.

This WAS going to be the last chapter. But it got so long and it's so late here now that I've decided I have to break it up into two chapters. But you'll get plenty of Caskett's first day at Amour and there will be Castle's first piece of 'evidence' in this chapter. I'll do what I can to have the last chapter up next weekend. Hopefully this will tide you over until then. And just think, tomorrow the noir episode will be on. Less than 24 hours away now-YAY!

Disclaimer: I really don't think Andrew Marlowe would think up something like this. Which doesn't bother me a bit. It means I get to have fun with the idea myself.

Kate was confused. The space ship had landed and the door had been opened. Kate and Castle had been told it was safe to get out of their seats and move towards the front of the ship. Everything had seemed normal as the queen and princess led the humans to the doorway of the ship. Then, nothing. All of the aliens merely stood like soldiers at attention, none of them saying a word.

Kate looked over at Castle to see if Iya had said anything to him about whatever was going on. The baffled expression on the man's face told her he wouldn't be able to give her any answers.

As if Kate's glance at Castle had been some sort of signal, Mam-Biki and Iya looked over at Castle, the action immediately repeated by all of the other aliens on board. All of the aliens had a glint of expectancy in their gazes.

Kate wondered what exactly it was they were expecting.

Unbidden the memory of the first image she had been shown aboard the ship flashed through Kate's mind. The kiss.

They couldn't possibly be expecting Castle to kiss her?

Not here.

Not now.

Certainly not before Castle had been given his own evidence?

The detective had never been so glad that Castle hadn't been with her when she'd first been taken on the ship. If he had seen that image, Kate was almost positive his mind would have leapt to the same place hers had.

"I apologize for the lack of 'pomp and circumstance,' Queen Mam-Biki finally ended up saying.

The delighted smile that curved Castle's lips told Kate that he knew what the alien was referring to, but she was still clueless.

"Was that long enough to 'ponder and savor?'" Iya asked next.

Ponder and savor.

Why did that sound vaguely familiar?

"We would have created some 'pomp and circumstance,' but we weren't entirely certain what that would require," Mam-Biki said.

Suddenly it clicked.

She and Castle had been in the midst of trying to solve a case where the victim had seemed to have been murdered in an airless, anti-gravity environment. Naturally, Castle had immediately spun a theory that aliens were the culprit. The writer had wanted to make a big deal out of what might be on a disc that they had found. Kate, wanting to merely catch the killer and put the whole crazy case behind her, had more or less ignored him.

Kate wasn't at all surprised that Iya would remember seeing that particular moment on the alien transmitter.

"Plenty of time, thank you," Castle assured the aliens.

"Then shall we depart?" Mam-Biki said. "If we start our journey now, we should make it back to the palace in time for breakfast."

"I'm ready if you are," Castle said to Kate, who merely nodded.

Kate had been warned by Alicara about the heat, but the hot and humid air that hit her as soon as she stepped off the ship still took her somewhat by surprise. She was glad that she and Castle had been given Amourian outfits to wear while on the alien planet.

The dress that Kate had been given gently hugged her curves, the bodice a modest V-neck, the edge of the dress brushing against her knees in the faint breeze. The material, green to match her eyes, felt like silk, except that it felt as cool against the skin as cotton. A thin white belt gathered the fabric around her waist and matching sandals protected her feet.

Castle's outfit, which appeared to be made out of the same material as Kate's dress, consisted of blue pants that ended at the knee, a white shirt and a blue vest. If it wasn't for the white sandals on his feet, all the man would need to look like a pirate would be a bandana and eye-patch.

Kate's first look at her surroundings was enough to distract her from their unusual clothing. Kate had seen a glimpse of the planet when Iya had shown her the unicorn-or, to use the Amourian term, majestic-but not even that, together with the description Alicara had given her over the last few days, had been enough to prepare her for what she saw.

The sky overhead was a giant rainbow, with a few scattered white clouds. The sun, which she couldn't look at directly any more than she could back on Earth, was clear as glass. The ship had landed in a meadow of gold-colored grass, but approximately a dozen yards away there was the edge of what looked to be a forest. The trees looked similar to apple trees back on Earth, except the leaves were a stark white and the fruit that hung from the brown branches were shaped like stars and were the same gold color as the grass beneath their feet.

The sound of hooves broke through the silence a few seconds before a herd of majestics came into view.

Although Kate had been forewarned by Alicara, the sight still took her by surprise. Because although the males looked the same as they had been depicted in the many fantasy movies she had seen growing up, the females did not. Instead of being all white like their male counterparts, the females came in a variety of colors. Each of the colors of the rainbow, in fact.

