Many thanks to everyone, yet again, for continuing to follow my little story. I appreciate all of the reviews and the nice comments...I really, really do! I still get such a charge when I see the 'review alert' emails in my inbox after I post an update.

I'm having a little uncertainty with this chapter; I've been feeling like I'm just writing a bunch of smut ever since Chapter 24. I hope it's not too much, but if it is, let me know and I'll try to tone it down.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, but they're fun to write about.


Kate was having a wonderful dream. She could almost feel her lover's warm breath on her skin, and the touch of soft lips as he spread soft, leisurely kisses on her neck, across her shoulder and down her arm, his tongue dancing across her skin randomly as his lips did their work. The sensations of his fingertips as they slowly traced her side, hip and thigh caused a glimmer of heat to start forming in her belly. She let out a soft moan in her sleep at the delicious feeling that he was evoking in her, hoping the dream didn't end anytime soon. It felt so real, so deliciously real! His hand traced back up her leg on the inside of her thigh, and the light touch on that sensitive area, approaching a more sensitive area, caused her to shift her weight and spread her legs apart just a bit, even as his lips returned up her arm and started kissing a path across her chest. As the errant hand ran softly over the juncture where her thighs met, tickling that tender area through her panties, she felt him grab the spaghetti strap of her nightie with his teeth and pull it down over her shoulder, peeling the fabric down very low. Somewhere around this time, she had come awake enough for it to permeate into her consciousness that this was no dream; her lover-Rick-was slowly seducing her with stolen touches and tender kisses, as she slept. She had no desire to move. She could stay like this forever, just letting him have his way with her body.

If she did, she knew she wouldn't regret it.

It was kind of a new experience for her-surrendering control-but she was willing to give it a chance. So she kept her eyes closed and her muscles relaxed and let his talented lips, tongue and fingers work their magic on her body. When his teeth finished pulling the strap down, and then pulled the nightie down further to expose one breast, she felt the fire burn just a little hotter. But when his hot mouth found her nipple, she couldn't hold back another small moan, nor could she stop her other hand from raising up and grasping the back of his head, drawing him just a little closer and holding him there to make sure his mouth didn't stop what it was doing anytime soon.

He trailed kisses back up her body, over her neck, until he got to her face. He lightly kissed her lips, and then caressed the side of her cheek, prompting her to open her eyes. In the dark shadows of the moonlight streaming through the window, she saw the sexy smile that had formed on his face. "I thought you were asleep," he told her softly.

"I was. And I was having this really great dream. I didn't want it to end." She let out a little yawn. "But then I realized it was real and there actually was this guy in my bed, trying to seduce me."

"And you didn't try to fight him off?"

"Uh-uh. Felt too nice. So I thought I'd just lay here and let him have his way with me."

"Oh, really?" Rick's eyes glinted with the implications of what she was saying.

She let her arm that was on the back of his head fall back to the sheet. "I have no strength to resist. I'm totally at his mercy," she confirmed huskily.

Rick didn't need a second invitation. He moved to lay totally over her body, supporting some of his weight on her forearms, as his mouth covered hers again in a leisurely but teasing kiss. Despite the fact that they had made love several times already, she had never felt his body lay fully on top of hers before. It was...consuming, and she loved the feeling of being totally surrounded by him. She responded to his kisses by letting her lips and tongue give teasing responses of her own, although she still kept to her story about being totally at his mercy and didn't give any other physical responses.

All at once, Rick pushed himself off of her and sat up, crouching over her knees. "While I love you in this red little number," he told her, referring to her satin nightie, "I think that I like you even better out of it." He pulled her into a sitting position and lifted the nightie over her head and threw it behind him, as she plopped back onto the bed. And, not wasting the opportunity, he also pulled off her panties and pushed his boxers down before stretching back out and covering her body with his, now skin to skin as they lay together.

