Genre: Drama, Crime, Romance, Family, Humor

Rating: M for violence, language and sexual situations

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: It was nice to get the feedback I did for the last chapter so I'm going to go straight into my thank yous. vetgirlmx (I had to laugh at your reaction to the cliffhanger, really sorry about it again but I had to do it. I'm not surprised you had an idea of what I would do with the suspect they had or that you thought the killer wasn't going to be that easy to track down. I also wasn't surprised that you mentioned what Castle and Beckett talked about; about it being weird she wasn't there with Brad and the officers. And yeah, kids can definitely be mean, so not surprised you had mentioned what had happened to Mari. I was so happy that you liked the flashback to Eliza's first day of school. Again, I wasn't surprised you mentioned the difference between her first day and Julia's, had to make it smoother since of course the situation was different. I'm not surprised you had to laugh at the way they had the girls stay with the baby while the adults talked about the case, lol; distraction is a great tool adults can use. No surprise at all that you're worried about who's outside and what they can do with the girls there as well. So great that you can't wait to see what's next, and now you don't have to!), MichelleBell16 (Sorry about the cliffhanger, lol, I wasn't surprised to see your reaction to that. But it was great to see that you enjoyed the halves of the chapter! And I'm glad to see you enjoyed the family time, and also that you thought the case chapters were exciting, nice to see I could make them that way! Not surprised you're hoping they catch whoever is outside. And yeah, that's why it's nice to have a dog sometimes. So happy to read you can't wait to read more and you don't need to wait anymore either!), TORONTOSUN (I was glad to see you mentioning how Brad noticed the banter that Castle and Beckett have. Really nice to read that you enjoyed the fact that they share in the girls' school work, also that you like the way that Beckett and Julia make it a challenge between them. With that one I thought they would do that together so it's great you like that. I was really pleased that you think that the family is good together since I do try to write them like that. And great that you'd like to read more about Macca. Not surprised that you're wondering who is outside, but great that you do!) and Beckett-Castle4ever (Very happy to see you thought both halves of the chapter were good. I wasn't surprised to read that you liked the family time. Great to hear that you loved the tree painting, that just came to me suddenly and I'm glad I thought of it if you thought it was cute. I'm also really pleased to see that you thought the flashback was nice and cute as well, I thought readers might think that. Not surprised you're wondering who Macca is growling at or that you don't want them to hurt anyone in the house). Thanks so much to those of you that send me reviews, really loved reading them and I appreciated all of you sending them to me!

A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Overkill written by Colin Hay, from the Men at Work album Cargo.

Worry Over Situations

Walking to the door to the backyard, Castle placed his hand on Macca's head; since the dog had remained next to him as he'd gone downstairs; and murmured, "Go upstairs boy, stay with them." After the Wolfhound had gotten to the top of the staircase he opened the door slowly. He slipped out as quickly as he could to keep the cold from permeating the house, hoping his pause to get his coat as well hadn't given the intruder time to escape.

Stepping down the stairs, Castle held his arm close to his side as he walked first to his right, seeing the trail of footprints in the new snow that had fallen while he'd been asleep. Going around the side of the house he saw the trail was coming from the front and he turned to go back. As he was nearing the corner he heard the slow crunch of snow underfoot and took his sword in both hands before he came around it and nearly brought the blade down on his wife's head as she was aiming her gun at him.

"Rick, what-" Beckett started to say in surprise as they quickly held their weapons to the sides of their bodies.

Putting his finger to his lips, Castle grabbed her hand and pointed to the trail. When his wife nodded he let her go ahead of him and they walked around to the other side of the house. When they got to it, he heard the sound of running towards the front and he took off after Beckett as she ran.

Holding her gun up in front of her, Beckett scanned what she could see of the front yard before she relaxed. "I think they're-" she started to say before she felt something slicing the air past her ear and she jerked to her right. Before she could fire, Castle was pulling her down into the snow as several other bullets were fired, silent in the night except for the barely there sound of the discharge of the gun. When they had stopped she stood up and ran to the end of the driveway but before she and Castle could get there the sound of a car starting up could be heard in the distance and all she saw down the street was the dark shadow of the car, tail lights off as it sped away. "That was them," she said, turning to her husband.

