Vice

"Hey," he said warmly, and she curled her toes into her couch as she pressed the phone tighter to her ear.

"Hey back." She heard him chuckle softly and wondered where he was. "What're you wearing?"

He laughed at that, a little breath of air in it though that told her she got him. "Why, Officer? You-"

"Actually."

"Actually, what? You're seriously wanting phone sex right now?"

She hummed back, a laugh threatening. "Not really. I think it's kinda awkward, but maybe with you - who knows?"

He did gasp at that, full-throated, rich, a low and strangled sound following it that he sometimes made in bed.

So now maybe she got it, why the phone sex thing worked. If she could make him moan-

She shook her head, closed her eyes. "But, no, I meant. Actually, I may not be an officer for much longer."

"Are you serious? That's soon. That's young. Beckett-"

"Yeah, it is soon. I haven't been pushing it - that really didn't enter into it for me, but Captain Montgomery let me know that the Chief of D's thinks-"

"Chief of. . .what?"

"Detectives. Chief of Detectives. Darn. I'm falling down on my job, aren't I? This is probably stuff you should know by now."

"Yeah," he said softly, and she heard in it all the condemnation he wouldn't say. She'd promised to be his consultant - to answer all his questions about police procedure and how the precinct worked - but she'd either been steeped in work or deep in. . .him.

"I'm sorry," she said slowly. "I should-"

"I'm good, Kate."

"But you've been writing anyway?"

"Yeah. I've looked stuff up online, gotten more from you than you probably realize. But soon I'll need-"

"Access," she supplied. "And actually - that shouldn't be a problem."

He was so silent on the other end that she had to pull her phone away from her ear to check that she hadn't dropped the call.

"Castle?"

"It won't be a problem?"

"I mean. If they make me a detective soon. . .and it looks like they will. That's what I'm trying to tell you. The Chief of Detectives is looking at this politically - I helped catch a serial killer, they promote me young-"

"Hot new star of the NYPD," he said.

She dug her toes into the couch and pressed her forehead to her propped up knees. "Yes. Something like that." It still made her heart shiver to think about it.

"So when will you know for sure?"

"I think they're trying not to say anything - not step on toes. There's a woman in Vice - a detective - who wants it too. I don't know. But she's good at Vice - the Captain wants to keep her there. Plus the 54th is undergoing some reorganization. . ."

"I heard about that," he said suddenly. "Corrupt cop stuff."

She chewed on her bottom lip, hesitant. "Is that common knowledge? Because the idea was to keep it in-house."

"It's. . .common enough. Not being dragged through the papers, but you know there are always other sources."

"Shit," she muttered. "Well. Yeah, you're right. A guy at the 54th was on the take - wrapped up in some mob stuff they said. I don't know. I haven't heard the details and I'm not supposed to. So don't - I don't want to know, Castle."

"Okay. I can keep a secret."

She did smile at that, realized suddenly how much he made her smile. "Anyway, the restructuring they're doing at the 54th means a lot of their guys are getting shuttled around. For their own sakes, really. So we're looking at getting two or three new detectives."

"Which means it might make it harder for you. I get it."

"Not harder, just that it might delay-"

"-the inevitable," he inserted quickly.

She laughed at that too, glad she'd called him. When they got the news today about the 54th, she'd been certain it meant her promotion would be put on hold. But the way Castle talked - her confident certainty came rushing back.

"Hey, are you at home?" he said suddenly.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"It's late. Just get home?"

She sighed. "Yes." He knew her too well.

"Don't work too hard. I don't want you spending all weekend sleeping in my bed. I got plans for you."

She huffed at that, but couldn't help picturing how damn nice that sounded. Stretched out in his bed. The beach somewhere beyond the window. The way he liked to stroke his fingers over her skin as they dozed on the edge of sleep-

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" he murmured.

She hummed in agreement and closed her eyes, let her body slide down the couch. It was late; she wasn't about to go over to his place just because his voice sounded so warm and welcoming.

Didn't stop her from wishing he could come over here. Come to her for once.

She bit her lip. She shouldn't. She wanted to, but she really should be more considerate-

Hell with it. "Alexis is asleep," she said softly.

