hello, I've been working on this chapter to follow the rule of posting weekly and when I was in the middle of it, I ended up letting my phone break, again. I've been without a computer for a while, and it took another two weeks to get my cell phone and finish the chapter for you. I am really sorry.

Also, I know all this delay between characters can be a little frustrating, but I promise we'll get there soon. Until then, thank you for continuing to follow the story. Thank you very much for the comments too. Have a great read.

xoxos,

lehh

When Rick wakes up, he is a little disoriented.

He's not sure where he is or how he got there, just that the space he's currently in isn't his home. In addition to the decor apparently being completely different from what he would choose for himself, there are no traffic sounds like Manhattan always has.

Little by little and gradually, with the sounds of the birds directing him to the fact that, he is in the forest, in a cabin that belongs to Kate's family, he can remember.

He's here, in the north, with her.

And judging by the time he went to bed, and how the sun is already in the middle of the sky, he would say it's not early.

Rick rubs his eyes, already sitting on the bed.

His brain seems a little sluggish this morning, so maybe he needs coffee before he starts thinking.

His feet lead him out of the room, he walks down the hallway until he reaches the stairs and carefully descends the steps one by one. The front door is open, and sounds of nature seem much more emphatic down here, and a smell comes from the kitchen that seems simply divine.

The path through the living room is still half-dazed, and finally, Rick enters the kitchen and drags himself to the counter, taking his place in a high chair.

He rubs his eyes. "Good morning."

"Yes, for some of us it is" Kate's voice, who was reaching for something from the fridge, turns to him. "For others, not so much."

His mind searches for a quick explanation for what she means, until he realizes that she is wearing a lilac lycra set that is very tight to her body, her hair is tied up in a bun but there are a few strands stuck around her face, the which suggests sweat, which means she ran without it.

Right. She's teasing him.

"No." He says, as if that would change any fact. "What kind of hostess are you, Beckett? I thought we agreed to run together."

She smiles and places a mug of coffee in front of him. "Eat, writer boy. That is, if you don't want to miss out on seeing me swim too."

He grips the mug with a strength that makes her laugh. "You are cruel."

"No, I'm just used to waking up early." Kate shrugs, she walks to the waffle maker and takes out the finished one, and adds more batter. "And you went to bed pretty late, so I thought I'd let you sleep a little longer."

Secretly, he's really grateful for that. He's not the athletic type who would do very well at running, especially since Kate Beckett seems to be an avid runner, now that he thinks about it, he would never be able to keep up with her.

He realizes that she did a lot for breakfast. There are eggs and bacon, pancakes, waffles, some muffins, berries and juice. And just by looking at it, her appetite increases instantly.

"Wow, Beckett. What time is it?"

"It's 11am, so let's have breakfast and lunch." Kate offers, as she places some waffles, fruit, and syrup on a plate.

Rick nods, probing what he will choose to eat. "It works for me."

They gather at the table a moment later, and it feels completely otherworldly, to be here, sharing a meal with the beautiful, impressive woman from the book party almost three months ago.

It's not that he's never seen her eat, they've had dinner before, and had brunch and spent the day before completely together, but it's just that Kate always has this expression on her face when she eats something she likes, she closes her eyes and her face draws the ghost of a smile that never fully appears because of the food in the mouth. And sometimes her brow furrows when the texture of some food sounds strange, or it tastes different than she initially imagined. Her nose wrinkles together at these moments. It's adorable.

He knows he's not being discreet about watching her, but he never has been before, and he has the feeling she appreciates it as much as he does.

The first moments are like this, quiet. The sounds of cutlery and glasses are the only ones that resonate in the environment. It's confortable. It's like they always do this. Sounds like hope. Like to have great luck.

"You know, I was thinking" With her hand in front of her mouth, finishing chewing, Kate starts the first topic. "A little past the tree house, there is a hill covered in undergrowth that used to be a trail path. Some tourists came and walked to the lake. I thought we could do the reverse and maybe walk to where they were coming from? I heard there is really beautiful places there."