Two majestics led the herd, a male and a female. The female was purple, her body a pale purple and her flowing mane and tail a bright violet. The horn, however, was as white the males.

"This is the leading pair," Mam-Biki explained when the male stopped a few inches away from Castle and the female stopped a few inches away from Kate. "They do not think in terms of names the way we do; instead, they have specific calls for each other. However, we can not make those calls and it would be considered rude for us to do so, in any case. For this reason, they have chosen names so that we may address them properly. You may address the female leader as Shimmer," that majestic dipped its head, its horn lightly touching Kate's hand in greeting," and the male leader you may address as Shazzle." The male dipped his own head and his horn touched Castle's hand in greeting as the queen continued. "Shimmer and Shazzle have volunteered to transport you to the palace. I don't want there to be any misunderstandings and my knowledge of how humans treat horses on Earth is limited, so it is important for you to be aware that majestics are free creatures. Any majestic that has a passenger on its back does so voluntarily. There are many that choose to not volunteer for the task, and we respect their wishes."

"I've never ridden a horse without a saddle and bridle," Kate thought aloud.

"I'm not sure what you are referring to," Mam-Biki said. "I assume they are items you use to control the horses on your planet. You will not need those here. You may address a majestic as you would one of us, or as you would address a fellow detective or your Captain Montgomery. Although they do not have the ability to speak our language, they completely understand it, as we have learned to understand theirs."

"Understood," Castle said. Then he smiled slyly at Kate. "If you aren't comfortable riding alone, I would be happy to have you ride with me. I promise I wouldn't let you fall." After a moment's thought, he looked into the silver eyes of Shazzle and amended, "As long as that would be acceptable to you, of course."

The majestic dipped his head again. Kate and Castle both turned to the queen for the translation.

"He is agreeable to that suggestion," Mam-Biki said.

There was no way that Kate was going to let Castle know what a temptation his offer was. To lean back against him, his arms around her, as they rode a majestic through the forest...

Thankfully, Castle's next words interrupted her revere.

"You're a quick learner," Castle said. "I could give you some pointers and you'd be riding like a pro in no time."

"My high school gave equestrian classes, Castle," Kate replied. "But we were clothed at the time. So yes, I'm sure there are still things you could teach me."

Iya burst into laughter at that. Kate knew the alien would remember how Kate had mentioned during Castle's first interrogation the way the man had stolen a police horse without a stitch of clothing on. More importantly, Castle would remember.

Iya's laughter grew in intensity as Castle's eyes widened and he stared at Kate in a daze.

A satisfied smirk graced her lips as she turned to Iya. "So, how do you get on a majestic's back without stirrups and a saddle horn, anyway?"

The ride to the palace was made mostly in silence, giving Rick plenty of time to think. So much had changed in such a short period of time that putting the pieces together to make a coherent story was taking longer than it usually would. During the time they had been on board the space ship, he had focused on the aliens' side of things. He'd asked numerous questions to understand their culture and the way an Amourian's mind worked. Particularly Iya's mind, since her fascination with his partnership with Beckett seemed to be the catalyst for the aliens' actions on Earth.

Now he was putting his mind to work on figuring out Beckett's side of things. Not for the first time, he wished he'd been able to see whatever evidence the queen and princess had shown her. The days he had spent with Iya gave him a great deal of insight into the way her mind worked; she wasn't anywhere near as complicated as Beckett. For the alien, it was all about the destined mate relationship.

But that was way too broad of a spectrum for him to work with. There were too many small incidents that could be considered important for the development of his and Beckett's relationship. The only incident he was certain Iya had fit in somewhere was the time he and Beckett had kissed. But how much good could come from confronting her about that? After all, it had largely been prompted as a ruse to save Ryan and Esposito. Rick himself wasn't certain how much his partner's reaction had been real and how much had been to fool the guard. If she wouldn't talk to him about the kiss, he seriously doubted that she would talk to the alien princess about it.

Other than that, the aliens could have used anything, from the time she had arrested him at his book launch party for his last Derrick Storm novel to when she'd said that she and Josh had a chance after the doctor hadn't gone to Haiti.

Although Dr. Motorcycle Boy was no longer an issue.

That was something at least.

A sudden rapid double stomp of Shazzle's front right hoof startled Rick from his thoughts.

"You coming, Castle?" Beckett asked.

Rick looked over to where the detective had been riding beside him to see that she was standing on the ground a couple feet away from the majestic she'd been riding.

"Um, yeah," he said and quickly slid off the majestic's back. "Thanks for the ride," he said to Shazzle before rushing to catch up with the others.

