Note: None of these characters are mine.

Long Haul

She knows it's not nice to mess with him, but it's so tempting…

"Castle, what on earth are you doing?" Castle glanced up from his wallet, which he'd been riffling through for the past few minutes. He grinned, whipped a card out, and brandished it at her.

"Just looking for my library card, Detective, because I am checking you out." He winked at her, and Beckett stared back at him, miraculously managing to keep her face blank.

"Oh come on, Beckett! That's my best pick up line!" This earned an eye roll from Beckett, who turned back to her pile of paperwork.

Castle scooted his chair a little closer to hers. "What are you doing tonight?"

Beckett didn't look up from her paperwork, but responded, "Well, I've been living on white rice and frozen spinach for two weeks. Now that the case is finally over, I'll probably do some long overdue grocery shopping."

"Do you have dinner plans?"

"Something other than spinach and rice, hopefully." Beckett continued to shuffle through the papers on her desk.

"You're not making this very easy, Detective," (of this Beckett was well aware, and she was enjoying herself immensely), "I was wondering if you'd have dinner with me tonight."

"Are you inviting Ryan and Esposito too? None of us has eaten a solid meal in weeks." Beckett pretended to focus on the work in front of her, enjoying the sound of Castle fidgeting next to her.

Castle sighed, a bit exasperated. "No, I was thinking just us tonight."

Finally Beckett turned to Castle, assuming her best innocent/incredulous face. "Like a date?"

"No, not like a date. An actual date." Beckett chose to ignore his English teacher outburst.

"Really?" Beckett did her best to look confused and a little shocked (poker face, don't fail me now).

Castle broke eye contact with her and shifted in his seat awkwardly. "Wow, I thought we were on the same page about this…" He looked so dejected she almost went easy on him and gave in. Almost.

"Castle, I broke up with Josh a month ago."

"I know a month isn't a long time, but you said things with Josh had been ending for a while, and after the year we've had, I just thought we were ready to, you know. And I thought you felt the same way. And – "

Kate cut off his rant before he could continue, "And what took you so long?"

Castle's head shot up. "Huh?"

"Geez, Castle," Beckett said in mock exasperation, "Took you long enough. I was about to ask you out myself." Beckett leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs dramatically. "I damn near jumped you in the interrogation room today. A girl's self control can only hold out for so long! A month, for goodness sake!"

Castle stared at her, looking a little angry. "Are you joking? Making fun of me? Because I'm serious about this Beckett. Serious about us."

Beckett leaned towards him, "Castle, I'm in this like a cross-country trucker." Anger morphed into confusion on Castle's face. "I'm in this for the long haul. Get it? Oh come on, that was way better than your library card line!" Beckett winked at him, and waited for him to sort things out in his head.

Castle continued to stare at her, not sure whether she was still messing with him or not. After a moment, Kate stood and braced her hands on the sides of his face. She looked down at him and smiled, finally seeing a spark of hope ignite in his eyes. She bent and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, before turning and heading to the elevator.

When she looked back, he was still sitting in his chair where she'd left him, staring at her. But now he was grinning like an idiot.

"Pick me up at 8, Castle?"

Thanks for reading!