Some days, Kate can't believe that they've managed to stay under the radar as long as they have. There have been so many close calls, so many mornings that she's left too late and has almost run into the staff arriving for the day. So many times that they've held eye contact too long in a crowded room, risked a brush of fingers as they passed each other.

She was worried that constant thoughts of him would distract her at work but she's been able to compartmentalize, able to focus on Alexis and her job. The simmering want for him is there, sure, but it was surprisingly easy to tamp it down once she knew what it was like to be with him, once she wasn't mired down in the burden of uncertainty.

She stretches at the sound of her alarm and reaches over to turn off its shrill yell. She's not sure why she's woken up with this on her mind today. It probably has something to do with the dance they shared at the gala at the end of the European dignitaries visit. He had been dancing with a lot of women that evening, wives of presidents and prime ministers, a few senators' wives. At one point, he had come over to talk to Alexis where she was sitting with Kate to make sure that his daughter was having a good time.

"Daddy," she had said with a frown, beckoning him closer. "Why aren't you dancing with Kate?"

The agent practically choked on the sip of water she was drinking when the girl's whispered question reached her ears. Rick shot her a look painted with amusement before giving his daughter his full attention again.

"Sweetie, we've talked about this. You know why."

"Yeah, but, I wish you could."

He smiled sadly at her, ran his hand down her hair. "Me too, Alexis."

The girl shrugged. "Then do it. You could tell them I told you to."

His head cocked to the side in thought and then he rose and held his hand out to a very shocked Kate. "Agent Beckett, would you do me the honor of a dance?"

"But…I'm working."

"Agent Harris," he called to the man standing a respectable distance away. "My daughter is insisting that I dance with Agent Beckett, would you mind if I stole her away for a moment?"

Harris moved to position himself behind Alexis's chair, nodding acquiescence. With no other barriers in their way, Kate had slipped her hand into his and allowed him to lead her onto the crowded dance floor. Amongst the other woman in their designer dresses, she stood out in her pantsuit. The same pinstriped one she had taken from the closet after their first night together, she realized with some amusement. But it had felt good to be in his arms in a somewhat public setting, felt nice to just twirl around a dancefloor with her hand in his. The song ended far too soon and he left her with a kiss to her knuckles and burning desire in his eyes. It had been wonderful.

Kate poured herself a cup of coffee as she reminisced, absently stirring in the creamer and leaving the mug on the counter to cool as she went to retrieve the newspaper. She was thinking of how blue his eyes were as they danced when she opened the door and leaned over to pick up the Post.

But she froze as her eyes focused on the front page, her stomach bottoming out. There staring back at her was a photo of Rick and her in the exact dance she was musing about, their eyes locked on each other as everyone's eyes around them were watching the couple.

The President's Girlfriend it screams across the top of the photo.

Oh. God.

His phone rings at four-thirty in the morning which is never a good sign.

"Yeah?" he slurs, trying to shake the cobwebs of sleep from his head.

"Sir, we have a situation." His Chief of Staff wastes no time.

"That's usually the case when you call me this early, I'll be down in twenty."

"I'm on my way up to you."

He sighs, rubbing his hand over his face. "Aaron, we have a deal. The Residence gets to be my house; we don't bring work into my house. I'll meet you on the State Floor if you can't wait for me to get to the Oval."

"We need to talk about this before you leave your house."

He's dealt with plenty of crises over his Presidency but none that have required this level of intervention. "Aaron, what is going on?"

"They know about Kate."

His heart stops, his blood going cold in his veins. He tries to speak, finds that he has no breath and sucks air into hesitant lungs. "Who's 'they,' Aaron?"

"I'll show you in thirty seconds." The line goes dead and he drops the phone where he is, not bothering to replace the receiver.

Rick manages to swing his legs over the edge of the bed, every movement a struggle as he's weighed down with not knowing exactly what's happening. He hears footsteps in the hall and then Aaron gives a cursory knock on the door before pushing his way in.

