So remember how Castle got cursed? – and then got uncursed?

Cartographical, my pet and editor: my continued thanks. Your reward this chapter is your very own dolphin chariot.

Chapter 14: 2x19, Wrapped Up In Death

Hey Castle – watch out for the mummy.

He leans in, and Cawca Te whispers something in his ear.

He has to forcibly keep his jaw from dropping. No way. No way.

"That's all I have to do?" 'All I have to do.' Right. It'll only get me killed a little bit.

Te nods.

Well. Okay then.

"And one more thing – " Castle looks back at Te. What else? "- I wouldn't say no to a ride to the airport."

Beckett just barely half-rolls her eyes at that – Castle feels an absurd swell of pride that her full eyeroll remains his and his alone – and turns. "Let's go."

They wave as Cawca Te shoulders his bag and heads into the terminal, and Beckett carefully eases the car back into traffic to leave the airport. "So. Back to your place, Castle? You can get started breaking that scary curse of yours."

He shoots her a baleful look, but it's no use; he can see the smug little grin at his expense that she's clearly not trying to hide. "Go on, Detective. Laugh. Mock the persecuted innocent who opened his home to you in your time of explosion."

She laughs. "I'm so sorry. How wrong of me."

"See, your lips say 'I'm sorry,' but your eyes still say 'bite me.'"

She smiles at that, the playful smile she tries to hide by biting her lip that bursts through anyway. "Shhh, Castle. Focus on not dying till we get there, okay?"

He settles for sending her a deeply hurt look until she pulls up to his building. It doesn't seem to bother her.

They walk in to find Alexis cutting tomatoes. She looks up and beams. "Detective! Nice to see you again. Are you staying for dinner?"

"She most certainly is," Castle cuts in before she can say No, I'm escaping as soon as possible.

She shoots him a glare (which he kind of deserves) before turning back to Alexis. "I'd like that. But first I have to give your father a hand with breaking this fake curse of his."

"Okay." Alexis doesn't seem fazed. Good girl. Besides, it's hardly the strangest thing that's happened in the House Of Castle. "Well, as long as you both survive, you should stay."

Castle grins and leans over to kiss her forehead. "You carry on, my child. We'll be back when I'm not a danger to my nearest and dearest."

"Sounds good."

"All right, Castle. Let's get this over with. Where to?"

"He said dark. We need a room that's completely dark."

She nods. "So no windows?"

"Yeah…let's try the bathroom upstairs."

"Okay."

He's really, really thankful that she's not questioning. This will be so much easier so long as she continues to simply be helpful.

They reach the top of the stairs, and she pauses for a moment. "So what exactly do I need to do for this?"

Crap.

"Not much, really. I need a witness. And it would help if you'd hold the water glass." It's true. Not complete. But true enough.

"And you couldn't get someone else to do this because…" Her voice trails off in amusement, and he glances back to see her quirking an amused eyebrow at him. You're the only one I'd try this with, Beckett.

"You offered, remember?" (Well, she sort of did.) "Besides, you have a vested interest in making sure this ancient vengeful evil is not stalking me."

"I could just kick you off the team."

"I think we both know I am far too stubborn for that to work."

Beckett rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. "All right, Curse-Boy. Let's do this."

His stomach turns over, because she doesn't know exactly what she's saying.

But oh, has he waited for a long time to hear her say it.

He herds her into the bathroom and shuts the door behind them. He flicks off the lights experimentally; the room is immediately plunged into blackness, not even a sliver of light from the door's edge. Perfect.

Flicking the lights back on, he turns to her. "Okay. Need a glass of water."

Beckett obligingly fills up the glass from the sink. "You want me to hold onto this?"

"Yeah. That'd be good." He takes a breath. "Okay. Here goes." He turns off the lights, and the bathroom goes pitch dark again.

"Should I come over closer or something?" Her voice cuts through the darkness.

"No. Stay put."

"Why?" She sounds skeptical.

"Do you really want me groping in the dark to find you? Imagine all the places my hands could accidentally – "

"I'm not moving."

"Thank you."

Well, may as well do this.

Feeling a little ridiculous, though not so much since she can't see him, Castle turns clockwise three times. "Water?"

"Here."

He reaches toward her voice, feels her hand under his fingers, and takes the glass.

After drinking, he screws up his nerve. Almost done. He sets the glass carefully back on the counter and strains his ears. He can hear her breathing. She hasn't moved.

"Are we done?"

"Not quite yet." He swallows, takes a slow step toward her.

"Castle." He hears the note of warning in her voice: I'm starting to strongly distrust you.

"It's okay, Beckett." He really hopes she's not catching on. He just needs her to hold still for a few seconds. Then she can slap him to kingdom come. And she probably will.

