This story takes place in a magical time in season 2/3 of the show where Beckett was not with Demming or Josh and Castle was not with Gina. For that, and other reasons (such as Tinder etc not really being a thing then) it's just a liiiiittle bit AU.

So sit back, enjoy and suspend your disbelief!

(Disclaimer: don't own Castle [unfortunately].)

If Lanie hadn't poured her that third glass of wine, this wouldn't have happened.

That was the only way Kate could hazily make sense of the fact that she was setting up a profile on one of those tacky dating apps.

'Everyone's on them now,' Lanie had told her. 'At least half of my friends met their partner online.'

Kate frowned and was about to say something before Lanie hurriedly re-filled Kate's glass. 'Come on, girl, what have you got to lose?'

Well, her dignity, for one. The idea of putting herself out there for people to judge and decide whether they wanted to date her based on scarce information made her want to retch when she was sober.

'I'm on it,' Lanie said, taking out her phone and opening the app to show Kate. 'Look at this guy!'

Kate leaned forwards to look at the photo of a tall, broad-shouldered topless man flexing his arm to show off his muscles and wrinkled her nose. 'He's a bit…'

'Gorgeous?' Lanie suggested, before moving to the next picture of him – topless again – at the beach and looking pensively at the ocean.

'If that's what you want to think, sure.'

'Oh come on – look at that six pack!'

Kate shrugged. 'Yeah but all his photos are topless. It doesn't really tell you much about who he is.'

'Oh my,' Lanie said, her eyes widening as she came to the next photo of him.

'Wow.' Topless man was now entirely naked, with a strategically placed book to accompany the glasses he was suddenly wearing.

'See, he's an intellectual!' Lanie exclaimed before swiping right.

'Wait – does swiping right mean you like him?'

Lanie winked before looking at the next suitor to appear on her screen. 'Hmm.'

'He's cute!'

'Oh no you don't,' Lanie said, pulling her phone in towards her. 'You want to swipe, you've got to get the app for yourself.'

Kate was prepared to say no. In fact, she was going to say it after she'd taken another sip of wine but Lanie came in with the kicker before she had the chance to swallow the wine.

'You could find a date without even leaving home. Just think – you could be having a bath or on the couch in your sweatpants eating take out while you find someone you want to go on a date with.'

They stared at each other for a few moments while Kate waged an internal war with herself.

'Fine!' she exclaimed, handing her phone over to Lanie. 'Get me on it.'

It was a quiet night in the Castle household.

Alexis was out with friends. Martha had taken up some Saturday night class in gratitude. And Rick was bored out of his mind.

When nothing interesting had come up channel surfing, he'd decided to try experimenting in the kitchen. But that project finished almost as soon as it began when he forgot to remove a tiny bit of foil from the chocolate before microwaving it. Luckily, he'd stopped the microwave in time so Martha and Alexis still had a home to return to but it had been a close call.

He looked around the room critically from his perch at the kitchen bar.

It was times like this when he needed a call from Beckett about another murder.

With a heavy sigh, he looked cautiously in the direction of his study. He could always spend the night writing. There wasn't anything else to do and he was behind on the latest deadline.

But wait!

Hadn't Esposito been talking about some dating app the other day?

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, his mood considerably lightened now that he'd escaped almost having to spend the night writing.

He was (relatively) young. He was single. He had a head full of hair.

Now he just had to remember the name of the thing.

'This feels really lame,' Kate said through gritted teeth.

'Sssh!' Lanie insisted, lurking behind Kate to find the right angle to take a photo.

Even a few wines in, Kate knew that she couldn't use a picture on the app showing her face – certain that it would either get her fired or put her in the firing line of someone she'd arrested in the past – so Lanie had insisted on taking a useable photo right then and there.

Which was why Kate was sitting on the couch, awkwardly holding her glass of wine while Lanie tried to work her magic.

'Got it!' Lanie finally exclaimed.

Kate gave a sigh of a relief.

'Actually…maybe let's try it with your hair down.'

Rick stared at the empty space for his biography.

