More apologies for the late chapter, I did mean to have this one up before I went away for the long weekend. To my fellow Canadians, I hope you all had as wonderful a Canada Day as I did. And as always, have to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, you guys definitely keep me fuelled to write this, and also to my personal editor, Logan, who I owe about a million Beckett Coffees next month! You my dear, are the best. Now not letting myself ramble too much, enjoy!

Chapter 5: I'd Much Prefer it if You'd Cuff Me

"Sounds good, boys. I'll be there as soon as I can," Kate answered.

It was sometime around 9am. Surprisingly, she had slept in after turning off her alarm a couple of hours ago, taking the option to not go to the precinct until she absolutely had to. The call had come from the boys. They had caught a murder somewhere down in SoHo; it looked like a double homicide and, according to Ryan, it looked messy. Kate's favorite; the ones that took work and she was able to be consumed by until she brought the person responsible to justice. Not that she didn't like a clean-cut case - the jealous husband offing his cheating wife, a drug deal gone wrong, the debt collector taking what he thought he had earned - but every once in awhile, she really enjoyed something that tested her skills. One that pushed her to the breaking point, that frustrated her to no end before they finally caught that all-important break that brings everything to a close. It was the reason she loved her job so much. Never would she have the problem of doing the same job day after day. It kept her on her toes each and every time she received a call. That was why she lived for her job. Not only the joy of being able to give the families the closure that she herself has yet to be able to find and putting the dirtbags who ruin lives behind bars but she loves the rush, the mental aspects to it. Despite the long hours, gruelling nights that she spends staring down her murder board, it was what she loved.

She showered quickly, opting to throw her long wavy hair in a braid so it didn't need to be dried or fussed with at all and put on some quick makeup to cover up the bags under her eyes that she didn't expect after a morning of sleep. She grabbed her bag and empty to-go cup. She would get some coffee at a place in SoHo; there was a larger selection for her to chose from downtown.

The city was busy at this hour. It bustled as people made their way to work for the day before becoming much more of a ghost town until eight hours later, when everyone would begin to make their ways back home. The cycle that the city went through on a daily basis. She usually did her best to avoid the rush hour traffic, opting instead to go into the precinct early before everyone else had places to be. She didn't hate the traffic, but it certainly didn't make her life any easier. She wanted to get to this scene but first she needed coffee. No one would want to talk to her before her morning caffeine fix because that never turned out well for anyone involved. The boys knew by now that if she didn't walk into a crime scene with a coffee mug in hand, they should give her only the information she required and then stay as far away as possible until she needed them. They had it down pat but it was everyone else who would face the unfortunate wrath of an uncaffeinated Kate Beckett early in the morning.

She pulled up to the Starbucks just after the intersection at Broadway and Broome, luckily finding a parking spot just in front of the door. Counting her blessings, she grabbed her cell phone, keys, and wallet before running into the small coffee shop. The line was almost out the door, which was to be expected; there wasn't a coffee shop in the city that wouldn't be packed right now. If there was one thing every person in New York City loved, it was caffeine in any form they could get it. She was firmly ensconced in that group; when it came to things that Kate loved, coffee topped the list.

The shop bustled with people. The morning workers who were there to grab up their regular morning coffee, the assistants picking up the office order, the neighbourhood patrons who came in every morning, and the people meeting their friends for an early morning fix; you could find almost every type of person in a Starbucks on an early weekday morning. It was just one of those things that she loved about the city.

"Well, if it isn't the NYPD's busiest cop," she heard as someone walked up behind her.

"Castle?" she asked, turning around only to come face-to-face with the writer.

"Kate, it seems as though you're stalking me," he said with a quick laugh.

"Just picking up coffee on the way to a crime scene but you think whatever you'd like," she replied with a smirk.

"All the way down in my neck of the woods? That's an awful coincidence you know."

"You're a writer. I'm surprised you believe in coincidence," she told him as they continued to make their way through the long line up.

"I don't. Fate is much more up my alley," he said, placing his hand on the small of her back as they made slow progress towards the counter.

"You know, Castle, when I'm on duty I walk around with a gun," she eyed him. He quickly removed his hand from her lower back, raising both of them in the air in surrender.

"I'd much prefer if you'd cuff me," he whispered in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine, making her fingers and toes tingle.

