, handing over the box her father had given her a few days ago. "You going to ask her or should I?" she asked, smiling as Al plopped onto the floor in front of the television to rip at the wrapping paper. "Just so we know before we get to the shop after."

"You ask about the wedding, I'll ask about moving in. Like we did this morning." He took the chance provided by Al's averted attention to kiss Kate's cheek. "Still can't believe you beat me to the honor."

"Why? Afraid that makes you the girl in the relationship?" she teased.

Castle shook his head. "I think we both know I've proven otherwise," he said, letting his voice go low and husky. "Besides, it'll be a story we can tell our kids."

She let the comment slip. Having the marriage and moving in and more children conversations in a single day was far too overwhelming to even think about. Maybe another kid wouldn't be bad, though. Especially with him. Only with him. Maybe.

Al groaned. "Grandpa gave me crackers."

Kate laughed, squeezing Castle's thigh in an attempt to get herself under control as her daughter glared at her. "Yum. He give you peanut butter too or are we on our own for that?"

"Not funny, Mom! Why crackers?"

"He knows you like crackers," Kate said, as straight-faced as possible. "Try his second box."

"Why crackers?" Castle repeated, a brow arched at the package of Ritz crackers.

Kate shrugged. "Every year, Dad gives her something useless. A gag gift. He thinks it's amusing."

The second present made more sense – three coloring books of Disney princesses and ponies and fairy tales with a huge container of new crayons – and seemed to calm Al down from her earlier disgust with the crackers. Castle nudged his bag toward Al, the tissue paper crinkling as she dug into the huge gift bag.

"A penguin!" Al exclaimed, pulling the stuffed animal out of the sea of turquoise and silver tissue paper. "A penguin, Mom!"

"A tuxedo bird just for you so we don't need to go visit them at the zoo," he said. "But we will, of course. Much cooler in person."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The stuffed animal didn't leave her arms as Kate bundled the girl up to go out to eat. She named it, creatively, Penguin, and carried it down to the street as she stayed at Kate's side while they hailed a cab. When Castle tried to snag the penguin from Al's arms, the girl growled out "Mine" and scooted closer to Kate in the back of the cab.

Al danced ahead, getting the door for the coffee shop before either Kate or Castle could open it. Kate was close behind, wary of the crowd of strangers closing in around them. They found their table, the same one near the window, and Castle pulled over an extra seat so they could all crowd in around the little table. Kate ordered coffee, hot chocolate for Al, and cupcakes.

But as soon as she sat down with Castle and Al, Kate's throat closed up. She could feel Castle's fingers on her knee, giving it a light squeeze, could see Al hugging Penguin against her chest as she admires the pink-frosted cupcake in front of her. It's easy. It should be easy, she corrected mentally. Castle's great. Not perfect but, God, he makes them both happy and has drawn Al out of the little shell she had encased herself in and Kate had laughed more in the past nine months than she had in the last dozen years. Al won't say no. Can't say no. She loves Castle just as much as Kate does.

"Al, kid," Kate started, fingers curling around the coffee cup, pulling warmth and strength from the known to jump into this. She waited until her daughter's bright blue eyes meet hers, pink frosting on her lips from the bite of the cupcake she had just taken. "I need you to tell me the truth when I ask you this question, okay?"

The girl nodded, blinking from her mother to Castle then back.

Kate mirrored the motion, swallowing hard before smiling. "What if…" Her hand moves from the coffee to Castle's wrist, turning his hand over to lace her fingers through his. "What if Rick and I got married? Would you be okay with that?"

Al's mouth dropped open. "Marry Rick?"

"That's the idea," Castle murmured, thumb caressing the thin web of skin between Kate's thumb and forefinger. "But only if you're okay with it."

"Yes! Okay!"

"Really?" Kate sounded surprised, even to her own ears, as Al bounced out of the seat, nearly upending the cupcake and losing Penguin until Castle caught the stuffed animal.

"Sound like me this morning," Castle said. "There's more, Al."

She settled quickly, on the edge of her seat as she stared down Castle. "What?"

"Want to move into my house?"

If Al was shocked before, she was completely dumbstruck now. "With you?"

Castle reached over with his free hand, tugged at Al's messy braid. "Of course with me. And Mom. Just the three of us."

"Mom?" Al asked, Penguin hugged against her. "Can we?"

"Yeah. We wanted to ask you first before we did anything because-"

Al was out of her chair and in Kate's lap, arms around both Penguin and her mother at the same time. "Really best birthday," was muffled into Kate's stomach.

"Better than baseball?" Castle ventured before Al turned to give him a hug too. The glare he received was enough of a response. "Okay, not as good as baseball. Got it."

Kate smoothed Al's hair down, the tangles snagging on her fingers. "Love you, kid."

"Love you too, Mom." Al pulled back, using Penguin to peck a kiss on Castle's cheek. "Love you too, Rick."

And then Kate felt all the pieces fall into place. They fit, finally, after being pushed into spots that were too small or the wrong size or tossed aside from frustration. All she had needed was someone to help guide her hand, to have patience with her as she fumbled through the movements.

Thank goodness he hadn't run.

Thank goodness he hadn't let her run.

Thank goodness.