They continued the dance of lips and tongues, leisurely but still passionnate, but without the frenzy of their coupling from the afternoon. They took the time to just revel in being with each other so intimately, without the need to speed things along toward their inevitable conclusion. In short, they were both very much enjoying the journey. Kate marveled at how his hands could seem to be everywhere all at the same time, inciting in her a firestorm of sensual awareness of him. And that was only what his hands could do. When his mouth and tongue came into the mix, her senses burned with that awareness. She closed her eyes and just let herself feel. She was so caught up in all of the sensations that somehow she didn't even realize when he parted her legs and slowly slid his long shaft inside her, until he was totally buried within her. And then, when she finally realized that they were fully joined, when she recognized the feeling of being stretched as he filled her, it seemed that all of the nerve endings in her body came alive at the feeling. She tried to grab him around his back to hold him more tightly to her, but he murmured 'uh-uh; you're at my mercy, remember?', and he took her hands and laced his fingers with hers, stretching them above her head while his mouth and tongue made designs on the tender flesh of her inner upper arm before moving down to her breasts again. As he continued to ever-so-slowly move himself in and out of her welcoming warmth, he kept his lips working; at her lips, at the tender flesh of her neck, or down across her collarbone to her breasts. When his mouth wasn't on hers, her head was thrown back on the soft pillow, writhing from side to side as small moans escaped her throat.

She could feel the pressure building in both of them, but still, they didn't increase the pace into anything more frenzied. They were still enjoying the journey. But despite the desire to take it slow, their bodies could take no more. Kate, with her arms still up side of her head and her hands still joined with Rick's, began to see bright fissures of light behind her closed eyes as her body succumbed to Rick's talented ministrations. She moaned as she felt her release take her, as she arched her body toward Rick's. But her release was slow this time; it didn't slam into her, but carried her up and set her down on a cloud of ecstacy, and left her there. It seemed to go on and on, her universe centered on where their two bodies were joined, as their hips moved together in unison. She never wanted it to end, and for a while, it seemed it never would. When he could take no more of the feeling, of the sight of her letting go, he gave in himself, all the while still feeling the shocks reverberate through her body. He closed his eyes and echoed her moan when the time came for him, overcome by the intensity of the whole experience.

His head fell down so his face was resting in her neck, where he could smell her unique scent and feel her soft hair. He pressed a kiss to her neck there, which caused a little shiver in her body. Slowly, he let go of their joined hands and ran them down her arms and her sides, to cup her bottom with one hand and her back with the other. He quickly-as much as he could manage to do anything quickly at this point-rolled them over so she was sprawled on top of him, relieving her of his weight. After their positions were reversed, she raised her head to look at him, and said "Lift your head up for a sec." When he complied, she pulled one of the pillows under his head, pulling part of it forward on his shoulder, where she laid her own head as she buried her face into the side of his neck and wrapped one of her arms around his head to snuggle herself closer to him.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. When Rick finally did speak, his voice was husky, and held a note of astonishment. "I thought it would be normal. Mundane."

She raised up to glare at him. "Castle, please tell me you're not insulting me. Not after that."

His eyes flashed open, shocked at how she was taking his words. "No! Never! I just mean...we're finally in a bed."

"No duh."

"That's normal, for what we just did. But we've done it everywhere except a bed so far. So while I knew it would be great-we would be great-I thought it would be a normal type of great. I had no idea," he said with some amount of wonder, echoing her words from years ago. "Just when I think it can't get any better, it does. In a boring old bed. You're amazing."

Satisfied-in more ways than one-she laid her head back down in the spot by his neck. "I have no complaints myself," she agreed. "There's definitely something to be said for letting you have your way with me."

Rick chuckled. "At your service, my love. Any time," he whispered, turning to kiss her nose. "Absolutely any time at all."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Rick awoke in a good mood with a smile on his face, feeling almost giddy, with the impression of having had a really good dream, although he couldn't remember it. But as he came awake and became conscious of the weight laying sprawled across his chest-the warm, breathing, naked weight of Kate on his chest-he knew where his impression came from, and it wasn't from a dream. It was from the woman sprawled on top of him.

He closed his eyes again, and feeling the gentle purr of her breathing while she slept, wondered for the umpteenth time in the last 24 hours, how he had gotten so lucky.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kate came awake slowly, but quite conscious of her surroundings. She was sprawled on Rick's bare chest and felt his arm circling her one side, with his hand buried in her hair. The room wasn't dark like before, but was now bathed in the light of the sun coming throught the windows. She raised her head to see if he was awake, to find his blue eyes staring at her above the cocky grin she knew so well.

"Good morning," she whispered.

"Good morning to you." He used the hand that was still tangled in her hair to pull her forward into a kiss. As they broke away from each other, he saw her smile disappear into the cloud of a frown on her face. "Hey," he asked as the expression on his own face showed concern. "What's wrong?"