He has a stack of newspapers in his arms and he starts dropping them one by one on the bed. D.C. papers first, then USA Today, then a few of the bigger New York City papers, one from Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Kansas City. And all of them have he and Kate front and center accompanied by headlines that range from factual to insulting.

He presses the heels of hands to his eyes until he sees starbursts, a long and heavy sigh escaping him. But when his eyes clear, it's still the same. He lifts his face to Aaron, his old friend looking at him with compassion.

"Guess the jig is up."

His staff has already set up in the Roosevelt Room, televisions from all the major news outlets running the story with gusto. They stand when he enters, the chatter dying down instantly.

"Good morning, everyone. Where are we with this?" He starts as he sits, indicating that they should do the same. He's greeted them the same way many times before but never before has the "this" had something to do with him directly.

"We're still determining where the leak came from and especially who took that photo," Anita, one of the Deputy Chiefs of Staff, speaks up. "There was no press inside the gala that evening but the quality is too good to have come from a cell phone. We're still working on it."

"There's no stopping the story though, it's too far spread at this point," his Press Secretary, Hannah, points out. "Official word is 'no comment' but we need to get something out there. And soon."

He nods. "Agreed. We have statements prepared?" he asks Alex. The kid has been writing speeches for him since before he was out of college; Rick is still convinced that he won the New York Senate seat due to Alex's words.

"Um, mostly. I wasn't sure what angle you wanted to take."

"Write the bones, I'll fill in the rest, you know the drill." They've done it this way for a while, Alex writing an outline and transition phrases with Rick filling in his specific policies and details that the speechwriter wouldn't have knowledge of.

"Yeah, but, are we denying this, or…?" He trails off as Rick gives him a steely look.

"No, Alex. There's nothing to deny." He stands, looking around the room to find most of his staff avoiding his gaze. "Everyone understands that, right? I am not denying something that is very, very true. Kate and I are in a relationship and I'm not sure how we managed to keep it to ourselves as long as we did but now it's out there and it's time to come clean about it."

"We all know. We've been helping keep it quiet," Aaron informs him.

Rick freezes. "For how long?"

"Maybe a week after it started? There's some debate between us as to when it was official but that's my best guess."

"You've… known?"

Aaron shrugs as the other occupants of the table continue to evade eye contact. "It's next to impossible to keep secrets in this town, you know that, Rick. We all noticed the attraction between you two but then one day you were different, happier, and you lit up when she'd enter the room. People that don't know you might have thought it was because of Alexis, but we knew you were looking at her Secret Service Agent. And we liked her, not the best background but she never denied any of it so we figured it could be spun into something good. And she was good for you, so…"

He sinks back in his seat as Aaron talks, realization hitting him. "You all knew?" They nod.

"I shut down stories as I heard about them," Hannah offers. "They were all hearsay and rumor mill speculation but when the picture surfaced, they had a face and then they had a name and it spread too fast for me to put out the fires."

"You've been putting out fires for five months?" The woman nods. "Thanks." She smiles and ducks her head but she deserves his gratitude. They all do. "Thank you, all of you. Kate has been the one spot of normalcy in my life and the fact that you all fought to help me keep that means the world to me."

There are murmurs of "You're welcome" from around the room but then he realizes who's missing from this meeting.

"Where is Kate?"

Aaron's the only one brave enough to answer him. "She's with Rancic."

It's embarrassing to be brought in like this. She dressed after she brought in the newspaper, slamming it face down on her kitchen counter. She knew that it was only a matter of time before an escort would be showing up for her and sure enough, five minutes after slipping into a pair of shoes, there was a knock on her door. They had sent Davies and Holder to collect her and she was glad for that, they were good guys that had always treated her with respect. The ride in had been quiet, the guys only speaking when they needed to let her know where to go. She was brought immediately to the director's office, Rancic greeting her with a small smile, his eyes radiating pity.

