Prompt: Would you be up to the task of writing an almost M rated, T rated version of "Murder He Wrote" with all of the caskett scenes in the episode, minus the murder? As if the guy had never fallen into the pool. Just take out the case scenes and extend the casket scenes.

For alwaysdefectivecastle

Murder He Rewrote

Kate watches the drag of the clock's second hand around its circumference, the slow crawl towards five o'clock and a long, languorous weekend away. And it's utterly ridiculous how conspicuous she's being - the damn animation takes up the entirety of her computer monitor; anyone who walks past her desk will see it - but she just can't push it back.

All day, she's battled so hard not to blurt out something that will clue in the guys as to who her mysterious boyfriend is. Now that she's so close, the excitement fizzes low in her guts, so effervescent that every time she opens her mouth she worries that it will just spill out of her. And okay, yes, there's also a fair amount of terror. Her first vacation with Castle. Even if it is only a weekend at his Hamptons home, it's their first test since they started doing this. There's a sort of thick desperation that sits sluggish in her stomach, threatening to pull her under every time she lets herself think about it.

She has to get this right. They have to.

Sure, he's stuck by her through bullets and boyfriends and a year of lies, but they've never been grocery shopping together. In the summer, when his mother and daughter were still in Europe and Kate was still on suspension, they were able to spend long, blissfully uninterrupted days together. But that was different, that was about learning each other's bodies.

He never pushed her to be domestic, never asked for more than she could give. And now he is asking. A couple of weeks ago, he had stroked his fingers down the ladder of her spine absent-mindedly and spread his palm over her skin, brushing his lips to hers as he gathered the courage to speak.

Can I take you away?

She had grinned up at him, returned his kiss in force and agreed before he even offered any details. She trusts him, trusts that he knows how important these next few months are if she's going to win back her captain's good graces. Had known even before he spoke that he wasn't thinking out of the country, probably not even out of state.

But when he'd told her he wanted to go to the Hamptons her heart had kicked violently against the cage of her ribs, her throat closing at the memories of that terrible summer. Not that it matters anymore, not with the tender smiles he had given her as he described the beach, the pool, the gorgeous little harbour town nearby.

This weekend will be good, will help negate the heartbreak of watching him walk away. Kate's fingers twitch against the computer mouse and she sucks in a breath, her mouth slowly parting in anticipation.

"T-minus one minute and counting." Castle's voice right in her ear sends a jolt zipping through her and she has to give herself half a second to wait for the ripples of adrenaline to subside before she can turn to face him.

Leaning in as close as she dares in the precinct, Kate keeps her voice low. Not that that means it's any less threatening. "Castle, what are you doing here? You were supposed to wait around the corner so that nobody could see us."

"I know, but I thought it would be fun to be here with you when the clock strikes five." Kate has to stitch her mouth into a seam at that to stop the cracking grin. Ridiculous, sweet man and his romantic notions. "You know, just like New Year's Eve except without the kissing for obvious reasons, but there will be plenty of that this weekend."

His voice trails off into a breathy whisper that stirs things in her gut she really wishes it weren't so difficult to ignore. Instead, she channels her frustration at him. "Can you just shush?"

"No one is going to hear me. Look around you, you are in a room full of detectives and not one of them has a clue."

Oh God, that just hurts. Obviously she knows what's at stake here, how important it is to keep their relationship a secret, but even so, it doesn't exactly feel great. "Wow Castle, thank you for reminding me that I'm lying to a bunch of people that I really care about so I don't get fired on an ethics violation because I'm dating you."

"Well you can put all that out of your mind in three, two, one. . .no murder. There, wasn't that fun?" Kate turns a glare over her shoulder to meet his smile and he sighs, nudges his chair back just a little. "Okay fine, I will go and no one will even know I was-"

"Hey Castle." Ryan's voice slices through the end of his sentence. Castle's eyes widen and he freezes, gaze darting to her for help.

"What'chu doin here bro?" Esposito joins in, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. All day, Javi has been needling her about her boyfriend and does Castle know about the guy, is he upset? In fact, the detective had cornered Kate in the break room at lunchtime and asked her what the hell she thinks she's doing, stringing Castle along like this. Does she not think he's waited long enough for her to give him a chance?

She almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, at how Esposito thinks she could possibly be dating anyone apart from Rick. He's not exactly great at hiding his emotions; he'd be moping around like a kicked puppy if she were with someone else.

Right now, though, Kate has to admit that she's impressed. Castle flounders for barely a second before excuses are tripping off of his tongue. "I was just on my way to the Hamptons to write for the weekend when I thought I'd drop by, see if we caught a murder."

