"You're sure about this?" He asks, hands and arms filled with their luggage.

"Castle, you have been pestering me about this since baggage claim." She wans. She just wants him to know that she doesn't regret this. He just can't seem to let it get to him, even now as they stand in the hallway outside his loft… their home. She feels a smile pull itself onto her features at the thought.

"Well, Beckett, I know that-"

"Castle." She stops him, stepping up to him and putting her hands on his neck. "For the last time, yes I am sure about this, no I don't have any regrets quitting the AG's office, yes I want to do this, and I will figure out what to do with my stuff that's still in DC tomorrow. Because tonight," She softens her voice, petting his jaw with her thumb, "I want… to go home." She says, eyes slowly panning over his shoulder to the door.

He smiles, his eyes shining over to her as a confident acceptance lights up his face. She can feel his loving warmth radiate off him, pulling her in. "Then could you get the door?" He asks kindly, quenching the embers of his magnetic pull. She chuckles breathlessly and steps around him, opening the door, stepping aside to leave him to set their bags down heavily in the foyer. She gives in to the desire for physical contact as she pushes the door closed, sliding her fingers against his back, running them up his spine as he stands back up.

He looks over to her with a twinkle in his eye as she feels the shiver go up his spine. He turns to her with extended arms, and her body crawls with anticipation. "Oh, thank god you're home, Richard." A familiar voice cuts through the loft, wafting down from upstairs, quickly discharging the air between them. "There's a…" Martha stops. Kate looks up with a nervous smile to Castle's mother, standing near the top of the stairs in her usual colorful garments. "Kathrine." She lifts, her voice warm and welcoming.

Kate smiles brightly as Martha starts down the stairs, her heart warmed by what a welcoming home this is, as it's always been. She did have insecurities about what her sudden presence would do to the balance formed here, his family is always been so important to him, she wouldn't feel as at home as she is now if there were tension because of her being here. But now, watching Martha start drifting down the stairs quicker than she should, all that is dispelled.

"When Richard told us that he was bringing us home gifts from our nation's capital, I had no idea that he meant you. Oh, you beautiful-" She stops, extending her arms to wrap Kate in a hug, but her son steps in front of her, blocking her pursuit.

"Mother…" He warns lowly. "Beckett and I are very tired."

"No, Castle," Kate stops him, stepping out from behind him with a hand on his shoulder, "it's okay. Hi, Martha." She greets with a friendly smile, stepping around him to return Martha's hug.

Martha squeezes her tight, shaking her from side to side. "Oh, you," she starts, leaning back with hands grasping her arms, "are the brightest thing to set foot in this dark, lonely loft since last you were here, Darling. Ah, and look." Martha points, looking over to Castle, who's standing a few feet away with a smile on his face. "I haven't seen my son smile like that in months."

"Mother…"

"Oh, Richard," She waves him off, stepping away to stand between the two of them, "you have spent six months moping around this loft, Kathrine steps in here one minute and…" Martha sashays her way into the loft with a smile, "has brought life back. I swear, I could have found more lively people in one of those awful retirement homes. Kathrine, I assure you, your visit is most welcomed, and definitely most needed, if I'm being honest."

Kate stops taking in Martha's welcoming assessment, "Well, actually-"

"Mother." Castle says again, taking a slow step toward her. "Can I have a word with you, please?" He asks in a low, overly polite voice, lifting a hand toward the kitchen. Martha lifts her brow and looks between the couple and isn't given the opportunity to give a response before she's being led there by Castle.

Kate stops at his side before he leaves her, placing a hand on his back, "I'm gonna go unpack a few things, okay?" She says, reaching up and kissing his cheek against his smile and stepping away, her fingers lingering against him as she steps toward the pile of luggage. She grabs her small bag with her essentials in it and makes her way toward his office to go into… she feels a smile break out onto her face as she thinks of it as their bedroom.

She looks back and tells that he's waiting for her to be out of the room to start his conversation with his mother. She notices and quickly goes through his office and into their bedroom, setting her bag down next to the dresser. She stops and takes a deep breath, feeling a tingle in her heart. She's really doing this. She looks over the bedroom, the memories they've shared here, it might as well have been her home before all this happened anyway.

