Author's Note: The last chapter, which is a post-ep for 2x10, "One Man's Treasure."

Because You Were Gone

Chapter 7

Castle was watching Alexis and Kate was watching Castle. Secretly. She was ostensibly doing the paperwork to finish up the Sam Parker case but out of the corner of her eye, she was watching Castle watch Alexis.

A quick glance told her that Alexis was still talking to Anna Knowles, looking through the album, both of them smiling, even if the smiles were tinged with melancholy on both sides. And Castle had the Alexis look on his face, his eyes looking very soft and very blue, a barely-there tender smile just tipping up the corners of his lips.

And the look had her heart softening, fluttering, in that way that was becoming annoyingly frequent where Castle was concerned.

It really was impossible not to like Castle in his father mode. And not just in his father mode either.

Damn it, she didn't want to like him. Didn't even want to admit that she might but it was getting harder and harder to deny that she did. Damn it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Anna Knowles was leaving, after giving Alexis a quick hug. Castle got up and joined Alexis, who tucked herself against his side, as he put his arm around her shoulders.

And she couldn't help but notice how tall and broad he looked, especially when compared to Alexis. She felt a little jolt of desire wriggle through her. His chest and his shoulders filled out his jacket nicely and not for the first time, she found herself wondering what it would be like to feel his strength against her, over her.

Damn it, no! She wasn't—should not be thinking like this about Castle. Not in the middle of the bullpen. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Work. She was at work. She dragged her eyes down to her paperwork but her attempt at concentration didn't last long as she caught the sound of Alexis laughing and her disobedient eyes flickered back to look at Castle and Alexis.

Castle tugged lightly on a lock of Alexis's hair as he said something that made Alexis smile.

And Kate felt her heart pinch. Her mom had done that too. She remembered her mom teasingly tweaking her hair in one of her habitual gestures of affection. She remembered too times she had ducked her head to try to avoid the gesture, even brushing her mom's hand aside, in her bratty teen phase of being too cool and too grown up for such displays of affection from her own mom.

Her mom would have liked Castle. Not only because she'd liked his books but just as a person too. Her mom would have appreciated his sense of humor, his wit, and his intelligence. She would have liked the way he cared about his family.

The back of her eyes prickled and Kate became belatedly aware that she really had no business to be watching this relatively private father-daughter moment and forcibly tugged her gaze away to refocus on her paperwork, trying to get her emotions under control. She was fine, really. It was silly to get so worked up over something as minor as a tug on a lock of hair.

But then again, it wasn't so minor. As she'd just said to Alexis, when someone loses someone, this sort of thing was important. Photos, memories, the reminders of people you had lost. She of all people knew that. She kept an old family photo in her own wallet just because her mom had had it in hers when she was killed.

And somehow, Alexis had instinctively understood that too, making such an effort to find Anna Knowles, not even giving up when none of her inquiries with current detectives had panned out.

A chip off the old block. It was in line with Castle's usual displays of ego but, well, Kate had to admit that he wasn't wrong either. She thought about the way Castle had empathized with Jenna McBoyd's situation, the way he'd stepped in to make sure that Rina, at least, wasn't left so friendless and unprotected.

Damn it, he wasn't supposed to be so likeable. Where was the annoying, immature jackass when she needed him? She felt irrationally irritated with Castle for proving that he wasn't really the playboy jerk who just wanted to get into her pants and didn't take anything seriously.

And now he was distracting her from her work too. Ugh. It might be paperwork that she didn't exactly find riveting at the best of times but still.

She made a face at his chair and forcibly pushed any more wandering thoughts of Castle out of her mind.

But of course, her concentration was broken, again, before too long as Castle returned to her desk with Alexis in tow.

She looked up, carefully focusing on Alexis and not her perennial distraction. "So, was Anna Knowles happy to get the pictures?"

Alexis beamed. "Yeah. She was really sweet, kept on thanking me, even though I told her she didn't need to."

"You did a good thing, Alexis," Kate assured the girl. "These things matter; they're important."

