Title: The Best Kind of Hangover- Just Got Sprung... By Beckett!
Rating: M
Pairing: Castle/Beckett
Disclaimer: When I want something to take worry away / I see what Marlowe's work has to say. / Every season is perfect the way that it is. / And to take credit is to steal what's rightfully his.
Author's Note: I think I owe you guys about three updates or something… With the way my life is going recently, sometimes my best laid plans to update kind of go astray. But bear with me, I really am trying.

Castle: You want to know the best cure for a busy day?
Me: Um, a good ol' fashioned nap?
Castle: Laser tag with your daughter. Alexis has a mean sneak attack that makes me scared stiff if she ever gets drafted into the Black Ops or the CIA.
Me: I can see her pulling a Jack Bauer on people. The Force is strong with that one.
Beckett: *looks at Castle* She must have gotten that from her mother's side of the family. Someone who's not crazy.
Castle: Say what? Duel with lightsabers, we shall. Enguarde!
Beckett: Trust me, Castle, you couldn't handle me with a blaster, let alone a lightsaber. I'd Force pull you into oblivion, and you'd never see it coming.
Castle: You're so hot when you're speaking nerd speak…
Me: Would you two quit poking at each other and just get a room already? SHEESH!

You'd think that they'd shut up, start kissing and leave me alone. I mean, good grief, they're not even out of jail and they're already setting themselves up for the bedroom…

Ferby93, you rock! Yeah, I thought it was interesting to pull them away from each other and have then dealing with their own things. And now, they've both got that stuff in mind when they come back together. It's bound to affect the way they react to each other, and believe me, it's sort of going to get worse as we go along. And thank you for the compliments about my quality of writing, and how fast I get it out. I'm the type of writer that writes what I like to read, and if I read something good, I want to keep reading something good. You guys really like what I write because you wouldn't still be reading it if it was utter trash. As a reader, I would like to see the fiction continue on with the same standard of quality no matter how quickly the author writes it. This fiction is no different to me. I wrote those last three chapters in about 6 hours, and that was time well spent to me; you guys deserve to read something worthwhile no matter what. I'm glad you guys enjoyed it.

Anyway, I think I'm going to just roll with the punches and see what comes out. I have a feeling this one will end in some sort of giddy gooey stuff that only Castle and Beckett can do, so we will see what happens, ok? Happy reading! (Ahead of time, I'm sorry if this chapter is short... I have to spring Castle from jail and that's not the most lengthy thing to do...)

Steel felt a lot colder when you were resting your forehead on it than by the way it looked. First hand experience with bars gave Castle a certain perspective of what they were really like, inside their confines and out. Bars didn't give. Bars didn't break. Bars didn't do anything but to keep things caged, or keep things out. They stood rigid, unmovable, sometimes rusted with wear and tear from time, water, or a whole lot of other sources of water that he probably didn't really want to think about at the moment. They were a constant in a shifting setting, the one immutable factor in a sea of shifting faces, bodies, and atmosphere of rank, dead breath. Outside the bars, it was like a circus; watching the parade of inmates, both innocent and guilty, shaking their heads in disorientation and possible shame, or flat out distain for getting caught, never got old. On the inside, it felt like the belly of the beast, danger around every dark corner of his mind like every corner of the cell. It screamed darkness, despair, and paranoia. You felt guilty, even when you weren't. Jail blocks never did Richard Castle any favors, and he always tried as best as he possibly could to be outside of one, not inside.

He thunked his forehead into the space of the bars one more time, feeling a dull sense of pain to chase away his boredom for one short, masochistic second. Gina had left to call the mayor and get his sanction of freedom, leaving him to amuse himself however he saw fit. So, he did what every bored, imaginative, multimillionaire socialite with a heavy streak of stubbornness did in his position.

He thought about Beckett. He thought about Beckett, and everything about her: her legs, her eyes, her butt, her body, her mind, her curves and valleys. He thought about how strong she was, compassionate, sweet, blindly ambitious, blindly stupid and frustrating, smart, coy, beautiful and sexy she was. He thought about knowing her intimately and knowing that he still had more gold to mine there. He thought of her devotion to her family, to her friends, to him. He thought of everything under the sun and then expanded to the galaxy, because not a single strand of thought could encompass such a beautiful thing as Kate Beckett. There wasn't a woman alive that could touch her and not a man alive that wished he could be with her, and he considered that he was quite possibly the closest he would ever get to heaven on earth by just being in her presence. And how much he freaking wanted to pull a jailbreak so he could run away and be with her.

Footsteps down the hall broke his reverie, and he grinned wide to see his lady love grace him with her presence, his beautiful daughter holding Kate's hand, and his old friend "Honey Milk" trailing behind them both. Ryan produced a key and started unlocking the door; Beckett threw it open and pulled him close for a hug.

"Told you I'd break you out of prison one day."

"My hero," he chuckled, and snuck in a quick kiss. "You have a getaway car ready for us, too? We can raise Baby Bear in the art of prison breaking and grand larceny so she can take over the family business."

"Oh please," replied Alexis, rolling her eyes. "I'd dethrone you in less than a day."

"Why, how very devious and backstabbing of you. Somebody's been watching too many episodes of The Sopranos."

"Shouldn't that make you proud?" asked Ryan, laughing.

"Ah yes. I knew you were a Castle," he replied, and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Daddy's little girl."

Kate rolled her eyes and laughed, nodding her head towards the door. "We met up with Gina on the way in. Apparently, Mayor Weldon likes you enough to pardon your speeding ticket and spring you from the slammer. You're going to probably have to lay low and make sure you pay your speeding tickets from now on, but you shouldn't have any more trouble."

"Good ol' Rob. I love that man."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, he got you off really quick. Just… try not to joyride or out of the city from now on, ok? Because next time, it might be me picking you up and giving you a ride back to the precinct."

He smirked, and stroked his friend's shoulder almost… tenderly. "That sounds like a great offer, Ryan, but… I'm sorry, but I don't swing like that."

His girlfriend raised an eyebrow; cute as it was, he was pretty sure she wanted to punch him in the shoulder for that kind of comment. "'Don't swing like that'? You better not. Last time I checked, you liked girls. You liked girls A LOT. And I think I would know that better than anyone."

He grinned at Ryan. "See how defensive she gets? Ain't it cute?"

Her fist met flesh and he laughed in pain in his upper arm. Ouch, that was going to leave a mark in the morning… "You are looking to get shot, aren't you?"

"Well, hate to say it, Beckett but I aim to misbehave. And you don't have a gun."

"Dad, do I have to put you in a corner?" asked Alexis, clearly acting like the 'only adult' in the room. "Can we go home yet?"

He nodded his head, put an arm around both his girls and grinned. "Yes. We can go home now. Thank you, Ryan, for letting me out, thanks to the Mayor for springing me in the first place, and thank you Beckett for not shanking me in my bunk while I awaited my acquittal."

Kate smiled back at him, and did he see a devilish glint in her eye. "I didn't want to leave a mess on the nice prison cell floor. But don't worry, just wait until we get home."

Uh oh.