Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter, "Knockdown." If I didn't thank you personally, it's either because you signed the review as a guest, or because I accidentally missed it. It's a lot harder to keep track of who I respond to with the site's email notifications being broken. I really wish they'd fix that!

This chapter is taken from the episode "Lucky Stiff," so according to the original air dates, it takes place 2 weeks after the last chapter. "Knockdown" aired on Jan 24 and "Lucky Stiff" aired on Feb 7.

Once again, I want to point out that the events unfold exactly as they happen on the show, with the exception of what you see written here. The storylines are all connected…each chapter is NOT standalone.

I still, unfortunately, do not own Castle.

xxxxx

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since that undercover kiss, since that night at her apartment where the whiskey had made him brave enough to tell her he was in love with her and kiss her. Two weeks since her hand on his chest had ever so gently pushed him away. They hadn't talked about either kiss since that night, and they certainly hadn't talked about his confession; he hadn't been brave enough while sober, and he figured she didn't want to make things awkward between them. It was like an unspoken rule, a line that they danced around but neither dared to cross…and when he had dared to smudge it that night, she had carefully pushed him back on the other side.

He hadn't been able to get the two kisses out of his head, for different reasons. The kiss at her apartment had lasted maybe 3 or 4 seconds before she had pushed him away, long enough for her to have allowed it to happen; it wasn't like she instantly shoved him back. No, it was more like she was stopping herself from allowing it to continue. She hadn't returned that kiss, but he'd still felt a spark. Maybe the reason she wouldn't allow that kiss to continue any longer than it had was because of the way their first kiss had started so innocently and then quickly grown into a raging inferno.

That undercover kiss still haunted his dreams. The way her lips felt against his, the way she had been the one to dive into that second kiss, the way she'd been the one to invade his mouth with her tongue…aggressively…the way she moaned; that hadn't been his imagination, and it certainly hadn't been all a show. The guard hadn't been close enough to tell if they were kissing with tongue, so it certainly hadn't been necessary.

He'd dreamt about her nearly every night since then. They all started the same…with that ridiculously hot kiss. They all had similar endings…with them in various states of undress, grinding against each other for release either up against a wall in the alley or against her car, even in the back of her car. And then he always woke up alone, feeling the ghost of her fingers in his hair, the way her tongue danced against his, the way she'd bitten his lip, still able to taste her on his lips. After every dream, he'd take a few moments to savor the memories before pulling himself from bed and heading for his shower to find relief; it was almost ritualistic at this point.

Their latest case had her asking him if he'd go undercover with her again, in a club. He'd eagerly agreed; undercover work was fun, and spending time with her on an almost date in a club…no way was he going to turn her down and have her ask Ryan or Esposito to join her. He was her partner, he had her back; he was going to keep showing up for her. He realized, though, after seeing the dress she was wearing, that it was going to be a long evening of torture for him. And when he saw the way she handled his Ferrari, he knew he was in deep trouble.

Beckett danced her way into the club and through the crowd, Castle following close behind as always, but he wasn't dancing. He was too preoccupied watching the way her body moved…it was mesmerizing. When she got a little space on the dance floor, she pulled him close and started dancing against him. She rolled her eyes as he stood there, still staring at her in awe. "Staring is creepy," she leaned in close to his ear to speak, so close that her lips brushed against his skin. "This isn't a day at Disneyland, Castle. If you don't act like we're together, some other guy is going to try, and that's not how this undercover thing works. So dance with me and keep your eyes peeled for Oz."

He swallowed hard, doing his best to keep his composure as he inhaled the scent of cherries from her hair that was brushing against his lips. This night might kill him. "Okay," he managed to murmur, one hand moving to her waist, but definitely not daring to be inappropriate.

She rolled her eyes when he didn't loosen up after a few moments and leaned close to his ear again. "Stop acting like you're afraid I'm going to shoot you. You're supposed to be my boyfriend, so act like it," she murmured, her hand taking his wrist and moving the hand he had on her waist down to a much more inappropriate position on her ass. Get with it, she tried to convey the message with the look she sent him as she pulled back to dance against him again.