Alexis thanked her with a bright smile.

"Beckett, we were wondering if you'd want to get dinner with us," Castle interjected.

She blinked. Dinner? With Castle and his daughter? She shouldn't. Spending more time with Castle outside of work wasn't in her plans. Made it too easy for him to soften her up yet further. "Well, I… haven't finished my paperwork," she began lamely, latching onto the first excuse she could think of.

"We can wait. Please come, Detective," Alexis chimed in. "Dad says we need to celebrate me solving the Mystery of the Unclaimed Photos and I couldn't have done it without you."

She could hear the capital letters in Alexis's tone. Yeah, the girl was definitely a Castle, had the same way of making everyday things sound dramatic. And of course Castle would say they needed to celebrate. He liked excuses to celebrate. And not just widely known geek holidays such as Pi Day and Star Wars Day either. He'd brought in chocolate-covered raisins for National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day, and chocolate cupcakes for National Chocolate Cupcake Day, and cookies in the shape of ravens to commemorate the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death. It was silly and part of his being a font of (mostly) useless trivia but it was also surprisingly… endearing. He made things fun.

"You should come, Beckett," Castle added. Because of course he would. "We solved our case too so we should celebrate. It's tradition."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "A tradition—which we've never done before?"

He had the grace to look a little sheepish but it was immediately replaced by his cajoling expression. That was kind of ador—no, no, she wasn't thinking that. "We could start a tradition?"

She snorted and Alexis poked Castle in the side.

"Dad, don't be silly."

Castle sobered (sort of). "Seriously, Beckett, join us for dinner. Please?"

A refusal formed in her throat and she opened her lips and found herself saying, "Yes, fine." Wait, what?

It was his eyes, she decided disgruntledly. His eyes and his smile and his saying 'please' and his way of looking at her as if she was amazing and his entire day hung on her answer and just… him. He really was charming, had a way of slipping past her defenses.

"That is, if you don't mind waiting a little while so I can finish up this paperwork," she added hurriedly.

"We can wait," Castle agreed promptly.

"We don't mind waiting," Alexis answered, her words overlapping with his.

A smile escaped her in spite of herself and was reflected back in his own smile and in the brightness of his eyes. Okay, so she wasn't sorry that her mouth had disobeyed the instructions of her brain and accepted the invitation to dinner as opposed to refusing it.

Anyway, she counseled herself, it didn't mean anything. Not really. It was approaching dinner time and Alexis would be there so it wasn't like it would just be her and Castle. It would be like going out for drinks with Espo and Ryan. It was just a purely friendly dinner with a work colleague and his kid. Really.

(Sure, Kate, keep telling yourself that.)

It took nearly an hour for her to finish up the paperwork but for once, Castle did seem quite happy to wait, not even driving her crazy with fidgeting or random trivia questions or anything. Of course, it helped that Alexis was there too so he and Alexis spent most of the time chatting with the boys and then with LT and Karpowski.

But even though Castle appeared to be engrossed in his various conversations, she realized that he wasn't as he immediately looked over at her the moment she closed the file for the Sam Parker case and shut down her computer. He excused himself and sidled over to her. "Done with your paperwork, Beckett?"

How was he always so aware of her? And he looked so… like a little boy, anticipation curling his lips upwards, his blue eyes bright. Her heart skipped inside her chest in spite of herself. He just looked so… happy at the prospect of spending more time with her.

It could just be that he was hungry and wanted his dinner, she told herself repressively, but somehow the dampening words carried no weight.

"Yes, for now," she answered. "Just let me turn it in and then we can head out."

He all but bounced on his feet. Ridiculous adorable man. No, not adorable, just ridiculous. She bit back a grimace. Yeah, she wasn't even convincing herself anymore.