"I'm done, aren't I?" she asks as she sits.

"They got your name and I'm working my ass off to figure out how but, yeah, you have to be done."

"Sir, I didn't show up as some doe eyed girl looking for a boyfriend," she's emphatic, even more so than she intended but she's suddenly desperate to explain herself. "It just happened, much as I tried to deny it."

"I know, Beckett. I wouldn't have hired you if I thought that. Harris told me that you've been exemplary, that you haven't let it get in the way of your job."

She pauses when she hears that stoic Agent Harris went to bat for her. "Are you saying he knew?"

Rancic nods. "He noticed. But Alexis loves you and he didn't think another agent would be good enough for her detail. So he kept quiet."

"Please don't punish him by taking him off Alexis's detail. He's so good for her; he won't let anyone harm a hair on her head."

"Agent Harris's assignment is my determination but I'll take that into account." Kate nods her thanks. "You've been a good agent, Beckett, I'm sorry to lose you."

"I'm sorry to have let you down."

Rancic shrugs. "By all accounts, your charge is better for having you as part of her detail. I don't feel let down."

"Thank you for the opportunity, sir."

The man nods in acknowledgement. "You've already met your detail," he tells her, motioning toward the door where she assumes Davies and Holder are waiting for her.

"Is that really necessary?"

"You know it'd be protocol for any woman he's dating. You're no exception." She sighs but nods in understanding. "The President's set up with the senior staff in the Roosevelt Room; they can escort you there if you like."

"Can I see him privately first?"

"I think that can be arranged."

Kate's pacing a path though the carpet of the private study attached to the Oval Office when Rick enters. She halts at the sound of the door, turning towards him with her lip caught between her teeth in thought.

"Do you know my code name is Heat?" she blurts out when she sees him. "What kind of a name is that? The guys say it's because I handle a gun well but it sounds like a stripper name."

"Rook and Heat," he muses as he strolls towards her. "Sounds like a crime solving duo."

That draws some amusement from her, a short, breathy laugh escaping her lips. He raises a hand to tuck an errant curl behind her ear, smiling as his touch causes her eyelids to flutter closed for a moment.

"Hi," he whispers when her eyes meet his.

"Hi." She folds into him, her arms coming around his waist as she buries her face in his chest.

He smooths his hands over her back, dips his head to place a kiss to her temple. "Five months. We had a pretty good run."

She jerks back so suddenly that her skull knocks into his chin, slamming his teeth together. He's taking stock of potential damage, rotating his jaw back and forth when her venom filled voice stops him cold.

"So, what, that's it?! Five months and now that everyone knows we're just done?"

Oh. Oh. He did not say that well.

"No, no no no," he placates, gripping her biceps and gaining her attention back. "That's not what I meant. I meant that we flew it under the radar for five months. We're not done, I don't want to be done, Kate. I don't ever want to be done with you."

His hands fall from her arms as she raises them to drape around his neck, her mouth a brutal assault against his. He breathes his relief into her mouth, holding her close as he kisses her in return.

"I don't ever want to be done with you either," she murmurs against his cheek.

He holds her tight for a long moment, the sounds of their breathing filling his ears. Until there's a shuffle in the hall. He likes this study for its privacy – no entry from the main corridor, fairly well insulated from sound – so if someone's out there, they're there deliberately. Kate hears it too, pushing back from him to turn toward the door. He hears it again, low murmuring and a shuffle of feet. They inch towards the door until they can hear a whispered argument through the wood.

"You knock!"

"No, you!"

"I don't want to!"

"One of us has to tell him!"

Rick swings the door open then, revealing two very rattled aides. "Tell me what?"

"There's, uh, been a development, Sir."

He takes her hand as they enter the Roosevelt Room, aiming to project a united front to his staff. He's glad to know that they've all been supportive behind the scenes but he needs them to know that they're in this for the long haul.