"That was," Castle said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we need to call Brad," Beckett said.

"Back in the house," Castle said, knowing she had to be cold as she hadn't put on a coat. He took her inside from the back door and straight to the kitchen table before she could say anything.

"Rick, I-" Beckett started to say in protest as he draped his coat over her.

"I'll take care of this," Castle said. "You're shaking Kate," he then explained as she was about to speak. "I'm not trying to be noble… well, a little, maybe you'll appreciate that. But yeah, you need to get warm."

Since she had noticed that she was trembling, Beckett let him take care of calling the chief while she watched. When he'd hung up; before he could say anything; she told him, "You really took this out there?"

"You saw," Castle said, as she was indicating his sword.

"What about the gun? You know that's the reason we got it," Beckett said.

"I know, but that's more yours," Castle admitted. "I felt more comfortable with this," he explained as he then sat down next to her. He put his hand on the back of her chair and they were both quiet, knowing she too was listening for the sounds of their daughters having been awoken. But when there was nothing, he said, "How come you woke up?"

"After you left," Beckett said. "I was cold and when I realized you were gone I knew the reason."

"How?" Castle asked.

Shrugging slightly as she was suddenly exhausted, Beckett said, "I just did. So I had to grab the gun and by then you were going outside, so I hurried."

"Do you want something to drink? Something warm?" Castle asked her seriously, studying her.

"No," Beckett said simply. "What I want is to check on the girls."

"I'll wait here," Castle said reluctantly. "Actually I'll go keep a look out for him so he won't knock and wake them up," he amended as he stood with her. He then kissed her gently on the lips not really having a reason for it, just needing it.

Beckett was about to go towards the stairs when she paused and said, "Do you want this?" indicating his coat. When he shook his head she told him, "I hope the bullets didn't hit the house."

"The first one… I don't know," Castle said. "But the others, maybe they hit the ground."

"Maybe," Beckett said hopefully. She then left him and went up the stairs, her gun in the coat pocket. She stroked Macca's head as he was waiting at the top and she then went into her room, putting the gun away before going to Eliza's room first, opening the door slowly. She breathed out in relief when she saw the toddler was fast asleep and the same happened when she went into Julia's room. They were both fine so she hurried down to the kitchen where Brad was, sitting down with her husband at the table.

"Kate, are you okay?" the chief asked.

"Tired, but fine," Beckett replied. "The first shot missed me, and the others were for us both, not just me."

"He didn't say that," Brad replied. "Actually he didn't tell me anything, so you were shot at?"

"Should we explain what happened?" Castle asked.

"Go ahead," Brad said, making a gesture with his hand. He listened to the two as they talked about being woken up; Castle by their dog and Beckett by him leaving the bed; and then searching for the intruder. "With this," he stated when Castle paused, picking up his sheathed Toledo sword.

"It's not any kind of protection against a gun, I know," Castle said with a slight groan as he rubbed his face with his hands. "But I'm more comfortable with it and the gun is essentially hers."

"We'll have to go to a firing range Rick," Beckett told him. "So you will be."

"Okay, so you went outside, take me up to the point where you discovered her," Brad said, to bring them back to what had happened.

"Not much to say," Castle replied with a slight shrug. "I saw the footprints were coming towards the backyard from that side of the house, so I came back and heard someone coming towards me. Held the sword up as I went around and found her with the gun pointed at me."

"Okay, I think now you can let me know what happened when you woke up," Brad said, frowning slightly.

Studying the chief as she started to speak, Beckett told him, "I woke up and could hear Rick downstairs and realized he was there because there had to be someone outside. So I grabbed the gun and followed but I thought he'd gone the other way, so I when I heard someone walking from the other side I went to check it out and of course found him."

