Previously in Apples & Cherries…Rick showed up in Ilwaco, WA where Kate, the police, the FBI, and Tyson are. Beckett's acting funny and Castle decides to take her on a walk.

Chapter Thirty-Seven:

It was far from silent as they made their way. Somewhere in the brush, a killdeer heralded its never-ending message to the deaf ears of nature while a warbler sang a duet with a mockingbird. The wind detangled as it flew gently through the comb of the grass, rippling it in the rapidly dimming light.

Castle lifted his knees high to avoid the impeding mesh of grass root as he made his way to the shore. With each step, he flattened the long grass under his foot, making a waxy, shining path for Kate to follow in. Their steps and their breaths were the only sounds they made as they walked single file, to the edge of the grass.

There was a small dip where the grass met the sand and Castle turned sideways to drop his foot down the step. He turned to Kate, not intending to help, but simply to watch. Just in case. She hopped off the edge with both feet and landed without trouble in the dark grey sand and furrowed her eyebrows at Castle's raised ones.

"I'm sorry. Was that not dainty enough?"

He shook his head. "No. It was fine."

The beach wasn't really a "beach". They weren't directly in contact with the ocean and the water that they looked out at was actually the mouth of the Columbia as it emptied into the Pacific. But there was sand and driftwood and little waves that rolled in to lave the shore.

Castle hadn't had a specific plan when he'd taken Kate out of the house. He'd merely wanted to make that distant look on her face disappear. They walked side by side towards the salted river water and he couldn't help but slip his hand onto her lower back. He hadn't felt her in a full day and now that he knew what it was like to be able to touch her whenever he wanted, he never wanted to stop touching her.

She didn't pull away in a vie for independence, but she didn't lean into it for support either. They merely kept walking side by side towards the slate waters. Once the sand turned damp under their feet, Kate was the first to slip off her shoes. She bent over to roll the hems of her jeans just slightly above her ankles. Castle followed suit, but quickly observed that his ankles looked far less attractive than hers when exposed.

She moved forward into that special little area of the shore where she was neither committed to becoming completely wet, but also bound to have her feet tickled by a wave or two. Castle followed her there and delighted in the small waves that rolled in to play with his toes. No matter how infrequent or how little they were, he always got a little thrill when the freezing water came up to meet him.

He turned to watch her profile as she stared out at the horizon. Her hair was down and being lifted lightly in the nippy wind, the tip of her nose slightly red from the cold. The sun was already beneath the water and a navy sky had started to dawn behind them, blending to lavender where it hit the water. He reached out to tuck one of her flying strands of hair behind her ear and she turned to grace him with a small closed lipped smile before looking back out at the water.

"It's difficult to imagine this world can be so hard."

He didn't have a response; he knew she wasn't looking for one. She slipped her cold hand into his after a moment and ran her thumb absently against his own.

"Everything is so quiet and slow and soft. Sometimes it surprises me that they can exist together. The hard and the soft."

He still said nothing but he looked at their hands and watched as her thumb made its tiny journey up and down, up and down. She had goosebumps.

"Are you cold?"

"A little."

He took his hand from hers and removed his jacket, giving it to her.

"Here."

"Castle, I don't need your jacket. You'll get cold."

"Just take it. I'm going to run inside really quick."

He didn't give her a chance to argue as he ran off towards the cottage again, following the trail they had already blazed. Once inside, he went straight to the kitchen and fumbled through the drawers searching for a little box. Finding it near the stove, he swiped it into his hand and dashed back into the evening air.

He could see her figure as he approached and his feet stopped running. She stood so tall against the grays and purples and blues of the beach. Her back was to him and her hair was flying, divining the coming winds as they blew in from the ocean. She looked alone, but not tragically so. She was something that was born to stand against the elements, but somehow became one of them.

The jacket was still draped over her arm and she couldn't have moved an inch since he'd left. He was at her side before he knew his feet had carried him there.

"Hey."

"Hey."

He took the jacket from her arm and set it over her shoulders. Dusk was fading fast as the moon chased the sun's remaining light from the sky. Everything was cast in navy now and it was harder to see her. He laced his fingers with hers and pulled her backwards slightly, away from the cold, lapping waters.

"Come here."

She followed him as her led her back towards the rampart of driftwood. She sat down on a long, fat trunk but he stayed to gather smaller pieces and stack them like a teepee.

"Are you building us a fort, Rick?"

He couldn't see the smile, but he could hear it. He knew exactly which one it was and he couldn't help but smile back. Taking out the box of matches from the kitchen, he shielded it from the wind sweeping in and lit one, letting it light up his face.

"Me Rick. Me make fire."

This time she laughed and he threw the match on the pile of dead grass and smaller bits of wood that he'd stuffed in the center. It went up in flames and soon the teepee of driftwood was crackling and glowing. He sat on the log next to her so their thighs brushed.

"It's a good fire. Your ancestors would be proud."

"I like to think so."

They sat in silence and he watched the flames cast their dancing light on her face. Her eyes were closed and he felt a certain bravery and liberation in being able to drink in her every feature without being caught. He ran his hand over the old trunk that had floated in. It was soft, almost polished. It made him want to hold her hand again. So he did.

