Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Fear gripped him as her gaze locked with his. He held up his hands defensively, backing away as she came toward him. "Beckett, I can explain."
"I dare you to say one more word." She hissed. She had his back against the wall and was literally three inches from his face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Her face was as red as her hair and he was pretty sure if the walls had been soundproof she'd be screaming as loudly as she could, but as it was she was screaming softly, so as not to be heard. "Do you have any idea how much danger you've just put us in?" She turned away from him and stepped over to a window peaking out of the closed curtain. She breathed deeply; contented to think they were safe for the moment, since no one was in the area. Her hands went through her hair, as she tried to think of what to do now. "Castle, how did you even find me?"
He came off of the wall and let his guard down slightly. "If I tell you that, you'll arrest me."
"I may still arrest you." She shot back hotly. "Did one of the boys talk?"
He shook his head. "No. They wouldn't tell me anything, for the record though, they are horrible lairs. I had to find you on my own."
"How?" She demanded.
He didn't answer but it only took one step in his direction from her to make him talk. "Ok, ok." His hands went up again. "When I picked you up to take you to the airport I lifted your badge and copied your credit card number. After you boarded the flight to Florida I told one of the attendants that I was an undercover officer, tracking a suspect in a string of high end robberies. I flashed the badge, gave her a forged warrant and your card number to track, and she told me what I needed to know. So I got on the next flight out here and waited for you to land." He cringed as he finished speaking, fully expecting her to knock him unconscious.
She couldn't believe her ears. An agitated, "You're unbelievable." was all she could manage to say. As upset with him as she was, all she could do at that point was shake her head with frustration as she slid herself into a chair at the table, covering her face with her hands. He had just made this mission ten times harder than it had to be. Aside from the obvious danger, he was now going to have to watch her interact with people as The Widow and she knew he wasn't going to like it. She had tried her best to keep him in the dark this time, and for good reason, but it hadn't worked. Her hands slid from her face and she was finally able to look at him again. "Well, congratulations, now that you're here, you get to be my body guard. We'll just have to pray that Gian doesn't kill you on sight."
He relaxed and took a seat across from her. "Who?"
She sighed. "I guess I should start from the beginning. Ok, listen, and no questions until I'm finished."
He nodded leaning forward and giving her his full attention.
"Seven years ago there was a period of about seven or eight months where a lot of high ranking members in different crime rings decided to bail. The head members instead of sending their own people after the snitches would contact Gian. He out sources professional assassins that have a taste for the dramatic. The bosses wanted to scare anyone else from deciding to turn coat. The problem with this was that the cops needed these men alive. They had to get someone on the inside that could "kill" these people in order to save them. So, when this first started, the NYPD staged a whole slew of murders, making sure the media knew about it. The story was that a cereal killer was preying on unsuspecting men. They called her The Widow, because she'd seduce them and then kill them, leaving nothing behind except a card with a black spider on the victim's lips. She literally had the 'kiss of death'. Between Gian's love for drama and his affinity for beautiful women I caught his attention very quickly. He finally made contact and guess who became his assassin of choice?"
He, at this point, was hanging on her every word. "The Widow?"
She nodded. "She always got the job done and never got caught. It was a fairly simple operation. Gian would call me for all the really important jobs. I'd get close to whoever it was, eventually get them alone, temporally poison them and then they NYPD would come in, remove the 'body', in full view of the camera's of course, and nurse the victim back to health in a secure area. The snitches were allegedly dead, the police got their information, and I was on the top of Gian's list. Everybody won, until Gian decided to go with his instincts. He decided everything was going a little too smoothly. So he contacted me one night, saying he wanted to meet to discuss another target. When I showed up he accused me of working with the police. He called the station, telling them that he knew all about me and that they should probably come clean up my remains from the sidewalk." She paused as her hand slid over her heart. "Then he put a bullet in my chest."
"Kate," He tried to reach for her hand, but she held it up to quiet him.
"I just barely survived that shot. I was in the hospital for almost two months. The whole time still keeping the persona of The Widow. The Chief wanted her to stay alive in case they ever needed her again. So, I recovered, was sent to prison to prove to Gian that I wasn't a cop, and a month later there was a prison break. No one ever saw or heard from The Widow again." She breathed deeply. "Now, seven years later, a man named Dante Rosa, breaks ranks from Kalebe Hundaro."
His eyes widened. "New York's biggest crime lord?"
She nodded. "Hundaro contacted Gian. They are in the middle of a huge smuggling deal right now, everything from drugs to high end weapons, and he wants no part of an assassination while everything else is going down. Apparently being shot, going to prison and breaking out, was enough to earn Gian's trust. He's looking for me to get Dante."
"And you took this case after he's already tried to kill you once? Are you crazy?" His voice rose with concern with ever word as he stood.
