"Castle, can I ask you something?" Demming met his eyes. "If there something going on between you and Beckett?"

"Well, we're dating." Castle answered, hoping the news would get the robbery detective to back off.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I wasn't sure." Demming said.

"It's new. We're still getting used to it." Castle took a sip of his coffee, "In fact. I better go find her."

"Yah," Demming agreed. "She's a good one. You don't want to let her go." Castle watched as Tom made his way out of the room, presumably heading back to his own department. He felt someone pull on his ear, shocked, he turned around to see a very angry Beckett.

"Dating?" Beckett expression might as well have shot daggers at him.

…

"Well, yes, Beckett." Castle said, pulling away from her. "I was merely answering a question."

She huffed. How dare Castle lie to Tom? She actually thought she might be interested in the robbery detective, but now Castle had ruined her chances and for what? To lay some claim on her that he didn't really want?

"Why would you tell him that, Castle?" Beckett asked, anger burning in her chest.

"Because we are dating, Beckett." Castle said nonchalantly, a confused look in his eyes.

"What?" Beckett stormed toward Castle, poking him in the chest. "We are not dating."

"Then what do you call it, Beckett?" He grabbed her hand, seemingly trying to stop the poking. She tried to ignore the shiver that ran down her spine when he held on a little too long.

"Maybe I need to use the murder board to explain." Castle pointed out. "Since you obviously are confused about what we've been doing the past few months."

"I am not confused," Beckett peered over to the murder board.

"Case in point," Castle wrote. "Two months ago, we went out to Remy's. You held my arm as we walked there. The end of the night, I walked you home."

"That was two friends going out, and you know it." Beckett argued.

"I paid." Castle shot back.

"You were making up for interrupting my date." Beckett said, knowing her argument was getting increasingly weak.

"Second piece of evidence," Castle continued, clearly ignoring her objections. "The week after that, you came over to watch a movie. We shared a bowl of popcorn."

"That was two friends, hanging out. That's it." Beckett countered.

"You let me put my arm around you." Castle argued back.

"I was…cold." Beckett said, knowing that she was losing her case.

"Third piece of evidence." Castle continued writing, but then stopped. "I won't write this down. But when you stayed at my apartment during the serial killer scare, you slept in my bed that one night."

"Castle…don't talk too loud." Beckett's voice cracked. "Nothing happened, remember? I only came in your room because I was having nightmares. It was merely one friend, doing another friend a favor."

"Friends?" Castle continued. "Really? That's what you are going with? Ok, which brings me to my final piece of evidence. Last week, you kissed me."

Beckett's face reddened as she leaned closer to Castle so no one could hear, "I did not!"

"Yes, you did, Beckett. Right after we went to that bar, you drank a little too much and I offered to walk you home. Before you walked in your apartment you leaned in and pecked me on the lips. I asked you if you were would remember it in the morning and you said, 'not that drunk, Castle.' Then with a little sway of your hips, you walked in your apartment." Castle folded his arms. "And that, Detective Beckett, proves that we're dating."

Beckett took a step back. She had forgotten about the kiss. But she remembered how all evening, she wanted Castle to make a move. When he never did, she assumed he wasn't interested. She must have decided to take matters into her own hands that night. It's a shame she didn't remember.

"Oh my gosh, Castle. We're dating." Beckett whispered.

"I told you," A smirk lit up his face.

"Do you want to be dating?" Beckett asked sheepishly. Did he really want this? Or was she only another conquest?

"Of course I want to be dating you." Castle looked at her like she was crazy. "Why else would I have spent the last ten minutes proving it was already happening.

"But…do you want something real?" Beckett couldn't meet his eyes. "Or are you going to run away as soon as we sleep together?"

"You caught me, Beckett. I thought I would spend a year shadowing you, with absolutely no physical contact. Then I thought I would go out on a series of dates with you, again with absolutely no physical contact. I thought I would introduce you to my family and let you stay with us, the whole time not knowing where you stood. But, yes, the only thing I want to do is get into your pants." Castle looked hurt and started to walk away, causing Beckett to put her hand on his elbow, stopping him.

"Wait, Castle. I'm sorry. It's just. I'm not good at this….relationships. Can we start over?" Beckett asked.

"By start over, you mean…" Castle paused.

"Let's go out, tonight. I want to have a real date. Then maybe, it can end like a real date should," Beckett lowered her eyes to Castle's lips then met his eyes as he answered.

"I'll pick you up at 7."

A/N: I'm considering continuing this to the date portion of the evening. It never fails to amaze me how professional, normally put together adults, can revert to 12 year olds when they meet the love of their life. It happened with my husband and I when we had the "I guess we're dating" moment. Plus, it always seemed to me that Castle and Beckett were dating in season two, if only they were willing to admit it to themselves.