I like writing season 4 fics so here's another.

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

Every once in a while, when they'd all get a night off where, they'd head to The Old Haunt for a drink together to wind down and tonight was one of those nights. It was something they all liked to do, a way to relax together, and since they didn't get the opportunity much with all their busy schedules, they'd all jumped at the chance tonight to have a night out together.

Castle had left the precinct early while the others were doing paperwork, going to see Alexis since he hadn't seen her properly in the past few days because of the case they'd been working on.

He'd arrived at The Old Haunt at 7 like they'd planned, but when no one was there yet, he took a seat at the bar to wait for them.

He'd only been there a few minutes when he received a text from Beckett saying that they were stuck at the precinct and would be leaving soon so Castle ordered a drink for himself as settled in to wait.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there, lost in thought, but he noticed he seemed to have caught the attention of a youngish looking woman who kept giving him looks from the other end of the bar. He'd tried to ignore it, giving no encouraging looks in return but that didn't seem to matter to the woman as it didn't take her long to relocate to the empty seat beside him.

"Hi, I'm Sarah," the woman said, holding out her hand for Castle to shake.

"Rick," Castle replied, shaking her hand in return as he smiled politely at her. He just hoped Beckett would arrive soon.

XXX

Beckett's eyes swept the room as she stepped into Castle's bar, looking for him like she usually would when she knew he was near.

A pang of jealously shot through Beckett when her eyes landed on him and the young brunette he was talking to.

"I'll go get Castle," Beckett said quickly, pointing to the empty booth that she wanted the others to take while she went to retrieve their writer.

As she neared Castle however, she saw several signs that made her relax significantly as she realised that Castle appeared to have to interest in the woman that he was talking to even though she appeared to have some in him. His shoulders were tense, his movements were stiff and even though she could only see the side of his face from this angle, she could tell the smile was forced for the woman's benefit.

And then she had an idea, knew exactly what she should do to show that Castle had no interest in the other woman while being able to open up to Castle a bit more and show him that she was working towards being ready and so she could tell him she loved him back.

"Hey Babe," Beckett said, startling Castle as she slid her arm across the line of his shoulders and settled with her arm resting on his upper arm.

"Beck-ett?" Castle asked, stumbling over her name after he'd recognised her and as his mind tried to make sense of what she was doing.

"Sorry we're late, Gates wanted to talk to us before we could leave," Beckett said, gesturing over her shoulder at the rest of their gang.

Castle could see the boys, Lanie and Jenny as they'd all just taken a seat in a booth not far away and were all watching them with undisguised interest, curious to see exactly what Beckett was up to.

Beckett leant further into Castle's side as the brunette he'd been talking to looked her up and down.

Castle's brain finally caught up and realised what she doing, she was giving him a way to get away from the persistent woman who was talking to him. He's not sure how Beckett knew, whether she was just jealous or could tell by the way he was talking to her that he was a reluctant participant in the conversation but he was glad she'd intervened whatever the reason was.

And then Castle realised what a perfect opportunity this was for himself, or to have some fun with Beckett at least.

"That's fine, Honey. Sarah here was keeping me company while I waited," Castle answered, gesturing to the woman in front of him while smirking as Beckett narrowed her eyes at him at his choice of nickname but she couldn't complain, she had just called him "babe" after all.

Beckett turned her attention away from Castle and smiled sweetly as the woman in front of her.

Realising how very close Beckett actually was to him, Castle took advantage of the situation and wound his hand around her waist, settling his hand against her hip, holding her in place.

"Do I get a hello kiss?" Castle asked cheekily when he'd seemed to have shocked her into silence at his own arm now around her. He turned his head away from her, exposing the side of his face to her to give her better access to his cheek where he hoped he'd get a kiss. Not that he expected it though, knew he was even pushing it to wrap his arm around her but she'd done it first so he was only evening the playing field. He was fairly certain that she wanted him back and he thought by maybe pushing her a bit, they could slowly make their way towards the future he hopes they'll someday have together.

"Of course," Beckett replied and then instead of kissing Castle on the cheek, she put her hand around the side of his face, turned his head back towards her and kissed him full on the lips.

The kiss was nothing more than a press of lips and lasted only a few seconds but it sent Castle's heart into overdrive and wiped all thoughts but her from his mind. It was everything he could've hoped for and more.

Beckett pulled back, looking just as shocked at what she'd done as he did.

"I'll see you around," Sarah said, realising she was certainly not going to get anywhere with the handsome stranger she'd been talking to who she was disappointed to discover that he was taken.

"Kate?"

"Ummm…." Was all Beckett could reply. When she'd shown up here tonight, she certainly didn't expect that kissing him was going to be a part of her evening. Hell, even as she was pressed up against his side, she still didn't think they were leading towards a kiss. But then he'd asked her and her body had taken over, kissing him like it was the most natural thing in the world and only when she pulled back did she realise that kissing each other wasn't something that they normally did.

They were still pressed against each other and since Beckett hadn't pulled away completely, hadn't yet tried to run after what just happened, Castle thought he'd take a chance.

"Kate?" Castle asked again, turning in her embrace so he could see her face more clearly.

It was then that Beckett realised how close she still was to Castle and stepped back, dislodging his arm from around her waist and removing her own arm from around his shoulder. This however, brought her even more in front of Castle.

And she still didn't run, hadn't made excuses and joined their friends yet, so he took another chance. Slowly, giving Beckett time to back away if she wanted to, Castle moved his hand up to her face, gently tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear before resting his hand against her cheek.