"Unless I'm arresting you, that's never going to happen."

"You say that, but I think I could change your mind. I have a way with words you know," he said, still standing far too close to her than strictly necessary and keeping his voice low so only she could hear.

"You keep thinking that, Rick," she replied with an eyeroll.

"I will. I know you've read my books so you can't think my words are really that bad."

"Just because I recognized you at the bar doesn't mean I've read your books," she quipped back just a little too quickly.

"Oh come on, Kate. Who are we kidding here? No one recognizes me unless they've read at least one of them."

"It doesn't mean I enjoyed them," she retorted.

"Say whatever you'd like. I can read people pretty well and that small little grin you have there tells me differently." Kate quickly straightened out her face, not even realizing that she was grinning. "See?" he laughed as he snuck in front of her as they reached the counter.

"I'll have a grande double americano and whatever the lovely lady would like," he said with a smile.

"Grande skim latte, two pumps sugar free vanilla, please," she told the barista. "You didn't need to buy my coffee," she told him after he paid and they headed toward the other counter to wait for their drinks.

"I wanted to," he replied, giving her a soft smile. "If you had time to grab a seat and drink it, we could almost call this the coffee date you promised me."

"I've got to get to the crime scene. I can't keep them waiting much longer for the lead homicide detective on the case. My boys are already getting antsy I'm sure," she told him, feeling just a little bad for the number of times she had turned him down now. When did it get to the point where he stopped trying?

"Oh, I understand. Work comes first. Not much I can do about you being the best homicide detective in the city, can I?"

"Best homicide detective in the city?" she asked him.

"Well, I just figured. You must be pretty good keep getting called to all these crime scenes. So often that a New York Times bestselling author can't even steal you for an evening," he teased.

"You just had to squeeze the fact that you're a bestseller in there, didn't you?"

"Well, it's true," he said with a shrug.

The barista shouted their names for their drinks. They grabbed the cups off the counter and moved to the counters which contained milk and sugar in order to get out of the way of the people who waited for drinks behind them.

"You know, Kate, if you don't want to go out with me, you can just let me know. I can take it, promise," he told her as they stood next to each other, placing lids and cardboard sleeves around their cups.

"It's not that, Rick, I just-" she trailed off.

"Just?" he asked

"I really am busy. My job doesn't exactly give me a ton of free time."

"Well then, you know where to reach me if you have some free time detective," he told her. "Have a good day," he finished, placing a light kiss upon her cheek before making his way out the door and into the street.

She stood there, slightly dumbfounded as he walked away. Watched as he opened the door and exited, turning down the street toward Broadway, walking past the bay windows of the store until he disappeared from sight.

He walked briskly out of the coffee shop after his lips met her cheek. He didn't think he'd do it but after Kate saying that it wasn't that she didn't want to go out with him, just that she really was busy, he knew it was the right decision. Leave the ball in her court. If she had the time, maybe she would call, and if she didn't, well, it would be the first time in a long time he didn't get the girl. A very long time. It stung a little bit but not to that point that he would let it affect his game. There would be other gorgeous girls in bars drinking alone who he could convince to be the next pretty face on his arm for a few weeks, that he was sure of. It was the brunette; that had to be it. He went outside the box and look where it got him. He chuckled lightly to himself. He sounded crazy, thinking that a girl's hair color would affect whether she would go out with him or not. But it was an explanation that hurt his ego a little bit less, so, for now, he'd take it.

The detective slowly walked out of the bustling coffee shop, time seeming to simply move past her. She started off this morning expecting that solving a messy homicide would be the most confusing thing in her life, not the best selling author she had drinks with the other night buying her coffee, flirting with her, and then leaving where things were going with them completely up to her. She had enjoyed the banter between them over the past while and she deep down did feel bad for turning him down but now that he had said that he's stepping back and that it is now completely up to her if they are to go out and get to know each other, she really doesn't know what to do with it. She gave her head a small shake as the cold air of New York City whipped at her face as she opened the coffee shop door. She had a murder scene to get to, a homicide to solve, and who knows what she would be walking into in a matter of minutes. This was definitely not something she needed clouding her vision and lingering on her mind right now. She was a master compartmentalizer so she simply pushed it away, made it a distant thought, locked it up in the secure vault, and hopped in her car, speeding off in the direction of the crime scene. It was what she always did best.