Before Brad could reply to that, Castle and Beckett then talked about going around to the front and being shot at before he breathed out. "At first I almost thought you two were calling me for just someone was trespassing on your property," he began. "But I'm seeing now that you two think it's more."

"You're not seeing it?" Castle asked his friend in slight surprise.

"I'm a little afraid to but I know, you think this has to do with our case," Brad said. "But you think they honestly would be that stupid to injure you two or worse? That news would get around and that would be the first crack in their plans."

"They already have a crack in their plans," Beckett said, shifting a little. "As you put it. The 'suicide' earlier today… or last night… two days ago I mean," she said, finally correcting herself in annoyance.

"Please tell me you got something from looking into Gentry," Castle said.

"He has a sister, she's coming in tomorrow morning from Atlanta," Brad said. At their surprised looks he quickly told them, "I don't know if it's anything though. But when I talked to her she said that her brother had sent her a letter which she got last night at about nine when she came home from work. In it he told her that if anything happened to him she needed to come here, to the bank on Bay Street, and to his safety deposit box there."

"Does she have any idea what's in there?" Castle asked.

"Not a clue," Brad said, shaking his head. "But I called the bank after speaking with her and instructed them to check on the boxes, to make sure that no one tried to get to them."

"Don't tell me they did," Beckett said.

"Luckily no and I advised them it might be prudent for them to put on more security into tomorrow morning when Ms. Gentry arrives," Brad said.

"And she'll be allowed to open the box?" Castle asked.

"He opened it in both their names, two months ago," Brad told them.

Leaning back in surprise, Castle told his wife, "This has to be a conspiracy. But we know already the reason; the mayor. I'm just curious as to what it is about that seat that has thugs killing a woman and also a patsy."

"That's what we're thinking too," Brad said. "And by we I mean me and the current mayor. I thought about what you said, about the money the city gets. Now, the Hamptons isn't doing too poorly of course but you may be correct about someone wanting to dip their hands into the till so to speak."

"Did you start looking into the account books for the city?" Beckett asked.

"No but it turns out the position for the second in charge of the books is in this election," Brad said.

"It's… since when?" Castle asked.

"Since last night," Brad said. "Since Ted Greene fled Long Island, actually I should correct myself; New York. He's in Chicago and when I spoke to him he said he needed a change of scenery… complete bull, but unless I go out there and speak to him face to face I have to take him at his word. Plus, even if I did-"

"He would likely still lie," Beckett finished. When the chief nodded she asked, "What about the replacement candidates?"

"Are there even any?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, Greene left at about… seven this morning and left a message for the mayor so he was able to make an announcement. There are two of them now running in the week left of the election," Brad said. "Rosemary Garner-"

"Rosie? We know her, she's a nice woman," Castle interrupted. "Incorruptible for sure. And she supports David, isn't Rebecca friends with her?" he directed to his wife.

"She was the first friend Rebecca had when she moved here after she and David got married, they go way back," Beckett replied with a nod. "Did she decide to run or did David ask?"

"No, she's running of her own accord," Brad replied.

"You talked to her," Castle stated.

"I had to warn her," Brad said. "If it turned out she had decided to run on her own. And I did and she's promised to be alert to anything suspicious."

Beckett frowned and said, "Do you think you could spare-"

"Wade's in front of her home right now, he volunteered," Brad said. "I think he knows her-"

"Knows her? He's in love with her," Castle said, his voice having a slightly laughing tone to it.

"How do you know that?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"David, you know he's Wade's friend, and pushed him to apply at the station," Castle explained quickly. "Which is why we knew him already though you introduced us. But he's lived here in the Hamptons all his life so he knows Rosie. They were in the same year of high school and he asked her to their senior prom but I don't know how she feels about him."

"She's not gay?" Brad asked.

"No she isn't but she's very focused on her work," Beckett replied. "So you know, if you want to vote for her she's a good candidate."

"After speaking with her I can tell," Brad replied.

"Who's the other candidate?" Castle inquired.

"Shari Reid," Brad said.

