An Early St. Patrick's Day story for you.

Note: None of the characters are mine.

Irish Lass

Kate Beckett was having an unnerving afternoon. The morning had started out relatively normal. The city was showing its St. Patty's Day spirit. Ryan was talking in an Irish brogue. Castle tried to dye her coffee green (and ended up staining his shirt and having to go home to change). Typical St. Patrick's Day.

But as Kate's day wore on, things started to get weird. An old man playing the bagpipe on a street corner winked and wished her "a very happy day, lassie." The waitress at the diner brought her Irish soda bread instead of her burger. Montgomery attributed a break in the case to the luck of the Irish. The suspect she arrested struggled with her, shouting, "They're always after me Lucky Charms."

Now, all of that could have been chalked up to a bit too much Irish spirit.

But Irish spirit couldn't explain the kissing.

A rookie cop kissed her cheek in the elevator on her way down to see Lanie. An old man sitting in the station puckered up as she walked by. A little boy came up to her at the diner during lunch and gave her a peck on the hand. An eyewitness gave her a quick one on the lips when she thanked him for his cooperation. The snarky teen she hauled in for questioning managed to plant one on her while she was handcuffing him.

By mid-afternoon, she was at the end of her rope, flinching every time someone got within two feet of her.

She finally reached her breaking point around 4pm when Ryan and Esposito managed simultaneous smooches to her cheeks. She was so jumpy by that point she didn't even bother to yell at them. Kate just excused herself and fled to the break room, locking the door behind her. This wasn't normal. Something was wrong. It was like she had a big Kiss Me sign on her back.

Wait a minute.

Kate spun around and glanced over her shoulder to catch her reflection in the window. In the middle of her back was a giant shamrock sticker proclaiming "Kiss Me, I'm Irish!" Her mind flashed to Castle's hand on her back as he passed her a green bear claw that morning. Of course Castle had something to do with this. She should have guessed.

As she was attempting to contort her arm enough to reach the sticker, the elevator pinged and Castle stepped out.

"Castle! Get in here, NOW!"

"Why Detective? Do you want a kiss?"

Beckett's face went from annoyed to I-have-a-gun-and-I'm-not-afraid-to-use-it in 0.2 seconds. In a flash, Castle was back in the elevator and frantically pressing the down button.

"I guess that's a 'no' then?" he shouted through the closing elevator doors. "The offer always stands!" He puckered up and blew her an air kiss across the precinct.

Kate's face softened, and a mischievous grin replaced the death glare. When Castle stuck that sticker on her back, there was one thing he forgot. Kate Beckett doesn't get mad. She gets even.

April Fools' Day was two weeks away, and she had a new tube of superglue with his name on it.

Thanks for reading!

3/15 Update: The sequel to Irish Lass is Jokes On You.