This oneshot is dedicated to Scarlet Royal's Castle. She's going through a hard time. Love you!
Also, this isn't a freudian slip, but softer had the idea and I couldn't resist. It's a slip of some sort, so we figured it would work.
"I still say it's the dog," Castle commented from his chair as he blew on a fresh cup of coffee. Kate looked up at him with a disapproving frown and a roll of the eyes.
"Will you drop the dog thing? The dog is not our perp." She must've said it five times already, each time growing more annoyed, her eyes disappearing further and further behind her lids as they made their usual rounds. To tell the truth, though, Castle had the best idea so far; that is to say he had the only idea.
"Fine. It'd be difficult to handcuff him, anyway." He pouted like a child and sank into his seat, giving the whiteboard forlorn glances.
"Yes, Castle, that's the biggest problem with your scenario." She shoved back from the desk and abruptly stood, staring intently at the words on the board for the umpteenth time. They were beginning to look like a mass of scribbles rather than evidence in a double homicide.
"He walks home one night and sees his door smashed in," she began, unknowingly taking a step forward and leaning against the side of her desk. Castle was eye-level with her thighs, and he took the time to appreciate it after hours of staring at a dead end.
"And instead of calling the police, he walks in and finds his wife and brother in a compromising position on the couch." His eyes traveled up shamelessly.
She could feel his heated glance and shivered, trying desperately to ignore it. "According to Lanie, the bodies were positioned like that by the killer post-mortem."
Noticing her reaction, Castle didn't even attempt to cover his grin. His expression and the topic they were discussing in serious tones couldn't have been more opposite."The attacker approaches from behind, knocks him out, and runs off into the night. Cops arrive when a neighbor notices the broken door."
"The man is already conscious and icing his head. We have proof he didn't do this, but all the signs point to him." Stumped, Kate chewed her bottom lip and furrowed her brow.
Castle jumped up, knocking into her side and offering no apology. They turned to one another, the proximity closer than work friendly, a familiar shared look between them.
"Carl," they said in unison, spinning around to get their jackets and head out the door, Kate calling out to Esposito and Ryan for backup.
Beckett pressed the pedal harder, adrenaline pounding in her ears as the car screeched past the edge of a curb, just barely missing a newspaper stand.
"Cut him off," she barked to Esposito and Ryan. She saw their patrol car take a sharp turn and speed around a corner to get ahead.
Castle was clutching his seat for dear life, his knuckles white, a nervous smile occasionally transforming into grimace when things got a little too close for comfort. His stomach was yelling him for secretly wanting to be in an intense car chase for all these years.
"Can you slow down, please?" he gasped, one step closer to getting sick.
Her response was a swerve to the other side of the road, quickly jerking back and stopping in the middle of the street, horns blaring despite the flashing siren. Esposito and Ryan were stuck behind a wreck with no way out, leaving the detective and nauseous writer on their own.
"He's on foot, headed west," Ryan shouted through the police scanner.
Beckett hopped out and snatched their vests from the trunk, throwing Castle his and running off in the direction Ryan gave.
Castle leaned over and clutched his stomach, trying not to heave, his vest falling to the pavement. The ground was spinning rapidly, and his jello legs were having a hard time supporting his weight. Incoherent noises escaped his lips as he waited for the chaos in his head to subside.
As soon as his feet resembled feet and no longer two puddles, he shoved his vest on and treaded after the detective at a snails pace, but at least it was momentum.
He turned around a Starbucks to find Beckett pinning their perp to the ground, her body on top of his barely enough to keep him down. His legs flailed in every direction, narrowly missing her arm with each pass.
"Castle, I need you to get my phone out of my back pocket and hit speed dial 1. We need backup." She elbowed Carl in the back, stopping his motions for a moment so she could catch her breath.
"What!" His jaw dropped, his legs turning to jello again for a completely different reason.
"Just do it."
He dropped to his knees, his throat dry from running and the task ahead of him. Why couldn't she have put the phone in its usual place in a more appropriate area to be fiddling around with?