They stood at the edge of a wide moat that surrounded a castle that looked to have been ripped out of a fairytale. With all of the bright colors surrounding them, Rick was somewhat surprised that the structure looked to be made out of some type of gray rock, just like an average European medieval royal dwelling.

Rick expected a drawbridge to be lowered, but instead a group of pale pink creatures that looked like giant seahorses surfaced from the moat's blue depths. Following the aliens' lead, the two humans got on the sea creatures' backs and rode the swift distance to the entrance of the palace.

Whereas the outside of the structure looked like a medieval castle, the inside looked more like his house in the Hamptons, except on a much larger scale. It made him wonder if they had somehow seen it, although if they had, he was sure that Iya would have mentioned it. Posh cream carpeting covered the entryway and the walls looked like they were made of light gray marble. A chandelier even hung from the ceiling, just like the entryway at his beach house.

"Castle, you'll need to come with me," Mam-Biki said.

"But-" Beckett started to protest.

"Iya will show you to the dinning room," Mam-Biki told Beckett, "we will join you in time for breakfast, which will be in a half hour." She turned to Castle. "Come along, Castle. We don't have much time."

For what, Rick wanted to know.

It didn't take long for him to get his answer.

The queen led him to the kitchen, where Rick quickly noticed that no less than twenty male Amourians were gathered. It made him wonder if cooking was considered man's work on Amour.

"You wanted to see me, Grandmother?"

Rick looked down to see a young male Amourian standing in front of the queen. He wondered if the queen's grandchildren were twins; they looked about the same age.

"Yes, thank you for arriving so promptly, Evash," Mam-Biki said. "This is Rick Castle."

"Hi," Evash said, smiling shyly.

"Hey," Rick returned the young alien's informal greeting. It was a refreshing change for him after all of the formality of all of the other aliens he'd met.

"Castle needs you to make your Sludge," the queen said.

Rick's brow rose at that. Sludge? That did not sound like something even he would want to try. S'mor-lets were one thing, but sludge just brought up images of a something he'd find at a garbage dump.

Evash looked as surprised as Castle by the request. "Why?"

"Beckett's coffee tastes just like it," Mam-Biki said.

"It does?" Rick and Evash asked in unison.

"Exactly like it," Mam-Biki assured them with a shudder.

Rick remembered that Iya had told him that it had been Mam-Biki whom had pretended to be Beckett when they were at the precinct. He'd known her reaction to the coffee had been odd that day. Now he knew why.

"Okay," Evash said agreeably and made his way over to the stove, one that looked like an average restaurant stove, except for the pulsating light that shone from the burners.

Evash quickly got to work, pulling boxes from cupboards. He grabbed what Rick guessed was supposed to be a saucepan. Not that it was like any saucepan he had ever seen. For one thing, it looked more like aluminum foil, thin and flat. But the young alien put it on the burner and started dumping ingredients into it. When the first dry substance hit the pan, the foil-looking thing thickened and the edges spread out and up, as if it was dough being formed in a pie pan. Evash added water-Rick could tell that's what it was, because it was one of the few things that looked the same on Amour as it did on Earth-and tapped the burner. Immediately the water started boiling. Evash grabbed what looked to Rick like a giant red toothpick and briskly stirred for a few seconds before tapping the burner again. A bubble formed at the top, which Evash poked with the red stick. Rick quickly backed away, not wanting to get splashed with what he assumed would be scalding liquid. Evash gave him a puzzled look before grabbing the sides of the pan and lifting it off the burner. The bubble simply disappeared and the liquid settled in the pan.

"You need to get the mug," Evash informed him. "They're over there," he said, and pointed over to the far right end of the kitchen.

"Here, these are the courting cups," a male voice said behind Rick when the writer stood staring at the wide variety of mugs in the large cupboard.

Rick turned, glad that he didn't have a cup in his hand. He knew if he had he would have dropped it.

"Courting cup?" he repeated the words in a shocked tone as he looked at the male Amourian before him.

"Ah, my daughter and destined mate failed to inform you about that," the alien said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Alithan, King of Amour. Mam-Biki was supposed to explain the situation to you."

"Situation?" was all Rick could say.

Alithan nodded. "It's a courting ritual that goes back centuries. Destined mates can meet at any time. Some even meet as infants. But no Amourian male is allowed to go courting until he reaches the age of eighteen. To ask his destined mate if she is ready for the courting to commence, the male discovers what the female's favorite morning beverage is and offers it to her. If she accepts it, she is signaling that she is ready. If she refuses, she is letting the male know that she needs more time before their relationship moves to that stage."