After a deep breath which he released slowly, he tried to do what she asked and loosen up. His hands moved over her body every bit the way a lover's would. Oh, he was definitely going to die tonight; death by Kate Beckett. The way her body moved sinfully against his as they danced so close, in sync…all he could think about was how her body would feel moving like that against his, her skin against his skin, between his ridiculously high thread count Egyptian cotton bed sheets. He had no idea how long he'd been fantasizing when was shaken out of his it by the feel of her breath on his ear, but he had no idea what she said.

"Castle!" she hissed in his ear, finally getting his attention. "Have you seen Oz yet?" she asked, pulling back slightly to get his reaction.

"No," he shook his head. But he hadn't really been looking either; he'd been too busy fantasizing about her moving her body the way she was in his bed without her dress on.

"Keep looking," she told him. She let her eyes scan around the room again, searching through the crowd as she slowly danced them through the people. They needed to find Oz quickly so they could get out of there. She could feel how he was affected by this whole situation every time her hips moved against his, and it would be a lie to say it wasn't affecting her almost as much. She needed to get them both out of the position she'd put them in before one or both of them would do something in the heat of the moment that would really complicate things between them.

She knew it would have been smarter, safer to have taken Espo with her to the club. He would have been able to pass as her boyfriend without the same effect she and Castle were having on each other; then again, she may not have danced quite as closely with him either. She'd told herself that she and Castle were a much more convincing couple than she and Espo; she and Castle were more in sync and exuded chemistry…Castle was her partner. And she had selfishly wanted to go to the club with him, selfishly wanted an hour with him like this to pretend…pretend reality didn't exist, pretend Josh didn't exist, pretend that she was his.

The kiss they'd shared two weeks ago still played through her head. She'd never felt pure, intense fire in her veins from a kiss like that before. No man had ever made her feel that way, certainly not from just a kiss. If only her life weren't so complicated, if she hadn't built a fortress around her heart, maybe it could be different, maybe she could be with him. It just wasn't that simple. Josh was safe; she couldn't get hurt with Josh; her heart was never in danger. But Castle…Castle had the power to shatter her heart and completely destroy her.

Finally, she spotted their target in a booth by the opposite wall. "Oz is in a booth along that back wall. Go get us drinks while I go over to him. Make sure you're back in 5 minutes…you've got my cuffs," she reminded him.

He watched her ass in the tight, short skirt of her dress as she started dancing away. When she stopped and turned back after a moment, catching him staring and giving him one of her looks, he was torn completely from the fantasy world he'd been in for the past hour with her. "Drinks, right," he smiled, heading for the bar.

His mind wandered as he waited for the drinks. He watched her flirt with the drug dealer so effortlessly. He wasn't surprised she'd made her detective rank working in vice; she was a natural, and she was hot. Most men wouldn't peg her for a cop. He made a point to try to remember to ask her for some stories from her days in vice; he wanted to know about the undercover work she'd done.

Undercover work…that made him close his eyes with a smile at the way it felt having her body pressed up against his, sliding against his just minutes ago. These were memories he was sure would replace that of her kiss in his dreams. He opened his eyes to see their drinks on the bar in front of him. He paid the bartender, and with a soft sigh knew their night was coming to an end. He knew that for now at least, this was the only way he could have her like that…undercover and in his memories.

Castle had just made it to the booth in time to see Beckett slam Oz's head into the table with his hand twisted behind his back and kick the bodyguard in the crotch, which made him wince. God, she was hot when she was badass like that. When he saw her outstretched hand, he offered her one of the drinks with a smile, about to make a comment about her badassery.

"No! Handcuffs!" she told him, shaking off the drink.

"Right. Sorry," he put one of the drinks down for a moment to pull the handcuffs out of his pocket and hand them to her.

xxxxx

"Castle!" Beckett greeted him when she opened the door and saw him standing there.

"I know what you would do if you won the lottery," he walked past her into her apartment, proud of himself.

"By all means, please come in," she rolled her eyes, closing her door. "So, what is your big insight into a financial decision that I will never have to make?" she arched an eyebrow slightly.