(Still…if it means he gets to steal just one, from the prettiest girl on the playground…)

Ugh. Dark. He reaches forward, feels around until his hand lands on her shoulder. He curls his fingers, feels her shirt collar. "There you are. Just hold still for a second, okay?"

"Castle, what exactly – "

Her voice is shaky, and he can feel the tension creeping through the lines of her neck, the heat of her breath warming his skin. It's now or never. Possible death by curse, or certain death by Beckett. No choice.

He traces her cheek with his thumb, finds the soft flush of her lips, feels them part with shock, and before she can stop him, he leans in to kiss her. Her breath blooms against his mouth – his pulse is racing – he is about to kiss Kate Be-

Her immediate reaction is hardly surprising: she jerks away in shock, shoving him. "What the hell, Castle?"

In retrospect, maybe blindsiding her with this was not the best idea.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you. I was afraid you wouldn't help if I told you what I had to do."

She shoves him again, hard, and he stumbles back ungracefully, hitting the door behind him. Yep. Bad idea. "You cannot seriously expect me to believe you have to break the curse by luring me into a compromising situation and sexually harassing me."

"Hey! No! Don't say it like that. That's creepy."

"Turn the lights on, Castle."

"No."

"Castle."

"I can't. We'll have to start the whole thing over again." He can tell, from her voice, that she's edging towards him again. He leans his back firmly against the door and presses his hand over the light switch. You shall not pass. Not until I've kissed you.

"Turn the damn lights on." Oh, wow. That's a tone he knows. That's a Beckett tone. That tone says Forget the curse. I'm going to kill you.

"Not until you let me kiss you."

"Castle!"

"I'm not making this up!" he yelps, a little pathetically. He may be between her and the door, but if she decides to, she can probably still kill him. "He said I had to turn around three times, drink water, and kiss you, all in the dark. And then I would be uncursed."

"Kiss me?"

"Kiss a woman. You fit that criterion. And you offered to help."

"If you are making this up, Castle, I swear to God – "

"I'm not! I'm not. I promise." There's a long pause, in which he swears he can see her glaring daggers at him. He hears her let out a breath. He's not sure what to make of that. On the bright side, she's not killing him...Say something, Rick. Anything. "Do you really think I'd risk my life like this just to cop a feel?"

"Well, you did ask me to spank you the first day we met."

His jaw drops. "Well – I – "

"You've been undressing me with your eyes since the day I turned you down, Castle."

"But – not – "

"What's the matter, Kitten? Can't take the heat?"

He swallows, his heart pounding in his chest. He doesn't know what to do about the fact that it's dark and he is trapped in a little room with this amused version of Kate Beckett who has this sexy, smoky bedroom voice that is making him think terribly dirty things about what he wants to do to her up against this door. He is not prepared to deal with Playful Beckett. He is not remotely prepared to deal with Sexy Beckett.

But oh shit does he want her anyway.

He manages to regain control of his voice, which had temporarily reverted to puberty levels. "Can we please just – "

"No, Castle. We do this my way. Understand?"

Do I have a choice? "Fine."

"Okay."

He's not really sure what to expect, but then out of nowhere her hands are on his chest, pressing him firmly against the door, and ohhhhhhhhh that's really good. She traces his arm, fingernails scraping lightly over the taut muscles. Her fingers trace the shell of his ear, sliding gently to his earlobe, sending a shot of desire straight through him. She's good. He opens his mouth in a somewhat failed attempt to form coherent words, but suddenly her mouth is on his throat and he lets out a breathy laugh. "Oh – God – "

She hums a soft chuckle, sending delicious tingles through his skin, and then sucks lightly at his jaw. "What – what are you doing?" he manages to choke out, sucking in a shaky breath as her tongue flicks over his Adam's apple. His fingers clench tightly around the doorknob behind him.

"Just trying to help, Castle." Her voice is soft, low, intimate, sending the most sinfully dirty thoughts into his mind. He wants to hear that voice in his bedroom. "Relax."

Relax. Right. When you're – ohhhhhhh God.

She kisses him, her mouth hot and soft and tantalizing on his. Her hand slides over his shoulder, her fingers curling around his neck, tugging him closer. Her tongue slips wetly into his mouth, and he groans. Kate – just – shit.

"So? Curse broken yet?"

"Uh – huh?" His brain has gone completely numb. He's only aware of her hand on his neck, toying lazily with the short hairs at his nape, and the sudden absence of her lips on his.

He swallows, suddenly regaining enough brain function for one word.

"Almost."

Before she can protest, he reaches blindly for her, pulls her roughly against him, finds her lips and kisses her again. He threads his hands through her hair, tilting her face up to his, giving himself complete access to her mouth, her hot, wet mouth. Heat flares in his veins as she lets out a little whimper.

