Title: What's in a Name?

Summary: Castle and Beckett are on a stakeout. Castle is bored, but he has an idea to help pass the time.

Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters I write about. If you recognize a name, odds are it isn't mine. But seeing as this is a fanfic website, you probably knew that already.

Thanks again to Sunshiny-Kate, the best beta a writer could ask for!

"How about Cupcake?"

"No, Castle." Beckett huffed.

"Pancake?" He offered. "Oh, wait. Hotcake?"

"No."

"Pattycake?"

"Castle." She glared at him. "I'm not a cake of any sort."

"What about Honey Bun? Sugar Muffin? Sweet Pea? Sweetie Pie? Sugar Plum?" He waggled his eyebrows. "Or there's Sugar Lips."

Beckett turned slightly in her seat.

"Castle?"

"Yes, Dumpling?" He grinned.

"I am not a food product."

"You make me hungry, though."

She bit her lip and looked away to hide her smile. This man was insufferable when he was bored. And they'd only been on the stakeout for ten minutes. It wasn't even her case, but Esposito and Ryan had asked for her help. She'd expected Castle to complain about her leaving, since she was just on call and they'd planned to spend the day together, but he'd surprised her by offering to come with her.

"Castle, we are at work." She said when she'd regained her composure.

"I know."

"And what is the rule?" She turned back to him.

"No seducing you at work."

"Castle, that is not the rule."

"I was paraphrasing."

Beckett rolled her eyes and faced forward.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Trying out pet names is not seductive." She glanced at him, then looked back through the windshield. "Why are you doing that anyway?"

"I've come to the realization that I don't have a pet name for you." He said as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Castle, we've been together for over a year now."

"Seventeen months, two weeks, and five days, give or take a few hours. What's your point?"

Beckett resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, but the corners of her lips did quirk slightly upwards.

"Why do you all of a sudden need a pet name for me?"

He was silent for a few moments, but Beckett didn't push him. Then he sighed, sounding almost embarrased.

"Rook needs one for Nikki."

"What?"

"I'm trying to think of a good pet name for Rook to call Nikki."

"Why does he need one? Why can't he just keeping calling her Nikki? Or Heat?"

"I just want him to have a pet name for her."

"So you're trying them all out on me?"

"Why not?" He smiled wickedly. "All the other experiments we've done for them worked out well for us."

Beckett actually blushed as the memories filled her mind. He did have a valid point.

"Well, can't you just think about the names?" She asked him.

"No, I can't tell if they fit you unless I see how you react to them. And if it isn't good enough for you, it won't be good enough for Nikki."

She shot him an incredulous glare and he shrugged. She let out an exasperated sigh and then chuckled.

"Okay, Castle. Lay them on me. Our guy doesn't look eager to go anywhere, so I guess we don't have anything better to do."

He clapped once, perhaps in victory or excitement, or maybe both, and shifted in his seat so he could look at her better.

"Buttercup?"

"No food, Castle."

"That's a flower."

She turned back towards him, settling in at an angle that allowed her to watch both the suspect and Castle.

"Continue on, then." She crossed her arms.

"Lily of the Vale?"

"Seriously?"

"What about Rose?"

"Nope."

"Tulip?"

"Negative."

"Venus Fly Trap?"

"Maybe you should steer clear of plant names too."

"Okay." Castle sighed as he thought for a few moments. "Honey Bunny?"

"Honey is a food, Castle."

"Good point. How about Love Dove?"

"Keep trying."

"Care Bear?" He waited until she shook her head. "Lambchop. Oh wait, sorry, that's a food. What about just Pet?"

"Those are worse than the food names." Beckett uncrossed her arms and gave the suspect an extra glance before continuing. "I'm not an animal."

"Oh, but you are." Castle replied, his voice deep and teasing.

Beckett felt an all too familiar tightening in her stomach, and she suddenly found herself wishing they weren't stuck in the front seat of her Crown Vic watching a murder suspect eat a sandwich. But she couldn't let him know that he was getting to her, because it would just egg him on.

"Is that the best you can do, Kitten?" She smiled innocently.

"I'm just getting warmed up, Coffee Bean." He retorted.

"Bring it on, Snookums."

Castle cracked his knuckles and turned his head from side to side, popping the vertebrae in his neck loudly. A devilish twinkle shone from his eyes as he took in a deep breath.

"Angel Face?"

"No good." Beckett shook her head.

"Cherub?"

"No way."

"Button, Gem, or Jewel?"

"Never call a woman a trinket, Ricky."

"Ladybug?"

"Nope."

"Honeybee? No, wait, Bumblebee?"

"Nothing that buzzes, Sweet-cheeks."

"Butterfly?"

"You do realize bugs are animals, right?" She lifted an eyebrow.

"Point taken." He sighed. "How about Darling, Dear, Baby Doll, Sweetheart, or Princess?"