She submitted the paperwork while Castle collected Alexis and then they were leaving the precinct together, Castle hailing a cab for them before she could say a word of demurral. She felt a lick of belated nervousness as they slid into the cab and Castle quickly gave an address to the cab driver. It hadn't occurred to her but she had no idea what sort of restaurant Castle had in mind. She'd seen enough publicity mentions of him in Page Six at exclusive restaurants like Le Cirque and Jean Georges to suddenly wonder. Alexis looked nice enough, as did he (he always dressed well), but she was still in her utilitarian work clothes. And he was a multi-millionaire; he could eat at places that cost upwards of $100 a plate every day and not have it make a dent in his net worth.

But before she could feel more than a flicker of apprehension, the cab was slowing to a stop and Castle had opened the door for Alexis and then herself to slide out. Too late now. But if she had to break the bank to pay for her dinner tonight, it would be proof that she really had no business in Castle's world.

Alexis led the way, all but skipping into a small, rather nondescript restaurant called simply DeAngelo's. That was somewhat reassuring.

"I think Alexis is excited for dinner," she observed mildly.

He smiled. "Yeah, she likes this place. We've been coming here for years and the owners are friends of ours."

She tried not to notice the warmth of his hand fleetingly touching her back as if to guide her and tried even more not to miss it when his hand dropped from her back.

The moment they stepped inside DeAngelo's, she found herself relaxing. The place was… cozy was the best word for it. A small, homey sort of place with pictures of what must be the Italian countryside on the walls. She liked it immediately. And somewhere inside her, she felt another chip of her resistance to Castle crumble. He might be a multi-millionaire but he was down-to-earth, real too.

True to Castle's word, he and Alexis were greeted as old friends by the maître d' and by the owners of the restaurant, a middle-aged couple who bustled out of the kitchen to welcome them and exclaim over Alexis.

Unsurprisingly, too, all the food proved to be delicious.

Castle was probably the least talkative she'd ever seen him as he mostly listened to Alexis telling stories from her week at the precinct and asked the girl the details on how she solved the Mystery of the Unclaimed Photos. (The capital letters were even more evident in Castle's tone. He made it sound like the biggest mystery since the theft at the Gardner Museum in Boston.)

Alexis smiled at him. "Well, you gave me the idea to start looking into the detectives who had retired. I had to ask Detectives Esposito and Ryan for some help in getting me the contact information for those detectives, when they weren't busy with their real work for you, of course," Alexis added in hurried reassurance.

Kate smiled at the girl. "That's all right, Alexis. I wasn't worried about that." The boys knew better than that, even if she hadn't known about their involvement, but it was sweet of Alexis to mention.

"It turned out there were six detectives who had retired or had been transferred to a different precinct who might have worked on the case and so I started calling around. I felt a little bad to bother them at home over something like this," Alexis admitted.

"That's never stopped your dad before," Kate quipped mildly, directing a smirk at Castle.

He, of course, reacted with predictable drama.

Alexis snickered. "She's right, Dad."

He made a face at her.

"Anyway," Alexis continued, sobering, "luckily, Detective Radovich, who turned out to be the one who worked on Anna's mom's case, was only the second one that I called so I didn't need to call the entire list. He was really nice about it too, agreeing to come into the precinct and meet me so he could look at the pictures and see if he recognized the people, and of course he did."

"That was some nice detective work, Alexis," Kate praised sincerely.

"Yes, good job being persistent, pumpkin," Castle chimed in. "It would have been easy to give up when your leads with the current cops ran out but you didn't."

Alexis shrugged off the praise. "I just felt like it was important. Family photos are important. Besides," she added with a smirk that was reminiscent of her father's, "it was more interesting than cataloguing the other unclaimed property." Definitely her father's daughter, to deflect like that. She abruptly looked stricken, making an apologetic face. "I mean, not that I minded the cataloguing either," she hastily added. "I know it's just as important to free up the real cops so they can do the real, hard jobs."

Kate laughed easily. "That's okay, Alexis. I know cataloguing isn't the most exciting job in the world. I'm glad you found something more interesting to do to give you a break from it and what you did was important. I'm sure Anna Knowles agrees."

Alexis relaxed, smiling. "I really did enjoy myself. All the cops I talked to were nice to me and it was so interesting to learn more about what cops really do."