Rick locks eyes with hers, and takes a sip of juice before saying anything. "You brought your gun, right?"

Kate's eyebrows rise.

"What does my gun have to do with anything?"

"If there's a jaguar there, you need to protect us, Kate." He says it like it's obvious.

"Castle, there are no jaguars in New York." Now she rolls her eyes. "And most likely not even in the United States. I think it's officially extinct here."

"Right. But a few days ago there was an exhibition in Central Park, Jaguar Parade, something like that. They were really beautiful, and they went up for auction, I almost went in, but you know, Alexis would be scared."

Kate smiles. "Yes, Castle. I'm sure it's your daughter who would be scared of the jaguars."

He ignores her. "Anyway, I'm just looking out for our safety, Beckett. If not a jaguar, maybe a poisonous snake or a tiger. Something dangerous. We're miles away from any hospital."

"You know, it's our second day here and you've already mentioned the distance to a hospital more than once." The mention of this comes with a pretentious pause. "Am I to assume you're not very familiar with nature or are you just really scared?"

The way her expression explodes with offense at her suggestion is almost comical.

"No. Of course not. Alexis and I went camping once, you know?" Rick responds quickly. "I'm just being careful. I'm fine with hiking. Sounds fantastic if you ask me."

"Right then." He thinks she's silently celebrating this due to her bright eyes and suppressed laughter.

After they eat, Rick makes sure to tidy up the kitchen, since Kate prepared everything herself. She sits in the living room, her legs curled up on the sofa, concentrating on reading a book.

"Kate, can I ask you a question?" He appears in the room, some time later.

She raises her eyebrows from the pages instantly. "What's wrong, Castle?"

"Remember your fear of butterflies thing?"

Her brow furrows, but then she switches to an alert posture automatically. "Yes, what's up with that?

"I wanted to know if this was something temporary or does it still exist?"

She shrinks back, almost embarrassed. "Hypothetically?"

He smiles.

"Sure, hypothetically."

"Well, if you must know, I hypothetically, no, am not afraid of butterflies. Just those big moths."

He widens his eyes. "Yes, well then we have a problem."

"What do you mean?" She cowers again.

"One of these just came in, a giant one, and it's in the kitchen."

Kate swallows hard.

"And you can't, like, get her out of there?"

"Well, I don't really like butterflies, no." He announces it too. "But yes, I think I can try. The problem is that she might decide to fly to the other rooms in the house. Like the bedrooms."

This seems to bother Kate, because she looks like she would never, ever, sleep in a room with that thing looking at her.

"If it goes to your room, I wouldn't mind sharing my bed with you, Detective." He arches his eyebrows, a mix of charm, teasing and flirtation radiating through his voice.

With the usual eye roll, she returns. "Thanks, but I pass. You, on the other hand, if she goes into her room, you can sleep here on the sofa in the living room."

Rick pouts, looking hurt by her response, and goes back to the kitchen, more scared than he admits, in order to try and get the moth out.

Rick has been trying to get the moth out of the house for a little over 20 minutes. Kate is on the porch, looking through the front door into the house, because when the bug flew through the room, she just couldn't take the risk, so she chose to avoid it.

"Kate?" He calls, walking out the door to her.

"Yes?"

"I'm feeling slightly embarrassed that I can't get a moth out of here, what do you say we go ahead with our plans and with some luck and some prayers when we get back it'll be gone?"

His expression has a real hint of despair. And she would laugh if she hadn't been terrified by the idea of that thing flying over the house.

"Sounds like a good idea. But you're going in there to get my sneakers, and water." She points at him. "And get changed, unless you want to go hiking in your pajamas."

Seven minutes in — Kate's sure this is some kind of record — Rick appears, dressed and with a backpack. She's not sure what's inside, but she just smiles and puts the sneakers on her foot and shows the direction.

The path to the treehouse is made, mostly in silence. They don't speak anything, and there are only the sounds of nature. It makes her thoughts seem even louder in your head.