"What's going on?"

He doesn't need an answer as his ex-wife's face is filling the screen of every television in the room, which means that everyone is covering her; crawls along the screen proclaim "Ex-First Lady gives statement re: the President's mistress." Kate's hand tightens in his and he tries to squeeze back reassuringly but with as angry as he is, he's not sure it's working. Anita turns up the television that they're gathered around and Meredith's voice fills the room.

"And I just hope that my sweet daughter hasn't been exposed to this tawdry affair that's going on under the roof of her very own home. It's bad enough that she's exposed to Kate Beckett every day, I mean, who knows what awful lies she could be telling Alexis?" Meredith pauses for dramatic effect, dabs under her eyes with a tissue that's handed to her before continuing. "I implore the American people to pray that my daughter will be able to come out this mess unscathed. Thank you."

Kate is seething, already eyeing a vase on the other side of the room as something satisfying to smash in lieu of Meredith's face.

"How did she get out ahead of us?" he demands.

"Hannah's checking that now," an aide squeaks as everyone scrambles.

"Why are they calling it an affair?" He turns at Kate's question, his heart cracking at how hard she's holding herself together. She's doing really well; people who don't know her would only think that she's angry but he can see the hurt in her eyes, the tremble of her body more pain than fury. "I'm not your mistress." She hisses the word with disgust.

He sighs, dropping back to sit on the edge of the table. "Polls still show that the majority of Americans think that I should be mourning my marriage. To their eyes, an eleven year marriage only ended two years ago."

She nods, sad but understanding. "And they don't know that it was over long before that."

"Exactly. We spun it that way intentionally. Got me more sympathy if she suddenly stepped out then if I knew for years and didn't do anything."

She shifts closer to him, nudging herself between his knees and raising a hand to trail over his face. "You didn't do nothing."

"I know that," he answers, his hands coming up to frame her hips, his heart hammering in his chest at how well she understands him. "And you know that. And everyone in this room knows that. But this is the machine that is the White House. This is what we're going to have to fight every day. And…" he drops his eyes, takes a deep breath, "and this is where you can get off if it's too much."

Both of her hands are on his face now, cupping his jaw to raise his face to hers. "Richard Castle, I am in this. Stop trying to give me an out. I don't want one."

He presses forward to kiss her, firm but brief, aware of the other people in the room but also not really caring either. He truly doesn't know what he did to deserve her but he is so grateful for the opportunity to be hers. He knows that the secret being out will bring its own challenges (already has), but it's a relief as well to know that he doesn't have to look over his shoulder anymore.

"Mr. President?" Alex calls.

"Get used to lots of interruptions, too." He winks at Kate as he stands to face his speechwriter. "You have a draft?"

"A few of them, if you have a minute to pick one."

"Let's go in the Oval." He turns back to Kate, "Come with? This is about both of us, I'd like your input as well."

"Of course," she replies with a dazzling smile.

He's nervous as he sorts through his ties for the perfect one to wear, his fingers tripping aimlessly over the fabric. He's made some big speeches before, hell, State of the Union is next week but this, this seemingly simple statement has him rattled. He's so scared to say something wrong, so worried that he won't be able to relay what Kate means to him and his daughter.

Kate reaches past him and plucks a rarely worn purple tie from the back of the rack. "This one," she says decisively, turning him toward her and standing his collar up to lay the tie around his neck. "No blue, no red today, you're not making a political statement, you're not going out there with an agenda for a particular party, you're not even going out there as the President, you're just a man." She cinches the knot and smooths his collar back down.

He shakes his head, reaches up to pull her hands off his neck and hold them in his. "I'm more than that, I'm a man in love." Her eyes flutter shut on sigh, her body swaying closer to his. "I know I haven't said it since that night we fought, but I've felt it every day. I know exactly when, too."

Her eyes pop open to meet his, inquisitive as her head cocks to the side. "When?"