It wasn't reaching into her pocket and uncharted territory that was scaring him; in fact, that sent a thrill down his spine. It was the fact that he could get shot if he showed the pleasure it would give him.
"Hurry!" she grunted, slamming the criminal back down.
Taking a deep breath, Castle lunged for the bulge in her pocket. Closing his eyes was a fatal mistake. Slipping a few inches too far to the right, he ended up groping her, and he could help but moan at the contact.
Beckett didn't notice, however, for she was too busy sucking in a deep breath and squeezing her eyes shut, fighting a wave of pleasure of her own. "You missed," she finally let out.
"Uh, yeah, noticed." He quickly slid his hand into her pocket and grabbed the phone, silently thanking it for giving him the opportunity to touch her, albeit unintentionally, and walk away with no extra holes in his body.
Intending to hold down the 1, his shaking fingers fumbled and hit the 2. Before he could hang up and try again, he felt something vibrating against his leg.
Looking at her screen in confusion, a picture of himself popped up with "Castle" plastered under it. A picture he'd never seen or remembered posing for. He was sitting in his chair, deep in thought and staring off into space. No way he knew that was being taken when it happened.
Beckett was too busy holding down the perp to take note of his strange, grinch-like smile. He hung up on himself and called the precinct, already plotting what to do with this discovery.
Beckett, feeling just slightly peeved over the the amount of energy she had to exert in order to bring the guy in, verbally beat the confession out of him in a matter of thirty minutes or so. She now stood victoriously by the coffee machine, tapping her fingers impatiently.
Castle approached her excitedly, the time to execute his plan finally right. The two cups of coffee he'd practically inhaled earlier only fueled his child-like buzz.
"That was a complete 180 from this morning, huh?" She asked casually, leaning forward to check the coffee making process.
"I'd say so. Hey, so who else do you have on speed dial?" After receiving a questioning look, he explained as nonchalantly as he could manage. "Research."
The look she got whenever Nikki Heat was brought up clouded her features. It wasn't cold or cruel – more professional and guarded.
"Precinct, Lanie, Ryan, Esposito, Montgomery, Dad," she listed off, tagging "you" quietly to the end. "In that order," she hastened to add.
Castle stepped toward her slowly, now letting his smile shine brightly, enjoying the apprehension she so clearly displayed in her defensive posture.
"Detective," he whispered when he reached her, pushing a stray strand of hair from her face.
Heat spread over her skin, forming a blush she couldn't disguise by clearing her throat, though she tried. "Uh, yes?" His breath against her cheek mixing with the aroma of her favorite coffee smelled heavenly, simply irresistible.
Another step and the inches between them were coming to a close. She could almost feel his lips, licking her own at the thought. How would he taste, how perfectly their bodies would entwine...
"I have a secret." His fingers moved down to her collarbone, brushing lightly across her skin.
"What is it?" she muttered, holding onto the counter to support herself, not trusting her own shaky legs. His smoldering eyes bore through her, making her crinkle her toes. If only a look could do that, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what he could do with his hands.
His lips were against her ear now, and his hands slid down her sides, quickly but smoothly sliding to her phone. "I'm second on your speed dial. And I'm apparently highly photogenic, though that's not a surprise."
A shock of surprise and anger pulsated through her, causing her push against his chest to be a little too hard as she jerked back as far as the space behind her would allow. "What are you talking about?"
Chuckling, he held the phone up and waggled his eyebrows, quickly dashing away in order to avoid the inevitable punch.
Beckett immediately chased after him, making half-hearted attempts to snatch it back, his laughter echoing around the halls.
Special thanks to Beetlebug for being amazing at coming up with titles...and just in general, really. You're awesome, Andy. Seriously.
Another thanks to Softer for always being around to bounce ideas off of and for being incredible. Oh, and for telling me to hush when I'm too critical of my writing. Really, thanks.
If you enjoyed, a review, no matter how short, would be wonderful. Suggestions for other slips are welcome.