I am soooo sorry this took sooooo long to update. I had really planned on stopping at the last chapter. This is in no way comparable to the last few chapters. There are a few more out there though so this is just a little filler of sorts to tide you over. It takes place the morning after their Valentine's Day date.

And of course the characters belong to the lovely Mr. Marlowe.

They eventually made it out to the living room. Curled up on the couch, she was still in his red silk shirt and his boxers, he was still wearing his conversation hearts pajama bottoms, she was resting her head in his lap, his hand was gently playing with her hair, the fireplace was glowing, and the gray outside was not dampening their mood. Her phone buzzed, but she didn't move to answer it.

"You want me to get that for you?"

She shook her head and mumbled, "nnoo."

It buzzed again. She sighed and reached for it, "Just Lanie." She rolled onto her back, resting the phone on her chest and closing her eyes.

"What does she want? Creepy body?"

She handed the phone to him.

He checked the messages. "She wants to meet you for lunch. Do you want me to text her back and tell her you'll meet her somewhere? Or she could come here?"

"Nope."

"Are you mad at her?"

"No."

"Okaaay." He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.

She sighed and laced her fingers with his, smiling at the ring on her finger, her belly doing little flip flops every time she saw it. "Lunch would require a shower, appropriate clothing and coherent conversation, none of which I am capable of at the moment, no thanks to you."

"Anytime, Detective, glad to be of service." He leaned down and kissed her.

She pulled him down on top of her.

"You're turning me into a contortionist."

She chuckled and worked her tongue into his mouth, and slid her hands into the back of his pajama bottoms.

"You know where you're going to end up if you keep this up, don't you?"

"Something wrong with that?"

"Not at all."

"I think we should go take a….." Now her phone was ringing. She saw that it was Lanie again and let it go to voicemail.

"We could meet them at the Old Haunt later if you'd like."

"I like what I am doing right now."

"Well, so do I, but you're going to have to talk to her sooner or later."

"Later is better."

"Why?"

"She always wants details and I don't want to share yet."

"Ahhhh. Okay."

"I never get to be lazy. Today I want to bask in laziness and bliss." She put her hand out, displaying her ring, and smiled up at him.

He took her hand and kissed it. "Sounds like the perfect way to spend a cold winter day."

"That's one of the things I love about you."

"What's that? That I always agree with you?"

"Well, there's that and that you enable my laziness."

"I would never consider you a lazy person."

"You bring me mimosas in bed."

"Once."

"You feed me."

"True."

"You know what I want to do right now?"

"Well, I think I do."

"We should, right now."

"Here, on the couch?"

She looked at him questioningly. "What? No. Not that. Is that all you ever think about?"

"Well considering you just had your tongue in my mouth and your hands in my pan…"

She slapped him on the chest as best she could with him on top of her."

"We should elope."

"You know you've said that before and I'm going to have to say no to you."

"What? You said whatever I want."

"Yes, but as the father of a daughter I cannot deny your father the walk down the aisle."

"Pshhh…he won't care."

His eyes got wide. "Oh, trust me Kate, he cares. He cares very much."

"Nope, he'll be happy for me whatever I do."

"Ok, call him and tell him you're eloping."

"Seriously Castle, you don't tell people you're eloping that's the whole idea, to surprise everyone."

"So you don't even want Lanie or the boys to know?"

She sighed heavily, he moved over so he was facing her and not on top of her. She kissed him; he nuzzled his face in her neck, his fingers running through her hair and getting caught in the curls.

"Kate, when was the last time you brushed your hair."

"Are you complaining, sir?"

"Not at all. Just thinking maybe, we should take a shower. Together. Again."

"You're avoiding the subject."

"What subject was that?"

"Eloping."

"Oh, that. Yes, I am avoiding that. You have to have your father's permission."

"I do not."

"Yes, you do."

"You're not the boss of me." She worked her mouth on his neck; her hands were edging back towards his pants.

His hand was under her shirt and caressing her ribs and moving towards her breast. "I am not now , nor will I ever be the boss of you, however you can't marry me if I don't sign the marriage license and I will do no such thing without your father's permission."

She stopped her ministrations on his neck, placed both hands on his chest, and pushed him off the couch. "Pshh….take that Mr. Castle." She then rolled onto her back and crossed both arms over her chest.

Castle sat up slightly stunned and looked at her wide-eyed. "Oh my goodness, this is a first. I think the strong and unflappable Detective Beckett is pouting."

"I'm not talking to you."

He moved closer to the couch and ran his hands up and down her legs. "So why do you want this so bad?"

She looked away from him and closed her eyes.

"Fine, be that way. I'll tell you why I don't want to do it that way."

She continued to keep her eyes closed and her arms crossed. He knew she was listening though.

"My first marriage was in the city clerk's office by a JP. My second had more people at it than all of my college and high school graduations together, I only knew a handful of people well enough to say so. Neither of them were very momentous occasions for me. I want to see you, in a gorgeous dress, walk down the aisle with your father, your father who is alive today because of you, your father who adores you, who deserves this."

