Oh cartographical, you are the aglet to my shoelace.

Chapter 25: 2x10, One Man's Treasure

When a person loses someone, this is important.

The elevator doors close on Anna Knowles, tear-stained face beaming with soft happiness as she clutches the little photo book to her chest, and Castle comes up to Alexis, who's still standing there, staring wistfully. "I'm really proud of you, Pumpkin. This is a tough place for a teenager, but you've done a great job."

"Thanks, Dad." She wraps her arms around his waist, sighing. "I'm glad I did it."

"I think this calls for a celebration," he tells her, ruffling her hair. "How about dinner at La Piazza? We haven't seen Sal and Maria in a while. And I think triumphant young law enforcement interns are required to eat entirely too many breadsticks."

"Actually, Dad – " she hesitates for a second. "Do you think – do you think Detective Beckett would like to come with us?"

"Why don't you ask her, sweetheart?"

Kate seems surprised at the invitation, but she smiles. Accepts. Says she has a few things to finish up, so she'll meet them at the restaurant.

Later, Kate glances at her watch. Calculates. She wants to go home, change. She's running a little late. Maybe she can just text him that she'll be there soon?

Her phone is in her hand when she realizes what it'll look like. Castle and Alexis standing inside the restaurant. Waiting. Checking their watches.

Alexis getting impatient.

Waiting –

- waiting way too long –

- going home hungry.

And then the officer at the front door.

Her phone hits the desk as she tries to breathe through the sudden hit of panic, the memory that's too vivid. She can still feel the gloves she was wearing, the wool scratching her fingers as she watched Raglan take off his hat and clear his throat.

(It's not like that. It's not like that at all.)

It's not like that. She knows it's not.

But she nixes the stop at home and goes straight to the restaurant instead, and she ends up walking in about ten seconds before the Castles appear. Castle's face lights up. "You beat us here! I thought you had stuff to do."

Her throat constricts and she can't say it, can't bring herself to explain why she couldn't bear the thought of being late, so she shrugs. "I, uh. Didn't want you two to end up waiting."

Confusion flickers over his face for a moment before she sees the spark of understanding. He gets it. Her chest gets tight as his face falls into sadness, his blue eyes getting soft.

And she hates pity, always has. But this is different. It's not pity. It's –

- it's not pity. It's warmer.

Maybe there isn't a word for it.

(Or maybe it's not a word she's comfortable using.)

Alexis follows the waiter, oblivious, while Kate takes a deep breath. Castle's hand just barely brushes hers as they make their way through the restaurant. She doesn't pull away.

La Piazza is a pretty little place, the walls lined with black-and-white photos from Rome and Capri, the furniture mostly old, polished wood.

They slide into a booth, Alexis on one side, Castle and Beckett on the other. Kate feels a little awkward, but then again, it's probably been just the two of them for so long that they normally sit across from each other. And Alexis doesn't seem to mind; she's talking so incessantly she barely even notices when the waiter hands them menus.

Castle's thigh brushes against hers and she swallows, focuses on the menu. Not on him. Not on him.

"Riccardo Castello! And Baby Alexis! It's been too long."

Kate looks up to find a middle-aged woman bustling out, wiping her hands on a white apron. A man is with her, obviously her husband. Castle beams.

"Sal, Maria! Great to see you again."

Sal, it turns out, is the restaurant owner, having inherited the place from his father Luigi, an immigrant from just outside Rome. Maria, his wife, is a brilliant baker, responsible for the entirely-too-delicious breadsticks they've been enjoying.

"And little Lexi, you are just getting so tall, so pretty," Sal beams, tugging the girl's hair. "Riccardo, you're going to have to keep the boys away from this one."

His wife elbows him. "Salvatore. You're being rude. Riccardo has yet to tell us who his lovely guest is."

Sal shrugs. "I was waiting to see when he was going to introduce us to his girlfriend."

Maria scowls and tweaks his ear. "No, Sal. No way she's his girlfriend. She's too pretty for him."

Castle laughs. "She's not my girlfriend. We work together. Maria, this is Kate Beckett. She's a police detective."

Maria coos, reaches out her floury hand. "Kate. Detective Kate. So nice to meet you."

"Salvatore? Salvatore!" A wrinkled, wizened old woman with snow-white hair comes out to join them. "Salvatore, why you out here? You go to kitchen. You cook." Her Italian accent is heavy, her voice clear and chirpy.

"Mama, darling, it's Riccardo and Lexi! And Riccardo brought a lady friend."

Castle nods. "Kate, this is Lucia, Sal's mother."

The old woman purses her lips, squinting at Kate through her glasses for a long moment. "She pretty. But she too skinny. She never have babies."

"It's not like that, Lucia. She's not my girlfriend."

Lucia shrugs. "Good. Because she too skinny. She eat more. Then she is your girlfriend."

Alexis has one hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing out loud. Kate feels her cheeks get red. Castle just chuckles. "Thank you, Lucia. We'll keep that in mind."

Sal and the women head back to the kitchen, and Alexis finally lets out the giggle she's been holding in. "Sorry. She usually tells me I need to eat more so I can find a man to take care of me."

Kate nods. "Huh. Good to know."

Castle doesn't comment, just holds up the basket of breadsticks. She's about to take another one when she sees the mischief in his eyes. Thinks about Lucia's words.

Cute, Castle. Real cute.

Her face gets warm, but she just tells him, "No thanks."

Not right now.

Dinner is delicious, of course.

