Ch. 4

The kitchen circulated with various aromas as Castle smiled to himself; pleased with what work he had done to complete the final touches on the tray.

He carefully walked back to the bedroom with the contents and smiled as he watched his wife sleeping soundly.

Beckett stirred as the appetizing odors reached her senses. She awoke to Castle standing over her. She smiled at him, the scene all too familiar but unlike the last time there would be no case to solve or impending bomb to stand on.

Today was all about them with nothing to ruin the day.

Castle placed the tray on the side end table and took a seat near Beckett's feet.

"Morning," he said as Beckett came to a seated position.

"Morning," she replied.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Castle said as he leaned in to kiss her.

Beckett welcomed the kiss deeply being the one two unlock their mouths so that their tongues could slide inside each other easily.

"Happy Valentine's Day," she replied.

"You realize this is our first Valentine's as a married couple," Castle said as a matter-of-fact.

"Oh really and what gave you that insight?"

"Well," he said taking her left hand in his, playing with her wedding ring, "There is the matter that you're bound to me for all eternity."

"Eternity hu, so one lifetime with me isn't enough?"

"Never," he answered.

Beckett smiled, "Good," she said as she went in for another kiss, this one a little bit gentler than the first. "Me neither."

Castle stood up and walked over to get the cups of espresso that were on the tray. He handed one to Beckett as he took back his seat on the bed. Beckett smiled as she saw the heart shaped foam.

She took a sip and then set it back down.

"Wait here," she said to him as she walked over to one of the dressers that had yet to be used.

There were two wrapped boxes but Beckett only took one of them out. The other would be for later.

She handed the box to Castle.

"Hold on," said Castle, "If we're exchanging presents now, I think it's only fair that the wife goes first," he said as he reached under his pillow for a box he had stashed when he'd woken up.

Beckett smiled and took a seat as she took the box from him. As she opened it, she wasn't sure how to feel. She hadn't expected much but this wasn't it.

"A copy of 'Heat Wave'," she asked with some slight trepidation as she pulled the book out of the box, "Rick, you shouldn't have."

Castle smiled having all ready anticipated that response. "Open the book," he urged.

Beckett looked at him with some confusion but did as he asked. The first two pages were blank, the third page had the book title, the fourth page had the book title plus her husbands' name, the publishing company and where it was published, the fifth page contained the dedication 'To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th'. It still sent butterflies flying in Beckett's stomach every time she read it along with the many other dedications in the Nikki Heat novels he had made to her. The sixth page contained the title.

After flipping the sixth page, the rest of the book was hollowed out- the outlines of the remainder pages glued tightly together. In the hollow space was a thin velvet box that fit perfectly inside it. Beckett gently lifted the lid and inside laid a silver bracelet clad with various charms which Beckett pulled out to examine.

In that time Castle had moved closer to her. "The book charm represents your ruggedly handsome of a husband, the cop shield charm represents you of course and the birthstones are yours, mine and Alexis'. I figure we could add more once we have kids of our own."

Beckett remained silent. She looked lovingly into her husband's eyes and reached up to kiss him, their lips meeting.

"I love it," she said, "Thank you."

Beckett no longer needed to ask why Castle had hollowed out a copy of 'Heat Wave'. It made perfect sense to her. While she had long been a fan of Derrick Storm, it had been Nikki Heat that had drawn them together. One case and their brief partnership should have been over but instead after shadowing her around, Castle had gotten the idea to base his next character off her. Still, she could never have imagined that after Derrick Storm she would be his muse, a term she no longer minded. 'Heat Wave' in particular was special to the both of them, not only for the dedication but for what followed long after: he was now completing his seventh book and they were together finally.

Beckett picked up the box that Castle had on the side of the bed, "Your turn," she said as she handed it to him.

Castle took the box and shook it. Clearly there was nothing breakable inside. He eagerly tore the blue wrapping paper and found a white box. He cut the sides of tape off like a pro and took off the lid and then removed the lining of tissue paper, pulling out a leather street jacket.

"Turn it over," Beckett said with a smile on her face.

Castle's eyes widened and his mouth formed an 'o' shape. In the center of the jacket was an embroidered Batman symbol in which the zipper went down the middle.

