You can now pre-order Frozen Heat the fourth Nikki Heat Novel. As I found this out from Amazon I clearly don't own Castle. But I totally called the name of the fourth book you should check out chapter four of Just Breathe which can be located on my profile page.

Chapter 9 – A Story

The weather was turning the frosty days were giving way to gentle spring breezes as the trees budded and flowers were poking out of the desolate beds. All week all I'd wanted to do was go out sit in the sunshine with Kate. Instead, I'd been trapped inside making the final edits to the final James Bond. No more though, I was standing in Gina's office handing her the final copy of the final novel. I'd never felt more relieved. "That's it Gina. I'm not doing this anymore."

"You're not going to write any more?" She raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow leaning back in her chair. Things had been cool between us since our most recent break up and we'd mostly just corresponded by e-mail rather than face-to-face or over the phone. Mostly, because I wanted to avoid these looks.

But the end of a series definitely had to happen in person. "No, I'm going to keep writing, but I'm never taking on a pre-made character again." I looked out the window trying to figure out what would cover all of it, "It's not fun when everyone has an opinion on the character and they have a right too because they helped develop them."

"Well, you did always like to be original, Rick." She scoffed.

Shrugging, "It's been working for me so far," I told her.

Now she scrunched her eyebrows and just looked at me, twirling her pen between her fingers. Slowly she leaned forward settling her elbows on the desk, "So what are you going to write about?"

"My own character." I said picturing the laughing eyes and curls of a brunette I'd been meeting for coffee and a story at least once a week for six months.

"I know that look."

I snapped my attention back to her, "What look?"

"That's exactly the way you would look when you were thinking about Nikki Heat. Are you thinking about reviving the Detective?"

I thought about it. Thought about Kate's reaction if I asked her. Better to wait. "Kate will never agree to it."

"Kate, hun? What's going on Rick? Since when are you talking to Detective Beckett?" She rapid fired the questions.

I smiled, "I ran into her months ago. She asked for my help on a case. We've been having coffee once a week."

Gina, however, had an evil grin on her face, "Wait till Paula hears this," she went to pick up her phone, "Rick Castle reviving his relationship with his favorite detective on and off the page."

I scrambled to disconnect the line before she got through. Holding the button down I glared at her, "You will not say anything about this." I just stared her down until she set the phone down. I was definitely not earning any points with her right now.

"Just give me some time to figure out what my next project is, Gina." I sat back again now that I was certain she was going to leave the phone alone. "If I decide to bring back Heat I'll let you know, but until then it's none of yours or Paula business."

I was on the receiving end of a lot of glares today, "Ok, but then what are you doing Rick?"

"I'm hanging out with a friend. Speaking of which I'm late," I realized glancing at the ridiculously ornate crystal clock on her wall.

"Late?"

"For dinner," I explained standing up.

"For dinner?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Kate is coming over for dinner with Alexis and Mother." With that, I left my ex-wife rather puzzled as I strode out of her office to spend a few hours with women whose company I actually enjoyed.

The board was incomplete, which is my biggest pet peeve. I hate leaving at the end of the day without getting as much information on it as possible but its 7 pm on a Friday and the weather was spectacular. Everyone and anyone that might be remotely useful at getting records were gone for the night if not the weekend.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I accepted that I was just going to have to leave it there for now. I capped the marker dropping in the trough on the board and grabbing my coat. "Taking off Boss?" Esposito asked from his own desk as he and Ryan peered at me as if I was doing the strangest thing possible by leaving early.

"Yeah I am. We're not going to get the records or information we need tonight. So I'm going to call it a night."

Ryan's nose wrinkled, "Since when do you call it a night just cause it's Friday?" These two were worse than little brothers I quickly decided.

"Since I have plans tonight with other people that are mildly reliant of me showing up on time."

"Girl, do you have a date?" I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at the question.

"No, Esposito I have dinner plans with a friend."

"Beckett." Ryan looked at me, with a face that told me one day when he has little girls they weren't going to get away with anything. "You're meeting Castle for dinner. It's a date."

I was helpless, "I'm just having dinner with him Alexis and Martha. I'd hardly call that a date. It's just dinner at a friend's house."

"Sounds to me like family dinner with the girlfriend at the Castle loft." Espo shrugged. I narrowed my eyes at them. "Whatever, girl you're dating Castle and you're happy about it."

