AN: I had this done last night, I promise, but my internet was crappy all day because of weather conditions. Therefore, you get it this morning.

I absolutely love this entire episode, but I had to choose this scene because of all the teasing. Hope you enjoy and please review!

"Jessica's notes on Venom's sessions are pretty detailed. She studied these guys like lab rats." Castle said as Kate waded through yet another folder. She was a graduate student competing for a fellowship, what did he expect?

"But she only identifies them by nickname, Lady Boy, Pin Cushion, and Scared Bunny." Kate didn't even want to think about how Jessica had come up with these names; just reading her notes was taking her back to her worst memories of her vice days.

"You know if they didn't know what Jessica was doing, and one of them found out…" Castle started a theory, which Kate picked up.

"Fear of exposure would be a strong motive to kill." She said, nodding. She tried not to think about how comfortable she now was with the frequency with which she finished Castles theories, or sentences; she wondered when that had gone from annoying to commonplace. She didn't have a clear idea of when she'd accepted, nay embraced, the fact that he was her partner either, but there was no doubting that she had. Yeah, Kate definitely tried not to think about those sorts of things.

"I wonder what attracted her to all this." Castle said, thankfully breaking Kate out of her musings over questions she had no answer to with one that she did.

"Well according to her thesis proposal, she became interested in S&M after witnessing a dysfunctional relationship up close. Apparently her dissertation compares the overt expressions of dominance in the dungeon to more subtle expressions in real-world relationships." Kate was reading from one of Jessica's files, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see Castle concentrating on her words. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she said the words with which she knew he'd have an issue.

"Like who drives." She looked over at him to watch him flounder. His face went from quiet concentration to indignation very quickly, and she had to suppress the laughter bubbling in her throat.

"Hey, I would drive if you would let me." She raised her eyebrows at him and waited for him to rethink what he'd just said. Did he really think that statement helped him?

"That, actually, didn't prove my point like I thought it would." He was staring off into space, as if he was mentally replaying his words, trying to understand why he'd said them. She chose to give him a pass on that one for now, they had work to do, and besides, she could always tease him about it later.

"It says here that Mistress Venom," Kate said as she turned back to the notes in front of her, "works at a bondage club somewhere in Dungeon Alley." Well, that was just perfect; she'd always wanted to go back there, not. "But it doesn't say which one."

Absolutely fantastic, Kate thought. Not only am I now going to have to troll Dungeon Alley with Jessica's photo, but also I'm going to have to take Castle with me. And of course he's going to act like a six year-old girl whose just been told she gets to see Cinderella at Disney World. This is my partner, ladies and gentlemen.

"Dungeon Alley," Castle said, almost wistfully. Maybe he didn't know what it was after all. That was surprising, knowing him.

"It's an area between Chelsea and Midtown." Why was she explaining this to him? If she didn't tell him what it was, maybe he'd decide he didn't need to go with her. "There's a whole slew of fetish clubs there."

"Yes, I know where Dungeon Alley is. I wanna know," he said, leaning closer to her as she realized she'd given away too much information, again. This case was like a land mine, her every misstep gave Castle something new to tease, or fantasize, about. "How do you know?"

Kate rolled her eyes. Of course he would automatically think he knew why she'd been there before. Well, he was going to be disappointed, she'd make sure of that.

"Vice raided a few of them, looking for a reason to shut them down. But since there's no sexual contact and the acts are all consensual, it was all perfectly legal." She tried to keep her eyes on his, but she couldn't, not until she was finished with her story. Then she wanted to see his reaction.

He didn't believe her; it was written all over his face. But that was just fine with Kate; she didn't need him to believe her. It really didn't matter if he thought she was lying.

"You know," he said, boldly holding her gaze. "You should moonlight."

What? Wait, is that offensive or…

"Seriously, you would make a fortune." Okay, that was definitely one of his ill-advised attempts to compliment her. She rolled her eyes, but still had to look away and blush. Damn, that would probably be one of his fantasies now, her being his dominatrix; no, he would definitely call her Mistress.

"Come on, haven't you ever wanted to do," he leaned in again, placing his elbow on the table and pinching his collar between his fingers, "something with your handcuffs other than," he quirked an eyebrow, "arrest criminals?"

"He smiled flirtatiously and oh, did he think hew as just so sexy. As she formulated a response, she stared at the fingers at his collar. Why couldn't she look away from them? She decided if he got to be flirty and tease her, than so could she. That street went both ways.

"No," she admitted and smiled as she finally tore her eyes from his fingers, meeting his gaze. This was going to be fun. "But there is one hot," she paused, leaning forward ever so slightly, "wild," she looked at his mouth as she leaned even closer, she couldn't help it, "kinky thing I do like doing." His elbow slid off the table, and now his nose was six inches from hers, maybe less. She was close enough to smell the hint of his cologne, close enough to see that his usually bright blue eyes were now darker, almost grey. She was so close she almost didn't want to finish her sentence, almost.

"Putting killers behind bars." She looked away and grabbed another set of files from the table, because she had to look away. She had to look away right then before she lost the edge she had on him in their little game. But she could imagine his face, all disappointed and frustrated that he'd fallen for her trick.

"See," he said, waving a hand in her direction. "You're already a tease. You're halfway there."

AN2: So, there's that. I still haven't decided if she was lying about the vice raids, so I left it open to interpretation. I had never even thought she might have been until I watched it last night, but you can decide for yourself. I was also going to continue this until the end of the scene, but I thought I really didn't want to go through more of the procedural stuff with Ryan and Espo, so I decided this was a good place to stop.

And if you guys are still reading this author's note (you deserve a medal for that), I did change my pen name and I did PM everyone who follows my stories. And I looked at your guys' profiles and I found out that you all are awesome (not that I didn't already know that). I will definitely be checking out some of the stories you guys have written and favorited.

Well, kudos and congratulations for making it to the end of this ridiculously long note. Until next time...