I have friends. Good friends, but crazy friends. They constantly challenge me to write. Many months ago, they were discussing something in Skype and suddenly they had generated a long talk about cupcakes and how awesome it would be if "somebody" could write a fic about cupcakes. *rolling eyes*

Here's what they gave me:"Imagine an AU where Kate is not a NYPD officer but the owner of a cupcake shop and Castle is an author who went there to take a pause from writing and he sees her manage anything with her assistants Espo and Ryan. Castle in Pushing Daisies world."

So – here is what I have come up with.

If you are not familiar with Pushing Daisies, I suggest you to go to YouTube and watch some of the videos. It is a brilliant show and I love all the colours there!

And here's what I am asking you to do – read this fic with bright colours – to create more like Pushing Daisies like feel. Bright pinks and bright yellows. All the colours of the world!

So here it is.

Chapter 1

At this very moment in the city of New York, young Kate was 19 years, 7 weeks, 1 day and 3 minutes old. This was the moment young Kate realized her life was going to change forever. Coming home with her dad from a dinner date, the police of the fine city of New York were waiting for them at the doorstep.

The usual police speech was given to her, like it would be any other everyday conversation. There was no emotion, no feeling in it, it just was stating the facts. The circumstances of her mother's death weren't immediately clear to her, but one thing was sure: young Kate was in agony. Her mother had just been killed. At this very moment, Johanna Beckett had been dead for 4 hours, 8 minutes and 2 seconds, left in the alley to bleed out. The only clue to her death was a post-it note with a print of an angry cupcake on it.

Young Kate did not think something like this would happen to her. She had always thought that she would finish her studies, be the first female Chief Justice, marry and have 2.5 kids, a dog and a perfect husband. And she believed she would have her mother to support her through all of this. But her world tilted on its axis with only one sentence. "Your mother was murdered..."

After her mother's death, Kate avoided social attachments, fearing what she'd do if someone else she loved died.

And she became obsessed with cupcakes.

It's 10 years, 28 weeks, 3 days and 32 minutes later, heretofore known as "Now." Young Kate has become The Cupcake Lady.

And this is the place where she makes her cupcakes - her very own cupcake cafeteria named "The 12th". In her cakes and cupcakes the peaches are never brown. In her hands, the fruit and dough blossom with everlasting flavor…

At this very moment, Richard Castle is 39 years, 18 weeks, 8 days and 14 minutes old. This was the usual every day madness at his home. Alexis, Richard's daughter, is peacefully sipping her morning drink while his mother is reading Shakespeare's Hamlet out loud in the living room of Castle's huge Manhattan loft. Even though he loves his family to bits, he needs a break from them from time to time.

On this very day, Richard has decided he had enough of writing for the day and needed a breath of fresh air. He had been up since the wee hours of the night and the clock had just turned seven - it was high time to stroll around the city.

Interrupting his mother's play acting, he raised his voice to notify them over the sounds of Martha's speech. "I'm heading out to get some cupcakes, do you want something?"

Alexis, who was 14 years, 41 weeks, 3 days and 25 minutes old, perked up from the counter and raised her hand. "I want a peanut butter cup flavored one please! Are you going to "Crumbs?"

"I don't know yet, we'll see," Richard smiled at his daughter and turned his attention to his mother. "Mother, you want something as well?"

"No, thank you, dear," she finally took a break from her performance and shook her head. "I have to fit into a tiny costume tomorrow; I can't take chances with cupcakes right now. You go have fun."

As Richard turned towards the door, his mother added. "But if you happen to pass a wine store, I wouldn't be opposed to you picking up a bottle of that red one we had last week."

"Yes, mother," Castle nodded and was through the door quickly, surrounded by sweet silence. That was all he needed. Whistling the Star Wars theme, he made his way to the elevator. "Fine day today," he mumbled before the doors opened in front of him. Greeted by an empty box, he stepped in and nodded. "Fine day."

