Kate sits at her desk, staring at both murders boards side by side. Two completely unrelated cases and her team had to work both. Half the homicide division is down with the flu, Ryan's barely hanging on as it is and they are run off their feet.

A coffee cup sits beside her, mocking her with its emptiness, it lack of flavor, in honesty its lack of Castle-ness. Kate growls under her breath and stands, leaning on the edge of her desk as if a change in angle will reveal something she's not seeing yet, and she really wants to snap her brain back to reality and away from being wrapped in his arms.

"Hey."

The hot rush of his breath in her ear startles her and she jumps away from the desk.

"Geeze Castle." She places a hand over her heart.

She turns to chastise him, only she can't, because as she moves she sees in one hand he's holding two precariously balanced, huge, cups of coffee, and they smell divine.

She leans into the smell her hand resting on his wrist now as she does and out of the corner of her eye she can see him fighting the smile. She clears her throat and leans back, swallowing away the intense sense of déjà vu brought about by the intimate contact, a vivid picture that the last time he had brought her coffee at the precinct she had…

Oh god!

Looking at him, as he takes his usual seat...she feels the entire night come flooding back. Every dream, every half waking touch and kiss, it's fuzzy around the edges but she remembers. Oh does she remember...

She remembers, stretching into his embrace, purring against his chest like a damn cat in heat as her dream addled brain told her she needed him to touch her, take notice of her, and if he wouldn't then she would make him. Her fingers dart to her lips and she remembers the earlier burn, Kate looks to
him quickly to see if he's noticed and fights her own smile as she sees he's trying to remove the note currently stuck to the tip of his finger as he waves it in front of her.

"You could have woken me up you know" He hisses when she finally takes pity on him and pulls the paper loose. He sets down both cups before snatching the note she is now holding between his middle and index finger with a mixture of thanks and annoyance. Kate walks away from the edge of her desk.

She takes her coffee with her and sits in her chair. "You looked tired." she says, lifting the cup to her lips. As if to prove her point he yawns, hiding it behind the sticky note.

"And now we have two cases…long nights ahead of us Castle." He raises an eyebrow at her, grinning and sipping his own coffee. "One of us needed to be firing on all cylinders."

"You just want an able bodied lacky to fetch you coffee."

"Touché." She laughs before finally taking a long drink from her cup, humming loudly against the rim, her eyes closing.

He knows that moan, he has felt it against the raw pulse in his jugular and Castle's heart leaps out of his chest, forcing the coffee out of his mouth. He coughs and splutters, spraying the warm brown liquid all over his clothes and a now disgusted looking Beckett. She raises an eyebrow at him in a look somewhere between confusion and annoyance, brushing at her pant leg where his sprayed coffee has landed.

"Hot." He offers by way of explanation.

Kate rolls her eyes, throwing him another napkin before she swigs her own coffee again "Seems fine to me."

"Your tongue is a lot stronger than mine."

"It's like any muscle Castle," she says scooting back into the desk and starting to type "Use it or lose it." She flicks her eyes sideways at him just once before focusing completely back on the screen in front of her.

"Do you own a mop?" Kate asks an hour later, still chasing down suspects on the second case; one is a janitor and since she found that out her mind has been filled with images of Castle slowly extending a mop handle like he did in her dream.

"What?" He asks

"Do. You. Own a mop?" She asks as if it is the simplest question in the world and he is completely dense.

"I think so." He tilts his head to one side questioningly.

"How would you not know?"

He shrugs, "Hey, it's possible I own one I have never used!"

"You let your daughter clean the whole apartment don't you?" She asks almost ashamed of him. But not surprised.

He grinned "Not the WHOLE apartment, but she is very well trained. Why do you want to know if I had a mop anyway?"

"I had a dream you bought me one." She replies nonchalant.

"You had a dream about me?" He asked his eyes lighting up before quickly looking disappointed "And I bought you a mop? I wonder what it means." He looks away off somewhere, that adorable look he gets when he is pondering something nonsensical.

"It means. I had too much Chinese food before I fell asleep."