"Shh!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him back into his seat. "I took this case because we may never get another chance at Hundaro like this and I'm sure I can handle it. Can you?" She starred straight into his eyes awaiting an answer. Doubt started to creep through her when he didn't respond. He was just staring back at her and she wished she could read his mind as she searched his hard eyes for some clue. He was always there for her, and he had never let her down before, but did his lack of response mean that he had finally had enough? Would he leave her to do this on her own?
This was a bad idea, and she was insane for accepting to pick this thing up again after such a close call the last time, but he had made up his mind when he followed her out here. He would stand by her no matter what. "Yes," was the answer that finally came.
She didn't realize the breath of relief she made after his answer. "Ok, then," It was right back to business. "This is a very simple operation. I find Gian. He tells me where to find Dante. I work my magic,"
Castle's breath caught as she slid her fingers down the front of the corset and pulled out a little vile of clear tacky liquid.
She placed it on the table and continued. "and hopefully we all go home alive."
He picked up the little vile examining it's contents.
"You're cover story is that after he tried to kill me the last time, I wasn't dumb enough to come and meet him alone again. You're my body guard."
He nodded vaguely as she finished talking, fascinated with the vile.
"Castle," She was scolding him for not paying attention to a thing she had just said.
"Body guard, I got it, but what is this exactly?"
She shook her head and snatched it back from him as he was trying to open it. "It's Spider Wasp venom, Tarantula Hawk if you want me to be exact. It's a paralyzing agent." She shook her head amused at his quizzical look as she tried to simplify it for him. "This is what I use to make my victims play dead. In smaller creatures the paralyzation is permanent, but given enough time, it wears off of people." She paused. He was gaping at her. "What?"
"That was so sexy." He bit his lip. "Say it again."
She smiled coyly at him and leaned forward slowly, locking her eyes with his and stopping only inches from his face. "It's spider wasp venom." Her voice was thick and quiet. "It's incredibly potent."
His eyes shut as he lavished in every word.
"And I'm going to use it on you if you don't start paying attention to what we're doing." Her palm connected with his forehead, forcing him out of the daze. She stood leaving him at the table to rub his stinging head as she unpacked.
"So, do we know where this Gian is or are we playing a really big, live version of Where's Waldo?"
She smiled at him. "Esposito knows people who know people. He's been working on getting his location since I left. We should know where we're going by morning." She grabbed night clothes from her bag and walked into the bathroom, coming out a moment later ready for bed. "I don't know about you, but I have terrible jet lag. We should probably try to get some sleep." She slid into one side of the enormous bed and waited. "Well?" She asked impatiently when he didn't move.
He raised an eyebrow at her unable to believe what he was hearing. "Why Detective Beckett, are you asking me to come to bed with you?"
Her eyes narrowed as she watched him gather his clothes and go to change. "I can be a grown up if you can, Castle." She called after him.
He smiled at her as he returned from the bathroom and fell into the opposite side of the bed. "But what if I can't?"
She reached for the vile from the nightstand. "Then I'll just use this."
He cringed slightly. "Stay on my side, I think I can do that."
She nodded and crinkled her nose. "Good." Turning to her side, with her back to Castle, she switched off the lights and put her head down. She was almost asleep when his voice came peeling through the quietness.
"So how do you administer the poison?"
"Castle," She groaned. Now she was on her back staring into the dark at the ceiling. "If I tell you that you'll never go to sleep."
She had already caught his attention and he was soon propped on one elbow facing her. "If you don't tell me I'll just use my imagination and figure out all the ways you could possibly do it." He smiled as the sigh of defeat left her mouth.
"It has to be injected or ingested. I hate needles."
Their eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness and he could make out the loathsome look as she thought about syringes. "So ingestion it is, but how do you get them to drink poison?"
Kate sighed as she slid her elbows back to sit up slightly. She didn't want to explain this to him. "I seduce them, Castle. I put it on my lips, like gloss, before I go to meet the intended target. Like I said it's very potent, especially when it's ingested. It only takes a few minutes of making out before they suddenly realize they can't move." The look he was giving her was exactly why she didn't want to tell him any of that. Reaching out she pushed his bottom jaw back up to close his mouth and then tapped his cheek. "Goodnight, Castle."
He snapped from his imagination as she started to roll back over. "Wait! Wait!" He grabbed her arm to keep her from getting any further, taking no notice of the aggravated groan she gave him in protest. "If it's on you lips then why doesn't it affect you?"
Her arm was over her eyes. "I have anti-venom. I take it before I put the venom on. Now can we please go to sleep?"
"Yes," He kissed her protruding elbow and lay back down. "Goodnight, Kate."
She smiled and laughed to herself as the feeling of his lips lingered on her skin. Only he would kiss an elbow.