The day passed quickly.
They stopped briefly at Beckett's apartment for her to change, and Castle dropped off an overnight bag of his own. She had asked him to stay with her tonight, and he had quickly packed a few necessities before they left the loft.
They left her apartment and walked for a while, just taking the pulse of the city, and they eventually ended up at the same cafe where Beckett had lunch with Lanie at the weekend.
After they had eaten, they spent some time in a small park nearby, watching a group of schoolchildren throwing a football around. Castle told Beckett several stories about what Alexis had been like at that age, and she held his hand as she listened.
They were back at Beckett's place by 3PM, and spend most of the remainder of the afternoon lying together on the sofa, talking about nothing in particular. When Beckett reluctantly dragged herself up to start thinking about dinner, he surprised her by springing up beside her, taking her in his arms, and kissing her. The kiss became more urgent, and she took his hand and led him to her bedroom instead.
Almost an hour later, it was definitely time to think about dinner, and they ordered pizza for the sake of simplicity, while Beckett started to get ready. They ate in a very comfortable silence in her kitchen, and she kept smiling at how the back of his hair was still sticking up.
"I'll fix it," he said at last, "Just let me finish eating."
She grinned at him. "You should leave it the way it is. I'm actually curious about what the guys will say first."
He returned her grin. "Talking of the guys," he said, "what's the plan tonight?"
"I told Lanie not to tell them anything," she replied, watching his expression carefully.
"Yeah," he said, cautiously. They looked at each other for several moments and then he scratched his ear absent-mindedly. "So, uh, I assume we're keeping this… us, I mean… quiet for now. If that's what you want to do."
She suppressed a laugh. "Is that what you want to do?" she asked evenly, and he frowned.
"Kate," he said.
"Rick," she replied, unable to stop herself grinning.
"I'm not making a big deal out of this," he said.
"Me neither."
"But it is kind of a big deal. It's work, or people from work. I'm happy to follow your lead. I can wait."
She smiled, and leaned in to kiss him. "I know," she said warmly. "But if I did want to tell people, you'd be OK with it, right?"
"You know I would," he said softly, his gaze dropping to their linked hands.
But you'd never demand it, even though I owe you that much, she thought, reaching up to put her palms against his cheeks.
"Listen to me," she said gently, and he looked into her eyes. "You're a wonderful man, Richard Castle, and I don't deserve you–"
He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she brushed a thumb over his lips and shook her head before continuing.
"–but I am proud to be with you. I really hope you know that. And of course I want everyone to know that I'm your girl now."
He smiled at her choice of words, his chest inflating with male pride.
Men, she thought, affectionately, leaning in for another kiss.
"So what do we tell them?" he asked, tucking a loose strand of her hair away and letting his finger trail down her ear and onto her neck, making her shiver.
"If you keep doing that, we're not making it to the Haunt," she said, with a husky note in her voice, and his eyes gleamed. "But I was thinking we could maybe mess with Ryan and Esposito a little…"
They arrived together at about 8:15PM, and the bartender welcomed them, telling them that the other four guests were already at their private booth in the back.
Castle let Beckett go on ahead, as he hung behind to exchange a few pleasantries with his staff and to get drinks for the two of them.
"Hey girl," Lanie called as Beckett approached the table, and she smiled at her four friends. Esposito saluted her with his beer, and Ryan and Jenny gave her identical warm smiles.
Those two are ridiculously cute together, she thought, and then she felt a flutter of excitement at how much things had changed for her since the last time she set foot in this place.
Lanie gave her a questioning look, and Esposito unknowingly voiced the same question. "So where's Castle? I thought he was coming along this time."
"He's at the bar, Esposito, making sure we're all well taken care of tonight," she replied, and the other man nodded.
"Good man. Not only does he help solve murders, he gets us free drinks anytime we want," Esposito said. "Pity he didn't show up at the Twelfth years ago, if you ask me."
Beckett and Lanie exchanged a look that Esposito didn't see, but Jenny raised an eyebrow.
