A/N: I think that this is still suitable for a T rating, even the last few paragraphs but private message me if you think it's not appropriate and I can change it. Also I don't live in NY so all the geographic facts are what I could glean from Google maps, sorry if there are mistakes.
Chapter 11: Babymoon
They've been sitting in traffic to the last four hours and they have only just made it half way there. Maybe that was fate tapping them on the shoulder and telling them to not even bother. Kate's staring out at the line of traffic ahead of them, slowly inching along at a painful crawl.
"Expect long delays on the Sunrise Highway if you're headed out of the city today," the radio announcer warns them, "traffic services are still trying to clear the debris from an overturned truck carrying a load of pumpkins which has closed two of the east-bound lanes."
Rick flicks the radio over to another station which is playing music, he's sick of hearing the same message repeated, knowing the cause for the delay doesn't make it any easier to bear.
"What the hell is a truckload of pumpkins doing driving out of New York? It's not like we grow them in the city. Surely if anything, we must truck them in," his whining is starting to get on her nerves.
"I don't know Rick, maybe the truck was city-bound but the cargo happened to spill over the median barrier into the oncoming traffic?" she can't help the tone of exasperation that colors her voice, as if she knows or even gives a crap about where the pumpkins were headed. All Kate cares about is the fact that they're stuck moving at this snail's pace for at least a few more hours.
She's sick of sitting still. As comfortable as the SUV is, her back is starting to protest staying in the same position for the past four hours and her bladder is letting her know that it's beginning to get unhappy as well, with the baby starting to take up more space everything else has to make do with less. She wishes that they were at the beach house already, failing that she'd settle for being able to get out of the car, stretch her legs and find a convenient restroom.
"Take that off-ramp coming up," Kate points at the sign indicating an exit about a mile ahead.
"But that's not the one that we want. We're still ages from the Hamptons," Rick protests.
"Take the damn exit Rick. I need to go to the bathroom because your son is banging my bladder like it's a bloody drum set." It's always his son when the baby is playing up.
"Sorry Kate," he's instantly apologetic.
It still takes another fifteen minutes to get off the highway and find a public restroom by which time she's bursting to go.
"I'll wait for you in the diner," Rick says to her rapidly disappearing back as he wanders over to the building which shares the same forecourt as the service station. All the shops in this little block are obviously set up to cater for any passing commuters that might venture off the highway.
The diner is a little old-fashioned like you might find in a small rural town, but the coffee smells good and the baked goods on display in the cabinet look calorie-laden and delicious.
"Can I grab a couple of decaf coffees to go, and two of those jelly donuts as well?" he tells the waitress behind the counter.
"Do you want cream with those coffees?" the middle-aged woman asks him.
"One black, one white thanks."
"Are you guys stuck in the traffic-jam out there?" the waitress strikes up a conversation as she prepares his order.
"Yeah, it's taken us four hours already to get here from Manhattan; looks like we might sitting in that jam for another four hours at this rate."
"Where are you guys headed?"
"South Hampton"
"You know that you could go on the back roads along the coast. It's not a direct route but in this heavy traffic you'd probably be better off. I can draw you a map if you like."
"That would be great, I don't mind taking the scenic route as long as it'll be faster and we're not sitting at a standstill," Rick enthusiastically takes her up on the offer.
Kate's less optimistic about it when he shows her the map as they get back into the car. It's not exactly drawn to scale and there's not enough detail for her peace of mind; turn left at the big, red barn might be adequate instructions for a local but it leaves a lot to be desired.
"Hmmm, I'm not too sure about this. What if we get lost?"
"Come on Kate, where's your sense of adventure? If we take the highway we'll be sitting in traffic again. Besides we've got the GPS in the car and Google maps on my phone, I'm sure that we'll be able to figure it out. It'll be nice; we'll take in the scenery and get to see places that we wouldn't normally visit. Trust me."
The lure of not sitting in traffic is the thing that sways her in the end, not Rick's navigation skills, unfortunately her husband can be overconfident about his abilities at times; Kate is the realist out of the two of them.
"Ok, but don't make me regret this Rick," she warns him.
"Have I ever steered you wrong?"
She just gives him a raised eyebrow for that; there are so many times and places that she can list where he's done exactly that.
"Ok, I mean recently, have I steered you wrong recently?"
"No, not recently," she has to agree with that. "All that means though is that you're due to do it again soon," she teases him.
The detour starts of well, just cruising past little towns on backcountry roads. It's sunny and suddenly what had been a chore when they were in the long snaking line of traffic is suddenly a joy again, it's nice to just enjoy the view and the company.
