A/N: This is just a two-shot. I haven't written the second part yet, but I should have it up within the next week.

The first time Kate meets the tiny creature, he startles her. Four months after a gunshot wound to her heart and she is nearly taken out by a black ball of fur booking it out of a bush and into another as she approaches the garden-level entrance to her favorite lunchtime stop. She doesn't consider herself a cat person, and given the number of strays in the city, the tiny kitten would normally have just been part of the landscape of New York, but when she exits Remy's to get to her therapy appointment, the kitten makes a second appearance.

He sits at the top of the stairs and emits a raspy, nearly silent, meow when Kate reappears. The greeting makes her smile. The cat meows with each step she climbs and each quiet meow is tugging at her heart. When she reaches street-level again, she bends down to pet the cat but is surprised when the kitten launches himself onto the sleeve of her red peacoat and claws his way to her shoulder. Kate looks around, half expecting this gregarious kitten to be part of some hidden camera show or an elaborate scheme of Castle's to either brighten her day or annoy her.

Kate attempts to grab the cat and place him back on the sidewalk, but his needly claws are fixed to her coat like he intends on becoming a decorative brooch.

She waits a few seconds, gives the kitten some pets and attempts to remove him again. For the second time, it doesn't work. She glances at her watch. She has to be at her appointment in twenty minutes and it might just take that long to extract the cat.

Maybe Dr. Burke will let me bring the kitten into my session. She doesn't want to be at her therapist's office when the kitten decides to run off. What if his mother is somewhere by the restaurant? Kate calculates how much longer she has before she really needs to leave and decides it might just be easier to take the cat with her then bring him back, assuming he is allowed in the building.

Kate strolls down Bleecker Street with the cat perched on her shoulder like she is a pirate with a parrot, all she needs are some crackers and a peg leg. She worries the cat will fall with the momentum of her walking, so she tries to coax the little guy into the crook of her arm and surprisingly he follows.

When Kate arrives at the front door of her destination, the kitten is asleep and purring which Kate can't hear but can feel when she runs her finger against his throat. She takes the stairs to Dr. Burke's third-floor suite and greets the receptionist, tucking her little stowaway further into her coat.

"Do you know, by chance, if Dr. Burke is allergic to cats?"

The receptionist's brow furrows. "I... don't think so. Why?"

"Never mind," Kate says throwing a dismissive wave as she turns to take a seat in the waiting area.

It isn't very long before Dr. Burke calls for Kate to join him in his office. He notices Kate's fidgeting as she passes by him and when they are both seated in his office, he mentions her rigid posture.

"Is everything okay, Kate? You seem…"

"I'm fine. I know this is probably weird, but I have a cat. In my coat. There's a cat in my coat." Kate moves one of her lapels to reveal the kitten, still fast asleep. "I was leaving Remy's just a little bit ago and he really wanted my attention. He ended up climbing up to my shoulder and would not let me put him down. I didn't want to be late, so I brought him along. I hope that isn't a problem."

Dr. Burke chuckles. "It is perfectly fine, as long as he doesn't get into any trouble, but by the looks of it, he'll probably be fine for the next hour."

Kate's shoulders relax and she smiles.

"Do you plan on keeping him?"

"Oh, I don't think so. I don't really have the time for a cat. I don't think I'd be very good for him."

"Most cats are fairly low maintenance pets, especially for someone with a busy lifestyle."

"You think I should keep him?"

"I'm not going to pressure you to do something if you don't want it, but in just the few minutes you've been here with him, I can tell you are more relaxed than you have been in our prior sessions. Maybe keeping him would help you more than you think."

Kate looks down at the cat again. The little furball was warming more than just the crook of her arm, it seems. She smiles and strokes the top of his head.

"I'll think about it," Kate confirms.

After her session with Dr. Burke, Kate walks back to Remy's as she planned to return the cat to where he came from, but when she approaches the restaurant, the thought of parting with him makes her chest ache. The little guy already seems like such a big part of her life and it's only been two hours. She pauses outside of Remy's and the cat looks up at her with his big green eyes and meows, well at least she assumes he meowed because he still doesn't seem to have an actual voice.

"All right, buddy. I guess you're mine now."

Kate stops by a pet store on her way home and picks up the essentials she thinks she needs for a cat: food, a litter box, litter, and some toys. If there is anything else she will need, she'll have to come back for it, especially since cat litter and food weigh so much.

On her walk home, Kate starts thinking of names for her new family member. The kitten is all black, so she considers names like Midnight or Shadow, but they don't feel right for this kitten. It isn't until she's unlocking the door of her apartment that the perfect name comes to her: Remy.

A/N 2: The Remy in this story is based on my own Remy, who is pictured in the story icon. He does, in fact, have no voice and when he meows it is either silent or raspy. It wasn't until after I named him Remy that I remembered the Remy's in Castle because I actually named my Remy after the rat from Ratatouille and that is also how he earned his nickname of Bratatouille (because he is quite the brat). Castle will make an appearance in the next chapter.