For the Dead Travel Fast

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Leather and naked sweat-damp skin didn't really jive, so cuddling time was cut short—much to his disappointment—but once they'd changed into cleaner clothes and had eaten leftover sausage biscuits, washed down with Powerade, they were just hanging out in the back seat, limbs tangled into each other, his fever high but manageable. And that was just as good.

She licked her fingers of the grease and shifted towards him; he opened an arm and adjusted to give her the pillow she wanted. She always had managed to fold her body into limber contortions, and he was appreciative of how she fit against him. How she wanted to be fit against him.

His arm around her shoulders, his chin at the top of her head, the weight of her against him—it could have been any other day together, it didn't matter they were on the side of the road beside a soybean field.

They were good together. They always had been.

"You should get a couple hours' sleep," he murmured. "Before I turn." He tried to make a Dracula voice, but it came out much like the Count from Sesame Street.

She snorted. "You don't scare me."

"I never scared Alexis either," he sighed.

She was smiling against his neck, her fingers stroking his sternum. "Sorry, Rick, but I don't think of you as the scary one."

"Not usually," he sighed.

"Though the zombie make-up was amazing." She tapped against his sternum. "You've upped your game since Alexis was a child."

"By the time our kids come around, I'll be the master of Halloween." He startled with the sudden thought. "I'll be an actual vampire. What more could you want at Halloween?"

She laughed softly. "Not sure if you noticed, but the classic vampire characteristics just aren't there. No pointy teeth. In fact, your skin looks more golden in the light, not leached of all color."

He scowled for a moment, then remembered: "You said my eyes get white."

"When you're being possessive or about to go into phase. I don't think that lasts. It didn't with me."

"Your eyes did that too?" He peered down into her face, trying to picture her with pale eyes. "Eesh, that's kinda freaky. But no, you're not pale. Though when we first met, you were rather basement-dweller sallow."

"Shut up," she laughed, thumping his chin. "I'd just come out of a long rabbit hole, with my mom's case. I think I had my last therapy session with that friend of my dad's maybe three months before you showed up." She gave a little sweet sigh, totally unlike the bristling young detective she'd been. "You were… not anything I could handle neatly or cleanly."

He nudged a kiss against her temple, let his teeth scrape her skin. "I brought the wild woman out," he growled.

She laughed, but it was sober and her breath caught a little. "You… did something to me, yeah."

"Surprised you didn't bite me at first sight," he goaded. "You know, being in love with me from the beginning."

"Castle," she warned.

"All those vampire instincts yelling at you to claim your territory. You've quite the self-control, Kate Beckett."

She huffed, giving it up. She was never going to convince him that there wasn't a part of her that was mesmerized by him. He'd seen the way she'd looked at him, he'd felt that electricity. And so, okay, chemistry at first sight, call it that. But semantics wouldn't change the fact that they'd had something from the beginning.

"I wasn't a fully transitioned vampire then, was I?" she murmured. "So I suppose it was easier for me to resist you. Since I was broken."

He grinned. "Aw, look at you thinking you're playing along, patronizing me."

She poked him.

He caught her finger and pressed her hand lightly to his hip. "Hey, why don't we have the teeth? Because that scar at my heart is pretty wicked. Two noticeable teeth marks."

"It's jaw force," she said. "Like a shark. We're both stronger."

He ran his tongue against his canines. "Ouch. No, I think there's some sharpening there."

"But they don't retract when we're calm and get all pointy and long when we're blood thirsty," she snorted.

"No, okay, true. But I do think they're sharper than before."

"Hm." She was so diplomatic. Patting his hip in consolation or indulgence.

He didn't mind. At least she was talking about all this and not shying away. "I'm serious." He let it hang a moment before he continued. "About catching some sleep. You're gonna need it, don't know how long I'm gonna be out."

She trailed her hand up the grey t-shirt, now so loose on his frame, billowing. She didn't say anything, simply laid her hand over his heart—which still beat, despite the lore around vampires. It was a steady reminder that this was their reality, despite the lichen in their blood. This.

Two beating hearts.

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