This is my first attempt at FanFiction. English is not my native language, so I'm very thankful to encantadaa for all her patience and beta work.

Set after episode 5x03, but before 5x04.

This is going to be fun, Castle thinks.

He's not quite sure how it happened, but the whole team is now sharing a tiny hotel room in a small town in upstate New York. Well, actually, he does know how it happened. A chain of circumstances led them to this moment.

They'd found a woman's body in an alley the previous day. Later, the financials of their young victim suggested that she had a second job in a catering company. Upon further investigation, they discovered that the company in question had catered for a wedding reception in the town where they're currently stuck. That fact, in itself, is just a coincidence, but Lanie's latest report suggests that the victim was poisoned at the event– an event with over three hundred people in attendance. Of course, there was no way they'd be able to conduct an investigation involving that many potential witnesses from New York. They'd left the city this morning and made the three-hour trip to this small town.

Now, they have to interview the victim's co-workers, along with all of the potential witnesses. This afternoon and evening, they had been able to speak to almost one hundred people. That was a good start, but there are still about two hundred people they still need to speak with, and it's too late to interview any more today. They'll have to conduct the rest of the interviews tomorrow morning. The problem is that they are very far from New York, so it's not practical to drive back to the city tonight. They'd only be able to sleep for approximately four hours before they would have to return back here in the morning.

Luckily, there's a little bed and breakfast in town, but unfortunately, as cliché as it seems, there's only one room available for the four of them to share. On the bright side, the owners were able to come up with a couple of spare beds. It won't be the most comfortable arrangement, but given that their alternative is a six-hour car trip, or even sleeping in the car tonight, they'll take the room.

Once they've brought their things into the room, the guys strip down to their undershirts and boxers (apparently, none of them thought to bring pajamas), while Beckett changes in the bathroom. As soon as the men are changed, they look around the room, studying its contents. The large double bed stands in one side of the room, and the cots are pushed up against the wall at its feet, with only about a foot of space between the edge of the bed and the cots. Castle watches as Ryan and Esposito take in their surroundings. The two men look at each other and immediately begin arguing about the night's sleeping arrangements.

They truly are quite a sight: Ryan and Esposito standing in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but their underwear and surrounded by beds, like that old movie from the Marx brothers. What really completes the picture is watching the two men argue in whispers, in order to avoid being overheard by Beckett.

Taking advantage of the fact that Ryan and Esposito are too busy arguing to pay any attention to him, Castle slides into the double bed and settles back against the headboard. He folds his hands behind his head, and a sly grin appears on his face as he watches the argument unfolding.

What they don't know is that he and Beckett have been together for more than two months; ever since her suspension. She's been back at the precinct for three weeks now, but they still haven't told anyone that they're dating, out of fear of Gates finding out and kicking Castle off the team.

"Bro, what do you think you're doing?" Esposito's voice brings him back to reality. "Get out of that bed."

"Why do you care? Weren't you just saying that you didn't want to share a bed with anyone?" Castle replies. "So pick one of the small ones."

"Wait. If he sleeps in an individual bed, where will Beckett sleep?" Ryan inquires, a troubled expression on his face.

"I don't mind making room for her," Castle suggests mischievously.

"I don't know, Castle– I don't feel right about making Beckett share a bed with you," Ryan says.

"Would you rather make her sleep in a fold up bed?" Castle knows he's not playing fair, but he couldn't care less. Seeing Ryan's overly-worried gaze and Espo's exasperation is extremely amusing.

"I'm just saying, Beckett is old enough to decide where she wants to sleep," Ryan replies, always the gentleman.

Esposito nods in agreement, and Castle decides to take this a step further. "If you let Beckett decide, one of us is going to end up sleeping on the floor", he states calmly. "Which is not very comfortable, considering there's barely any space left."

Both cops look around, pondering the situation. It's true that there's no room on the floor after bringing the two spare beds, and it's also true that they should let Beckett decide. But teasing the boys like this is much more fun, especially knowing what her decision will be. They'll sleep together, like they've been doing practically every night for the last three months.

"Really, I don't see the problem in Beckett sharing a bed with one of you," Esposito affirms.

"Why one of us? Why not with you?" his partner asks.

"Bro, I already told you that I'm sleeping alone. She can sleep with you. Problem solved."

"Are you insane? I'm a married man."

"So?"

"So, I'm not going to sleep in the same bed as another woman," Ryan replies. "Besides, Beckett has a boyfriend, or did you forget?"

Castle follows their discussion like it was a tennis match. This is so much better than TV, he thinks.

"But she's like your sister! It doesn't count!" adds Esposito.

"Is that so? You share a bed with her, then!"

"Guys, I don't care where you sleep, but I'm not moving," Castle intervenes. "Those beds are tiny, and they seem very uncomfortable. I'm sure they'd be bad for my back, so I'm staying right here."

Ryan doesn't seem to have heard him, and suggests that himself and Esposito share the double bed.

"I'm not telling you again, I won't sleep with any of you", Esposito states adamantly.

"But we're not letting her sleep with Castle!" Ryan fires back.

"They're grown ups, they'd better get over it."

"But he's not just any guy, he's Castle!"

"So you sleep with him!"

"And we leave the fold up bed for Beckett?"

They've been gradually raising their voices over the course of their argument, to the point that they're almost yelling at each other now, going through the same points over and over again. Castle has to make real efforts to hold back his laughter as the argument escalates.

In that moment, the bathroom door flies open, causing Ryan and Esposito to fall silent. As soon as they see Beckett, their eyes widen, and Castle could swear that he sees their jaws bouncing against the floor. When he turns to look at Beckett, the expression that suddenly makes its way across his face could match that of the two detectives.

Beckett is striding out of the bathroom wearing only his shirt. Without a moment's hesitation, Kate closes the distance between them, pulls back the sheets on the double bed, and climbs into the bed beside him. And then, to the boys' astonishment (and Castle's delight), she plants a kiss on his lips and snuggles into his chest.

"Good night, babe," she says.

She seems very calm, but the smirk forming on her lips gives her away: she's heard their argument and has done this on purpose to tease the guys.

As Castle gazes lovingly at his girlfriend snuggled against him, wearing his clothes and not at all worried about the fact that their two closest friends are with them in the room, he can't help but think two things; one, he's the luckiest guy in the world, and two, keeping their relationship a secret over the past couple of months was worth it just to see the awestruck expressions on their friends' faces.

A review would be highly appreciated :)