"This is a nice way to wake up," she said softly. She bit her lip.

"So why the look? If this is how you look when something is nice then I'd hate to see what you look like when something is awful."

"You have seen it already. Yesterday. When we woke up. I was so rotten to you. It was our first morning waking up together-well, like that-and I ruined it. I just...we can't get that back. I'm so sorry. And it still sounds so lame."

"Kate, we covered this. You weren't yourself. You felt like crap. I'm okay. We are okay."

"But I don't feel like it's okay. You've been wonderful to me...have been for a while. It took me long enough to realize that I had feelings for you, and then as soon as I do, I yell at you, and did more than that. I was such a bitch. Through it all, I remember the look on your face, despite what you said. And I put that look there. I...I'm not proud of that, Rick."

"Kate." He tightened an arm around her and rubbed her back. "We've survived through a lot of weird stuff and some pretty intense stuff over the last few years. And you know, it's going to happen again; things won't be absolutely perfect all the time. And look where we are. We still made it here, after everything. That's what's important. " He pulled her forward to kiss her again, and then he changed tactics. "If you don't like how you handle something with a case, what do you do?"

"Fix it. Duh. But I can't fix this, Rick; it's done."

He massaged the back of her head with the hand that was in her hair. "And I'm telling you that you don't have to worry about it. But you think you do. So figure out something to do make you feel less guilty. Make me dinner or something."

"Dinner? Dinner is nothing. It's even potentially harmful if I'm making it. I'm no gourmet cook, remember?"

"Fine. Make dinner and serve it to me naked then." He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at her, which made her smile.

She pressed a kiss onto his chest, still smiling. "Thanks."

"Any time."

"So what time is it anyway? Should we think about getting up now, getting some breakfast?"

He smiled his cocky smile at her. "I don't know about that. I think I'm already up." As he smiled and his grin changed to a lecherous one, she became aware of the hardness pressing against her upper thigh.

She answered his grin with a sexy little smile of her own. "Well if you're already up, then I guess we'd better get busy, right?" She shifted forward so her face was right above his and sealed her lips to his with a kiss. And the kitchen didn't see any sign of them for the next few hours.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The 'Lanie Plan' was in place. She and Rick had role played, and she knew roughly what to say and how to say it. It was time. So she hit the speed-dial for Lanie and took a deep breath as she heard the rings. Finally, she heard her friend's voice as Lanie dispensed with any semblance of a customary greeting and got right to the point. "My God, girl, you're actually still alive?"

"Hi, Lanie."

"You've been there a week-a WEEK? And you're only just now calling me? How many times have I texted you? And all I get back are these little farts of information that hardly tell me anything. I want all the poo, not just farts. Now. Spill."

"Geez, Lanie, bad visuals on this end."

"Too bad. I had to autopsy a 400 lb guy that had an eating disorder. And nobody found him for two days. And my supposed best friend basically forgets that I exist after being jetted off to some tropical paradise with a cute rich guy. So forgive me if I'm not in the mood to shove some sunshine up your fine ass."

"I'm sorry for not calling you. I've been...busy."

"I'll just bet! So have you jumped his bones yet?"

"What?"

"Have you stopped having eye sex and gone on to the real thing yet?"

"Lanie!"

"You're with a hunky millionnaire. Alone. And..."

"And there are a lot of other people around."

"What? Are you having a group orgy or something?"

"Lanie!"

"I need some in-for-ma-tion, girl. Now! Spill! And stop giving me one word exclamations as answers."

"Castle has been perfectly nice, so you don't have to worry about him. Tell the boys that he's been perfectly nice too. He said they threatened him, but really, he's been good. For Castle, anyway. Kind of annoying sometimes, but basically pretty good. Oh, I forgot...he's been perfectly nice aside from when he pushed me into the pool. And when he dropped me."

"Dropped you? As in, he was carrying you? Why was he carrying you? Like, to bed? Oh, this could be good..."

"It was nothing. I cut my foot and he just helped me out because I couldn't walk on it while it was bloody."

"And..." she prompted.

"And what?"

"? Earth to Kate! Will you finish your story please, before I have to autopsy myself because I died of old age?"

"Yeah, he decided to carry me, but then he ran into the couch, dropped me, and flipped over onto the floor. It was pretty funny, but not that exciting."