"Well maybe you wouldn't feel that way if you were Kate," Lanie said, with a hint of teasing in her tone. "She has to put up with him following her around all day, cracking jokes–"
"Coming up with leads," Esposito interrupted.
"–driving her nuts with his phone all the time, and never doing any paperwork–" Lanie continued.
"Bring her coffee all the time," Ryan said. "And giving us a coffee machine for the break room!"
"–acting like a kid on a sugar rush–"
"Letting us borrow the Ferrari!" Esposito said triumphantly, and Lanie nodded in grudging agreement.
"I guess he has his good points," she said, looking towards her friend with mischief in her eyes. "What do you think, Kate?"
Lanie was surprised that the other woman didn't blush, drop her gaze or stutter. "I guess I've gotten used to having him around," she said.
"Mm-hmm," Lanie replied, taking a sip of her drink.
"And here's the man himself," Ryan said, as Castle walked up to the table carrying a beer and a glass of white wine.
"It is I," he said, setting the drinks down on the table and sitting beside Beckett. "How's everybody doing?"
They exchanged some brief stories about their respective weekends, and Castle confirmed that he had indeed caught up with his writing.
"So Castle," Esposito said, in a solicitous tone, "you were out at your beach house, right? Any ladies out there with you?"
Lanie's eyes darkened, but Beckett managed to give the barest shake of head before her friend said anything. Lanie grinned.
"Uh, nope, just me," Castle said, taking a large swig of his beer. "It was a working weekend. One guy and a laptop."
"All business and no pleasure, huh," Esposito said, sounding disappointed. "You must've been missing us like crazy."
Ryan laughed, and the two men bumped fists, causing Jenny to smile and roll her eyes.
"You know, I don't remember you mentioning these two clowns any of the times we talked on the phone," Beckett said, wearing an expression of contemplation, and Castle nodded.
Ryan's smile became a frown. "We didn't have a case over the weekend," he said, looking at Beckett.
Esposito also looked confused and almost hurt. "Oh so you call Beckett on your off days but not us, is that it?"
"Yeah, Castle, that's cold," Ryan said, gesturing with his beer bottle.
Castle held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Guys, guys," he said, "I was working, that's all. Beckett called me to make sure I wasn't just playing videogames. Her dad had to work so she had some time, and she called me."
He glanced at Beckett, and she nodded in confirmation. "Just checking up on him," she said.
"Uh-huh," Esposito said, looking from one to the other suspiciously for a moment or two before shrugging.
Castle gave Beckett another look and then reached up and smoothed down the back of his hair without thinking about it. The gesture went unnoticed by the men, but Jenny's eyes widened and she looked at Lanie. The two women had a silent conversation in the space of a few moments, and Jenny's cheeks flushed. Oh my god, they finally got together!
Beckett saw the revelation on Jenny's face, and gave her a gentle smile with a message in her eyes. Please don't say anything yet.
Jenny blinked slowly, returning the smile. Of course.
Ryan and Esposito had started enthusing about how Castle should have called them instead during the weekend, and Lanie was rolling her eyes at their behaviour.
"Javi, sometimes I wonder if I should be jealous of Ryan here," she said, and everyone else at the table burst out laughing. Ryan's face was pink, and Esposito wrinkled his nose in distaste.
Beckett slid her fingers through his under the table, and squeezed his hand. He smiled without looking at her, and took another sip of his drink.
They had been at the bar for almost two hours now, and the table would have been littered with empties if the bar staff weren't so careful to regularly remove them and bring replacements.
Everyone was considerably more relaxed, and at least a little drunk. Esposito's arm was draped lazily along the back of the large, circular booth behind Lanie's shoulders, and she was leaning back into it. Jenny had her arm linked through Ryan's, and was listening with unconcealed adoration in her eyes as he told amusing stories from past cases, mostly involving Esposito.
Castle and Beckett listened with smiles on their faces, sipping their drinks and occasionally exchanging warm looks. Jenny and Lanie periodically glanced at the two of them, but said nothing.
"Best partner ever!" Ryan said, clinking his beer bottle too forcefully against Esposito's as he finished telling his latest story.