"Hm? Yeah. Better be," he laughed. "It's late."

"Call your mother."

"What?"

"To stay there while you - Do you think she'd - I want you. I just. . .want you." She swallowed hard in the silence. "Here. At my place."

She waited, eyes closed as her heart pounded in her chest, shaking her body on the couch. She wanted to say please but she wouldn't. She wouldn't. It wasn't fair to ask in the first place. And she wasn't that person, begging-

"Okay. Okay. Let me - I'll call. I don't know if I can convince her, but I'll call."

And then he hung up on her.

She paced.

Hands pressed to her eye sockets, quick strides along the floor at the back of her couch.

He called and she snatched up the phone, words spilling out. "You don't have to-"

"I'm at your building. Let me in?"

Oh yes.

Beckett only barely kept herself from racing for the door. She took the stairs efficiently, realized halfway down that she was barefoot and in black leggings, oversized shirt, no bra, no underwear, her hair in a mess around her face, make-up scrubbed off-

He was leaning against the outside of her building, his head turned towards the street, his plaid pajama pants sticking out from under his coat.

She pressed her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing, opened the inside door first, leaned forward to unlock the security door. She shoved on it, foot propped in the door behind her to keep it from closing, and Castle caught the security door and pulled it wide.

He came in, his eyes hot, and his hand immediately curled at the back of her neck as his mouth pushed down over hers.

She stumbled, felt her foot lose its place and had to jerk back, catch the inside door before it closed on them.

"I didn't bring my keys down," she explained, her back against the wood as he stared after her, molten.

He nodded and pushed past her inside the lobby of her building, their bodies brushing purposefully, insistently. She felt his coat catch on her shirt and let herself follow after him.

She took his hand and led him back up the stairs, her fingers playing at his palm, slipping along the smooth, cool skin. He let their touch stay loose, even dropped back a few steps so their hands were lighter, easier to swing, and then she felt the back of his fingers against her hip, her thigh as she moved, her ass.

She tossed him a look over her shoulder and he just grinned, that slow, pleased with himself smile that made her stomach jump in anticipation.

"What'd your mother say?" she murmured, trying to dissipate some of the unbearable tension as they mounted the steps.

"She said it was only fair that - for once - I do the walk of shame."

Kate grinned and turned her face back to the hall, pulled him after her towards her door. She let go of his hand to twist the knob and felt him at her back, his palms already moving across her abs and under her shirt.

"I think she's right," Kate murmured, pushing open her front door and easing forward, trying not to break the connection of his hands on her. "Only fair."

He dropped Alexis at school, confiscating her book as she left him; she fumed, but her teacher had called and confessed that Alexis was reading during class.

So no books in her possession at school until she could get herself under control. He'd never seen Alexis do something quite so flagrant, and while a part of him was relieved to find out she was a normal kid, he was also concerned.

He didn't want it to be about Kate, but he couldn't help thinking it might be.

With Mixed-Up Files in hand, he headed back down the sidewalk and rolled his shoulders, tilted his neck. He'd fallen asleep in Kate's bed, which was too small for him - it was almost too small for her - and he had a twinge in his back that wouldn't go away.

She'd confessed this morning that she liked his bed better when there was two of them. He'd grinned and tried to make her bed a little more. . .fun.

He thought he'd succeeded.

His mother had slept in the guest bedroom, and when she'd come downstairs for breakfast with him and Alexis, his daughter had been thrilled to see her. And surprised. His mother had taken one for the team, claimed she'd not been able to make it all the way home last night and so had stopped over at the loft.

His mother was melodramatic, but she came through.

You owe me, she'd mouthed, heading out the door.

He did. Definitely. And he knew he'd be paying her back soon enough.

Castle stopped in at the corner deli, squeezing into line behind a sharply dressed, newspaper-reading businessman. Rick tucked the book up under his arm even as a young woman followed him inside and took a place in line right at his back. She crowded close, which was strange, but she was talking on her cell phone and didn't seem to notice their proximity.

