Thanks again to Andy, and also to mysterybooklover and tshlw, for sending me your ideas for this one!

Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind

"Want to just head to bed?" Castle asked softly a few minutes later when neither had moved from their positions, curled up in his desk chair.

He expected her to say yes, started to shift into a position in which she could gently slide from his lap, but she shook her head, held him tighter. The last letter had brought forth some sad and painful memories, but she didn't want to dwell on them. And Castle's words had always been what she'd turned to in times like these.

"Stay," she requested, lifted her head to meet his eyes. "Let's keep reading."

He didn't protest, simply nodded his head in understanding and flipped the page of the journal.

Dear Kate,

It's driving me crazy. What did Agent Westfield say to you after the case today? I've been wracking my brains all night long and I just can't come up with anything concrete. I mean, there are a million things it could have been, and no one thing stands out.

Was it about the case? About me? About you and me?

Sometimes having a writer's mind is a curse, because I can't stop thinking about this. I can't stop writing various scenarios in my head. And what I really can't figure out is why you won't tell me what it was. It's not like you've never shared something confidential with me before. Your refusal makes me think that whatever he told you was either embarrassing or highly personal.

Oh, I know... was it about the injectors and the fact that we basically had hickeys for a few days? Or maybe the fact that you fell asleep on me in the car?

(Maybe next time, we could try that without first being captured and drugged by mysterious federal agents. I'd gladly give you a hickey and let you fall asleep on me any day.)

You know, one of these days I'm going to pry it out of you, so you might as well just tell me. I will find out, one way or another. I can be very persuasive when given the opportunity.

-Castle

"What did he say to you?"

Kate just lifted an eyebrow, gave nothing away. In reality, Agent Westfield had simply thanked her for their help, mentioned her unorthodox arrangement with Castle and asked why she kept him around when he was constantly spouting out theories about aliens and cyanide capsules.

She'd merely smiled and answered that he was surprisingly helpful and kept things interesting and light-hearted.

Then they'd shaken hands and parted ways.

But it was so much fun to watch Castle squirm, even after all this time. And once she told him, she wouldn't have the smug satisfaction of sitting here watching him wrack his brain for every possible combination of words the Agent could've spoken.

Castle held her gaze for a minute, challenging, but eventually gave in and dropped his eyes back to the page, back to his own words. Kate could be just as stubborn as he could, and he really didn't feel like pressing the issue right now. There was plenty of time for that another day.

Besides, he had his methods, and after two years he knew exactly how to get Kate to share the information. All it took was strategic placement of his hands and lips, and she'd spill just about any secret.

Instead, he changed tactics, gestured to the page.

"Remember the time it actually was a hickey?"

Kate attempted to glare at him but failed miserably, because it might've been horribly uncomfortable and embarrassing at the time but she could laugh at it now.

It was during their first year together, and with the help of a couple glasses of wine they'd gotten more than a little carried away one night. And despite the fact that she'd clearly stated that there were to be no noticeable marks left on her skin, Kate wound up with hickeys in four different places; thankfully three of them were easily concealed by clothing.

The one on her neck, however, wasn't so easily hidden. It was far enough forward that her hair couldn't hide it and much too dark to be successfully covered by makeup.

The result was that Kate showed up to the precinct in mid-August with a scarf wrapped loosely around her neck, where she spent the entire day sweaty and gross, forced to endure confused looks from other officers and constant teasing from her team members.

In fact, Ryan and Esposito had been absolutely relentless that day, teasing and joking and prodding all day long.

"Yo, boss, what's up with the scarf?"

Multiple heads turned in her direction as she snapped her head up from her paperwork, sharp glare shooting across the bullpen.

It was rather effective in silencing both Ryan and Esposito immediately, but they spent the rest of the morning not-so-subtly glancing at Kate and snickering, and she clearly heard both her name and Castle's whispered in quick succession more than once. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together, especially when Castle arrived a few minutes later looking like a dog with his tail between its legs.

Nevertheless, she was in no mood to discuss certain things with anybody, because it was only ten in the morning and she was already hot and sweaty and grouchy.

"What'd you do, bro?" Ryan asked Castle as he crossed the bullpen, silently extended a coffee cup to Kate.

He sank into his chair, shrugged in their direction and didn't say a word.

Clearly they were fooling nobody with their denials, but they seemed to have a silent agreement to maintain their front.

Four hours later, though, Ryan found the proof he and Esposito had spent the entire day searching for when he walked into the break room in the middle of an argument in which Kate was angrily jerking aside her scarf, revealing what was quite clearly a rather large hickey, while Castle stood a few feet away looking legitimately frightened.

"Ahem."

The pair jumped in surprise, and Kate hastily released her grip on the fabric, whirled around to face a moderately embarrassed Ryan.

"Am I... interrupting?"

She opened her mouth, closed it again and shook her head in irritation.

Castle simply smirked, stood there silently, clearly enjoying the fact that Kate was torn between annoyance and denial

"Yes," she finally spluttered.

"Fun night last night?" Ryan jabbed with a knowing smile.

"Yes."

"No."

This time, her glare was aimed at Castle, who just smiled innocently in Ryan's direction. That, apparently, was all that the other detective needed, because he slipped out of the room without a word, made a beeline for Esposito's desk.

Judging by the fact that both Ryan and Esposito's final comments before they left for the day were 'you two have fun tonight,' and 'don't do anything I wouldn't do,' Kate was pretty sure they wouldn't be living this down for quite some time.

"You know, it's been a while," he said sultrily with a raise of his eyebrow, far too sexy in the faint light of the office.

"Don't even think about it!"

He leaned in, lips aimed at her neck, and Kate tried to wriggle out of his grasp but was too slow. The next thing she knew, there was a warm tongue sucking at her pulse point, hands traveling all over her body at once, beneath her shirt, along her thighs, the heat caressing her skin even through the fabric of her jeans. And despite her protests, she allowed herself to melt into his body, into his touch and his mouth, gave in to him completely.

They may have gotten a little carried away again, but the next morning the only marks on her body were easily concealed by her jeans.

Thoughts?