She manages to free her mouth to pull in a gasping breath, but he doesn't want to let her go, feathering quick little kisses on her lips. "Ca – Castle – " she manages between kisses, "how's – the curse?"

"Making progress," he grins. "But I think we definitely need to be more thorough."

When she speaks again, there's a hint of amusement in her voice. "Are you trying to feel me up, Castle?"

He spins her around, pinning her back against the door, and she lets out a noise in surprise as his hands slide under the back of her shirt.

"You're damn straight I am."

They finally return to the kitchen to discover Martha has joined Alexis. Castle's trying very hard to wipe the grin off his face, but as they approach the bottom of the stairs, Beckett elbows him in the side. "Castle. Stop smiling."

"I'm not."

She scowls at him. He still thinks it's hot. "You look like you just snuck under the bleachers with the head cheerleader."

He leers at her a little. Just a little. "Well, as a matter of fact – "

"Finish that sentence and we will never do that again."

He shuts up abruptly and tries to school his features into an expression that says something other than I just groped Kate Beckett. And it was really, really fun.

"Richard, darling. And Detective! What a pleasant surprise!" His mother beams at them, raising a wine glass in salute. "So what have you two been up to? So secretive, sneaking away upstairs…"

"Eww, Gram," Alexis cuts in, wrinkling her nose. "It's not like that."

Beckett looks somewhat relieved at Alexis' quick response, but Castle feels the almost uncontrollable urge to giggle. Because his mom thinks he was just making out with a girl.

And he was.

Alexis seems to have satisfied her curious grandmother, because Martha lets it go, sipping wine calmly. "So, Richard. Are you still accursed, or can we sleep soundly knowing the mummy's wrath has been placated?"

"Go on, laugh, Mother. I will have you know that we have lifted the curse just now and I am officially free."

Martha's eyebrows go up. "'We?' You both lifted the curse?...together?"

Castle shoots a glance at Beckett, who is staring determinedly at the stove, a faint pink blush tinging her cheeks. "The Mayan guy told me I needed a witness."

"And I decided to make sure my shadow isn't going to get me killed by a mummy." There. Beckett's regained her equilibrium. Castle's relieved. I'm not very good at being the discreet one, Beckett. That's your job.

"Mmmm. Very wise, dear." His mother nods. "And I can't help it, you two, it is just so darling that you're wearing matching clothes today. Really sweet."

Castle glances down at himself, looks back at Beckett, and as their eyes meet, he's relieved to see the hint of a smile. Striped blue shirts. And, now that he thinks about it, they were both wearing brown jackets earlier.

Who says there's no such thing as fate?

After dinner, during which Castle almost succeeds in making Kate laugh so hard she spits out her wine, Alexis retires upstairs to finish her schoolwork and Martha goes to her own room to take a call from an old friend.

Castle and Beckett end up alone, stacking clean dishes in his cabinets. It's mostly him putting things away while simultaneously trying to stop her from helping because "You're a guest, Beckett," though she just rolls her eyes and keeps putting silverware away because she knows exactly where he keeps everything in his kitchen anyway. Before he knows it, they're all done.

There's a long pause as Kate eyes him curiously – probably wondering what he's thinking right now – and Castle tries to formulate words that might convince her not to leave and pretend none of tonight ever happened.

Well…she reads my books…"You, uh, want to see the new stuff on my storyboard?"

She folds her arms over her chest, and her lips twitch into a half-smile. "Really, Castle? 'See your storyboard?'"

He shrugs. "It seemed smoother than 'Wanna go into my office and make out some more?'"

Beckett smirks, nods in amusement. "Tell you what, Castle. How about you start being a little more honest about what you want?"

He blinks. Is this some kind of trap? Because the thought of telling Beckett exactly what he wants to do with her is at once utterly terrifying and so terribly, terribly arousing that he's not sure which one is winning out in his brain.

Only for a moment, though.

"Um – okay." May as well go with his instinctive response: Do what Beckett says. "You wanna go into my office and make out some more?"

Her lips curl upwards, and his heart leaps in his chest. Her eyes are sparkling with deliciously naughty fun. He really, really likes this side of her. She steps in closer, one hand trailing a tempting path over the front of his shirt, and feigns indifference. "I don't know. You think it'll be worth my time?"

He catches her hand, his fingers curling around her wrist, and he tugs her towards his office. "Come on, Kate. Show me just how wild you are."

Her tongue presses between her teeth, a smile he wants to kiss right off, and she follows him into the office, kicking the door shut behind her before pressing her hands to his chest and pushing him down into an armchair.

"Be careful what you wish for, Castle."