Because its Easter I've had some extra time to prepare another chapter. I'm working ahead on this and I must say its quite the challenge. I know its labeled Romance, but you will get a bit of angst and all the rest of it. After all its an exploration of them being together and hiding it.

Thank you for the reviews. Really like receiving them so the more the merrier.

Chapter 8

They were well out of Beckett's usual stomping ground when they walked to the soup kitchen, which allowed her to let her guard down a bit. Castle pushed opened the door for her and she scooted inside the joint ahead of him, finding a restaurant full of hungry lunch time customers. The place was absolutely buzzing. Kate felt his hands slide around her hips as the two of them made their way through the huddle of customers buying take away. His touch calmed her without her even being aware he had that effect on her mood. She absently reached for and found the fingers of his right hand and took a hold as she led the way through the crowd to the order counter.

"Castle, where are we gonna eat?"

"We'll find a table. What do you want? The chicken noodle is excellent, and I think I will have that."

"Just order two of that please. Coffee too?"

"Of course." He wrapped his left arm around her slender waste, and closer to the order counter he pulled her back against him holding her for several seconds while they waited for the waitress to finish an order. Kate leaned into his body glancing over her shoulder to his eyes, and she smiled. She looked away searching for a vacant table. Luckily she sighted two people standing to leave..

"I see a table, Castle."

He let go of her. "Go get it. White bread?"

"Yes." She made her way through the crowded café to a table towards the rear of the cafe near a window to an alley way. A waitress was collecting the dirty dishes. Kate pulled off her coat and hung it over a chair. She kept looking back at the man she was with. She really liked him since going on a date with him. Sleeping with him had sealed it for Kate. It remained easy to pretend she didn't like him in public but she wasn't sure how long she could manage that. She sat at the freshly cleaned table and waited until he returned to her, carrying a metal table number post.

"Four," she said as he sat down opposite her.

"Yes, they won't be long. They only have to pour soup into a bowl. I bought a hot loaf. We can break it and dip it in. Butter too."

"Delicious. I love chicken soup when I'm unwell. My mom used to cook it for me those times."

"Do you know her recipe?"

"Yes." She smiled warmly, "She showed me how she prepared it from when I was quite young. She taught me to cook."

Rick raised an eyebrow, a little surprised by that mainly because her kitchen was empty of food. The utensils were certainly there, but nothing to cook a decent meal.

And then she added as if she read what he was thinking. "I don't really enjoy cooking for myself and because of our shifts and long hours, I don't keep food."

"Understandable. I have a child. Said child eats."

She laughed leaning over the small table toward him. He hadn't shaved and she wanted to reach out and touch his whiskered jaw. And she did. Her fingers stroked down his jaw, her nails lightly scratching his whiskers. "My lips are tender today," she said just loud enough for him to hear her over the general noise.

He chuckled and touched the left side of her mouth. "You have a little bit of a rash there, Detective. I hope it was worth it."

She blushed, "It was."

Their meals arrived on a tray carried by a waiter who set down the tray on the edge of the table. "Two chicken soups and a loaf of bread. Table four."

"Yes," they answered simultaneously, then glanced to each other, smiling.

"Thank you," Rick added.

"Coffees will arrive soon."

"Thanks," Kate said smiling to the waiter. She then turned her attention to rick. "Bon a petite."

"Yes, thank you."

They tucked into lunch with heathy appetites not saying a word for a few minutes.

Half way down her bowl, Kate said, "You're right, Rick, this soup is great."

"Certainly is. Does this count as a second date, Kate? I've been wondering whether it does. It's kind of a grey zone."

"We're eating lunch together." She thought about it, "I think its me and my partner grabbing lunch. My new work partner. I will hotly be denial about that in front of everyone. A date is, we meet somewhere, eat dinner and then maybe go to the movies."

"Or the bedroom."

"The couch."

"Back seat of the car."

"Roof top."

"Roof top? That's being brazen, Beckett. People might see you."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Give em somethin' to talk about, I guess." She smiled then bit off a chunk of bread."

Rick watched her eat, thinking about what that mouth had done to him during the night. "You eat well." He commented, waving at her bowl of soup. She had kept up with him, "I like that in a woman."

"Mmm. I tend to forget to eat. Lose track of time." She stirred the soup. "But this is great. What if your mother figures out we're dating?"

"She's too busy with Martha Rogers to worry about me. It will be Alexis."

"What if the guys do?"

Rick laughed, "Not a chance of that happening unless we get sprung." He picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. "Can ask you something?"

"Personal or general?"

"Arr, it will fall in the personal category."

"Ok. Yes."

"Why don't you have a boyfriend? Like, you're gorgeous."

"Why don't you have a girlfriend? You're handsome and famous."