The day began like any other day for Kate Beckett. Wiping the sleep away from her eyes at four in the morning, she makes her way to her little cupcake bakery by five. She had always been a morning person and after her mother's death she decided not to waste another second of her life. Ever since, she'd been arriving at her bakery in wee hours of the morning.

The cupcakes, pies and other desserts were her solace, her sanctuary on earth. They didn't talk back, they didn't leave her like everybody else had. They never disappointed her. She loved baking and it made her smile.

She walked down East 5th Street from her bus stop and smiled when she saw the big sign - "The 12th" - staring back at her. She loved this place. It was the very first thing she had purchased with the money she'd saved while apprenticing at various bakeries around the city. Well, her dad supported her purchase as well, but that was not important at the moment. What was important was that the place was her very own.

The tiny bell rings when she opens the front door. Kate is instantly greeted by the wonderful smells of fruit and chocolate. She smiles and makes her way to the manager's room to dispose of her coat and bag before entering the kitchen.

Taking the batter out of the fridge, she prepares the first batch of cupcakes. In no time, the deliciously smelling peanut butter cupcakes are already in the oven.

Beckett loves every minute of it - the solace of working alone, everything coming together in her hands, her trying to create new flavour sensations.

She works relentlessly in the kitchen – making dough, preparing the pies to go into the oven and working out new interesting recipes. She doesn't notice the time fly by.

The front door opens again and the ringing of the little bell wakes her up from her trance and she looks up to see who entered her shop.

"What the hell are you doing here so early, Beckett. Do you ever sleep?" a sassy shout from the cafeteria rings around the in small space.

Esposito.

Kate smiles.

It's her sous-chef. While she is good in the area of making the small desserts like cookies and cupcakes, Esposito is a master of big things, like pies and cakes, éclairs, fruit tarts and pastries, everything along the lines of what people loved.

"Don't start," she smiles at him as he makes his way over to the kitchen. "You know I like to work alone."

Esposito only nods and then points to the far end of the Cafeteria. "When did he come in? Have you served him yet?"

Beckett furrows her eyebrows. "Who?"

Esposito shifts to reveal a man sitting in the corner, scribbling something down into his notepad and looking out of the window.

"When did he come in?" she hisses to Esposito.

"That's what I am asking from you," the Latino smirks, walking over to the counter, getting a menu and placing it on a tray.

Beckett bites her lip nervously. "I don't know. I didn't hear anything. I thought the door was closed!"

Esposito laughs full heartedly, extending the tray to her. "Go and serve the man. I think he has waited long enough. We don't want to lose any more customers, do we?"

Beckett only sticks her tongue and walks past him to the table where the mysterious man is sitting.

"I'm sorry for the long wait," she apologizes. "What can I get you?"

The man turns his face to look at her and Kate draws in a shocked breath.

She knows instantly who he is.

Richard Castle!

Her favourite writer.

His books helped her to get through her mother's murder and the long hours of study sessions in the back room of the culinary college. She just adores his words and… now he is here.

"Oh, no worries," the writer smiles what has to be his brightest smile. "I was just having a good time scribbling some stuff down. I didn't mind the wait."

"Oh. I'm so sorry again." She stops and then tentatively asks, "Exactly how long have you been waiting here?"

"Oh, not long," he dismisses her with a hand gesture. "I think an hour or so."

Beckett's mouth falls open.

"An hour? And you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't want to disturb you. You looked very content in your little bubble. I liked seeing that." He places his hand over her hand, creating electricity between them. His hands are warm. Very warm.

"You watched me work?" Kate gasps and pulls her hand away. "All the time you waited? It's creepy."

He shakes his head, being proud of his actions. "It's not. You're adorable."

Beckett furrows her brows, trying to wrap her mind around the man who is sitting there and has been watching her work for almost an hour. Creepily.

She finally gets some words out, "Can- can I get you anything, now that I am here?"