The picture part had been easy; he'd just used one Alexis had taken of him a few years ago while they were travelling. He'd been staring out at a lake during a sunset and then next thing he knew, his precocious daughter had taken some artistic shot from behind that had blurred him while capturing the sunset perfectly.

No way was he going to use a picture that clearly showed who he was. He could just imagine some fan finding it, reporting it to the press and the next thing they'd be running some article about him being desperate and dateless. He was grateful to Alexis for a lot of things but he had to admit, he never thought he'd be grateful to his daughter for giving him the perfect shot to use for online dating.

But the biography, that was a different story. How do you capture who you are in a few sentences?

He gave a sigh and walked over to the fridge. The only thing to help in this situation was eating some whipped cream.

'Girl!' Lanie yelped. 'You've got to stop that.'

Kate looked up from her phone in confusion. 'Stop what?'

'Swiping left for everybody!'

'But I haven't seen anyone I like.'

Lanie sighed and poured them each another glass of wine.

'Swiping right doesn't mean you're going to end up dating them,' she tried to explain. 'So don't hold out for your Mr Perfect on this thing – just swipe right to the guys you think could be interesting or might be slightly attractive. You've got to start chatting to someone to find out if they're right for you and that isn't going to happen if you don't give anyone a chance.'

Kate's look of confusion grew.

'See, that guy – what's wrong with him?'

'Well, he didn't write anything in his bio. And he had a different girl with him in every photo.'

'He's social,' Lanie said with a shrug before sighing as Kate swiped left on him, too. 'Okay, now this one's cute.'

'Hmmm.' Kate took a sip of wine as she looked through his photos. He definitely wasn't bad looking. She looked at his bio and frowned. 'Nope, no way. He's a no.'

'What now?'

'He used the wrong "your" in his bio!'

'If you're this picky after a few wines, I can't imagine how picky you must be sober.'

'Some people call it having standards.'

Lanie shook her head in despair and kept drinking.

He was in!

Sure, it had taken way too much whipped cream and then a soda to wash it down before he could get that bio done but he'd done it. And now he had entered the world of online dating!

Rick sprawled out on the couch, swinging his feet up in front of him to settle in. The television droned on in the background telling him the latest news, there was a beer next to him and in his hands was his hot ticket to the love of his life. Or, at the very least, a way to kill time for the next few hours.

'Okay,' he said to his phone. 'Show me what you've got.'

'This one?'

Kate considered it for a moment. 'Nope. There's something funny about his eyes.'

Lanie had all but given up. Kate had been swiping on the damn thing for almost ten minutes and hadn't found anyone to swipe right for. She picked up her own phone and settled in to the couch.

'That's it, you're on your own from here.'

Kate shrugged and took another sip of wine. She'd never mention it to Lanie but she was having way more fun on this dating app than she thought she would, even if it was just to laugh at badly written bios and crazy photos.

She paused for a second as the next person caught her eye. Or rather, it was the sunset that caught her eye, not the person. She couldn't make out much of him; the sunset was hitting the lake and blurring him so that he was just an outline. But there was something about it that drew her in.

'Hey Lanie – look at this one.'

'Bingo!' he said to himself as a tumble of brown curls and a glass of red wine appeared on his screen.

Sure, he couldn't see her face – could barely see anything apart from the hair and a hand holding the wine glass – but surely only someone fun loving and discreet would have a photo like that.

He opened the bio of red wine girl and smiled.

I try to right wrongs and I play my cards close to my chest.

Brief, cute, enticing.

'Well, Nikki who is 31,' he told the screen, 'you are my first right swipe.'

'But you can't even see his face!'

'I know but it's such a nice picture.'

'Kate, that's not the sort of nice picture you go on these things to see!'

'And his bio! Look.'

Kate handed her phone over to Lanie.

House broken individual who knows the difference between their/they're/there. Looking for a lovely lady who is up for adventure.

'Yeah…no,' said Lanie, handing the phone back. 'That Derrick doesn't do it for me.'

'Well, it's a yes from me,' Kate said before swiping right.

A moment later, three words lit up her screen:

It's a Match!

Review and let me know if it's worth continuing!