Chapter Twenty-Five
Moonlight
Post-series

Kate's eyes flutter open as the quiet sound of her name cuts through her subconscious, and she lifts her head and looks around. Although it's dark outside, the moon is bright enough that she can tell they've arrived in the Hamptons, and she stretches her neck to try and alleviate the cramp she'd acquired from leaning against the window.

"Hey, we're here," Rick stage whispers, reaching across to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "The kids are all asleep."

Kate smiles and leans into his hand. "Sorry I dozed off."

"Don't worry about it. You've had a long week."

Kate scoffs. "Well, so have you." Even though she technically didn't need to, she'd worked double shifts all week to make up for being off for two weeks. Leaving Rick to take care of three children under the age of five had been less than ideal, and he's just as tired as she is. But it was a decision they'd made together, and now they have nothing to think about except spending time with each other and their children.

Rick leans across the console and brushes his lips against hers. She curls her hand around the back of his neck and holds him close, moans when he deepens the kiss. As easy as it would be to get lost in his touch, his taste, she's mindful of the sleeping children in the backseat, and she slows the kiss and pulls away.

Rick narrows his eyes, but he leans back in his seat and gives her a lazy smile. "Wanna see how fast we can get the kids tucked in?" he teases.

Kate chuckles. "You read my mind."

"I missed you this week," Rick rumbles later, after they've tucked the kids in bed, brought their suitcases in from the car, and gone to bed themselves - but not to sleep.

Kate turns onto her side to face him and chuckles. "Me too," she agrees, reaching out to run her hand along his chest. Yeah, she definitely missed him.

He closes his eyes and she takes the opportunity to study his profile in the moonlight illuminating them through the windows. Thanks to her extra shifts they'd hardly even seen each other, Rick already being in bed and asleep by the time she'd get home. She definitely missed being greeted with the sounds of children playing and smells of dinner cooking, and her husband with a ready kiss and glass of wine.

"Don't fall asleep on me." She pokes his side when she sees his breathing start to even, and he opens his eyes and grins at her.

"I'm not," he insists with a wink. "Just resting my eyes."

"Uh huh." Kate slides out of bed, shivering when the cool air hits her bare body, and she pads around the side of the bed to retrieve Rick's sweater from the floor so she can slip it over her head. When she glances back at Rick she can't help but roll her eyes at his dark gaze as it follows her. "We just finished," she says with a chuckle. "You cannot be ready again."

Rick lifts the sheet, looks under it, then back up at Kate with a smirk. "I beg to differ."

Kate turns the gas fireplace on and stands there for a moment to watch. The heat works quickly to cut through the chill in the air, and she walks over to the window to look out into the night. The full moon is high in the sky, and its reflection shimmers on the water, casting an eerie glow over their yard. "Hey, come here," she says to her husband, holding her hand out.

Rick grabs a thick blanket from the corner armchair and wraps it around his shoulders. "Come back to bed, love," he rumbles in her ear when he reaches her. He opens his arms and drapes her in the blanket, and she sighs and leans back into his embrace.

"In a minute." She sighs again and smiles when his lips press against her temple. It's easy like this, she thinks, easy to just stand here with her husband and gaze at the home that they share. Although they've been together for years, this is the first time they're spending Christmas in the Hamptons.

A soft cry from the baby monitor cuts through the silence, and she jerks away from Rick. Before she can tell him that she'll go, a second cry joins the first, and they look at each other.

"One for each of us?" Rick suggests, retrieving his jeans from the floor.

Kate catches his hand as he starts to leave the room and tugs him to her, pulls his mouth to hers in a searing kiss. "Let's get them back to sleep quickly," she husks. Her hands slip into his back pockets and she squeezes his butt. "I'm more than ready for round two."