Being a patient man, Adam had no problem waiting his almost-wife out as she finished hurling like her life depended on it. Lindsay was rarely sick and even more was was her going out on the town and drinking to the point of this level of hangover; all he could do as she wretched was wonder what the hell the girls had given her to drink. Nah, best not to go there, he decided, since it was an obvious answer from the way Lindsay was puking. He'd managed in between sessions to get them both some clothes so they would not have the added vulnerability and awkwardness of being naked and sick; once she'd finished and was sitting on her butt on the bath-matt, Adam stood up to reach for a hairbrush and one of her brightly coloured elastics to brush her hair off of her face.

'Bet that feels better, huh babe,' he asked and Lindsay turned baleful eyes to him.

'I'm never drinking like that again in my life. Not even when we have Sloan's bachelorette in a month. Thank you,' she added when Adam kissed her brow and put the finishing touches on a sloppy braid. 'I could use a shower, I think, let the steam clear my brain.'

'You'd do better with a bath.'

'No.' Lindsay shook her head, patted her stomach. 'Rules of the road. No stagnant water for a week.'

'You're not that dirty, babe.'

'No, it means it has to be runnign water like a shower,' she giggled. 'And considering the wnoderful hangover sex we just had a little while ago, I'd say I'm your very dirty girl.'

'Damn right you're my dirty girl. So.' Adam patted his knees, pulled Lindsay to her feet. 'Shower for you, and don't worry you can keep your promise. I won't peek at your belly jewel.'

'It's very sexy,' Lindsay teased him, and chuckled at his frustrated groan. 'Friday, darling, remember? You can see it Friday. You won't know where the time has gone.'

'That's true because we've got a shitload of work to do tomorrow,' Adam started, then found himself cut off when lindsay held her fingers to his lips.

'None of that for now, we still have until midnight to be in play-time mode.'

'Fair enough. Shower, and I'll make you tea.'

Lindsay nodded, got to her feet to run the water. She tugged off the clothes Adam had brought her, peeled off the tape from her belly, wincing as the glue stuck to her skin. Her head was spinning but as she stepped under the hot fall of water and began to soak her hair, she had to admit it felt pretty damn good. Almost back to human, she decided, and she'd finish the job once she had some food in her belly. The good hangover kind, not the stupid rabbit food she'd forced herself to eat to make sure she looked her best for her wedding day.

Seeing as her thoughts now centred on fueling her body and not on making sure her head stayed on her shoulders and didn't roll out the door like a pumpkin, Lindsay stepped out of the shower; she donned the robe Adam had brought in for her with a sweet little sigh. The moment she opened the door, the sigh turned into a heartfelt moan as the scent of takeout hit her nose. How he'd gotten it there so quickly, she had no idea but Lindsay didn't bother questioning it - that was the magic of her almost-hubby.

Lindsay zipped into the bedroom to put on her pyjamas in record speed, then casually sauntered out. The cool, sleepy pretense was gone when she saw what Adam had ordered for them.

'Oh, baby, I love you,' she said breathlessly with such love that Adam could only grin and walk over to wrap his arms around her. 'How did you get this here so quickly?'

'You were on your knees barfing your brains out, you didn't even notice I'd left,' he replied with a bemused little smile. 'But I know my woman and I know once she finishes sicking up the worst of the booze's aftermath, she'll want a good non-prissy girlie-food snack. So I got our favourites.'

'You did indeed,' she agreed as she stared at the table. Though their budget was tight since they were finishing paying off the wedding, he'd ordered Pookaloo's takeout for them - chicken Cesar salad wraps, salt and pepper bread, mozzarella sticks, and sweet potato fries with roasted garlic mayo. 'Oh, Adam, this looks so good. You're so good to me.'

'You're good right back to me, Linds.'

'It seems a little lopsided right now.'

'Really? Who's the one who has been taking care of all the little details of the wedding, making sure while I'm working all those little special things happen, like a limo to take us to the airport on Wednesday? And making sure we had that little passport printed up for Jojo's caterpillar?'

Lindsay's cheeks pinked. 'Well, she just seemed very worried about her little buddy.'

'And who is the softie that made sure that the other little kids taking a stuffed animal on the plane had one too?'

'Okay, you got me.'

Adam laughed again, headed to the cupboard for glasses when his cellphone rang. He fished it from his pocket and groaned when he saw it was the Castle home number. 'If this is about the case, I'm gonna kill her. I don't care if she is my superior officer. Hello?'

'Hey Adam, it's Rick.'

'Oh, hey man, how's it going? Thanks again for the weekend, it was great.'

'Good, good, just a question. Is Lindsay up and around?'

'Yeah,' Adam said at length, 'why do you ask?'

'Because I came home to a zombie of a wife and was curious if yours was in worse shape, being the guest of honour and all.'

'We're just about to eat. Try tempting Kate with some food.'

'Maybe.' Castle sounded thoughtful. 'Alright, thanks buddy. See you Wednesday.'

'Bye.' Adam hung up, pretended to give Lindsay the eagle eye. 'Lindsay, my toasty little crumpet.'

'Yes, Adam, my roasted red pepper jelly,' she replied just as coyly as she filled up her plate.

'What did you girls get up to this weekend?'

'What did you boys get up to this weekend?'

He waited a beat. 'Alright, fair enough. You gonna take all those mozza sticks?'

The next morning, as Adam expected Lindsay was still sleeping like the dead when he woke for work and got himself ready for the day. He scribbled a quick note to her that he'd tried to be on time for dinner that night since they had to finalize the last details of the dinner speeches and music for the reception on Friday, and headed out to meet Beckett.

He'd just left the building when he saw Beckett's Crown Vic roll to the curb, the driver wearing sunglasses despite the fact it was just after seven am.

'Good morning, Detective Beckett,' he said in a chipper tone, knowing full well the timbre of his voice would probably earn him a punch in the crotch if she was feeling particularly mean. 'How was the sendoff into married life for Lindsay?'

'Shh-shhh-shh, Adam,' Beckett replied, flapping her hand at him. 'I am fueled by Motrin and coffee and a lot of Gatorade right now. We're stopping at Love on a Bun before we go to the precinct.'

'That's over in Grammercy Park,' he pointed out, 'totally opposite side of the island from where we're going.'

'Adam, we're going to Love on a Bun.'

'Yes ma'am.'

Adam remembered his mother using a similar tone when she meant business, so he closed his mouth as they drove quietly to the bakery to get a box of strawberry blintzes and another of assorted sweet buns and rolls. Without a word, once they were back in the car Beckett simply held out her hand and Adam lifted the lid on the assorted box. He kept the laugh to himself when he saw her grab a cinnamon swirlie-roll and cram it in without any kind of lady-like manners or grace. She munched away whiel Adam selected a blueberry Danish for himself; it was only when she was stuffing down the final bites and licking her fingers that Beckett's powers of speech returned.

'The sendoff, as you can probably tell,' she finally replied, 'was a fantastic time. Now we have to put it aside and figure out why that little bastard Nicky Tomasi would want to poison his teacher.'