She just shakes her head and slowly goes through his office, her eyes dancing over the space in new reverence. Her heart feels at peace, comfortable and confident in her decision, until her eyes find something, sitting in the center of his desk, sending a shot of adrenaline through her veins at the sight of it. She slowly steps up, her eyes not leaving the small, black felt box sitting in the center of the desk. Her breath only going as far as her throat, she shakily reaches down and picks it up, feeling as if it's the one thing in here she would get in trouble for touching.

Her fingers wrap around the bottom as her thumb puts pressure on the top, her heart fluttering as she wars between opening it and not opening it. She never even saw the ring he offered her, everything else going wrong prevented her from it. She feels the tight hinges on the box start to give, until she hears the unmistakable sound of his footsteps coming through the living room. Panicking, her breath catches as she balls up the box in her fist and turns around, slipping the box in the pocket of her coat, smiling brightly at him as he enters his office. "Sorry about that." He grimaces as he steps up to her.

She waves him off, her hand landing on his forearm. "No, it's alright, Castle. I knew what I was in for when I agreed to this."

His hesitant frown quickly fades into a loving smile, gazing over to her, the tenseness in his shoulders flying off. "I'm glad you did."

She smiles, looks down between then and pulls on his forearm, stepping into him and snakes her arms around his neck. "Me too." His arms find their way around her, holding her snugly to him. She feels her stomach start to coil, her need for him gaining more and more territory with each passing second. She can feel her lips pulling her toward him, her body reacting to a kiss that hasn't happened yet.

He moans as he weaves his arms around her tighter, her chest crawling at the feeling his voice reverberating through her. "This has been the longest six months of my life."

She lets out a shaky breath, fanning off him. Overall, they've been doing well. They've been communicating, talking things out, moving forward… but she's already getting wrapped up in him again. And she's wrapping him up in her. She doesn't want to have to go back to square one. Her body still aching, she goes against it, against every single muscle fiber in her telling her that she just needs this, and puts her hand on his cheek, her thumb touching his lips as she pushes him back.

He pulls back, opening his eyes and finding fear. "What?"

She can't answer him, her eyes now drawn to his lips, feeling the softness against her thumb, brushing her hand over his jaw, her other hand gripping his shoulder. "I don't want this to end." She pushes in a small, scared voice.

"What are you talking about?" He asks, chuckling unaware.

"You know us, Castle." She starts, leaning down from her toes being pressed up with little effort from his arms supporting most of her weight. "We've been making so much progress. And we…" She feels her desire betray her for a second as she presses against him more, "are so weak for each other." She tells him, looking up to him, finding worried gaze. "I don't want us getting so wrapped up in each other that we let all that fall to the wayside. Because then we're right back where we started."

"Kate, we haven't been together in months. You can't expect me to believe you haven't felt it just as much as I have." He argues.

She lets out a shaky breath, "No, Castle, I do." She tells him, the hand grasping his shoulder moving across his back, her other going against the nape of his neck. "I really do." She continues, pulling herself up to him, her lips drawing themselves to his, "Because…" She ends up with her forehead resting against his, her voice breathy and soft, "I miss you, baby." Her desire speaking, her loving need for him, it only being him who could make her feel the way she does, the way she wants, needs.

His arms squeeze her slender frame again, his bicep bulging into her side, their breaths tangling together hotly between them for a few intense seconds before he lets out a sigh, staying silent, laying his forehead against hers until he pulls back. "What if I make you a promise?" She acknowledges him with a lift in her brow. "We do this… and you can ask me anything, and I will give you as honest an answer as I can."

With that, she feels her unquenchable passion for him die down into annoyance and surprise at him. "You're bribing me with opening up to me just to get sex?"

"For the key to the prison that has been six months' worth of sexual frustration? Yes, I think I'm willing to bend my moral principles just a little bit."

She bits her lip, weighing her options as her hands refuse to let him go. "You promise?"

"Always."

With that word, her heart, her mind, her body, everything give in. "Deal."

"Mmm…" She moans, muscles happily sated, her entire body blissfully achy and weak.

"That was almost worth the six month wait." He mumbles, blankly staring up at the ceiling next to her.