Castle huffed in feigned offense. "You haven't learned enough about cop work from my stories about the precinct?"

Alexis shot him a smirk. "I've learned not to trust all your stories, Dad. You like to exaggerate too much or make things up to make them more interesting."

Kate grinned as Castle pretended to bridle. "She's got you there, Castle."

"It's mean for both of you to gang up on me," he pouted.

Alexis reached over to pat his hand with deliberate condescension. "I'm sure you'll survive, Dad."

He made a face at Alexis and Kate snickered. And for once, couldn't muster up even a little annoyance as yet another piece of her resistance to Castle seemed to flake away. She was too relaxed, too… content right now, replete with good food and good company, as if the warmth and affection inherent in all of Castle and Alexis's interactions had wrapped around her like a blanket.

Alexis sobered. "Cops do have really hard jobs, don't they, Detective?"

"It can be hard," Kate agreed cautiously. "But it's not all bad."

"It's just… when I called Anna to ask her to come into the precinct, I introduced myself as calling from the precinct and she just… she was upset at first, afraid I was calling with bad news."

Oh. Kate stilled, feeling a little chill settle inside her, the warmth she'd been basking in receding, at the memories. Returning home with her dad that cold January night to find Detective Raglan at their door, that moment when he'd first said, I'm very sorry to tell you this… She inwardly flinched and shuddered away from the memory, the worst day of her life. She thought she'd managed to hide it but her eyes caught Castle's gaze on her, his eyes so soft and filled with concern for her, and she realized that he'd immediately guessed or just known how she would react. And she normally hated pity but from Castle, well, it wasn't pity. It was warmer than that, deeper. Understanding, perhaps, empathy, and maybe some other emotions she didn't dare ascribe to him. But she felt somehow comforted anyway.

"I reassured her of course," Alexis continued, "told her it was nothing bad, just that I had some pictures that belonged to her mom to return to her, but it got me thinking about what you do, Detective, and when you talk to people, you really do have to give them bad news pretty much all the time. How do you do it?"

"Very carefully," Kate answered without the slightest intention of being funny. And for maybe the first time in his life, Castle didn't appear to notice any unintentional humor either. She paused, glanced at Castle to confirm that he was watching her, his eyes and expression entirely devoid of any of his usual amusement, and then returned her eyes to Alexis. "It is hard," she admitted slowly, trying to decide how much to reveal, how candid to be with the girl. But Alexis had been serious in her question, showed only appropriately solemn interest. And Kate couldn't say, after witnessing Alexis with Anna Knowles, that the girl wasn't mature enough to know at least some of it. "It's hard both because you're having to give people the worst news a person can get but also because as a cop, we have to balance compassion with the need to get information about the victim. Honesty helps, as does sincerity," she finally finished.

"Does it… does it ever get easier?" Alexis asked quietly.

"No, it doesn't," Kate responded gently but frankly.

"Beckett is good at it," Castle added softly, ostensibly addressing Alexis, but his gaze was on Kate as she swivelled her eyes to him in some surprise. "Captain Montgomery says she's the best at it that he's ever seen."

Oh. Montgomery said that? But even as she tried to focus on Montgomery's praise, she knew that it wasn't her captain's words that had her cheeks flushing, her stomach fluttering. No, that was all about Castle, about the look in his eyes, the tone of his voice. (The extraordinary KB…)

"I don't know how you do it, Detective," Alexis said, something like awe tingeing her tone and making her sound younger than her years, in spite of the maturity reflected in her understanding.

"I only do what I have to for my job," Kate responded. She was hardly some sort of super-hero.

"Still. Your job's a hard one and Dad likes to say that a job done well is something to respect."

"Oh, does he?" Kate murmured meaninglessly, glancing at Castle.

He lifted his shoulders into a small shrug. "I have my moments." The words and the gesture might at any other time been flippant but that was belied by his tone.

"Yeah, I guess you do," she admitted quietly, her eyes meeting and holding his. And she couldn't deny the warmth pooling in her chest, coiling around her heart. She just… liked him.

