Spoilers for the 4x05 promo pics. You know the one. Castle kissing Serena while Espo and a very irritated looking Beckett appear in the background.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Castle, I just borrow the characters every once in a while.
"What the hell?"
Castle tore his lips away from Serena Kaye and whipped around, only to be met by identical glares from Detectives Beckett and Esposito. He'd just returned from a date with the Insurance Investigator (which had really been a ploy to get her out of her room so the detectives could poke around), and when he rounded the corner to see Serena's door open and three detectives digging through her files, he knew he needed to distract her and allow the team a chance to escape unnoticed. Being caught by Kate, however, hadn't been part of the plan. Here he was, outside Serena's hotel room with her shoved up against the wall, and though he never had any intention of taking things further than this goodnight kiss, Castle could only imagine what it looked like to his partner.
He offered Serena an apologetic smile before turning to face the Detectives. Kate was doing an amazingly good job of hiding her anger and jealousy but Castle could see the cracks forming in her defenses and knew that he had to explain before she lashed out.
"I..." he stammered, "I...thought you guys were gone already."
"Gone?" Esposito asked, stepping forward and standing defensively in front of Kate. Despite her current anger at Castle, a small smile crossed her lips at Esposito's protectiveness.
"Yeah, you know...done looking around. But then I saw you and..."
"And?" Kate challenged, moving forward to stand next to Esposito.
"I...freaked?" It came out as more of a question, but in a way it was one, because he was unsure whether Kate would buy it.
"Wait a second," came a demanding voice from behind Castle, "you guys were looking around," she gestured to the detectives, "in my room?" Kate and Esposito remained silent and Serena rounded on Castle. "And you kissed me because you…what the hell is going on here?"
"I..." Castle stuttered again.
"You guys were looking through my things?" Serena exclaimed angrily.
Esposito removed a folded sheet of paper from the breast pocket of his jacket. "We have a warrant."
"That allows you to break in?"
"We just thought..."
"Shut up, Castle," Kate snapped before turning to the blonde woman. "As Detective Esposito explained, we have a warrant and since you were out, we were perfectly within out rights to enter your place and look around."
"And you decided to lure me out of my room during the process?"
"All I did was ask you on a date," Castle pointed out.
Serena hadn't been subtle about her interest in the novelist, so it hadn't been a difficult ploy to pull off. And yes, it had been a set-up, because when they'd asked to search her belongings before, she'd declined. But she didn't need to know that.
"Right, and was you freaking out and kissing me part of the plan too?" she challenged.
As he answered the question, it was clear the smooth-talking Castle was back rather than the one who was bumbling around so much that he'd nearly blown their cover. "Of course not," he replied with a smile. "I always like to end a fabulous evening with a kiss goodnight."
Castle watched Serena's anger melt away at his charming words and knew they'd escaped any further questioning, at least for now.
"Goodnight kiss, huh?" Esposito said, just loud enough for Kate to hear. "Does he end your evenings that way too?"
Kate choked on her breath. "What?"
"Well, you guys sometimes go out for dinner or a drink after a case and I was just wondering if your evenings end that way too," he teased.
Kate elbowed Esposito in the side, all too aware of the fact that Castle and Serena were listening in. "If you want to live to see the end of this evening, you'll shut up right now," she hissed.
"Right, sorry."
"Umm, can I go now?" Serena interrupted.
"Actually, you're coming with us." Ryan appeared in the hallway dangling handcuffs in front of him.
Four heads turned to look at Ryan. "I'm sorry, what?" Serena demanded.
Ryan held up a piece of paper with what appeared to be pictures of statues on it as he continued towards Serena. They'd already compiled quite a bit of evidence, so whatever it was, Kate knew that it was all they needed to tie up the loose ends and arrest her. Castle stepped back as Ryan approached.
"Serena Kaye, you're under arrest for the murder of Malcolm Sampson. You have the right to remain silent..." Ryan recited her Miranda rights and led her away, Esposito following close behind. Castle hesitantly stepped up next to Beckett, rubbing at his mouth with his sleeve and drawing curious looks from her.
"What?"
"Uh, is there something wrong?" she asked, looking pointedly at his face .
Castle dropped his arm. "Oh, right. No, I'm just a little disgusted at the fact that I kissed a murderer."
As they exited the building, Kate couldn't hold back a smug grin. She was still angry but the part of her that'd been trying to figure out how to get revenge couldn't help but think that he'd gotten exactly what he deserved.
"I'm sorry, Kate," Castle said gently, laying a hand on her forearm.
They'd been back at the Twelfth for about an hour and a half working on paperwork for the charges against Serena (from whom they'd quickly gotten a confession once they started the interrogation). For the most part, Castle had stayed quiet, mainly because he knew he owed Kate an apology and explanation but wasn't sure what to say or how she'd react to it. However, he disliked the tense atmosphere hanging over them so when she rose to refill her coffee, Castle wasted no time in following her to the break room.
At the sound of his voice, Kate looked up from the espresso machine, which she'd been staring at for no other reason than to avoid looking at him. "For what?"
"For what you saw earlier," Castle explained, fixing her with an earnest gaze.
Kate shrugged, aiming for nonchalance. "It's not a big deal."
"Yes it is," Castle pressed.
"Just leave it alone," she requested, watching as the hot liquid filled her mug, a small cloud of steam rising up from its bubbling surface.
"Kate." He reached out and snagged her wrist before she could flee.