Rick didn't know how to reply to that. He had been bringing Kate her favorite coffee for over two years. The first time he had done so had been months before his feelings for the detective had been anything beyond friendship, even if he had been attracted to her since the moment they met.

"I understand that you have been bringing your destined mate her favorite beverage for over a year," Alithan continued. He smiled. "Iya was so excited the day she saw you bring the detective her coffee. She had suspected from the first transmission she saw that you were destined mates, but that's when both she and Mam-Biki were certain of it."

For one of the few times in his life, Rick was speechless. He didn't doubt that he and Beckett were destined to be together. But that certainty hadn't come to him until he had kissed her. He hadn't even been certain of his feelings for her until he almost lost her when Scott Dunn blew up her apartment and he rushed into the burning building to save her.

Rick wasn't sure what to do. Should he give Beckett her coffee, considering the importance the Amourians would put into it?

But if he didn't, Beckett would know something was wrong.

Not letting himself dwell on it, at least at this particular moment, Rick grabbed one of the cups from the shelf the alien king had indicated and poured some of Evash's concoction into it.

At least it smelled like Beckett's coffee usually did.

Rick followed Alithan to the dining room and with shaking hands set the cup in front of Beckett.

"You okay, Castle?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, sure," Rick said and sat down in the seat next to her after noticing that Alithan sat to the left of Mam-Biki and a male Amourian that Rick hadn't met yet but that he assumed was Iya's brother sat to the left of Alicara.

"Where's Iya's-" Rick asked when he noticed the empty chair to the left of the princess.

"They don't talk about it," Beckett whispered.

"Don't tell me she lost-" Rick began.

Beckett shook her head. "She just told me that she hasn't met her destined mate yet. Since she is twenty years old, it's difficult for her to talk about."

Rick looked over at the princess, who noticed his eyes on her and smiled at him before turning back her attention to Emilan, who sat next to the empty chair by Iya.

"She seems to be taking it well," Rick whispered.

"She confessed that we're a good distraction," Beckett said with a roll of her eyes, although her tone was compassionate.

"And now, we have a surprise for you, Castle," Mam-Biki said.

Rick looked over at the queen and noticed an alien standing next to the queen, a tray in his hands with a bunch of plates piled high with what looked like-

"Is that...?" he asked, his eyes shinning.

Mam-Biki nodded. "S-more-lets," she confirmed. She explained as the alien worked his way around the table, setting plates down across from each being at the table. "Iya wanted to try to make one as soon as she heard you mention it."

"Melt a chocolate bar over the egg, crush one graham cracker over the melted chocolate and add six mini marshmallows," Iya recited.

"It's become a favorite breakfast here at the palace," Mam-Biki said.

"Actually, the whole planet," Iya said. "There aren't many Amourians that don't absolutely love it."

"That's so cool!" Rick exclaimed.

"We know that most humans don't like S'more-lets, however," Alicara said. "So Beckett, if you don't want to try it, or find you don't like it, we can easily replicate one of your regular morning meals. A bear claw, to go with the sluge, I mean coffee, if you wish."

"Sluge?" Beckett looked down uncertainly at the cup in front of her.

"It tastes exactly like your coffee," Mam-Biki assured her. "I had to drink some while pretending to be you at the precinct. It tastes exactly like Evash's sluge concoction. I assure you, everything in it is perfectly safe for an Amourian, so I am certain it would be safe for humans to drink, as well."

"Not that any Amourian would want to drink it," Emilan said with a laugh.

"Not even me," Evash agreed.

Beckett took a tentative sip and smiled. "She's right," she said. "It does taste exactly like it."

"Even the two pumps of sugar free vanilla?" Iya wanted to know.

"Even the vanilla," Beckett confirmed.

"Well, eat up, everyone," Mam-Biki said. "Because after breakfast, it's time for Evash and Emilan, and Castle and Beckett, to go to school."

Rick and Beckett looked at each other and then at the queen.

"School?" they asked in unison.

"Lanie's right, it is cute when they do that," Iya said.

"I graduated from the academy years ago," Beckett said.

"And I graduated from college earlier than that," Rick added.

"Oh, it's not that type of school," Alithan said.

"What kind of school is it?" Beckett asked.

Rick had a feeling she was going to regret the question.

"It's a class for destined mates," Mam-Biki explained. "Specifically, a class on relationship training."

Yep, he was right, Rick decided as he heard Beckett groan in dismay.

She was definitely wishing she hadn't asked.

I think this might be the longest chapter I've ever written. I tried to start this morning so I could get the last part done, too, but I think I just have to accept the fact that I'm an evening writer. Which is why I usually end up posting so late.

So what did you think of Amour? And this chapter in general?