A/N: This is just a short little one shot. Nothing profound or serious. It's just to hold you guys off until I decide which story to start posting next.

Chasing a Laugh Until the Elephants Get You

A story by daphnebeauty

He could hear her heels beat a tattoo into the burnt-orange concrete floor. He didn't have to sit up from the break room couch and look to know that the quick, light steps belonged to her. Even if he hadn't memorized the specific tempo of her stride, certainly no other detectives would be crazy enough to come into the precinct at two in the morning.

He, himself, had never left. He had been writing the final chapters of Heat Rises and just couldn't bring himself to put the words together at home. The loft held many comforts, but the precinct had something that it couldn't offer. This place carried memories of his muse. Memories that were priceless to both the writer and the man.

Thoughts of Kate had been in his mind all day. Her hair and her smile and the sexy way she had slammed that creep into a concrete pylon after a foot chase this afternoon. The man had shot at and narrowly missed Castle in the process of clearing a path for his escape. Kate had broken his nose and wrist before yanking him into handcuffs. She truly was amazing. In these wee hours of the morning, things were always quieter in his head. Things that seemed complicated in the light of day were perfectly clear in the darkness of the night.

Once he heard her approach the break room door, he let loose the quote that he had been holding onto all night while waiting for her to come in. He had known she would.

"'Man getteth himself into danger legitimately so that he mayeth be legitimately rescued.'" He spoke with a sense of grandeur that was completely out of place at two in the morning.

"What are you still doing here?" She leaned up against the doorframe, but Castle purposefully did not look at her. He continued to lay on the couch with his feet propped all the way on the back and his head dangling off the side.

"Just thinking. Waiting for inspiration to strike."

"Get your feet off the couch or your inspiration might strike you sooner than you think."

She took a few steps towards the black, pleather couch where he shifted to lay with intentional casualness.

"And what did you just say?" she asked.

Castle sat up to face her and continue with his small comedy. All of a sudden, however, things weren't so funny anymore. Oh, he had seen Kate dressed in everything from ball gowns to PJs, but never had he ever seen her wear something like…this. Quickly removing his eyes from the skin of her chest that he desperately wanted to acquaint himself with, he focused on finishing his quote.

"Aha! I was quoting the Bible. 'Man getteth himself into danger legitimately so that he mayeth be legitimately rescued.'"

"Yeah, that's not the Bible. That's Robert Frost." She turned around and walked back out the door towards her desk.

God, it was so sexy that she knew that.

As he approached her desk, his internal battle for control over his eyes gradually failed with every step he took. Every time she breathed in, her breasts were pushed up against the red satin and over whatever that black lace was. He settled for intently staring at her eyes without blinking. The result was a bit creepy and his eyes began to tear up, but it was really the only solution. Besides, if he was too busy watching…other less appropriate parts of her, he would miss the main event and the whole reason he had started to obscurely quote Robert Frost.

He pulled his chair up right next to hers. "You don't say. Frost?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm sure he liked Jesus."

And there it was. Her laugh. The first time her laughter unfurled its wings in the wind, he had known that the world would never be the same. It was so light and true and perfect. It was as if someone had figured out how to put sunlight into sound. If he had all the time in the world, he would spend it trying to make Kate laugh.

He spent most of his time, anyway, trying to make her laugh. Not the laugh she shared with everyone else, but her own secret laugh that almost felt like it belonged to him. The laugh that bubbled out like it had been hiding in that corner of her mouth just waiting for something worthy to release it.

"Yeah, pro... probably."

Her smile lit up his heart and he couldn't help but feel incredibly proud of being the man who could draw that out of her.

"Well in any case…thanks for gettething me out of legitimate danger."

Tucking a strand of shiny bronze hair behind her ear, she ducked her head away from him.

"I was just—"

"Doing your job? Come on, Beckett. Don't be such a cliché."

She made a face at him.

On to business, then.

"I'm psyched for this photo shoot of yours."

Rolling her chair back from her desk she crossed her arms and legs, giving him an appraising look.

"I want to commission a scientific study of how news travels in this building."