After going up the stairs much earlier, just before daylight, she couldn't sleep anymore. Her mind turned on and she was stuck with her thoughts rolling around in bed for hours before deciding to get up. And in herself, she is very grateful that Rick slept all morning because she was alone and had more time to herself. To absorb a little what is happening.

Kate pinches her bottom lip and then pulls it between her teeth.

She is in the middle of the forest hiking with Richard Castle. The guy she used to think is a narcissist and criticize the font size of his name on book covers is here, following her for almost three whole months at work and seeing her father's cabin, and talking about her to his daughter. What does this all mean?

Kate said she's not completely closed off to the possibilities they have here, but she has no idea what those possibilities might be. And that makes her anxious and makes her feel a little overwhelmed. Because if she fell in love with him, and something went wrong, she doesn't think she would be able to recover.

He helped her, he was there before he was really there. He was infiltrated by entertainment that provided mother and daughter incredible interactions after a tiring day without any contact beyond the basics. He was there when post-tragedy hope began to appear in the crack of the police academy door, in the form of welcome and some comfort, making her feel closer to her mother. And he's been there ever since. She couldn't give up on him even after the fiasco that was Derrick's death and this new saga was launched.

Richard Castle — or at least the idea of him, to her — is very important. And she never wanted to get too close, precisely so she wouldn't have to leave that bubble, because she didn't want to discover things about him that would ruin that. She didn't want to be disappointed in him and tarnish all the time he was with her. That's why she said no that night at the launch party and every time he asked her out on a date.

But these last few weeks, his bubble for her hasn't burst. It just expanded. Everything she discovered about him: the womanizing badboy thing being just a marketing strategy, the overprotective single father afraid of someone else hurting Alexis like her own mother did, the son who, although he doesn't openly admit it, has his own relationship of love, respect and humor with the mother. She already knew that he was super intelligent, and that his intellectual skills and knowledge could be useful in her work, but his company was what really added to her work.

Kate is afraid that if she allows him to be more than that, that he starts to mean more than her favorite author and her charming, smart, funny work partner, she will lose it all at some point. That would be too much. This keeps her aloof. Distant. And while she can't deny that she likes it and wants more, she doesn't know if she should. It was what kept her awake. And what was on her mind as she ran in the morning.

"Everything is fine?" His voice, sounding worried, snaps her out of her repetitive mind. "You are quiet."

They are almost halfway up the hill just behind the tree house. The undergrowth is dotted with dandelions.

She nods. "I'm fine, I'm sorry, it just feels like my mind never stops."

His gaze burns on her for a while. "Do you want to talk about this?"

"No."

Rick nods.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You're going to ask anyway." Kate gives him a look, and tries to convey humor in her tone, but he sounds serious. "Of course, Castle. What do you want to know?"

He's looking at the trail now, and as he walks with a backpack on his back, his hair rumpled like he's just woken up, he really is handsome.

"Can you look into your mother's case?"

She freezes. She wasn't really expecting that question. "What you mean?"

"Work policies. Since a doctor can't operate on someone in his own family, can you manage a case for someone in yours?"

She shakes her head. "Not really. It's easy to lose control, like, it creates a gray area where the limit of what is justice or personal revenge is."

Rick is silent and she doesn't see his expression because she is in front and doesn't want to face him.

"But Montgomery let me investigate." She tells him. "I think he saw that I would do it anyway and that it was better under his supervision." Shrugs.

He remains silent. Which is surprising. Kind of frustrating too. "Why did you bring this up, Rick?"

She rarely calls him that, and she knows he noticed. She stops and waits for him, forcing herself to look him in the eyes.

"I just think you're the best." He shrugs, as if that explains everything. "And it wouldn't be fair for anyone other than the best to investigate what happened."

Kate isn't sure how she feels about this, about what he said, but it's sweet. "I think it's even worse when the case is personal and you run into a lot of alleys. And even though you keep trying, you never get anywhere."

