A/N: So... this ended up a long ways away from where it started. Thank you to TORONTOSUN for the suggestion, I hope you like it. This is different from the last two because apparently I decided to be romantic and sappy today. Please review, tell me what you think!

castlefringereader, I hope this was updated soon enough for you :) I was so flattered by your 90 "more"s.

Rick wasn't exactly sure how this had happened, but he damn well knew he wasn't going to question it. When he'd suggested Remy's, he'd been sure she would turn him down, and he knew she almost had. But now they were sitting at a table waiting for their burgers. They were the only ones there because it was so late, so as she took a sip of her strawberry shake he took a chance and leaned towards the window and began searching through the song selections for the jukebox. He could feel her rolling her eyes at him, but he didn't care. He found the song he wanted, "Baby Sittin' Boogie" and put a quarter in the slot. But when he went to press the button he missed and the first notes of "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow PolkaDot Bikini" blared from across the room. He looked at Beckett, horrified that she would think he chose the song on purpose. It wasn't that he didn't like the song, but it kind of gave the wrong impression.

She raised an eyebrow at him and just as he was sure she'd shoot him where he sat, she glanced around, leaned over the table towards him, and started to sing along to the female part.

"Two, three, four tell the people what she wore!" He stared at her in confused astonishment as the song continued to play. She was looking at him expectantly as Brian Hyland crooned his description. Finally he caught on and haphazardly sang the second half of the chorus.

"An itsy bitsy, teenie weenie yellow polkadot bikini, so in the locker she wanted to stay." Beckett's face cracked in the biggest smile he'd ever seen from her before starting again.

"Two, three, four, stick around we'll tell you more!" Rick wasn't about to waste an opportunity to not only show off the musical prowess his mother had spent years forcing him to cultivate, but also to make Kate Beckett laugh, so he threw himself full-tilt into the performance.

"She was afraid to come out in the open." He drummed his fingers on the table on beat. "So a blanket around her she wore. She was afraid to come out in the open. And so she sat bundled up on the shore."

"Two, three, four tell the people what she wore!" Beckett had been laughing while she watched Castle, but she didn't miss her cue.

By the end of the song, they were both in stitches, all notions of hunger and burgers forgotten for the moment. When her shoulders stopped shuddering, Beckett fished a quarter out of her purse, quickly looked through the selection, and picked a song without letting Rick see. After a brief silence, "Yakety Yak" began to play and she smiled smugly at him.

It was then that their burgers arrived and he was happy to get her distracted while he found a few more quarters and lined up more songs for the jukebox. He didn't know exactly what it was about Beckett laughing at and singing along with some of his favorite guilty pleasure songs that was so sexy; maybe it was just the fact that she seemed to actually be enjoying herself and his company. But damn it if the look she was giving him right now didn't make him completely forget they were still in public.

When Barry Mann started thanking the guy who put the bomp in the bomp, ba bomp, ba bomp, Rick realized he hadn't chosen this song. He looked questioningly at Beckett, but she shook her head. They both turned to their waitress, a kind sixty-something woman who was now giggling as she wiped down the bar. Rick hung his head, only now realizing what they must look like; then he felt something bump the inside of his calf. No, it couldn't be, but then it was back and it most definitely was. Beckett's foot was slowly working its way up his calf, gently nudging behind his knee before beginning its trail up his thigh.

Rick looked up at her in astonishment to see a small, decidedly seductive smile curve her lips.

Kate didn't know why she'd accepted Castle's invitation to Remy's. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision made largely by her stomach. She couldn't blame hunger for her decision to sing Brian Hyland though. No, that had been a conscious decision made by her brain; she'd wanted to get Castle to relax, something she'd never had to do before. She had seen his finger slip to the wrong button, though how was beyond her, and by the look he gave her, she knew he was terrified she'd maim him, so she put him at ease the first way she could think. Her date with the pin-up boy hadn't gone well, to say the least, and she really just wanted to have a little fun. And it didn't hurt that, when he was trying to be theatrical, Castle sounded a lot like Danny Zuko trying, and failing, to convince Sandy he couldn't sing.