"Ah, this is where it gets interesting," Castle said as he and Beckett looked at each other as soon as the chief had replied. "Directly from Hopkins' party."

"Pretty directly, she's his cousin," Beckett said, nodding at that. "By marriage but still, his cousin."

"I spoke to her and she was the same as Rosemary," Brad said.

"And…?" Castle prompted. "Come on we know you by now Brad, could you tell she was lying?"

"Through her teeth," Brad said with a sigh. "But it doesn't really mean much, not unless it has something to do directly with the murders."

"Well, now that we have more of an idea of what's at stake," Beckett said. "You do realize the reason why we were attacked tonight."

"Now, yes, they were trying to warn you off the investigation," Brad replied.

"Yeah and I'll bet you anything they were there today at the apartment building, seeing us go in… was the place bugged?" Castle asked.

"There wasn't much of a need to check," Brad replied.

"I don't blame you, this case is getting more and more complex," Beckett said. "But I would go back and sweep the place."

"I can have someone from CSU do that right now," Brad said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Watching as their friend made the call, Castle and Beckett glanced at each other before he spoke. "What about outside?" he asked.

"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd wonder," Brad said. "And I sent Hall and Lyons around the house to see what they could find. In fact, I think I should go check on them before they freeze."

Following Brad out the front door, Castle and Beckett went over to where Hall was shining a flashlight on the house and when they saw the damage from a bullet on the edge of the garage they glanced at each other.

"What?" Brad asked as he had noticed the exchange.

"We were thinking about how we were going to explain a bullet hole in the house to the girls," Beckett said.

"Any others?" Castle asked.

"No, we found bullets on the snow, they ricocheted from in front of where you two were apparently taking cover," Lyons said. "And they're .38s."

"We'll have to check, but I'm sure they were fired from the same gun as our murder weapon," Brad said. "By the way, the bullet in Gentry matched the one in our first vic," he told Castle and Beckett. "So what do you think?" he asked as he led them back to their porch.

"About what?" Castle asked.

"Are you telling us to leave the case?" Beckett asked in slight surprise.

"No," Brad said firmly. "I'm leaving that decision up to you two because I can't make it for you."

"We can protect ourselves," Beckett said immediately.

"I think that's your answer," Castle said.

"Okay, guys you find anything else?" the chief asked his two officers.

"No sir," Lyons replied. "There were footprints but we can't get any kind of detail in the snow."

"Shoe size?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, men's thirteen," Hall replied.

"Okay, so we have a shoe size at least," Brad said. "A step forward." He turned to Castle and Beckett and said, "Do you want me to leave one of them here?"

"It's not necessary," Beckett said. "We have an alarm system you know, and a gun."

"And a sword," Castle added. "Actually a number of those."

"Then I'll see you two tomorrow as soon as you get your girls to school," Brad said. "But I'm going to have Hall stick around for a little, at least an hour before he drives through the neighborhood to check on any suspicious cars. Tomorrow I'll have Bernier and Hutchinson canvass the neighborhood but this late at night…"

"We'll see," Beckett said.

"Oh, and Lils is furious," Brad said, starting to turn away before he stopped.

"She's furious? What about us? We were sleeping and had to come out into the cold, nearly got shot at," Castle said. He was about to add more to that when his wife put her hand on his chest and he paused. "Then tell her we apologize; and shouldn't you have been asleep."

"We had been before that point," Brad said. "Get some sleep."

"Night Brad," Beckett said, shaking her head. Back inside the house she looked at her husband, watching as he locked the door and then set the alarm again after they heard the chief's cruiser leave their driveway. "Think you'll be able to sleep?" she asked him when he turned to her.

"Not until I see them," Castle said. "Are you cold again?" he asked when he she turned to him after hanging up his coat and he saw she had her arms wrapped around herself.

"Very, come on," Beckett replied, leading the way up the stairs. She saw that Macca was lying in between the girls' bedrooms, and she said, "Poor dog."