He could tell this was the last thing she wanted to talk about and he could feel her defenses gearing up for an argument. He relied on his humor to diffuse the tension.

"Hey, I'm not even sure there's such a thing as the Internet. It might just be Lanie telling everyone stuff."

In the pause following his comment, he could see her mind traveling a million miles per second. It was all in her autumn eyes. She was a fantastic actress, but she never could hide the emotions from him. She went from defensive, to pensive, to apprehensive in a blink. He could tell from twenty feet away that Kate didn't want to do the photo shoot and didn't really want to go through with it. It was more to prove to herself that she could. Show that she held the power to prove everyone in the precinct wrong.

Castle wasn't quite sure how everything had escalated so quickly, but Kate had been offered a huge spread and cover story in People magazine. Instead of support and light teasing she had received an intense amount of flak from her coworkers (with the exception of her teammates). As could be expected, the men of the precinct had teased her endlessly about the press attention. But teasing had turned into taunting. And taunting had spiraled into accusing her of whoring out the good name of the badge for publicity and petty egocentrism.

Castle knew the words had hurt her, despite her cool and detached exterior. By the end of the day, the story had spread that she had said yes to the offer. Rather than do what she truly wanted and decline the spread, she had chosen to accept it just to spite those who wouldn't support her.

"What do you think?" she asked him, heart in her eyes.

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"I think if you wanna put on a sexy dress and pose for a great photographer, then it's Christmas morning for me."

She was pleased as she held in a smile. "Thank you."

And now here came the dangerous waters. He had to paddle carefully through this subject. Maybe he should just hint around it and think of a gentle way to lead her to the right conclusion.

Or not. Direct honesty was always quicker.

"Except you don't want to. You're doing it to get back at the asshats who've been yappin their traps."

He could tell he hit the bull's-eye. She covered her chest with her arms and he could almost physically feel the defensive tone creep back into her voice.

"They were wrong."

"You should tell them that."

She stood up and began pacing in front of her desk. Obviously talking more to herself than him.

"I've worked so hard in this department. I've done my time. I've proven myself in a hundred and one ways." She turned quickly to Castle and shook her finger vaguely in his direction. "Not one of those guys has a better record than me."

"I know."

"How could they...say those things?"

Castle honestly didn't know. Kate was a difficult person to understand, but anyone who was around her more than a day knew that more lay beneath the surface than was fathomable. She was passionate. She was devoted. She was loyal. She was most definitely not an attention whore.

"You don't have to do anything about it tonight," he started. "Tonight, go out with Lanie and have a drink, which judging from that outfit of yours, you already did. Go ahead and pretend you're getting back at them by doing the photo shoot. Maybe even pretend there will be a lingerie page. If you want, you could describe your vengeance to me very slowly and in detail," he said, looking up at her playfully through his eyelashes, hoping to catch her in a smile. He wasn't disappointed.

"I'll describe my lingerie to you the day Ryan denounces his Irish roots."

She was joking again. Somehow he had said the right things. They fell easily into their normal banter and he could visibly see the stress that this had put on her melting away. She looked tired, but beautiful as ever. He just had to finish his point. He had to make sure she understood exactly how amazing she was and that she should never change. Sure she was reserved and kept her emotions close to the cuff. It was what made her Kate. And to see her agonizing over keeping her life private or proving that she wouldn't let a few narrow-minded men dictate her decisions was hard to watch.

She sat back down into her chair and he pulled on its arm to roll her right in front of him.

"Your choices are just that: they are your choices. I'll support you whatever you do, but don't change yourself for somebody else. You have always been true to who you are. Don't stop now."

And then he saw it. Her eyes. They flickered down for a moment to his lips and in that infinite second, he could actually feel his heart start to beat faster and his own eyes fell to her lips. For just an instant.

He spoke softly and truthfully. "That's what people love about you." That's what I love about you.

And here they were again. Staring. His mind immediately came up with another quote he could humorously pass off as biblical to ease the tension. And yet…he didn't want it to ease. He didn't want to end the moment. Her hazel eyes were flipping between his blue ones and his lips with all the subtlety of a striptease and he was absolutely hypnotized by her soft and full mouth.