She'd chosen "Yakety Yak" as a joke, but only because "You Talk Too Much" wasn't an option. As they ate she tried to decide exactly how much fire she was playing with here, but by the time she'd finished she'd accepted the fact that she honestly didn't care. And when it came to a night of any type of fun, she knew she could definitely do worse than Richard Castle.

When her foot first bumped into his leg, it was completely innocent. All she'd been trying to do was cross her legs under the table. But the look of shock and the slight darkening of Castle's eyes, along with the song provided by their waitress, emboldened her, and she threw caution to the wind; if she was going to do this, she was sure as hell going to enjoy it. She gave him the most seductive look she could muster, and raked her foot up the inseam of his dress pants.

His eyes, growing wider by the second, met hers and she watched him swallow hard. She raised her hand for the check to answer his unasked question and he started digging for his wallet. The waitress smiled knowingly when Castle handed her what looked suspiciously like a fifty and started for the door with Kate on his heels.

Rick couldn't really remember the cab ride; it was all a bit of a haze. He heard Beckett give the cabbie her address, and then everything went foggy because she put her hand on his thigh and slowly slid it upwards.

All that he could think, now that they were riding the elevator up to her apartment and he actually could think, was that he couldn't believe this was happening. Kate Beckett, whom he'd been chasing after for over a year now, was taking him back to her place. And she'd been the one to initiate it too. He'd been perfectly willing to just eat a meal with her, maybe laugh at some oldies songs, but she had started singing, and she had started touching, and she had pulled him out of the cab with her when they reached her building.

They were now standing on opposite sides of the elevator though. He desperately hoped she wasn't reconsidering, now that they'd left neutral territory and reality was setting in. Because he could deal with her not wanting him most days, but after the last hour, he wasn't sure he could take another rejection. He looked up and realized she was watching him, her gaze intent and hard, like she was trying to make sense of something. Her eyes flicked to his mouth and back, darkening, as her lips spread into a smile again.

He couldn't help himself; he just needed proof that this was actually happening. He reached up and pinched his bicep as hard as he could.

Truthfully, Kate had been doubting herself a little as they rode the elevator together. She hadn't had so much as a drop of alcohol in over two hours, and even on her "date" with Mr. July, she'd been too preoccupied with the case to really have that much wine. All of this proved that she couldn't possibly be drunk. So why did she feel pleasantly buzzed? If she wasn't drunk, why was her entire body thrumming and tingling? And why did she feel slightly lightheaded? She tried to look him in the eye, but ended up glancing at his mouth. And wasn't that evidence enough that she wanted to do…whatever it was they were about to do? Wasn't the simple fact that she could not keep her mind from wondering about all of the things he could do to her enough proof that she wanted him? She let her face crack into a smile and watched as Castle literally pinched himself, not able stifle her laughter when he cried out. Then she realized it was he that was making her feel drunk. Castle was sending adrenaline coursing through her veins, making her blood sing with it.

When they finally reached her door, Castle put his hand on her arm before she could slide her key into the lock. She turned and saw the question on his face. Again she smiled, wondering why she had ever thought this man would treat her any way but right.

"Yes," she said, her voice a little rougher than she'd expected. "Yes. I want this. Yes I want you. Yes I want us." She could see relief wash over his features and her smiled broadened.

"And you won't re-" He tried to ask, but she cut him off.

"Never." And she knew it was true. She would not regret this, him. She may still have her own plethora of issues, but it was time she let someone in, let someone help her, heal her. She placed one hand on his chest as the other opened the door.

She said she wanted an "us." Rick's heart broke out of shear joy; his knees actually felt a bit weak when she laid a hand on his chest. And now she was leading him into her apartment, tugging him along by one of the lapels of his jacket.

He shut the door softly after he entered. Beckett was still tugging him forward, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. Wrapping his arms around her waist he stared at her, not making a move to kiss her, just simply soaking in her face and the way she felt nestled against him. Sliding out of her heels, Kate wove her arms behind his back as well, running her palms up and down over the taught muscles before resting her cheek on his chest. There would be time for passion and lust in a moment, but right now Rick just wanted to feel her hugging him.