"I know," Castle said. "But I doubt he would have moved from there." He followed her into Eliza's room, relieved to see their youngest was still fast asleep. He leaned over and kissed her forehead gently before Beckett did the same. He wrapped his arm around his wife, thinking of how innocent the toddler looked just then.

"Come on," Beckett finally whispered, feeling even colder standing there and knowing they needed to move before they woke their daughter up accidentally.

When they were outside; Beckett closing the door; Castle was about to call to Macca when he saw that the dog was sitting up, seeming to be waiting for them. He wasn't too surprised when he went ahead of them into the room and waited next to the bed. He kept an eye on Julia; who was thankfully still asleep; as he set Macca on top of the bed.

Going over to her, Beckett leaned down and pressed her lips to Julia's forehead, not surprised when she shifted a little. "Hey, go back to sleep sweetie," she said gently as the little girl was looking at her.

Stepping up behind his wife, Castle was relieved that their oldest closed her eyes quickly and was soon back asleep. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then led Beckett outside into the hall, closing the door only slightly for Macca. He cupped his wife's elbow as he lead her towards their bedroom, and told her, "Go ahead to bed, I'll come right back up."

"Are you doing a sweep of the back?" Beckett asked him teasingly.

Castle was about to answer no when he paused and then said, "Actually, that's not a bad idea. No, I'm just going to get something okay?"

"Yeah," Beckett said before she watched him go over to the stairs then. She let herself shiver; having been holding back the best she could; and hurried down the hall to their bedroom. She was tempted to turn on the fire but she knew they both needed some sleep. She nearly jumped onto the bed and under the covers but since they'd left them turned down it was still cold and she wrapped herself in them as she leaned back against the headboard, watching as Castle soon walked inside.

Closing the door behind him he turned, a little surprised to see his wife wasn't lying down. "Well, I guess it'll be easier for you to drink this," Castle said as he went to her, handing her the glass with some scotch on the bottom. "Half of that is for me," he told her quickly.

Smiling, as she'd guessed that already, Beckett drank, nearly coughing at the rush of fire down her throat. "Thank you," she said, handing the glass to him.

"Yeah, thanking myself too," Castle said before he took the rest of the drink. He was able to handle it without coughing and was quick to go around the bed. Once he was lying down and his wife was pressed against his side he murmured, "Were you thinking the same as I was earlier? Before we called Brad."

"That this had nothing to do with the election?" Beckett asked. She could feel her husband nod and she said, "Yeah, I did, but I guessed pretty quickly it did. This is not the kind of caliber we'd expect to see if it had anything to do with Tyson. And there's the fact-"

"They nearly killed us," Castle and Beckett said at the same time.

"That," Beckett said with a nod. "But yeah, I was a little worried they were going to try to kill us to get to them."

"I would have gone upstairs with you to check on them, the first time you went up," Castle said. "Actually I wanted to, but…"

"I wonder if they're in trouble," Beckett commented.

"From whoever hired them?" Castle asked. He snorted when his wife nodded in answer to his question and said, "I know I'd be, since they missed killing the two greatest investigators with the Hamptons PD." At that he could feel his wife's stare in the dark and said, "Two of them, Brad of course is as well."

Beckett sighed and shook her head though she couldn't help the slight smile on her face at his quick addition. She shifted then, scooting closer to him and feeling the warmth of his chest through his shirt. "I can't get warm," she said when even that didn't really seem to help.

"Do you want me to get another blanket?" Castle asked, sitting up at the same time she did.

"No, take off your clothes," Beckett said abruptly. When she looked at her husband and could see the expression on his face, she said, "It'll be warmer."

"Did we switch bodies somehow?" Castle asked, still startled.

Beckett didn't reply to that at first, instead she reached down to the bottom of her shirt, and pulled it off her head saying, "Does it look like we did?"

"Not really," Castle said, glancing at her breasts for a moment before he was taking off his own shirt. He paused then to watch her get out of the bed, hurrying for the door. "Good thing you remembered," he commented as she locked it, then came back and took off the rest of her clothes as he climbed out of the bed himself.