A lot. (Oh god.)

She jerked her eyes away from him and busied herself by taking a sip of her water, using her fork to mindlessly move some of her meal's detritus around on her plate.

At that inopportune moment, Alexis got up, excusing herself to go to the bathroom, leaving Kate excruciatingly conscious that she was now alone with Castle for all intents and purposes since none of the other diners was paying the least bit of attention to them.

She resisted the stupid and revelatory impulse to flee after Alexis and instead decided to change the subject to something a little safer. "She's a good kid." There, Alexis should be a safe subject.

His expression softened as he glanced towards where Alexis had gone. "Yeah, I lucked out with her."

Damn, she'd forgotten how… utterly likable Castle was when he wore his Alexis expression, spoke in that soft voice. But she forged doggedly on. "She impressed people at the precinct. A couple people commented on how polite and friendly she is, and how helpful. Even Greenwald said something about it," she added, referring to a cop who was rather notorious for his curmudgeonly demeanor and his well-known belief that no one under the age of 25 was of any use. But Alexis had won Greenwald over. He'd commented, gruffly, as of someone making a huge concession, that Alexis wasn't as annoying as other teenagers were. But coming from Greenwald, that was the equivalent of enthusiastic praise.

Castle smiled, puffing up a little with pride. It was adorable. (Damn it, she needed to stop thinking this way about him.) "She is pretty great. Sometimes I can't believe she's mine."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "So much for her being a chip off the old block," she teased.

He only grinned. "Touché, Detective. I think I spend most of my time being amazed at Alexis. What can I say," he shrugged but the nonchalant gesture was utterly contradicted by the sincerity of his expression as he finished, "being Alexis's dad is the best thing I've ever done."

He glanced at something behind her and his expression smoothed out into a more usual smirk. "I hope you left some room for dessert, Beckett, because the tiramisu here is a masterpiece and I know how much you like coffee."

She wasn't surprised when Alexis slid back into her seat midway through Castle's words, going along with his change of subject. "A masterpiece, huh? That's quite a claim and what if I told you I only like coffee in liquid form and not as a dessert?"

He feigned shock as if she'd just announced that she hated puppies. "Beckett, how can you not like coffee as a dessert?"

She gave an elaborate shrug. "It's possible." Possible but not true. She loved tiramisu too.

He studied her for a moment and then declared, "Nope, you're just having me on, aren't you, Beckett?"

Damn. How did he read her so well? So much for her vaunted poker face. But in spite of herself, she couldn't help but laugh. "How'd you guess, Castle?"

"I've seen how much you love your coffee, Beckett. It's a physical impossibility for anyone who loves coffee as much as you do not to like coffee-flavored dessert and I know you have a sweet tooth too."

He wasn't wrong. "Nice deducing, Castle," she teased.

He looked ridiculously pleased with himself. "I work with cops."

"Oh, you do, huh?" she retorted dryly. "I think that sounds familiar."

He snickered. "I thought it might."

Silly man.

The sound of Alexis's pealing giggle had Kate glancing at her, recalled to her presence. Oops. The girl's smile was pleased and oddly knowing. Kate felt herself flush. Okay, note to self, not so much banter since it tended to edge too close to flirting where Castle was concerned.

Thankfully, though, there was a brief interruption as the server came by and Castle placed an order for tiramisu for each of them, while Alexis ordered gelato.

Kate deliberately turned her attention to Alexis, asking about the cataloguing Alexis had done in the precinct as the first topic her mind could latch onto. Alexis answered easily and her light commentary carried them through until the tiramisu arrived.

And it really was delicious. Kate closed her eyes in bliss at the first bite. Mmm, god, that was amazing.

She opened her eyes to see that Castle was watching her, his mouth slightly parted, his eyes abruptly dark. Oh, wait, that little sound had been from her, hadn't it?

She swallowed, feeling heat singe her cheeks. "It really is good," she finally said lamely.