It's almost dinner time, and Rick is outside, Kate isn't sure what he's doing, but she can tell it's not because the moth is in here, because it's nowhere to be found.

"It was pretty good, actually." She answers Lanie on the phone. "Yes. We went hiking and there was a moment when a rabbit moved a bush and he screamed like a little girl and told me to get my gun from my backpack."

"You're really going to tell everyone this, aren't you?" he asks, when sometime later, Kate hangs up the call.

"Of course. Your face was hilarious." She smile. "But what Lanie really wanted to know is how you're alive, since you took my gun without my permission."

"I already apologized. But we really might have needed to, I was just being careful."

"Yes, writer boy, make sure you don't touch my things without my permission again or you might not have a life to want to watch out for."

"Duly noted."

As they make dinner, they share a rather comfortable silence. Kate chopping the tomatoes and peppers while Rick is making the sauce. Rick setting the table while Kate puts the assembled dough they made into the oven.

But then they just have to wait for the food to be ready, and there's nothing else to do because the dishes are already in the dishwasher and the counter is sparkling.

Then Kate watches as Rick Castle reaches out to her.

They are listening to a playlist of her favorite songs on Spotify, which is connected to the stereo, as usual. It's at the end of a Lana Del Rey song that isn't danceable at all, so she tightens her eyebrows, partly surprised and partly tempted.

But then the song comes to an end and another one starts, and she just gives in. "You are ridiculous." She lets him know when that warm, toned arm wraps around her waist. The other hand holding hers looks much bigger and maybe that's because it is.

"I know, but I'm also fun and ruggedly handsome."

Kate rolls her eyes, and lets herself be guided by his masculine and convinced form through the space between the kitchen and the dining table. Rick leads her as if they've been doing this all their lives, he knows all the right steps and spins her gracefully around the limited space.

She laughs, thinking again that he's ridiculous because it looks like there's butterflies bubbling in her stomach and she feels like a damn teenager when he does that. "I love that song." She confesses, when her chin meets his shoulder.

They're waltzing beautifully and slowly, and they're super close and she doesn't really care about her fears right now. "Me too." Rick murmurs, quietly, while Iris from Goo Goo Dolls is exhaling the atmosphere.

He's holding her a little tighter than he should, like he really wants to hold her and hold her close and needs an excuse to do so, and now that he has one he's going to hold on to it.

She doesn't comment when he takes a little too long to release her, even when the song ends again, because she feels perfectly comfortable and doesn't want to give it up.

But then the oven beeps.

Dinner is ready.

He lets her go. She moves away, contrary to what she really wants.

Kate swallows the frustration coursing through her body at the distance and they go to dinner.

On Thursday, Rick is woken up early. Too early. At first he thinks Kate is forcing him to join her on a morning run, but then he realizes it's not even dawn outside yet.

He exchanges with his brow furrowed and his imagination spinning around with all the possibilities.

"Kate?" Even if he doesn't elaborate on the entire question, he questions it as it is wrapped in tone.

"I know we've already seen the sun set there," She replied, with a basket that Castle briefly deduces their coffee is inside. "But I thought we could see its birth this time."

"Sounds divine, Kate." He finds himself reassuring her when she looks a little unsure if she should have woken him up.

As they walk outside, in the dark and holding a basket, he feels like a lucky bastard. He's the one who's seeing Kate's sleep-lined face, her hair in messy waves and no eyeliner, and he can't help but get lost in it. To admire concentratedly.

"Eyes forward, Rick." She warns, pulling her bottom lip between her lips. "If you trip and drop all my food I'll have to throw you into the cold lake."

A smile tugs at his lips.

"I'd be happy if I could take you along. We haven't swum there yet and you said we would."

"Yes, it turns out when we came back from the trail that day it was you who had super inspiration to write."

"You are right." Rick admits, in agreement. "But you can't judge a writer for doing his job and following his inspiration. Wherever it comes from."

Kate understands the implication of this. She stays a little silent.

"Is that what you're doing?" She asks.

He frowns. "What?"

