Previously in Apples &Cherries…Kate told Castle to call the newspapers and tell them she was going to be his date for the symphony. When she came home, he was all: Nuuuuuu!

Can I just say that you guys' reviews for the last two chapters have been extremely entertaining. You guys are freaking ADORABLE with your theory building. Congrats to those who figured it out!

Chapter Twenty-Five:

She was blonde.

"NO!"

Gone were the chestnut curls that he loved so much.

"No. No, no, no, no, no."

He put a hand over his eyes and rubbed them hard, as if that would make the image of Kate with straight blonde hair disappear from his mind.

He choked on her name. "Kate."

"Castle, calm down. It's just a wig."

"Calm down? Calm down!" He was yelling now, his deep voice reverberating off the walls of the loft, causing Kate to jump slightly at his vehemence.

"Goddammit, Kate! This better not be what I think it is. Are you using yourself as…as bait?" His voice rose again to a higher, louder pitch. He was stalking towards her, anger in his eyes. They were flaring blue flames. The arcs of laugh lines that normally framed his eyes were devoid of their levity, instead becoming harsh trenches that emphasized the fury of his glare.

"Stop freaking the hell out, Castle!" She had forgotten to stand her ground and her autonomic nervous system seemed to have shanghaied control of her legs, slowly retreating them from his advancing form. She suddenly found her back pressed against the wall with no escape from his fast approaching figure. He looked so tall. "Look, we're getting nowhere trying to find him. All we have to do is get me in this wig next to you in a picture in the newspaper, and he'll come straight to us! He'll find us Cast—"

"—NO! If I…" he seemed to choke on his words, his voice shaking in rage and his eyes blinking once slowly, painfully, "lose you too… I won't be able to… He can't have you too, Kate!" Pounding his fist against the wall, he punctuated his intensity and Kate felt the boom roll through her back.

And then before she even knew what was happening, he rolled his eyes back into his head and released the feral noise of an animal losing control. His fist hit the wall once again, softer this time and then before she could even process the sudden movement, his mouth was covering hers. Hot and demanding, he claimed her. His kiss finished the thought that his words had neglected to. He can't have you too, Kate. You're mine.

She was his and that's all there was to it, apparently. Bringing his fist from the wall, he roughly held her jaw in his palm, pulling her lips even closer to make sure she wouldn't escape just yet. She'd kissed him back almost immediately after she felt the pull of his lips at her own. A kiss like that couldn't go unreturned for long. Not when it was his lips. Not when it was this heat. Not when it was these emotions. She pushed her lips greedily back into his.

His other hand rose up to tear the long blonde wig from her head, sending her soft, brown curls tumbling over his hands and her shoulders.

"Not you." He whispered against her.

She bit down lightly on his lip to stop his words. Just for now. Scraping her teeth along it, she released the tortured flesh and relieved it with her tongue, tasting the mix of their flavors. He pulled her lower lip in between his and she moaned in a way that he could feel in his very core. That very center of him that was dedicated to her. It sparked, then flared, then burned wildly. Their hands were desperately pulling and pushing and generally forgetting any sense of boundaries as they fulfilled ambitions of their own.

His came to grip her around her waist and he pushed her further into the wall, palms pressing forcefully against her ribs. He ripped his lips from hers and attacked her neck with kisses and scrapes of his teeth, enough to mark her, but not enough to hurt. Kate's control snapped and her leg rose to wrap around his hip and she used her ankle to pull him that much closer to her. He released a primal growl and hoisted her higher on the wall so that her remaining leg dangled inches above the floor, her weight now supported by the press of his solid body and the strong wall.

She was hot. His hands and lips and chest were burning her. Fire was erupting anywhere he touched and she pulled his mouth back to hers from its questing at her neck to stifle a moan before she could release it. She had absolutely no idea what was happening, but she had never felt this way in her entire life. Needy. Out of control. Desperate.

It ended as abruptly as it had started, he pulled away from her completely, leaving his hands at her waist until her feet hit the solid ground. Panting hard and frozen in time, they started at each other in a curious mix of surprise and desire. Her lips were red and swollen from his kiss and he could feel her hot breath against his cheek. The only thing that stopped him from pulling her to him again was the slight twitch of her jaw as it started to form words.