"You got that right," the other man replied, grinning at his friend.
"You two have got a textbook bromance going on," Castle said, drawing snorts from the two men, and wry nods from the women.
"Well I think that a close relationship between partners isn't a bad thing," Lanie said cheekily, and Esposito pointed at her.
"Thank you," he said. "Exactly. But you're talking to the wall with these two." He gestured vaguely at Castle and Beckett, made brave by the alcohol he'd had.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Beckett asked sweetly. "Other than that you really want desk duty for the next two weeks."
Lanie laughed and Esposito frowned, but it didn't stop him answering. "Some of us have got a lot of money riding on this thing."
Ryan smacked him on the arm, and Esposito just shrugged.
"What thing is that?" Castle asked, keeping his voice neutral but now wearing a small grin.
"This thing with you two," Esposito said, as Lanie looked carefully between them. "This… will-they won't-they thing."
Castle and Beckett exchanged a pointed look, then returned their attention to the rest of the table.
"Esposito, there isn't going to be any change in the relationship between Castle and I anytime soon," Beckett said, and Castle nodded. Lanie rolled her eyes.
"Don't tell me you're back with the deep-fried Twinkie," Esposito said with disdain, looking at Castle, and the other man grimaced.
"Hell no," he said. "And if I so much as look in Gina's direction, my girl would kick my ass."
"Or shoot you," Beckett said, and Castle again nodded in agreement. Both Lanie's and Jenny's eyes widened, but they didn't say anything.
"Or shoot me," Castle agreed.
Ryan frowned for a moment, but in his semi-drunk state, he just shook his head as the thought left his mind as quickly as it had entered.
"Oh so you are with somebody," Esposito said, pointing at Castle triumphantly, and the other man simply nodded.
"You keeping secrets from us now, Castle?" Ryan asked, pointing with his beer bottle.
"Guys, we're allowed to have relationships without checking with you first," Beckett said, and Ryan's eyebrows shot up.
"We, huh?" Esposito said. "So you've hooked up too, boss? You two should have invited them here tonight so we could give our approval. Or not."
Beckett snorted with laughter. "I don't think I'd want to date most guys who would get your approval," she quipped, and Esposito grinned while Ryan laughed out loud.
"Yeah," Ryan said, warming to the idea. "Get them out here. The more the merrier. Assuming Castle's girl actually exists."
Esposito was the one to laugh this time, bumping fists with his partner yet again, and Castle and Beckett exchanged another look. Lanie took a long sip of her cocktail.
"You think I should call her?" Castle asked Beckett, and she seemed to consider the question for a moment before looking into his eyes and nodding.
"Yeah, why not?" she said, with a smile playing around her lips, and Castle tilted his head and took his phone from his jacket pocket.
"Hey, you too, boss," Esposito said. "You're not getting off the hook that easily. We want to meet this mystery guy too."
Beckett shrugged, and took her phone out of her purse, sitting it on the table beside her wine glass. "After you, Castle," she said, gesturing towards the man at her side.
Castle bowed his head graciously, and tapped the screen of his phone a few times, then held the device up to his ear.
Lanie clasped her hands together, unnoticed by either of the other two men.
Only a couple of seconds had passed before Beckett's phone lit up and started buzzing, shifting slightly across the table with each ring. Everyone could see that photo on the screen, and the text CASTLE across the top. Ryan and Esposito both frowned.
With an innocent look on her face, Beckett picked up the phone and tapped the screen to answer the call, putting the device to her ear.
"Hey," she said.
Lanie squeaked, which only drew Esposito's confused attention for a moment.
"Hey," Castle replied. "I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight. I have some friends here at my bar that are dying to meet you."
She turned to look at him, a smile spreading across her face. "I guess I could stop by," she said.
Esposito's mouth dropped open. Ryan looked at his partner, then at Jenny, then back at Castle and Beckett, who now wore matching grins.
"Great," Castle said, looking into Beckett's eyes. "So… I'll see you in a bit?"
"Can't wait," she replied, then she leaned in and kissed him.