A/N: I thought of this little story because New Year's is one of my favorite holidays! And because I am going to Castle withdrawal while the show is on "Holiday Hiatus". All mistakes are mine.

This starts out at a harmless T rating, but will most likely move to M, so prepare yourselves. Hope you guys enjoy! Happy holidays! Hugs, L.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, and this is not for profit, just fun. :]

Kate

Kate found the invitation lying on her desk two weeks before Christmas. The "Happy New Year!" stickers on them confirmed her suspicion about what was in the envelope, thus causing her to cram the envelope into her bag before Castle could see it. She assumed he was throwing a New Year's party and invited her to steal a kiss as the countdown hit zero. "Oh, please," She thought, trying to convince herself that she wouldn't want something like that to happen. The envelope sat in her bag, completely forgotten until the day after Christmas, when she got called out on a double homicide.

She arrived at an alley at 24th and Lex and approached Lanie, who was crouched over the bodies. Castle was nowhere to be seen while Ryan and Esposito talked with some uniforms. Upon Kate's arrival Lanie smiled and stood. "Hey, girl, you going to the mayor's New Year's Masquerade?"

Kate's brow furrowed. "What?"

"You know, the huge party the mayor is putting on? Come on, I know you got an invite." Lanie cocked her hip and raised her eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, but no. No, I'm not going. I'm busy."

"You have plans with Josh or something? The guy you broke up with over a month ago?"

Kate sighed at the truth. "No, I'm working. I now have a case and I will still have a ton of paperwork to finish after we get this figured out, and I know I just won't have time…"

"Girl, don't make me smack you. You will not be working on New Year's, and you will most definitely have time to go. And don't you use the excuse that you don't have anything to wear. We're going tomorrow to get a dress." Kate opened her mouth to protest but Lanie put her hand up and continued. "I'm going to the party with Javi. If you work on New Year's, he'll feel obligated to do so as well. Don't you ruin my evening."

The corners of Kate's mouth turned up at Lanie's point and then nodded. "Fine. But I most certainly am not buying anything remotely suggestive. I'm not looking to get felt up on the dance floor, especially when I can't see the guy's face."

"Hey, you never know, it might be fun." Lanie chuckled and knelt down next to the bodies once more. "We have two females, both between the ages of 20 to 25. They both suffered gunshot wounds to the torso, two in the back, two in the front. By the amount of blood I would say they were both killed here. Time of death is estimated to be between 2 and 4 this morning. Anything else and I'm going to have to get them back to the lab."

"Alright, thanks Lanie." Kate stood up, calling to Ryan and Esposito. "Any witnesses?"

Esposito broke away from the conversation with the police officer to talk to Beckett. "Nope. And victims' names are unknown. Their purses were missing, and neither of them seem to be carrying a phone. Could be a robbery?"

Kate bit her lip. "Most likely not, but it is in an alleyway behind a bar and they would have been killed in the dark. It could probably be anything. Check if you can find anything out from the bartender working last night."

Esposito nodded and walked towards the back entrance of the bar as Rick finally showed and handed Kate her coffee. "Morning, Beckett."

"Morning, Castle. Had something better to do this morning?" Kate smirked and took a sip of her coffee. He always had it made correctly and she loved that about him.

"Mmm, I wish, Detective, but there's nothing better than standing with you over a dead body at 6 in the morning."

Kate's stomach fluttered but she quieted it with another sip of her coffee. "Well, you missed the interesting stuff. All that's left is to head back to the precinct and find out a little more about our Jane Does."

"What? That's it? I don't get anything?"

Kate started to walk to her Crown Vic. "Well, that's what happens when you're late, Castle."

"What? No, come on, can't we just stay a little longer? What if I get you another coffee? A bear claw?" Rick followed her, pleading all the way. "Can you at least tell me if it was bloody? Gory?"

"Oh, Castle, I think it's much more fun to hold out on you. Besides, why don't you just use that oh-so-active imagination of yours?" Kate's laughter rang out down the alleyway as they both climbed into the Crown Vic.

OOOOOOOOOO

Lanie knocked on the dressing room impatiently, holding 15 more formal dresses over her shoulder. "Kate, come on, you're going to have to show me eventually. Don't make me get Sammie to unlock this door. You already tortured that poor saleswoman enough when you ragged on her dress choices."

She started tapping her foot impatiently as she heard muffled speaking from the other side of the door. "Want to run that by me one more time, Kate?"

"I said, this dress is incredibly slutty." Kate opened the door as Lanie's jaw dropped. "I don't need a mask for this masquerade, I need a stripper pole."

"Kate… It's perfect. You look hot. Incredibly hot." Lanie turned her friend around to face the mirror.

The dress was a dark red wine color with a plunging front and back, showing just the right amount of cleavage. The straps were on the thicker side of spaghetti, which provided Kate with some assurance, but she just felt so exposed. "Lanie, I just don't know. I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea…"

"Kate. You're not going as Detective Beckett on New Year's. You're going as Kate, the mysterious slinky cop with handcuffs at home. Besides, it's a masquerade, emphasis on the mask part. No one will know it's you!" Lanie smiled into the mirror as Kate pulled at the dress worriedly.

"I know, I just… It's not too much skin?"

Lanie shook her head. "If any guy sees you, it will be just the right amount of skin. And besides, if you ever needed to take off said dress, there wouldn't be much to hinder someone from doing just that, would there?"

Kate chuckled. "Fine. I can't believe I'm doing this."

Lanie exited the dressing room, hanging the untried-on dresses on the rack. She'd had a feeling she could change Kate's mind with that dress, but even she had been surprised by how hot Kate looked in it. Lanie shook her head and smiled to herself. The plan had been put into action, and she knew just how much fun her friend would have at the New Year's Masquerade.

A/N: Oooooh the plot thickens! This will be a multi-chapter fic, and it will switch focus between Kate and Rick, so I'll try to label that as best as possible. :]

Liked it? Hated it? I would love to hear anything and everything from you! Hit the gorgeous…alluring… awesomely rewarding review button below and I will adore you forever! ;]

Until next time… L.