When they arrived at the museum, Rick paid for the tickets and started to walk in.

"what do you want to start with?" he asked

"Butterflies" she answered, going where she wanted to, not even checking if he was following.

"Ok" he said, surprised by her reaction. He had trouble getting at her pace and literally ran into her when she stopped suddenly in front of the door of the butterfly section. He was expecting her to react. But nothing came. He walked around to face her. There she was, eyes closed, apparently trying to calm herself.

"Kate, what's going on?" he asked quietly, taking her hand

"I … I've never come back here since mom died" she said, eyes still closed, tears falling on her cheeks.

"Hey, we don't have to go there if you don't want to …"

"That's the thing Rick" she said, squeezing his hand "I WANT to, but I'm not sure I CAN. It's probably stupid but I feel like I need her to get in there. It's our place, just the two of us. We never even brought my dad."

"If you really want to go in there you can Kate, I'm sure your mom would like you to see what she liked so much."

"They were her favorite animals" she told him. She was feeling like a child back again. She could almost hear her mother telling her that she was being unreasonable. She shook her head and took Castle's other hand.

"What is it?" he asked, now starting to get worried.

"Let's go in there" was all she said

Trying to help her anyway he could, Rick draped his arm around her shoulders. Finding all the support she needed in him, she put her arm around his waist and walked in the room. She felt so good being with him there. It felt just right. A lot of thing feel right with him she thought. They spent about thirty minutes in the butterfly gallery, neither of them was talking. When they moved on to the rest to the museum, Kate was more like herself. They were approaching the Maya section when Rick decided it was time to leave.

"What? Why?" Kate asked, clearly disappointed

"It's just getting late don't you think?"

"I think that the great Richard Castle is scared to be cursed once again" she said, smirking.

"Maybe" he said, looking at the floor

"Really?" Kate asked, serious

"Let's just say I prefer not taking the chances"

"Ok, let's go then" she said starting to walk to the exit. Rick was relieved that she hadn't laughed at him. He knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. He just had to stay away from mummies.

Since it was still sunny outside, they decided to take a walk in the city. Well, it was more because none of them wanted to leave the other, afraid of what would happen when they were alone. Even more afraid of what would happen in the other's head once they would be alone. As if they knew what the other was thinking, they got closer to each other.

"Would you like to get something to eat?" Rick asked, rather nervously

"Where?"

"I don't know … somewhere nice … I …"

"As a date?" Kate asked, looking at him, trying to contain her smile

"Do you want it to be a date?"

"Maybe" she answered, desperately failing at containing her smile.

"Then it's a date Miss Beckett" he said, kissing her quickly "now, go home and get changed. Nothing too fancy though" with that, he left her there, in the middle of the street. She didn't even know where she was! Leave it to Castle to leave her in the middle of the city after asking her out for a date.

When she finally figured out where she was, she blushed. She was in front of her building. The thing is, Castle had taken over her mind as they were walking around. She didn't even notice that he was taking her home. She didn't want to go home. She wanted to stay with him. She shook her head, trying to get her feelings in check while she was entering the elevator to her floor. The elevator. That's something she would see differently from then on. She still couldn't believe what had happened in the precinct elevator. She felt like a teenager and she didn't like it. She loved it. She was brought back to reality by the 'ding' of the elevator. She almost run out to her door when she realized she had to get ready for her date. Her date with Richard Castle.

True to his word, Richard Castle was at her door sixty minutes after his date proposal. But the expression of his face was not the one she had expected. He looked like a little boy who had lost his favorite toy.

"What's wrong" she asked, letting him in her apartment.

"My plan is ruined" he pouted

"Why?" she asked, trying not to laugh at his child-like face.

"Well … I know a great park a bit outside of the city where there is a lot of butterflies. I wanted to take you there but it's raining now and everything is ruined…"

"Oh come on Rick, I'm sure it's not that bad" Kate said, going to the closest window "Oh … ok, maybe it is ruined. It was a lovely thought though" she added, kissing him on the cheek.

"I never had a date ruined so stupidly in my life!" Rick exclaimed, letting himself fall on the couch

"Did you plan to bring food?" Kate asked curiously

"Yes, it's in here" he answered, lifting the plastic bag she had not noticed he had brought with him.

"Well, we can still have a picnic here" she suggested

"Really?" Rick asked, nearly jumping out of the couch and towards her

"I don't know why you're so excited about it but yeah, seriously" she laughed

"Great!" he said, hugging her "do you have any blankets?"

"Uh … I don't know! What do you think I sleep in?"

"Oh Detective, you'll be happy to know that in my dreams you don't have any…" he was cut off by her hand on his mouth

"If you don't shut up right now, you'll never know. Now sit down, I'm going to get some blankets"

Too happy that she had not killed him at his suggestion, he sat down and looked around. He smiled when he saw that she had hung the framed drawing above her TV. He went to his jacket he had put on one of her chairs and picked the original picture out of his pocket. He slid it in the frame.

"When did you even take this picture?" Kate asked, making him jump. She took a seat on the couch and just watched at the frame. He joined her and took her hand.

"I have something else for you" he said, taking a jewelry box out of the plastic bag.

"What is it?" she asked, both curious and scared.

"It's a present. I want you to wear it on Saturday night, for your mother" he said. He opened it gently and she discovered a butterfly shaped pendant.

"Why…? How…? When did you get that?" she finally managed to asked, felling the tears come into her eyes.

"On my way back home. I saw it in a shop and I just had to get it for you. I thought maybe you could wear it on Saturday for the fundraiser and…" he stopped when he saw her tears. "Kate, say something, please. It's not a big deal if you don't want it, I just thought…"

"It's gorgeous Rick, thank you" she said, putting the box on the coffee table. She turned back to him and he still looked a bit worried. "I love it" she simply said, looking at him in the eyes before kissing him tenderly. She didn't know why but everything seemed different with him. Usually, when people brought up the topic of her mother, she closed up on herself. With him, she was opening up. She wanted him to know everything about her mother. She wanted him to like her mother. She wanted him to know everything about HER. She wanted him to love HER. Because she certainly loved him. And she decided it was time to tell him and to show him. Their kisses were heating up quite quickly and they were now closer than they had ever been before. Kate was sitting on his lap, their upper bodies as close as physically possible. Their mouths devouring each other's. Kate pulled back and looked at him once again. As if she had never seen him before. She took his face between her hands and leaned towards him once again. "I love you Richard Alexander Rogers " she said against his lips. He only had time to confess his own love before she literally throw herself on him. She had trapped him between the sofa and her body and was kissing the life out of him. Not that he minded, far from it. She moaned when she felt his hand going up her back under her shirt and kissed him even harder. As she was taking his shirt from his pants, someone knocked on the door.

"Don't get up, pleeeeaaaase" Rick almost begged her

"It wasn't really my plan" she laughed and continued to kiss him, getting definitely rid of his shirt in the process.

"Good" he said as she started kissing his chest.

When the knocking on the door became more insistent, she reluctantly got up. "I swear, whoever is behind that door, I'm going to kill them" she nearly yelled, passing a hand in her hair and opening the door violently

"Hello sweety, what a nice way to welcome your father, please don't shoot me" Jim said, smiling, on the other side of the door.