I'm completely overwhelmed and thankful to the response that the first chapter to this fic got. I'm sincerely grateful to all those who took the time to read/review/favourite/follow this fic. I hope this next chapter lives up to expectations.

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

It had been a week and a half since Beckett had asked Castle to accompany her to her friend's wedding and today was the day. They hadn't really talked about it since that day, the only things they planned were for Castle to pick her up before the wedding and that if anyone were to ask them about their relationship, Castle was to take the lead. Beckett knew that giving that job to Castle could be a bad idea but at the same time she trusted Castle and knew he wouldn't embarrass her too much.

Even though they hadn't been talking about it, they'd both spent plenty of time thinking about it and what it could mean for them and their relationship. They had to spend an evening together, pretending to be a couple, and who knew what after effects that could have on their working relationship and friendship.

Castle was standing outside her door, readying himself before he knocked. He needed to control himself tonight, not show too much of his feelings for her. While at the wedding, he could pretend that any feelings of his she saw were just him acting up the fact that they were supposed to be dating but while they were alone, he needed to hide his feelings for her as best he could out of fear of showing her with the intensity of them.

He'd almost stopped on the way over here and bought her flowers but he'd decided against it, realising that was much too close to making this a date when it was just two friends spending the evening together. Granted, those two friends were going to have to pretend they were dating but that was just while they were at the wedding, until then he just needed to be her partner and best friend and not let how much he does actually love her show.

Castle took a deep breath and knocked.

Whatever he'd been prepared for, he certainly wasn't ready enough for the door to swing open and to see Kate Beckett standing in front of him, looking absolutely gorgeous. She was beautiful, she always was, but he could almost pretend that tonight was actually a date with her standing in front of him in that stunning dress.

His eyes started at her hair, soft curls falling around her face, down to the thin straps of her dark blue dress that clung to her body which stopped just above the knee and then down to the black strapped high heels that brought her eye level with him.

"Hi," Kate breathed, a smile on her face as she saw the look of awe on Castle's face, one that was probably mirrored on her's as she checked out Castle in his white shirt and black suit, hair perfectly styled as always. He looked really good.

"You look amazing," Castle said and before he could regret it, regret letting some of his feelings show, he saw the light blush spread across Beckett's cheeks and knew he'd said the right thing.

Beckett surprised Castle with her next words, eyes meeting his as she spoke, "so do you."

Castle grinned, he couldn't help it and it was then that he realised she'd been checking him out just like he had.

"Are you ready to go?" Castle asked before he could do something stupid like lean forward and kiss her.

"Yeah," Beckett nodded, before she turned around, walking back towards the kitchen counter and to grab her purse and her jacket that was hanging over a chair, her heels echoing around the room as she did.

Castle stepped back, giving her room to close and look the door after her. This felt so much like a date that he struggled to keep his hands at his side as the walked down the hallway to the elevator, resisting the urge to place a hand at the small of her back to guide her or reach over and take her hand in his.

Being in the enclosed space of the elevator didn't help either but he forced himself to calm down. Resisting her wasn't usually this hard but with her in the dress, that small smile on her face, made it hard for him to remember that this was all just pretend. The fact that they were going to this wedding together, that he was her date, was breaking down some of the walls he'd constructed the keep his feelings in check and Castle hoped that that wouldn't back fire on them later.

Once in the back seat of the car that Castle had hired to save either of them having to drive, Castle was finally able to relax a bit, reminding himself that all he was doing was going to spend the evening with Beckett. He'd done that before, they'd spent time alone together and they could do it again and it didn't need to mean anything unless she wanted it too. They were just going to have a fun night together and Castle was going to be able to meet some of Beckett's old friends, maybe find out a bit more about the woman he loves.

Beckett's thoughts had been running away with her as well since Castle had first shown up at her door. He'd looked good, really good, and it was kind of distracting to be this close with thoughts like that running through her mind. And she was going to have to spend the whole night with him while he looked like that and she didn't know if she'd be able to resist him, especially knowing how charming he was probably going to be while they were at the wedding together.

Luckily, once they arrived at the wedding, anything she did could be called just acting. She didn't want to do anything to risk their friendship but she was starting to realise that maybe if they were to move forward in their relationship, they wouldn't be risking their friendship, only making it stronger. That didn't mean she wasn't nervous though, thinking about all the different ways tonight could go. They were just friends though, that's all she could manage right now, and she needed to keep that in mind.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Castle asked when they were nearing the church, picking up on some of the nervous energy coming from Beckett.

"I'm sure, are you?" She was, they could spend a night pretending to be dating and not have it necessarily mean anything, right?

"I'm sure," Castle smiled over at her, "it'll be fun."

Beckett smiled at him again, relaxing at the sight of his smile, the one she was so used to seeing now, one she couldn't imagine her life without.

"And if anybody asks, no elaborate stories about how we got together though, okay?"

"Fine," Castle grumbled, faking a pout but that didn't take long to turn back into a smile as he thought of something, "no embarrassing stories if you promise to dance with me at the reception."

"You are my boyfriend so I suppose I could spare one dance for you," Beckett answered, flashing a grin at him and trying not to dwell on the fact that she'd just said out loud that he was her boyfriend. She couldn't be thinking like that, couldn't be thinking beyond tonight and other things she could do with him if he was actually her boyfriend.

It wasn't long later that the car pulled up at the church and they both got out, making their way to the doors of the church.

"You ready?" Castle asked as they stood at the entrance of the church, both unnecessarily nervous about having to fake being a couple for the rest of the day.

Beckett nodded at his side and did something that surprised Castle, she reached out and took his hand, twining her fingers through his. Castle didn't even have time to properly realise what she'd done or think about anything other than her slim fingers between his before she was walking forwards, using their now joined hands to pull him through the door as they walked into the church together.

Thoughts after this chapter?