"And did you kiss his boo boos?"

"Of course not!"

"Kate, I'm getting kind of miffed here. I know something is going on down there, especially after that last text when you start talking about your 'new man', as if I don't know what THAT means! All I have to say is FINALLY! So as your friend, I want to know what's going on. You owe me that much for packing your suitcase for you and going along with this plan."

She sighed, purely for effect, trying to sound defeated. "I'm sorry, Lanie. Yes, you're right. It's just that this relationship thing is still so new, that I don't want to jinx it by talking about him too much. But he's really great, and I'm happy. So can we just leave it at that for a bit?"

"Kate..."

"Listen, he's taking me to dinner tonight, and then who knows?" she added suggestively, the implication clear. "But if anything good happens, I'll let you know tomorrow. Promise."

"Listen..."she trailed off. "Oh, damn, my mom's calling me. I have to take this. But I want to hear about this dinner and...whatever. Tomorrow morning. Got it?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Talk to you then. I mean it, Kate!" And then she was gone.

Kate made sure her phone was disconnected and then looked over at Rick, who was leaning against the railing of the deck, watching her with an amused look on his face. "So how did I do?" she inquired of him.

"Not bad at all. You threw out the little tidbit about me carrying you, and then dodged it quite nicely. But what did she ask you about that? You looked kind of shocked at her response."

"She asked me if I kissed your boo boos."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I wish you had," he muttered, but then shook his head to bring himself back to the conversation at hand. "Good save though. And truthful, because nothing really did happen then. But I'll be happy to let you kiss my boo boos any time. "

"The whole thing really worked well. She was the one who brought up the text from yesterday where I said something about my 'new boyfriend.' And you were right, she of course thought it had to be you. No question."

"Won't she be in for a little surprise? Well, two surprises, if we play it right. By the way, that little improvisation about dinner tonight and 'who knows'?" He put his thumb and forefinger together. "Brilliant. You nailed it. You're going to keep her guessing all night with that one."

She bent in a small dramatic bow, and said "Thank you."

"But why wait until the morning to let her know something? Let's set the alarm tonight to wake us up, and you can text her in the middle of the night, and then not call her until late tomorrow morning, when she's at work."

"You are devious, Mr. Castle."

"Why, thank you, Detective Beckett. That's a high compliment coming from you."

Walking over to him, she trailed a finger down the front of his shirt seductively. "But you are a little presumptuous."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You said that we should set the alarm clock-that is, in the singular-to wake us up, therefore implying that we will be sharing a bed again tonight. Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?"

"Of course. I don't recall hearing any complaints last night. Or this morning. And last night you practically ordered me to share your bed. I always obey my orders."

"Since when?"

"Those kind of orders? Always. You've just never tried those kind of orders before."

"Well now that I know what it takes..." she trailed off. "But okay. I suppose I can find some room for you in that big old bed tonight."

"I promise I'll make it worth your while," his voice murmured suggestively.

"I'll just bet you will." And their lips met to seal the deal.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

An hour later, they sat on the beach in front of the lighthouse at the eastern tip of Sanibel Island, watching the waves crash against the shore. They could see sailboats and speedboats darting around in the waves, sharing the sea with a few jetskiers and many pelicans that liked to take turns floating in the sea or flying right above it. The birds around the shore were fun to watch, putting on a show for the beachcombers by flapping their wings and dancing around each other as if they were performing some elaborate pantomime. Kate spotted a particularly sedate couple of birds that were good at remaining unaffected by the other birds' antics. Rick remarked that they reminded him of Esposito and Ryan, because they seemed to be slowly taking in their surroundings and checking everything else out, although occasionnally pecking at each other, while the other birds were squawking and being wild.

"See that one on the left?" Rick pointed with the arm that was casually draped around Kate's shoulders. "He has a glare kind of like Esposito. You know when I came back after the summer and you arrested me? He looked at me like that then. He's scary when he does that. See how Esposito-bird kind of dips his head and looks at that one over there? Freaky."

Kate narrowed her eyes, looking from the birds back to Rick in an exaggerated motion. "Rick, are you high?"

"Just high on love, my dear," he said eloquently.

Kate just rolled her eyes.

"Come on. Look at them. Ryan-bird is even shorter than Esposito-bird. Ryan just can't catch a break, even with a bird alter-ego."