"Too unoriginal." She shook her head yet again. "Keep them coming."

"Pooky?"

"Too Garfield."

"Katiekins?"

"You can't have Rook call Nikki that." Beckett laughed. She was actually enjoying this now.

"Mrs. Castle?"

"He can't call her that either."

"No, but I can call you that."

"Only if we were married."

"That can be arranged." He whispered.

Beckett swallowed hard and licked her suddenly dry lips.

"All right, Castle." She cleared her throat. "That's enough goofing off. We should be focusing on the suspect."

She shifted in her seat until she was facing forward again. The suspect was still at the table, but now he was sipping at a mug of what Beckett assumed was coffee. The interior of car was silent for a full two minutes before Castle spoke.

"You didn't tell me if you liked the name."

"What name?" Beckett asked absentmindedly.

"Mrs. Castle."

"I told you that Rook can't call Nikki that. It wouldn't make any sense."

"I'm not talking about Rook and Nikki anymore." He said softly.

Beckett sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. A few moments later she lowered her hand and looked back out the front windshield. It took her a few seconds to register that she could see something sitting on the dash in her peripheral vision. She turned to look at it and felt her chest tighten when she realized it was a small black box. She whipped her gaze over to Castle, who was staring at her, his eyes sparkling with his unspoken question.

"What is that, Castle?" Beckett asked, her voice low and tentative.

"I guess you'll have to open it to find out, won't you?"

"Rick, this isn't-"

"Just open it, Kate."

"No, Castle." She admonished. "We are in the middle of a stakeout. We've neglected our duty enough as it is."

He didn't reply as he pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. Beckett watched in silent curiosity as he unlocked the screen and typed out a quick text. He hit the send button, put the phone up, and looked back at her.

"You should probably check on the suspect." He said nonchalantly.

Beckett jerked around in time to see the man she'd been barely paying attention to turn to face them. He waved wildly and then pulled off his hat. Beckett gasped when the unmistakable red hair of Martha Rodgers came tumbling down. Her eyes grew wide as she turned back to Castle. He smiled and reached over to take her hands in his.

"Now that you know that our suspect isn't an immediate threat to the public, you should go ahead and open that box."

"What about the case?" Beckett's face scrunched in confusion. "Esposito and Ryan called me and asked me to keep tabs on a suspect, and this is where they told me to go."

"They're helping me." Castle answered simply. "So is Mother."

"Helping you?"

"Yes." He squeezed her hands lightly. "Now please, Kate. Open it."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she pulled her hands from his. It felt like someone else was guiding her hands to the box, like it wasn't her fingers wrapping around the smooth velvet. She grabbed the top and lifted, feeling the snugness on the hinge as she did so.

"Castle." She whispered when she saw the ring. "This looks like..." She trailed off and habitually reached for the necklace she no longer wore.

"It's not." He assured her. "But it is fashioned after it. I took your mother's ring to the jeweler so he had something to go by. The center stone is a green diamond, not an emerald." He smiled, gently took the box from her, and removed the ring. "I wanted it to match your eyes." He set the box down, picked up her left hand, and locked his eyes onto hers. "Kate, I love you with all that I am, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes." She blurted out her answer, actually taking Castle by surprise with the urgency in her voice.

He laughed as she spread her fingers and wiggled them at him. He'd barely slipped the ring past her second knuckle when she pulled her hand from his. Moving slowly to avoid the steering wheel, she maneuvered herself from her seat to his. She folded her long legs alongside his, staring silently into his eyes as she settled onto his lap. Reaching up, she took his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his in a fury.

"I love you." She murmured without breaking away. "I love you so much."

He pulled his lips off of hers and looked at her, wearing a smile that cracked his face open wide. Just as he was about to say something, a loud rapping came from his window. They both turned to see Martha, who was smiling down at them.

"What did she say?" She asked, her voice raised so they could hear her clearly through the window.

"She said yes." Beckett answered with a girlish grin that was totally unlike her.

"Marvelous." Martha clasped her hands together and let out a light hearted laugh. "Richard, would you unlock the doors for me?"

Castle let out a chuckling sigh and pressed the button to release the door locks. Beckett looked at him with an eyebrow raised in question as Martha climbed into the back seat.

"We need to go home." He explained. "Your dad, Alexis, the guys, and Lanie are waiting there for us."

Beckett glanced over his shoulder at Martha, who was looking down while buckling her seat belt. She brought her eyes back to Castle's to see utter joy shining back at her. Her lips found his again, light and quick, but with a promise for more later, and then she slid back over to her seat. She started up the car and fastened her own seat belt. Castle followed suit while she shifted the car into drive. Traffic was flowing at a fairly rapid pace, but a fortunate red light gave Beckett the chance to merge onto the road. She reached over the empty space between her and Castle with her right hand and tangled their fingers together.

"So." Martha chirped from behind them. "Tell me, my darlings, how was my performance?"