A/N: Thanks for the reviews. To Kie Santiago, I know what you mean, I'd love it if Beckett wasn't so emotionally constipated and would just accept the fact that they love each other but she just won't behave. I can't seem to control her.

Chapter 11

Beckett sat at her desk doing paperwork. She was a little anxious about how he was going to behave at work today. It wasn't like she expected him to be walking around with a big neon sign flashing 'I've seen Beckett naked' but there were lots of other things that might give them away.

"Good morning Beckett," he greeted her with deliberate casualness as he deposited a cup of coffee in front of her. "What are we doing today?" His face was completely bland, no hint of a smirk or leer at all.

"The building surveillance tapes for the Cooper case should be arriving soon so I need to go over them and then I'm due to testify in court at eleven thirty," she said.

"Isn't Ryan the resident video expert?" he asked, looking around the room for the other detective.

"Yeah, he would normally be doing this," she agreed, "but he's on leave today. He had to do some wedding preparation stuff with Jenny."

"Ok let's get started then," he said.

They spent a frustrating two hours going over the film. It was a commercial building and there were a lot of people going through the lobby area, unfortunately none of them looked like their suspect. She felt like her eyes were going to explode she was so tired of concentrating on the screen. But it wasn't just the lack of progress on the case that was starting to get on her nerves, it was also Castle.

It wasn't what he was doing that was the problem, but rather what he wasn't doing. He sat a respectable distance away from her, concentrating on his own screen. There hadn't been any cocky grins and he hadn't made any smart remarks. In other words he wasn't behaving like himself at all.

Finally she couldn't take it any more. She surreptitiously looked around to make sure that there wasn't anyone close enough to overhear them. "Stop it," she hissed at him.

"Stop what?" he asked, totally perplexed.

"You're behaving too well," she explained, it was something that she'd never thought that she would ever accuse him of. "You haven't smirked, or made a stupid remark or suggested some crazy theory all morning. People will notice. Just behave more like yourself."

"Ok," he agreed, "but just remember that you asked for it the next time you get irritated with me for saying or doing something stupid."

She just rolled her eyes, she knew she was going to regret say it, he'd probably take it as permission to act even more like a nine year old. She glanced down at her watch, it was eleven. "I've got to go now if I want to make it to court in time. Can you keep looking over the rest of the film?"

"Sure. Shall I meet you there for lunch when you're finished?" he asked. "There's that Italian deli nearby which is quite good

"Yeah, I should be done by twelve thirty. I'm in courtroom five and I'll text you if I'm running late.

She'd done well in the witness box and she knew it. The defense had tried to cast doubt on her recall of the how the suspect had acted when she had taken him into custody. She hadn't let their questions sway her testimony at all and the jury seemed convinced by her confident manner. She had just finished chatting to the assistant DA in the hall way when she heard someone calling out her name.

"Kate!"

She looked around trying to spot the person. It was easy to do, because even though there was a bit of crowd, he towered over most of the others. She considered whether or not she could pretend that she hadn't seen him and just make a run for it but unfortunately he'd made his way to her side by now.

"Hi Kate." When she didn't immediately reply, he added, "It's Jack, we met last Friday. Do you remember me?"

"Of course, hi Jack," she said. Of course she remembered him, she'd practically been dirty dancing with him only a week ago at the night club whilst drunk. Not her finest moment but unfortunately not one that she could forget. Although he had been nice enough, it was her own behavior that she regretted.

"I was hoping to run into you at some stage. I didn't get your number the other night or else I would have called you. I did consider asking some of the court clerks which precinct you worked out of so I could track you down, but I didn't think that stalking you would be a good idea, what with you being a cop and all," he admitted.

She laughed, "Probably not a good idea. I'd hate to have to shoot you."

"But now that you're here do you fancy grabbing a bite to eat for lunch?" he asked.

"Sorry, I'm actually meeting a friend for lunch," she excused herself.

He seemed disappointed but was gracious about it. "How about a rain-check on it then? Here's my card. If you find that you have some spare time then maybe we could catch up for a drink or a meal?" he said handing over the small white rectangle to her.

She made some non-committal sound and slipped the card in her pocket to be polite. "Sure. Well I had better run now," she said and made her escape.

Castle had finally found the courtroom that Beckett was meant to be in, he had been wandering around completely lost for ten minutes. Geographically challenged would the politically correct term to describe him. He wondered if there was a GPS phone app that would work inside a building, he could just imagine the female, slightly mechanical voice that would go with it, "At the next corridor turn left."