"In between." He shrugged, "Tired of dating until I met you."

"Same. Had boyfriend but he left the city for work."

"Do you have FF?"

"That's two questions, Rick."

He smiled, "Ok. Well, I don't."

Kate paused, thinking, then said, "I'm not into one night stands."

"Me neither."

For several seconds they paused and stared at each other, reading the others mind. Kate was first to look away, down at her food as she said, "Then I guess we're no longer single."

Rick swallowed, feeling his body react to Kate's comment with a mixture of pure fear and exhilaration. What was happening between them was very real.

Interruption occurred with the delivery of two large take away cups of coffee.

"I order take away because I figured we won't have time to drink here."

"Good idea," Kate replied.

They ate on, aware they were due back at the Precinct soon to catch up with Esposito and Ryan.

Castle and Beckett entered the bullpen from the elevator to find Captain Montgomery, Esposito and Ryan gathered around two monitors set up on Ryan's desk.

Rick said loud enough for the men to hear, "Three men huddled around a computer. I hope that's not porn. And if it is, I'd like in." They leaned in to see what they men were watching. One monitor had video footage a building's rear entrance; the other was footage from a bubble camera inside an elevator, which showed people coming and going.

Captain Montgomery said, "Esposito and Ryan pulled security tapes from the elevator and the building's rear entrance."

Ryan added, "Front door has a twenty-four hour doorman."

Esposito motioned to the monitor showing the inside of elevator. Castle silently noted the existence of a time and date stamp, running clock on the video.

Esposito said, "This is the elevator's cam. Victim gets on with the laundry basket. Goes down to the basement to put the kid's laundry into the washer. ... Few minutes later, she gets on, heads back upstairs to the apartment. Then about forty minutes later, she rides the elevator to the basement again.

"We're thinking probably to take the kid's clothes out of the washer and put them in the drier," said Ryan.

Montgomery added cheerfully, "Camera never picks her up again."

Esposito stops Sara's image. Castle studies it.

Ryan said, "Only other person who rides the elevator all the way to the basement during the next hour is the old lady who found the body."

Esposito nodded, fast forwarded the video to show Mrs Rosenberg getting off at the basement level.

"So, whoever attacked her had to have used the stairwell, otherwise the camera would have seen them." Beckett suggested.

Ryan picked up the Police file, ""We got three maintenance workers on duty that day. We're gonna run their names tonight."

"Why run only the building's workers? Why not all the neighbors?" Castle asked.

Curious, Beckett asked, "What are you basing that on?

"I'm basing it on the fact that a neighbor makes a better story," the writer said and saw the group roll their eyes, "C'mon. What do any of us know about our neighbors in this city? You think the guy who lived next door to Son of Sam knew he was living next to Son of Sam?"

Capt. Montgomery said, "He's right. Neighbors in Berkowitz's building had no idea he was the Son of Sam Killer."

Castle recognised he had piqued their interest. "Like... what do we know about the guy in eight B?

Beckett asked, now interested, "Who?"

"Eight B. The quiet type. The man who walks past you every day and you never notice. Only he noticed Sara. She was young, beautiful. The kind of girl he never stood a chance with." He nodded his head at Beckett, "We all know those girls, right?"

All of them looked at Beckett who served Castle with a smug look. She noticed that Ryan, Esposito, even Captain Montgomery were drawn in to Castle's story.

It was easy to see why. His voice was captivating, "At first, it was just a game. Learning her schedule, when she did the laundry, when she'd be alone. Until it became something more, something he couldn't control. He used the stairs, obviously, to avoid the elevator's camera. Then waited, concealed, in the shadows. And when she went inside that laundry room, he pounced."

The group was hanging on his every word.

"And now," Castle continued, "As he looked into her vacant, lifeless eyes, he wanted to tell her. He hadn't meant to kill her, that all he'd really wanted was to be noticed. That's when he felt the warmth of that drier against his skin. He took her limp body in his arms and gently placed her inside. When he found the quarter in his pocket, he nearly smiled at his good fortune, sliding it into the coin slot, buying himself the time to do what he'd always done best. Disappear."

A pin dropped would have been heard, the bullpen was so quiet. Everyone listened to Castle. But Castle's only been fucking with them and suddenly he shifts gears and returns to being affable.

"Just saying it's a better story."

Beckett almost can't hide her smile, as Castle walks away. She had enjoyed listening to him story tell and somewhere deep inside, mostly in her groin, it had turned her on. The dulcet tones of his voice, the way he engaged his audience. The team looked at one another: It almost made sense.

Montgomery ordered as he walked towards his office, "Let's see what we can find out about the neighbors. And someone better tell me who the hell lives in eight B."