"Rick."

Her voice was breathless, barely a whisper. He was normally so adept at reading her expressions, but they were flitting too fast across her face for him to catch onto any of them. Her finger slowly brushed along his lower lip, wiping away the evidence of her kiss. She closed her eyes before bringing the fingers to her own lips, biting the very tip of a nail. Breathing deeply she stepped slightly to the side and away from his swaying body. She bent over and picked up the wig from the floor, holding it between them beseechingly. Her autumn eyes met his.

"It's all we have."

He shook his head in denial. "There has to be another way. You can't—you can't do this." He was begging now. They both heard it in his voice.

"We are running out of time, Rick! I don't need to tell you that do I? Just…just trust me okay? This is the way." She laid a hand briefly on his chest and her eyes followed the way it now rose and fell rapidly with each breath he took.

The torn look in his eyes was painful for her to see. She had been expecting smiles and excitement. She hadn't thought that the plan would cause…this reaction. Her lips were still throbbing from his kiss and she desperately fought the urge to run her fingers over them. He had to accept that this was the way to get Alexis back.

He closed his eyes for a moment and then found hers. The look she saw was undiluted trust and resignation.

"Okay. What do we have to do?"

….

After a tense and almost uncomfortable conversation, both Beckett and Castle agreed that they would need formalwear for tomorrow night's symphony. Gathering up the things they would need to go out, the two left the loft and made their way to the shopping district across the Willamette. It was in walking distance and getting some fresh air was lifting Rick's mood significantly. Oh, he still was not pleased with the situation and Kate's plan, but he had seemed to reconcile himself to the fact that it was indeed their only option at the moment.

Kate was wearing the blonde wig. He would find himself catching her in his peripheral vision and not even making that unconscious mental recognition that it was Beckett. That disturbed him greatly, so he spent most of the walk with his head fully turned to the side, focusing on her profile.

She was still beautiful as a blonde. She didn't look like his Kate, but she was still utterly gorgeous. If he kept his eyes on her face, though, he wouldn't lose that feeling of Kate-ness that he got around her. She had the most perfect nose. It wasn't petite and dainty, but it wasn't a huge honker like his own. It had character. It gently sloped until the very tip where it turned slightly up, testing his restraint. Sometimes at work, he could hardly contain his urge to press a light kiss to the very tip.

Kate smacked his arm and interrupted his internal musings on her very fine nose.

"Castle? Quit. Staring."

He turned his head away quickly and apologized in a rush of air. "Sorry."

"See? Not so opposed to the blonde wig now, are ya? You like it."

Castle gave an incredulous laugh. She couldn't possibly believe that he found her more attractive this way, could she?

"You look great. Not the same, though. I miss the brown."

She ducked her face and let the curtain of synthetic strands cover her blush. They hadn't talked about the insane kiss at all. It was insane, right? Yes, of course it was insane. She couldn't quite shake the feel of his lips on her neck or his hands spanning her waist. It consumed the background of every thought she had. She could almost feel the heat radiating off his body as they walked, although it may have just been the remnants of a memory.

She had no idea what to think of the kiss. He had been so forceful. Possessive. He kissed her like he had been drowning and she was his first gasp of air. He didn't just want her. He needed her. And that thought consumed her like a fire. For the entirety of the walk, he had been staring at her profile, which served only to fan the flames that were burning her. Trying to shake the feelings inside her, she struggled to pull down a façade of normalcy.

"Oh sure, Castle. We all know blondes are your type. All I'm gonna say is don't get used to it. As soon as we get Alexis back, I'm burning this damn thing."

"I'll provide the lighter fluid."

There he was, being sweet again. She could see the worry in his eyes still and she was becoming afraid it would find its way permanently into his features. Switching the subject from anything relating to her hair or Castle's preference in women, she paused outside an independent florist shop.

"This seems like as good a place as any for the picture. Go get that guy and ask him to snap a quick one of us."

"Are we posing or trying to look paparazzi candid?"

She thought for a mere second before responding confidently. "Candid, I think. That's a more realistic way for our fictitious cover to be blown."

Castle walked away after a nod of agreement and went to presumably ask the man working the counter to snap a quick picture of the two of them. He walked back to Kate with the man following closely behind.