"I know," Beckett said simply. "I'm hoping they'll stay asleep though."

Naked then as well, Castle climbed back under the covers and said, "I'm still in a little shock."

"You haven't noticed that it's warmer when we're like this?" Beckett asked. "As many winters we've spent sleeping naked?"

"True," Castle replied. "How are you now?"

"Warmer," Beckett said shortly.

"I don't know," Castle said after a few moments of silence between them. "This might be a little uncomfortable for me in the morning."

"Don't worry," Beckett said simply.

"Don't worry," Castle repeated simply, looking down at her.

"You heard what I said," Beckett replied. "Aren't you tired?"

"Not at the moment," Castle said.

Beckett looked up at him and sighed before she said, "I don't know how you can't be, it's almost two thirty."

"It is?" Castle said in surprise.

"You didn't look at a clock?" Beckett asked in slight surprise.

"When would I have had the chance?" Castle said. "The sword," he abruptly said.

"The sword- you forgot to put it away," Beckett said, recalling.

"At least the gun is put away," Castle replied, getting up. He got redressed as fast as he could saying, "Want me to bring up more scotch? You're probably going to get cold again."

"Just bring yourself," Beckett replied, smiling as she stayed under the covers, watching him go. "Rick," she said when he neared the door.

"I'll take another look around outside," Castle promised, knowing what she wanted.

Nodding, Beckett watched him go and breathed out deeply, looking around the room as she strained her ears to listen to him going down. She heard him walk, knowing he'd turned right at the stairs, going to the front windows to look out at the driveway. His walking shortly after that let her know he hadn't spotted anything and she could see him in her mind going to the door to the backyard. That pause was longer but finally he was continuing, his steps much fainter telling her he was going to the breakfast nook where the sword was still on the table.

Hanging up the sword on the wall in his and Beckett's office, Castle went back out, going into the dining room and scanning what he could see of the backyard again. He kept an ear out for both Macca and anyone outside while he was looking until he was sure that there wasn't anyone. He went to the door to the back before he allowed himself to go upstairs and once he had cleared the view he had he turned to go.

"Nothing," Beckett said when he opened the door.

"No, were you expecting there to be?" Castle asked her after locking the door and going around to his side of the bed.

"No," Beckett replied, watching him undress then. "You're cold now," she commented, smiling a little as she could tell he was from his skin; having turned on the light on his nightstand for him.

"Have you been keeping warm?" Castle asked her once he'd thrown his pajama pants over the table with hers.

"Not enough," Beckett said simply, still smiling at him.

Castle hurried a little then but since he couldn't really go that quickly, he just raced to get underneath the covers with her. "You're right, not enough," he said as he could feel she was warm but it wasn't enough for him. So he helped her tuck the covers all the way around them until he was sure they could warm up. They were both quiet after he'd managed to reach back and turn off the light before he spoke saying, "Were you that surprised to hear about the position falling vacant?"

"No," Beckett replied simply, moving to look at him. "But I wonder what they used to get Greene out."

"And to get him out of the state," Castle added to that. "You think you could talk to him?"

"With what authority?" Beckett asked. "I'm not a detective anymore, so if he didn't bother to tell Brad what happened he's not going to speak to me."

"What about a sympathetic angle?" Castle suggested, looking down at her.

"I'd have to know how he'd be talking to me at the start," Beckett replied. She thought for a moment and then opened her mouth to speak, when her husband did so at the same time as her, "We should talk to Brad about Greene tomorrow." She smiled at him and then said, "Yeah, I'll see what he says about trying to get in touch with him to see if he'll talk."

"You mean we'll see," Castle corrected her. When she gave him a look he reached up with his hand and ran his fingers through her hair. At her shiver he said, "Oh sorry."

"Don't," Beckett said quickly, knowing what he was doing. She couldn't help but smile when he started to stroke her hair again as soon as she'd said that and she pressed close to him before saying, "I forgot to ask him about Gentry's phone and if he had any kind of computer."