"I am so wearing this to our next case!" Castle said happily.

Beckett smiled, "Then I guess we're taking the bike to work."

Again Castle's mouth dropped, "The bike as in your bike as in-,"

"Yes as in my 1994 Harley Softail."

"Sweet, can I steer?"

Beckett shook her head, "No one steers my bike but me but check the side pocket of the jacket."

Castle did so revealing an envelope which he opened. "You got me motorcycle lessons?"

Beckett nodded and Castle put their boxed gifts on the floor so they wouldn't be in the way. He scooted closer to her.

"Best wife ever," he whispered when their mouths were just inches apart.

Beckett smiled and laughed some as she let her husband in, the breakfast on the tray and the cups of espresso having long been forgotten.

"It's so peaceful out here," Beckett said as she and her husband walked arm in arm near the creek several hours later.

"Completely different than back home hu," said Castle.

"Even different than our place in the Hamptons," Beckett replied.

"Good different or bad?"

"Good different. No traffic, no neighbors. Kind of feels like we're the only ones on the planet right now. I mean I know the town is fifteen miles away but with all of the hills and turns you wouldn't know it."

"That's the beauty of it. I thought about finding a place in Texas because of it."

"Texas, really?"

"I swear by my pretty floral bonnet," said Castle.

"You're not wearing a bonnet," said Beckett.

"I know it's a saying."

"No it's not."

"Huh, then maybe it should be. My point is I researched places in Texas before deciding on our place here. It's beautiful down south. Endless rolling hills, middle of nowhere cattle ranching and agricultural towns."

"What stopped you?"

"What do you think, can you imagine the smell of Texas livestock in a Texas summer where it gets up to 120 degrees and then the Texas winds make it feel so much hotter. No thanks. This was so much better. Not too hot, not too cold."

"The goldilocks zone," Beckett said with a smile.

"Exactly and we still get breathtaking views."

"I look forward to coming back," Beckett said as she squeezed his arm.

"So Mrs. Castle, is this Valentine's Day everything you imagined?"

"Not even close," Beckett replied, "I couldn't have imagined you whisking me on a Valentine's getaway. I still can't believe you talked Gates into it. How did you manage that anyways?"

"Well it wasn't that hard. She is kind of warming up to me and after I told her that she wouldn't have to see me on Valentine's Day."

Beckett laughed remembering the fiasco of their first Valentine's when Castle had gotten their blazers mixed up and had put her gift in the wrong one. Gates certainly had a field day with that one. Castle had certainly made up for it on Valentine's night and then the next day when he took her to a jewelry shop for earrings and a necklace which he let Beckett pick out and made sure that Beckett got it directly so there would be no second mix up.

"Even if it did mean," Castle said as he continued, "that her best detective would be out. She's really coming around to the fact that we're a package deal and not just because we're married. "

A smile crossed Beckett's face as she let those words sink in: a package deal. That was certainly one way to describe their partnership. She could still remember back to when Gates was new at the precinct, semi-new anyways since Beckett hadn't met the new Captain due to her three month disability, and how despite she and Castle being at odds how wrong it felt to be at the precinct without him so Castle had used his friendship with the mayor to get Gates into letting him come back.

And on her end several cases later when they were investigating a case involving Atlantic City she had been forced to work without Castle and work with Gates instead but throughout the case she had dropped subtle hints about how good Castle was and Gates had caught on.

Gates still busted Castle's chops but it was shifting in such a way that it was more out of playful teasing instead of the actual annoyance that she held previously toward the somewhat famous writer.

Content in their silent reflections, the couple continued to walk near the creek, satisfied in the serenity of the still, fresh air, birds off in the distance, the slight crunching beneath their feet and the gurgling sound of the water.

Author's Note:

Sorry that it took a while to update.

RL got in the way and at the same time I wanted to do this chapter justice.

[P.S.]

I hope you liked the little 'Firefly' reference I made. That's one of the things

I love about the show, the fact that they add those in and I thought it would

be perfect to add in one of my own.

[P.S.2]

I hope you enjoy the final, up coming chapter.

This has all been leading up to the final moments which

have been part of the story since it was conceived in

my mind. I think you'll find it filled with loads of

romance as well as some fun moments that

are fit for our two lovely nerds. :^)