Chapter Two

I'm absolutely overwhelmed by the response this got ; I thought I'd be getting no real interest until about five chapters in at best. x'D Thank you so much to everyone who bookmarked or submitted a review! I'm doing my best to keep the chapters coming as fast as I can. Hope you're enjoying it so far! :)

I can't wait to write the next chapter, because that's when the real humour/fluff begins, but it may take a little longer to make sure I'm happy with it.


"I'm so, so sorry." The girl couldn't have been much older than Alexis, and she looked absolutely terrified. This wasn't how you wanted your first shift on the job to go. "The girl doing the phone calls, she mucked up, I mean eh, she, she mixed up some appointments, and the two bedroom was gone, and .. "

Castle cut in smoothly with one of his most charming smiles. "We're on a honeymoon. The single bedroom is fine."

The girl wavered a little more, then a relieved look spread over her face. "I...right! So this...this is your apartment, and your luggage has been brought up. There's a timetable of activities on the wall, you can just go down to reception at the times listed and take part in any you want. And...I've already told you about all the facilities...so...so enjoy!"

"Thank you." Castle graced her with a second smile, and she skittered out the room with a small squeak, overcome with relief. She seemed to have been expecting a lion's den reception.

"Well."

There was an awkward pause as both of them took in the room. Huge windows were built across one wall, but otherwise it seemed to be be built for the purpose of low lighting. Soft spotlights were dotted over the ceiling illuminating a massive four poster bed, which seemed to dominate the whole apartment.

"Well, then." Castle thumped onto the mattress, then his face lit up as it shifted beneath him, springing him back up. "It's one of those...those.." He waved his hands like a six year old being told they're going to Disneyland. "Those squishy mattresses! I've always wanted to try one of these!"

Beckett threw a pile of bags onto the bed, rolling her eyes. "That's too bad, because you're on the floor."

Castle's mouth hung open in mock pain. "You know the first secret of acting is to believe you are who you're pretending you are?" He frowned. "Come on. I'll stay right on the other side of the bed."

"Good thing I'm not here to act then. There's your bed."

Castle almost fell over backwards under the weight of the blanket thrown at him. He cast her a dark look before laying it on the floor, sitting with his knees hunched up and eyes narrowed. As usual though, it didn't take him long to snap out of it.

"What...are...those?" Suddenly appearing next to where Beckett was unpacking, he snatched a set of lacy black underwear from the bottom of the suitcase. She grabbed it back in a split-second, not meeting his eyes. "Nothing."

"Katherine Beckett, you never fail to surprise me." He winked at her, earning a cold glare.

While she finished unpacking, neatly stacking her clothes next to his disarrayed pile in the cupboard provided, he started reading the activities list. "So, what shall be our plans? Quad-biking, of course. Swimming? Scuba diving? Horse riding." He glanced up to meet her eyes with a devilish grin. "Definitely horse riding."

As hard as she tried to disguise it, Beckett couldn't help a slight pause as she swallowed. "I don't like horses."

"You will after this." Not paying attention, Castle marked down the times. Beckett chewed her lip. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


The patter of the shower came on, and Kate rested her head in her hands, once reassured he wasn't going to reappear. She had been dreading this part all day. The sun had fallen beneath the night's cloak, and the apartment was lit only by the dim lights strung over the bed. She sat in a T-shirt and shorts, drifting her eyes over the elegant frame of the double bed. They couldn't have made this much more awkward if they tried. She kept telling herself it was just another job, just another cover, but she couldn't help that fear, that he wasn't going see it that way. Somewhere along the line, the wall between the cover and reality was going to get blurred.

A vague humming drifted over the noise of water, and she couldn't help a slight smile. Of course, he sang in the shower.

Settling onto the top of the bed, she lay down flat on her stomach, shutting her eyes and burrowing her face in the pillow. She was greeted with a smell that she both loved and repelled. Something like parchment, books, and a sharper edge of deodorant. Castle. He had been lying here earlier. After double-checking he wasn't behind her, she inhaled it a little further. It was a lot more pleasant that she would have cared to admit, in fact she wouldn't have minded smelling it every day. That let her guard down enough for a brief image to flash across her mind, of waking every morning in the safe warmth of Castle's strong arms, all she could smell being that lovely mixture of books and paper, without the deodorant masking it...

It was not in fact Kate who snapped herself out the daydream, but Castle himself. "Are you...asleep?" His voice was confused, and she couldn't blame him ; she must look a sight, spread full out on her front right across the bed, head buried in a pillow.

"I was just sm-" She almost slapped a hand over her mouth. Had she seriously just said that? "I was resting." Flipping herself over into a more appropriate position, she started desperately trying to think of ways to rescue herself out the hole she'd just dug. A hot blush had spread like lightening across her cheeks, and she kept her eyes safely fixed on the duvet, not daring to look up. Not that she needed to, of course - she knew Castle well enough to have his exact expression as clear in her head as if he'd been right in front of her. His eyebrows would be quirked up in amusement, mouth open in an arrogant grin, eyes sparkling with glee.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that Detective. Did you say you were smelling the pillow?"

"What?" She put as much feigned disgust into her voice as she could, sitting up straight and glaring at him. "I was just catching some rest. I'm tired."

"It's Lynx, by the way." Ignoring her response, he shot her one of the most delighted smirks she'd ever seen on him, and waltzed over to his case on the floor.

"It's better without the deodorant."

No. That had not just come out of her mouth. She hadn't just gone there.

Clearly she had, because if it was possible for his smirk to get wider, it just had. "Why Beckett, how honest you're being tonight! I'll keep that in mind."

Her mouth fell open as he left back towards the bathroom, though it wasn't at his cheek but at her idiocy. How on earth had she let that slip out? Or was she just imagining things, and he had learnt to read her mind instead? She hadn't thought it was possible to make this evening even more awkward, but she just had.


Castle finished in the bathroom all too soon, and emerged to find her seated in a rather more dignified position this time, huddled under the duvet. Then he glanced at the floor, finding a blanket and pillow laid out, and he glanced back up at her in disbelief. "Are you seriously going to make me sleep here?"

Beckett pulled the covers a little higher, subtly trying to cover every bit of bare flesh that she could, so she didn't get across quite as savage a look as she intended. "Yes. Or would you rather we fought for who gets the bed?"

Castle's face said it all. "If you're offering."

"Let's not lie to ourselves Castle, we know who'd win."

With a muffled grunt, the latter thumped onto the floor and wrapped the blanket around himself, not bothering to deny it.

There was a short pause, before Kate sat up straight and stared at him. "Do you not change before going to bed?"

"I thought you might not be able to contain yourself, as I only brought pants."

She couldn't help a slight snort, mouth twitching. "No fear."

Merely raising his eyebrows, Castle abruptly yanked open his shirt and threw it messily onto the floor. He didn't tend to feel self-conscious about his body, the very opposite in fact, but it was with a slight anxiety that he glanced back up at his muse. She recoiled faster than he could blink once she saw him looking back at her, snatching her eyes away and flipping over in the bed. A wide smirk slipped onto his face. "What was that about 'no fear', Detective?"

Beckett didn't trust herself to reply - she'd had more than enough slip ups this evening - and kept her mouth pressed shut.

"If you'd rather, we can swap pillows. Or did you keep mine?" She heard him lap up the scent of his pillow cover, attempting to identify his own smell. "Hm, I think you did. If you want to be able to absorb my smell, as long as it won't over power you, it'll be easier if I lie next to you and-"

"Castle."

"Mm?"

"Shut up."

Unknown to her shadow, Kate turned over, burrowed her head in her pillow cover, and was soothed to sleep by the warm aroma of books.