"I don't remember seeing any," Castle said slowly. "You think they might have stolen them. You know, if they want to have gotten away with this, they should have."

"You think this isn't really a professional hit?" Beckett said, seeing where his line of thought was going quickly.

"The mistakes they're making points to that," Castle said. "But they're doing it just enough that they're not getting caught."

"But so many mistakes will catch up with them in the end of course," Beckett said simply. "And we should probably leave it until tomorrow."

"True," Castle said. They lay in silence for a while, until he finally shifted and said, "I can't sleep."

"Neither can I," Beckett said in frustration as she knew how he was feeling. "Go."

"Are you sure? It's pretty warm here," Castle told her.

"Then you should hurry," Beckett said simply, smiling as he was quick to slip out of the bed. She pushed herself up slightly using her hands, watching him look out of the windows before he turned back to her. "At this point I don't think they'll be back. But for tonight, bring my gun over here," she told him before he got too close.

Nodding, Castle went to the closet where there was a hidden compartment he'd discovered when first bought the beach house, where they kept the gun as it was very out of the way and out of reach from the girls. "Where are you going to keep it?" he asked as he handed it to her.

Making sure the safety was on; though she'd done so before; Beckett set it down in the cabinet of her nightstand, having to leave the covers. There was a lock on the door of it and she took the key, setting it inside the book that was on top. "Okay, I just have to remember to get that out in the morning," she said, motioning him to come back with her.

"I'm sure you will," Castle said. "Or me. Or both of us," he added as he slipped under the covers. After they'd gotten them tight against them he said, "Want to try and sleep?"

"What did you have in mind?" Beckett asked him, pretending to sound suspicious.

"No, although if we didn't need to sleep…" Castle began. "I'm just thinking of the few times we read to fall asleep."
"Too late for that," Beckett said simply before she wrapped both her arms around him.

"Okay, then we could just talk," Castle said. "We have done that before."

"Not about the case?" Beckett inquired.

"If you don't want to," Castle said easily.

"Then I'll let you think of something," Beckett replied, pressing her forehead to his jaw. She moved closer to him then as he was quiet, feeling his arm around her tighten. When he still didn't say anything, she smiled and raised her head as she turned onto her stomach saying, "Try this instead," before she kissed him gently on the lips, soon moving away from him to see his reaction.

Before Beckett got too far away from him, Castle was cupping the back of her head, pulling her down to his lips so they were crushing together hard. He groaned as she let out a moan against him and he stroked his fingers through her hair as at the same time they were beginning to duel with their tongues within her mouth. They kept that up until he needed to let them breathe and he slowly pulled away saying, "Good idea."

"I thought you might think that," Beckett said. She ran her fingertips over his lower lip before he took her wrist and kissed her fingertips before they leaned into one another. As he was drawing her tongue back into his mouth, she cupped his face until they parted yet again and she murmured, "Now we need to sleep," making sure her lips brushed against his with every word she spoke.

"You're tired now?" Castle asked.

"Slightly, but it's more this could get a little out of hand," Beckett said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"You make a good point," Castle said with a nod. He kissed her one last time, making it very hungry and passionate until finally they broke apart with a gasp of air and he reluctantly let her go to let her lay down. Once she was on her side against him, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, feeling the warmth of her skin. He resisted the urge to run his fingers through her hair again, though it was difficult as he turned his head to press against her forehead. "Night love," he murmured.

"Goodnight Rick," Beckett replied simply, her cheek pressed against his shoulder. She squeezed the other with her hand and relaxed, trying to indulge her exhaustion as she was having a hard time ignoring it.

Though both were tired, Castle and Beckett took longer to get to sleep than they'd expected. It was a mix of them still listening for someone outside and their thoughts on the case with the new information they had gotten from the chief. But finally they were nodding off, the fatigue taking over and allowing them to relax and forget everything as they were comfortably enveloped in the covers and were feeling each other's bare bodies pressing tightly together, keeping one another warm through the rest of the night.