"Forget it, Castle," she hissed.
"No," he replied firmly, "because I can tell it's upsetting you, and I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"So you're saying you kissed her accidentally," Kate asked sardonically, setting her mug aside.
"Even my imagination is drawing up a blank on how that would happen," Castle replied in a failed attempt to lighten the mood.
"So you kissed her on purpose. She's a woman and you're a man and you were on a date with her. It's not that unusual."
"Are you jealous?"
"Of course not," Kate denied, though anyone could've seen right through her.
"Yes you are," he fought back.
"Why would I be jealous of her?" Kate spat, not even attempting to disguise her contempt for the woman.
"Because you set me up on that date," Castle reminded her, "and as a result, I spent the evening with her instead of you."
Despite the fact that he was dead on in his assessment, Kate snorted. "You're so conceited."
"Then tell me I'm wrong," Castle demanded defiantly. "Because right now, you're doing a terrible job of hiding your feelings about this whole situation."
"Look, I'm glad you had fun, okay?" Kate hoped her words didn't sound as forced as they felt.
"I didn't want to be there, don't you get that?" Castle snapped, his voice echoing through the nearly abandoned bullpen. "I was glad that the date was almost over but when I saw that her door was open, I figured you guys must've still been there. I knew I had to distract her, so I...kissed her."
"Right."
"You guys were supposed to be out of there," Castle whispered harshly. "Seeing that open door put me on the spot. I did the first thing I could think of that wouldn't arise suspicion from her."
Kate remained clearly unconvinced.
"It would have worked, too, if you guys hadn't said anything on your way out," Castle pointed out.
Logically, she knew he was right, but the jealous, possessive side of her appeared to be winning her internal struggles tonight.
"Really, kissing her was the best idea you could come up with?"
"It worked with us when we needed to distract that guard."
Oh. Right. That. The kiss that had left her lips tingling for hours. The one that still made her heart race when she thought about it. The one that had haunted her dreams for months and when she woke, always left her wanting more. No big deal, right?
Kate opted for the play-it-cool method to hide her inner turmoil. "So what, you decided you can just go around kissing women to distract them?"
A mischievous smile spread across Castle's face and Kate had a feeling that whatever he was about to say, she wasn't going to like it. "It wasn't my intention to distract you, Detective, but tell me...did it work on that guard and you?"
Well, she'd been right. She didn't like it at all.
Kate's mind once again flashed, unbidden, to the kiss. "N...no, of course not," she stammered, completely flustered.
Castle had never forgotten that little moan she'd released into his mouth, and as if that hadn't been proof enough, her current spluttering cemented the notion that their undercover kiss had affected her just as much as it had him.
"Right," he agreed sarcastically.
Kate knew he could've made a much larger deal out of this current conversation and was immensely glad when he simply decided to let it go.
"Really, though, I'm sorry," he offered again, gently squeezing her wrist, releasing it when he was sure she wouldn't run. "I put you in an awkward situation and I'm sorry."
Despite the circumstances, Kate chuckled. "You put me in an awkward situation? Wasn't it the other way around?"
Castle smiled, and the tension lifted instantly. "Okay, fine, we're both at fault."
Kate smiled back and they shared a quiet moment before Kate broke the spell and turned to pick up her coffee. Castle wasted no time in sidling up to her and innocently placed a hand on the small of her back. Kate tensed ever so slightly before relaxing into his touch.
"It's late, Alexis is probably expecting me home," he said after a bit.
She gave a hum of agreement, too focused on the feel of his hand on her back and his warm breath in her hair to fully comprehend what he was saying.
"Were you even listening?"
Of course he would notice. "Yeah, yeah, that it's late and we should go."
Castle was intrigued by her interpretation of his words. "We should go?" he asked teasingly. "And where exactly should we go, Detective?"
Oh, crap.
"Home. To our separate apartments," she managed.
"Mmhmm."
Castle slid his hand around to her hip and stepped closer, so close that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. "For the record, Detective, I said that I should go home."
"Right, yes," Kate agreed, taking a sip of coffee and blaming the heat of the beverage for the fact that everything from her chest up suddenly felt excessively warm.
"Are you sure I didn't distract you?" Castle asked again.
So much for him leaving the topic alone. "Ye...yes."
"Are you absolutely positive, Detective?" he pressed, caressing her hip with his thumb, "because if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're pretty distracted right about now and all I'm doing is standing here."
"I'm just tired, Castle," Kate protested weakly, vehemently ignoring her racing heart and the fact that his proximity was causing all kinds of other reactions and thoughts that were completely inappropriate for the precinct.
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Didn't you say you had to go?" Though if she was completely honest with herself, she didn't want him to move in any direction except closer to her.
"There's no hurry."
Kate reached back with her free hand and smacked his arm. She had to regain some sense of control before things got any more out of hand. "Go home to your daughter, Castle. I'll see you in the morning."
"You most certainly will."
Oh, that brought forth all kinds of mental images, and in none of them was Kate waking alone.
"Goodnight, Castle."
"Goodnight, Kate," he said quietly, and she fought a shiver at the sultry quality of his voice.
Castle stepped back just enough for Kate to assume he really was leaving, so she was caught completely off guard when instead of lifting his hand, he slid it around even further towards her stomach and leaned in so that his lips were brushing her ear.
"And for the record, Detective, when it comes to undercover kisses...she's got nothing on you."
END
Thoughts?