Sitting in the sun for two hours, even in the shade and covered with SPF30 sun screen, still drains a lot out of someone not accustomed to the bright hot sun. After spending the majority of the morning out on the deck, under a canopy getting a little sun, Rick and Kate have decided to go back inside and out of the direct assault of old sol

Kate throws her cover-up back on and Rick helps gather their belongings and they go back inside the protection of the covering of the ship.

They are returning to their room to change from their swim wear and back into more causal cruising attire before heading back out on the ship for more fun activities

After arriving in the room Castle offered to finish rubbing lotion on her other body parts that will be exposed after she removes her bathing suit but all he gets is an eye roll from his girl. If this woman only knew what these things do to him maybe she would stop or maybe she does know exactly and does this because of his reaction

She is able to convince him to wait until later for more honeymoon activities but he makes her promise that they will not wait too long and she does happily agree

Once they have changed their clothes, they decide to go see how much money they can loose in the casino. Castle told Beckett that he usually breaks even on the Blackjack tables but he is willing to play any game as long as Kate is beside him

Walking down the corridor they pass near one of the placards advertising various activities on board and they notice a scavenger hunt game is beginning just after lunch in the theater. It is advertised for adults only.

"Let's go play that after lunch" Beckett comments. She has not realized herself until just now how much she has loosened up since they left port. She is really getting into this thing called 'vacation' and looking forward to the next experience

Castle stops to read the notes about the game "It says that they will be looking for things that might or might not be carried on your person so bring you bags and purses" he looks at his wife "That giant bag you always carry around will probably have everything they could possibly want. So we are a shoe in to win"

One more poke for good measure and they walk down the corridor, hand in hand toward the casino

Stepping up to the Blackjack table, Castle purchases chips from his on board ship card and sits down to play. Kate joins him for several hands and it is a good thing she did. Every time he lost a hand, she won. So the time spent on the table was, just like he said. Break even

Kate takes her winnings, about equal to Rick's losses, and tells him she is going to go play the slot machines. He stays at the Blackjack table until he is finally down to the last chip he began with.

Standing up, he walks around looking at all the other passengers playing various games from craps, to roulette, Texas Hold um, and finally finds his long legged brunette sitting in front of a slot machine pushing buttons

He walks up behind her and leans down "Hey gorgeous. Looking for a good time?"

She never looks away from her machine "No. I'm having all the good time I need right here"

This is when Castle looks at the machine and sees that she has won over a thousand dollars on this slot machine

"How much did you put in?" He asks

"Twenty dollars. Why?"

"I think it is time to cash out"

"Why would I do that? I'm winning"

"But after winning it is easy to keep going and loose"

She lays her head back against him "OK" she reaches over and punches 'Cash Out" She takes her ticket and they move over to the cashier. She has her winnings credited to the cruise card and her and her husband depart the casino and head toward the lunch buffet


Arriving at the buffet line they see that the selections have changed from breakfast faire to more midday meal items. The custom omelet pans have been replaced by stir fry. The pancakes and waffles have become sandwich preparation items. The fruit selections have remained basically the same. The pastries have morphed into small cakes and pies

Once more they gather their items and move toward a table. This time a woman's voice rises above the din of noise in the room

"Rick! Kate!"

Turning to locate the source Castle and Beckett are met with his neighbor from the Hamptons, Sara Green, waving toward them. This time she is alone "Please join me" she points at the table

"Oh we wouldn't want to intrude. I am sure your other friends are coming" Kate comments

"Don't be silly" Sara responds "They are all out on the deck trying to show off as much skin as possible in an attempt to see what they might be able to catch using shinny bait…if you know what I mean"

Castle looks at Beckett seeking approval for them to stay here. Even Kate does not know why, but she agrees for them to sit with Castle's neighbor, Sara, and a woman who was formerly competition to Beckett

"Well Sara, are you enjoying the cruise?" Kate asks

"It is real nice. I am really looking forward to the mystery game later"

Thinking she is asking for inside information Rick begins commenting "Sara, I really can't tell you anything…"

She interrupts "…no! No, I understand. I mean I really am excited to play the game"

She pauses for a second "You know after you two got together, you encouraged me to change"

This comment strikes Castle and Beckett odd

"It is evident what you two have is real and after that little kidnapping beck home and my rescue, I began to look at my own life and wondered if I was being too much of a flirt. Acting like a ditsy teenager. After loosing Kirk it hit me hard and I just went off the deep end but now I have decided I need something more in my life. You know, more than parties and hanging out in the Hamptons with all the rich people"

"That is quite a revelation, Sara" Kate comments

"Yeah and you two have made me want more"

"How? Rick asks

"I see how much in love you two are. Every time you come to the island, all the gossip is about you two"

Castle and Beckett look at each other wondering exactly what is being said about them there

"I don't understand" Beckett states

Sara points at Castle "He was the rich bachelor of every girl's dreams. All the women wanted to be with him and they tried to be by being the most 'out there' woman in town because they all thought that this was what he wanted. They all spent a lot of money trying to buy beauty. All for the wrong reasons"

She pauses

"But then he shows up with a you" Sara looks at Kate "A natural beauty. Someone who's radiance comes from somewhere deep inside. Not from a bottle, a spray, or a plastic surgeon"

Kate starts to comment "Is that why you are here, inside, and not on the deck…"

"Flaunting everything? Yeah" Sara looks at her watch "But I need to go. Thanks for listening to my rant. And Kate" looking at Beckett "Thank you for being a role model for me"

She stands and moves down the corridor toward the state rooms

Castle looks at his wife "WOW you can do it all"

"I…I don't know what to say"


Castle and Beckett enter the small theatre where the play will be occurring later tonight and move toward the front of the room. They locate a seat near several other couples and sit down. Kate had stopped in their room and grabbed her go bag hoping that whatever the scavenger hunt might require. She does keep a lot of things in this bag.