Kate can feel herself unwinding and she thinks it's been too long since they've done this, just enjoyed each other's company without the burdens of everyday life pressing down on them. Her hand snakes out to land on his thigh and she gives it a squeeze, there's nothing sexual in it, well maybe a little, but the gesture is more about letting him know that this is good, good for both of them.
Her unexpected touch makes him glance up quickly from the road to steal a look at his wife. She's smiling at him and everything is right in their world, how long has it been since she last looked like that? His hand drifts down from the steering wheel to grab hers and bring it up so he can plant a kiss on the back of her hand.
His eyes are back on the road again so he can't see the way that Kate blushes at his gesture. The kiss is not particularly suggestive or sexy but she can't help the way her face warms as if she's a teenage girl and this is their first date. It's the little things like this, when Rick is unexpectedly sweet, not cocky and over-the-top, which remind her of why she finally let him all the way in.
The arrogant playboy might be sexy in a bad-boy kind of way but she'd never have risked her heart if that was all that there was to him. It's the sweet, considerate man who looked out for her, who was always there, that's the man that convinced her to give him a chance. Kate can't help but stare at him, this man that she loves.
Sunglasses shade his eyes against the late afternoon sun so that she can't see their gorgeous blue color, his hair is windblown from the open window and there's a faint crease between his brows, a permanent reminder of the hours that he spends frowning when he's immersed in the world that he's created in his mind. There's a few more lines around the corners of his eyes and some grey hairs mixed in with the brown now, but she's much rather have this man than the Richard Castle that she met six years ago.
He looks over to catch her staring at him avidly, a faint smile on her face. An exaggerated smirk comes over his face as he nods knowingly, "You're thinking about how sexy you find me, aren't you?" he teases her.
Kate laughs, she might be in love with the sweet man but she also has a soft spot for the arrogant SOB. "Dream on pal," she taunts him. "I was thinking that you're looking a bit more wrinkly and grey than when we first met. Maybe I need to trade you in for a newer model."
"I always knew that this day would come," Rick says with fake hurt in his voice. "Is it the pool boy or your tennis coach? Just tell me, I can take it." The dramatic way that he says it is a reminder that he's inherited more than just his blue eyes from Martha.
They're both still laughing at his ridiculousness when the something streaks out in front of the car. Suddenly Rick's slamming on the breaks as he swerves to the left to avoid the animal, and then overcorrects to the right to avoid going into the ditch next to the road. The car's ABS system kicks in to prevent him losing complete control but even with that they end up making contact with wooden fence post.
There's a loud sound and then a chemical smell fills the car as the airbags engage, cushioning them from the full impact of the crash. Even at their relatively low speed the force is enough to fling them forward before the tension in the seat belts jerks them back into their seats.
"Kate! Kate, are you ok? Is the baby ok?" Rick panics.
She takes stock and realizes that the only part of her that's sore is her shoulder. She gives it an experimental shrug; everything seems to be moving ok so it's probably just bruising from the seat belt.
"Yeah we're both fine," she assures him, "how about you?"
"I'm ok," Rick pushes away the material of the airbags, coughing a bit from the accelerant that was used to expand them. He gets out of the car and comes around to her side, pulling her out so that he can give his wife a hug, so grateful that it wasn't more serious. "Thank god you're ok."
Adrenaline is pumping, her heart beat is a fast staccato in her ears and it takes a while for them both to calm down. Kate's the one who pulls away first, ever practical she wants to assess the damage. There's no sign of whatever it was that ran out in front of them to cause the accident. Most of the car looks fine except for the front bender which is so bent that it's actually touching the front left wheel, there's no way that it's drivable.
"Oh crap," she says, which accurately sums up his assessment of the situation as well. "You'd better call for a tow truck."
Rick looks up local garages on his phone and it takes three calls before he gets one that will send out a truck to them.
"It's going to take about forty minutes to get someone out to us," he tells her as she sits on a large rock by the side of the road. "They can also give us a lift back to Bellport. What do you want to do? I can try to find a rental car place so that we can still make it out to the beach house but it's pretty late and most of those places would be closed by now. Or we could get a cab out to there or even back home again."
After the hassle of traffic and now the accident, Kate doesn't feel like driving any further tonight but this weekend was meant to be about them reconnecting and she's not about to give up just yet.
"Why don't we just find some accommodation in Bellport for tonight and then get a rental tomorrow morning and drive the rest of the way to the beach house then?" she suggests.
By the time that the tow driver, Matt, gets them to the village and they sort out the paper work it's past seven pm. Matt kindly gives them a lift from the garage to the nearest motel as well, dropping them off with their luggage at the reception. It's tourist season and they're lucky that there's a room available.
