Disclaimer: Not mine. Should be obvious, but still...

She woke up slowly, letting the previous night slowly work its way back into her consciousness. She rolled over onto her back, feeling happily sore, and opened her eyes.

The spot beside her was empty.

The idea that Rick had left was quickly dissipated as she smelled coffee. A second later, she saw him at her doorway, clad only in boxers and her robe, which was pink, silk, and far too small for him to be able to clinch up. His hair was a mess and he looked boyish and silly. Boyish and silly and beautiful.

He walked over to the bed, handing her one of the two mugs he carried.

"Hi," he said.

"So," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. "Was that more?"

"Oh, yeah, that was definitely more."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, both unable to fight back the bubbly happiness that was percolating between them. She needed to take a step back, just to be able to communicate.

"Is it really after 9?" she asked, looking at her clock.

He nodded. "We had a late night. Needed to sleep in."

She laughed. "Just this once, I guess it's okay."

He put his mug down on her nightstand. "So..."

"So..." she replied, playing along.

"I need to get home soon, but I was wondering..."

He stopped as they both heard a noise out in the living room. Someone had opened Kate's front door.

"Honey?" they heard.

"Crap," Kate said, sitting bolt upright. The motion caused Rick to fall off the bed.

"Is that Joanna?" he asked.

"Shhh," Kate said. "Stay down."

"Seriously?"

Joanna ducked her head around the doorframe then, "Oh good, you're okay."

"You came over here to check on me?" Kate asked. With her foot, she nudged Rick's arm, so he'd stay behind the bed, out of Joanna's line of sight.

"You were upset about Rick, and then you hung up on me, and you haven't answered your phone since, so, yes, I'm exercising my motherly prerogative to be worried."

"I'm fine, Mom."

"Then you'll have brunch with me?"

"Um, could we have this conversation when I'm wearing something more than a sheet?"

"Did you just wake up?"

"Moooommm..."

"Fine," Joanna said, throwing up her hands. "I'll be out here." She turned and left.

"You were upset about me?" Rick asked in a loud whisper.

"Just get dressed, please," she replied, already heading to her wardrobe to grab clothes.

Joanna was sitting on the couch, looking through the paper when Kate came out a few minutes later. Kate wondered how quickly she could get her mother out the door so that she could smuggle Rick out safely. Not that she was ashamed of what they had done the night before. But there was not ashamed, and then there was actively being willing to discuss it with her mother. Which she wasn't. Ever.

"So where do you want to eat, Mom?"

Joanna leaned back into the couch, getting comfortable. "It can wait for a minute or two. Sit. I wanted to finish our conversation from last night."

"Sure, but we could do that ... you know ... over food."

"No, we'll get food after. Come on," Joanna said, patting the space on the couch next to her, "Sit."

Kate sat, if only because it kept Joanna faced away from the bedroom door. "Weren't we going to do this tomorrow?"

"That's before you said you'd call back and didn't."

"I'm sorry, Mom, I just couldn't talk anymore last night. Why don't we get out of here, talk about this over pancakes?"

"You know, a less secure Mom would think you don't want her in your apartment."

"I'm just hungry is all."

"Just humor me for a second," Joanna said, obviously in no mood to move. Kate checked the bedroom door, wondering if Rick was dressed, and how long he could hide in there without making any noise. At least he'd agreed that a walk of shame in front of Joanna wouldn't be fun.

"I don't think things are completely ruined with Rick. If you're smart, you can probably salvage things."

Kate fought back the urge to rebel against her mother's meddling, knowing that, right now, it would probably be better, or at least faster, to give in.

"And why do you say that, Mom?"

"Well, he did stay here last night. I'd take that as a good sign."

Kate tried not to blush. "That's crazy."

"Honey, next time, hang up the phone."

"Hang up ... oh god," Kate said. This time she did blush, horribly. She hoped that they'd moved things into the bedroom quickly enough that her Mom hadn't heard anything too bad. But ... no, she refused to think about it.

Joanna chuckled before turning her head to the bedroom. "Rick! You want to come out here?"

Kate turned, and a few seconds later, a very sheepish looking Rick Castle ducked his head through the doorframe. Kate breathed a sigh of relief to see him dressed.

"Hi, Jo," he said, coming fully into the room. He stayed standing, several feet away from them, looking like a schoolboy sent to the principal's office.

Kate couldn't help it, she started laughing. The sight of Rick's embarrassment was enough to trump her own. As she laughed, her mother got up off the couch, went over, reached up, and patted Rick on the cheek.

"I take it you too are done getting in your own way?"

Rick nodded. "I hope so," he said, looking over at Kate. Even through his embarrassment, she could see how much he loved her. She'd let her mother tease her forever, if it meant getting to see that look everyday.

Joanna must've spotted it too, since she turned to look from Rick to Kate, and then back to Rick.

"Okay, good talk," she said. "I just realized I've already eaten this morning, so I'm going to go."

Joanna grabbed her purse where she'd left it by the door. "You two are both coming over tomorrow, though, right? Alexis too?"

Rick looked confused, but Kate answered, "Yeah, we'll be there, Mom."

"Good," Joanna said. She looked out the windows at the bright blue sky. "Horrible day outside. Probably best just to spend the day in bed with a good book." She shook her head, "Or something. Anyway, you kids have fun." And then she was out the door before Rick or Kate could respond. Not that either of them had a clue what to say.

"One of these days, I hope to know something that that woman doesn't," Rick said, after the door closed.

"Yeah, well, I've been waiting for that my entire life. You just learn to deal with it," Kate said, stepping up and wrapping her arms around his waist. "She'll probably know we're engaged before you've even proposed," she continued.

Both of them stilled for a moment. Kate wondered how badly she'd screwed up, mentioning marriage after their first actual night together. But after a second, he chuckled. "You're probably right," he replied. "Hell, she probably already knows the names of our kids."

As oddly pleasant as that thought was, she decided to get the day back on more normal ground. "So, Mr. Castle. Know a good way for an unemployed gal with a lot of time on her hands to spend a day?"

"Well, I suspect that you and I are going to get teased pretty heavily tomorrow. Wanna earn it for a few more hours, and then come with Alexis and me to the botanical gardens?"

She leaned in and kissed him along the jaw. "I think I could be talked into that, unless your mother plans on interrupting us too."

"Our first day together? My mother would never do that..."

A/N: I found this while trying to go through old writing, seeing if I could put something together for the Castle Ficathon. I think I've got something plotted up, but we'll see... it has been awhile since I wrote regularly.