Round one. Two more to follow. Thanks for reviewing.

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Castle followed where she led, docile and dazed. Having her show up like this after their conversation, after he'd truly given up and started to grieve, felt like a sucker punch to his soul.

A good sucker punch...but still.

Kate stopped by the side of his bed and let go of his hand as she turned to face him. She stifled a laugh as she watched him deliberately pinch himself. "This is real, Castle," she assured him with a smile as she slowly finished unbuttoning her shirt and shrugged it off.

"I should still check to make sure," Castle moved towards her, but stopped when she held up a finger.

"Watch."

He nodded, his eyes transfixed as she made a slow show of kicking off her shoes. "Oh, I'm watching," he said gruffly. "But if you were looking for any kind of talking from me, I'm about to loose that particular function." He watched as she drew her pants slowly down her legs. "Really soon."

Kate smiled as she stepped of her pants. "I don't need words, Castle. Not right now." She walked up to him clad only in her underwear and began to unbutton his shirt that was still wet from their embrace by the door.

She pushed the shirt off of his shoulders and glanced up at him, expecting him to be ogling her scantily clad figure. Instead, she found him staring at her face. "Rick?"

His hand came up and cupped her cheek, tilting it up more so that he could lean in and gently kiss her. "This isn't a dream, is it?" He said worriedly.

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him close and making sure that he felt every one of her curves against his bare chest. "It's not a dream, Castle," she said with a smile and returned his soft kiss.

A kiss that quickly went from soft to devouring, and this time it was his back that was shoved up against the door. Rick didn't know where to put his hands. Okay, he knew, but was like handing a fork to a starving man at a buffet and asking what he wanted first.

Kate tunneled her hands through his hair, tugging a bit in demand. That seemed to shake him out of it and his arms went around her, gathering her even closer. They both moaned as his big hands swept from her shoulders and down her back to palm her rear through her panties.

Kate pulled away and rested her forehead against his chest as she panted. She smiled as Rick, breathing just as hard, rested his cheek on the top of her head and kept his hands on her ass.

"Rick," she whispered, pressing small kisses over to his nipple.

He lifted his head and rested it against the door. He shuddered at the feel of her mouth against him and drew his hands up to span her rib cage. He ran both of his thumbs delicately under the wire of her bra. "Yeah?"

She closed her eyes as his hands made larger forays into her bra so that nothing was between him and the soft weight of her breasts. His thumbs brushing over both nipples had her nipping his chest then laving her tongue over the mark. He obviously liked that, given the way his hands involuntarily squeezed.

Gasping a little, she continued nuzzling his chest as her hands mapped the breadth of his shoulders and back. "Take off your pants."

Rick slowly withdrew his hands from her chest then moved to the clasp of her bra. "I'm busy," he murmured against her neck. "How about you help me out with that."

Kate chuckled and reached between them just as Rick got the clasp undone. She paused a moment to shrug it off, earning a heartfelt groan from him, then returned to his pants. She got as far as lowering his zipper, making sure to brush against the hardness behind it, when Rick wrapped his arms around her and lifted her right off of her feet, holding her high against his chest so that he could kiss her once again.

Rick had tried to be patient, he'd wanted to wallow in every second he had with her tonight. But the feel of her against him, silky limbs and pebbled nipples, fingers clenched in his hair and her legs around his waist, drove him straight past patient and into desperation. Holding her tighter, he walked them towards the bed until his knees touched the mattress. He lowered them both to the mattress and held her closer, kissed her more slowly and deeper as he reveled in the reality of her. As he loved her.

Kate couldn't breathe and she didn't care. He kissed her like he couldn't stand not to. His lips, his tongue, the hand that he buried in her hair to tilt her head back further, it made her lose her mind. Her hands finally unclenched from his hair to clutch at his sweat-sheeted shoulders, his back, anything that might ground her.

Then there was the delicious weight of him holding her down, his harder angles and even the fabric of the pants he still wore providing a constant friction against her softer frame. A slow roll of his hips had her gasping for air, turning her head away as she moaned his name.

Rick had to take a moment, and pressed his face into the curve of her neck, panting as he tried to slow down. The lithe movements of her body underneath him were both an agony and an ecstasy. The endless lengths of her legs encircled him, one around his waist and the other wrapped around a pants clad leg.

The pants definitely had to go. But first...

Rick pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss against the curve of Kate's neck, smiling as it drew another sound from her throat. He slid down a bit and followed the line of her collarbone with his tongue, enjoying the faint sheen of sweat that now covered her chest. Her hands were clenched in his hair once more as he moved lower, deliberately not touching her with his lips as he wafted hot breath over her skin until he stopped over the pebbled peak of her breast. He stayed there for a moment, enjoying the anticipation as Kate gave his hair an impatient tug.

He smiled wickedly and placed a chaste kiss on the upper slope of her breast. "Did you want something, Kate?"