"Wow, anything to avoid writing, huh?" Kate throws back at him, eyes sliding over to glance at the boys and check that they're buying it before coming back to settle on him.

"Exactly."

"Hey, did you hear about Beckett's weekend?" Espo says, and the first tendrils of paralytic fear begin to wrap themselves around Kate's bones.

Castle levels her with a look, his face carefully neutral. "No, big plans?"

"She's going away with her boyfriend." Ryan crows, face stretched into a delighted smile.

"A boyfriend? Beckett, really? Who is the lucky guy?"

Oh jeez, seriously Castle? Fine, she understands that his questions are part of their cover. She also sees just how much enjoyment he's getting out of watching her squirm, how he's probing her to say something about him. Not a chance in hell is she going to shower him with compliments under the guise of talking about some mystery man.

"For some reason she's not telling." Esposito says, frowning again and shifting his weight.

Kate turns to level Ryan and Espo with an icy glare, decidedly not looking at Castle. She really doesn't need to see his face right now. "Okay, seriously guys?"

"Actually I for one am offended you're not sharing with us." Castle says and oh come on. This is just not fair. As soon as she gets him alone she is going to kill him. Forget their romantic weekend; forget all the things he's been telling her all week that he can't wait to do to her.

He does not get to embarrass her like this and then also have sex with her.

"After all we've been through."

Esposito nods at his partner before levelling a gaze on Kate that sears right through her. "Yeah, I think we deserve better."

"You know, I have a couple ideas about what you guys deserve."

Ryan leans back against the desk behind him, frowning at her. "Come on Beckett, just give us something. Is he handsome?"

Castle's head snaps up and his gaze meets hers, intense and curious. "Yeah, is he handsome?"

Kate swallows her smirk, choosing instead to raise her eyebrows at him and watch the work of his throat. Good, so he sees just how pissed off she is. A part of her, a huge part, kind of enjoys when he annoys her, if only for the multitude of ways he tries to make it up to her afterward.

"Or is he more of a badass?" Esposito asks, and suddenly she can't take any more of this. She grits out a sigh and moves off towards the break room where she hung her jacket, ignoring Castle's voice entirely as he prattles on behind her.

"Yeah, is that it Beckett? Is he a bad boy? James Dean, huh, is he a desperado?" Kate watches from the break room window as he leans back against the wall for a moment, turning his laughter to meet the stern faces of Ryan and Esposito. "I'm gonna-" Castle gestures towards the elevator and then moves off.

She watches him step inside the elevator car and pull out his phone, the doors closing on the slide of his smirk across his face. A moment later, her own cell phone vibrates in her pocket and she tugs it free, rolling her eyes at his message.

Hey gorgeous, car's around the corner. I'll wait for you there.

God damn it, she's smiling in spite of herself. It's a little sleazy, sure, but she can see the sincerity in his words underneath layers of leering. He really does think that she's gorgeous, and when he lets his whole face go slack with it and presses his mouth to her skin she can almost believe it herself.

And this weekend there's no precinct, no Alexis and Martha. No reason for him to do anything except wrap her up in his words.

Kate slides into the passenger seat and drops her bag into the back of his car, leaning over the centre console to push her mouth to his. It's a little brutal, her taste sharp with annoyance until he works his tongue along the seam of her lips and slicks inside where she's warm and sweet.

"I'm sorry about that." He says into their kiss, pulling away from her to put the car into drive and pull away from the curb.

Sure, he'd like to sit here all day and just kiss her, but when they get to the Hamptons they can do a whole lot more than just kissing, and with no danger of being seen. You could say that he's in a hurry, sure. He glances over to see her chewing at her bottom lip and watching him carefully.

"You wanted to drive, huh?" He raises an eyebrow at her, tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel and letting the delight overflow into his body so he can't help but wriggle a little in his seat.

Kate huffs at him, shaking her head and shifting in the seat to face forward. "Nope. I'm on vacation, you can do the driving."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He watches the lift of her shoulders in his peripheral vision, keeping most of his attention focused on the flow of traffic around them. She's letting him drive and he is absolutely not going to screw it up.

She's got her feet pulled up onto the seat now, her chin resting against them, but when Castle nudges lightly at her knee she lets herself tilt sideways and offers a grin up to him. The vulnerability ebbing away in the face of sudden determination.

"I hate lying to them. And I hate lying. . .about you. I'm not ashamed to be with you, Castle. But that's what it feels like every time I have to make up some mystery guy."

"I know you're not ashamed. You just want to protect our partnership, right? Same as me." Rick shrugs, easing out into the right lane. Once the car is safely swept up in the flow of traffic he curls his hand around the apex of her knee and circles his thumb at her thigh, keeping his gaze carefully focused on the car in front.

