Greetings! This is my first story for Castle but I have written for a few other fandoms, most notably Lie To Me. I hope that my style of fanfic finds an audience in this fandom. This is the prologue to what I expect to be a 7 chapter fic (one chapter for each of the 7 days). This will be a lot of shippy goodness and a whole lot of creative Smuttasticness! My m rating is a REAL M rating so BE WARNED!

I sincerely hope you enjoy this little romp for our favorite couple and I would really love to hear your feedback since this is my first Castlefic.

Thank you as always to Tnlizzie for her thoughts and advice! XOXOXOX

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: i don't own Castle or any of it's characters! If you really want to sue over some good-natured smut, be my guest.

He studied her face in the dusty flecks of sunlight streaming through the cracks in the blinds as her eyes finally began to flutter open. He held his breath.

He had woken several hours ago, head spinning when he realized Kate was no longer in his arms. It had taken several seconds of quiet panic for him to realize that his California king mattress sloped away slightly to his left and that a quietly sleeping Kate Beckett had merely rolled away from him as they slept. He let his heart quiet a moment before slipping slowly and soundlessly from beneath the tangled sheets, grabbing his boxers as he fled to the adjacent bathroom.

He waited for the quiet click of the door latch before collapsing against the frame and sliding to the floor. He bit his wrist to stifle the low groan that he had been holding in.

She is here.

She stayed.

The words kept repeating on a loop in his head as he felt hot tears welling up yet again.

Not since she lay on the dewy grass of the cemetery covered in bright red blood had he been so afraid.

Last night, after they had exhausted their initial passions for each other and she had seemed so content to remain naked and sated in his arms he had fought against his instinct to crush her to him, to hold her so tightly that escape simply wasn't an option. Instead he had simply pressed his lips to her damp forehead and fought sleep as long as he could, willing the morning not to come.

When he trusted his legs to hold him, he rose and turned on the shower. Stepping in, he let the streaming water run over his face and head, trying to wash away the remaining whispers of his fears.

When he emerged, he quickly brushed his teeth and then slowly opened the bathroom door, relieved once more to see that Kate still slept buried deep in pillows and blankets. He slipped back into bed, careful not to disturb her and settled in to wait.

He held his breath as she came awake, saw her startle initially at the unfamiliar surroundings, waited for her memory to catch up.

He felt his heart start again in the moment she turned to him and smiled, her eyes going soft as she stretched out toward him.

"Morning Castle," she whispered, the barest hint of a blush painting her cheeks.

"Morning Beckett," he said soberly as he clasped her hand in his.

She rolled toward him, her bare breasts slipping from beneath the covers as her body came to rest against his, legs tangling as she held him tightly.

"Oh thank god," he whispered, stiffening when he realized he had spoken the words aloud.

She pulled away slightly, eyes meeting his as her thumb swept across his cheek. "Did you really think I would want to leave?" she asked softly, as if reading his mind.

He couldn't bring himself to open his mouth and tell her that yes, in fact the mere possibility of it had nearly stopped his heart.

She looked at him somberly. "Richard Castle, you've been my partner for four years now. Did you really think I would let you ravage my body and then leave without making you cook me breakfast?" The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile and she kissed him as if it were the most normal thing in the world that they should be waking up together.

"Oh, I think you're going to have to earn that breakfast now, Beckett," he growled, rolling her onto her back and attacking her neck with his lips in the places he remembered had made her cry out the night before. He wedged himself between her thighs, his body ready for her in an instant.

Kate moaned lightly and giggled, pulling the covers over their heads as his mouth descended to her breast, nipping at the delightfully responsive flesh. Her fingers raked across his back, urging him on as she drew her knees up against his sides. Her giggles turned to shaky sighs as he slipped a hand between them, relieved to find her as eager as he was to rekindle the passion of the night before. He slid his fingers roughly against her slick folds as she stiffened and gasped beneath him. Her fingers twined in his hair and she pulled his ear to her lips. "Hurry," she demanded.

He grasped her thigh firmly and rolled so that she landed astride his hips, his cock pressed against her entrance. With hands on his shoulders, she kept her upper body pressed tightly to his, lifting her hips and angling them so that he slid deep inside as she sank down again.

He lost his breath as he was completely encased in the tight throbbing heat of her. When she began to rock gently against him and he slipped ever so slightly in and out of her softness in an intoxicatingly slow and steady rhythm, the only thing he could do was hold on for dear life and hope not to embarrass himself in the first few seconds of their union.

Her mouth moved feverishly against his in time to the motion of their bodies. Taut nipples grazed across the light hair on his sweat slicked chest and he was both disappointed and relieved when her thighs tensed around him and her fingertips trembled against his cheeks.

"I can't wait," she breathed against his ear, taking the tender lobe between her teeth briefly.

He grasped her hips to slow her movements, and then wrapped his arms around her. Raising his knees, he began to thrust upward with each of her downward strokes, quickly bringing him right to the brink with her. Her whole body trembled against him. "Kate," he choked out as his body spasmed with impending release.

She let go.

Moist heat rippled around him and he thrust into her hard, spending everything he had in a series of desperate cries that mingled with her own softly quavering moans.

*Crash*

They were immediately jolted from blissful post coital reverie by the sound of something large and heavy crashing to the tile floor in a distant room.