Strawberries. The memory of her lips and their sweet taste of strawberries consumed him until there was no other thought in his head. Strawberries. Strawberries. Strawberries.

He felt himself leaning in and he could see her eyes widen and her breath stop. He was no longer in control. He had to feel her lips again. He had to know. He had to taste the strawberries.

He was so close now that there was no turning back. He couldn't pass it off as anything but a kiss and he didn't want to. Her lips parted slightly and her eyes fell closed slowly. His chest could hardly contain the wild beatings of his heart. She was going to let him kiss her.

He brought his hand up to her face and cupped her cheek in his palm. He ran his thumb over her lower lip, feeling its incomprehensible softness. Her lips were always so incredibly delicious looking and when he pulled her lower lip down slightly with his thumb and then released it, it seemed to physically pull him in with its tempting fullness. And just when her eyes began to flutter open to question the lack of a kiss, he slid his lips perfectly into hers.

Strawberries.

Nothing had ever tasted or felt as good as Kate. Her pink mouth fit flawlessly against his own and he moved to surround her top lip and sucked gently. He felt her run her tongue over his bottom lip and he parted for her. Their tongues slid lightly against each other in a perfect, velvety dance and Kate let out a small whimper of pleasure. This spurred him into action and he stood from his chair and pulled Kate up to him while keeping their lips locked.

His arm went around her waist and crushed her body to him and his other hand found its way into her soft brown curls. He opened his mouth completely to her and she slid one hand over his chest and the other tightly around his neck. The kiss escalated and Castle found his hand traveling from her hair down her neck and across the white expanse of unbearably soft skin on her chest. His hand was so close to that tempting rise of her breast that he thought he would explode from all the self- control it took not to grope at her like an ape. She moaned in anticipation and he lost it.

The new force of the kiss bent Kate backwards. He would never let her fall, but dear God would he like to dip her all the way to the ground. He settled for turning her back to the desk and lifting her onto its flat surface. She leaned backwards and he followed her stepping between her legs.

He moved his hand back on the table to lean in further, but was met with a sharp stinging pain.

"Aaaagh!"

"What? What happened?" Kate asked, her eyes still half-lidded with lust.

"Stupid, tiny, little elephants!" He yelled, his hand throbbing from the sharp ivory spike that had pierced a small layer of his skin, drawing a miniscule drop of blood. "What are they? The guardians of your carnal treasure!"

Kate began to laugh. That wonderful, joyous sound that Castle had basically dedicated the rest of his life to was filling his ears and the pain in his hand seemed to dim.

"This is ridiculous!" She laughed, "You just felt me up at two in the morning on my work desk!"

"Hey, I thought it was a rather romantic setting. Nothing says love like a parade of tiny elephants."

Kate swallowed thickly and looked at him with a question in her eyes.

"Love, huh?"

Castle paused for a second. Unsure of the answer he should give. He toyed with one of the tiny figurine elephants and shifted his eyes with uncertainty to look into hers. For a writer, Kate sure left him at a loss for words. Play it safe or play his hand?

"Oh yeah. Didn't I tell you that? Hmm…must've slipped my mind."

She narrowed her eyes. "Richard Castle, do not make me sic my elephants on you!"

There'd be time for seriousness later. This time his laughter chased hers.

A/N: This is a big shout out to the fantastic Aaron Sorkin and his sadly canceled show Studio 60. I was watching an episode the other day and a scene just completely spun out in my mind with Castle and Beckett as the leads. I was in the mood to pick a fruit to associate with Kate other than Cherries. I've been writing a lot about Cherries lately and I couldn't help but just…pick strawberries. She looks like she might taste like strawberries. Not that I stay up late at night and imagine what she tastes like...Why, I never!

Anyone who can find the Brian Andreas Easter egg gets a free trip to LA to go see an episode of Castle filmed. AND a date with your choice of Nathan Fillion or Stana Katic. If you are really nice, I'll let you go on a date with both of them, but that might be a bit too freaky for some of you out there…

Also…I'm kidding.

Also…review?

COVER ART BY MJSOFTER!