A/N: I hope everyone had a good Christmas/Hanukah/holiday! Apologies for taking a bit longer to update again. My PS3 has been a major distraction since I haven't been able to play it for months. Sorry! To those of you who reviewed: hfce, htbuzz, TORONTOSUN, jellybean96, alwayscastle2 and the two anonymous reviewers, you are quite honestly the best people.


"So, Mrs Castle, ready to leave?"

She knew it was corny, but she couldn't help the sappy reply, especially not when he called her Mrs Castle. "You know what, Mr Castle, I am. Does this mean that you'll finally tell me where we're headed?"

He fought a smile as he grabbed her suitcase, jam-packed to the brim with beachwear. "But I thought you liked surprises, Kate. Didn't you torture me enough with all those little comments about your wedding dress?"

"So this is your revenge? Not telling me where we're going on our honeymoon?"

"Did I say that?" he asked, doing a onceover of their hotel room just to be sure that they hadn't left anything before he shut the door. "I'm just adhering to tradition. After all, it is one of the husband's duties to arrange the honeymoon."

Kate let out a quiet humph. "Well, I just hope you remember that you've married a detective, Rick, and you can't keep me in the dark forever. I'm particularly adept at reading signs and you've obviously failed to blindfold me." She even already had a few clues. Castle had told her to dress warm for the New York winter but to make sure she could remove layers as and when needed. Which meant they were presumably going someplace where it was warmer, and therefore that they would definitely be catching a plane.

She wasn't surprised when he ushered her into a limo at the front of the hotel after settling their bill and collecting a few last minute things he'd ordered the hotel prepare in advance. The tinted windows and the closed screen between her and the driver presented a few issues with her plan to pay close attention to the road signs. If his smug grin is anything to go by, he did that on purpose. She shook her head and strained her eyes as she stared out the window at the slow moving New York traffic, wondering why Castle hadn't started pestering her to keep him entertained with one of his stupid car games. She'd long ago grown bored of 'Yellow Car' and 'My Mini' and even 'Your Yaris.' What Rick seemed to forget was that she was so used to recognising makes and manufacturers and models of cars because of her police training.

When they finally left the city behind they were soon at JKF airport. Without giving her time to say anything, Castle helped his new wife out of the car and handed her what had become her carryon before leading the way into the terminal building, towing the two suitcases he had behind him. The backpack over his shoulder had the few things he'd picked up from the hotel concierge as well as everything else he might need over their journey.

"LA, huh?" Kate asked as they stood in the line to check in their luggage.

"A stop," he told her with a nonchalant shrug, determined to give nothing else away.

She nodded like she'd expected his answer. Los Angeles wasn't exactly the most predictable honeymoon location when your husband was Richard Castle. In her head, she was busy eliminating possibilities. If they were going to LA, they were presumably going to continue flying West so anywhere in Europe was out of the question. It was pretty safe to rule out the space since that was impossible anyway. That just left a host of countries in Asia really.


Sitting on the plane to LA, Kate couldn't escape the feeling of Déjà vu. Judging by the grip Rick maintained on her hand, he felt it too.

As soon as they'd taken on, Kate had unbuckled her belt and propped her feet up in Castle's lap, sitting sideways in her spacious first class seat with her back and head propped against the side of the plane just beside the window. After a few minutes gazing out the window at the shrinking land below them and the clouds surrounding them, she took out the book Rick had been mindful enough to put inside her handbag. Next to her Castle had his iPad out and was jotting down a random jumble of ideas that had occurred to him overnight. They weren't a book yet, and he didn't even know whether what he had would transpire into an adventure for Nikki and Rook, but he knew if he didn't write down everything that was circling in his head, he would forget it. As soon as he was done, he pulled up the list of movies he'd bought for their journey and grabbed the headphones from the front of his bag, nudging Kate every now and again to update her on how Man of Steel just did not compare to the original Superman movies.

After almost six hours, they touched down and Kate took off her pullover, stowing it in the bottom of her carry-on handbag, in preparation of the sun awaiting them out on the tarmac.