"Heck Beckett, we're happy about it." Ryan chimed in.

I looked at them, knowing that they we're just giving me a hard time. I tugged on my jacket, "Alright boys, whatever you say. Feel free to take off to we'll get back to it in the morning."

They both grinned, like the small children that were offered a treat. "Thanks boss. Have a good night." Esposito called.

"Say hi to Castle for us." Ryan added. I just sent them a wave over my shoulder, and chuckled as I heard Espo chastise Ryan for making it sound like they had a crush on Castle.

Twenty minutes later, I was standing in the hallway outside the loft forcing myself not to think about what the boys had said earlier. Fortunately, the door swinging open to reveal a young, smiling, red head saved me from my thoughts. "Detective Beckett!" She grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside. "Thank god you're here. Dad has been threatening me with all sorts of horrible things if I decide to go to school in California."

I heard his laughter in the other room, "They're not that horrible."

Shrugging out of my jacket, I directed my attention to the girl. "What's he threatening?"

"Well first, he threatened to enroll in all my classes, another was to get himself put on as an adjunct professor. I suppose they're not that horrible but that would certainly defeat the purpose of me going to school across the country if my dad followed."

"So you might as well stay in the city if I'm just going to follow you." Castle said from behind me. I turned to find him wearing a bright blue button down that made his eyes sparkle. The sleeves were rolled up and he was using the towel to wipe his hands, "Hey Kate." He leaned in a brushed a kiss across my cheek.

"Hey…" I managed to stutter back.

Alexis however was undeterred, "Dad you would never leave the city. You love it here." Then she looked pointedly at the lack of space between us. "Besides you'd never leave Kate here. I'm going to go set the table." She changes tacks so quick it just left us both staring at her red hair disappearing into the kitchen for a minute before Castle turned back to me his face lined with worry.

"So California hun?" I finally managed to ask.

He looked grateful for the change of topic. "Ah yeah. I don't think she'll actually go out there. But if she does I'll be buying a condo out there. She's right though I like New York too much to leave."

For some reason that made my heart flutter just a bit and I fought back a smile as he looked at me. "So what's for dinner?"

Castle didn't even have a chance to answer though before the front door opened and in swept Martha Rodgers. "I smell lasagna," She announced.

"I guess that answers that question." I told him laying a hand on his arm trying to convey that I wasn't panicked by anyone's comments so far.

"Kate!" Martha made her way across the room wrapping me up in a hug, "It's so wonderful to see you," She exclaimed moving around the apartment in a blur of color. "We've been trying to get Richard to have you come to dinner with us for months."

I glanced at the rather sheepish looking author, "Have you really?" I asked giving him a little grin as I made my over to the kitchen area to help with the table.

Alexis who was laying the plates out answered, "Since Christmas."

"Richard, here kept telling us you were simply too busy." Martha finished waving at him.

I could feel him behind me and for a brief moment, I thought about going easy on him, "Well I have been busy." I smiled when I felt him breathe a sigh of relief, "But he didn't even ask me until Tuesday." Which had the desired effect of him hiccupping, a deep breath as his mother and daughter both fixed him with a glare.

"But she's here now. So, that counts right?" His large hands landed on my shoulders as he moved behind me to use me as a shield. The death glares from his family members didn't really abate as he ducked behind me and I couldn't help but laugh. Fortunately, he was saved from their wrath when the timer started beeping. "Listen to that, dinner is ready." He booked it around the kitchen island busying himself with the oven mitts and pulling out the casserole dish.

"Well we're glad you're here in any case dear." Martha waved the wine glasses, "Can I get you a glass?"

I nodded my assent to the actress, and so began a wonderful night of laughter and teasing as I told them about the magic shop murder which led to a lot of disappearing and reappearing silverware as we ate.

I was leaning back watching Alexis and Martha debate the merits of studying theater versus any one of the sciences. Castle, occasionally interjecting with which school had good programs followed by, "But, of course any of the schools in the city have wonderful programs." Then he would look at me his eyes sparkling as Alexis sighed and ignored the statement. This was the most fun and relaxed I'd been at a meal in months.

"Well I should get going. Paige and I have a Harry Potter Marathon planned." She stood up scooping up as many plates as possible. "I sincerely doubt we'll make it through more than the first two but we should get started."

