A/n: I do not own anything. Sadly... Oh and be sure to read and review. If you do you'll get invisible cookies, on an invisible plate accompanied by an invisible hug and kiss.

-Beckett's-

"I thought you were allergic to fun."

"Not what you call fun Castle."

I smiled at him, and did a little victory dance in my head. He hates it when I make him think, and turn the tables on his little games. He thinks he can charm his way out of everything; playing his humorous logic games on me and really any woman he meets. Sadly for him he can't or at least he thinks he can't. I tell him on the outside we can't be more than friends, while on the inside I'm dying to be morethan friends. I'm tough... but his charms is always, always tougher.

He smiles back, in his own adorable way.

Why does he always look at me like he knows what I'm thinking? I hate that about him, but that's subconscious woman logic. We hate when men know our outside lies, while the inside ones stay lingering. Why not tell them the whole truth? Because lies are safer... or at least safe for me and Castle, I don't want things to change between us. I don't want to lose him, like I've lost other people in my life.

I always wondered why I can never laugh at his jokes, but now I know. And now standing there watching him ponder things, making adorable thought wrinkles envelope his face I realized something.

That's flirting. Flirting: behaving in a playfully alluring way. I can't flirt; it's a rookie mistake, just like falling for someone you work with. Not something I can risk. Yet I need a little risk right about now. Josh left me about a week ago, and with him my fun. I usually crave risk.

"Oh, how do you know what I do in my bed at night?" He wiggles his eyebrow because he knows it pulls on my brain's impulses, making me want to laugh, I just smile. Smiling is safe, you can smile at your colleges and they'll think you're friendly and personable. I smile at old men as they talks to thier granddaughters about cutesy things like, how much he loves flowers or what her mother was like as a little girl.

Castle likes my smiling, maybe because it makes me different then all the girls who he's dated, married, and wooed. I don't swoon; I'm the opposite of a usually concurred damsel in distress. Swooning is another rookie mistake. I'm not a rookie, at my job and in life.

"You sleep. Alone."

"How do you know?" He wiggles his eyebrows a second time.

I flash a smile, and shake my head. I'm making him think again, but he seems to like the tables turned.

"You drink less coffee. If you were sleeping with someone you'd be drinking more, and you'd have that stupid smile smeared across your face, instead of be thinking about the case."

I feel a little pang inside, I'm analyzing things. That's his department.

"I smile stupidly when I'm with you."

"You get creepy pleasure out of watching me, even when I'm pissed."

"Especially when you're pissed off."

-Castle's-

"So when's the party?"

"What party?" Ryan said glancing up from his files; I glance at Beckett for a second but she doesn't look up. I bet she planned it that way.

"I know what you're trying to pull... and it's cute. But I like to asked things when I comes to personal affairs." I add, giving my friends a suspicious glance.

"How are parties... mmrpph, personal affairs?" Ryan says, hiding his intrigue with a sip of hot coffee.

"They are when they involve, my birthday."

I glance playfully at Beckett; she's listening, but she doesn't want me to know.

"You're planning a surprise party aren't you?"

Pure silence.

"One thing I need to know... Will there be alcohol at my party?"

"Well... there-"

I hear a swift kick under the table. There is a sharp pain stricken look across Ryan's face; I suspect one of Beckett's sexy heels as the culprit. I dart mischievous in Beckett's direction.

"I heard someone using a cell phone calling a baker. My favorite baker in the City is Trinh L'eau, he's French..."

I dart my eyes around again. Beckett still not looking up, she's hiding something.

"... He makes a very delicious chocolate cheesecake called-"

"-Murderous Mocha." Beckett mentions from behind her open case file.

Beckett looks up, I glint a smile in her direction. She smiles back, and then looks back down again.

"Yes. So, it is a surprise party."

"Nope." Beckett says with confidence, the way she does in the interrogation room.

"Then why would someone be talking to my favorite pastry chef 4 days before my birthday."

The interrogating look comes back to her face.

"Conversation." Esposito states looking up from his newspaper.

"Oh you're in on this too, huh? If there is going to be alcohol at this party, you've got to know what I like-"

"You like nothing too hard, and nothing too fruity. You are a connoisseur of anything vintage, but you don't enjoy self named James Bond drinks." Beckett says like shes heard it before.

"Very good Detective. You deserve a gold star. How'd you know so much?"I ask; loving the fact she knows so much about me.

"You have a police record; the strangest things come up in them." She says as a look of mischief spreads across her face as she peeks at me over her morning cup of coffee.

"My mother?"

"That could also be a contributing factor."

"So you're the one she was talking to for at least two hours last night. And I had thought it was a love struck Broadway fan."

-Beckett's-

"The victim was probably asleep when he was shot. That would explain the fact that there is no sign of struggle on his body."

