I initially planned on publishing this for the "Castle Winter Ficathon", but I wouldn't be able to handle another story, so I post my idea(s) as one-shots / two-shots as they come (knowing full well that I won't break the 15,000 words mark anyway), so anyone who wants to participate but lacks the idea can do so. I'd be happy to beta and / or co-write, but at least write where you took the idea. And maybe leave a message.

Standard disclaimers apply.

Tango In The Loft And Other Fluff - Part 1

She awoke with a start. The bed beside her was cold, the room still dark save for the soft glow of the street light filtering in through the window as it reflected off of the steadily falling snow.

The blinking red digits on her clock seemed to try to lull her back to sleep. It was shy of four thirty in the morning. What seemed an eternity ago she could just jump out of bed and be ready for the hard work of a uniform. Now, she just groaned lazily as she swung her legs out of the bed to go looking for her fiancé.

Fiancé.

She still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that she was indeed engaged to Richard Edgar Alexander Rodgers Castle. Favorite author. Man child. Nine year old on a sugar rush. Ruggedly handsome.

Rick Castle had many tags, but the one that read "fiancé of Katherine Houghton Beckett" was definitely the best.

Oh god, what am I doing, she groaned inwardly. She'd never been the sappy type. But then again, she had never had Castle, either. She feared the day she would wake up, married, three children, some desk job… no, not really. First the prophecy of the seemingly crazy would-be time traveler and then how good he was with the baby on thanksgiving… She looked forward to it.

Still, there was a reason why she left the inviting warmth of the sheets. Fiancé missing, right. Kate padded to where her bathrobe had fallen down the evening before and slipped in it, shielding her a bit from the slight shivers she had. The loft usually wasn't that cold, but it seemed the heating wasn't running yet. The janitor promised to take care of these sporadic failures, but he obviously hadn't done anything yet. No big deal. They could just fire up their new tile stove.

If he isn't cold yet, he surely is writing, she thought with a slight smirk. It was adorable how he could "zone out" and forget everything around him when he was writing. Kate made her way to his office where she could see a dim cold-white shimmer peeking through the slit under the door. He's sitting at his laptop, she deduced. The door wasn't fully closed, so she decided to have a peek at her writer boy, satisfied knowing that she wouldn't disturb him. Slowly she opened the gap a bit more and saw him sitting in his chair, typing furiously, eyes on the monitor, tongue out in concentration.

But she could see it wouldn't last very long anymore. His eyelids started drooping, before he opened them wide again with a start when his head would fall on his chest. Eventually, his hands became slower and slower, and the head sunk on his chest every so often. Normally, she would find watching other people creepy, but in this case… she would never grow tired of watching him. It didn't matter what he was doing. She had to stifle a giggle when, finally, a soft snoring escaped from behind the laptop.

She waited another few minutes for good measure, to be sure he was asleep, then she tiptoed to him and untwined the laptop from his grasp to put it on his desk

Before she closed the laptop she caught a glance at the file name.

In the Heat of the Tango.

Her eyebrows shot up at the title. She decided to sneak a peek, but she needed to prepare everything. She snatched a woolen blanket and put it around him so he would stay asleep for a while.

He immediately snuggled into it and a smile crept up his face.

"Kaaate...", he sighed happily.

She stopped in her tracks and stood still, fearing he might wake up; but he stayed asleep and she found it really sweet that he even thought about her in his sleep. She dismissed the thought quickly though; she had a new story to read.

Kate settled into the comforter in his office, legs crossed, the story opened in her lap. She scrolled up to the start and began reading.

Completely engrossed with the story, she only pulled herself away when the first rays of sunshine fell on the display and thus making reading difficult. She rubbed her eyes with her fist to shoo the tiredness away. I must've been here for hours, she thought.

Castle, fortunately, was still sound asleep at his desk. She snuck up to him and positioned the laptop inconspicuously on his desk. She made a beeline for the kitchen counter to fire up the coffee machine.

While she was nursing her second dose, she made another, in Castle's favorite cup. When the machine had filled it with the delicious dark brown gold and her own cup was finally empty, she returned quietly to her sleeping fiancé. Placing the steaming hot cup on his desk, she closed the distance and whispered sweetly in his ear.

"Wake up, sleepyhead…" Castle stirred, but she couldn't elicit more than a sleepy smile out of him. He didn't even open his eyes. "Just a little bit longer, baby. Daddy just wants a few hours sleep."

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. He must've dreamt of Alexis. She spoke again, this time louder, so her voice was clearly distinguishable from the young redhead's. "Oh, is that so, Castle? You wanna be my daddy, huh?"

I wanted to bring this line for so long :D