Kate loved the feel of him, loved how easily she wrapped around his solid frame. She didn't know how long they stood there, not moving, just holding each other. At some point she removed her cheek from his chest and replaced it with her lips, peppering soft kisses through his shirt. When she nudged his collar out of the way with her nose and finally found the skin at the base of his neck he groaned, sending a shudder down her spine in response. His hands moved to her hair and slowly removed the clips and pins that had been pulling and poking all night. She let out a moan as she heard them falling to the floor and felt his fingers gently massaging her scalp.

Kate's hands found the back of Castle's neck and she pulled herself up, finally meeting their lips. The fire that had coursed through her earlier, making her tease him at the diner, was back in a flash and she pressed herself firmly into him, grinding their hips together as she allowed his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers.

She gasped when he grabbed her by the thighs and hoisted her up to wrap her legs around his waist. He started walking toward her bedroom, never breaking their kiss, and she wondered absentmindedly how he knew where it was. All coherent thought abandoned her, however, when she felt her back hit her sheets and suddenly Castle was climbing on top of her, her legs still wrapped loosely around his waist.

"Aren't we supposed to have votive candles and tequila?" She asked against his neck as he nipped at her clavicle and his fingers tugged the hem of her shirt upwards.

"What?" He asked, his voice muffled as he pulled her shirt further up and kissed her navel, making her squirm a bit as she chuckled, waiting for him to catch on.

"Aren't we supposed to make hand margaritas by candlelight first?" She prompted again, tugging him back up to face her by his tie before deftly unknotting it. Recognition flashed across his face as he realized what she was referring to and she chuckled again.

"Did you just? You did- You just- Oh, Kate," her name came out as a moan, making heart pound painfully harder against her chest. "You will be the death of me." And then he was kissing her again, hard and passionate.

When he came up for air they began to work in earnest to divest each other of their clothes, both craving skin-to-skin contact.

Rick woke slowly. A smile spread across his face when he realized what had brought him back to consciousness. Fingers were gliding up and down across his chest and stomach. His smile broadened exponentially when he opened his eyes and saw that those fingers did in fact belong to Kate Beckett, and he hadn't dreamed it all.

"Morning." She said brightly through a smile as he rubbed his eyes.

"Sun's not up yet, s'not morning. S'still night." He replied, exaggerating his slurred, sleepy speech. He was most definitely awake now, the memories of the night before flooding his brain with images he hoped he'd never forget.

"Oh stop it. Here, I made you coffee." She extended a mug as he sat up and leaned against her headboard. They sipped their coffee in silence for a few moments, neither feeling the need to recap the previous night to know how amazing it had been. As the minutes drug on, however, Rick grew pensive.

Like she had asserted the night before, he wanted an "us," but he knew that without complete honesty, they would implode before they even got started. He hoped he wasn't shattering the rose-colored glasses too soon, but there was something he had to ask.

"Why now?"

"Rick," she sighed, because after last night he was definitely Rick, "I don't know." She watched as his face darkened a bit more with worry. "It was nothing really, a million little things that meant nothing. The look on your face when Brad called me, the way you left Miss Number Three to discuss the case with me, you're terror when that spider was on your shoulder," he shuddered but she didn't stop, suddenly needing him to understand, "the way you comforted me after Coonan… when everyone else just stood and watched… the fact that last night before we left the precinct all you wanted to say was that you were starving. And that's just what I can think of right now, Rick. Last night I finally put all the little pieces together and realized… I don't know." She stopped, looking away from him to unsuccessfully hide her tears.

Rick set his coffee cup on the nightstand and pulled her to him, whispering in her ear.

"It's okay, I understand."

A/N 2: Hopefully I didn't confuse you all by switching the perspective too much; if I did I'm terribly sorry (please review and tell me so). Oh, and before you yell at me too much, yes I know that Beckett had a dress in a garment bag at the end of the episode. I couldn't find a place for her to put it, and I didn't want her constantly having to pick it up and move it, so I just ignored it, sorry. I also might have taken some liberties with Remy's. I just kind of assumed it was a diner like the one's my parents used to take me to, but I truthfully have no idea. Also, if you want to listen to any of the songs I mention, google them because they are all awesome.

Again, I love feedback so review and tell me what you think.