Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.
Character(s): Richard Castle, Kate Beckett
Pairing: Castle/Beckett
Status: Complete
Genre: Angst
Rating: K
Spoilers: "Almost Famous"
Author's Note: For some reason, I have noticed that I never write a story in Castle's point of view. I never read books in a man's point of view. Well, I knew the latter, but not the first one. So I'm going to change that. And I call people sexist, really. Oh, well, I guess that old saying, "It takes one to know one," is true. By the way, I thought Detective Beckett's outfit was horribly cute but totally inappropriate for wearing while being on the job in this episode. Thoughts?

Woah…

The moment he heard her call his name in such a tone, he knew he was in trouble. The 'oh' added on to it made him wince and freeze, muscles tense, waiting for her to reach him. Finally, the familiar tapping of her heels made it to him. He closed his eyes as she walked around him, preparing himself for all the possible things that could come out of her mouth. "Want to go on a field trip to a strip club?" She smirked.

His eyebrows knitted immediately. That definitely wasn't what he was expecting. "Well, Detective, I didn't know that you were into such things, but I would-" He froze. Damn. He had forgotten that they were working on a case involving a male stripper which meant that they were probably going to go to a male strip club. He frowned. "You know," he pointed back where the guys were sitting around, chatting. "I think that Ryan and Esposito asked me to help them with something. I'll-"

Before he could finish his sentence, she interrupted him, pulling on his jacket and leading him in the direction of the elevators. "No, no, no, no, Castle, if I remember correctly you wanted to follow me around. Base a book a me. Bug the living hell out of me while I work for 'inspiration.'" Her tone was playful and he was too busy trying to figure out a way to get out of it to take her words seriously.

All too soon, they were in her police-issued Crown Victoria, driving to the strip club. Her smirk told him that she was enjoying this and so, for once, he closed his eyes and shut up to stop himself from yelling 'help, kidnap' out her window in hopes that someone might actually rescue him. After all, he was a best-selling author. Someone would want to help him. Wouldn't they?

A few minutes later, just as he began to doze off, he felt the car slow to a stop. He opened one of his eyes, thinking that he would be seeing the bright lights of a club sign, but instead, they were in the dim light of a parking garage. "Where are we?" He asked somewhat fearful. Had she finally gotten tired of him and was going to get rid of him in the emptiness of an abandoned parking garage? He looked around for witnesses only to find that it was empty. Only one or two cars remained.

"My apartment, or temporary apartment, building," she informed him before continuing, "I need to change," as she opened the door and got out. Before shutting the door, she leaned back down to his eye level, "Are you coming or not?"

Without replying or asking why she was changing (he was too grateful that he wasn't about to get shot), he quickly jumped out of the car and out onto to concrete ground, following her carefully as she made her way into the building, through the corridors, and eventually to stop in front of an elevator. He was too busy observing his surroundings to notice her sudden stop and so he ran into her. She was more balanced than he was and stronger than he had realized so she only took one small side step before steadying herself and helping him regain his balance. "Sorry," he murmured to her, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Just watch where you're going from now on, Castle." She told him as she stepped into the elevator. They rode in silence until the elevator pinged, alerting them of their stop. He noted that it was the ninth floor that she was saying on. He followed her closely, but not as close as before as they walked down another corridor. Finally, they came to a stop in front of apartment 6B.

She withdrew her keys from her pocket and unlocked the door quickly. Before opening the door, she turned to him. "Don't touch anything, don't mess anything up, and don't snoop, just stay in the living room, okay?" He nodded as if he wasn't even though they both knew he was and reluctantly she turned and opened the door. As they stepped into the apartment, she sighed before speaking to him. "You can snoop, Castle, because I know you're going to do that anyway, but please don't mess anything up. This isn't my apartment. Remember that."

With that last order, she left him in the living room and went down the hall. Once he heard the familiar sound of a door being closed, he figured he was safe, at least for a few minutes, and began to do what he did best. Snoop. The apartment was definitely one that didn't belong to a woman although it was clean and straight. He figured that Kate had a little input in that once she had began her stay, but he didn't know for sure. She didn't have much time on the side, and he himself wasn't that messy so maybe this guy wasn't. Jealousy began to build in him because the apartment looked much more like a bachelor pad than one that would belong to her father.

Then finally, he realized whose it was. Biker boy's. With a frown, he went over to examine the photo. It was one of biker boy and Kate, not taken too long ago because her hair was the length it was now, not the length before summer. They looked happy, and Kate looked like she was in love. He ran a single finger around the frame of her face, wishing for a brief moment that it was him in that picture with her instead of biker boy. He took it all in in stride, reminding himself all the reasons that he shouldn't be jealous, but still he was.

He was done snooping by the time that she walked back down the hall (he didn't want to stumble across any other pictures like that that would hurt him. He wasn't ready to say 'break his heart' even though it felt like they did.). The moment he saw her, his jaw dropped and he did a double take. He couldn't believe that she had changed into that. To him, it looked more like a piece of lingerie than a dress. It made her even more beautiful (and dare he say 'smokin' hot') than usually, and he couldn't help but murmur, "Woah."

Despite herself, Kate smirked. "Guess I am a little bit more like Nikki Heat than you thought, huh, Castle?"

(Longest one yet.)