Author's note: Sorry guys, but it's easier for me to make short chapter than long ones. It always has been. Not only do I have a short attention span, but also I have a lot of responsibilities and if I wrote long chapters it'd take me forever to get each one out.

OOOOOOOOO

"Think he's dead yet?"

Esposito looked down at the man who was sprawled in the alley, his body riddled with bullet wounds, and then looked over at his partner.

"Are you serious? Yeah, I'd say he's dead."

Ryan gave him an odd look and then realized what he'd said and how it sounded.

"Not this guy. Castle."

"Castle?"

"Yeah. He's going to drive Beckett crazy, after all. It's just a matter of how much she'll put up with before she kills him."

Esposito thought about that for a minute, then shrugged.

"Hundred bucks says she kills him by morning."

Ryan snorted.

"Morning? Castle doesn't have the patience to wait until morning. He'll say something dumb and piss her off before they're out of the airport, I bet."

"You're both wrong." They turned and saw Lanie walking over to them, looking at the body in front of her but obviously listening in on their conversation as well. "He'll be on his best behavior tonight and won't do anything dumb until the last night when he's running out of time."

"No way."

She shrugged and gave them a knowing look.

"He's smarter than you guys are giving him credit for, but he's too arrogant to handle being ignored all week. She'll kill him – figuratively of course – on the last day."

"Hundred bucks?" Ryan asked.

She smiled.

"You're on."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The yellow box once more proved to be their salvation. The emergency rations were packets of meals that were a lot like the military's MRE only without most of the extras. Packages of pre-made entrees (spaghetti and meatballs, chicken with dumplings, meatloaf, grilled chicken, tuna casserole and cheese tortellini). Like Castle had said there were enough for six people for three days. Which would be 9 meals apiece for them. Aside from the entrees there were other edibles like crackers with peanut butter, some with jelly, applesauce, and even noodles. There was also several packages of instant coffee, 6 tin eating spoons, 6 collapsible drinking cups, a gallon jug of water – which would come in handy even after the water was gone – and even a small pack of Hershey bars. The meals were designed to be eaten directly out of the packages, so there weren't any plates. She'd asked him why everything was in sixes and he had explained that the plane seated a maximum of that many people.

Beckett heated water in a couple of the cups for coffee and set two packages of tuna casserole as close to the fire as she could without getting them hot enough to melt the packaging. She also pulled out crackers and peanut butter – along with a candy bar that she and Castle could split – deciding that if she was going to eat tuna casserole after a plane crash she needed some chocolate to go with it.

While she did that Castle cleared the area in front of the log they'd been sitting on, figuring that it would make a good backrest for them and with one of the emergency blankets draped behind them it would reflect the heat back nicely later. With enough for six people there were plenty of blankets to spare for it. Then he glanced over to see if she needed any help before he lowered himself down in front of the log and leaned back against it with a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a sigh.

Beckett watched him surreptitiously as he settled himself and closed his eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just tired."

To prove it he opened his eyes, although he spoiled the effect when he winced.

"Hungry?"

"No, but since you're willing to set women's lib back 100 years by making me dinner I'm certainly not going to turn it down."

"I'm not setting back anything," she replied with a smile, since she easily recognized he was teasing her and not being a chauvinistic pig. "You did all the hard work so it's only fair that I help."

He smiled, too, and she was glad to see it. She brought his dinner to him rather than watch him struggle to his feet to get his own and then brought her dinner as well as their coffee. He accepted both gratefully and shifted a little in an obvious invitation for her to sit by him. She accepted it without comment and felt her own aches as she leaned back against the log. It was nicely warmed, now, which meant that it was definitely going be where they slept that night.

"Ugh. Tuna?"

"Hey, complaining about the meal is not the best way to get me to cook again."

"Tell me there's something better for breakfast…?"

She shrugged.

"You tell me; you're making it."

"Hey, I did all the hard work and all I get is dinner?"

Beckett smirked.

"I'll sleep with you tonight, too."

He turned to her, the fire lighting his eyes up and the shadows hiding his bruising and cuts a bit.

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Well, if you do that, then I could probably be talked into making you breakfast…"

She smiled.

"You realize we're both going to be fully clothed, right?"

He shrugged.

"It'll cramp my style, but I'll figure something out."

They looked at each other for a full minute and then they both snickered and started eating. At least there would be chocolate for dessert.