Sorry this took a few days! Fun fact: I've been adding in things from my own life here and there in this story, and in this chapter it's what Kate and Alexis say about To Kill A Mockingbird. Enjoy :) Oh, and my birthday is in a few days, so give me a review as a present? ;)

It was 3 in the afternoon, and Kate and Rick were lying in his bed. Kate was wearing black boyshorts and Rick's red t-shirt, lying on her stomach and reading her copy of Heat Wave, her feet near the pillow and her head near the end of the bed. Rick was wearing a pair of sweatpants, sitting up in bed next to her and typing away on his laptop. He stopped and looked over at her with a happy, loving smile on her face. She was so cute when she was concentrating. She bit her bottom lip as her eyes darted quickly across the pages, absorbed in the fantasy and fiction. In this case, it was their reality.

"What if we never left this bed?," he mused out loud, still watching her lovingly. She smiled at the idea and looked up at him.

"That's not a bad idea…. But then we could never move all my stuff in, and I'd have to wear this underwear and t-shirt for the rest of my life."

"Fine by me," he grinned, closing his laptop and placing it on his nightstand. He laid down next to her on his stomach, and she tossed the book on the floor and pulled him on top of her, kissing him tenderly.

"Do you want to start moving in today?," he asked, stroking her hair as they laid down on their sides, facing each other. "Or is it too soon?"

"No, I want to live here as soon as I can," she admitted with a smile. "I don't think I could spend another night not in this bed with you."

Rick grinned. "You have no idea how much I love hearing that." She smiled and nudged him with her shoulder. "I love saying it."

"I have an idea," Rick said. "What if we start boxing your stuff up, and then take a break to go out to dinner? Like a real, formal date. You can dress up, and I get to show you off to all the unlucky people in New York City who wish they had you on their arm."

Kate blushed, as she always did when Rick praised her.

"I like it, " she said thoughtfully. "We'll get the basic stuff I'll need for the next few days, and tomorrow we can go back and start getting everything else."

He grinned. "Perfect. And I'll make the dinner reservations."

When they got to Kate's apartment, she pulled her key out of her jeans pocket and looked at Rick.

"Guess I won't be using this for much longer."

"Oh!," he exclaimed, fumbling around in his pocket as they stepped in her apartment. "That reminds me!"

Kate laughed as Castle went through his pockets until he found what he was looking for. He handed her the key he had presented to her last night, but with a new addition: the red bow and the cherry were still there, but now the key also hung from a small ceramic coffee mug. The keychain was about the size of a nail polish bottle (minus the cap), and it was cream-colored. On it "3 always, Rick" was scrawled in black.

"Rick…..," Kate said, taking the keychain from him and dangling it in front of her face. "This is lovely, thank you." She pulled his face to hers and kissed him.

"You're welcome," he said with a smile. "I wanted something cute."

She grinned, still amazed by the little coffee cup. "You got it."

They both looked around Kate's apartment. Books, furniture, little trinkets she had collected over the years. It was going to take a lot longer than they had thought to move all her stuff to Rick's place. Rick voiced this out loud, and Kate agreed. They decided just to pack up some of her clothes and other necessary things, and then come back tomorrow and really sink into it. They packed clothes, shoes, and toiletries into suitcases, along with things like Kate's favorite books and ipod and laptop. At about 5:30, Rick looked at his watch.

"Hey, our reservation is in an hour and a half."

Kate looked up from the dry cleaning bags she had been putting her coats in.

"Oh yeah, I should probably shower and change."

He smiled. "I don't know, I like what you're wearing."

She was still wearing his red t-shirt, with her jeans. She smiled and rubbed the soft red cotton.

"I love this shirt," she confessed, hugging her body. "When I started staying overnight at your place more often, I searched your drawers for it."

"That's why you were wearing it! I thought it was just a weird coincidence that that was the shirt you found to wear to bed!"

She shook her head. "Nope. It makes me feel safe, and loved, like I have a family. I just remember the morning after my apartment blew up, making brunch in your kitchen, listening to you and your mom's loving banter, wishing I had something like that in my life."

Rick came over to where she was standing and put his arm around her shoulder, squeezing her and planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Now you do," he said, pulling her into a hug. She smiled. It meant the world to her to finally have a family, to have someone to come home to. She relaxed into his arms, not ever wanting to move. But she had to shower, and get dressed up, and go enjoy a night out with Rick. She kissed his cheek and stepped back.

"I'm going to go shower."

"I'll head home and do the same. Pick you up in an hour?"

She smiled. "It's a date."

He kissed her hair one more time before leaving her apartment. She heard the door close and immediately felt a pang of loneliness. How was it that she missed him, when she had barely been apart from him in the last month?

xxxx

Kate stared at herself in the mirror 40 minutes later. She was wearing a hunter green long sleeve minidress and nude pumps, her hair side-parted and wavy. The only coat she hadn't packed yet was her long gray peacoat, so she slipped it on. It covered the hem of her dress, so all you could she were her bare legs. She smiled to herself at how much she could tease Castle about what was underneath it.

