Still down south of the border. Just a little something to keep you interested. No cliffie.

OM

Chapter 28

He threw off his clothes and dove under the covers and sighed until he felt…a warm hand caress his chest and lips whisper, "I know you hear it a lot but I'm sorry, Rick. I should have realized that we're a unique couple. We're part cop and part writer but we talk incessantly and we'll never end up in divorce court, baby."

"Beckett?" There was shock and surprise in his voice.

"You were expecting someone else? Martha set my head on straight. I should have listened more carefully. Now, I think I read somewhere that after a couple has a fight they have…makeup sex?"

Kate woke up and stretched and then realized she was in bed – alone. She looked over at the clock and noted the time and heard Rick in the bathroom muttering about something and then he flicked off the light and came back to bed and spooned against her.

"It's 5 o'clock, Rick, and I'm wide awake. Want to fool around?" She giggled in a most un-Beckett like manner and wiggled her butt against him.

"Your dad wants us to come up this weekend and have dinner with him. I think he's lonely up there in the sticks, Kate. We could go out to dinner and then spend the rest of the weekend at the beach house."

"Mmm, sounds nice, especially the beach house. I can see it now, a roaring fire, you and me, naked and writhing in passionate ecstasy, no phones, no murders, just you and me."

"And Alexis. Jim wants us to bring her with us. He likes her and I think those two like to get together and plot."

"Well, maybe we could 'suggest' that we need some 'alone time' and he'd take her for the night? I love Lexie but I really like my image of a the weekend and…"

"And what, Kate?"

"And so do you if that thing poking me is any evidence at all." She twisted around and wrapped her arms around his neck and drew a naked thigh between his and whispered that it didn't matter where they were – they'd bring their own 'fire'.

"Well, since you have the weekend off, I've got to spend today getting a new phone, the safe repaired, a new laptop and arrange for a painter and carpenter to come in. Why don't we get an early start on the day and let me take you out to breakfast. Then you can drop me off here, go over to your place and shower and change and then go on into the Precinct."

"Will you be coming in today? I think it would be nice if you at least made a showing so that people don't think we're…"

"Well, remind me to properly propose and present the ring to you. Then you can flaunt your status without going into detail. Just please, Kate, don't say anything to Esposito. I don't want him thinking I broke my word to him just to get you back between the sheets."

"Wouldn't dream of it. I'll go start the coffee while you shower. And then we can discuss a 'proper proposal' over coffee before your daughter makes her early-morning appearance. Did you two talk about our fight, Rick? Does she hate me?"

"She's upset that we fought but blames us both for being 'dumb asses', so no, she doesn't hate you. Seeing the study turned on its side frightened her and made her see a side of me I thought I'd buried safely away long ago. It seems you bring out the beast in me, Kate Beckett." He tried to make light of the situation the question brought up.

When Rick walked downstairs from his shower, he was fully dressed for a business meeting. He had things to do before being able to just walk away for the weekend. He walked into the study, made notes on damage, equipment to replace and then took the Kate's ring from the safe and walked into the kitchen.

Beckett was standing with her back to him and he noted that she was wearing his blue shirt that she'd worn the first night she'd 'stayed over'.

Rick slipped up behind her, wrapped his arms around her middle and nuzzled the back of her neck. He loved her neck. It was so silky soft and long and, best of all, sensitive to his lips.

"Mmm, I love the way you do that, honey, but we have to be careful. I'm not wearing anything but this shirt and that damned pistol of Shaw's is poking me again."

"Live with it. It's what you do to me, Kate." He reached up and took her left wrist in his hand and then used his left hand to place the ring back on her finger where it belonged. She hardly noticed since his lips and tongue were kissing and laving her neck.

"Marry me, Kate, and I'll never hurt you, leave you or, hopefully, disappoint you. And if you don't say yes in 2 seconds, I'll just have to take it back."

"Damn you, Castle! Why are you doing this to me when you know I have to go to work instead of staying here and making love all day?" She hadn't really heard what he said, far to engrossed in what he was doing to her.