Lanie mentions as she leans over Fredrick Giraud, a murder victim who'd probably been quite comfortable when he died, Castle had pointed out when we entered.

"Hey, these sheets look just like mine!"

"First boxers and now bed sheets. You must enjoy informing us about your life, Castle." I add rolling my eyes playfully.

"Those sheets are quite nice. But mine are much softer..." Castle slyly informs me,

"I see-"

"-Egyptian cotton. Very high thread count, so they feel like you're waking up on a beautiful cloud. Or so I've been told." He continues while Ryan coughs, in the background, as I give Castle an annoyed look. His humorous comments are amusing to me, but once again I don't laugh.

"To cool the ice in the air, I'm just going to ask, will there be party games at my surprise party-"

"-There is no party, Castle." I say dusting a glass beside the bed for prints, knowing it'll pull his strings a bit.

"- Because if I can suggest any party games, it would be either Marry Kill Kiss, or Pin the Tail on the donkey."

"Really? Hey Esposito come look at these prints, there not Dr. Gerund's."

As Esposito investigates the Case of the Conspicuous Glass of Water, we continue to banter.

"Really. Let me ask you, Detective have you ever played Strip Poker? I find it a very fun…"

"Why do you need to know that?" I ask, loving the fact that he wants to know, I always enjoy telling him things that make him think naughtily, because he gets this teenage boy smile that I find hilarious.

He waits in anticipation; the smile starts to creep up.

"Mmmm. Would you believe me if I told you if it was for my third Nikki Heat novel?" He says slyly.

"Sadly yes. Some of the scenes from the last one were quite imaginative. I've played regular Poker plenty of times. I might also be a little fluent in the rules of Strip Poke as well.

"Ooo now I need to know. Have you ever played?"

I smile wickedly at him, and slink beside his ear. "Yes maybe once, twice. But the thing is. The guy is usually the one naked first. I have a pretty unbeatable poker face."

"I beg to differ. You may have a pretty face but it's not unbeatable. Mine is quite good." He flashes a very comical look, the kind he gets when he does his Sean Connery impersonation.

"Well that settles it we've got to play sometime." I put my hand on his shoulder as I leave the room. He jumps from his spot to follow me like baby duck follows his mother, and trails me to the car with that wayward teenage smile gleaming off his face. As I buckle my seatbelt, he pops in to drive the car again pursuing birthday goings-on once more.

"Since there is supposedly no party, might I offer up Richard Edgar Castle fact #5?

"What is fact #5, please tell me." I add sarcastically, again loving his humorous ways of telling me things about his life. He seems to treat our workdays as one long continuous date night where he tells me all about himself and ask me all about me, which is kind of cute.

"I love presents, anything really. But be creative, like I don't know… promising me we'll have dinner next week somewhere lovely-"

"-Nice try but no-"

"-Candlelight dinner. French wine-"

"-Not a chance-"

"-I could even cook it. At my house… I'm a pretty good cook."

"Where you have 'waking up on a beautiful cloud' bed sheets?"

"Yes." The teenage smile, slinks back across his face again.

I send an annoyed glance in his direction. "Mmmmm, No."

His little heart strings let loose with a sad sigh. I'm winning and he knows it. I'm not ready for a relationship with him, not something like he wants it. Romance. I may want it and need it like I need food and water but right now it's not the top thing on my list.

"Beside if I did, the whole thing might end up on pages 94-105 of the next Nikki Heat novel. I can see the title of the chapter now. Heat Loves Herself Some French Wine." He smiles, as I bring his spirits up a bit but I know I'm torturing him with my refusals all the time.

"Again even though there isn't going to be a party, I'm going to give you another fact, this one is #6."

"#6?" Intrigued, I ask.

"Yes number 6: Richard Edgar Castle enjoys talking to you."

I laugh, and smile. He smiles back, but I know that his sweet endearments come with a price.

"Thanks. That's kind of sweet." He gives me another look at that adoring smile that I love.

"Oh and #7 is that Richard Edgar Castle really, and I mean really likes music. Neil Diamond preferably. I find it soothing. I also enjoy ties, fancy ones if at all possible. Blue ones, they compliment my eyes." He adds making a model's face at an invisible camera.

"Fine then."

"So there is a surprise party! I knew you were hiding something. So will there be balloons, because I love balloons. And cake will there be-"

"-There's no party Castle, I've told you that about three times all ready."

"Fact #8… I love mysteries. And I'm going to do whatever it takes to uncover the mystery, of what's going to happen at my surprise party."

I smile but don't comment. Hiding this party is going to be harder than I thought, but listening to him guess makes the whole thing worth it.

"Oh and Castle." I ask as we pull up into the precinct parking lot.

"Yes, Detective."

"Fact #9 about Richard Castle is that you are really, and mean really... are nosey."