A/N: Well it took a lot longer to post this chapter than I thought it would. Between getting things ready for X-mas, starting another fic, and getting sick, it has been a very eventful few days, or should I say week? I'm somewhat uncertain about this chapter. I felt the need to explain what happened after the call and show how they handle it so they can get back to "other" activities. What started out as a short chapter turned out to be my longest one yet. Enjoy.

Twenty minutes later the pair found themselves walking towards Esposito and Lanie.

"What do we have?" Beckett tried to say with a little composure. They were both still a little breathless after what had just gone down, or hadn't gone down, or who hadn't gone down in her apartment. 'Focus Kate' she mentally shook herself back to reality.

"Victim's name is Elizabeth Southland. Twenty-five years old from upper Manhattan. Throat was slit, kid didn't have a chance," Esposito said shaking his head. When he glanced up at the pair he hesitated for a moment. Something was different. Beckett looked cool, calm, and collected as ever. Castle on the other hand. "Bro, you look like you've been hit by a bus. What the hell happened to you?"

Castle mentally shook himself, "It's been a long couple of days. I think it's finally catching up to me." Truth was he didn't plan on sleeping much at all in the near future, but none of them needed to know that little detail. Plus, this deer in the headlights look seemed to be working to mask the fact that he wanted Beckett so much at the moment he would have been willing to take her up against the alley wall.

Lanie's head shot up to look at the pair. Beckett was looking down, staring too intently at the body. Castle just had a deer in the headlights look. Something totally happened, but she wasn't for sure what. She caught Beckett's attention for a moment and gave her a "we're gonna talk later even if I have to smack it out of you" look that she was becoming quite good at as of late.

Shit, Beckett said to herself. She couldn't lie to Lanie. Try as she might, Lanie had a way of getting the truth out of her eventually. She leaned down next to ME and whispered softly enough for only Lanie to hear, "Don't tell the boys anything. I'll talk to you later." The ME seemed to accept that answer and went back to examining the body so they could get it back to the lab.

After about two hours of gathering evidence and details and having Ryan and Esposito give them a breakdown of witness reports Beckett decided it was probably alright for them to head back to the precinct. She started walking to the Crown Vic and realized that her shadow wasn't following her, "Let's go Castle or you're going to have to ride back in the back of the boys' car.

-C/B-

Back at the 12th Beckett started helping the boys put together the murder board. Castle was sitting in his chair with his head down on her desk.

"What's up with Castle?" Ryan said as he put up a picture of the victim.

Beckett looked back at Castle and internally grinned. "I don't know. We've been through a lot lately. Maybe everything that has happened recently has finally caught up with him.

"Beckett. What are you doing here?" They all turned around to see Gates staring at them. She looked over towards Beckett's desk and motioned towards Castle, "And can someone please tell me what the hell is wrong with Mr. Castle over here?"

"Ummmmm….we were called in on a case Sir." Beckett said.

"I thought I told you to take two days?"

Beckett paused, "That would be news to me Sir."

"Well," Gates briefly hesitated. "Go home, and take the writer with you."

Castle's head shot up off the desk at that last statement.

"Nice of you to join us Mr. Castle, now go home," and with that statement Gates retreated back to her office and slammed the door.

"Soooo…." she said looking at the boys, "I guess I'll see you guys in a couple days." Beckett walked over to Castle and put her hand on his shoulder, "Come on Rick let's go."

As the boys viewed the interaction between the pair they noticed how Castle looked at the hand on his shoulder with a shock at first and then looked up at Beckett and smiled. Beckett had a look on her face that neither could describe. It was like a cross between happy and loving. The pair walked away staying relatively close to each other.

Esposito paused for a moment "Did she just call him Rick?"

"Twenty bucks say they make out in the elevator," Ryan said to Esposito all of the sudden.

"You're on! But how are we going to know who wins?" Esposito said as he looked at Ryan.

After a moment's hesitation they both sprinted towards the stairs hoping that they would make it to the first floor before the elevator did.

-C/B-

As soon as the doors to the elevator closed Beckett took a deep breath. The boys suspected that something was up with her and Castle, she could see it in their eyes. She turned to say something to Castle, but suddenly found herself pushed up against the elevator wall. Castle's lips were on hers in an instant with a need that could only be described as desperate. She fell into the kiss easily, but as she curled her arms around his neck she noticed that his hands were nowhere to be found. "Ummmmm…..Castle, where are your hands?"