That was the cue though for the rest of us to get up and help clear the table. "Well, I should get going as well. Meeting some friends for a drink." Martha told us with a smile. "It was wonderful to see you dear," and then she turned a glare on her son, "And hopefully will be seeing a lot more of you." Then before we had a chance to even think about it they were both gone and Rick and I were standing alone in the kitchen.

"Can I help with the dishes?" I finally broke the silence.

He chuckle, "Leave them that the lasagna pan needs to soak any way." He smiled leaning against the counter, looking devilishly handsome. "Can I get you a cup of coffee?"

"Sure." I said with a soft nod letting him go about brewing the coffee as I pulled out the cups, spoons, cream, and sugar knowing that he liked his coffee a little sweeter at night. The sugar pot clinked loudly as I set it down and he turned to look at me. "Rick, what are we doing?"

His eyebrow quirked. "We're making coffee," he answered clearly misunderstanding. I smiled softly, knowing this wasn't supposed to be difficult it was just the questions today made me want to clarify what we were doing. "You don't mean right now?"

"Not so much," I wrinkled my nose with a smile.

He looked at me for a second making that face he does when he's thinking about something rather hard, before he took a deep breath and stepped closer. "Well Kate…" he picked up my right hand, "We're friends. I like seeing you for coffee every week, talking with you on the phone, and having you over for dinner."

"So we're just friends? That's all?" I asked squeezing the hand that held mine.

"Well here's a story for you…"

"Castle."

"Hang on, just let me tell it."

"Ok go on…"

"So there's this pair of work friends, she's stunning, smart, and street savvy, and he's ruggedly handsome, witty, and creative. They worked really well together for a year playing off each other saving the world, but life intervened and they were separated as their careers went in different directions. A few years later they run into each other again and develop a friendship outside of work and maybe it develops slowly into something more if they're both interested?" He looked up from our joined and hands to watch my face.

My heart fluttered just a little bit, I took a deep breath. "Well, what would come next then?"

He looked just so relieved as his face lit up. "Well normally he would ask her to stay and watch a movie."

I cocked my head to the side, "Is this not normal?"

"Nope. In this story, the girl is homicide detective that needs to get to work early tomorrow even if it is a Saturday because she needs to save the world. And to get to work early she needs to go to bed soon given that it's already 9:30. So she probably should just have a cup of coffee with me and then go home."

My heart just melted, I stepped closer to him wrapping my free hand around his next and laid a soft kiss on his lips before pulling back. He was staring at me dazed for a moment, "So it's a good story?"

"It's a wonderful story." He wrapped his free arm around me pulling me gentle against his chest leaving me to tuck my head under his chin. And just held me until the coffee maker stopped burbling. "Coffee's ready." He squeeze me tighter before releasing me to pull the carafe out and pour the cups, fixing them both the way we like them.

The coffee went down smoothly, as we just chatted in the kitchen about everything from the boy's latest bromance moment, to his upcoming book launch and the nerves that came with ending a project.

I drained the last dregs of coffee from my cup a little sadly. "I should go."

He set down his own cup and slid closer to me resting a hand on my hip looking to see if it was remotely appropriate to push this boundary. Amusing to me, given that he'd been pushing all sorts of a physical boundaries since I stepped through the door, so I just smiled at him as he took a deep breath. "Let me take you out this week?"

"That…" I managed to get out, stunned that he was actually asking tonight despite our earlier conversation. Lifting a hand, I laid it on his chest rubbing my fingers over the soft cotton of his button down. Smiling I managed to get my thoughts out, "That would be nice Rick. I have the early shift on Thursday and the afternoon on Friday so Thursday night would be ideal."

"Thursday it is." He grinned making his eyes sparkle. "I let you know the details when I have them."

"That sounds good." I brought my other hand up and ran it across his stubbled chin, stretching up on my toes and brushed a kiss across his lips. Satisfied when he sighed as I stepped back. "I should go home. As someone astutely noted earlier, I have to go to work early tomorrow."

He followed me into the hallway watching as I slipped my shoes on, before holding up my coat so I could slide my arms in, "That person was too smart for his own good." He told me scooping my hair out from under the collar.

Smiling I turned back to him, "Talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, good luck with the case Detective." He grinned happily opening the door, "Until tomorrow, Kate."

"Night Castle." I sauntered out of the loft grinning like an idiot.

Thoughts?

Babyrose