Is it August yet?

She takes his coffee from him, sipping it slow and smooth. She peers at him from behind his mug, eyes warm and amused. He narrows his eyes, but won't take it from her because secretly he loves it when she ditches her sugar free vanilla for his sweet caramel latte that he indulges in once every couple of weeks.

When she hands it back to him all sly and grinning, he steals a kiss from her, her mouth warm and sweet from the coffee.

When they part, she remains in his space, a hand resting lightly on his chest, her thumb smudging his lips adoringly.

"My place tonight?" she asks softly.

"But my bed's bigger," he protests, pouting as his fingers play with the hem of her sweater.

He's pushing it; they both are, here in the precinct break room where their relationship is still a secret from their friends. He's ready, has been for more than a month now, but she wants to wait. And he's okay with that, more than happy to have her to himself for as long as she wants.

"I haven't seen the inside of my apartment in a week," she says, raising an eyebrow.

"I fail to see the problem here."

She laughs, shaking her head at him. "I'll throw in dinner."

"Is that of the homemade or Styrofoam temple variety?" he teases.

"Or you can sleep alone tonight," she retorts, her fingers falling from his face. He takes them in his hands and laces them between his.

"Your place sounds great," he says quickly. She smirks, knows she's got him wrapped around her finger. He kisses it off her lips, can't keep from touching her when she's like this. Makes the workday stretch on for miles.

He hears the low voices or Ryan and Esposito approaching and breaks away from her mouth, stepping away from her to rest casually against the counter, absentmindedly stirring his coffee with a stirrer, even though it doesn't need it at all. She stiffens a little, wrapping her fingers around her coffee and taking a sip as the boys walk in, bumping fists on an inside joke.

"We catch anything?" Esposito asks.

"Just a mountain load of fives and write-ups that need our attention," Kate laments with an adorable frown.

"You stickin' around, bro?" Esposito asks him.

He hates paperwork. Always has, always will. Even he has a limit to the number of Angry Birds games he can tackle during a slow day.

And he should probably give her some space if he's coming home with her tonight. Just because he wants to be attached at the hip doesn't mean Kate Beckett does.

"It's really not the same without Beckett reprimanding you every five minutes for staring," Ryan quips. Castle's eyes find Kate, whose mouth twitches as a slight blush creeps up her neck. He does stare, even more so now that he can do so without feeling like the attention is unwelcome.

"You're not going to actually make me do paperwork though, right?" he asks, glancing between the three detectives.

Kate rolls her eyes, shaking her head. Unbelievable.

Esposito scoffs. "Like Gates would let you touch any of it."

Castle frowns. "Touché."

Kate grins. "C'mon Castle. If you're a good boy, I'll let you collate." She pats his cheek, feigning enthusiasm before she trails after the boys to finish off the afternoon hunched over their desks.

He taps a pen idly against the edge of her desk, all show since he's making notes for Nikki Heat on his phone. He's lost in the plot, doesn't notice the slightly annoyed furrow of her brow or the way she increases the grip on her pen as he continues to rap.

And then her hand is on his, warm and gentle. "Rick," she says softly. His gaze snaps to her, immediately takes in her tense shoulders and the mild look of annoyance on her face.

"Sorry," he apologizes quickly. "Lost in thought about Nikki," he explains, which is apparently the right thing to say because her face spills open in happiness, all traces of annoyance gone.

He knows Nikki's grown on her and that the days of Kate pretending to be mortified by her alter ego are long gone. She inspires him more and more everyday and he knows that she knows that, almost revels in the knowledge.

She chews on her lip and laces her fingers through his. "Just keep the tapping to a minimum, okay?" She pulls their hands to their mouth and kisses them gently before slowly sliding her gaze back to her work, dropping their hands from her mouth, still clasped.

"Boss, you have the Andrews file?" Castle looks up to find Esposito hovering a few feet away, eyes flicking between their hands and Castle's face as Kate flips through a few manila folders in the corner.

He opens his mouth, hastily takes his hand away. "She was just checking my pulse. Haven't eaten much today," he lies, mentally slapping himself in the face. Lame.

"Mm-hmm," Esposito hums, taking the file from Kate's hands without breaking eye contact with him. "Something going with you two that you'd like to share with the class, bro?"

"Me and Beckett?" Castle scoffs. "If that's not the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Okay, so, a little much.

Esposito doesn't buy it, narrows his eyes suspiciously before slowly backing away to his desk.

"You okay, Castle?" she asks quietly, leaning her body towards him.

He glances around, finds Ryan and Esposito murmuring in hushed voices, gesturing in their direction. He jerks back as if she slapped him, really shouldn't be in such close proximity when the boys have eyes on them.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" he squeaks nervously. Oh, she'll kill him if they find out. He needs to learn to control himself around her.