She can have the space to be free from his scrutiny and no more. Not right now.

Kate's hand comes to settle on top of his, her fingers slipping into the gaps between his own. Her hands are always colder than his and he delights in the shock of it, tremors every time she touches him.

"A part of me feels like it's stupid to keep it from them, though. You know? They wouldn't run and tell Gates." Kate murmurs, her eyes slipping closed as fissures crack open in her forehead.

"Yeah, I know. But can they keep it a secret from everyone else?"

Castle takes his hand back to join the highway, sitting back a little in his seat once they're there. He opens up the playlist he made for the drive on his phone and plugs it into the jack, hitting play and letting the music swell into the quiet spaces.

It pushes against the glass, thick and viscous in their little amniotic bubble, and something about it seems to help Kate. Her body turns liquid in the seat and she sets her cheek against the headrest, her whole body turned to watch him.

"I feel so stupid not telling the guys. This is a big deal, right? We're six months into this thing and the rest of our team has no idea."

"I see what you mean. But Kate, let's let it go for this weekend, hmm? Just relax, not think about the city. And then on Monday we can talk about what we want to do." He glances at her, sees the pensive set to her face.

She bites her lip, nods at him. "Yeah. Let's not ruin the weekend before it even starts, huh?"

"Right." He offers her a breathy laugh for that and she grins back, slipping her shoes off and dropping them in the footwell. Kate rolls her shoulders to stretch them out, shifting around to watch the blurred canvas of colours slip past them. Already, he's falling stupidly in love with vacation Kate.

They had a summer, but it's not the same. Now she gets to totally relax, to enjoy their weekend together. There's so much, so much that he wants to show her and experience with her. Right now, he's kind of desperate to get out of the car so he can touch her, kiss her, feel the way she lets her body sink into his and nuzzles at his neck.

Castle lets his mind wander, the whole span of their weekend morphing slowly into the rest of their lives together as he dwells on it. The exit comes up almost without warning and Castle pulls off the highway, looks over to see Kate just starting to stir.

"Hey, not long now."

Kate blinks at him, a barely-awake smile just flirting at the corners of her mouth. "Sorry I fell asleep on you."

"It's okay." He grins, making his eyebrows dance just to draw a laugh from her. "Just having you here is fuel enough for my fantasies."

"I didn't think you fantasised so much anymore. Not now you have the real thing."

"Not those kinds of fantasies." He says quietly, shifting his gaze back to focus on the road. Not a chance in hell that he'll tell her he was picturing her coming towards him on her father's arm, so vivid he could almost feel the choke of the bowtie around his throat.

She murmurs something he doesn't catch, sipping from a bottle of water and watching the violent splashes of colour that seem to come right up against the car windows and spill inside, dappled light laying over Kate's thighs.

"I win." Kate crows, pressing her skull back against the headrest and beaming at him. He shoots her a puzzled look and she laughs, shaking her head. "Spotted the ocean before you did."

"That's not fair." He squeaks, sending her shards of a glare in between watching the road. "I didn't know we were making a game of it."

Kate reaches over to pat his thigh in an approximation of comfort, that sly little smirk still laid bare on her face. "It's okay, Castle. Maybe I'll let you win something else later."

"Like your heart?" He says, the words not even making contact with his brain before they're tripping off his tongue.

Bracing for panic or a total shutdown, he hardly even dares glance at her. But then Kate covers his hand at the wheel with her own and squeezes softly, stretching outside of the confinement of the seatbelt to skate her mouth over his cheek.

"You won that a long time ago."

"Sap." He fires back, even as tendrils of warmth unfurl themselves along his spine. It's always so beautiful when she does this, gives him back exactly what he needs from her.

Kate's mouth opens as if she's going to argue and he cuts her off, nudging at her shoulder. "Look."

He slides the car through the gate and pulls right up to the front door, cutting the engine and stepping out. Kate stays in the car and he grins, takes the opportunity to play the gentleman and open her door for her. Huge eyes, rich and teeming with life in the pale moon of her face and her mouth ripe and inviting, Kate stares up at the facade of his home.

"Here we are."

A/N: Thanks to Jeanne (half0utloud on tumblr) for the gorgeous cover art. I posted the playlist that Castle made for their drive out to the Hamptons on 8tracks, I'm seilleanmor on there. I'm hoping to get this done before Valkyrie airs, but no promises. TMC, y'all are the only kind of infamous internet cult I'd ever want to be a part of.

Tumblr: katiehoughton

Twitter: seilleanmor