A/N Just to clarify this story is set before they got together. Sorry I didn't say that earlier.

Beckett tossed and turned throughout most of the night, unable to get the kiss out of her mind. It wasn't like their undercover kiss, full of pent up passion and lust. It had been simple and unromantic. But it was Castle…kissing her… Just thinking about it brought a blush to her cheeks and…no she would not let her mind go down that path. No wonder she couldn't get to sleep…

At six she gave up on sleep and got up to get coffee, hoping she didn't wake Castle up in the process. It was a lot easier to deal with him on LSD when he was asleep.

When 10 o'clock came around and Castle still hadn't surfaced she became worried. Reaching his room in record time, she opened the door to find Castle (who was thankfully still there) staring intently at the wall, eyes bright and wide, his head bopping as if to music despite the fact that there was none. It was a look similar to the one he gave when they went to the museum for a case. It was a look that said something was happening and he was enjoying it but she probably wouldn't. Only problem with all of this was that he was staring at a blank wall…

"Castle" she said, taking a tentative step into the room. The last thing she wanted to do was spook him and have to chase him up to the roof again. His eyes never wavered from whatever he was seeing or most likely hallucinating.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, keeping as calm as she could, hoping it would have some effect on him. No such luck.

"The tap dancing penguins" he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Tap dancing pen…What?" she spluttered, stunned.

"Tap dancing penguins" he repeated, unfazed. "They have just come from throwing someone off a bridge and they needed somewhere to hide from the cops so I let them in through the window and they were happy so they started dancing"

Ok…

Her 41 year old partner of 3 years was staring at a bunch of invisible tap dancing penguins. How does one respond to that?

Taking her silence as acceptance he got up and joined the conga line of penguins who had ditched the tuxedos for bikinis and board shorts and started to conga.

Beckett stared, her jaw hitting the floor at lightning speed as her partner went around the room, legs out to the sides, bum in the air and arms alternating between being in front of him and in the air. He looked kind of like a crab trying to be a spider and it was quite a sight.

She only snapped back into reality when he went into the living room and started moving furniture around, knocking over several items in the process.

"Um, Castle, what are you doing?" a still stunned Beckett asked. She was only slightly terrified of the answer.

"Clearing the dance floor" he replied from behind the couch.

"For what?" she asked.

"Ballroom dancing" he said, still intent on his current task.

"With the penguins?" she questioned.

"Of course Beckett" he replied, rolling his eyes at her.

There was no way that could end well…

…..

She had to admit, it didn't go as badly as she thought it would. Watching Castle twirl around to invisible music had been pretty funny. And the film of his version of Ballet would make excellent blackmail material. After several falls he had convinced her to dance with him, saying that the penguins were too short (at least they weren't giant tap dancing penguins) and she agreed because she didn't want him getting hurt (least she have to explain that to his family.)

They had danced around the room to the music that he hummed in her ear. They were both surprisingly good, a fact that probably had something to do with their partnership and the amount of time they spent with each other. Either way she enjoyed it (not that anyone was ever going to find out.)

Well, that was until the penguins had decided to switch to break dancing and Castle tried to copy, spinning on his head and falling, immediately wondering why he had a headache. She had rolled her eyes at him before making him pancakes, something that she knew would cheer him up, all the while pushing back thoughts of when he had done this for her, having her back when she needed it. His smile at the end had defiantly been worth all the trouble.

She looked down at the man asleep on her lap, sunlight streaming through the window and hitting his hair and she longed to run her fingers through it. He had wordlessly curled up on the other side of the couch, as close to her as he could get without actually touching her. She had given into temptation (because he had looked absolutely adorable) and let him rest his head on her lap.

She smiled to herself, enjoying the moment knowing that no matter what happened they would always be there for each other.

…..

After a 2 hour nap Castle was back to being crazy. He had been going on and on about it not being who they thought it was and them being in danger. Beckett had no idea what he was talking about but whatever it was seemed important to him so she kept her quiet and let him be.