"Where now then?" she asked as they waited by the carousel for their luggage.

Instead of answering, Castle just tapped the side of his nose, keeping the secret still. Once their suitcases had been unloaded and travelled around to them, Castle led Kate away where he checked them luggage in again with a different airline – Air Tahiti Nui.

"Tahiti?"

Castle smirked, letting her know that the exotic paradise was not their destination. The attendant checking in their luggage smiled knowingly as she took in their linked hands. "Honeymoon?"

"Yep," he answered, returning her smile with a quick glance at Kate.

"Well, I hope you have a great time. How long are you away for?"

"Two weeks."

That was news to Kate. Castle had cleared her holiday with Gates before she even knew what was happening. That was the perk of working with your husband, she guessed. She knew it would probably happen again when he thought she was overworked and stressed. She had a feeling that one day she'd turn up at the precinct only to be turned away by her boss because she was supposed to be taking a personal day.

Once their luggage was gone, Kate wondered what they were going to do in the hour before their flight left. Castle led her through to the first class lounge and sat her at the bar, ordering two glasses of champagne, one of which he handed to her.

"To us?" he suggested, holding his glass at the ready for a toast.

Kate clinked the side of her glass with his, and smiled as she nodded. "To us." After they had both taken a sip of the sparkling drink, she said, "So Tahiti is another stop?"

Castle gave her a nod of confirmation and remained silent as Kate again listed possible destinations in her head, running through the other islands in the area before stopping on one in particular. He hadn't, had he? She knew he wanted it to be a surprise for her, but she just had to know.

"Castle, we're not going to Bora Bora are we?" she asked hesitantly.

He sighed. "You, detective, are far too clever for your own good." He was totally unprepared for Kate launching herself at him, lips claiming his mouth, hands twisting into his hair as she was overcome. She was practically sat in his lap, not that he minded of course.

"You're taking me to Bora Bora? Seriously?"

"Well, my stupid old knee got in the way before, and it was meant to be our first romantic trip away," he explained, feeling self-conscious. Somehow Kate always did that to him.

"The Hamptons was our first trip away."

"That doesn't count," Rick told her. "Bora Bora was going to be magical. We would be completely away from New York, from murders, from the boys and their pestering, from my family. It would be just us, and the romance, obviously."

"So Tahiti…"

"We're staying overnight so we'll have time for a few things. Maybe a midnight swim on the beach."

She didn't have to be a genius to work out what he meant by that. When Castle thought with parts of his anatomy other than his head, he was as easy to read as one of his books. Which was just as well for Kate because the idea put in her head by her new husband had her heart racing in anticipation already and she still had a long flight to endure.


Kate found that her excitement built to almost match Rick's on the final stretches of their flight to Tahiti and it was a surprise. A pleasant one, when she stared out the window at the ocean and beach below as they flew steadily lower, after passing through the clouds on their way to the airport, and then looked at Rick to see him looking at her with the same kind of amazement writ on his face.

As they stepped off the plane, he couldn't resist. "The honeymoon starts here, Mrs Castle."

And he was right. Their luggage was sent off to the hotel, while he whisked Kate off on a quick tour of the island, giving the hotel staff enough time to set everything up for him as he'd requested. If Kate noticed the disappearance of Rick's backpack, she didn't say anything.

When they drove up to the hotel later that evening, Castle tipped their driver well who hadn't batted an eyelid at his request to drive around for as long as possible before he moved to let Kate out of the car. They walked hand in hand up to the reception desk, checking in to receive their keys.

"Everything is ready," the reception said with a wink that bemused Kate. She'd long ago grown used to women trying to throw themselves at her husband and had learned not to let it bother her. Instead, she adjusted the strap of her bag over her shoulder and moved off towards the elevators only to be dragged back by Rick.

"We're in one of the villas," he told her, not even trying to keep his amusement at her blunder hidden. He did still have a few surprises up his sleeve, after all.

