What Happens in Vegas...

Kate Beckett strode through McCarran thinking it was more like a casino than an airport. People watched expectantly as wheels spun on slot machines and every so often there was a joyous shout at the clink of coins. She hadn't been there before. She'd been to Las Vegas, but she shuddered at the memory of her ill-fated junket as a student at Stanford. How could she have married Rogan O'Leary? How could she have even slept with the slimy con man? Well that was in the past. She was Castle's wife now, even if the world had to think they were separated. That was why Rick had suggested a trip to Las Vegas. They went on separate planes, even though he had picked up the tab to make sure she flew first class. They would be meeting up at Cleopatra's Barge, a luxury hotel and casino where there were enough celebrities to oogle that a writer and his muse would go unnoticed. To make sure, Kate wore a black wig and large sunglasses. Castle would be hiding his trademark hair under a jockey cap and wearing tortoise shell spectacles. He had booked a suite as Richard Rodgers, using an account he kept for traveling incognito. Kate would be his personal assistant Olga Karstov, an identity she had developed for undercover work, capitalizing on her fluency in Russian.

Castle was already in the suite when Kate arrived. Steam rose in lazy cherry scented swirls over the over-sized spa tub, as he adjusted the temperature. He looked up at her and smiled. "They place these thing so guests can watch the large screen TV while they soak, but I can't imagine watching anything on that thing when I can look at you."

"Keep going Rick," Kate advised saucily as she shed her glasses and wig and shook out her hair. She pulled at the sash on the plush hotel robe he was wearing and the terry covering fell open. The bulge beneath his shorts showed just how happy he was to see her. She stroked it through the soft fabric. "I like what I see too, and what I feel."

Rick pulled her hard against him, the warmth of her body against his expanding heat. His voice ground huskily from deep in his throat at he undid the buttons of the crisp blouse that fit her identity as his assistant. "We have a lot of time to make up for, and only a weekend to do it."

Kate slipped a seeking hand beneath the waistband of his shorts. "Then we shouldn't waste a minute."

With tug of impatient fingers, their clothes fell quickly to the thick carpeting. Rick stepped into the tub, extending a hand to Kate as he he sank into the warm bubbles and pulled her into his lap. Kate playfully splashed the foam upward, creating a white beard on his chin. "Little girl," he inquired, working his hand downward from her flat abdomen, "did you get everything you wanted for Christmas, or were you naughty?"

Kate framed his face in her hands. "Being naughty was what I wanted for Christmas. I wanted to be very naughty, but I had to pretend to be good." She gasped as Rick's hand parted her legs.

Rick pulled her hand beneath the water to feel the growing urgency of his hardened flesh. "Right now you can be as naughty as you like," he whispered. "The naughtier the better."

Their lips collided in sudden desperation, tongues reaching and twining. As skin blazed against skin, Castle could feel pink points pressing against his chest, begging for his attention. Kate whimpered for just a moment in protest when his mouth left hers before it found its new targets. She arched, rubbing against his heat as he sucked one and then the other to erect longing. "Rick!" his name rose from the depths of her desire, forcing its way over her tongue. "Please!"

"Please what?" he demanded.

Kate's hips rotated wildly. "I need you inside me. Now!"

Jets of heated water pulsed against their bodies, warring with what radiated from their skins. Bubbles lapped at the edges of the shiny porcelain as the couple moved beneath the foaming liquid. Their hands slid over slick skin, seeking every sensitive spot, every place known only to lovers. Kate could feel the sensation growing within her, spreading through her loins. With muscles inside and out trained to obey her every command, she tightened her feminine sheath around Castle. She felt him jerk, knowing she had brought him close to the finish quickly overtaking her. She slammed against him a final time as a triumphant scream emanated from her throat. They fell against each other, still joined, as the water rushed around them."

When their lungs were once again capable of breath, Castle helped Kate from the tub, wrapping a freshly warmed oversized towel around her before wrapping one around himself. Kate gazed at skin of her fingers. "I didn't think I'd have this many wrinkles until I was at least ninety."

Castle wiped bubbles from her nose with his thumb. "You'll be the most beautiful ninety the world has ever seen." Kate's stomach rumbled. Castle smiled, palming it through the towel. "The old lady is hungry."

"The old lady is starved!" Kate declared. "I didn't eat on the plane. I'm not a big fan of airline food, even in first class. I keep seeing visions of the movie Airplane."

"Fish skeletons and farting. That would kill your appetite," Castle agreed. "So what will it be? Shall will avail ourselves of one of the hotel's fine eating establishments or order room service and dine in?"

Kate couldn't cope with the idea of Castle covering himself up and she wasn't crazy about having to get dressed either. "Room service," she decided.

