Undercover and Then Some

The room seemed to be spinning or tilting, she couldn't tell which. It was dark with flashes of light. There was incredibly loud, thumping music piercing her ears. People, lots of people, surrounded her. They jumped and swayed, moving like a sea of bodies. She tried to focus. Someone grabbed her, held her, willed her to move with him. She broke free of his grasp and pushed him away. What was happening to her? Her mind felt cloudy, confused. She felt her knees buckle slightly and then felt an arm around her waist, steadying her, keeping her on her feet. His mouth was at her ear, through the pounding music she heard her name.

"Kate, Kate are you alright!?"

He had left her a few minutes ago to go get them some water because they both had begun to feel lightheaded, warm, strange, Beckett more so then him. On his way back he saw some guy grab her. He wanted to get to her, but his feet felt like he was walking through quicksand, the crowd was like a thicket of branches. He kept making his way towards her and saw that she was able to free herself from the guy, but then it looked like she was going to collapse. He managed to make it to her just as she lost her balance.

"Castle, what's going on?" she managed to ask when she realized the voice in her ear was his.

"Honestly, I think we might have been drugged." he replied then added "Come on, put your arm around my shoulder."

She was unsteady on her feet. He had to get her, them, out of the middle of this crowd. He guided her through the tangle of bodies to the edge of the room where it was less crowded.

One Hour Earlier:

Castle and Beckett sat in her police car surveying the warehouse. They were trying to solve the murder of Cat, a notorious NYC club girl. They had gotten a tip about an underground club that was taking place in an empty warehouse and were watching to see if Cat's boyfriend, who had helped organize the event, would show up. So far they had been unable to locate him and he was definitely a person of interest in her murder. It wasn't their plan to go undercover tonight, in fact they were on their way back to the loft for the night when Beckett got a call from one of Cat's friends informing her of the underground club, so here they were hoping they would catch a break and find the boyfriend. They figured that if Beckett identified herself as a cop and Cat's boyfriend was inside, he might get tipped off to their presence and flee, so undercover seemed like their best shot. After arguing with the bouncer for a bit because they didn't know the password required to gain admittance to the club, Castle decided to pull his celebrity card, if you will, and managed to get them in. Before they were allowed into the main room they were required to each buy and consume a drink. Beckett certainly wasn't a fan of drinking on the job, but figured one drink would be worth it if they could find Cat's boyfriend and bring him in for questioning. So they each downed their drink and headed inside.

Back to the present time:

Castle managed to find an unoccupied bench along the back wall of the warehouse and they sat down.

Sitting, sitting was good she thought. She gulped down the water Castle gave her and tried to clear her head. After a minute or two she said,

"So….. those drinks we were required to consume in order to get in here,.…..spiked huh." She was feeling a little better. Getting away from the crowd and drinking the water seemed to have helped.

"Must have been." Castle replied. "I mean take a look around this place, every single person in here seems to be under the influence. They however, unlike us, probably knew what they were getting themselves into. I'm thinking some kind of club drug like Ecstasy or Special K."

"It seems to be effecting me more then you." She responded, focusing on his face.

"No, it's effecting me too." he said as he took a big drink of water, "I just think it is taking a little longer with me because I'm bigger then you. You looked like you were about to pass out just before. How do you feel now?" he asked with concern in his voice.

"Better." She said, "I don't feel as dizzy and disoriented as I did. " She paused for a moment then said, "In fact, I'm actually starting to feel pretty good." She laughed, "Strange for sure, but in a good way, if that makes any sense?" She added.

"It actually does." said Castle "You are feeling artificially good." he added, as he was beginning to have the same feelings.

"Yea." Beckett said. She sat quietly for a minute trying to clear her thoughts, then added "I know I should be furious right now Castle. I mean, we have just been drugged against our will and my body's initial response to it was awful." She paused and took a glance around, "Also... there's the fact that, I should be on the phone, right now, reporting this club to narcotics, but somehow….. none of that really matters to me at the moment." She paused again, closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, then said, "It's crazy how…. God I don't even know how to explain it….. how…. carefree and…euphoric I'm beginning to feel."

Castle was gazing at her, watching her mouth form every word. He smiled.

"Euphoric…. nice word choice." The writer in him replied. "That's precisely why all these people came here tonight and took these drugs." He paused for a second and moved a strand of hair out of her face, " What do you think we should do now?" he asked. He gave a little chuckle then added, "Looking for Cat's boyfriend seems to be out of the question at this point. "

Beckett laughed and said,

"Could you imagine bringing him to the station in our condition? Gates was already going to be pissed at us if we found him, because we came here tonight and went undercover without calling it in." She returned his gaze, gave him a big smile and said, "No Castle, I definitely think we are officially off duty now."

"Are you at all concerned about the drugs in our system?" Castle asked, somewhat amused that he seemed more worried about their current situation then her.

"I guess I should be, shouldn't I?" she asked with a little laugh, then said "But truthfully, I don't feel very concerned right now." She paused for a second then added, "I'm sure that is just the drugs talking though."

They both laughed. Beckett inched a little closer to Castle on the bench. She suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to touch his face. She placed her finger on Castle's forehead and very slowly ran it down between his eyes, over the tip of his nose and then down over his lips. She traced his lips a few times with her finger. Were his lips always this smooth she wondered? She had kissed them countless times, but never realized just how silky they were until this very moment.

Castle smiled and kissed her finger, then asked,

"Kate, do you think we should leave? Maybe get some fresh air?"

Beckett turned and gazed out at the crowd on the dance floor. Hundreds of people seemed to be moving in unison to the thumping beat of the music. She watched, fascinated by what she saw. No one, it seemed, had any inhibitions what so ever. She, Detective Beckett, was usually so in control of everything, but at this moment she felt an intense desire to just lose control, to ride the wave they found themselves on, even though it had been forced on them. She knew logically that this was all wrong, but in the state she presently found herself in, she just didn't care. She turned back to Castle, leaned in and gave him a long, hard kiss, then grabbed his hand and said,

"Come on Castle. I want to dance."