"Ready?" he asked her hesitantly.

"As I'll ever be."

Castle stepped awkwardly near her and seemed to have absolutely no idea what to do with his hands. He settled for putting one high on her waist while the other hovered indecisively near her shoulder. She grabbed it in her own and placed it along her jaw, stepping in closer to him. His hand was warm against her skin and she struggled to keep her eyes from expressing how his touch was making her feel. This was staged. This was fake. This wasn't real, they were only posing.

Her breath gave away what her eyes were attempting to hide. It was coming fast and shallow. Their position, no matter how awkward the situation, was reminding her of the mere hours ago when she'd had her leg wrapped around his hip and her tongue in his mouth. She put a hand on his chest and then leaned in close to his face, ignoring the flick of his eyes to her lips that were inches away. The scene looked like a loving couple about to share a kiss with a backdrop of various blossoming flora.

Speaking quietly, Kate directed her words at the man holding Rick's iPhone in camera mode. "Take the picture now, please."

She heard the click and immediately pulled away from the electricity of Castle's embrace and walked to meet the man with the phone. Peering down at the screen she gave her objective approval. Turning back to Castle she saw he was half-frozen where she had left him. Clearing her throat, she addressed him.

"It looks good. Let's send it to Shannon now so she can get it in print." Handing him the phone she let him press the necessary buttons to email it with the shop's wireless, since his texting was still down.

"Done."

A few minutes later as they continued their search for a dress and a suit, a text binged in on Castle's other phone, confirming that the reporter had indeed received it in time and it would be going out in tomorrow's news. Smiling at their success, Castle turned to Beckett and a slight frown appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Not to burst our little bubble, Detective, but I think there might be a slight flaw in the plan."

"Yeah? And what is that?"

"What are the odds that Tyson is actually going to read page six? How do we even know he's going to see the picture?"

"I guess we don't really…" She had already thought of this, but hearing it from Castle made it seem so much more hopeless. "I was thinking that he would probably be monitoring you somehow. Most likely through the press."

Castle nodded and then pulled the flip phone out of his pocket, calling Shannon.

"Hey, long time no talk!"

"Hey Richard. Great picture! I can't believe she's a blonde now. This is gonna make one helluva story."

"About that…I need another favor."

"Oh no. What is it this time?"

"I need the article and the picture to be on the front page."

"WHAT!"

"Hear me out—"

"No. No way can I make that happen."

Desperate, Castle spoke over her. "I'll be willing to do anything. Name your price. Name the Tribune's price. It's gotta be on the front page."

"Richard, this is ridiculous. The front page is for actual news. As happy as I am for you two adorable lovers, there are wars and politics and things that take precedence. You'll get a prime location on page six!"

"It needs to be the front page. Whatever it costs, Shannon. I'll do anything. I'll fund the Tribune out of my own pocket. I know you guys are floundering over there."

Shannon sighed heavily into the phone, knowing the paper needed his money, but hesitant to put a celeb story on the front page.

"I'll see what I can do."

"You're an angel, Shannon! An angel." He knew when she said something like that it meant she'd get it done. "Seriously just name the price and the check will be in the mail."

"I'm holding you to that."

She hung up and Castle turned to Beckett with pride on his face.

"That might help, right?"

She smiled with pride and relief. "Sure will. He can't miss it if it's on the front page, right?"

She hoped beyond hope, that Tyson was monitoring the media for news of Richard Castle. She hoped that he would see Castle with a blonde on his arm and not be able to resist. She hoped he would recognize her for who she was think that perhaps by killing her, he could hurt the author even more.

She hoped she didn't die in the process.

A/N: Yay! A not entirely fluffless chapter. Not that it was a particularly fluffy kiss. In fact, it might be the opposite of a fluffy kiss. In any case, THEY KISSED! They still can't…do anything about their feelings yet. It would be weird with Alexis in mortal peril. I just can't see Castle being emotionally stable enough to start anything with Kate if his daughter is still kidnapped.

Also: I am well aware of the fact that there is probably no WAY that Castle would get his little story on the front page. Just go with it. We are gonna make the jump that it's possible with enough money to grease the wheels.

So…Whadja think of the kiss?