He spotted Kate's familiar profile up ahead, unfortunately he also recognized the good looking guy standing next to her. It was that prick that she had been dancing with at the club, what was he doing here? He saw the other guy hand her a card which she put into her pocket. Shit, he thought as he ducked back around the corner. What should he do? Castle knew what he wanted to do, that was simple. He wanted to go over there and stake his territory, Kate was his, that was what his ego was shouting at him. Unfortunately though, he knew he had no right to go over there and act the jealous boyfriend. They weren't exclusive and if she wanted to go out with that other guy then she could.

He peaked around the corner again to see what she was up to and nearly collided with her as she rounded the same spot. "Careful," she said, her hands coming to steady him so they didn't both fall back. "You need to look where you're going Castle," she cautioned him.

"Sorry, guess I must have been distracted," he said but didn't mention what he'd been distracted by. Castle looked around, fortunately the other guy had already left. "Are you ready for lunch then?"

"Yeah, I'm starving, let's go," she said.

Castle looked at his chicken, brie and cranberry roll without interest. Kate was already tucking into her food but hunger took second place to his curiosity and his jealousy. He was dying to know what Kate had said to that other guy and he was wondering how he could fish for that information without her suspecting anything.

"So how did court go today? Did anything interesting happen?" he asked nonchalantly.

She interrupted her eating briefly to reply, "No, it was pretty standard stuff."

"So any plans for this week at all?" he tried a different tack.

"Apart from work, no other plans," she replied.

"So you're not going out anywhere then?" he said.

"Isn't that what I just said?" she looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you asking?"

Castle was secretly pleased, it meant that she hadn't organized a date with what's-his-name. Of course she still had his card, but at least for now she hadn't arranged to see him again. "I was wondering if you might like to catch a movie and then dinner tomorrow night?" he asked.

"No way, it's far too much like a date in public," she said, vetoing his idea firmly. But she relented slightly at his disappointed look, "but maybe you could come over to my place for a DVD and takeaways."

"How about we do it at my place instead?" he bargained. "My DVD selection is larger, and you only seem to have those boring foreign films that make you read the subtitles, not enough sex or explosions."

"You can bring your own DVD if you want, but I am not coming over to your apartment. I think it's best if Alexis and Martha don't know about us for now."

He was disappointed by her answer, he hated lying to his daughter in particular. Although he had been careful to shelter Alexis from his love life in the past, he had hoped that it could be different with Kate. He was hoping to share every little part of his life with her, and that included his family. But no amount of arguing could budge her and he finally gave in.

They headed back to the police station after lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon taking statements from their victim's work mates. Ken Cooper apparently hadn't been a particular nice man and none of his co-workers were mourning his death. Castle had gone to get some candy from the vending machine as Beckett continued to write up her notes.

Damn, she thought as her pen ran out. She looked around her desk for a replacement but her spares had gone missing. It was probably Esposito again, he was forever mislaying his own pens and pinching hers. She checked in her pockets to see if she had one there but only came up with Jack's card. She looked at it for a second, there wasn't really any point in keeping it. She knew that she wouldn't call him. She was dating Castle, she'd slept with Castle and even though he had said that she could, it just felt wrong to go out on a date with another man at the same time. She crumpled it and threw it into the bin.

He caught sight of something white disappearing into the trash as he came back to her desk. He thought he knew what it might be, he hoped it was the business card that what's-his-name had given her but he couldn't see enough of it in the bin to confirm his suspicions.

"Ok, I've had enough for today," she declared. "Do you want a ride home Castle?"

"That would be great," he accepted. "Let me just get my things." He slipped his coat on but deliberately left his phone on the seat. He waited until they were almost in the elevator before pretending to pat down his pockets. "Sorry, I've left my phone behind. I'll just run back to get it and meet you downstairs in the car-park."

As soon as she was out of view he started rummaging around in her trash can until he found the card. Yes, he thought, doing a little leap and fist pump into the air. The other cops who were still around gave him some very odd looks at that. They were use to him doing some strange things but searching around in the trash like some homeless person and then looking so happy about it was weird, even for him.

He was too happy to care about what other people thought of him. Kate had kicked the other guy to the curb, she had chosen him, that was all that mattered. That deserved a little celebration in his opinion, he wondered if he could convince her to stop off for some cookies and cream ice cream on the way home. He went to join her at the car, feeling a lot more optimistic about exactly where their relationship was headed.