She shrugs. "We never really talked about it, did we?" Her eyes don't look at him, only at the path ahead. "You're following me for inspiration. To what extent will you explore my character and her past in your book?"

Her tone seems a little bitter. As if thinking about it suddenly made her want to vomit.

"I got a partnership at the NYPD to be authentic in some details and yes, you inspire me, of course" Rick says. "But Kate, I didn't come here to get more material about your life and expose you in one of my manuscripts. I came here because…" He swallows. "You know why."

Again, she is silent, they don't stop walking.

"That doesn't answer my question, Rick. I mean, how much are you going to put into the book?"

"Knowing about you makes me understand what moves you, Kate. I know how to develop your character, her desires, each attitude and why. But what you told me, that's between us. I'm not going to expose your story or your teenage fantasies or anything else you chose to share with me with the rest of the world."

He's a little upset that she assumed that about him, but he supposes she had a right to be sure of what it would be like.

Kate just nods. "Good."

She spreads a moss green towel over the wood of the dock when they get there. He places the basket on top and each of them sits on one side.

"You mentioned the other day that the first Storm Saga books were bought for you by your mother. Did she like reading too?"

"Yes."

"I wish I had met her."

"Why?"

"I have a feeling her qualities went far beyond just looking good." A pause. "And besides, she was your mother. I would like to know who gave you life and raised someone so extraordinary."

Her gaze, which was on the still gray horizon, turns to him now. And the shadow of a smile passes across her lips. Kate says nothing, but that's enough for him.

It takes some more time, but the imminent sunrise casts rays across the horizon, and although he knows there's a work of art unfolding right in front of him, he can't take his eyes off his side.

Kate concentrated, somehow looking lighter, and with that orange undertone starting to get to her. It's just too beautiful not to appreciate. She smile. "Is so beautiful."

It's a whisper, but he hears it anyway. He smiled. "It really is. Like I said before, it's divine." Needless to say, he was looking at her instead of the first morning sun. He doesn't know if she noticed, and he doesn't care. That moment is something he will keep with himself, just like all those days he spent with her.

"Rick" She starts, suddenly. "I know I talked to Lanie the other day, but it's different, she's my best friend and she's not going to say anything. But about the boys… the police station, they, uh- don't know. And I want to keep it that way."

"They won't hear anything from my mouth, Kate."

"Good." She nods. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not ashamed to be here with you, it's just, I really like to keep personal matters out of work."

"I understand."

Does it fit into a personal matter then? No. He knows what she means. They're up north alone, if the boys found out, they'll never hear the end of it and Kate likes to keep her private, well, private.

He is an unresolved personal matter. This bothers him.

"Will I hear from you over the weekend?"

She seems surprised by the question. As if she hadn't even crossed her mind. "I'm on duty on Sunday. If there's a case, you'll know."

"That's not what I asked."

"So what are you asking, Castle?"

This is all strange, because out of nowhere there seems to be tension here. A frustration between them. And he wants to end it, but he doesn't know how to do it.

He wants them to return to their usual teasing, their shared fear of moths, and all the stories of themselves in the past.

"I just…" He swallows. "Will you let me take you to dinner on Saturday?"

"I have plans on Saturday."

Rick can't help it, he's trying to make sure the rejection doesn't overwhelm him, doesn't show on his face, no matter how much his ego is hurt, her rejections really hurt.

He wonders what their plans are and if they are with another man. That would break him a little. Or a lot.

"With Lanie." She says. "I have plans Saturday night with Lanie."

"Right."

Everything is still broken, like they are disconnected. Kate snorts, he doesn't know if it's from frustration or what else, but she stands up, rips off her own blouse and jumps into the lake in front of them.

He is scared by this because he didn't expect it. To his unsurprisingly, he discovers that she is also an excellent swimmer. Kate looks at him and gives him a look. "Give me some more time, Rick." She murmurs again, and he needs to read her lips to understand.

He swallows hard and nods.

He can do that.

Give her time, then.