It's Beginning to Get to Me

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Kate has figured out pretty quickly – in fact, she had figured it out within the first few times of sleeping with him – that sex with Castle would never get boring. He seems to put in just as much imagination into coming up with new ways to get her off as he did spinning plot points for his novels. He's adventurous and more significantly, he makes her adventurous.

"Castle," she says one night in between drawn out moans, "Either let me eat that strawberry or fuck me already."

"Ooo, I like it when you talk dirty," he says, sounding awfully pleased with himself as he continues to drag the chocolate-dipped strawberry over her body. It's even better for him when the chocolate starts to melt.

Kate groans when he licks tantalisingly close to her nipples. "Castle, I mean it." Her demand loses some of its force due to the breathy way she says it.

Still, "How about I do both?" he says, sliding his free hand between her legs while the fruit hovers over her mouth.

She whimpers when his finger starts stroking up and down along her moist opening.

"Come on, Kate," he coaxes until she finally opens her mouth and takes a bite. He's unsure whether her subsequent moans are due to the sweetness of the fruit or the way he's currently fucking her with his fingers.

Later, Kate realises that chocolate-covered fruit had only been the beginning of his repertoire.

When she finally agrees to let him borrow her handcuffs, she wonders why she hadn't let him use them earlier. Once he realises they had scratched her wrists though, he switches over to silk ties.

"You can stop this whenever you want, you know," he says, looking into her eyes right before he carefully blindfolds her.

"I know," she murmurs and then she says the three words that make his heart skip two beats. "I trust you."

She's much more alert without her eyesight. When he starts to skim his fingers over her body, the contact feels amplified and sets her on edge, not knowing where or when the next touch would come. One second he's sucking on her hardened nipples and the next, his lips have travelled down to nip at the inside of her left thigh.

The knots he had used to secure her wrists to the bed are loose enough to undo but all she can do when he goes down on her is tug on them as her body bucks up. She feels his hands on her hips immediately, keeping her in place while he works her with his tongue. Her head tips to the side as her breathing turns into pants. She's moaning in desperation until he suddenly applies pressure to her clit and she screams out in pleasure.

He plants kisses along her body as he waits for her to catch her breath. As soon as she does though, one of his hands are already between her legs.

Her breath hitches when she feels him brushing his tip against her entrance. His other hand softly caressing her cheek, he waits until he feels her nearly imperceptible nod against it. He slides into her at once and she barely has time to adjust before he's pulling out of her. She cries out when he slams back in almost immediately, her hands gripping at the restraints when he continues to take her fast and hard.

"I can't," she finally gasps, "Please, Castle, take it off."

He slips the blindfold off and throws it on the floor. Her eyes, wide and full of passion, meet his at once. He brings his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly as his movements above her slow.

"You're amazing," she says, the sex-filled haze having removed the filter in her brain that usually prevents her from saying things like that.

He only smiles back at her softly. "And you're beautiful."

That night, instead of waking up in a terror, she wakes up in the middle of a nightmare in which Castle features front and centre. It's a nightmare that tells her what she had accepted for herself a long time ago. Her job is dangerous. She's dangerous.

Even after she calms down, her resolve remains.

She knows what she has to do.

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"Kate! What are you doing here? I was just about to head over to your place."

"I know." Kate walks through the front door of Castle's loft but remains in the foyer. "There's something I need you to do."

"Name it."

Kate looks around, notices the distinct lack of noise. "Where are Alexis and Martha?" she asks.

"Alexis is in her room, my mother is out—" he makes a gesture with his hands, indicating she could be anywhere by now. "Why? What's up?"

"Nothing," Kate answers, "Everything's fine. I just came to tell you not to come over tonight… anymore, actually."

He narrows his eyes. "Why?"

"Because I can take care of myself," Kate replies on a sigh. "And you can't keep leaving Alexis here, on her own, especially if Martha is out. Like tonight."

"Oh, please," Castle starts, "That's just an excuse and you know it. Alexis can take care of herself better than I can. And definitely better than my mother who likes to throw parties every other weekend."

"She's your daughter, Castle."

"Are you reminding me?" he says sardonically.

"No. I'm trying to tell you that you have priorities!"

"Kate, have you ever considered that you might be one of those priorities?" His voice has risen and after a quick glance up the stairs, he starts walking towards his office. When Kate doesn't immediately follow, he turns around, "I don't want to wake up Alexis."

"I know," She stares at him steadily, "But I'm already done having this conversation"

He stares right back. "Well, I'm not."

"We'll just have to agree to disagree then." Kate turns around to open the door and Castle catches up to her before she's made it three steps down the hallway.

"Castle!" she says, shaking off his hands when he makes a grab for her arm. "How do you think this situation is going to play out? You can't stay with me forever!"

"Actually, that sounds like a pretty good plan to me," he shoots back, not even remotely joking.

She ignores his comment and continues with her own rant. "And I can't keep having sex with you every night!"

"Again, that sounds pretty good to me."

"We are so fucked up, you know that? You're doing all of this just so I can stop having nightmares."

"Not nightmares, Kate! Night terrors."

"I know what I have, Castle!"

"And I am not just doing all of this out of some misguided concern."

Kate finally lowers her voice back to an appropriate volume. "This isn't normal," she says.

"Well, that's good," he replies, "Because I don't want 'normal'."

She shakes her head. "You're not my boyfriend. We're not even a couple."

"What the hell are we then?" Castle's really frustrated now. "We're not friends with benefits," he continues when she doesn't have a response for him, "Remember how that turned out when we tried it? Actually, I don't think we were ever 'friends with benefits'."

"I think we were."

"No, because if you had just been in it for the sex, if you really had felt nothing, you wouldn't have run."

"I told you why we couldn't be together, Castle!"

"You can't seriously tell me you still believe in all of that," he scoffed, "You can't say I'm unreliable one minute and then thank me for always being there the next. It doesn't work that way."

"We're different," Kate says by way of response.

"Clearly." He rubs at his temples, feeling like they keep having the same conversation over and over again. "I have no idea what's going on in your head, Kate. I try to see things from your perspective – with that tough exterior you put up and the distance you keep from people – but I feel like with all of your master detecting skills, you can't seem to uncover your own feelings about us; you're not even willing to figure out something as fundamental as what you want."

"What are you even trying to argue here, Castle? That I'm a cold person? Didn't we start this conversation with me telling you that I just didn't want you to babysit me anymore?" Kate's tone got angrier as she went. "I was done with this conversation a long time ago. In fact, it wasn't even supposed to have been anything more than a request. So, you'll excuse me if I've lost track of what we've been fighting about!"

"You know what Kate? I'm done," he spits out. "When you finally realise what it is that you want, call me. Otherwise, don't bother."

"Fine by me," she replies with equal fury, "I never wanted you to follow me around anyway!"

She turns to walk away from him, jabbing the down button of the elevator repeatedly. Castle is already at his front door when he suddenly turns around. "You were right about one thing," he says, slightly calmer now, "We're not opposites. I always just thought of you as my missing piece."

Without a backwards glance, Kate steps into the elevator and he shuts his front door.

A/N: First half smut, second half fight: that's pretty balanced, right?