I know this idea has been done before but I wanted to give it a go myself. Set mid-late season three.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.

"Castle, can I talk to you for a minute?" It had taken Beckett two days to build up the courage to just ask that and she couldn't back down now. It was the perfect time, they were sitting there doing nothing but paperwork and she had something to ask him about that was semi urgent so it was now or never.

"Sure," Castle smiled, surprised when she stood up but he stood himself and followed her into the break room, wondering what she had to say to him. She didn't close the door behind them so it can't be something too private but the fact that they were in here instead or out in the bullpen meant whatever she had to say was probably something she didn't want overheard.

He took the seat next to her at the break room table and was surprised when he looked down and saw her twisting her fingers together, she was nervous about something, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just wanted to ask you for a favour actually," Beckett replied looking over at him nervously but she was glad that none of the nerves she felt inside could be heard in her voice as she spoke.

"A favour? Ask away then, Detective," Castle grinned, letting how pleased he was that she was coming to him for help so on his face.

"Okay. Well, I have this friend, someone I've known since college and we've always been quite competitive with each other, always trying to beat the other in whatever we are doing."

Beckett paused in her explanation and Castle took his chance to jump in, worried about where this was going, where a mention of a friend of hers could lead, "you're not trying to set me up with her, are you? Because I'm really not looking to date anyway right now." It would hurt if that was what she was trying to ask him, he knew she was with Josh right now but he also thought they were growing closer and he hoped that if she ever broke up with Josh, that she'd be willing to give them a chance together.

"No, no, of course not," Beckett said quickly, not wanting him to think that at all, it was almost the exact opposite actually, "she's getting married anyway, which brings me to what I wanted to ask you."

"Which is?" Castle prompted when she'd paused again, wondering why it seemed to be so difficult for her to ask him whatever she'd wanted to.

"She called me the other day, asking if I was going to her wedding as I hadn't RSVP'ed yet and I told her I was. She made some comment about how she could place me at the single's table and I didn't want her to have the satisfaction of beating me at something else so I told her that I was bringing my boyfriend." She finished talking, looking expectantly at Castle, she hadn't exactly spelled out what she'd wanted but she thought he'd understand what she was trying to ask.

"Okay?" Castle asked, not entirely sure where he fit into this, "aren't you going to ask Josh?"

Beckett's eyes widened at his words, that hadn't been what she'd been expecting, "I…didn't you know? We broke up."

It was Castle's turn to look surprised, "no, I hadn't realised, I'm sorry." He really was sorry, he wanted her to be happy but if she was happy without Josh, then that was fine by him.

"Don't be, it was the best thing for both of us, I didn't want to hold him back from his work and…yeah, it just wasn't going to work out between us." She'd almost slipped up, admitted more than she'd meant to, almost telling him that he was a large part of the reason she'd called it quits on her relationship with Josh. She'd honestly thought he'd known though even if she hadn't specifically said anything about it. They'd been spending increasing amounts of time out of work together and she thought he'd realised that she was no longer with Josh.

Castle changed the subject back to their previous discussion, not wanting the dwell on her recent break up but glad for it since she seemed happy, "what was this favour you wanted to ask me?"

"Oh, right," she replied, almost forgetting what they'd come in here to do after their conversation got side tracked by her break up, "I was wondering if you'd come with me to the wedding?"

Castle was surprised yet again even though he probably shouldn't be, Beckett was constantly surprising him. But she wanted him to attend the wedding with her? And as friends or as more?

Castle had been staring at her open-mouthed so Beckett took it upon herself to try to explain exactly what she was asking, "you'd just need to pretend to be my boyfriend for the night, or we can just go as friends and I can tell Hannah that there was a misunderstanding, I just really don't want to go to this thing alone and I'd rather not have her know that I lied about having a boyfriend, I'd never hear the end of it."

"Slow down," Castle chuckled, shaking his head at her as she rushed through an explanation, secretly pleased that she'd thought of him as someone to go to her friend's wedding with, "I can pretend to be your boyfriend for the wedding, it's no big deal."

Except they both knew that it was a big deal. Pretending to be a couple would involve a lot more intimacy than if they were just attending a wedding as friends and Castle almost backed out of it right then, not sure he could handle one night with her if it meant that that's all they had together. But he didn't, because this could actually be a good thing, maybe she'd finally see how great they could be together and give them a chance.

"Are you sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything." It probably would be uncomfortable but they could handle it, right? The most they'd probably have to do is hold hands and possibly dance together, they could do that. And there was putting up a front when Hannah was around but Beckett was sure that she would buy it, everyone already thought they were a couple so it shouldn't be too hard.

"No, it'll be great, we'll be so in love that Hannah is completely jealous of you us even though she's the one that's getting married."

Oh God, this is a bad idea, Beckett thought. She was already in love with him, this couldn't turn out well at all. But she wanted him to come to the wedding with her anyway, not just so she didn't have to turn up alone and have Hannah beat her, she wanted him there with her because she genuinely loved spending time with him and wanted her partner by her side.

"It's a week from Saturday, you free then?" She had to get her mind away from the L word and focus on the fact that it was just for one night and then things would go back to normal between them.

"I sure am. It's a date."

Never mind, she was screwed.

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