Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anything.


They were leaning next to each other against her desk in front of the murder board, studying the timeline, pictures of the victim, witnesses and possible suspects. From time to time, Castle would get up, re-arrange some photos, add a question or possible lead to the equation.

Beckett was silently waiting, studying his profile - the little frown between his eyes, how his face lit up when he got an idea. He looked downright delicious this evening, and she had a hard time controlling her body's reaction to him.

The bullpen was deserted, lit only by the dim lights of her desk lamp and the hallways. They were the only ones here, and it felt strangely familiar and foreign all at once. Ever since she came back to the force, and Gates had found out about their relationship, he was kind of banned from the bullpen, meaning he was not allowed to take part in cases anymore.

She missed it.

Missed their banter, their theory building. Missed him sitting (not so) patiently in his chair, staring at her, occasionally playing angry birds. Missed him goofing around with the boys. Missed his wit, his outlandish theories at a crime scene, his suggestive eye brow wiggle.

She just missed him. Period.

Granted, they were together every other minute of the day and night, when she wasn't working. But still

She needed her partner. Not just to lighten the day while at work, no, but also for solving cases with her. She knew she was perfectly capable to do that herself, but she was always so much better with him. They completed each other, and she was far past the point of denying it – to herself and to Castle.

So they had taken to sneak him into the bullpen late at night, when she was at her wit's end and just needed another perspective on a case. Thinking outside the box was his forte, and it was exactly what she needed right now.

The last week had been especially tiring for the whole team, every possible lead turning out to be a dead end. So she just wasn't able to shut her mind off when Castle came by this evening to pick her up for a casual night out in town.

That's how they ended up here – she dressed in a light soft summer dress, not too casual, but not too formal either; he dressed in a light suit, his blue button down open at the neck, bringing out his eyes. They decided to just sneak into the precinct for him to have a quick look at the murder board, see if there was anything standing out to him that could help with the case.

But now, half an hour later, leaning on her desk next to him, inhaling his after shave, replaying memories of old times with him as part of the team, she suddenly is not that interested in the case anymore.

In fact, all she can think about is his hard, solid body next to her, the occasional shoulder brush when he gets up to scribble something on the board, his hand coming to rest next to hers on the table when he's sitting down again. She's devouring him with her eyes, trying to control herself, to let him spin his theories in peace, but…yeah, she has it bad. Real bad.

Suddenly he looks back to her, probably wanting to tell her a new idea, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Adorable…and hot.

That's when he notices her looking at him. She sees him freeze - his words stuck in his throat, he inhales sharply – his eyes darken considerably, quite probably in response to that smoldering look she always throws him…before she's ready to rip his shirt off.

Suddenly the air is frizzling with tension. Her eyes dart to his lips for a fraction of a second, his breath hitches, he mimics her move, and then she feels her feet moving closer of their own accord.

Her arms snake around his neck, and she starts nibbling at his jaw, moves to his mouth, her tongue darting out to swipe against his lips, so good, she can't breathe, feels him responding, his mouth hot, and wet, and demanding against hers.

She feels a moan vibrating in her chest, trying to bubble up, and she wants – she wants – oh, oh, she feels his hands on her thighs, just above her knees, inching slowly higher and – oh, this feels so good, she can't, can't – and, oh – her breath hitches, her hips jerk up, he's almost – yes, oh god, just - just a little higher, -

And then she jerks away, suddenly remembering where they are and what they are supposed to do.

Jeez, - they came here so he could sneak a quick peek at their case, maybe pitch in some ideas, and then they were supposed to leave to this cute little restaurant, and - yeah, way to go Kate, they are at the precinct, damn it.

Standing in front of each other, breathing heavily, she tries to reign it in, tries to think of something else than his soft skin under her fingertips, his solid hard chest pressing against her - stop it, Kate.

By the looks of it he's not faring any better, takes a step towards her –

"Murder board, Castle…the case," she chokes out.

She sees him balling his fists at his sides, desire flashing in his dark eyes, then he clears his throat, swallows hard and turns around, and yeah – she is not disappointed by his self restraint, she's not. No, just –

Suddenly he bends down to the floor to retrieve the marker he let go of when he crushed her to his body earlier.

She is presented with a very nice view of his behind, sticking up in the air as he reaches under her desk – and she feels the sudden coil of arousal tightening low in her belly again, swallows and - oh Kate, don't think about it, but she can't concentrate, can't - uh, she feels herself reaching out, taking one step closer – and…

The elevator chimes behind her, she jumps around, and suddenly her heart rate is spiking through the roof for entirely different reasons.

"Captain Gates, sir," she chokes out, surprised, feels Castle freeze on the ground for a second before he scrambles further under her desk to hide from view. She's so glad he lost the marker earlier…

"Detective Beckett," Gates nods to her. "What are you doing here so late on a Friday night?"

She comes closer, rounds the corner, and…Kate frantically tries to stop her eyes from darting to the ground below her desk, tries to stop her heart beating violently in her chest, convinced Gates was able to hear it.

"I…, I…it's just…this case," she stammers, clears her throat, tries to sound calm and composed. "I was on my way to go out, but I had an idea so I came here to look into it really quick."