Castle dragged her out onto the beach and down the bridge to their villa, where his next treat waited. Kate gasped at the sight of the small collection of villas standing on stilts in the azure sea, illuminated by moonlight and small lamps hanging off the balconies outside. It really was perfect. She gazed at their surroundings, secretly thinking that Rick should have called Tahiti magical since she'd never seen anything more captivating and mood-changing than the colour of the ocean or the atmosphere created by the thatched villas, while he dug around in his pocket for the key he'd only just received and somehow still misplaced. He finally retrieved it from his back pocket, unlocked the door and stood aside to let Kate enter first, allowing her the full experience of the candlelight dinner prepared for them.

"Do you know? I feel a like a bit of a bitch now for thinking that receptionist was making a pass at you," Kate finally managed to sputter after standing motionless in the door taking everything in. She glanced sidelong at Rick with a grin before he steered her into the villa and down to sit on the gingham rug that had been stuffed into his backpack after the hotel staff in New York had given it to him. "Gingham, Castle, really?"

"Yeah, you really like gingham, remember. Just this time, I've foregone the water entirely," he grinned, remembering the picnic he'd tried to take her on one time they'd been staying in the Hamptons. The day had been a disaster from start to finish. First he forgot the sandwiches. Then the bottle of water leaked everywhere in the bag and got the rug so wet, Kate refused to sit on it. The chocolate had melted off the strawberries because somehow the cooler box he had had broken without him even realising. And then it had rained. Though they laughed about it at the time, he hadn't been able to stop his disappointment from taking over. He'd wanted it to be a lovely day for just the two of them, a chance to enjoy the sunshine away from his mother.

"Well, I have no idea how you managed all this, Rick, but thank you. I'm impressed. It's perfect."


He lounged on his side, probably watching Kate eat and lick her lips more than he actually ate himself, finding eventually that it was too much. He suspected she'd been tracing the outline of lips with her tongue on purpose, but all the blood in his body seemed to rush to his genitalia all the same. She was laughing when he kissed her and stroked a hand through her hair, finding it damp from the humidity though he probably left it in a worse condition: sticky with chocolate from the strawberries.

"Ready for that midnight swim?" he asked, breathing heavily, all the while his fingers inched under her top.

"Let me just get my bikini out of my suitcase," she told him, grinning against his disappointed pout.

"No need, I can help with that." It didn't take him long to pull off the only layer of clothing she was left with, a vest top and a pair of cropped jeans. He wasn't much bothered about his own clothes until it came time for them to hurry down the steps out the back that led right down into the ocean. Whilst Kate's clothes were left inside, his were dumped on the decked area before the steps.

The water was warm, caressing their skin as he hugged Kate close with one arm and kept them afloat with the other. Her legs were tight around his waist, her arms wrapped around his head, keeping him in place as his lips worshipped the column of her neck. She was so distracted by his lips, she barely noticed the clever fingers of his right hand toying with the clasp of her soaked bra. Soon that too was gone, thrown up onto the deck where it landed with a loud slap, soon followed by his silk boxers and her tiny black panties.

"See, isn't everything better without swimwear?" he muttered against her clavicle.

"Shut up, and kiss me, Cas-" she broke off as his lips latched onto one of her nipples and a moan escaped her.


"So," she said breathlessly, hanging onto the base of the steps to stay afloat. "Midnight swim, huh?"

"We might have deviated from my plans a little," he admitted, smirking. "I hope you don't mind."

"Not in the slightest," she replied, too busy still enjoying the thrums of pleasure in her veins to be embarrassed about how loud she'd been and the fact that she was still naked in the sea in full view of anybody staying in the villas nearby. She couldn't even bring herself to regret the fact that they hadn't actually done any real swimming by the time she climbed back up the steps and pulled a towel robe left out on one of the lounge chairs on the deck around her body. Instead, feeling exhausted after a late night and early morning at the Plaza, a day of travelling and a few rounds of really good sex, she was content to watch her new husband swim a few strokes and admire his butt poking out of the crests of the waves. She could only imagine what else he might have planned for their two weeks in Bora Bora, but she was sure that, knowing Castle, it would all be amazing and when the time came to return to New York, she would do so reluctantly.


A/N: So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As always, I would be grateful for any feedback or thoughts you have.