He blinked and then his lips quirked into the faintest smile. "I could tell." He blinked and then abruptly glanced to Alexis. "You dig in, pumpkin."

Alexis dug in and the moment passed as they all started to eat but Kate couldn't quite return to her former ease, her body too aware of him, or maybe more accurately, her reaction to him.

The first time her ankle brushed against his, she almost startled, twitching her leg away, her gaze flying to his to see that he looked almost as surprised as she felt. Oh, so he hadn't shifted intentionally.

The second time her ankle brushed his, she again twitched her leg away, glancing up at him only to find her eyes ensnared by the sight of his lips closing around his fork. But she thought she detected a faint species of tension in his form. He wasn't as indifferent to these inadvertent touches as he was trying to seem. He licked a last dollop of cream off his fork and she felt her entire body go up in a wash of heat. Oh shit.

The third time her ankle brushed his, she gave up. This was getting ridiculous and it was just an innocent touch and not even of skin since the touch was through both of their respective pants and socks. It was nothing. So she told herself and tried not to notice the way she swore she could feel the heat of his skin even through the layers of material. It wasn't like they were playing footsie, she told herself. Neither of them was moving a muscle, it was just their ankles brushing against each other. It was nothing, she told herself again.

But then he glanced up at her, his gaze getting tangled with hers, and she froze, felt oddly pinned by his eyes. Her mouth went dry, her throat closing on the bite of tiramisu she'd just taken. Her lungs forgot how to work, her breathing stuttering. She… um… he… he really wanted her, she thought fuzzily. She'd known that—hadn't she?—but this wasn't about lust. Or it was but it wasn't only lust. He didn't want just one night with her. He'd… turned down the offer to write Bond and agreed to write three more books about Nikki Heat to spend time with her.

If it was just lust, it would have been easier. She knew how to deal with lust. But what she saw in his eyes now was more than just lust; it was deeper than that, warmer than that. It was… a little exhilarating and a lot terrifying and… how the hell was this even happening, that Richard Castle of all people was looking at her like this and she had the very bad feeling that she was looking right back at him in much the same way?

Oh shit.

She forcibly returned her eyes to her plate, pretending absorption in the tiramisu that she could barely taste anymore, all her attention elsewhere.

She sensed rather than saw him take a drink of water and then heard his voice as he asked Alexis a question about some friend of Alexis's.

Alexis answered freely and thankfully, Alexis's blithe recounting of some of the latest high school drama carried them through the rest of dessert, paying the bill (which Castle flatly refused to allow her to so much as look at and Kate gave in after a brief argument and Alexis too chimed in on Castle's side) and the cab ride back, Castle directing the cab to her place.

Again, Castle didn't say much during the cab ride but his occasional comments and questions to Alexis did reveal just how devoted and involved a father he was, not that she'd needed more evidence of that. Castle clearly knew all of Alexis's friends and arguably more tellingly, kept tabs on the running little dramas of their lives. Castle really was an amazing dad. She thought about how Castle said he'd lucked out with Alexis and it might be true to an extent—Alexis was obviously a good kid and not inclined to be that rebellious—but she could also see that Castle had done a good job with raising Alexis too. With her job, Kate had seen enough to know some of the negative consequences that divorce and an absentee parent could have on kids but Alexis appeared to have escaped all of them and that was on Castle.

When the cab pulled up outside, Kate opened her mouth intending only to thank Castle for dinner again and wish them both a good night but before she could, Castle told the cabbie to wait and then turned to Alexis, telling her he'd just be a minute.

He was going to walk her to her door. Of course he was.

Leaving Kate to offer Alexis a smile and a good night, which Alexis returned along with a "thanks for helping me out this week at the precinct, Detective."

Kate's smile widened. "It was my pleasure, Alexis. And call me Kate."

"Good night, Kate."

Castle's hand landed on her back as they walked to her building and if she found herself curving ever so slightly into the touch, well, it was just because it was cold outside and his hand was warm.

(Yeah, right, Kate. Just give it up already.)