Kate isn't really surprised to find that the Castles chatter like magpies all through their meal. Alexis has a wealth of anecdotes from her time at the precinct, and naturally her father is an unending well of stories that Kate half thinks have to be made up on the spot. Seriously. No one could possibly have spent that much time and energy collecting small farm animals in Manhattan.

Castle wipes his mouth, takes a sip of his wine. "So Anna Knowles was happy to get the pictures?"

Alexis nods eagerly. "She was so nice. And she showed me all those pretty pictures of her grandparents. She was so sweet, she was crying and telling me how happy it made her to get them. I'm glad we found her."

Alexis excuses herself to use the bathroom, leaving Kate looking down at her plate, trying to get ahold of herself. She's so glad Alexis got this experience – the girl is really growing up – but it's bringing back a flood of memories she just isn't ready to deal with.

"You okay?" His voice is soft, meant only for her. Always for her.

"Yeah." She chances a look up at him, and the undisguised tenderness in his eyes takes her breath away. This was just supposed to be dinner. Not an emotional upheaval.

"I'm sorry – I know this – brought up some things." He's hesitant, cautious. Like he's desperate to say the right thing but not quite sure what it is. She can't help it. It's…endearing. He's protective. Of everyone in his life. He takes care of people. It's his nature.

"It's okay, Castle." It sort of is. She's not really at her best right now, but this feels comfortable. It's been a long time since she's been part of a family like this.

Over by the restrooms, she can see, Lucia has accosted Alexis and is currently combing careful fingers through the girl's long red hair.

"I'm really glad you could join us, you know. She really looks up to you." He pauses for a second. "It's not – I mean, did you not – "

"It was the last thing. With Anna. It just – it reminded me of – something from my mom."

"The pictures?"

"Her perfume." Kate takes a long, hitching breath. "She was leaving the office to come meet us, so she'd brought her perfume with her. It was in her bag. It ended up in the storage room. But some young officer found it. Brought it back. I remember – he came to our door, asked if it was hers – " she remembers it, sees the shy, awkward young officer, the little bottle in his hands. "I couldn't stop crying for hours."

She can't say anymore, tries to tighten her jaw, swallow around the ache in her throat. And then suddenly his hand is on hers where it rests on her thigh, lacing his fingers through hers. She stares down numbly at their hands. Clasped. Tangled. Warmed. Not locked. Cradled.

Her heart does a stumble in her ribcage, because this tiny thing, this innocent touch, makes her feel so incredibly precious that she almost can't breathe. She's a carefully organized mess tonight, an unexpected bundle of emotions (she never told anyone about the perfume before) and wonder (he's never held her hand like this before) and sweet ache (it feels like a real family, like Mom and Dad asking their daughter about her day) and there's sadness but there's something else too, something warm and deep that's blossoming and bubbling and unfolding in her chest and tingling in her fingers and flushing her cheeks. Something she can't quite put a name to.

Something good.

Stuffed full of delicious Italian food, they walk out, waving goodnight to Sal and Maria. Lucia trots out to catch them before they go and hands them little containers of tiramisu. She pats Kate's cheek. "You eat more, Kate. You make nice babies."

Kate lands a subtle elbow in Castle's side as he coughs a laugh behind her, and simply smiles and tells Lucia "Grazie mille."

During the ride to her apartment, Castle's fingers somehow end up twined with hers again. A quiet hum fills her body, a sense of contentment, of rightness and inevitable and real and sweet and no more resisting.

(What are you resisting, Kate?)

She actually keeps holding his hand all the way to her apartment. Castle feels giddy. It's different tonight. Something's different. It's better.

Her fingers finally leave his when the driver pulls the car to the curb, and he immediately misses her. She climbs out and for a second he just sits. "Dad," Alexis hisses, tugging at his sleeve. "What are you doing?"

"What?"

"You bought her dinner and held her hand. Go walk her up to her door. What are you, a caveman?"

He scowls at her but obeys, because, well, yeah. She's right. Good girl.

Kate turns to discover him hurrying to catch up. "You need something?"

"Alexis told me to walk you to your door."

"You trained her well." She has this look on her face, this playful little smile that always floors him, and he can't help but stare longingly as the corners of her mouth curl up. God, she's gorgeous.

He follows silently as they climb the stairs, and then finally (and all too soon) they're in front of her door. She digs in her pocket for her keys, and he tries to muster up something clever. "Thanks for coming with us." Not your best work, Rick.

"Thanks for inviting me. It was really nice."

"You're always welcome."

She flicks her eyes up to his through those dark lashes, her smile shy and sweet and utterly arresting. "Castle – " her voice is low and throaty, rich with amusement and warm with affection. "This is taking too long. Can we just cut to the chase?"

"The –what?"

She rolls her eyes (what?) and sets a hand on his shoulder (whoa) and then her fingers are sliding up to his jaw (whoa) and then suddenly she's kissing him (ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

Her mouth is soft, and she tastes like wine and gelato and something else, something distinctive, something Kate. He tastes her carefully, humming low in his throat as her fingers slide through his hair, her nails scratching gently over his scalp. Her tongue slides over his, warm and wet and teasing, and he nips lightly at her bottom lip, catching the sigh she breathes into his mouth. He wants to kiss her every day. All the time.

It ends and he needs a second to process what just happened.

"That was amazing," he gets out. Wow. Wow.

She just laughs. "Oh, come on, Castle. Wasn't that what you were trying to get up the nerve to do?"

"Well – yeah – but – I wasn't just going to dive in like that."

Her eyes drop to his lips for a second, but she just smiles that arch little smile. The one that's going to drive him crazy. And he's going to enjoy it. "Good thing I did, then."