'Dude! Hurry up in there, we've got plans!'

Adam only rolled his eyes at Ryan's pushiness whiel he finished toweling off from teh post-scuba shower they'd all been required to take, though given the salt pH in the pool it wasn't too hard a sell. The day spent with the sea-life had been amazing - they'd gotten to feed turtles and pet manta rays, and because Castle was Castle, they'd gotten their own video of the whole experience from an oceanographic documentarian kept on staff specifically for the purpose of givign the tourists their own Discovery Channel special.

Now they were on their way back to the hotel, but Adam had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't be that simple; when was a party with this crowd ever so straightforward and easy? When he tugged on his t-shirt, slammed the rented locker shut, he saw Ryan standing there and held out his phone.

'I want my phone call.'

'In a moment.'

'Bullshit, gimme my phone. Oh.' Adam relented when he saw his fellow detective pointing to the sign that read 'Please stow all electronics in wet-launch and locker-room areas.' 'Fine. The moment we're in the limo I'm calling my sexy almost-wife.'

'That's one,' Ryan warned him playfully and considered himself quiet lucky when Adam didn't push him into the pool of nurse sharks as they walked past the other dive experience tanks to where the rest of the men were waiting for them by the aquarium's entrance. 'Hey, we ready to roll out?'

'You know it, bro.' Esposito tipped his sunglasses down his nose, grinned. 'And we ain't rolling, we're flying.'

'What?'

'Du-ude!' Dave hissed it, drawing out the syllables for emphasis. 'No spoiling the surprises!'

'You sound like Finn, Dave,' Shane chuckled. 'Castle's waiting for us out front.'

'We gonna eat soon?' Adam rubbed his belly. He always forgot how much athleticism was involved in diving until after it was done. 'I'm starving.'

'Yeah, soon,' Daniel said vaguely as the limo rolled up to meet them, Castle standing up through the sun-roof.

'Alright, we have confirmation, we are good to go.'

'Sick.' Ryan slapped Adam's shoulder and grinned as he held out Adam's phone to him, then jerked it back. 'Hold on, before you make your call, we have to tell you where we're going.'

'I thought we're going to the hotel to get ready for going to see strippers.'

'Strippers, yes, hotel, mos-def, but not here. We're hopping over to Las Vegas,' Esposito said proudly and for a moment he could actually see Adam's eyes spinning.

'Vegas? We're going to a stripper-show in Vegas?'

'Not just a stripper show, we're going to Glitterotica.' Ryan handed over Adam's cell to him. 'Now you can call your almost-wife.'

As Adam stepped away and trieto fathom just what the fuck a strip-club called 'Glitterotica' would entail, he dialed Lindsay's cellphone and held his breath until she picked up. He never liked leaving love-note voicemails, he always thought he sounded so damn goofy when trying to be sexy over the phone. 'Hey, there's my toaster strudel,' he teased her when he heard her voice come on the line.

'Hello yourself, Belgian waffles,' Lindsay giggled. 'You having fun with the boys?'

'Hell yeah. Tell you all about it when we're home tomorrow.'

'What's on the playbook for tonight? Wait, wait, let me guess. Gambling, strippers and steak?'

'Something like that,' Adam laughed. 'How about you?'

'The same. Our strippers even have tits like yours will.'

Adam chuckled lightly, shook his head. 'Can I tell you how hot it is you and the girls are going to see other women get naked?'

'Oh, the tried and true prurient male fantasies. That will make the other little surprise I've got just for you even better.'

'Surprise?' He felt his senses perk up; for whatever reason he knew exactly what she was talking about. 'You got it done?'

'I did. And it looks so sexy, baby, you're gonna be a goner on our wedding night. I have to keep it taped up until then so it won't get infected will it's still fresh, so the first time you get to see it is after we say 'I do' next week.'

Adam closed his eyes and willed his body not to respond to its natural hormonal drumbeat. 'Damn, girl,you are definitely punishing me, I can feel it. I just wish I knew what my crime was.'

'You'll find out soon enough,' Lindsay teased him and Adam swore he heard his own neurons begin to fry. 'But my tummy will be a little tender there for the next day or two so when we're having reunion sex tomorrow night, just be gentle, okay?'

'You got it. Hey, I love you.'

'Love you too. Now go enjoy all those pretty naked girls with daddy issues.'

Adam laughed as he hung up the phone and tried a couple of the yoga breathing techniques he'd learned in rehab so as not to have a surprise appearance from little Adam at such an inconvenient time. When he was certain he wouldn't make an ass of himself and endure the worst kind of teasing from his friends, he rejoined them and hopped into the limo where Shane had produced what looked like a bottle of champagne and was pouring glasses all around.

'Not to worry bro, it's just sparkling cider, but these will go down much nicer with a drink of any kind.'

Adam glanced over and saw that Castle had produced a box of Romeo Y Julieta cigars, freshly clipped and ready to be lit. 'Now that's the kind of indulgence I can definitely love,' he grinned, taking one for himself and letting Daniel touch the tip of the lighter to the end. 'I could definitely get used to this princely kind of treatment.'

'Well, if you feel like a prince now, you'll feel like a king when we get to Glitterotica,' Dave told him. 'It's quite the interesting place.'

'When did you go?' Shane asked, puffing away on his cigar; he rarely had them at home since smoke tended to bother Alexis.

'In February, when we took the kids to L.A., Oscar watched them for a few days while Lanie and I went to Las Vegas for an early anniversary trip.' Dave didn't add it had been her suggestion they go to a strip club together and then once back at the hotel she'd give him his own private show. 'We had a great time.'

'I'm confused.' Adam wrinkled his brow. 'I thought your anniversary was in December?'

'It is, it's actually New Year's Eve, but since there is always a party at Castle's loft on New Year's we use the anniversary of our first date to celebrate,' he explained, 'which was March twentieth.'

'Ah, okay. That's the fun part of being married in September, no holidays to interfere with things like that.'

'Mere understands that really well,' Esposito agreed, 'her birthday is close to Hallowe'en, and Rick you're actually born on April Fool's Day, right?'

'That's right, and Jojo's birthday is New Year's Day too.' Castle thought of his wife out on the town with Lindsay and Alexis and the rest of the girls, and tried not to pout over the idea he was missing out on prime girl-on-girl fantasy material. 'Man, Adam, you're gonna get so laid when you get home.'

'When did you and Lindsay first seal the deal,' Daniel asked, knowing it was time to get Adam from fun to freaky mode now.

'Our trip to Bermuda, just after Lindsay's graduation from Princeton. It was hot, no question, but...'

Adam trailed off as he remembered the tender hopefulness in his girl's face, the look in her eyes that clearly broadcast the question 'am I good enough for you' to him. He'd taken away her fears with a single kiss and when he slipped inside her that first time, felt her shudder from his touch as she came for him, he'd felt like a god. When they'd been laying together in that afterglow of their first time, he'd told her he loved her and she'd said it back to him too.

Castle saw that Adam had gone quiet, prompted him. 'But?'

'It's not the rip-roaring nasty stuff you share at a bachelor party.'

'Hey we didn't ask for a blow-by-blow, no pun intended,' Dave laughed. 'And besides there's plenty of time to hear about the nasty stuff we all know you two have gotten up to later.'