His eyes roamed her face, trying to piece together her mood and hoping for a little insight to her far-away behavior.

"Stop analyzing me." She didn't turn or open her eyes, but somehow she knew.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, craving to understand her. She paused and breathed slowly in and out. Peaceful.

"The sounds. The water and the fire and the wind almost sound like a song. Elemental."

She didn't sound like Beckett. She didn't really sound like Kate either. Her voice was soft and reverent and intoxicating. She was poetic. He wondered what part of her was speaking right now and where it hid on other days.

He closed his eyes and tried to hear the song too. All he could hear was her breathing.

"Dance with me?"

"No, Castle. It's not an actual song. Just…a song."

"I can't dance with you to a non-song song?"

"Shhhh. You're ruining my favorite part." She was smiling with her lips now, teasing him. Refusing to dance to a song that only existed to her ears. She finally opened her eyes and glanced over at him, firelight and life dancing in her eyes.

Suddenly he could hear the music. And it was everywhere.

"Dance with me, please."

Maybe it was the tone of his voice. Maybe it was the need in his eyes. Maybe it was the stars finally aligning in their favor. He didn't really care because she slowly nodded and dipped her head down in that wonderfully shy way that brought her hair to her cheeks.

He stood almost too eagerly and pulled her up with him. His stomach had erupted in a flurry of nerves and he was well aware of the line they were crossing. Or maybe they'd already crossed it a long time ago and now they were simply accepting it.

He put his free hand low on her waist and lifted the hand he'd already been holding to rest on his chest. Her arm lifted and settled against his neck. She let out a little nervous laugh and he smiled back at her, not trusting his voice to make a joke. He started to sway, taking little steps in the sand, trying to find the rhythm in the song around them. It wasn't too hard. His heart was keeping tempo for him.

"I've never danced without music before."

"You were the one who could hear the song."

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "Figurative song."

"Well, here." He dropped his hand from her waist and dug in his pocket for his iPhone. "Let me get us a real song for our first dance."

"It's not our first dance."

"Shhh. Don't ruin the moment with your memory."

He flicked through his music until he landed on the song he was looking for. The sound of a trumpet blared tinny from the tiny speaker of his phone. He knew she immediately recognized the song because her eyes shot to his and looked at him, slightly awed and questioning.

"Oh, do you know this song, Detective?"

He didn't miss the slight falter of her smile, but it was replaced quickly with that smile she gave him when he was being sweet.

"It's my favorite. How'd you know?"

"You hum it when you're happy."

She shook her head and let it fall to his shoulder with a slight thump.

"Do I?"

"You do."

She hummed noncommittally into his neck and he was sure he'd never been more in love with her than that exact moment.

He slipped the phone into his front pocket, speaker up so that they could still hear it and then slid his hand around her waist again managing to pull her a little bit closer. When he felt the warmth of her chest meet his, a small vibration droned against his neck and he listened as Kate Beckett began humming along to the song.

He smiled into her hair and prayed she wouldn't stop humming.

She did.

Her hum was fluid in its transition to a word. She was singing softly in his ear.

Stars shining up above you

Night breezes seem to whisper, "I love you"

Birds singing in the sycamore trees

Dream a little dream of me

Her voice was like honey cloaked in smoke. It filled his ears and he found himself wishing it would never leave. He was surrounded by her. Her voice, her arms, her scent. Everything.

He tilted his face in so that his nose and lips were pressed against her windblown hair. He was so in love with her. The song ended but he refused to let her go. He kept them swaying, back again to the song of the grass and the sea and his heart.

He held her close, thanking whatever had allowed this moment to happen. Whispering quietly against her temple, his lips brushed the soft skin and fine hair.

"How are you able to be here? Doing this?"

He felt her take a deep breath and there was a long silence. He could almost hear her internal debate. Something about the firelight and the darkness and the warm reassurance of his arms seemed to finally allow her to answer.

She spoke it softly into his neck like a secret that was finally lifting itself out of her.

"I quit. I left so I could follow you. I'm not a detective anymore."

The song around them stopped and he couldn't hear anything but the echo of her words.

Their gentle sway stopped as well and he tried to pull back to look at her. She resisted, staying buried in his neck, pleading with his body to keep dancing, to forget her words and go back to the gentle back and forth of their bodies.

"Kate."

His voice was hoarse and he knew she would probably have trouble hearing it over the crackle of the fire.

She pulled away, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"It was the only way to get to you. It was the only way I could help. There wasn't time to convince them all of something I had no proof of. I had to do it. I had to follow you."

"So you quit."

"I quit."

"For me."

"For you."

He exhaled heavily. Trying to process. He was searching her face but it was tilted down. She'd quit for him. Left everything she knew to follow him on a vague clue he'd left stabbed to an apple. After he'd stormed away from her in his apartment and left her to find her way back home in a giant T-shirt and little shorts with heels. Oh god. She'd quit for him. His mind wasn't sure which one of the words it should stress. Each was worthy. She'd. Quit. For him.

A tidal wave of gratitude swept through his system and his hands withdrew from her body. He pulled her face into his hands.

"Thank you."

