Title: Skin on Skin

Summary: Rick and Kate do some talking with their hands.

Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters I write about. If you recognize a name, odds are it isn't mine. But seeing as this is a fanfic website, you probably knew that already.

Thanks again to Sunshiny-Kate, the best beta a writer could ask for!

"Pulchritude?" Rick's voice broke the silence of the room. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Ooh, you're good." Kate laughed. "I thought that one would stump you."

"I'm a writer." Rick shrugged. "Words are my thing. You'll have to try harder to beat me at my own game."

"Okay. Let me think a minute."

"Hey, I'm in no hurry to move from right here, so you take your time." Rick replied.

He started running the fingers of his free hand through her hair as she lay there in quiet pondering. She scooted in closer to his side and he tightened the hold he had on her with his arm that went over her shoulder and down her back. He'd woken up first, an abnormality in their household, and he'd watched her sleep for a while. He soon grew bored and began to entertain himself by writing words on her back, loving the way the expanse of smooth skin felt under his typing-calloused fingertips. He wrote of his love and how she made him feel, then moved on to words that made him think of her.

He'd realized she was awake when she grunted something that sounded like 'I'm not stubborn' just as he wrote the n. He'd laughed and written out good morning which she'd repeated aloud. Then he'd written I love you, which had her turning her head to look at him, a sleepy smile on her face, before she repeated his words out loud again. After that they'd spent the better part of an hour showing each other just how much love they had.

Now they were laying there, her pressed to his side, both of them fully sated and completely happy. When Kate had gained enough strength back in her arms, she'd lifted one and began forming words on his chest with her pointer finger, and he'd been guessing them. Each one she choose was a word that made her think of him, but she was indeed trying to spell out a word he wouldn't know the definition of. So far, it wasn't working.

"I got one." She declared suddenly.

She shifted slightly to have a better angle to write, and then began tracing her finger over his skin once more.

"Jocose." Rick said when she stopped. "So do you think I'm humorous, or playful?"

"Both." Kate chuckled and started writing again.

"Saccharine." Castle guessed. "I'm overly sentimental?"

"Sometimes, but I like it." Kate smiled. "You're also really sweet, so it fits both ways. Now try this one."

"Reverential?"

"It means you're reverent." Kate answered his question triumphantly.

"I know what it means, so you still haven't outsmarted me." Castle grinned at her disappointed scowl. "I just don't know why you think I'm reverent."

Kate craned her neck to kiss him lightly on the underside of his jaw.

"Rick." She whispered against his skin, feeling his hard swallow bob against her chin. "If you could see the way you look at the people you love, you'd know why I think you're reverent."

Rick picked his head up and kissed his wife, not caring about the awkward angle. He lavished her lips with his own until they were both breathing heavily. Kate dropped back to his shoulder and he hugged her tighter. A few moments passed and she started writing again.

"Nonsensical." Castle huffed. "I'm not impractical."

"Honey, you now own four plots of land on the moon. That's a bit impractical."

"I like it when you call me honey."

"I know you do." Kate grinned as another chuckle slipped from her lips. "Try this word."

She traced her finger on his skin again.

"Hey, I am not infantine." He stuck his bottom lip out.

"Umm, you totally ignored my statement about the moon property because you know I'm right. And now you're pouting. That's a mite childish."

"Fine." Rick sighed, trying to make it sound frustrated, but failing horribly. He felt Kate's finger on his chest and he waited out all the letters, even though he knew it halfway through. "Now that's more like it. I am quite titillating."

"Don't I know it." Kate turned enough to press an open mouthed kiss to his shoulder where she was laying on it. "You titillate me far too easily."

"How do you make words sound so sexy?" Rick asked.

Kate shrugged and lowered her head back down, then began another word. When she finished it, she reached behind her and grabbed his hand, tangling their fingers loosely.

"You spelled gravid." Rick stated a few moments later.

"Yes I did." Kate replied.

"So, you think I'm full of meaning?"

"I think you're full of something." Kate bit her lip to keep from laughing. "But that's not the definition I was looking for. I guess I finally won one."

"Well the only other definition I know for gravid is to be pregnant, and I'm most definitely not pregnant." Rick laughed.

"Maybe the game wasn't just about you, Rick." Kate replied.

"It's just you and me here, Kate, so unless you're telling me that you're pregn..." He looked down and Kate looked up at him. "Are you telling me that you're pregnant?"

"I am." She whispered.

Before she knew what was happening, Kate had been gently laid on her back and was staring up at Rick. A huge smile was spread across his face and a matching one split her lips wide open. He shifted his weight to one hand and lifted the other, hovering it over her belly. He lowered his pointer finger to her skin and started writing. When he finished Kate burst out laughing.

"Did you seriously just write hello on my stomach?"

"Yes." Rick answered as he put his hand back down on the bed. "Yes I did."

Kate reached up and cradled his face in her hands.

"We're having a baby." She said softy.

"We should celebrate."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I could make you a huge breakfast in bed."

"That sounds nice." Kate moved a thumb over his lips, stroking gently over and over. "But I was thinking about recreating the circumstances that got us here, and then we can make breakfast together."

"I love the way you think." Rick said as he bit down lightly on the pad of her thumb.

"I know you do. Now, stop talking. I have a better use for your mouth."

Rick groaned happily as she grabbed his ears and pulled his lips to hers.