And then-

A sighting. He felt the difference just by the change in the air - tension or extra awareness, he wasn't sure what. Just the sense of eyes which thought they were familiar with him. He casually cast his gaze around the crowded deli, scanning people at the cafe tables, checking them out to see if they were trying to check him out.

A woman in running clothes, sipping a cup of black, a jogging stroller parked next to her and the kid inside tearing apart a bagel. A man on his phone, saying absolutely nothing, staring into the middle distance. A guy with a laptop parked at the counter against the window, a man next to him with earbuds in, probably with an ipod - the telltale white cord gave it away.

A woman in a skirt and sneakers, fussing over her suit jacket while a friend complained across from her. A man in tweed sipping tea slowly, his eyes closed, a dog at his feet, his egg sandwich uneaten on a plate.

Castle kept going, cataloging each and every character, filing away details for later scenes, other stories. He wondered what had set him off, made his eyes start wandering in the first place, and maybe his ego really had gotten out of hand.

A shift of bodies as the line pressed forward and Castle crossed the slight gap between himself and the serious man with the newspaper. And then he saw her - a woman at the tiny table tucked right inside the door, squeezed into an impossible corner.

"I'm sorry," she blushed, blonde hair brushing her shoulders. "I just - I saw your book."

He gave a polite, friendly smile. Of course she had. "Have you read it?" he asked, not sure which book she meant, but willing to go with it.

"Oh yeah. But it was ages ago."

Ages? Was he really that old?

"I loved it when I was a kid."

A kid? He really was that-

Oh. Alexis's book, under his arm.

Castle hid his amusement by tugging the book out, then glanced back down to the woman at the cafe table. She'd been reading, her fingers pressed into the page to keep her place.

It looked like Pride and Prejudice and he couldn't help but be disappointed. Of course a pretty blonde in a New York deli was reading a Jane Austen novel. He wanted to tell the universe, Try harder.

If it were Kate reading in a cafe, it would be Philip K. Dick or Peter Høeg - something gritty and mysterious and literate. Something that would make him want to forget his coffee and sit down with her, talk about books.

He suddenly wanted to call her and talk about books. Probably not a good idea at nine in the morning.

Pride and Prejudice was smiling up at him. "So. If you don't mind my asking, are you liking it?"

Castle did grin back at that, shook his head. "It's my daughter's. I've had to confiscate it."

The woman laughed, glanced down at her own book. "Well. That's something I can certainly relate to. And I bet your daughter is begging to go to the Met now, isn't she?"

Castle stilled, studied the woman's face a little more intently. Nothing dangerous in it, no guile, no crazy eyes either. He relaxed imperceptibly, and slid up a bit farther in line.

"She is. Yes. Dying to go, actually. I think she was too little to remember the last time we were there." He wasn't comfortable adding anything more specific, but the woman was already continuing on.

"I have to admit, I was so disappointed when my mom took me. I'd just read that book, and it seemed so magical, so mysterious, and then to go. . .I guess I was too young to really appreciate the beautiful art. And even though I suppose I'm old enough now, I've never really been able to get over that first impression."

He glanced back down to the book with surprise, flipped through a few pages, tried to see the magic in it that had captured this woman, and Kate, and now his daughter as well. So much so that she was sneak-reading it in class.

"I guess I'll have to read it," he said finally.

And then it was his turn to order.

He had to say, he was pretty disappointed. There wasn't a lot of magic in the first fifty pages.

However, he totally got why it appealed to Kate and Alexis; the main character, Claudia, was so detail-oriented, so strict with the rules and having order and doing things right. Even though Claudia and her brother were running away to the Met, the sister was intent on them learning every day from a new room in the museum.

Seemed a lot like Alexis, and probably Kate too.

Bored with it, he started skimming.

If there was magic - and mystery - he didn't want his daughter to lose it when she was faced with the reality of the Met.

Not like the woman in the deli. And well, not like Kate either.

When had Kate lost that sense of magic? Maybe when the mystery had become all there was to her life - more than she could want, or have to bear. Maybe that had been the moment, coming home to find her mother murdered.

Castle shivered and settled deeper into his chair, determined to find the magic for them both.