It wasn't enough. What would be enough? Nothing.

She shook her head and let her eyes fall downward again.

"Look at me."

She didn't.

"Please. I want to see your eyes."

She couldn't resist that desperate note in his voice. The one that was telling her far more than it should.

"You." He seemed to lose his words and he shook his head at the stars, trying to make them form the sentences his heart was screaming. She waited for him to find them.

"You are so much more than a Detective. You are so much more than that to the world. To me, Kate."

He took a deep breath and let his eyes fall back down from their skyward gaze, finding the firelight in hers. He couldn't help the small smile that accompanied his next words.

"I love you."

He took a moment to watch the subtle drop of her mouth, the tiny, disbelieving lift of her eyebrows.

"I do. And I should have said it before. I should have said it a million moments before this one, but this is the one. I pick this one. I love you. You need to know it."

She put her hands on his forearms and pulled herself to him, chest to his chest. And in the same fluid moment, she was kissing him. Kissing him for coming back. Kissing him for picking this moment.

Kissing him for loving her.

He felt the soft slide of her lips on his and he let his hands fall from her face to wrap tightly around her body, underneath his jacket. Hers went around his neck and they seemed to simply cling to each other, hard and soft at the same time. They needed each other. Needed hands. Needed lips. Needed tongues. Needed hearts. It was so much and not enough at the same time. Nothing would ever be enough; they would never stop needing.

He heard her moan into his mouth and it was lightning and thunder to his soul. Terrifying. Wonderful. He wanted her to do it again. He moved his hands to her sides and filled his palms with the heat of her. Her hands were threading upwards through his hair and he could feel the occasional tense of her fingernails against his scalp. She was losing herself too. He tore his lips from hers to start a journey of slow, hot kisses to her jaw.

"Kate," he practically sighed into her ear.

"Say it again." She was breathing heavily and he could feel the rise and fall of her chest against his own.

"Kate."

"No. Tell me you love me."

"I do. I love you." He pressed kisses to her jaw and then her temple and then her ear. "I love you. I love you. I love you."

She kissed her way across his face as she pulled him back to her lips. Meeting him with an open mouth, she kissed him fervently, pressing herself into him. She twisted her body and leaned backwards, pushing down on his shoulder. She clung to him, gifting him her full weight and urged him to follow her into the sand. He lowered her gently to the ground, trying to keep his lips connected with hers, trying to keep the warmth of their bodies pressed together.

He felt the freezing sand under his palm as he planted it next to her head to support his weight. She pulled him down further into herself with her arms and legs, wrapping them around him. Her tongue was hot in his mouth and he couldn't help but touch it with his own. She tasted amazing. Like sex and wine and rain. Her thighs tightened around him and he pulled back from the kiss, eyes closed, breathing heavily.

"Rick."

"Hang on."

"Kiss me again."

He forfeited his control and surrendered to the demands of the woman beneath him. When she nipped, he laved. When she sighed, he moaned. When she arched, he rocked. It was endless and it was everything. He rolled them so he'd be the one pressed into the cold sand and she shrugged out of the jacket.

"I'm not cold anymore." She lifted her eyebrow at him, balled up the unnecessary coat, and put it under his head for a pillow.

"How considerate of you."

She planted her knee to the other side of him and straddled his hips. "I aim to please."

"Oh my god. You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

She only smiled in response. Tossing her wild hair over her shoulder, she leaned down with a smirk and then whispered against his lips.

"You like it."

And then she was kissing him again. His hands found their home on her waist and he held her above him, trying valiantly not to roll her over again and just take her right there in the sand by the firelight.

"We have to stop."

"What? Why?" Her lips were red and swollen and he couldn't help but kiss them, just because he could.

"Because I am dangerously close to losing it. And I want to have you in a bed. Indoors. Without the sand and the freezing cold wind."

"Have me?" Her voice had lost that breathy quality and he backtracked.

"Oh. Um. You know. When that happens—If that happens. Just…in a bed. I want it in a bed."

She rolled her eyes and then leaned over him, nipping at his jaw and then pulling his lower lip between her teeth.

"You don't want it here? Out on the sand? They're playing our song."

He closed his eyes to hear the grass and the fire and the waves. It was nice. And she was so warm above him…

"I…I…"

"Oh, don't hurt yourself, Castle. Let's just go inside."

He swallowed thickly. "'Kay."

They rose and brushed the sand from their clothes. He ran towards the water, suddenly freezing in the night air without her warmth around him, and grabbed their shoes. She was waiting for him by the remains of the fire. She'd kicked enough sand on it to put out all but the hottest dying embers.

He gave her a dopey smile and she held her hand out to him so they could weave their fingers together as they walked back to the cottage.

A/N: I took liberties with the beach. Forgive me Ilwaco natives or those who really care about it. Longest beach make out ever written? Yes. Yes it is. Sorry if it got tedious to read. I just couldn't stop writing it. Months of writing only angst will do that to you.

I'm expecting a veritable flood of reviews for finally getting three things checked off the list of your demands. He knows she quit. He professed his love. They kissed.

If you liked any of those things on the checklist, tell me in a review (please). And be specific (please).