The well pressed waiter paid no attention to the state of undress of the suite's inhabitants but smiled gratefully at Castle's more than generous tip and left quietly. Castle lifted the lid on two rare filet mignons flanked by purple mashed potatoes piped in the shape of hearts and grilled asparagus. "Purple hearts Castle? Have I wounded you that badly?" Kate asked.

"Well the arrow cupid plunged into my heart is certainly permanent," Castle responded, "but really I was just thinking about purple being your favorite color. Besides, red potatoes are only red on the outside. We should get enough red though, those filets are practically still mooing. The juice should just flow down your throat."

Kate raised her eyebrows. "'The juice should just flow down your throat, Castle?' That sounds like something Jameson Rook would say to Nikki Heat, right before they do something your books are in the wrong section of the store to describe."

Castle pushed out his lower lip, giving Kate the urge to nip it. "Well I do put the words in Rook's mouth. And I put things in Nikki's too."

Kate ran her bare toes up his leg under the table. "We can talk about that later, once you've fed me."

Castle pushed a succulent green spear between her lips. "Always my pleasure."

"So," Castle asked, as he left the depleted dinner cart outside the door of the suite, "what's your pleasure Mrs. Castle? I have contacts that should be able to get us into just about any show you want to see, or we could go down to the casino, go downtown, or maybe just toddle along the strip for a while."

Kate sucked on the tip of her finger, causing Castle to swallow uncomfortably. "Well we did come here to make magic. How about the guy in the green lizard costume who was on that competition on TV - the one who lost. He was really funny. I liked him a lot better than the guy who won. I think he's here. After what we've both been through lately, I think we can both use a good laugh."

"True enough," Castle agreed. "I'll get Dominic on the phone right now to arrange it."

Kate settled contentedly into Castle's shoulder as they strolled down the strip returning to their hotel from the show. The showroom had her favorite red wine and she had drunk more than the two drink minimum. Now no thought seemed more welcoming than settling into the as yet unexplored giant bed with her husband, for some long slow lovemaking.

Castle was of a similar mind as they both stripped off their disguises. Somehow no one in Vegas had given a glance to the dark glasses Kate wore, even in the dark hours. He noticed Kate staring at his face. "Do I have something in my teeth?"

"Not yet," she answered. "I was really thinking that the glasses looked good on you. Kind of like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know, when the co-ed wrote she loved him on her eyelids?"

"I remember it well," Castle assured her, "and if my 20-20 vision ever fails, I'll be sure to get a pair with real lenses in them. But for now I could wear these to bed and you could take them off at your pleasure."

Kate grinned. "That could be even more fun than the deerstalker hat I got you."

Castle put his glasses back on and swept Kate into his arms. 'Shall we?"

Kate drew one finger over the plastic frames. "Oh, we certainly shall." She was surprised when Rick laid her in the middle of the padded playground. "It's harder than I thought."

Rick raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I meant the bed. This place is so plush I thought we'd just kind of sink into a cloud."

"I don't think the hotel wants their guests to sink into anything, except maybe debt," Castle replied. "It wants them to go downstairs and part with money, the more the better. They wouldn't want us to get too comfortable. But if it will make you feel better," he suggested, lying down next to her, "you can get on top of me."

Kate straddled his hips. "Good thought, although you don't have much extra padding. I think the trips to that new gym you found are paying off."

Castle reached up to play with an inviting pale globe. "Or I was wasting away in your absence."

"Well waste away no more," she urged, the tips of her hair brushing his chest as she leaned in to taste his lips. She pulled back at the question in his eyes. "Did you want my mouth on something else?"

A shock ran through her as he brushed her most sensitive spot. "I can return the favor. It is my favorite number, the perfection of symmetry. The universe loves symmetry."

Kate brushed his lips lightly with her own and pulled off the glasses, before turning around. "How can I argue with the universe?" They fit as if God had molded them out of one lump of clay, pleasure burning through their veins in almost perfect synchronicity. Kate flailed as any control of her limbs vanished in a haze of pure excitation. Matching explosions threw them apart, every muscle limp, to sink into a mattress that no longer seemed hard. Sometime in the night Castle pulled a sheet over their cooling bodies.

The Nevada sun penetrated the hotel drapes. Castle reluctantly opened his eyes and looked over at Kate, already awake and staring at the ceiling. He brushed a strand of hair from her face. "Something wrong?"

"I just hate to think that we have to go back already this afternoon, and on two different airlines. We can't even wait together at the airport." Kate snuggled longingly into Castle's side. "I just want to stay here where are no murderers, no spies, just you and me and an occasional room service waiter."

Castle drew her against him. "It wouldn't last long. In a few days at most Kate Beckett would be hungry to see justice done and evil put to rest. It's who you are. This is just an interlude - a wonderful, amazing, mind-blowing interlude. And when we finish tracking down your nemesis, we can have more of them. Lots more. As many as your cop heart desires. But in the meantime we have all morning. It doesn't take that long to get to the airport and we both have pre-checks for TSA. There is a great brunch buffet downstairs. I hear it's the best in Vegas. That's saying a lot since this is pretty much buffet city. You want to give it a try? Then we could come back here and - work it off."

