A/N: Well, here's the next installment. I caught a writer bug tonight and updated both my stories. I actually quite like this one. It kind of went in a direction I wasn't expecting, but I think there are several different levels of this. And things got turned around and I like it better than my original idea. Anyway, I'm rambling. Let me know what you think!

Just a Game

[Ewan:]
All you need is looooove!
[Nicole:]
Love is just a game.

"That sushi was amazing! How did you ever find that place?" Beckett asked as they walked back into the precinct together after lunch.

"I honestly can't even remember where I heard about it. But the food is always amazing, the fish is so fresh." He said, smiling at her meaningfully. It made her slightly uncomfortable and she fidgeted a little. She cleared her throat and walked to her desk with him in toe. He was kicking himself for making things awkward after a relaxing lunch.

She logged into her computer and he sat in his chair, thinking back to the case they were currently working on. They didn't sit like that long before Beckett's cell phone buzzed on her desk top. She looked down to see a text from Josh. She opened it and read it. Her brow crinkled as she reread the evidently confusing message.

"What?" he asked.

"Just a text from Josh. It doesn't really make sense. He says 'haven't heard from you and just wanted to make sure everything's ok.' What does that mean?" she asked, getting slightly annoyed. She missed the guilty expression that crossed Castle's face next to her as her anger began to build. "He has to check up on me now when he hasn't heard from me in a few hours. What the hell? I'm at work. He's at work! I don't have to check in every ten minutes." She was fuming. Finally she looked over at Castle who looked like he just wanted to hide. "What?"

"Well….." he looked very sheepish. "Could you calm down before I tell you? I don't want residual anger."

"Castle I will hurt you. What did you do?" she said, looking fiercely at him.

"Well, you see….Josh may have called your desk phone earlier today when you were in a meeting with the Chief. And I may have answered said call. And he may have left a message asking you to call him on your lunch break. And I may have forgotten to pass that along." He said and winced when he finished his story. An eerie silence feel over Beckett as she thought this through.

"Observation room. Now." She said slowly through gritted teeth. She stood up from behind her desk and walked in slow measure steps in that direction. Castle followed her, looking like a child about to be beaten. He mouthed "Help Me" to Ryan and Esposito as he walked past. They just shook their heads at him.

Inside the observation room, she closed the door behind them and leaned against it. She counted to ten. Then she yelled.

"You had the audacity to answer my desk phone, take a personal call for me, take a message from my boyfriend and then NOT give it to me? Is that what you're telling me?" she asked walking slowly towards him, pointing her finger in his direction. He walked, step for step, backwards. His face pulled as he tried to think of a good answer.

"Well you see, I…" he tried, but he stopped when his back hit the back wall.

"No, you do not get to pull any of your writer words crap on me. There is no talking yourself out of this. You crossed a line and there are consequences for that." She said, her finger finally meeting his chest, her eyes boring hole into his.

"In my defense, I honestly forgot." He said, with a small smile.

"And that's better? Castle, this kind of thing might be a game to you but it's not to me. We're not talking deep fried twinkies here. We're talking a real adult relationship that you're sticking your nose in and screwing with."

"Hey that's not fair."

"Oh yeah." She said, shifting so that she could cock her head up at him. "Correct me where I'm wrong." Her gaze was steely, and scary.

"Love is not a game to me." He said sincerely.

"Right, that's why you parade bimbo's through here like the flavor of the week. That's why you go back to ex-wives for a little hot sex every now and then. That's why you get divorced twice instead of…" she said, running out of steam.

"Instead of what? Hmm? Never letting anyone in close to me? If that's a game, then yeah I play. It's called Russian Roulette with your heart." He said, looking actually hurt. It was her turn to be silent for a moment and process.

"That's not the point. You're messing with another person's relationship. You're playing games with my life and I'm TIRED of it Castle." She said, her arms finally hanging at her sides, as though exhausted.

"Tell me this." He said in a small voice, looking her straight in the eye. "If it's so inexcusable that I forgot to tell you to call him, if it's so inexcusable the thing that I did, then why haven't you noticed that you haven't responded to his text? Why haven't you called him instead of standing her arguing with me?"

She opened her mouth but then closed it immediately. She tried again but no words came out.

"You play your own game detective. It's called 'How can I push him away and yet still pretend that it's not my fault.' So don't judge me. I may not have done the one and done thing, but that doesn't mean that I treat my relationships like a game. I care for every woman I'm with. And one I'm not allowed to be with. And I would never hurt them." He said, looking her in the eyes. "Now, go. Make your phone call."