Kate turned over in her bed as she awoke. Gradually all of her senses were coming into focus as she felt the familiar weight of the sheets against the side of her body along with the scent of her detergent. She could hear the dimmed roar of New York traffic that she knew lay outside the window's morning light. The clock read 7:30 on her nightstand and the promise of a Saturday had a smile forming on her face. Thinking about yesterday had Kate smiling even wider- it was almost too good to be true. A hard buzzing against the surface of her table pulled Kate from her thoughts. Miserably, she pushed her arm into the mattress to reach her phone dreading the idea of a murder on a Saturday, a Saturday that hinted at time for an early workout and if she was lucky an evening with Castle. Regardless of what Kate wanted she had to check her phone and was pleasantly surprised when the new message came from Castle.

Good Morning, beautiful. :)

Well Good Morning to you too :)

After just a few minutes her phone was buzzing again- less pronounced this time against the cotton sheets. Coffee in the park?

Sounds Good. What time?

The park by your house in an hour?

See you then ;)

With a new motivation, Beckett got out of bed and started to get ready. Her bare feet hit the hardwood floor as she made her way to the bathroom to begin her morning routine. Once she was freshened up she opened up her closet to reveal an array of attire options. The September weather was a perfect fall temperature but with the wind outside she found a cardigan to wear. Using precaution she pulled her arms up and through a white scoop-neck shirt; being careful not to strain her scar. She followed it with a khaki cardigan and dark skinny jeans that were cuffed at the bottom. After adding a quite a few inches to her height with desert heels Kate grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

It didn't take long for her to get to the park slipping through the pedestrians, even for a Saturday morning. The weather was pleasant with the trees swaying with the pull of the wind as if they were paint brushes and the sky was their canvas. It was occasions like this that Kate actually took the time to enjoy the outdoors of New York. She spent so much time speeding through home or the 12th and when she did have free time it was easily spent indoors working out or otherwise occupied. She often ended up watching New York like a drive by movie outside her car window or briefly flying by from a glance out her apartment- the breaks she did have she made the most of, and today was no exception. Kate spotted Castle with two coffees in hand as he approached her.

"Funny, it never gets old having a ruggedly handsome man bring you coffee." Kate smiled. She knew it was Castle's favorite way to describe himself but it was also true. Beckett always blew off Lanie with a classic roll of her eyes when her spunky best friend insisted that Kate's morning coffee was more than just polite and that Castle was dropping hints, but Kate would never admit that she truly enjoyed Castle's devotion to their coffee routine.

"Well it never gets old seeing the gorgeous coffee recipient smile." he was grinning and offered his hand to her so that they could walk down the park path together.

An hour had easily passed as they enjoyed easy conversation and trashed their coffees at the delicious morning brew's inevitable demise. Castle pulled her to a recently freed bench taking his own seat after her. He turned his body slightly towards her and let their hands rest on his lap.

"So I was thinking if you wanted maybe we could get dinner tonight?" Castle's nervous tone was almost undetectable but Kate's detective skills alerted her and it oddly comforted her that she wasn't the only one who was on edge.

She looked up from her lap, "Yeah that would be great."

Castle regained a bit of his confident composure and brought their joined hands to his lips kissing hers. A lingering moment of silence broadened even further as Kate's mind was churning out thoughts, processing the best way to form letters into words, words into sentences and sentences into thoughts which she had to precariously phrase in order not to completely scare Castle.

"Castle you know that uh this PDA thing can't show up at the precinct, right?"

"PDA? Of course Beckett. I am always on my best behavior. The will be no heated kisses or clearing of desktops." he waggled his eyebrows and gave a very charming smile either pleased with his humor, or his idea, or both.

Kate was slightly caught off guard- especially at the thoughts her was conjuring in her head. They hadn't done more than kiss last night, they weren't even making out to be honest, it was innocent and yet still completely exceptional and Beckett had high hopes for the future. It seemed like years before she spoke and she was really hoping Castle didn't notice because that would only give him the satisfaction his ego didn't need. "No Castle, I mean like not at all. As in on the inside of the precinct walls, on the job, in front of the team you and I are both single."

His face dropped and contorted with thoughts of this newfound dilemma, "So you mean I can't tell Ryan and Espo?"

Beckett was pained by his innocent disappointment, she knew this was going to be hard for him- and her- in all regards. "I'm sorry, but not yet. It's too much of a risk until we figure this out. The NYPD has a strict policy, and it's not that I think they're going to blab about it but if word, or even a ghost of a word got back to Captain Gates that we were together I don't know what would happen."

She looked at him again and smiled finishing the bitter medicine with sugar, "I like you and my job, so I would kinda like to keep both." Castle nodded in understanding and Kate leaned into him giving him a kiss.

His optimism kicked into gear and Castle was falling back into his usual persona, "We'll figure this out, Kate."

"I know."

Castle stood up and placed both of his hands palms up so that she could match his and then pulling her up into a sweet embrace and placing his lips against hers letting the wind pull her hair away from her face.

He linked his fingers at the small of her back a genuine smile appearing with a hint of devious flair, "I really like kissing you."

The statement was simple but it almost knocked Beckett off her feet as if he was teaming up with the gusty September air. "Well that's good" she quickly contemplated and the decided to continue, "because I really like kissing you and I was hoping we could continue" and placing her lips close to his ear "and maybe explore just a little bit more." Beckett pulled away and bit her lip leaving Castle stunned and their playful banter soothing the previous conversation's unfortunate path.

Castle insisted upon accompanying Beckett back to her apartment until his charming ways and appealing offer defeated her. On the way to Beckett's the conversation was light and cheerful leaving Castle to harass her a little.

It's amazing how the wind will whisk you hair in one direction, flow into it as if you were a movie star and then let it fall back, all in a matter of seconds."

"Yeah it's the miracle of a woman's hair, Castle." Beckett laughed at his easy distractions. She often actually appreciated the details that Castle picked up on.

"No just your hair." he said definitively.

She tilted her head ever so slightly and let her hair slip from its place to cover her face before tucking her fingers underneath and fixing the arrangement of curls.

"Yeah like that. That little trick you do when I compliment you. Perfect timing you and your hair, but don't worry I won't tell." he had a twinkle in his eye and was evidently pleased with his comment as color came to Kate's face at being caught.

They took a different course back to Beckett's apartment and soon Rick was parting ways with her promising to pick her up around seven and that he would text her details about their evening plans later. Beckett pushed against the heavy glass door to her complex nodding at Anthony, her doorman, who was seated behind the desk with some sort of paperwork. He stood quickly to apologize for not actually opening the door. For a New York City doorman Anthony took his job very seriously but was always pleasant when Beckett passed and he could often get a smile out of her. She began brushing off his apologies insisting she could open a door every once and awhile and wished him a good afternoon before heading up to her apartment.

Thanks for the support on Chapter One and please do keep it coming! Let me know what you guys think :) Especially if any of you had anything in particular that you want to see in their "evening plans"!

Meredith