"Sounds like a plan," Kate agreed. "I hope they have crabs' legs. I feel like cracking something."

Castle gave a little shiver, praying she could get it out of her system before they returned to the room.

Castle looked with amazement at the mounds of food on Kate's third plate. The hotel didn't have crab legs but they had served lobster tails and Kate had made quick work of the shells and torn out the meat with abandon. Her chin still shone from the drips of butter she had used to coat the succulent white flesh. Now she was working her way through piles of grapes and strawberries while she sipped at a sweet and slightly bubbly mimosa. Always the New Yorker, Castle savored deli style smoked salmon with cream cheese smeared bagels. He was careful to avid the onions that were a usual accompaniment, in anticipation of the rest of the morning's pursuits. He preferred his Champagne unadulterated by orange juice and wet his mouth from a crystal flute.

In the background they could hear the music of slot machines and the occasional scream of delight when a one armed bandit gave back some of its take. The sound was almost hypnotic, something Castle was sure the hotel fully intended, as the machines picked customers' pockets faster than even the most expensive buffet. Nevertheless it drew him in. He especially loved the poker machines. They required a very different skill set than an actual game. Machines couldn't be bluffed and they had no tells. Nonetheless, figuring the odds was straightforward, and the machines, especially the high denomination ones with the better payouts, were something he enjoyed. Still, he had Kate, and no mass of metal with blinking lights and beckoning jackpots could compete with her. And he could play at the airport while he waited for his plane. The casino that operated the machines at McCarran made sure the passengers had the best opportunity for a final fleecing before they left.

Castle could see that Kate was slowing down, as it took her several minutes to make her way through a fat berry. Castle put several bills on the table for the server who had refilled their drinks and quietly taken away empty plates. "Ready to go?" he asked.

Kate wiped the juice from the corners of her mouth with a snowy linen napkin and nodded.

They picked their way through the bells, whistles, and sighs, back to the elevator for the ride to the exclusive VIP floor, accessible only by the swipe of a room key. Castle put an arm around Kate for the journey up and she leaned into him. "Please don't tell me you're sleepy," he pleaded.

Kate stifled a yawn. "Okay, I won't tell you, but I think those mimosas were very light on the juice. I'm sorry Babe."

"There won't be anything to be sorry about," Castle insisted as they exited the elevator. He quickly waved his key card over the lock to the room and walked through to the luxuriously appointed bath. He opened the glass door of the shower and turned on the taps. "This thing is even bigger than the one in the loft. There's plenty of room for two, we could even do our routine. The perfect pick-me-up."

Coming out of the bathroom again, he pulled at Beckett's top. "Come on! It's time for the team of Castle and Beckett to break forth in glorious song and terpsichorean perfection."

Kate pulled at his collar in return. "Then it's time for both of us to get naked."

"More beautiful words were never spoken," Castle declared.

Water sluiced down their bodies as they sang, danced, and splashed to words and music Sinatra had done better, but never with more enthusiasm. When they reached the final note, Kate couldn't have been wider awake and it was obvious to both of them that Castle was ready as well. They toweled off quickly before returning once more to their now completely disheveled bower. It didn't matter. Sheets and blankets were kicked to the floor. Castle made a mental note that he'd have to leave a very good tip for housekeeping, before Kate's hand closed around him and all thoughts flew from his head. Their lips met, moist and inviting. The loving was tender, less frantic, with full stomachs and overflowing hearts. Every inch of freshly washed skin was explored with hands and lips until the final motion that rocked the bed and rocked their souls.

They slept briefly until the alarm on Castle's phone chimed. "We need to get ready to go to the airport," he announced regretfully. After refreshing themselves once more in the opulent facilities, they packed and re-assumed their false identities. Kate left first, to pick up a cab. Castle used the automatic check out and followed.

Kate's flight was delayed. She would be on a plane coming in from from California, which was late. The reasons weren't disclosed by the airline, but she had heard a couple of employees whispering ruefully about a broken lav. She gazed at the lines of machines, all inviting her to insert some money in exchange for a transitory dream. Finally she gave in to the lure. She was down to the last push of a button when an alarm went off and coins began to rain into the machine's metal pan. Kate gathered them all into a handy and sturdy plastic bag provided for the purpose. The coins added several pounds to the weight of her purse, but it was a happy addition. I just hope, she thought, that we have as much success solving our mystery when Castle and I get back to New York. That kind of luck was something she didn't want to leave behind in Vegas. To be with Rick again with no hiding and no pretense, would be the only win she'd ever need.