She put her hand on his forehead. "If you're not high, then is the heat getting to you, dear?"

"Kate. Look at them. Go with it."

She squinted her eyes and tried to see what he was seeing. She tilted her head to the side, but finally gave up. "Sorry. I just don't see it. It must be a guy thing."

Then she heard his sharp intake of breath. "Hey..." he started. She looked over at Rick, who was grinning. "This is perfect." He hopped up and took his phone out of his pocket, circling around to get a better angle, and snapped a couple of pictures of the two birds with his phone before coming back to plop down by Kate. "Got it."

"You getting into ornithology now or something?"

He started tapping and sliding his finger over his phone. "Noooo..." he replied after a few seconds, obviously preoccupied. After several more taps, he showed her the screen. He had a picture of the two birds, addressed to Esposito and Ryan. The message below it read:

"Your bird counterparts. Espo on left, Ryan on right. Feed the birds!"

Kate had to laugh. "Leave it to you, with all of your 'feed the birds' comments, to actually find a couple of birds."

He hit send, leaned over to give her a kiss, and then hopped up, offering her a hand. "Should we take a walk?" he asked.

"Sure." She took his hand and as they started walking, she issued a challenge. "Bet you I can find a bigger shell than you can."

Rick looked at her sideways with a little smile. "Just bigger? Can it be broken?"

"Of course it can't be broken! And no scallops...that's too easy."

"Darn. With or without animals?"

"What do you think? Without...duh! I want to be able to take it home. It's going to be my trophy."

"I thought I was going to be your trophy."

"There's no way you could sit still on my shelf that long. Or keep quiet. So I'll have to settle for a shell. Let's go."

The shoreline at Lighthouse Point dropped off extremely gradually, so they could walk out pretty far into the water without even getting their knees wet. In the interest of fairness, Rick demanded that Kate not go farther out into the water than him, even though she had her swimsuit on, because he had his phone and keys in his pockets and they couldn't get wet. She just rolled her eyes at him and said, "Are you six? Whining that it's not fair...I think you would have driven poor Martha nuts if you'd had a sibling. But fine. I'm still going to beat you though."

And beat him she did, with a nice, perfect whelk shell a little over four inches long. Rick thought he had one that beat her and was practically doing a happy dance, until she looked closer and found a tiny little animal so far inside that it almost couldn't be seen. Surprisingly, he took it well, remarking that it was better to have her win than to not find the animal inside and have a mollusk corpse stink up the house later.

After walking around the lighthouse, they headed back to the house. Despite what Rick said that morning about forgetting about it, she'd been wracking her brain trying to figure out some way of doing something nice for him, to try to make up for the awful things she'd said the previous morning. While walking on the beach looking for her trophy shell, the perfect idea popped into her mind. Rick would love it; in fact, she couldn't wait to see the look on his face. It was going to knock his socks off. But she needed a few supplies, so Kate instructed him to stop at the small grocery store. He got suspicious when she told him to wait in the car, but she used his line on him and told him to 'go with it.' She got her supplies, and a few extra things that she could show him, like some gourmet coffee, because she was quite certain he would be unbearable if she didn't show him something. Of course, she asked for an opaque bag and kept it securely on her lap; she knew without a doubt that Rick would try to peek. If there was ever something that he didn't know or wasn't privy to, he would whine and pout and cajole and beg until someone told him, and if any of those still didn't work, she knew he could get devious. She found out that fact about him firsthand right after she first met him, when he stole her files from under her nose while charming her to her face. Now, in the midst of his cajoling, she was tempted to just tell him to forget it, that if she kept it up, there was no way he would ever know, but if the truth be told, she, herself, was also looking forward to putting her idea into action.

With her little idea for Rick, and sending Lanie a suggestive text in the middle of the night, it was shaping up to be a very interesting night.


I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that it wasn't too boring. The dynamic has changed now that they're 'together', so some of the same type of innuendo doesn't work as well now as it did in previous chapters, and I certainly can't do the near-misses because that ship has sailed, several times. ;-)

Please hit the 'review' button and leave me a little note. I still get such a charge when I see the 'review alert' emails in my inbox after I post an update. They really keep me going. I already have the end of the vacation planned, and it's going to be good (I hope). But we have several more days to get through first.

And I just have to say yay! The next episode to be aired will be a new one...finally!