Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't

NB: Still writing this so, the updates won't be daily, sorry.

Collaboration

OOOO

"But seriously," he looked properly sober again. "You trust me with a gun, and I trust you with words. Any time you have an idea, let me know."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. If you're going to have to help me plan this and type it, you should get to write some of it." He took in her stunned expression. "If you want."

OOOO

"Hey, Beckett?"

"Hmm?" She didn't bother to look up from the laptop screen even when he dropped down onto the couch next to her making both her and the computer bounce. Knowing him, he was just going to point out another typing error - he had been meticulous about them for the last week and a half which had seen her at the loft almost every night after their shift.

"Are you a spontaneous, hot sex kind of a girl or more of a planned, romantic sex kind of girl?"

She almost managed to choke on air.

"You know, if you had a choice?" he continued when her eyes shot to his completely serious face. "Because you know, I'm good for either."

Her body was reacting faster than her mind could recover; she barely had enough brain cells still functioning to feel what had to be one of the most stunning blushes she had experienced in her life.

When all she did was blink at him he elaborated. "I get that up against the door, or on the couch in the heat of the moment, hell even the shower, would be amazing. But don't you think that might be a little boring for us? It's kind of expected even, so I was thinking of a way we could do it differently."

Higher brain functioning still at a little above zero. Generous estimate.

"Anyway, it occurred to me that no one really does the slow, planned seduction anymore. But what do you think? I don't know if that would really appeal to you."

He had no idea.

"Castle," she started, her voice so low she didn't even recognise it.

"It just seems to me that we're past the frantic and ready for something a little more meaningful. Long kisses and gentle foreplay." He took a lock of her hair in his free hand and began playing with it, a far away look on his face. "I think there is something to be said for taking it slow sometimes. Not candles and flowers and romantic dinner slow, just deliberate slow." He looked at her flushed face, only now seeming to realize he had been fondling her hair for the last minute.

"Castle," she cleared her throat as discreetly as she could, "I think…"

"Kate, I know she likes hot and fast, but there are other types of heat and I think she might actually love Rook enough now to explore a little of that with him, don't you?"

Rook. Nikki.

Castle you bastard, trying to give me a heart attack.

"You don't like it?"

Her first instinct was to yell at him and express exactly what she thought. There was no way he was completely innocent and hadn't interpreted her blush as anything other than what it was. He had been teasing her, deliberately leading her in her misunderstanding.

His expression now wasn't at all teasing or even smug, he seemed genuinely interested in her opinion on her alter-ego's sex life.

Writing the first scene in the book was hard enough, and all she had done was listen to his voice in her ear, telling her what to write. She had been conflicted enough, that aside from some wording issues, she hadn't changed the scene at all. It was if he was dictating one of her own fantasies back to her.

And now he was practically asking her which of her fantasies she enjoyed more, because when it came to Castle, she had them all.

But this was a little outside her experience. The sharing thing. Even the talking like she might actually get it, in any shape or form.

"As a matter of fact Castle," she admitted. "You might be right. I think she trusts him enough to let go."

He beamed. "Great. So slow seduction? I kind of want to tease her."

Her frown was completely involuntary. "She has a limit, Castle."

"Ah, but that's where I think you're wrong, Detective. What we're working towards here is that, when it comes to Rook, she doesn't have a limit."

"You sound pretty sure of that."

"I am. They can't stay where they are indefinitely. They are changing, especially thanks to some of your input. This would be the next logical step for them."

"So you want to show her letting go, and trusting Rook?"

"Yes."

She studied him but he didn't falter. He wanted this and she admitted it made sense.

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Really," she told him. It was what she herself would love to do. Writing it would make for practice of sorts, not unlike writing a letter with her therapist. She could allow herself to trust Castle completely, even through this indirect method. His smile stretched his face at her permission. There was no way she could have refused it, not that she would have: it was his book. He could put whatever he wanted in it.

"So did you have any ideas for this seduction?" she asked, getting ready to type. When he didn't answer she looked up at him and found him still happily smiling.

"Castle?"

"Right. Ideas."

"Yeah," she raised her eyebrows, waiting.

He opened his mouth but stopped himself before any words made it out. He frowned slightly and she looked at him questioningly.

"Castle?"

"I can't decide."

"Decide what?"

"I can't just pick one way that I would seduce…Nikki."

She picked up on the way he deliberately omitted 'you'.

"You can't seriously have that many plans floating around in your head," she scoffed.

"Oh, so you have one perfect seduction scene, do you?" he challenged.

Her mouth worked, but she didn't know how she was supposed to answer that one. Telling him the truth would only prove him right: over the last four years, she had imagined so many seduction scenes, it was near impossible to pick a favorite. Especially if he might use it against her at a later date.

Her silence spoke for itself.

"I knew it," he sounded triumphant.

"Shut up," she groused, trying to keep her composure. She had already reached her limit on blushes today. This week.

"So here's what I thought we could do," he waited until she focused her attention on him again. "We take two days, and we each write our own scene. We compare and go from there."

"Two days."

"That should be enough. If work picks up, of course the deadline shifts."

"You're serious."

"Yes. Yes I am."

"You're deranged," she muttered, resentful that he had already roped her into this.

"Ah, but I'm not deaf."