Her eyes are a little dull now as she shifts her focus back to her desk. She pauses, as if mulling something over. "Maybe you should go," she says quietly.

He nods. She's probably right. Better that way. "Yeah. I'll see you later?"

She nods. "Yeah. Later." She doesn't look at him when she says it though, which means it's worse than he thought.

Damn.

He hadn't been doing that badly, had he? He tries to replay the whole day over in his mind as he walks to the elevator, but all of the days are a blur, lost in the haze of new love.

Damn.

He writes for a couple of hours, his phone at his side as he waits for her to text him signaling her arrival home. He starts to get restless midway through his outline for the next chapter. It's almost seven-thirty and he still hasn't heard from her. He knows how quickly she can finish a stack of paperwork and she hadn't had much left to do when he left the precinct.

He picks up his phone and shoots her a text.

You home yet?

Yes.

He frowns at the short response. I'll bring the wine?

I'm tired. See you tomorrow?

He groans, running a hand through his short hair. Even when she's dead tired, there hasn't been a time since they've been together that she's turned him away. He considers complying and giving her space, but he knows it'll keep him up all night and that there's a decent chance that this won't blow over in the morning.

So he shrugs into his jacket and grabs a bottle of wine, anyway.

When she swings open the door, he swallows hard, feels his whole body sag.

He was prepared for angry Kate, annoyed Kate, pissed-off Kate.

But teary Kate catches him off guard and socks him in the gut.

She sighs, resting her forehead on the edge of the door. "What happened to tomorrow, Rick?"

"It obviously couldn't wait," he says softly, lifting his hand to her face. She closes her eyes, allows his hand to brush against her cheek for a brief moment before she's stepping out of the doorway, wordless.

"Exactly how mad are you?" He shuts the door behind him and places the wine on the counter. She sighs, tugging on the oversized shirt that swallows her small frame.

His shirt.

"I'm not mad," she says.

He lets out a breath and takes a few steps towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You're right." His hand comes up to cup her face. "You're not mad."

She lets out a dark, deprecating chuckle as her eyes fill with tears. "Do you not want to do this anymore?" she rasps.

The break in her voice leaves him breathless and drowning.

"What? K-Kate, I—" he splutters, trying to wrap his head around this. "Of course I want to be in this with you. I don't—" he swallows hard, blinking as he shakes his head. "I don't understand."

She folds her arms across her chest. "You've been pulling away."

He frowns. "I have?"

She presses the heel of her hand to her head in frustration. "Yes. You have."

"Kate, you gotta clue me in here because I have no idea what you're talking about."

She sighs. "These last few days, today especially. Whenever we're not alone, you can't get away from me fast enough. Almost as if…" she trails off.

He takes her hand, squeezing it gently so she'll continue. She takes a shaky breath. "As if you're ashamed of us or something."

"Oh Kate," he breathes, can't get the words out fast enough to clear the confusion so he presses his mouth to hers fiercely, pouring his love into her as his fingers fist her hair gently. He slides his lips across her cheek, can taste the salt from her tears.

"I thought you wanted to keep us a secret," he rasps against her forehead. He feels her hands settle at his waist, her thumbs brushing against his hips.

"I did," she confesses. "But…" He pulls away to see her tugging at her lip, hiding a small, sly smile. "I wanted to get caught." She pauses. "Thought it was finally time to let the world know that you're mine," she says softly, lifting her hand to brush the backs of her fingers against his cheek.

He lets out a relieved laugh. "I thought you were upset with me because I couldn't keep my hands off you in the precinct," he explains.

"Think about who's been doing most of the instigating here, Castle."

Oh.

Yeah, she's got a point.

She shakes her head. "I should've just told you that I was ready."

"Maybe," he hedges. "But Kate—" he breaks off, leans his head against hers, breathing her in as his eyes flutter closed. "You gotta know how much I love you. I could never be ashamed of this," he says quietly.

She presses a palm to his face, kisses him just below his eye. "I'm sorry, Castle," she whispers.

"Me too."

Her thumb brushes over his eyebrow. "I love you, too."

His breath still catches in his throat and his heart still thumps lovingly when the words pass through her lips, even though it's been weeks since the first time.

He knows he'll never get tired of hearing it.

He wraps his arms around her in a tight embrace, sighing as she sinks into him.

"I'll call Ryan and Esposito right now," he half-jokes.

She laughs into his neck, her hand sliding down to rest over his heart. "Nah. We can have our fun with them tomorrow," she promises.

He groans. "I love the way you think, Detective."

Finis.

Thoughts?

Olivia