He continued to caress her legs, inching closer and closer to the edge of her boxers. "I get that you don't like to shop for dresses, I get that you don't want this all over page six, that you are a very private person. We can do this quietly and only invite the people we both love and care a lot about." His voice softened and he took her hand in his. "There's a compromise here, too, if you want to be together right off you could just move in."

She whipped her head around and said, "I'm not that kind of girl, Castle."

"Excuse me? What kind of girl?"

"You know, the kind of girl that lives with her boyfriend before they get married."

He raised an eyebrow and crinkled up his face. "So if we did elope, you would be ready to move in right away?"

"Yes."

"Okay, here's the deal Sleeping Beauty, small church, your dad, my mother, my daughter and the Brady Bunch from the 12th."

"The who?"

"Just Montgomery and his wife, Ryan and Jenny, and Esplanie, a small reception at the Old Haunt, no publishers, nobody else."

"But I have to wear a dress?"

"A wedding dress."

She rolled her eyes. "You'll have to go pick it out."

"Beckeeeettt. I can't see the dress before the wedding. Come on, you cannot seriously tell me you haven't' dreamed of wearing a wedding dress. If I know you, and I think I do, you know exactly what you want it to look like too."

"But if I go shopping for a dress it'll be all over page six."

"I know a guy."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you do."

"Seriously, Kate. You, my mother, and Alexis can go online and see what you like from his shop and I'll have them delivered."

"Lanie will kill me."

"Probably."

She got a pensive look on her face and then sat up and said, "Oh my gosh...I wonder if..." She flew off the couch jumping over him on the floor, grabbed her phone, and sent a text to Alexis. Then she called her dad, letting him know that she and Alexis would be there later. Castle was pouting and mouthing 'What about me?' Her dad asked about Rick so she acquiesced and after a few eye rolls she reassured him that they were all fine and would be there in a few hours. She closed the phone and took Rick's hand. "Come on Prince Charming, we need showers, there's work to be done." She pulled him up from the floor and led him to the bathroom, she turned on the shower and said..."You first."

"What? No sharsies?"

"No."

He pouted and started moving towards her. "After all that on the couch you're not going to…"

"No." She shoved him towards the shower, pulled off his pajama bottoms, and slapped his behind. "Get in and no dilly dallying, we have things to do."

Her phone trilled and she looked at the text from Alexis letting her know that she would be done for the day by one.

She sent her a quick text, set the phone down, ripped off her clothes, then she reached into the shower and pulled out her shampoo and placed a quick kiss on his lips and grabbed the robe hanging behind the bathroom door, as she was leaving she heard him groan out "Beckeeeeetttt." She smiled and shook her head and took off to take a shower in one of the other bathrooms.

When she came back in the bedroom in nothing but his robe, he was only wearing a pair of jeans. He moved towards her again.

"Rick, No."

She was rummaging through the closet looking for a clean shirt. "I don't have any clean clothes here?"

He came up behind her and placed his hands on her waist and whispered into her ear."Yes, you do."

"Where?"

He pointed to the other closet, then wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her in tight, his lips on her neck.

She sighed and moved her head to make room for his mouth. "Why are they in that closet?"

He kissed her neck a few more times then ran his tongue up to her ear and sucked on her earlobe. "Because I cleaned it out for you."

She swallowed and tried to move out of his hold. "You did?"

"Umhmmm."

She turned around, he held her tight. She placed her arms around his neck and kissed him. "That was really sweet, thank you." She let her hands trail down his chest and reached for the button on his jeans, he moaned and loosened his grip on her. She took her chances, turned out of his grasp, grabbed for the closet door, slid in, and locked it.

"Beckett, that is so not cool." He pounded on the door. "Come on, just a quickie."

From inside the closet he heard her giggle. "No. Alexis is waiting for us." A few moments later, she popped her head out of the closet. "You could make me some coffee though." She blew him a kiss. "Please?"

"Yeah, sure. Right after I take another cold shower." He took off for the kitchen and when he came back, she was in the bathroom in a pair of jeans and a dark green sweater. She applied some moisturizer and lipstick and ran her fingers through her damp hair with a little bit of gel and blew it dry for few minutes. The result was very tousled curls.

He placed her coffee on the counter and stood in the door watching her take care of her daily routine.

"Creepy, Castle."

"Get used to it, Beckett." He walked over and kissed her on the cheek and grabbed her bottom, she rolled her eyes and picked up her coffee with one hand and took his hand in her other and led him out to the kitchen.

"So when are you going to tell me what this is all about?"

"You'll find out soon enough." She leaned up on her tiptoes, kissed him, and whispered into his ear, "and if you're a really good boy, maybe I'll show you my old bedroom." She winked at him and pulled the keys out of his hand and left him there staring at her.

"You coming Castle, or what?"

So, the good news is that most of the next chapter is written. Thanks for sticking with this story and all your awesome reviews and alerts and favorites. Beeeg Hugs to you all :o)