She tiredly laughs, rolls her head over to look at him. It feels incredible to be next to him like this again. To her body's protest, she skootches herself over to him and rolls onto her side, leaning her head down on her knuckles, looking down to him with a smile. "No flattery, you have a promise to keep." She says, brushing her toes down his leg.

He smiles and readjusts his head on his pillow, looking up to her. "I made a promise, and I intend to keep it. Ask me anything."

She pauses, biting the inside of her lip, thinking back to something she had said to her old partner in DC. "I want us to fight."

His brow knits together as his head cocks off to the side, "What?"

"I want us to be able to fight." She reiterates.

"What are you talking about?" he asks, still wanting clarification.

"Well, you have a history of just walking away when I screw things up."

"And you have a history of lying to me." He fires back.

But she softens his accusation by placing her hand on his bicep. "I know that. Neither of us can promise that we won't screw up when we get married, and I need to know that when it happens that you won't just walk away."

"What makes you say that?" He asks, still being on the defensive.

"Rick, when you found out about my interview, you walked out of my apartment. These six months might never have happened if you had just stayed that night and we had fought it out. When you found out that I lied about my shooting, you walked away. And while I wouldn't give up our first night together for anything, it didn't have to happen that way if you had just fought with me about it." His eyes soften, turning down to look down the blankets covering them. "If there's a problem in our marriage, Castle, we can't just walk away from it." His jaw clicks off to the side, and she can feel his muscles tense under her fingers. "Why, did… you and Meredith fight a lot?"

"No, me and Gina."

Her breath turns thick in her throat as he finally lets some light shine on why he doesn't want to just agree to fight with her on things. She hesitates, not wanting to push too far, before she speaks. "You… you want to tell me about it?" He lets out a deep sigh again and lifts his head off the pillow for a second. "I'm not forcing you, Castle, I'm just asking."

"Well… while Meredith owns the blame in our divorce… I have to own most of the blame in my divorce with Gina." She softly grasps his arm and starts to shake her head, but he lifts his hand to stop her reassurance. "No, I'm not just saying that. I'm aware enough to know that it was mostly my fault."

She nods slightly, loosening her grasp on his arm, coming to soothe over one of his veins with her forefinger. He takes a few deep breaths before taking the plunge and diving into his story.

"Alexis was just turning nine when Gina and I started dating. It was casual, just… between friends really. Derrick Storm was just starting to take off, and Gina had promised to watch Alexis if I agreed to go on tour. So… that's what happened. And eventually, I saw an opportunity to put my family back together… give Alexis her mother back… so to speak. So… I proposed, and we got married. It was fine for about a year before I noticed we had started fighting a lot. And we weren't even fighting to resolve anything, we just fought. In my heart… I knew why, but wouldn't let myself admit it." He pauses, his teeth snapping shut.

She pets his arm with her hand in a long, loving motion. "What?"

He breathes a hard, short breath before continuing. "I was never really in love with her, so I… didn't trust her enough not to do to Alexis what Meredith did. So despite her doing what I married her for, I wouldn't let her. And, to my credit, I did take us to counseling when we started to sleep in separate beds, but…" He drifts off with a sad shake of his head, "all that did was make me realize that I married her for the wrong reasons. We split up 'amicably' after that." He says, using air quotes.

She feels her lips being tugged into a smile, her hand pausing on his arm. "Are you in love with me?"

He looks over to her, a soft smile and bright eyes. "More and more every day."

"And I promised that I'm not leaving again, right? That I'm here to stay?"

"…Yeah."

She looks down the sheets, and reaches for his hand, lacing her fingers in together with his and pulls their hands up between them. "I love you, Castle. And if I screw up, I want you to call me on it. Same goes for me, okay?" His soft, wonderment smile is her answer, and she leans down to capture it, kissing him briefly, but he's going after her as she pulls away, drawing her back down, and she gives in, sinking her lips back down against his.

After a few more sweet motions, she pulls back after she feels him stop. "Will we get to make up afterwards?"

"Always."

"Deal."

A/N: If you guys want a deleted scene, I'll write one when I complete the story. If not, let your imagination run wild. :)