She silently hopes she sounds convincing, hopes Castle would stay stock still under her desk. Suddenly Gates is coming closer, standing next to her at her desk and oh God, she can't – she's freaking out, she can't breathe, no, no, no, this is not happening.

Kate takes a step forward, comes to stand directly in front of her desk, tries to push her chair inconspicuously in front of where Castle is hiding. They cannot get caught, not with Kate already on thin ice as it is, the Captain watching her every move after her return to the force.

Gates takes a look at the murder board, let's her eyes skim over the questions and facts Castle has just added minutes earlier.

"Well Detective, it seems you've come no closer to solving the case, so maybe you should go home, or…" arching her eyebrow, Gates lets her eyes swipe briefly over Kate, takes in her appearance, "…on your date? Take the night off, come back tomorrow with fresh eyes."

Kate feels her face flush, oh crap. She can't leave yet, Castle – she can't leave him here with Gates, hiding under her desk. Oh shit.

"Uh…I, if you don't mind, I'd like to take another look, I still have some time left before…" trailing off she looked at Gates' disapproving face.

"If that's what you want, don't let me stop you, but you do look tired and worn out, don't stay too long." With that Gates turned around, heading for her office.

"If you don't mind me asking, Sir, but what are you doing here this late? It is a Friday night after all."

Uh, stupid Kate, stupid, she shouldn't question her Captain, drawing more attention to herself, nonetheless. But she needs to know - she needs to know how long Gates is staying – she needs to get Castle out of here.

Gates turns around, regards her for a second with an odd look.

"I need to type up some last minute report for the commissioner that he needs first thing tomorrow morning. He called an hour ago. I won't stay long either."

With that she steps into her office, leaving her door partly open. Kate feels her breath whooshing out of her, ugh – what to do, what –

Her eyes fly to her desk, she pulls the chair away and stares into Castle's wide and slightly terrified eyes. But before she can utter a single syllable, she hears Gates call her from the office.

"Detective Beckett, may I borrow your stapler for a minute, mine is broken?"

She whirls around, her heart rate suddenly spiking up again, Gates pokes her head out and Kate tries not to stumble as she darts forward to get the stapler before the Captain can come too close to her desk again. When she gets back she sinks in her chair and tries to calm her racing heart.

She rolls closer to the desk as not to draw the Captains attention any further, whispering to Castle, "Stay down there, hopefully she'll be gone in no time. We'll wait her out," while reaching for her desk drawer so that she's able to look at him inconspicuously.

What she sees makes her heart stop. Castle is crouching under her desk, staring at her thighs, mouth slightly open, swallowing hard.

Oh God.

Suddenly Kate's aware of the fact that she's just wearing a light summer dress this evening – just the dress.

She kind of did forego the underwear, because she wanted to surprise him later that night. Drive him a little bit crazy. Yeah well, - it's backfiring now on her tremendously. Oh God. She suddenly feels a wave of arousal low in her belly, - and between her legs. Oh shit.

Castle's eyes darken to black pools of liquid, his tongue darts out, moistens his lips and he slowly reaches for her chair, pulls it closer – she wants to get up, run for the hills –

They can't do this here, not with Gates next door, they can't – but she's frozen in place, can't make a move even if her life depended on it.

And then she feels his hands on her ankles, slowly inching higher, feels his fingertips lightly caressing her calves, his warm breath hitting her skin.

"Castle," she chokes out. "We can't…"

Suddenly his lips are trailing a hot, wet path up her legs, and she chokes on her breath, her whole body jerking forward – oh God, she's not going to survive this.


A/N: So I'm actually freakin' excited and also a little nervous about this story – it's my very first fanfic. Sometime back in March/April an A/N by madsthenerdygirl gave me an idea which kept bugging me ever since. To acknowledge that, I actually went back to her page to look for this A/N - thank God, she writes mostly one-shots, so it didn't take too long until I found it. ;) It was in her story "You Have No Idea" and was actually a prompt from someone for her: "I'm certain you could write smut between a table and a chair and make it awesome." Well, since then I had this idea which I just couldn't get out of my head.

After the brilliance of "Always" I felt inspired, sat down and wrote this first chapter within an hour - well, what can I say, that's how inspiring the finale was. ;) But then real life happened and despite a couple of times thinking about this fic, I just couldn't find the time to actually finish it. That was until all these delicious spoilers and promo pis started to show up and – with my mind constantly in the gutter – I suddenly felt the need to come back to it. ;)

So I asked kimmiesjoy if I could mail her the first chapter to see if it's any good, and also, so she could act as some kind of motivation (since I sometimes need a kick in the a** to keep going). She excelled at the job expectations and actually called it #crackingtheficwhip last night. LOL So thank you kimmiesjoy for acting as my 'fic dom' ;) and also as my sounding board concerning language barriers. I really appreciate it. ;)

Also, English isn't my first language, so if you should find any mistakes, feel free to tell me. I'm always open to improvement. Other than that, this story will certainly go to M with the next chapter, although it won't be anything too graphic. I think. ;)