100 reviews, all of you are amazing and thank you yet again to everyone who is following this fic, I hope you like this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.
After dinner there were speeches from the bride, groom and family before the couple had their first dance as newlyweds. After that, the floor and bar were open to everyone and the party really began. Their table split up, going to talk to other people around the room or grab drinks for themselves and Castle and Beckett decided to go get a drink before seeing if they could find Hannah who was now in amongst the crowd of guests.
With drinks in hand, they stood talking near the dance floor as Hannah talked to another group of guests but she saw Beckett and excused herself from who she was talking to and she made her way towards them.
"Kate! Hi!" she said, arms wrapping around Beckett for a hug.
"Hey," Beckett grinned, returning the hug just as warmly, careful not to spill the drink in her hand, before she pulled away, "congratulations."
"Thank you," the new bride beamed, before she noticed Castle, "and who's this?"
"Hannah, this is my boyfriend, Rick. Rick, this is Hannah," Beckett said, gesturing between the two of them as she did.
A confused expression crossed Hannah's face, "Rick, I thought..." she paused, "nevermind."
Beckett realised exactly what Hannah was thinking, the last time they'd spoken properly, she'd still been dating Josh and she'd told Hannah about Castle, but had mostly complained about him. Of course she hadn't said she'd actually had feelings for him either, even back then when she would've denied it if anyone had asked. Beckett suddenly realised how awkward it could've been if Josh's name had been on the place card at the table instead of her name on both.
"We haven't been dating long," Beckett clarified, Castle now understanding what had caused Hannah's confusion.
"She just couldn't resist me," Castle added while grinning, wrapping his arm around Beckett's shoulder and pulling her into her side. They were meant to be making Hannah jealous and he was at least going to give it a go.
Beckett scoffed, "I think you'll find that that was the other way around, Babe." The term had just slipped out but the hastily concealed shock that Beckett could see out of the corner of her eye on Castle's face was worth it.
"Whatever you say, Honey." If she was going to use pet names then so was he.
"Wait, if you thought I was dating Josh, why did you say you'd put me at the singles table when we spoke?" Beckett asked, realising what her friend had said didn't add up and she was trying very hard to ignore the fact that Castle had called her Honey and how much she found she liked it.
Hannah at least looked sheepish when she spoke, "I was just teasing you, old habits die hard I guess."
Beckett laughed, shaking her head at her friend, "some things never change."
"Do you have any stories about a college-aged Beckett, I got some from Ben but you probably have some good one too," Castle asked Hannah, not sure if she'd give up information on her friend but it was worth a shot.
"What did he tell you?" Beckett asked quickly, turning in his embrace to look at him properly.
Castle shrugged in response, a smirk on his face and she wondered what he could possibly now know.
"Give me your number and we'll talk later," Hannah said, laughing at the panicked expression that was no on Beckett's face.
"No," Beckett said, turning from Castle to Hannah and back again, "that's not going to happen."
Hannah laughed, "relax Bex, I know you have information I never want to get out so your secrets are safe with me."
Castle groaned, "fine, Ben told me enough anyway and don't worry, those secrets are safe with me too."
"They better be," Beckett replied, her tone and the look she was giving him leaving no room for argument.
"You haven't told me how you two ended up together?" Hannah asked, breaking them out of their little bubble that always seemed to appear around them when they were talking to each other. Last Hannah had heard, her friend had been dating a doctor and Rick was an annoyance who followed her around all day.
Beckett froze, not sure what to say, they hadn't actually talked about this but luckily Castle took the lead like they'd talked about earlier, "it was after she'd broken up with Josh, I asked her out and she said yes."
"It was that simple?" Hannah asked, mirroring Beckett's own thoughts, would that be all it would take to get them to go out on a real date?
Castle shrugged, wondering how much truth he should put in his words. "Yeah. We'd been dancing around each other for a while, moving towards what I hoped was more and so one day I finally just asked her out and she said yes." Apparently he was going to tell her the complete truth, except for the last bit, that was something he'd only done in his head.
Whatever story Beckett thought Castle would concoct for them, that wasn't it and it hit a little close to home. But at least she knew for sure now, that this thing she felt between them wasn't one sided because even though his story may have been fake, she had no doubt his words were true and she's starting to think maybe she should've just asked him to come to this wedding as her date instead of her fake boyfriend. At least if she'd done that, she' d have a clear idea of the difference between fiction and reality right now.
"Well, I'm glad, you guys seem really happy," Hannah said, looking at the couple in front of her, snapping Beckett from her thoughts.
"We are," Castle smiled, turning absentmindedly to press a kiss to Beckett's temple. He was glad that he'd let those words slip, because at least she had some idea of his feelings for her now if she didn't already before. And if she didn't feel anything for him in return, he could play it off as he was just acting so they wouldn't blow their cover.
"I better go talk to some more people but it was good seeing you again, thanks for coming. And if I don't see you again before the end of the night, we need to catch up again soon," Hannah said, stepping forward to hug Beckett who stepped out of Castle's embrace to accept the hug. She gave a quick wave to Castle and then left, leaving Castle and Beckett standing beside each other, unsure exactly what to do next.
Instead of letting things get awkward between them though, which Castle knew was going to happen soon if he didn't do anything, he decided to act. He took the drink from Beckett's hand, placing it along with his on the nearest table.
"Come on, Detective, you promised me a dance," Castle said, taking her hand, not waiting for an answer as he led her onto the dance floor.
Sorry to end it there! More to follow in the next couple days though. Thoughts after this chapter?