"Sorry the only room that I have left has only got a double bed, normally this is the room that we give to the kids for families who are visiting," the manager apologizes again as he shows them upstairs. Two tall people, one of whom is pregnant; that will make a night spent in a double bed very cozy.
"That's ok, it must be a busy time of year for you guys," Kate says, "we're just happy that we don't have to camp out on the road tonight. By the way is there a restaurant within walking distance? Our car is at the garage."
"The nearest restaurant is a good twenty minutes walk away, but if you're not looking for anything fancy then there's a pizza place that does deliveries and their pizzas are pretty good."
An hour later Rick and Kate are seated at the small dining table, a box with two slices of pizza left sits between them. This is not exactly how she pictured their night ending, when she packed for the weekend.
"Do you feel like watching some television? Or there's a Scrabble game on the bookcase?" Rick suggests some options for the rest of their night.
"No, I think I might take a quick shower and then hit the sack," she grabs some toiletries and a change of clothes before shuffling off to the en suite bathroom.
Rick looks around their motel room, it's a perfectly serviceable room but he wanted to make this weekend special. Instead it's eight-thirty pm on a Friday night, they've just had pizza for dinner and Kate's ready for bed.
She wipes at the condensation which mists the bathroom mirror so that she see her own image reflected back. The moisture in the air makes the tendrils of hair that have escaped from her loose bun stick to the sides of her face. Faint laugh lines bracket her mouth; they weren't there six years ago when the writer first started following her around. Neither was the long arcing thoracotomy scar, a reminder of the day that she was shot. Currently it's covered by the bath towel that she has wrapped around her, she doesn't like to be reminded of that day, even now after all these years.
Kate contemplates the clothes that lie on the countertop, trying to decide which ones to wear. She reaches for the old t-shirt of Rick's that she uses to sleep in along with the pyjama bottoms. The soft faded cotton slides easily over her head, it's big enough that it fits her easily even at this stage of the pregnancy. Back before they started living together, she used to like to sleep in it because it smelt like him. He left it behind after one of the nights that he spent at her place and somehow she never got around to giving it back to him. Back then they couldn't seem to get enough of each other.
That thought galvanizes her and Kate strips off the clothing that she'd only just put on, reaching for the other item of clothing on the counter instead. The lace camisole is just as revealing as she remembers it being when she bought it. She reaches behind her to undo the clasp holding her hair up, letting the brown locks tumbled down over her shoulders. Her hair is long enough that it covers up some of what the camisole reveals, but instead of making her look more modest it just makes the overall picture more of a tease. Sometimes the sexiest thing is not what's on show but what promises to be just around the corner.
Maybe this is a stupid idea, they're in a modest motel room, she's more than half way through her pregnancy and she's about to go out there trying to look like the Playmate of the year. The nagging voice of doubt makes her hesitate before she opens the bathroom door but Kate refuses to be bowed by cowardice, her hand turns the door handle before she can change her mind.
The room that she walks back into is still the same modest motel room and yet somehow it's different. There's some dim light coming from one of the bedside lamps but the bulk of the illumination is due to the candles that flicker all around the room. Rick is sitting on the bed, a bunch of old-fashioned daisies in his hands; his gaze is arrested by the lingerie that she's wearing.
He has to swallow before he can say anything; his mouth suddenly feels very dry. "You look so beautiful," he tells his wife.
She blushes at the compliment, "Rick, how did you do this?"
"I bribed the manager so that I could raid his disaster supplies for all the candles that he had and he let me get these flowers from the garden beds out front. Sorry they didn't have anything fancy, so no roses. I wanted to make this weekend special for you, I'm sorry that it didn't work out that way."
She takes the daisies from him, inhaling their fresh scent before she stretches up to kiss him softly, "Thank you and you don't have anything to be sorry about, this is special enough."
There aren't a lot of words after that as he lays her gently down onto the bed. His hands are reverential as he peels back the lace to reveal the treasures hidden underneath. Her breasts are bigger and more sensitive because of the hormones floating around in her blood stream. He delights in the way that she shudders as he plays with them.
He has to be gentler and they both have to make concessions in their lovemaking because of the baby but there is no less passion there than the first time they slept together. That spark that she felt had been missing is back with a vengeance and her body feels like a wild fire that is raging out of control. She shatters and cries out his name when he finally enters her.
Afterwards they lay exhausted, limbs still entwined. The motel manager was right; two tall people, one of whom is pregnant, sharing a double bed makes for a very cozy night but neither of them would have it any other way.