Chapter 1. The beginning

Takes place a few weeks after beckett and castles first kiss in Knockdown.(3x13)

"Beckett, please!"

"No Castle."

He slinks down in his chair pouting openly like a child. He makes a move to turn off Beckett's computer again and she slaps his hand away.

"Seriously Castle!" She sounds annoyed but he can see the subtle grin spreading across her face.

" Beckett come on I haven't eaten in eight hours," he says in a complaining tone. He picks up the stack of paperwork on her desk and says " It's not like the files are going to go anywhere. You could always come back later and do them."

She contemplates saying yes and he knows that she is about to give in when he adds one last thing for good measure."Plus I will buy you anything you want for dinner."

"And dessert", they both say.

His eyes begin to crinkle a little as he smiles. Without fail she returns his smile and now in the middle of the precinct they are smiling at each other like idiots.

Across the precinct

Lanie walks up to the boys desks, finding them both looking at Castle and Beckett. They hardly even noticed her until she leaned down in between the two and whispered in their ears.

"Looks like I'm going to win, based on those looks."

The second year Castle was at the precinct the boys and Lanie started a pool about how long it would take for Beckett and Castle to get together. No one set specific dates but they each chose an amount of months it would take for them to be together and the closest to the correct month would get the pot. It did not consist of much only one hundred dollars each but it was enough to keep things interesting.

Amused Lanie walked away, leaving the boys sitting at their desks disappointed because they knew she was right. They were both about to lose but it almost didn't matter because either way they would win something. Beckett and Castle would be happy together and that's really all they could ask for.

Beckett's Desk

"Fine. Let's go eat"

He hops up energetically. "Really?"

"Yes, I'm getting pretty hungry myself."

"Are we going to the regular place or do you want to go somewhere different?"

"We can go wherever as long as the food is good."

"Okay then new place it is." He says smiling while putting his jacket on.

The car ride over to Castle's "secret place", as he had called it, was silent. When they were alone they did not talk much because Kate did not want to talk about what happened and Castle did not want to push her on the subject. Their time would come, he knew it would. After all you can't undo a kiss, you can't just pretend like nothing ever happened or at least he couldn't forget it.

Kate hardly realized they had pulled up to the restaurant until castle knocked on her window. She was busy with her thoughts. Thoughts about him, about their kiss, about whether or not she was ready to be with him. Everything got so confusing so fast. She loves him, that much she is sure of, but she does not want to ruin what they have now. She just wants to play it safe and make sure everything is going to be okay before she jumps into a relationship with him.

Castle opened her door like always. He really was such a gentleman. They walked up to a rustic building with flowers planted around the main entrance. This was not at all what Kate had expected. She thought they would go somewhere fancy and elegant, but instead they ended up outside a restaurant that was calming and romantic. It was defiantly a different dynamic for them. She could not help but think what he was up to.

"So Castle, How many girls have you brought here?"

Coughing a little. "Uh, only two."

"Really, and who were the lucky girls."

"Well one was Alexis of course and the other women is you."

Oh crap that was not a good question. She should have never asked that question. Her mind is spinning and he is standing there totally okay. How the hell is he keeping calm. He just said something so beautiful and she can't answer because she is not ready for this. She is not ready for him.

"Kate, it's okay. You don't have to say anything right now but I do want you to know how much I care about you. I know you are not ready yet but when you are my feelings will still be the same. I love you. I just need to know if you will be ready someday."

She is on the edge of tears when she whispers the words, "I..uh..I Love You too."

"Kate you don't have to say that if you are not ready. You can take all the time you need."

After that he walked into the restaurant. Did that really just happen? She just said she loved him and he walked away. She understands why he was giving her some time but damn those three words were hard to say. She will show him!