So, I Iied, sorry. This chapter kind of got away from me so I decided to split it into two. But the next one will be the last.
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Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.
It was the next day and they were at the precinct, Beckett not having said anything to Castle yet, she wanted to find the right words first. While yesterday, the boys had spent most of the day out of the precinct, now they were at their desks and had started to notice how strange Castle and Beckett were acting.
There was teasing, like normal, but this was somehow different. They couldn't quite put their finger on it but something was going on between the two of them.
"What's going on with you two?" asked Esposito a few hours later, after he saw Castle sitting at Beckett's desk looking over paperwork and Beckett bringing Castle coffee, "Did you lose a bet Beckett?"
They both just starred at Esposito in shock, realizing their mistake.
"A word, Beckett," said Beckett, resisting the urge to drag Castle out of the bullpen because that would look suspicious. Castle followed Beckett to the stairwell and after checking it was empty, she began talking.
"They're going to figure out something is wrong," whispered Beckett, because while they were alone now, she didn't want to risk anyone overhearing them.
"Not if we act like there's nothing wrong," although he knew that would be difficult. But they knew each other well enough that they should be able to pretend to be each other, right?
"Look how well that's turned out so far," said Beckett, already fed up with their current situation.
"It's because we're trying to be ourselves while in each other's bodies and that's just not going to work. We have to actually try acting like each other or this is never going to work," said Castle and Beckett knew he had a point.
"So what, I'm meant to flirt with any woman I see and make inappropriate comments?" She was angry but she immediately regretted saying that after seeing the hurt in his (her) eyes.
"And I'm meant to be a workaholic then and constantly deny my attraction to you?" asked Castle, not regretting his words because she did work too much and he was worried that she'd overwork herself and run herself into the ground. And the last part he knew was true, that she at least found him good looking.
"I'm sorry Castle, I didn't mean it like that," replied Beckett, ignoring both the workaholic part and the fact that he knew that she was attracted to him, she was just trying the get rid of the look in his eyes.
"How did you mean it then?" said Castle, hurt that Beckett would still think of him like that, after everything they've been through together.
"I know you're not like that, not any more, well the flirting with women part, but, I just…can we talk about this later, once we've got this problem sorted out?" she asked, gesturing back and forth between them with her hands.
Castle looked like he was going to argue but then he gave in, "Fine, as long as we do talk about this."
"Fine, now can we get back before the boys wonder why we're taking so long," said Beckett, not really caring what the boys thought anyway but they did have to get back to work.
"Or we could stay here a bit longer and make them really wonder what we were doing here," replied Castle, wagging his eyebrows which was strange seeing it on her face like that. To make sure Beckett knew exactly what Castle was talking about, he ran his hands through his hair, well technically Beckett's, making her hair looked more ruffled than normal. He even reached over and quickly ran his hands through Beckett's (his) hair, making it stand up at funny angles.
"Get off," she said, swatting his hand away but she couldn't help but smile anyway, knowing exactly what the boys would think had happened but she found she didn't care.
"What were you guys doing back there?" asked Esposito, once they were back in the bullpen, giving them a knowing look after eyeing their ruffled hair. Maybe that's what was different between them, maybe they'd finally admitted they're perfect for each other and this was them trying to hide their relationship in public. If that was the case, then he was happy for them and when they both gave him a "get back to work" look, he did just that, not wanting to get on Beckett's bad side. If they were finally together then all that mattered was that they were happy so he left them to it, he did have work he should be doing anyway.
XXX
It had been several days and Beckett still hadn't told Castle that she was in love with him. She'd had so many opportunities but every time she tried she got scared or couldn't find the right words. So here she was, at Castle's place, where they were having dinner after they'd closed their case. It had been interesting, Castle having to take lead on a case but he unsurprisingly stepped up to the challenge and they'd solved the case.
Beckett had been staying at Castle's, since she had to, being in Castle's body and all, but Castle was staying there too, in his guest room. They'd told his family that they'd been flooding in her apartment so she'd needed somewhere to stay while that was sorted out. That at least gave them a week or two to find a way to switch back, which wasn't going well.
They'd found the lady who Castle had thought was behind it but she had been unhelpful, saying whatever problems they had, they had to figure out on their own. When Castle out right asked her about them switching bodies, she looked at them like they were crazy but Castle was still convinced it was her who had done it.
So now they were left trying to figure out how to switch back on their own. They'd searched the internet, looking for any way that would return them to normal. One theory said they had to kiss and they'd return to their bodies but as much as Castle wanted to kiss Beckett, even he could admit that it'd be weird to kiss yourself like that and they were sure that wasn't going to work anyway.
Beckett couldn't help but notice how comfortable she'd become here at his loft though. So it was a bit strange that she was sleeping in his bed without him, but even the rest of the house felt comfortable and she wasn't looking forward to leaving once things had gone back to normal. She felt like they'd become even closer, which was understandable because of their current situation but she still liked the idea anyway.
While she was enjoying being here with him and getting to know him better, one thing she was not enjoying was seeing his body like this. She couldn't look down whenever she got dressed, even if she was tempted to but it just felt strange and wrong. She did however, take great joy in picking out the clothes she'd wear each morning, especially choosing clothes that showed off his arm muscles. She had to admit it was weird checking herself out like that and she just hoped Castle hadn't noticed.
XXX
Castle was slowly going insane. He did love being able to spend all this time with Beckett, he just wished it wasn't this way. He'd wanted nothing more than to grab her and kiss her but of course now he couldn't do that, not while in her body. He loved her and wanted to be able to tell her that but not like this, he would wait until they'd found a way to get back into their own bodies.
He admittedly had checked Beckett's body while being it it but it never went further than a quick look. It felt like he'd be violating her privacy if he did anything or looked too long since while it was her body, she wasn't there to stop him from doing anything.
He loved just sitting here with her, being in her company and while he did love her body, he loved her mind as well and he still got that part of her while they were trapped like this.
After that first hiccup with the coffee and cases files with Esposito, Castle had been surprised how easily they could pretend to be each other without anyone suspecting anything. That was, until Lanie cornered him the next day at the precinct, having wanted to speak to Beckett in private, and her words are what would get them to finally admit their feelings for each other.
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