He smiled. "You would use the money to honor your mother's legacy." His eyes were soft as he studied her. He was right. "On the way over here, I called the dean of your mom's old law school. We talked about starting a scholarship in Johanna Beckett's name. One that would provide a full ride for a student planning on dedicating their career to those in the legal system without a voice, the kind of people your mom championed. And, with your blessing, I would like to host a fundraiser to fund it."

He wanted to…what? She was completely caught off guard by this gesture. He was just supposed to be trying to guess what she'd do with a lot of money, not make what felt like some grand romantic gesture for her. "You just can't stay out of my personal life can you?"

Castle's smile faded slightly. Maybe he overstepped, maybe this was too much…maybe…

Beckett smiled then. "Thank you. It's really sweet." She couldn't help but look at the floor a little nervously.

"We definitely have to invite the mayor, and all of his campaign contributors," he started, moving past her toward her dining room table and pulling a paper out of his pocket as he took a seat. "Some of them can be boorish. There's this one guy…" he trailed off when he caught her staring at him. "What?"

She shook her head slightly, a smile on her face. God, she was falling in love with him...or maybe she already was in love with him and was just now beginning to realize it. "Would you like some wine?" she asked softly.

"That would be great while we plan out the details," he agreed, already writing down some notes.

She disappeared into her kitchen to grab a bottle of red and a couple of wine glasses. This latest gesture had her heart somersaulting. She couldn't imagine anyone doing anything sweeter for her. She couldn't even put into words how it made her feel, how he was making her feel. Taking a seat next to him at the table, she handed him a glass before taking a sip of hers.

They sat at her table talking and planning for over an hour, and by the time they had finished off the bottle, they had worked out most of the details of the event, and what was important to her to include. She still couldn't believe not only had he come up with this, but he was sharing it with her and putting it into action.

"This really is very sweet, Castle," she told him honestly, resting a hand on his arm.

He returned her smile, meeting her eyes. "It was your idea."

She laughed softly. "How was it my idea?"

"I heard you talking to my mother…about what she should do with the money. This evening it sort of clicked into place, that you would want to honor your mom. I just came up with a way to do it that didn't involve you winning the lottery," he shrugged.

She couldn't help the way she was looking at him. This man was so incredible…that he would do this for her, give this to her…something she didn't even know she wanted. "Castle, I don't know what to say," she finally admitted softly.

He smiled. "You don't have to say anything."

They both sat staring deeply into each other's eyes, simply getting lost there for a few moments. She wanted so badly to kiss him after all of this. But she couldn't. She was committed to another man…at least physically. Though she'd come to realize this evening that Josh did not have her heart; she'd been emotionally committed to Castle first. So was she cheating on Castle with Josh? It kind of felt like it now. But if she did kiss Castle, that was definitely cheating on Josh...right? What was she supposed to do when one man had her emotional commitment and the other her physical commitment; when one man had the power to wreck her, and every instinct in her head was telling her to run, but the other was safe because he couldn't make her feel enough to really hurt her? The twisted logistics were making her head spin.

"It's late," she said softly, finally breaking the spell between them.

"Yeah," he agreed, moving to stand. He grabbed his coat from the back of one of the chairs and put it back on. "I'll hire an event planner, and let you know when we can meet with them," he promised.

"That sounds great," she nodded, walking him to her door. She paused a moment before opening it to raise up and give him a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. For all of this," she whispered. "You're an amazing man."

"You're welcome," he smiled.

Taking a deep breath, she tore her eyes away from his and opened the door so he could leave. "Goodnight, Castle."

xxxxx

I always felt like they were in and out of the club far too quickly in the episode, though I understand the logistics filming wise of why. So I wanted a little bit longer of a scene where they were actually undercover together for more than 3 minutes.

And I always thought this scholarship set up in her mother's name was a huge grand gesture that was highly underrated and we never heard about it again. Never fear, I am here to resurrect it! I plan on having the fundraiser at some point over one of the next chapters of this story! There is no way they are not going to that!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As I said before, I'm rotating updates between this and my other story. It will most likely be about a week before there's an update here, because I've got to write the next chapter in Hell Hath No Fury and deal with Castle's embarassment at the cabin.