Zoo

He knew exactly what to do for their first real date. He knew that she was probably expecting a fancy restaurant, maybe tickets to one of New York's hottest shows, but he wasn't going to do that today. No, he wanted to do something he had never done before on a date. He told her that he was going to pick her up at about 11 in the morning and he knew that she was confused. He arrived, right at 11am, with two cups of coffee. When he knocked on the door, he was greeted by still a half asleep Kate Beckett. Even though she was half asleep, she was still so gorgeous.

"Coffee, thank god," she said as she took the cup from his hand.

"Good morning to you too, beautiful. My night was just fine. Slept like a baby, thank you for asking. And you?"

She looked at him and gave him a smile before she took a sip of her coffee. She closed her eyes as the coffee hit her taste buds. She took another sip before she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Where are we going that you picked me up this early?"

"You'll see."

"Is it far?"

"You'll see."

"Castle..."

"You're not getting any hints, Beckett."

"Making me wake up early and no hints?! You're lucky you brought me coffee."

They headed into the elevator, down to the lobby of her apartment building. If she was more awake, he would have taken advantage of the empty elevator, but he didn't. They then headed outside and to his car. He didn't have a driver with him today, he was going to drive. He opened the door for her and waited for her to get inside the car before he closed the door. He then headed over to his side and drove them to the Bronx. Kate knew where they were going, well what city they were going to anyways. When she saw them pull into the parking lot for the zoo, she had an idea of what they were doing here. When he parked the car, they got out of the car and headed inside the zoo. He took her hand in hers as they walked.

"The zoo is pretty big, and I'm pretty sure that you know that, but I want to take you to see the elephants first."

She smiled as she walked with him, towards the elephants. It had been such a long time since she had gone seen elephants. Probably since her mother died. When they got to the cage, she smiled as she saw the baby elephant next to it's mother. Not just because it was adorable, but because she saw why they had to go see the elephants first. He had asked them to have the baby elephant to wear a sign around his neck that said "Kate, be mine".

He motioned to the trainer to take it off of the elephant as quickly as she had put it on, considering he didn't know if the elephant was bothered by it. It didn't look like it, but he didn't want to take any chances. "I know that we said that what was between us, wasn't a one time thing, and it's been great. But I don't want it to be just about us being intimate. I want us to be together. We don't have to shout it from the roof tops or tell everyone when you go back to work, but I want you to be my girlfriend and I want nothing more to be your boyfriend."

She smiled at him. He really was adorable. She never expected him to do something like this. She should have known though that he would do some grand gesture to ask her to be his girlfriend. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Yes, Castle. I'll be yours and you can definitely be mine."

He smiled brightly at her and picked her up, so her feet were no longer touching the ground. It caused a mixture of a gasp and a laugh to escape her before his lips were on hers. Since they were in public, he didn't want to make it too passionate, but he made sure to tell her in his kiss how happy he was and how in love with her he was. He hadn't said the words since they crossed that line, but he made sure to let her know with his actions just how much he loved her. He knew sooner rather than later, he'd tell her, but for now he was happy with this. He placed her back on the ground and gave her another bright smile.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to say no to the elephant. Her name is Martha and when I heard that I just knew she would be the perfect girl to help me."

Kate laughed. "Next thing you know she'll be moving into the loft."

"Oh no. One Martha is enough in the Castle household. Although, I'd take this Martha over mother."

Kate playfully hit his arm before she rested her head against his shoulders, watching Martha and her mother. "She is cute though, so I'd take her home."

With her words, he then got an idea. "Let me see what I can do."

She gave him a confused look as he walked over to the trainer he had talked to yesterday. "Castle. No, we're not bringing an elephant home." He ignored her as he continued walking. "Castle!"

He spoke to the trainer and Kate shook her head. She crossed her arms when she saw him turn around to face her. He had this smile on his face that said, "Guess what I just did?!".

"We've adopted Martha. We're going to make sure that she gets well looked after with our donation and makes sure that she has everything she needs."

"And she's staying here right?"

He laughed. "Yes, Beckett, she's staying here." He wrapped his arm around her waist and walked with her to explore the rest of the zoo. "Like I said, I don't need two Marthas...plus, I already have an idea of who I want the next person or thing to move into the loft with me is." He knew that there was a chance that he would scare her off, but he took the risk.

She rested her head back against his shoulder, not wanting to freeze. She knew he didn't mean right this second, for him to move in with her, so there was no need to freeze. With that in mind, she answered him. "I'm pretty sure that that person or thing knows and will be here the day you ask them."

"You think they'll say yes?"

"If you use an elephant again, they definitely will."

He laughed a bit. "And if not?"

"I think they'll still say yes."

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I hope so."

AN: Thank you all so much for following this story and enjoying it. I had a blast writing it. I am working on something else, but it probably won't be ready for a bit. I'd like to thank the reviewers, my friend JJ, and all my Twitter and Tumblr followers that have been reading these updates. If you haven't followed me on Twitter yet, it's Smallville0628. I follow back. Again, thank you for reading and I'm glad you all enjoyed these one shots :)