"That Sunday night in Camp David. When we talked for hours about nothing and everything. When it all fell away and we were just Rick and Kate for a while."

Her mouth twists and her eyes drop from him. "And then I ruined it."

He shrugs. "That's why I was so hurt. Because I was falling in love with you and I couldn't figure out how to get past your defenses to tell you."

She could apologize, but she's done that many times over. So she offers him something else instead. "I can't pinpoint it. For me, I think it might have started the very first day I met you." She raises her eyes to his, his silence unusual and finds his eyes widened in surprise. "I tried to call it a crush for a long time but it was always more than that."

"So you're saying that you fell in love with me because I was holding a lightsaber?"

She laughs, untangling one of her hands to swat it against his chest. "No, not the lightsaber. It was the way you were with Alexis, the easy way that you loved her. It made it really easy to want to be loved that way and to love you in return."

He kisses her so suddenly that she doesn't even have time to reciprocate before he's pulling back to press his forehead to hers. "I love you, Kate."

"I love you, too."

It's risky to do it like this. He hates dragging Alexis into it but the girl insisted once she found out what her mother had said about Kate. So here they stand in a cramped hallway, ready to ambush the press briefing that Hannah's fielding right now.

"Hey," Kate calls softly from behind him and he twists to face her. "You got this." She brushes a kiss to his lips and that simple touch is enough to calm his nerves. She is worth this risk.

"Ready, Sir?" the Deputy Press Secretary asks and he nods.

They round the corner as one, the shout of "The President" causing the room to explode as they step onto the small stage. Rick takes the podium and Kate and Alexis stand behind him and just a little to the right, conveying support. The cameras are blinding, the flashes glittering like gems, the cacophony of the reporters deafening. Kate feels Alexis's fingers nudging at hers and she opens her hand to let the girl slide hers in and she looks down to smile reassuringly, finds herself relaxing as Alexis smiles in return. Rick waves a hand to calm the reporters down and everyone slowly sits.

"I have a statement but we won't be doing any questions today." There's a roar of protest but he raises his hand again until the only sounds in the room are camera shutters. "What I have to say should answer them."

He launches into the statement that they agreed upon together, the one that's truthful but still maintains some privacy for them, doesn't shy away from admitting the relationship but doesn't give out a lot of details either. Kate knows that had they had to face this a week or so into their relationship, she would have crumbled under the stress. But as she listens to him talk about them, Alexis's hand in hers, she feels peaceful, completely confident that they can weather this.

He reaches the end of the words on the page but doesn't deliver them with finality, just folds the paper and looks up to address the room.

"I wasn't going to touch on this but I can't let the lies that my ex-wife is spreading stand. You guys know how protective I am of Alexis but she insisted that she be up here to support us. And I can't say no to her, so…" The press chuckles. "She loves Kate. And Kate loves her. And despite the odds against us, the three of us have created a little family." He twists his head to look at them for a moment, sharing smiles. "The last thing I have to say is, just, look…risking our hearts is why we're alive. The last thing you want is to look back on your life and wonder 'if only.' I'm so glad I didn't. Thank you."

The reporters burst back into life as he turns to exit, shouting questions that he ignores. As he passes Kate and Alexis, his daughter reaches out to take his hand and the three of them exit the briefing room linked together.

They hug Alexis before heading back to what everyone has started calling The War Room. He offers his arm and she tucks her hand in the crook of his elbow as they walk, nodding and thanking everyone that congratulates them or comments on his speech. But when they reenter the Roosevelt Room, the mood is more grim than expected and Aaron beelines for them.

"Director Taylor is waiting for you in the Oval. They found the leak," he informs them and Rick and Kate immediately turn to head across the hall. "But, maybe…" He trails off as they turn back and he takes a breath before directing his words at Rick. "Maybe just you. Sir." He clears his throat, fidgets under their twin stares.