"Don't blame me, Kate. You're the one with the responsive body that just keeps begging me to touch it, kiss it, lick it…"

She turned in his arms and pushed him away. "Alexis will be up any minute and you need to curb your baser instincts and act paternal instead of like…Rick…Yes! Yes, I'll marry you!"

She gave in to her own 'baser instincts' after seeing the ring he'd slipped on her finger and remembered his words. Her kiss was hot and hungry.

"Mmm, Kate, Alexis…please…stop…Alexis…"

"You just wait until this weekend, Rick. You just wait!"

Beckett once again stepped off the cranky elevator and practically bounced into the squad bay. She was happy and nothing could change the way she felt today.

"Beckett, a word?" Roy Montgomery called her into his office. He did not look very happy.

"Sit, please. Look, Coonan is dead. Someone shanked him out at Rikers and I just got word this morning. You and Esposito gather up all the files and information and we'll meet in the conference room to see what we need to do next. I'm sorry, Beckett. I know how you were counting on this to open up some leads on your mom's case but at least the bastard that threw acid in your face is burning in hell right about now."

She didn't say a word, just stood, nodded her head and left. She found herself in the break room with a cup of coffee in her hand and couldn't remember getting it.

'Focus! We have the information Esposito got from him. We haven't begun collating it yet and it looks like it's a solid lead to the next level. I have to get my head back into the game. We're so close…'

Natalie was sitting in Castle's chair. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but in the 12th Precinct. Apparently Karpowski's trip through Dumpsterville hadn't exactly been high on her list of things to do in life.

"I heard about Coonan. I'm sorry, Beckett. I know you were counting on more information but you're a good detective. You're good at connecting the dots. I figure the Fat Cats behind this are worried if they had one of their own hit men taken out. That's what it was, right?"

"We don't know anything definite at this point, Natalie. It's all just sitting there waiting for us to put it together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces missing. I think it's too soon to make any decisions since they may color our judgment. It's the way it is about some cases – you have to wait for the next clue to be developed."

"Like with the Model Slasher? I'd say that's a fair comparison, right?" She saw Kate's eyes tighten and knew it was the right question to ask but not the right time. She waited to see how Beckett answered but was surprised when the detective grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the Models' murder board, almost spilling her coffee in her haste.

"You're new eyes, Rhodes. Look at it and let your mind free associate. What is the killer's motivation? Why the ritual staging of the body? Is Castle right that it has a religious connotation or was that just something to throw us off?"

Kate sipped her coffee and watched the other woman's eyes bounce all over the board and then close for a few seconds. If she'd only known that it was the same thing she did when presented with a board for the first few times she'd have been amused.

"What about the photographer? What background do we have on him?"

Beckett smiled at the 'we'. Was this the 'Nikki Heat' persona or just Natalie getting into the case? Either way it was an interesting question that they really hadn't gone too deep with since the photographer had alibis for both timeframes and no apparent motive.

"We didn't go deep on him since he alibied out on the murders. I'll have Ryan dig into his history. Maybe we were too quick in dismissing him but it's worth the time if only to firmly eliminate him as a suspect. Good thinking."

"So, how's Castle?" She'd heard from Lanie already this morning not to 'twist Kate's tail' about anything but she was a woman and was curious.

"He'd great. We're going to take the weekend off and the three of us are going out to see my Dad and then spend time out at his beach house."

"Three of us?"

"His daughter's coming along. She and my dad hit it off over Christmas and I think he'd like the company."

Her phone vibrated and she pulled it out of her jeans pocket and laughed. Castle had sent her a text that he'd got a 'new kick-ass phone' and was testing it out. He'd be by after his meeting.

Natalie took in the tight smile on Beckett's face and had to comment.

"So, I take it things are back to normal in 'Caskett land'?"

"As normal as they can be where Rick's involved. Yeah, back to normal, thank God."

Beckett grinned and walked over to Kevin's desk and asked him to start a deep background on the photographer, Tariq Humal.