Epilogue

She got tickets for the general stands; it's not in the VIP area and probably not what he's used to but she likes it. There's something electric about being part of the crowd as they cheer on a home run or the collective groan as the batter gets his third strike. The camaraderie is infectious and for a period the usually disinterested New Yorkers are united behind a common goal.

They weave their way past a young family with two kids and a group of guys in their twenties in order to get to their seats overlooking first base. Beckett is dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt; it's casual but the woman who fills out the material is spectacular enough to catch lingering glances from several of the male fans. Kate seems unaware of the attention that she's attracted but Castle makes a point of glaring at a few of the men who are more blatant in their ogling of his girlfriend's butt.

"Come on Romeo," she reaches back to grab his hand without looking. "Just ignore them." So maybe Kate isn't completely oblivious. She could stop and give those idiots a lecture on respecting women or flash her badge and scare the daylights out of them but today is her day off and she'd like to spend it with her boyfriend without any hassles.

This is their first official date; she kept her promise and is taking him to see the Yankees play the Orioles. Movie nights and meals at home with his family don't count. It's been a month since the shooting but this is the first chance that they've had to actually go out. Beckett's vain enough that she wanted to wait until her bruises had faded. She might be a homicide detective but there's also that part of her that's purely feminine and she wants to look good when they step out together. There's no way she's going to risk having the press taking a photo of her with a black eye and looking like she's gone five rounds with Mike Tyson.

They settle into the hard, molded plastic seats and Beckett hands him a score card. Rick looks at it in bemusement as he's not quite sure what to do with it.

"Don't tell me that you've never filled in one of these? Have you even been to game before?" she asks him with a cocked eyebrow.

"Mother was always more interested in the arts rather than sports so I didn't watch a lot of baseball growing up. Since then I've been to a few games but it's always been a PR event set up by my agent or Black Pawn Publishing. There's a lot of schmoozing, drinking champagne and eating fancy hors d'oeuvres but not a lot of baseball watching."

"You are in for an education today then. My parents and I used to go a lot when I was a kid; back then it was the original Yankee Stadium. We'd fill out the score card together and I still have them in a box at home. Mom would pretend that she was only tagging along so that we could all spend time together as a family but by the end of the game she'd have a sore throat from all the cheering that she'd do. I can still pull out an individual card and remember what it was like to be there on that day." There's a glow in her eyes as she remembers the good times with her mother. The closure of the case has allowed her to look back and appreciate those memories without the taint of justice denied.

"Having a family tradition like that sounds nice." His fingers reach out to tangle with hers and he gives them a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah, it was."

"Maybe it can be a family tradition for you again." The words 'maybe it can be our family tradition' go unsaid. Castle doesn't say anything more because he's already pressing his luck. He knows that Beckett has relationship issues and they've only been together officially for a month so it's far too early to be talking about forever.

She's trying hard to dive into this relationship, to not hold back like she's done in the past. There are still rocky patches. There are times when she's goes quiet and he knows that Kate's retreated a little but she always comes back to him and that's how he knows that they're going to make it. It's not like he's bought her a ring (ok, maybe he has browsed at Tiffany's online catalogue) but as far as Rick's concerned he's going to be her one and done.

He was expecting her to ignore the statement or even take a step back behind the last crumbling ruins of her wall but she surprises him.

"Well if it's going to be our tradition then you need to pay attention and learn how to fill out one of these cards properly." It's her oblique way of saying that she might not object to joining the Castle family one day.

The next three hours are a lesson in patience for both of them. There are a lot of rules and abbreviations to be explained and Castle has the attention span of a five year old. Sometimes she swears that he's come up with his own idiosyncratic method of scoring because the notation bears no resemblance to anything that she's told him. The battered score card is a complete mess; there are doodles all over it. In some places Castle has written and then erased so many times that the paper has worn thin. There's also a yellow smudge from the mustard that dribbled off his hot dog and a wet corner from where it took a dip in his beer.

"No, the pitcher fielded Jeter's grounder and threw it to first base to get him out, so you need to mark it '1-3' on that line," she corrects him for the hundredth time.

"But I like my frowning face better. It's more artistic and yet it still manages to convey the fact that Jeter was out. In fact I'm going to fill out the rest of the card with just smiley faces. Just think of all the different variations I could use – the frown, the winking smile, the tongue poking out face."

He's being so ridiculous that she has to laugh. It's the wide mouth, snorting-until-she's-breathless, full body laugh that he seems to pull effortlessly from her. Maybe it's that pure emotion that catches the eye of the cameraman because suddenly the two of them are flashed up on the jumbotron.

"Hey look," Rick notices it first and points out their images to Kate.

"Kiss. Kiss. Kiss," the crowd around them takes up the chant.

Kate looks around them in bemusement at all the strangers who are urging them to kiss. Castle is grinning widely when she finally looks back at him.

"We'd better give them what they want or there might be a riot," he grabs her shoulders as he hams it up for the camera.

Beckett shakes her head in embarrassment but she's smiling and there's no real protest as he puckers his lips before laying a big one on her. The crowd erupts into applause as the kiss lingers on and on. When they finally part Kate is breathless and Rick stands to take a bow; the well-pleased smile on his face is like the cat that got the cream.

She pulls him back into his seat and the camera moves back to the action on the field.

"Castle, that was so cheesy." The crazy idiot is still grinning madly and she can't help but grin back at him.

"Maybe it was. I'd better try again; I wouldn't want to leave a bad impression." He kisses her again and this time there's no-one looking and there's no applause but this time it's perfect.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and especially those who reviewed. It took me a long time to finish this story because I had a bad case of writer's block in the middle but the encouragement definitely helped. Thanks especially to fanficfan39 who said that they wanted to read about Rick and Kate at the game and gave me the idea about how to finish this off.