"Aaron, we have been friends a long time so I am going to assume that you're having a stupid moment. You know me. If this was a meeting about Iranian foreign policy, I wouldn't dream of letting Kate in that room. And I know you don't know Kate yet, but she wouldn't try to weasel her way in. That's not the kind of person she is. But this? Today? This directly affects her. She was fired from her job today because of this. She's coming in there."

"I'm sorry." The Chief of Staff seems genuinely humbled. "This is new to me."

"It's new to all of us," Kate offers with a small smile.

"Can we start over?" He offers his hand to Kate. "Aaron Marks, Chief of Staff, Rick's college roommate, and one hell of a pool shark."

Kate takes his hand in a firm shake. "Kate Beckett, formerly NYPD, formerly Secret Service. I can run a six minute mile on a good day."

"Don't ever go running with him, he'll never keep up," Aaron tells her with a wink.

"Hey!" Rick protests and they chuckle at him. "I don't like you two talking." They only grin in response.

"Nice to meet you, Kate."

"Same, Aaron."

The Chief of Staff turns his attention back to the President. "Sir, Director Taylor," he reminds with a jut of his chin.

Rick sighs. "Right."

The FBI Director rises when they enter the room, shakes both of their hands in greeting. Danny Parsons, the White House photographer sits at the end of a sofa, pointedly avoiding eye contact and twisting his fingers together nervously. Rick shoots a confused look at Danny, then back to Director Taylor but the man simply motions for them to sit.

"As I'm sure you've been told," Taylor starts as they lower themselves to opposite sofa. "We've located the source of the photo leak." He glances to the end of the sofa.

"Danny?" Rick sounds betrayed and sad and Kate places her hand on his knee for support.

"It's not like that, Sir. They hacked me. They got all of them." The man is practically in tears, his tongue tripping over the words in their desperate attempt to get out.

Taylor nods, confirming the story and passing over a folder. "Danny was keeping a folder of photos on his computer of the two of you."

Rick flips open the folder to reveal a glossy stack of 8X10 photos, all of them of he and Kate over the last year. Kate shifts to place her chin on his shoulder as he looks through them one by one. There's some from events early on when they did little more than look at each other a little too long. There's some from July 4 when they were dancing to the Black Eyed Peas, Alexis less of a buffer than she had thought. There's also one from the end of the day when Alexis had asked Kate to sit with them. She thought Danny had moved on at that point but their heads are perfectly silhouetted by bursts of fireworks. There's a series from Camp David, shots of her talking to him while he grilled and the smiles they're giving each other make it obvious how close to the edge of starting something they really were. A few photos show the three of them at movie night; both Rick and Kate leaned toward Alexis while they all laugh at something though Kate can't remember what now. The recent ones are from the gala. Danny managed to capture the moment when Rick asked her to dance and when she accepted. It's like a flipbook as the photos follow them out to the dancefloor and they reposition so they're not so close together before they move around the floor. Their eyes are locked on each other in every single photo and at the time, Kate thought people were looking at her because of what she was wearing but she sees now that how much they love each other was what drew everyone's attention.

Rick flips to the last photo on the stack and Kate gasps, reaching out to trace a finger over her own face. This one was taken after they danced and she was walking back to Alexis. Except she had stopped to look back for a moment and Danny had caught it. The people in the foreground, including Rick, were fuzzed out of focus but Kate was in the background in sharp relief. The longing in her eyes is obvious but she still has a small, hopeful smile on her face. It's exactly how she was feeling in that moment and the fact that it's on film is no small miracle.

"I need a frame for that one," Rick whispers and she knocks her shoulder into his, a blush staining her cheeks.

"You've been taking these?" he asks Danny.

The man nods. "No one notices the photographer but I saw what was happening. I started saving them and figured that if you did get together, I could give them to you but if not, no harm, no foul. Except I apparently messed it all up."

"Is there anyone that we kept this secret from?" Rick mutters.