"Maybe." He winks at her. "Is the fresh batch of bear claws ready yet? I saw you rolling them and … I would like the very fresh ones. Oh, and coffee. I really like coffee with the bear claws. Together. I noticed that your place is near to the 12th precinct. Do you have a lots of officers and detectives coming by here. Do they eat donuts all the time? And-"

"Mister Castle," she stops the flow of his words. Man, he can talk a lot. "Do you want something else?"

"No, not at the moment," he shakes his head and opens his mouth to ask something again.

She decides to go get him his coffee and bear claw. She knows that she is being an ass walking away like that, but the amount of talk that comes out of the man… No wonder he decided to be a writer. The words seem to find a way out of him in any possible way.

"If this is all, I will go and get your coffee now."

"Hey!" he exclaims as she walks away from him. He gets up from his booth and starts walking towards the counter as well. "You didn't answer my questions!"

She fiddles with the buttons of the espresso machine and the thing wheezes to life.

"You didn't ask anything important," she throws back at him.

He settles on one of the tall stools around the bar area and observes her, his eyes travelling from her hands to her backside to her slim waist.

"I asked you stuff that was important to me, you could have just answered." He can't just let things be. "I wanna know things."

Her shoulders drop as she rests her backside against the counter and watches the coffee pour into the cup.

"Fine," she resigns.

Castle smiles. "Why is your cupcake shop named 'The 12th'?"

Beckett shakes her head. Out of all the things, he wants to know that.

Before she can open her mouth, Kevin Ryan, who just stepped in to the cafeteria, answers for her. "It's because we are really close to the 12th precinct. Cops love the place. Lots of customers from there."

Castle turns around on his stool and greets the man with another one of his smiles. He seems to do that a lot. Smile.

"Kevin Ryan," the newcomer introduces himself. "Work here as a waiter. Nice to meet you. You are?"

"Richard Castle," the writer introduces himself. The two of them shake hands. Seem to be friends in a blink of an eye.

Suddenly Castle's eyes widen and he remembers something.

"Wait a minute." He turns back to Kate who is walking towards him with his coffee. He watches her as he places the coffee down on the counter and slides it to him. Then he shifts his focus from the cup to her eyes. "I didn't introduce myself. How did you know my name?"

Before she can even think of an answer to the question, Castle squeaks. "Oh, my god, you have read my stuff. Haven't you? Are you a fan! You are a big, fat, Richard Castle fan! Why haven't I been in this bakery before. Did you just open?"

Beckett raises her eyebrows in annoyance. Does he ever stop? She decides to ignore most of his questions and only goes for the last one. "No, we didn't just open. We have been here over five years. Where have you been living if you haven't visited us earlier?"

"In New York! Right here. Well. Not right here. I live… um... lots of blocks away. But that's not the point. The point is… this place is awesome!"

As Ryan laughs at the writer and engages in a discussion about the transport opportunities from SoHo to the shop and back.

"You walked all the way here?" Ryan asks, surprised.

Beckett sees an opportunity to sneak back into the kitchen to see if the bear claws are ready to be taken out of oven. Esposito has already prepared a few of the pies and they sit on the counter, waiting their turn. She opens the door of the oven quickly and takes the fresh bear claws out. She places them on the counter to cool and looks back at the bar, where Castle has made himself pretty comfortable.

After wiping his hands on his apron, Esposito joins Ryan at the bar, both of them now answering all of the writer's questions about the bakery and everything that comes into his mind.

Good. That will keep him occupied.

She picks the fresh, hot bear claws up one by one and dips them into the glaze before setting them on a beautiful silver tray. Glazing the last claw, she puts that one on a small plate and takes both the tray and the plate out to the front of the shop.

"Here you are," she places the bear claw in front of Castle.

"Thank you," he responds, picking up the delicious pastry and taking a fair bite out of it. "Oh, it's hot! That fresh huh?"