Beckett rolled immediately toward the nightstand, stopping short. He realized she had been instinctively going for the gun she kept beside her own bed. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at him.

"Probably Alexis home early," he said, rubbing her shoulder sympathetically.

She hesitated. "I'm sorry," she stated simply, coming back to his arms.

"You're a cop down to your bones. It comes with the territory." He kissed the tip of her nose.

"Except I'm not anymore, I quit the force. Turned in my badge and resigned." She searched his eyes as if trying to read his thoughts.

"You didn't tell me," he said softly.

Her eyes grew distant for only a moment as if she didn't know how to explain that, even to herself. "Honestly, it wasn't even on my mind last night. I just couldn't…" She didn't finish.

"Kate..,"

*Crash*

She smiled at him, coming back to herself at the interruption. "You had better go offer up an explanation before I show up at the breakfast table in one of your dress shirts," she smirked.

"Don't go away," he said seriously.

"Oh, don't worry. You sir, owe me one HELL of a breakfast." She extricated herself from the now hopelessly tangled blankets and strode naked into the bathroom, winking at him over one perfect pale shoulder as the door clicked shut.

"That isn't what I meant," he muttered softly.

He crept out slowly. The fact that whoever was in the kitchen was making no attempt to disguise their movements reassured him that they did, in fact, belong in the house. He peaked around the corner into the kitchen just as a red head popped up from beneath the counter.

"Richard darling, so glad you finally saw fit to drag yourself out of bed."

"Mother! What in the hell…I mean, I didn't expect you home until tomorrow." He tried to keep his tone in check but he was certain his frustration was clear.

"Obviously." She raised an eyebrow at him, turning back toward a sizzling pan of bacon on the stove. "I got home late last night and no, I don't want to talk about it. You certainly sounded…preoccupied when I arrived home. I'm not surprised you didn't hear me."

He cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Any sign of Alexis yet?" He changed the subject.

"She sent me a text saying she would be home around nine. You might want to sneak your current Kate Beckett substitute out the back door before then," she shot over her shoulder.

Richard looked toward his study as Kate emerged quietly in her bare feet. "Oh, I think it will be okay just this once. She's a grown up." He wrapped his arms around Kate and pulled her close as she tiptoed to his side.

"Honestly Richard, I don't know how you expect your daughter to develop healthy ideas about relationships when you parade your latest floozy around…" she spun around angrily and dropped the spatula loudly when she saw Kate.

"Good morning Martha," she smiled sheepishly.

His mother's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before spreading into the most genuinely relieved and pleased smile he had ever seen. "Oh my god!" she put a hand dramatically to her chest and looked up to the heavens, or in this case, the ceiling. "Thank you," she whispered, "thank you."

"Richard was just about to cook me breakfast."

"Well, by all means! I am just going to take my plate into the other room and leave you two love birds to it." She breezed past them, pinching his cheek as she did so. "Good boy," she whispered.

He watched her as they ate. She was different this morning. In many ways it was if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She smiled more, her eyes danced with playfulness when she tossed a crust of bread at him or rubbed a hand up his thigh beneath the table. His heart was lightened by the change in her but somehow he kept waiting for the other shoe. It seemed impossible that she could slip so neatly into his life like this without some sort of negotiation process.

There was her job as well. At the moment she said that turning in her badge wasn't weighing on her but he knew that in time, when the spell they were currently under began to wear off and reality crept back in, he knew they would have to figure out just what it was they truly wanted from each other and from their lives both together and separately.

There were simply too many distractions in the city, too many headlines, too many people. For just a moment it needed to be about Kate Beckett and Richard Castle, no cases, no cops, no relatives (dead or alive), no publishers, just them.

"We need to go away," he said suddenly, starting up from the table.

"What? Go where?" She looked at him quizzically.

"I don't know, somewhere quiet? Somewhere where it's just us. Please Kate, believe me when I tell you that it is the most incredible and unexpected miracle that you are here with me, that you want me," he moved in closer and stroked the hair from her face, lowering his voice, "but there is just so much…" He looked at her pleadingly, quietly begging her to understand.

She was silent for a long moment, her brow furrowing as she turned his words over and over in her mind. "Okay."

He kissed her softly, still amazed that this was something he was allowed to do. "Thank you," he said simply.

She took his face in her hands and kissed him back, pressing him back against the counter as she did so. Just as his hands began to wander the buttons of her shirt, the latch on the door clicked open and Alexis burst in looking immediately at the two of them with wide eyes.

He broke away from Kate quickly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Alexis, we…" he began.

She threw up her arms in a dramatic gesture that would have made Martha proud. "Oh Thank GOD," she exclaimed loudly, coming forward to embrace both he and Kate in turn.

Kate looked at him with wide eyes over a head of long red hair as Alexis hugged her exuberantly.

Finally, releasing Kate, she took both of them in a stern glance that made him feel as if he were standing in front of one of his old Headmasters. "So," she said in a tone that left no doubt she expected an answer, "now what?"

Much more to come! I would sincerely appreciate a line of two of feedback from some more veteran Castle readers and writiers. Can't say as I will change my style, but it's nice to know if I peeps are enjoying it!

XOXO

Kat