Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't

She closed her eyes, and forced herself to turn her head. His hand grazed against her cheek and even when she was clear she continued to feel it. Suddenly she was trying to control her breathing so none of them would realize how close she had come. She pushed herself away from him, and put a good few feet between them.

She still heard nothing from Castle. Was he suffering the same shock she was?

"That's it?"

Beckett jumped a little when she heard Lanie's voice. She looked up and was surprised to see her friend with her arms folded across her chest. Beckett had forgotten they were doing this for an audience. She looked over at her fellow detectives quickly. They looked smug and were staring knowingly at Castle who was still silent in his chair.

"So," she cleared her throat. "What did you think?"

"What did I think?" Lanie looked at her like she was being asked a stupid question. "You don't have to ask me that."

She was right, Beckett thought. She really didn't have to ask. A) Laney's body language was a dead giveaway and B) she knew that their little act had fallen apart.

"You think just because I work with dead people all day, I don't know what makes them tick. I'll let you know that I didn't just study medical sciences. I did psychology. I'd have to be pretty stupid to let the two of you walk into the place with that act."

Beckett carefully kept her eyes away from Castle as they both began replacing buttons and her shrugged his jacket back on.

"There's a reason I asked to see you together," she continued. "Look at the two of you. You can't even look at each other."

Esposito and Ryan discreetly made as if to leave but she turned on them and they froze.

She just shook her head and turned back on Castle and Beckett. "You guys should really try dancing. The way you dance around each other, you could win tournaments." She turned to Esposito. "Handcuffs," she asked, hand outstretched.

He frowned but obediently fished a pair out of one of his pockets.

"Open."

When he complied she took them. "Ok, now you two…Castle, stand up," she added. "Now take a good look at these cuffs."

They kept space between them but both looked at the cuffs closely, grateful for the distraction. They both looked from them to her, puzzled.

"What's so special about them?" Castle asked. His voice was a little rough and Beckett felt her control slip back a little.

Lanie smiled sweetly. "Now if you were in character, why would you be so blasé about handcuffs? Just a little piece of advice." She looked between the two of them and pulled the handcuffs back away from them. "Hold out your left hands," she said suddenly.

Looking at her askance, they both did so.

Lanie stepped closer, making a show of looking at their hands, then quickly took the cuffs. As she had expected neither reacted to their close proximity; obviously not paying enough attention to her earlier advice. Maybe their desire to avoid what had just happened was making them more lenient. They were sure as hell more trusting than she had expected. She almost felt bad about that.

Then she cuffed Beckett's hand to Castle's.

Both of their heads snapped up and their mouths dropped.

"Lanie, what the…"Beckett stammered. She tugged her arm and Castle's arm followed.

Both of the boys were red in the face from trying not to laugh.

Castle merely held up his cuffed hand, looking closely at it. She felt her hand move too and pulled it back.

Lanie just held up her hands. "Now, I have worked with a lot of cops," she said. "And you two are the closest partners and friends I have ever seen. But there is no way you two could pass as a couple."

"We have before," she objected.

"But no one cared whether you were a couple or not," Lanie pointed out. "They didn't challenge it. This gang will. They aren't just going to take your word; they're going to want to see it."

Both Beckett and Castle had a sudden flashback of going to interview Billy Grimm's biker gang. That had been some PDA. Right in front of them. They almost blushed at the memory and habitually looked over at each other. Then a second later they tore their eyes away from each other so fast they could have gotten whiplash. She knew he was imagining her wrapped around his waist and he knew she was picturing grinding her hips up against him and his hands slapping her ass.

They both swallowed hard. "Uh," he coughed. "How is this going to help?" Castle asked, shaking his hand for the metallic sound effect.

"If you haven't figured that out in 24 hours, I'll come up with something else."

"Whoa," Beckett interrupted in panic. "Did you just say 24 hours? You're cuffing us together for 24 h.o.u.r.s?"

"You can go without and get yourself knifed if you want."

They didn't reply, but looked defensive.

"Fine," Lanie sounded resigned. "I'll give you a test. I ask you to do one thing together. You do it, I take the cuffs off. You don't, they stay on and I don't get any bitching."

They just looked at each other unhappily.

"Right, you have 5 seconds."

"Five seconds? What can we do in five…"

Lanie cut off Castle's question. "Right. Here it is. Five seconds," she reminded them.

They looked at each other uneasily.

"Kiss him." Lanie said. "On the mouth." She somehow managed not to laugh at their faces. "Tongue is acceptable."

Beckett froze. She wasn't even thinking coherently, just a wave of emotions filled her. Shock, resentment, desire, embarrassment, more desire.

She was acutely aware of Castle, statue-like at her side. She violently pushed away the mental image that came unbidden.

Lanie's face took on a told-you expression. "Right, so I'll see you in exactly 24 hours." She gave them a final long look and then turned to leave. She gave Esposito an unfriendly look as she passed where he and Ryan had let their laughter get the best of them.

"You and I are going to have words," was all she said but instantly Esposito looked a little ill, laughter long forgotten. Which made Ryan laugh harder.

Meanwhile Castle and Beckett were having a hard time not looking at each other. She was still recovering from what Lanie had asked her to do, more than the fact she was handcuffed to Castle. She knew that was concerning him though because she felt it every jerk and twist he gave his hands as he tried out the new accessories.

What was Lanie thinking? She thought that if the two of them went in there with their little act, they were going to end up dead…so what? She wanted to make sure Beckett killed him herself?

She started off for the break room, unable to take all the other cops staring at them handcuffed together. Coffee sure as hell wasn't going to solve the problem, but it was an escape.

She felt some resistance before Castle snapped back to reality and began following her.