She smiles at him, "Just took them out of the oven."

She shifts her gaze from Castle to Esposito. "The oven is free, you can put the pies in."

Esposito nods and mumbles "As you wish" before he disappears into the kitchen.

"Mmmmm… that is so good." Castle tries to speak with full mouth. "What do you put in here? It tastes different than other bear claws I have eaten. This is good. This is very, very good." And he bites another furious bite from the bear claw.

"You should taste my cupcakes," she muses as she is pours herself a cup of coffee.

Castle freezes in the middle of chewing his last bite. He swallows hard. "That is so hot."

Beckett arches up an eyebrow.

Castle smirks, revealing a bit of a brownish glaze stuck between his teeth.

"But seriously. What do you mix in there? Some kind of secret ingredient?"

"Maybe," she mumbles and takes another sip of coffee.

Suddenly Castle's eyes go big and he realizes something. Again. "Secret ingredient? I saw you baking while I was here. Making dough. I saw what you put in there." He pauses for effect and looks at her very intently.

"I know what your secret ingredient is!" Castle beams with happiness that he could solve a mystery that was under his nose the whole time.

Beckett realizes that Castle is about to blurt out her well-kept secret. She has to do something before it's too late. Frantically, she plunks the coffee mug down on the counter and leans towards him.

"It's ...mphh-" Castle stops talking as Beckett covers his mouth with her hand.

At the very same moment, Ryan steps out of the kitchen area, now dressed in the house colours and looking like a true waiter. He stops at the door and the scene unfolding before his eyes makes him laugh hysterically.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Ryan inquires between laughs. Beckett only glares at him and reluctantly releases Castle's mouth.

Kate points at Castle. "Don't you dare to say it out loud! You are not supposed to even know what the secret ingredient is! Why are you here anyway?"

"I'm sorry," Castle says unconvincingly but grinning like a kid at Christmas. "Like I said, I was just in the neighborhood."

He stops for a moment, letting his tongue swirl across his lips "What do you have on your hands? It tastes good."

He takes Beckett's hand, raises it under his nose and takes a sniff. Beckett tries to protest and takes back her hand but he holds it in his hands tightly.

"Peanut butter. I like it." He earns another angry glare from Beckett.

"What the hell?" The loud voice of Lanie booms through the shop, making Beckett jump away from Castle. Reluctantly, he releases her hand.

"Lanie!" Beckett squeaks out.

Castle gets up from his seat and smiles at Lanie who is dressed in blue blouse and blue shorts, wearing the "The 12th" nametag on her chest.

"Hello there," he charms the woman. "I'm Rick Castle."

"I know who you are." Lanie answers back, taking his hand and shaking it. "But my question is, why is my girl here angry at you?"

Castle's smile falters. "Ah... um. I may have said something wrong."

"That is an understatement," Beckett mocks him while placing few blue boxes on the counter. "Here you go, Lanie. First batch is ready for delivery."

"Thank you." Lanie sits down on one of the chairs, right next to Castle. "But before I go, there is a bit of news I have to share with you, Kate."

Beckett settles down leaning slightly on the glass wall that separates the kitchen and the dining area and she takes another sip of coffee, carefully ignoring the intense gaze from Castle. "Go ahead. Today, nothing can surprise me anymore."

"Are you sure?" Lanie smirks. "Because this is big."

"Lanie…"

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." She takes a lungful of air. "Here it is. 'The Pie Power' is gonna move just next door to you. I just saw trucks outside."

Beckett's mouth falls open in surprise.

That is the news she definitely wasn't expecting.

She leans back fully against the glass and closes her eyes.

Her biggest competition is going to move next door. Just like that. The biggest pie and cupcake chain in the city. Next door to her little shop. This is not good. This is not good at all.

"Bracken, you son of a bitch," she mutters leaning her head against the glass.

So, what do you think?

P.S. I must warn you guys, the updates with this fic will not be fast, so bear with me, please?