"Not as far as I can tell," Director Taylor interjects.

"But if they got all of these, why is only one photo in the media?" Kate asks.

"The hackers released the one as a tease and are selling the rest to the highest bidder." Taylor's distaste is evident.

"What if we release them?" Rick asks. "There's nothing in here I'm ashamed of," Kate nods in agreement, "so what if we just set them loose?"

"We can arrange that."

"Can you get the files to Hannah so she can put together a press release?"

"I can give them to her right now." He produces a USB drive from his jacket pocket.

"Can we get a copy of those?" Kate asks and he turns to her, a little shocked that she's being this sentimental about it. "I like the one from July fourth," she tells him with a shrug and he plants a kiss on her cheek.

"I'll make sure it's arranged," Director Taylor tells her with a twinkle in his eye. He's never seen that look on the gruff director before.

His girlfriend is magic.

Rick trudges down the hall to his bedroom well past Alexis's bed time but he trusts that Kate tucked her in well enough for the both of them. It was a long morning and even though the worst of the "scandal" (he hates that descriptor in this situation) was over before noon, he still had a full day of actual Presidential work to complete. And tomorrow will be spent playing catch-up from all the things pushed back today in-between tomorrow's already full schedule.

Yet despite all that, the reason for why his schedule is such a mess right now makes him smile. He loves that they had the time that they did in private. But now, now, Kate can come with him to events, she can visit him in the Oval Office without pretense, she can come and go from the Residence as she pleases. Oh, she can walk him to work. He likes the idea of that one.

He pauses as he realizes that she can do most of these things because she no longer has a job to go to. She won't spend her days with Alexis any longer. And he can't imagine that she's the kind of woman that's content being "kept." He actually shudders at that thought because it does not sit right on Kate Beckett at all. They'll have to brainstorm something she can do. There has to be a committee she'd be suited for. His tired brain is too low on fuel to figure that one out tonight.

She's sitting up in bed reading a book when he comes in the room and he heads straight for her, splaying his tired body across her lap. She chuckles, placing her bookmark and setting the book on the nightstand, bringing her hands back to run through his hair, lightly massaging his scalp. He hums, almost a purr and she chuckles again.

"You'd think you had a long day or something," she teases and he can only give a muffled affirmation in response. "C'mon." She nudges him to sit up and he hauls himself up until he's slumped on the edge of the bed. She slips from under the covers and comes to stand in front of him, unknotting the purple tie that she picked out for him this morning, then swiftly unbuttons his shirt and pushes it from his shoulders. She squats down to take off his shoes and socks and then goes for his pants, unbuckling his belt and unfastening and unzipping his pants.

"Trying to get me naked?" he mumbles.

She raises an eyebrow at him, swirls a finger around his belly button and then down the path of hair that leads straight to his groin, slips her fingers under the waistband of his boxers and stops just short of where he'd like her to continue.

"Like I need to try," she husks and for a moment his exhaustion melts away, raging lust roaring through him, but it passes just as quickly.

"Don't do that when I'm too tired to do anything about it." He is completely aware of how whiny that came out but honestly, she's not playing fair.

She brushes a kiss to his forehead. "Sorry. C'mon, stand up, let's get you around to your side."

He stands and let his pants pool on the floor, taking her hand to step out of them. He lets her lead him around the bed, waits while she pulls back the covers so he can slip between the sheets. He lets out a groan as he relaxes, so happy to not have to support his weary bones anymore. She pulls the covers up over him and pads to the door to close it before coming to slip in beside him, clicking off the light to bathe the room in velvet darkness. She slides a hand into his hair again, rhythmically running her fingers through his locks and he quickly races towards the oblivion of sleep.

"Rick?" her whisper cuts in just before he tumbles over the edge. "I love you."

He smiles, hums contentedly and fumbles a hand toward her until it finds purchase on her thigh. "Love you," he slurs, sleep claiming him a moment later.

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