"Well, technically you haven't said I could use my hands again so I'm just going with what I have at the moment," he said before going back to kissing her.

She broke from the kiss momentarily, "Castle until this elevator gets to the first floor you can do whatever you want as long as it involves your hands all over….."

She didn't get to finish the sentence. He dove in for another kiss as his arms came out of nowhere and wrapped around her lifting her against the wall. As he lifted her she wrapped her legs around his waist. He took that moment to grab onto her ass and pull her closer into him. It was almost too much for him to bear. He had wanted to have her in this position for a while now, but he didn't want to push her to do something that she didn't want to do, or something that she wasn't ready to do.

All she wanted to do was rip all of his clothes off and have her wicked way with him, but since they were actually still in public she knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

He slipped a hand underneath the back of her shirt and started to kiss her neck softy starting behind her ear and working his way down.

"Castle, we need to stop."

He immediately let out a little groan and let his head fall over her shoulder and hit the wall of the elevator with a little thunk. "God Kate, you're killing me."

"I'm just saying, until we can take this where there's not a great chance we'll get caught," she said just a little bit breathless.

He lifted his head and gave her a little smile before giving her one more quick kiss. Or it was supposed to be a quick kiss. Beckett was the one to deepen this kiss this time ignoring her own advice that they should stop. She pulled herself even closer and ground against him, emitting a moan from both. Castle was the one to pull away this time and let out a little laugh at the little whine that Beckett let slip out over the loss of contact with him. He slowly released her and she slid down the wall until her feet once again touched the ground. They took a moment to compose themselves. Beckett tucking back in her shirt and both of them making sure that smeared lipstick was not visible.

When the elevator doors opened they stepped off only to almost run into Ryan and Esposito as they came barreling through the doorway to the stairs at full throttle.

"What the hell guys?" Beckett took a step back and looked at them with one of her signature disapproving looks.

The guys looked from her to Castle and back to her again. Nothing looked like it had changed. Castle even still had that dazed look he had upstairs.

"Well…" Ryan hesitated for a second.

"Ummm…" Esposito said with an 'I just got caught' look.

"We didn't tell you guys to have a good couple days off," Ryan blurted out all of the sudden.

Esposito gave him a death stare, but Ryan just looked at him and shrugged.

"Thanks guys. We'll see you later," Beckett said as her and Castle walked out the door smiling as they heard Esposito smack Ryan saying 'What the hell was that man?'

"So Castle, I believe that I have a pair of cuffs with your name on them," she whispered so only he could hear.

"Do you really," he said giving her a grin.

She nodded her head in response, "I think there's only one question left to answer."

"What's that?"

"Your place or mine?"

"Well I do remember Gates saying that you were supposed to take me home with you," he said with one of his signature drop dead gorgeous smiles.

"Leave it to you to remember that part of the conversation," she said with a smile as they walked toward the car.

-C/B-

Twenty minutes later they ended up at her place. Since it was where this whole adventure started it only seemed right that it they continue on in the same place. Plus Gates did order her to bring Castle back her in a roundabout way.

They walked into her apartment in complete silence. As she shut the door she tried to mentally plan her attack on him. She turned away from the door to face him and discovered him starting straight at her from across the room with absolute lust in his eyes. She had a brief moment of self-doubt about the whole situation, but she pushed that to the side nicely and started walking towards him. "I think Rick, can I call you Rick?" she said in her sexy, sultry voice that she knew now could get her most anything.

"You can call me anything you want to as long as I get to call you Kate."

She seemed to ponder this for a moment. "So Rick," she spoke as she continued towards him, "I think you are wearing way too much clothing." She had made it across the room to him and was sliding her hands up his chest to the top of his button down shirt.

"I think the same thing could be said about you Kate," he said lifting his arms up to the hem of her shirt.

"No, no, no Rick. Same rules as earlier, hands behind your back," she said taking a step back.

He let out an exasperated groan, but did as she asked. All he wanted to do was touch her, every inch of her, and she wouldn't let him. However, he did really find this in control take charge Kate hot as hell. Of course she was always an in control and take charge kind of girl, but when the prospect of her being naked with him was almost certain that just added to the allure even more.

He jumped when she popped the first button on his shirt. "Still so jumpy," she said into his ear. "We're going to have to work on that."

A/N: So I'm still sticking with my whole being evil thing. We are so close people. Next chapter I promise.

Jen