At least until he started filling water balloons with dishwashing liquid.

"Castle, what are you doing?" she asked, watching him from her position on the couch. She was getting very sick of asking him that. The answers were not always pleasant.

"Preparing for battle" he replied. This sent up red flags for Beckett.

"What battle?" she asked, careful to keep the worry out of her voice.

"The battle with Thug Penguin" he replied, as if that was totally normal.

"Thug Penguin?" she questioned.

"Didn't we tell you?" he said, turning away from his task. Beckett was only mildly concerned as to who 'we' referred to.

"Tell me what?" She asked, walking over to him.

"They all saw the man going over the bridge but none of them actually did it" he said.

"So they aren't murderous penguins?" she asked.

"No but Thug Penguin is and since they are all witnesses he is coming after them" he replied. Good to know, she thought.

"How do you know it was him?" she asked, starting to scare when she realised just how much of this was making sense to her.

"Because he is the only one strong enough to have done it" Castle said simply.

"Are you sure? Someone could be framing him" she suggested.

"Hmm, it's possible" he said, thinking aloud.

…..

After interrogating several penguins (with Castle asking the questions since Beckett couldn't actually see them) they had a murder board set up and were both looking at it, deep in thought.

"The circumstances don't add up" Beckett said.

"Hmm. Thug Penguin has no motive" he replied.

Both pairs of eyes went wide and they turned to each other saying;

"I know who the killer is!"

Beckett gave him a small smile before saying;

"Ballerina Penguin?"

"Yep. The victim wouldn't let her dance with the New York Ballet Company and it turns out that Ballerina Penguin has a temper and in a fit of rage she threw him off the bridge. The sweet little penguin in the pink dress was really a killer, hiding her heart of ice behind her dances…" he trailed off, deep in thought. Apparently the LSD hadn't hindered his ability with words. Beckett studied his strong jaw and baby blue eyes, getting lost in the moment.

Castle then snapped out of his trance and shouted;

"She must be arrested!" and bolted out of the room, leaving a stunned Beckett in his wake.

…..

After dinner and a Buffy marathon Beckett had the hard task of getting Castle to bed.

"Ok Castle, bed time" she said, getting up and stretching.

"But I want to know if the Vampire Penguin gets killed by the Vampire Hunter Penguin and her friend Spiky Haired Penguin" he whined.

"Um Castle, there are no penguins on Buffy" she said slowly.

"Yes there is, right guys?" he said, looking around the empty room.

"See, told you"

Rather than arguing Beckett agreed and took him to bed, tucking in each of the invisible penguins upon his request. She had gone to leave but he begged her to stay until he fell asleep so she did, waiting until he was before pressing a light kiss to his cheek and walking out, missing the smile that he gave her.

…

Beckett was once again woken from her must needed slumber by the sound of the bedroom door being wrenched open. She had no time to react as she was hit by a very large weight, knocking the air from her lungs. Castle then got up, preparing to jump on her again when she shouted

"Castle, what the hell?"

He immediately recoiled at her tone, looking at the ground like a sad little boy whose candy had been taken away.

"Sorry" he mumbled. Her face softened slightly but she didn't apologise because he had just woke her up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concern lacing her voice and settling in her delicate features.

"I'm scared" he said, looking up at her with big blue eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Of what?" she said, getting up to stand in front of him.

"Vampire Penguin" he replied. She would have laughed had he not looked so dejected.

"You know my Mum and I used to have horror movie marathons and afterwards we would build a pillow fort to sleep in and curl up together" she said, smiling sadly at the memories.

"Could we?" he asked, unsure.

"Of course" she replied.

They wordlessly gathered armfuls of pillows and blankets as they made their way to Castle's room, building the fort with ease.

Castle immediately fell asleep, a side effect of the drug, curling up to Beckett's side. She let him, knowing that it was what he needed. She slowly drifted off to sleep, unconsciously cuddling into him.