Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't
She picked up the files on her desk and flipped through them quickly. They were all the background reports on the gang members. As she looked at the pictures on the files, trying to remember the faces, she saw a woman about her age. In mind to her expected performance she gave her eyes a quick pass over the report.
Not very well educated. And a long list of connections and charges. She noted that these were not individual charges, so much as uniform across the group. Many of them had been charged with the same things at the same time. Beckett looked into the eyes in the arrest photo. There was vulnerability in her face, but it was well disguised under the worn façade she wore. The devil may care. That look came from being abused your whole life. Why else would you think that a gang was your family? There was love to be sure, but it was tough love. Even between friends, let alone lovers.
Already in her head she had an image of her history and her relationships. She could guess at the sorts of things that would push her buttons and things that she was afraid of. She could see her so clearly in her mind; this figment of her imagination.
With a shock she realized this must be how Castle created all his characters. They might have a base, the way she was for Nikki Heat, but then he took that and gave every character their own history, voice and motivation, effectively blending the line between fact and fiction.
She was still looking into the girl's face when Lanie got off the elevator.
"All right, I'm here. Javi tells me I had to see it to believe it, so here I am." She looked expectantly at the two of them.
Beckett got up after a last look at the photo, feeling a quiver of nerves at the bottom of her stomach.
"So why are you doing this?"
"Castle and I are going undercover with a gang."
"Are you trying to get him killed?"
"Right?" Esposito said from just behind her. "That's what we thought."
"Then he blows us away with his little act," Ryan chimed in.
"Little act?" Castle objected.
"It was like he had an evil twin."
"That wasn't evil," Castle corrected.
"Okay, so Castle is a gang member," Lanie stated. "What are you going to be?"
"His girlfriend."
Castle's earlier personality fit perfectly with the image she had created as a boyfriend for her own character. Confident, arrogant, condescending, and he looked at her as a possession; a way to show his superiority.
The three boys looked surprised at how easily she was able to answer this question. Lanie looked intrigued and rolled comfortably back on one hip, waiting expectantly.
Beckett cast a nervous glance at Castle then let out a long breath. Then she raised her arms and let her hair loose. As she felt it swing around her shoulders, she gave it an extra shake till it felt a little wild. Doing this, she felt something in herself begin to change as well. A little more free? Wilder? Maybe she was channeling her teenage self a little. She took her lipstick out and applied it thickly.
She was barely aware of the eyes on her till she heard Lanie say, "Stop gawking Castle and get ready."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because you're going to be undercover as a couple, not two singles. I want to see the two of you together."
He raised his eyebrows but shrugged at the agreement on the other detectives' faces. Just as he did before, he shrugged out of his jacket and modified his jeans and sleeves. He scrubbed his fingers through his hair and began undoing his shirt buttons.
She too was undoing buttons. She felt his eyes on her but didn't look up, not wanting to see him until she had gotten herself in the right mindset. She heard him swallow though as she undid yet another button, revealing her bra. This fueled something in her, something that had always been there; a desire to drive Castle wild. She listened carefully as she undid one more button. She heard his breathing hitch. By now her shirt was half open.
She took her leather jacket and shrugged it on, feeling yet another facet of the personality fall into place. The jacket was protection. She was very exposed in a literal sense, but the jacket was a symbol. It allowed her to be tough, hiding the victim her character probably was. It was the key to keeping the two sides of her character separate.
She closed her eyes, feeling all these differences. Some were ones she could understand on an intellectual level and had seen in the people she had questioned, the characters she had read about. And some of it was amplification and release of the feelings she kept locked away.
"All right, Castle. Let's see this show," she heard Lanie say.
She kept her eyes closed and just listened, picking up from the silence the differences in Castle. Not talking. That was different. She heard a chair creak, but after that silence returned.
She continued to listen, but heard nothing. Finally she opened her eyes, curious to see what he was doing.
There he was in his chair, slouched down with his legs spread out, one of them resting over the corner of her desk. He wasn't even facing them. He was ignoring them.
Lanie clearly wasn't having any of that and went around to face him, giving a way a little power, consciously Beckett hoped, and planted herself in front of him.