Beckett closed her eyes, leaning slightly into his warm palm.

"Castle," she whispered, opening her eyes again to see Castle looking at her with so much love that is was almost too much to handle.

But then she realised that it wasn't, that she could handle it because she loved him just as much in return, and she let a small smile spread across her face. Why had it taken so long for her to get to this stage? She knew the answer to that but she also knew that now she wasn't afraid, she was ready to give all of herself to Castle and she wanted him to know that now too.

"Are you okay?" Castle asked, a smile spreading across his own face at Beckett's growing one.

"Yeah," she replied, grinning at him as he still sat on the bar stool with his hand resting on her cheek.

"Are we okay?" he asked, his heart now pounding again at the thought that this could be it, she currently held his heart and had the ability to break it right now if her answer wasn't what he hoped it would be.

"Yeah," Beckett answered, her hand now coming up to rest against Castle's cheek as she leaned over to place another kiss on his lips.

As soon as Beckett pulled back, Castle was standing and putting his arms around her, pulling her into a fierce hug.

"Castle!" Beckett laughed into his chest, her head tucked under his chin as he held his arms around her and with some maneuvering, Beckett was able to wind her own arms around his back and to hold onto him just as tightly.

"Are you sure?" Castle asked into her ear, not ready to let her go just yet but he wanted to be sure, needed to be sure before he fully let himself accept what was happening.

Beckett pulled back, wanting to look into his eyes as she spoke, "I've never been more sure about anything in my life."

And from the look in her eyes, Castle knew she was telling the truth, that she wanted this just as much as he did.

"Good," Castle said before his lips were back on hers.

He pulled away far too quickly for Beckett's liking but they both knew they were in a public place and if they let things go any further, it would be a lot more difficult to stop.

"Come on," Beckett said, trailing her hand down Castle's arm to twine her fingers with his, "I think some people are going to have some questions for us."

Sure enough, looking over at the booth where their friends were all sitting, there was a mixture of shock and excitement present on all their faces as they were looking right back at them, not even pretending they hadn't been watching the entire time.

Castle leant down to whisper in Beckett's ear as they made their way to the booth, "can we tell them that we've been together for months and we were so disappointed that it took them this long to figure it out that we thought we'd make it really obvious so even they could figure it out?"

Beckett laughed, "I don't think they'd believe that."

"Believe what?" Lanie asked as they sat down at the table, obviously having heard the end of Beckett's sentence. "You're not going to try pass whatever that was over there as a kiss between friends, are you? Because honey, none of us will believe that."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other once Lanie had finished speaking and neither could help it as they burst out laughing.

Their friends were all looking around at each other confusedly, not sure what exactly was going on now with Castle and Beckett.

Once they'd settled down again, Castle was the first to speak, taking Beckett's hand in his as he spoke, "no, we're together now." He paused for a second and realised that he may have overstepped, assumed too much about what had just occurred between them. "Right?" he asked, nervous again as he realised just how much of his heart that Beckett already had.

"We're together," Beckett replied with conviction, smiling over at Castle and squeezing his hand as she did, sorry that she was the cause of how uncertain he was about them.

Lanie quickly ordered them a round of drinks to celebrate, all of their friends finally glad that Castle and Beckett could see what they've seen all along and they're finally giving themselves a chance to be happy together.

XXX

Later that night as Castle stood outside Beckett's door after walking her home, he asked her the question that had been on his mind for most of the evening, "why now?"

"I realised that I didn't want to wait anymore, that there's no point in waiting when we both want this. I thought giving us time was what we both needed but I see now that even if my mother's murder isn't solved, that we still deserve a chance to be happy together and I can't keep putting off my life for her."

Beckett was silent after she'd spoken and Castle watched as her mind seemed to drift and he knew where her it had gone, to her mother. So, Castle did what he did best, he made a joke to try and lighten the mood, to bring her back from the darkness that he knew could consume her if she wasn't careful.

"You're saying you want me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows playfully at her, making her smile and shake her head at him, exactly what he'd expected her to do.

"Maybe," Beckett replied, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly, glad that he was there to pull her out of the darkness and make her smile when she really needed it. And that was how she knew, knew that even though this thing between them was still new, it was something that could last because of how well he knew her and how well she knew him in return.

"Come here," Castle said, reaching for her and pulling her against him so he could wrap his arms around her which quickly turned into kissing her like he'd been wanting to do all night (and for several years).

He'd left not long later, both of them wanting to take things slow but as she was lying in bed that night, her phone vibrated on her bedside table, his face coming up on the screen.

"Castle?" she answered, wondering why he was calling after seeing her not that long ago.

"I was just calling to say goodnight," Castle said by way of hello.

"We already said goodnight," Beckett laughed, her mind flashing back instantly to just how thoroughly he'd told her goodnight as she was pressed up against her front door.

"Well, I wanted to say it again," Castle replied and she could hear the smile in his voice.

She knew the truth, he just wanted to hear her voice again, to prove to himself that tonight had really happened because that was exactly how she felt right now.

"Goodnight, Castle," Beckett said, shaking her head but she couldn't keep the smile off her face, glad that he'd called her.

"Goodnight, Kate."

The thought of how things were changing, how they finally had a chance together, was on both their minds as they drifted off to sleep that night, both looking forward to the future and what it may now hold.

What did you think?