Found this sitting on my computer... totally forgot it existed. Written in 2011.
Questions
"Let's play questions."
"What?"
"Awww… Come on Beckett…" he whines. "Why don't you want to play?"
"Because I have work to do!"
"Statement. One-Love."
"You're actually keeping track?" she asks incredulously.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Why are you?"
"Why not?"
"What for?"
"Foul! No synonyms!" Castle exclaims. "Two-love!"
"What the hell just happened?"
"Foul! No rhetoric! Three-love! First game goes to…"
"Castle," she interrupts, "does it look like I care?"
"Why don't you just admit that you do?"
"Can you just accept that I don't want to play?"
"Where is the fun in that?"
"How would I know?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Is that rhetoric?"
"No… DAMN IT."
She smirks, "One-love."
After a pause, he breaks the silence. "Whose serve is it now?"
"Don't you know?"
"Why don't you know?"
"Should I know?"
"Do you know?"
"Do I look psychic to you?" she snaps.
"Does it look like there's a god?" he counters.
"Foul!" She pokes him with her pen and he cringes. "No non-sequiters! Two-love!"
"Will you marry me?" he blurts out.
Her jaw drops. "Can you…Can you repeat that?"
"Are you trying to get me to lose?"
"Is this a joke?"
"Would I really joke about something like this?"
"Would you?"
"Can you please give me a straight answer?"
"When I'm this close to kicking your butt at your stupid game?"
"Can we call a time out?"
"Is that allowed?"
"It's my game!" he exclaims, exasperated. "I can do what I want!"
She stares at him, slightly shocked at his sudden outburst.
"Three-Love," she says eventually, "game point."
Castle groans. "Will you please just answer my question?"
"Which one?"
"Stop being so coy."
"If I answer, can I get back to my paperwork?"
"Why not?" he sighs.
"Repetition," she mutters.
"What was that?"
She shakes her head, indicating that it's nothing. "Are you going let me answer or not?"
"Why haven't you already?"
"Don't you already know the answer?"
He wraps his arms around her waist, and pulls her closer to him. "I'm kind of hoping that I do."
She leans in and places a quick kiss on his lips. "Three-Love."
His eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What?
"I won."
"But I thought we had stopped playing!"
"You're the one who started it," she hits him lightly on the arm. "You really should have let me finish my paper work."
He sighs and leans back in his chair. He really should never have taught her how to play. He pulls out his iPhone and decides to occupy himself with it. Meanwhile, Beckett goes back to scribbling away at some page. Barely five minutes go by when he realizes that he never got an answer out of her.
"So am I ever going to get an answer?"
She lets her pen fall onto her stack of paper, and then she turns to look at him. "Yes."
"Yes you'll marry me?" he wonders. "Or yes you'll answer my question?"
A smile crosses her lips. "Both."