At first he still didn't acknowledge her, staring past her, but when she didn't go away, she saw him lean back further in the chair. He stared for a long moment at her shoes and then slowly worked his eyes up with the same lewd look in his eyes, until he reached her face. If this made Lanie uncomfortable she didn't show it, but continued to stare him down. Lanie was tougher than Beckett thought.
He just smirked and looked away again.
Again, Beckett felt herself surprised at how well he could assume this other personality. Watching him again, she wanted to try, so she let her shoulders back a little and relaxed her spine. She stepped towards him, taking the long way around her desk and passing close by the other two detectives, working a deliberately rolling saunter. She made her boot heels work for her, tapping out a cocky heel-toe, heel-toe rhythm. She paused as she passed them, brushing close by, making sure her 'weapons' were fully noticed. When she knew that she had their full attention she continued on to Castle.
Upon hearing her heels he looked up slowly, and she felt a little thrill of power. She had made him look at her. It was only a very small power and very tenuous, but she felt like she had won something tangible. Now where did that feeling come from?
This time when he saw her, a slow smile pulled up his lips and he spread his legs even wider. Taking it as an invitation, she walked in front of him, cutting off his view of Lanie. She walked between his legs and kept going until their noses were almost touching.
She was surprised to see a flicker in his eyes as she looked deep in to them, searching for hints. She could tell he was struggling not to drop his eyes to her very open shirt. Maybe his acting had a few holes after all. She took that as a challenge.
It only lasted a second though before he put the act back on, and with a speed and dominance that startled her, he tugged at her jacket and forced her down onto his knee. She felt a part of her bristle. Surprisingly it was not her usual self; she could have dealt with it. It was her character. She didn't like him tugging on the jacket. But there was also a small part of her that was excited by it. She was his; that was how she saw herself. And she wanted to be used. To punish him she stood back up but slid her arms on his chest, never breaking eye contact. He never looked away, a little too absorbed in what she was doing for him to be completely in control of his act again as she leaned over him even closer.
So she was getting through to him. She felt a little vindictive pleasure at this and leaned her face even closer until their breaths mingled and her hair framed their faces. His quicker breathing did not escape her notice. This time it was him that could not look away from her.
Both she and her character felt a thrill run through them.
He was losing it, and strangely that only fueled her as her repressed side began to override the simple power act. She wanted him to only look at her. She wanted him pressed against her. There was more that she wanted and as his eyes lost all their hardness and he reverted fully, the desire to touch him became almost unbearable. She brought her lips closer to his, playing with him, feeling his heart crashing under her hands. His face was close enough that she felt the heat of his blush, even though they weren't touching.
She sensed him resisting, and the small rational part of her mind still active knew why. Because he cared about her. She could see it in his eyes. The repressed desire, so clear under his poker face with them only an inch apart. She wondered she had never seen it before. Well, she had, but never this clearly, because when she did, it was her clue to leave. Not this time.
She watched it fighting with something just as strong as she continued to use her new freedom to taunt him, but never touching him other than her arms cradling his neck or resting on his chest. She knew that was a line they couldn't cross. She felt an unbelievable sense of satisfaction in the way she was manipulating him. She felt powerful. For the briefest second she saw his restraint waiver and he brought a soft hand up to brush away a lock of her hair and hold it to her face. And she felt herself switch back with a painfully sudden drop.
It wasn't desire in his eyes at that moment. It was more. His words in the cemetery that day came back to her like a punch to the gut, and with that her heart won out over her hormones and she felt her own heart kick and her stomach clench.
She had wanted to tease him before, but now his lips were magnetic, pulling hers closer. She was too close. Danger bells started ringing furiously. Maybe they had been all along, but she hadn't heard them. His hand was warm and soft against her face. She could feel it sending tremors through her.
She closed her eyes, and forced herself to turn her head. His hand grazed against her cheek and even when she was clear she continued to feel it. Suddenly she was trying to control her breathing so none of them would realize how close she had come. She pushed herself away from him, and put a good few feet between them.