"Rick," she groaned, half complaining, half pleading. She pressed her head back against the mattress as he ran the tip if his nose slowly around her areole. She'd have called bullshit if anyone ever told her how amazing that would feel. But it wasn't enough. She tried tugging his head closer, but he just switched sides, making her curse out loud until he finally, finally pressed a kiss directly onto her nipple then sucked it into his mouth.

God, she was amazing. He'd imagined this moment countless times. He'd made meticulous plans as to what he'd do to every single inch of her if he got the chance, but the taste off her blanked his mind. He could only devour her, reveling in her cries and the sound of his name falling from her lips.

She was going to go insane. He was driving her insane. He was now making constant hungry sounds against her skin that did nothing but ratchet up already unbearable sensations. But he wouldn't move! If she didn't feel the insistent throb of him through his pants she'd have thought that he was nowhere near where she was. She had to do something!

Rick was thinking he couldn't take much more of this when Kate suddenly pulled a Kung Fu scissoring move that had him on his back with her straddling him. "That," he rasped out when he got his breath back, "was so hot."

"Yeah?" she panted, leaning forward as her hair fell in a curtain around their faces. "So is this." They exchanged another wet, tongue-tangling kiss that had Rick sitting up with her clutched to his chest and her grinding herself against his lap.

He pulled away suddenly and unceremoniously lifted her off of him. "Okay, seriously! We need to get naked."

She would have laughed if she wasn't so busy kicking out of her panties. Rick stood up and pushed his pants and boxers down in one movement. Kate raised up on her knees, seriously appreciating the view as he raided his bedside table for a condom.

"Ha!" Rick raised the Trojan in triumph and promptly lost his voice and all the feeling in his knees as he saw Kate kneeling there, a panting, golden, naked goddess. A goddess who raised her eyes from his erection to smile at him and take the condom from his hand.

They met at the edge of the bed, moving closer until they were pressed chest to chest. Rick brushed her hair off her cheek, caressing her face as he stared into her eyes, before he leaned in to kiss her.

At least that was the plan. As soon as she laid her soft hands on him he had to concentrate on not coming. He clenched his hands in her hair and pressed his forehead against hers as she took her time learning his dimensions before rolling the condom on him.

Kate wrapped her arms around Rick, making sure to snuggle his cock tight between them, and waited for him to pounce on her, but he held her tighter. "Rick?" She rubbed their noses together and lightly bit his lip, delighting in the groan that resulted. "I need you," she whispered against his mouth.

That did it.

Kate found herself on the bed once again as Rick attacked her mouth, her neck, anything he could reach. She returned the favor, her hands running over him, settling on his ass as she arched into him.

Rick raised his head to watch as he ran a hand down her stomach, pausing to run his thumb along the seam of where her leg met her torso, before he covered her with his palm. His eyes met hers as he caressed the few wet curls there before running a finger down the seam of her. They both moaned and suddenly they were kissing once again, panting as Rick slid two big fingers into the wet heat of her.

Crying out at the sensations, Kate grabbed at his wrist. "God! Castle, please!"

In hearty agreement, Rick slowly removed his hand, sliding it up her leg and urging it around his waist. They both stared down and watched as he found her and pushed in, slowly, only to stop when he was fully seated.

One of Kate's hand reached out, grabbing the sheets for purchase as every nerve in her body went haywire. He didn't thrust, but that didn't mean he didn't move, and whatever he was doing was making her lose her mind.

He watched her face as he rolled his hips, stroking himself inside her, uncovering nerves she didn't even know she had even as he pressed his pelvis against her, keeping steady pressure against her clit. The love he felt made every sensation sharper and deeper than he'd ever felt before. He wanted the same for her tonight, even if she didn't feel quite the same. But at least she already knew. That was another thing he could do now that she was in his arms.

"I love you, Kate."

Her eyes popped open and turned to meet his. He put his arms under her shoulders, lifting her up a bit as his hands moved into her hair. "I love you, Kate Beckett," he repeated softly and kissed the tears away that slipped down her cheeks as he began to move.

It felt so good to hear that, she thought hazily as she wrapped her arms around him, even if it was still scary as hell.

Kate arched into him as he moved faster and harder against her. She was vaguely aware of the sounds she was making as lightning moving up her spine, tightening her muscles, and speeding up her breath. Soon she was screaming, locked around Castle as her system imploded.

Rick gasped and squeezed his eyes shut as Kate let go. He kept moving, holding onto his control even as her orgasm clamped her internal muscles around him with rippling pulls. He waited until her head fell back, still resting in his hands, and her eyes opened. He thought he could wait longer, but when she whispered his name and pulled him closer for a long kiss, he lost his own hold and followed her over.

He came to with Kate running her hands through his hair as he rested his head on her chest. "Were you just saying my name over and over?"

She smiled down at him. He had't even opened his eyes to ask the question. "It seemed appropriate," she teased. "You just said mine about a hundred times."

Castle raised up and propped himself on his elbows to look down at her. She looked utterly relaxed. Beautiful. "I'm so glad you're here." And happy. He gave her a kiss. "Can you stay?" He asked carefully, scared of spooking her.

She reached up and touched his face, overjoyed to see that all of the earlier sadness and angst gone. "I can stay."