"No." He says seriously, "Dreams often have hidden meanings, things out of context from reality that are in fact your subconscious mind operating on a higher level."

She makes a noise under her breath that sounds like "pfft."

He makes a tsk sound, shaking his head at her and his brow creasing so sternly she thinks he might really be ashamed of her. "This one time, I had a dream about being attacked by coyotes." He starts.

"Coyotes?" She implores, yet skeptical... but strangely curious. How does he elicit so many different feelings in her at once?

He actually rolls his eyes at her. "Yes a coyote, would I joke about a coyote attack?" He asks in all seriousness, but she can't help the mirth bubble up inside her at the absurdity of this conversation.

"No, Castle." She humors him. "I guess not."

He seems to take it. "Anyway. I was attacked by these viscous Coyotes." He's getting all animated and she lifts a hand to her mouth to cover her smile. " And when I woke up, I had to know what it meant."

"Let me guess." She says crossing her arms and fixing him with one of her looks. "You did research for Derrick Storm."

"Nope." He pops the P. "Just for fun." His eyes dance.

"So what does it mean to be attacked by coyotes in your dreams?" She deadpans.

He grins, all self-satisfied. "That I was struggling with my own selfish needs."

"Oh really, and what were those?"

"I wanted to have the blue light saber because it matched my eyes, but it was Alexis favorite color."

Kate outright laughs, if she was drinking her coffee she would have spit it ALL over him, and then they would have been even.

Castle sits back in his chair, crossing his arms and not looking at her. "I don't know what me buying you a mop says about your subconscious Beckett." He replies, and then he eyes her oddly.

"Maybe it means I want you to clean up your mess." She answers, pointing to his discarded coffee cup. "Hey! Maybe it just means I want you to clean my apartment." She laughs "I'll get you an apron and a duster." She laughs again utterly amused now.

"Fantasizing about me in a French maids outfit Beckett?"

She stops laughing. "No." she states firmly, truthfully because she was actually picturing him shirtless, mop in hand. Which is so much better. Easier access to skin...okay stop it Kate, you're acting like you're in heat again, any minute now you'll be rubbing up against him again.

"Can I fantasize about YOU in a French maids outfit?" He asks rocking on his heels grinning. Obviously no longer mad at her for making fun of him. It's cute, and he can never stay mad for long.

"Do what you like on your own time Castle. But no picturing me in black silk stockings at work." She turns in her chair, to face her computer, now having a better hold on herself... she thinks.

"Too late," He replies waggling his eyebrows at her behind her back. "I bought you a mop?" He asks again after a few seconds.

She nods looking sheepish over her shoulder, but then turning to him once again. "Yeah just before the gorilla came in and I tried to show you but you were…what?"

She looks up and catches his wide mouthed look of shock "A…a gorilla?" He queries

"Yeeeah" She draws the word out not seeing the significance.

"Like a big…monkey kinda gorilla?" He asks, his face now scaring her because he looks like a kid who just found his presents early.

"Yes. Is there any other kind?" Her voice is pinched now, annoyance shining through but he can't see it, too lost in his own head

"Seriously? A gorilla?"

"Castle."

He laughs.

"Okay." She says, "I give up Castle. What is oh so funny about a Gorilla?"

"In dreams…Gorilla's symbolize your primitive impulses, wild nature and repressed sexual energy."

Her eyes grow wide. "Oh" she says quietly…Oh!

"But you said it was…hiding?"

She nods.

"And you were trying to … err… show it…to me?"

Oh she does not like where this is going.

"Well a gorilla in hiding would suggest…" He swallows, his eyes flicking to her hip and the gun she had holstered there. "Would…suggest pent up sexual frustration."

She scrunches her face in realization, as she tries, really tries, not to blush, or laugh or in any way give him anything else to tease her with "I tried to show you my gorilla." She clamps her hand over her mouth, failing miserably as she realizes what she had said, how…dirty it sounded, her eyes
wide as Castle starts to laugh.

He gets to his feet slowly leaning in to whisper as he walks past "Anytime Kate, anytime."

You know you want to review after a treat like that ;)