She applied her makeup a little differently than she usually did, winging out her black eyeliner a little more than normal and putting on a deep berry lipstick that brought out her green eyes. Her skin glowed and she smiled at her reflection.

When Castle arrived, Kate opened the door and his jaw dropped. He looked so cute standing there, in his black suit and dark blue shirt that matched his eyes. He was holding a bouquet of red roses, which he slowly held out to her, still mesmerized by her bare legs, 4-inch nude pumps, and soft lips. She took them and thanked him, kissing his cheek and then pulling him into her apartment.

"I changed my mind, let's stay in."

"Nope," she shook her head. "Uh uh. You promised me a real date."

"But…but," he looked her up and down yet again. She grinned and fiddled with the belt of her coat. Then she set the flowers on the kitchen table and picked up her purse, ushering Castle out the door. He laughed.

"I can't help it if my girlfriend is insanely gorgeous and makes it hard to leave the house."

Kate just laughed and took his hand. Rick squeezed it and they walked down the hallway together. The second the elevator doors closed, she pulled him to her for a deep kiss.

xxxx

The next morning, Kate walked out of Rick's bedroom – well, now it was hers too – sleepily, wearing his boxers and red t-shirt. Alexis was sitting at the kitchen counter reading To Kill A Mockingbird and drinking tea. She heard Kate's footsteps and looked up with a smile.

"Good morning."

"Hey Alexis…," Kate said, disoriented. She had woken up to find Rick gone, and she had to leave for work in an hour. She refused to move on with her day until they shared a coffee, it was an unwritten rule. So where was he?

Alexis seemed to read her mind. "My dad went out to get fresh bagels."

"Oh, okay."

Kate sat down next to Alexis and tapped the cover of her book.

"That's one of my all-time favorites. Don't tell your dad though, he thinks that he's my favorite author of all time."

Alexis turned to face her and grinned. "Is he?"

Kate winked. "Top five."

"Yeah, I really love this one. I read it in middle school and just couldn't get it out of my head. I probably re-read it every couple months."

"Me too," Kate confessed. "When we were packing up some of my stuff last night, it was the first book I grabbed off the shelf and stuck in my bag of important stuff." She cleared her throat. 'Um, Alexis… I know your dad talked to you about it, but how do you feel about me moving in? I feel like your dad already focuses a lot of his time on me, and I don't want to impose on you guys..."

Alexis laid her hand on Kate's forearm. "I love that you're moving in with us," she said, a bright smile on her face. "It's about time you and my dad found happiness, and I couldn't see him happy with anyone but you. Plus, he's going to need someone to take care of him when I go off to college." She laughed, Kate joined her.

"Don't worry, I'll house-train him," Kate joked. Alexis looked genuinely happy, and that made Kate happy. She liked Alexis, and she wanted to have a good relationship with her.

The front door opened and Rick walked in with a bag of bagels and one of those cardboard coffee cup trays. He came over to the counter, kissed the top of Alexis's head and Kate's cheek, handing them each their drink. Hot chocolate with extra whipped cream for Alexis, a grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla for Kate.

"My favorite," Kate grinned, taking a big sip and then placing a quick kiss on Castle's lips. "Thanks, honey."

She blushed and took a huge sip of her coffee to avoid talking. She hadn't meant to call him "honey." Hell, half the time she didn't even call him Rick. But even though it had been an accident, she liked the way it sounded. Rick just smiled at her and didn't say anything, trying not to ruin it. Alexis's phone rang and she answered it, walking upstairs to her room as she chatted with her friend.

Rick slid onto Alexis's now empty barstool. He nudged Kate with his shoulder.

"You look sexy in my clothes," he whispered. He kissed her neck and she shivered, despite the hot coffee in her hands.

"That's not all I look sexy in," she whispered back. She leaned close enough to him so that he could smell her cherry shampoo, then pulled away, sliding off the barstool and walking away from the kitchen to get her phone from the living room. He groaned and she just laughed.

"That was mean."

"Sorry, I gotta get dressed. Murderers never sleep, you know. I bet the boys will call me with a body any –"

Kate's phone rang and she answered. Smirking at Castle, she said, "Yeah, Espo. Give me 20."

He made a face and she walked back over to him and kissed him deeply.

"Sorry," she said, leaning her forehead up against his. "Movie night tonight? Something action-packed and adventurous?"

He nodded and kissed her again. "Okay."

Ten minutes later, Kate was dressed in a black turtleneck, jeans, and a leather jacket, walking out the door with the half-filled travel cup of her favorite coffee in hand.

"Bye!," she called to Rick as she opened the front door. He had been hit with inspiration a few minutes earlier and was sitting at his desk, typing furiously.

"Bye!," he yelled back. "Have a good day, I love you!"

"I love you too!" She smiled to herself, still not believing that this was her life.