A/N: So, I, er…wasn't expecting that many of you to read, review and follow this story… Thank you!

To the original prompter of this, I'm so glad you liked the first chapter! I wish I could have replied to you personally. Do you have an account?

As is often the case with me, my plan for this story has changed. It's now going to have 4 or 5 short chapters overall, which I'm sure will please a lot of you. I felt like there was more to tell and explore so, yep, despite telling myself I'd only do two chapters because I'm so busy with university work and other fictions, I decided I should do this justice and make it long enough to round everything off more nicely. I'm spending every day reading and note-taking for my dissertation research, so writing is more of a secondary concern at the moment, although I'll do my best to finish this soon.

Also, I'd like to quickly say I've never had laughing gas administered, or seen anyone who has, so this whole story could have been really incorrect in terms of what actually happens to you…


"Well, Rick?" Gina asked, stepping forwards until she was right in front of him and the tapping of her foot was even more noticeable. "What's going on?"

"I was just taking Beckett to the…"

He gestured behind him as he trailed off, but Gina continued doubtfully, "Children's dentist…"

What did she think? That he and Beckett had arranged to meet at Tooth Works for some kind of sordid, steamy affair? Cause that was a romantic setting… Although, when he thought about it, the chair could be kinda fun…

Beckett chose that moment to flop around his body, hanging in front of him like a ragdoll with one arm loosely gripping his neck and a hand twisted into the waist of his jacket.

"Hey Gina, you two goin' somewhere?" she mumbled, awkwardly patting the side of Castle's face with that arm hanging around his neck by the elbow. Tightening his grip on her, Rick attempted to pull her back to a more upright position, but it was as if she had gone completely boneless, the heels of her boots not even touching the ground. "M gonna come this time."

Glancing from Beckett to him, Gina shot him a quizzical look.

"Laughing gas," was all Castle said in explanation, only earning another unusual look from his girlfriend.

He could tell by the look on her face that she was wondering why he had to accompany Beckett to a dental appointment, that she found it weird he would do such a thing and seem completely unfazed by it, as if it was an everyday occurrence. Which it wasn't. He and Beckett didn't seem to do anything anymore. They hadn't had a poker night in months, let alone grabbed takeaway together at the end of her shift.

"Yeah, I'ma come," Beckett repeated.

Oh, Hell. That second lot of gas the dentist administered while he was drilling through Kate's cavity had to have been a mistake. He'd have thought its effects ought to have worn off but, worryingly, there didn't seem to be a single sign of that happening any time soon.

Sighing, he threw an apologetic glance at his girlfriend and mimed calling her later, before escorting Kate to the edge of the sidewalk – with much difficulty – and sticking his hand out to flag a cab. Manhandling Beckett into the back of it was even worse than the first time, earning him a series of odd looks from both the driver and every single person that passed by on the street.

Finally he had her in the backseat, somewhat upright, and slid in beside her, shutting the door.

"Where to?"

"Uh," Castle said as Beckett's head came to rest on his shoulder, the shifting strands of hair on her scalp tickling his neck as she literally snuggled into him.

One of her hands snuck under the edge of his jacket, pushing it aside and a laugh bubbled out of her. He shot her a puzzled look that there was no way she could have seen, but she seemed to explain anyway.

"Stripes."

He glanced down, and yes, he was wearing a grey and white striped shirt, though he failed to see what could be even vaguely amusing about that. Beckett on drugs was even more mystifying than she usually was.

"Dude?" the cabbie asked, sounding frustrated as he twisted in his seat to glare at the pair of them. "Where to?"

"Oh, Varick and Franklin," Castle replied, grabbing hold of one of Kate's wandering hands.

Since pushing under his jacket, her right hand had been having fun sliding up and down the front of his shirt, fingers circling around buttons. It was a problem that continued the entirety of the thirty minute car journey, despite how many times he grabbed her by the wrist and deposited her adventurous and apparently uncontrollable limb back in her own lap. She was silent for the rest of the ride though, slumping further against him when the car braked sharply on her street.

If he thought getting her into the cab had been hard, it was another thing trying to drag her out by the arms after paying the fare. Inside, the cabbie tutted and sighed loudly, shooting him looks out the window every few seconds until he finally had her feet on the ground and tugged hard enough to get her body to follow them, knees crumpling so much that it was only his quick reflex to secure his arms around her middle that saved her from face-planting on the sidewalk.

"Whoa, the ground's moving." That earned another giggle, a sound that only grew louder when he hoisted her up again and practically carried her to her front door, nodding his head at one of the building's other occupants as he left and held the door open long enough for him to enter. Judging from the pitying look he got, it seemed Beckett was doing a perfect impersonation of a drunkard.

Castle took one look at the wide flight of stairs beside the metal doors of the building's elevator before thumbing the call button. Beckett was light, but there was no way he could get her up those stairs if she wasn't willing to help him at least a little by actually walking. Nope, elevator it was, even if he had to spend five minutes waiting for it to arrive at the ground floor and for the elderly lady inside to hobble out with her walking stick, looking at the both of them with clear disapproval, before he could drag Beckett in and press the button for her floor.

Outside her apartment, Castle paused. Where were Beckett's keys?

He made quick work of checking around the door for somewhere she could have hidden a spare – under the large ficus plant, and on top of the hallway light – but he came up empty, leaving him to resort to searching her pockets.

Going through her coat pockets was okay; it was having to stick his hands in her jeans that left him red faced and repeatedly telling himself to focus on finding her keys and not copping a feel of anything. While he dug around her front left pocket, Beckett twitched and twisted in his arms and for a moment he worried the effect of the laughing gas was finally wearing off and she was about to punch him hard enough to send him flying down the hallway. But then she laughed again, mumbling something about being ticklish and he breathed a sigh of relief, pulling the ring of keys from her jeans and inserting one into the lock, trying each of them until he was able to twist the mechanism and unlock the door.

"Come on," Castle muttered, pushing on Kate to get her to stumble in through the door. Somehow she made it to her couch and flopped over the back of it, landing on her back with her legs hanging off the cushions, kicking off her boots.

He surveyed her for a moment, lying slack and looking comfortable.

She was in her apartment and she would hopefully sleep off the rest of the laughing gas. She probably wouldn't appreciate waking up to find him still in her apartment watching over her. So, he grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and flung it over her, quickly rounding the end of the furniture to pick up her legs and get them under the warmth of the cover, smiling to himself at her peaceful image as he crossed her apartment and left, shutting the front door behind him.


A/N: I hope you guys liked it. I'll try to get the third chapter up as soon as possible. Let me know what you thought (and I guess if there's anything you'd like to happen/what you think will happen - I'm interested in that too)!