His hand dropped from her back as they entered the elevator of her building and she told herself she didn't miss the warmth of it. They were indoors now after all so she didn't need it for warmth.

"Thanks for joining us for dinner and for the way you've helped Alexis. I know she appreciated it."

Her steps slowed almost imperceptibly, without clear instruction from her brain. "Thanks for inviting me but you don't need to thank me for helping Alexis. She's a pleasure to have around."

"Unlike her father," he quipped.

She laughed softly, nudging him with her elbow. "Eh, I've kind of gotten used to you pulling my pigtails."

He shot her a smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

They had reached her door and she made an inane gesture with her hand. "So… this is me." And then inwardly wanted to kick herself for sounding so stupid. God, was she really so bad at this? And what was this anyway? They were only friends.

"So… um… this was fun tonight."

She had no idea why her breathing was suddenly shallow, her heart tripping in her chest. "Yeah, it was."

"And… I was thinking, maybe we could really make this a tradition, celebrating when we close a case, without Alexis next time," he blurted out, not quite fluently.

No suave playboy now, this was just him, Rick Castle, and he was… asking her out. On an actual date. His fumbling hesitation, the way he wasn't quite meeting her eyes, made that clear. And he was nervous because he… really cared about her answer…

He looked up at her, giving her a hopeful look with his impossibly blue eyes—and that was what did it. When had she become so susceptible to a pair of blue eyes—no, she wasn't susceptible to blue eyes, she was just susceptible to his eyes. (After all, Ryan had blue eyes too and she'd never noticed them beyond the mere fact of their existence.)

Yeah, it was just his eyes that had her reaching up to hold on to the lapel of his jacket and closing the distance between them and brushing her lips against his. His mouth was warm and soft against hers and then his lips parted for the slick of his tongue against hers and her mind went blank because oohhh, yeah, he was a good kisser and she decided fuzzily that kissing him was the best idea she'd had in a long time.

She finally drew back, conscious of a dragging reluctance to do so.

He blinked his eyes open slowly, his eyes dark and warm.

"I… um… so was that a yes?" he asked, his lips—oh god, his lips—just barely curving.

She felt herself flush, biting her lip to try (and fail) to hold back her smile. "What do you think, Castle?"

He slipped his hand around her waist so she was half in an embrace, his eyes lowering to focus on her mouth. "I… think I need more evidence to decide."

She snorted a little. "Since when do you rely on evidence before theorizing?" she teased but the tease was belied by the breathlessness of her voice.

"Since you rendered me incapable of coherent thought."

"Smooth, Castle."

He looked adorably pleased with himself, a smirk curling his lips. "I thought s—"

She cut off his words with her lips, doing what she'd wanted to do for a lot longer than she would ever, ever admit to herself and kissing the smirk off his face. Because now she could, because kissing was apparently something they did now. And when he immediately tugged her closer, kissing her back, she decided that she wanted to feel his mouth working over hers like this every day.

She wasn't sure how long it was before she gently (reluctantly) pushed him away, her hands lingering on his chest. (And sternly resisted the wish to explore the firm planes of his chest further.) "You'd better go, Castle. Alexis is waiting for you."

The mention of Alexis had his eyes clearing as his hand fell from around her waist. "Right right. See you tomorrow?"

It was a question and from the bright, hopeful look he gave her, she knew he was asking about more than just tomorrow but also his earlier question.

She bit her lip but knew a smile escaped anyway. "See you tomorrow."

He abruptly slid his hand behind her neck and gave her a quick kiss that somehow still managed to make her knees feel wobbly, her thoughts blanking. "Good night, Kate."

With that, he turned and was halfway down the hall before she managed to find her voice. "Night, Castle."

He threw her a last, warm look that had her blushing even at that distance and then he was gone, leaving her to finally open the door to her apartment. Kate leaned back against her door, closing it, and felt a silly, giddy smile cross her face, one she was glad no one else was around to see. She had a date with Rick Castle.

~The End~

A/N 2: Thank you all for reading and reviewing!