The room is fairly full with guests seated in both the front and rear of the room.

The cruise director steps up on stage and takes a microphone "Hello everyone. We will be starting soon but first, here is the deal. We are going to divide into teams. Each team needs about ten to twelve players" she points toward stage left "This is the first group. So lets move together" she points to the next table "Second group",,,

She moves the players around until there is five teams equally divided. Each team is given a large placard with a number from one to five

"Now I will call out an item that I want brought up to the stage. The teams will hold up the item and their number and rush to the stage here" she points to the apron at her feet. "I will call out the numbers in order as the team arrives with the item and Joey over here" pointing toward an assistant "will write them down. The scoring will be for the first to bring an item to the last one to bring an item" she stops for a moment "Let's say I ask for someone to bring me a motorcycle. The first team to bring a motorcycle will be awarded first place for that round. The team with the highest score at the end wins. Everyone understand?"

She waits for questions then continues "Now…some of these items will be…shall we say, of a more adult variety. That is the reason children are not allowed in to play this game"

Pause again "Everyone ready to start?"

Castle and Beckett are on team five all the way to one side of the room. She has her large bag on her lap ready to start. Kate is looking around and notices that her old high school friend, Brett is on team two across the room. She tries to get his attention but his is busy talking to another player who has their back to Castle and Beckett "Hey, Castle" Kate whispers to him "look who is playing on team two"

Rick leans over to Kate. "Come on Kate. Let's beat the pants off of him"

The cruise director looks at her notes "Let's start" she reads her paper "I need the first person to being me a…police whistle"

Naturally, Kate has a real police whistle in her bag.

The next item is "A Wooden Pencil"

An item that the police use consistently is real wooden pencils. They are always dependable and do not need anything special to keep them working

Another item requested is a small pocket spiral notebook. Again Kate digs into her bag of tricks and retrieves her police notebook

The other teams are not very happy as Rick and Kate seem to have a corner on the game.

The game moves into the more standard items someone would carry. A photo ID that is Not a driver's license. Kate has her police photo badge

But the next item is more difficult for her to provide. A stick of chewing gum that has real sugar

There is a mad dash by all the player checking for gum.

The items become more and more difficult to find. Toenail clippers. Not fingernail clippers. A man's pocket comb. A can of hairspray, a rubber band

Whoever dreamed up this game selected the items carefully

The game begins to move into the more 'adult' areas when the cruise director asks for a man to bring a pair of women's panty hose.

Laughs begin and it appears some of the women are wearing the required item and start fighting to remove it when one man on team two gets very creative and walks to the stage carrying a woman who is wearing her panty hose. That brings a lot of laughs but it is technically correct and they get the score

But the next item leaves Rick and Kate off in the cold when the cruise director asks for…

A condom

Kate does not even bother to look. She knows that there is definitely not one in her bag of tricks

They know the game is getting close to the end because of the time and then the cruise director calls out for the next item

"I need a man to bring…a woman's bra…NOT being worn"

Even having been the former playboy this request gets a chuckle from Castle. He thinks to himself 'they will have trouble getting that item'. That is until he looks over to his wife and realizes she has just unfastened hers and is pulling the straps thru her arms and pulling it out from under her blouse and then handing it to him

She honestly wishes she had a camera to capture the look on his face when he realizes what she just did

"CASTLE. Grab the number and get up to the stage with this"


After the game finishes and the teams are leaving Castle is trying to figure out what to do with her bra. He can't just go walking down the corridor swinging it over his head and she doesn't seem to mind being without it

"Kate. You want to go in the ladies' room and put this back on?"

She has checked herself and is confident that no one is going to realize she is traveling without this, so she turns to Castle "No. I'm good. I don't really need it right now. You just hang on to it" and she walks ahead of him. She knows that this is driving him completely insane. And she loves it

"KATE! You can't just go around without…I mean…not wearing…I…like...without this" he is holding her bra but not where anyone else can see what he has in his hand

"What's the matter Ricky? Have you never seen a woman braless before?"

"Not MY Woman"

She rises up to his face and then gently rubs his ear lobe with her fingers "OH! Really?" and she turns and starts to walk away from him

Looking at her item of underwear in his hand, he finally decides to stuff it into his pocket. He does not realize the end strap and clasp is still hanging out and is plainly visible as he is rushing to catch her.

"Hey Castle, Let's go gamble. I want to play some more before we go back to the room and they head toward the casino.

Moving down the corridor, Kate is a little surprised at herself about how open and free she has become. What she is doing at this very moment is more than she ever thought about being before.

After arriving at the tables, Castle is hovering over Beckett watching to make sure no one around notices she is void of one important piece of her underwear. He keeps checking to make sure nothing is showing but he was not prepared for what happened when she walked up to the craps table and leaned over in front of him to place her bet. Castle almost choked trying to breathe when he realized he could see all the way down her blouse.

Castle grabs his wife and begins pulling her away from the table. She starts to giggle at his actions. He is trying to stay in front of her, blocking any oncoming passenger form seeing anything while they walk, or more accurately run, back toward their room. When he finally gets the door open he pushes her inside, closes the door, then turns her around and pins her to the bulkhead and begins assaulting her neck

"What's the matter, big guy?" she finally gets out when he releases her lips "I did promise you that there would be more honeymoon. Didn't I?"


OK! Enough silly.

Time to kill someone off
I have done a lot of set up on this story. Hopefully to throw everyone off as to who the killer will be

The next chapter is a good location for a nice murder

But I promise. They are still on their honeymoon