No matter how old she got, Castle thought, there were some things that involved Alexis that always broke his heart. One of them was sending her off to school. The first time she'd taken the bus alone, he'd watched it turn the corner, then wept like a child over how grown-up his seven year old was. Then it was watching her carpool on various overnight trips, and some of those he'd been able to score a gig as a chaperon which made him feel equal parts safe and guilty about having his daughter think he was there to spy on her.

Now it was even more of a heart-break to send her off to school, because it involved taking her to the airport. Or rather, meeting her at the airport since this time around she'd spent her last night at home with Shane after spending the day with her family. He couldn't blame Alexis for his unhappiness since he knew that he'd done the same thing when he'd been in university and he'd tried to make the long-distance thing work. The difference here was that he had a gut-instinct that Alexis wouldn't get a phone call in two weeks time saying that her paramour had found some else to fill the void, which was the only thing that helped him stay calm when he saw Shane and Alexis walk up to himself, Beckett and RJ in the terminal and Shane held Alexis' hand.

'So did you have a wild going away party last night? Tequila shooters, monkeys, the works?' he teased them.

'More like Sin to Win in Atlantic City, cow-tipping and Irish car bombs,' Shane teased back.

Beckett caught the feminine roll of eyes from Alexis and knew they'd probably spent the night cuddled together with dinner for two, video games or a movie, and other very intimate moments that would give Castle a heart-attack if he dwelt on them for too long. Instead she picked up RJ's paci that had tumbled into the blankets beside him and put it back in his mouth, then unsnapped the wheel-locks of his pram.

'Come on, Rick, let's go get a few coffees.'

'Oh, right, sure.'

Castle went with Beckett over to the Coastal kiosk, perused the menu so he could give his daughter a little privacy. He was debating between a mocha latte and a hazelnut cappuccino with an extra shot when he heard a little sniffle beside him. Glancing over, he saw his tough-but-tender cop fighting tears. 'Oh, Kate, it's okay,' he reassured her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

'I can't believe my girl's so grown up,' she murmured, keeping her voice low so the waterworks wouldn't gush. 'She's got a boyfriend seeing her off at the airport, and...and...I need something to occupy me.'

'Then pick a coffee.'

'Don't want coffee. Alexis will want salted-caramel hot chocolate and Shane is an chai-tea guy, and I'll have a non-fat toffee-nut steamer.' She blew out a breath, put in her order. 'You're right, that helped,' she decided.

With drinks in hand, they went over to Alexis and Shane, and they could see Alexis' eyes were a little puffy from tears, but she smiled bright when she saw the take-away cups. 'Oh, yum. Thank you so much. The sign just flipped over to my gate being cleared for security and I know if I stay here much longer I'm going to blubber, so I'm going to drink this down in record speed and try not to drown you in an ocean of goodbye tears.'

'Don't worry, you'll from us soon, Lex,' Shane assured her.

'I know, but Skype isn't the same,' she told them, then murmured from behind her coffee-cup, 'for a variety of reasons.'

Attention please, British Royal Airways New York to London Heathrow flight six-zero-eight-zero is now cleared for security processing.

'That's me,' Alexis sighed, then gave them all a hug and added a smacking kiss for Shane. 'Bye you guys, I love you Mom and Dad, send me lots of video of RJ, okay?'

They watched her pick up her bags, and head for the gate, and all three sighed wistfully - their girl was gone once more. Castle glanced over, saw Shane looked rather miserable. 'You feel up for a bite to eat?'

'Yeah, I could go for something.'

'There's a great little comfort food spot around the corner from here. We'll come back for your car in a bit.'

'That was very sweet of you to have dinner with Shane, Rick.'

Beckett massage her cocoa butter lotion into her ever-shrinking post-partum belly, and wish these damn hormones would calm themselves down. She'd heard from all her girlfriends that it would take a month or so to feel back to herself again, but as she watched Castle strip off his shirt, all she could feel was lust for her husband.

'The guy looked so sad his girl was leaving, it was the least I could do.'

He turned around, watched his wife and felt his own libido thrum. She was so beautiful and as she was only a month or so post-birth, her figure hadn't gone back to where he knew she wanted it to be to consider herself sexy but it didn't stop him from wanting to throw her down on the mattress and make wickedly passionate love with her. They wouldn't have the doctor's clearance for such activities until Valentine's Day but he'd talked to Harvey and read the books and was most definitely read to try out a little intimacy with Beckett.

Unbuckling his pants so he was just in his boxers, Castle crawled onto the bed and kissed Beckett deeply, in a way that had her squeaking surprise then sighing in delight. He felt her hands fluttered on his shoulders, then groaned inwardly when she broke the kiss.

'Rich, can we...? I mean is it safe?'

'Yes, I can touch you, but not be inside you.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, why?'

'Because we would have been doing this on Christmas Eve if I had known.' Beckett pulled off her pyjama top, shimmied out of her panties so she was naked as she wriggled down underneath him. 'Dazzle me.'

Castle couldn't stop the laugh because she was so ridiculously adorable. 'Wow, you really are pent up, aren't you?'

He lowered his mouth to hers, pressing her into the bed with his body weight so he could feel the soft silky touch of her against his skin. As he feasted on her mouth, one hand slid down to her breast to cup it, but when he brushed his thumb over her nipple, she flinched a little.

'RJ's a piglet, they're a little tender,' she murmured to him. 'Here, let me help.'

Circling his wrist with her fine-boned fingers, Beckett kept her eyes on his and moved his hand down her body to where she wanted it the most. She let out a low, throat sigh when she felt the pad of his thumb brush over her trigger as he touched her. Her hips rocked against his hand; she'd never been so ready for him. She turned her head to the side and moaned his name when he laid his lips on her throat.

'Rich, I'm...I'm...oh, God!'

Castle closed his eyes, felt her tense and tremble as the orgasm blasted through her, making her body pump heat like a furnace as she dug her fingernails into his back and scratched light furrows into his skin. He kept his touch strong and steady until her body errupted once more and gave out, all but melting beneath him. When he lifted his head to look at her, he grinned slyly; there was the sexy, satisfied look in her eyes that he'd loved for so long.

'I love you, Rich.'

'Love you too Katie-Lou.' His eyebrows knit together when she rolled him, began to tug on his boxers. 'What are you up to?'

'Now it's your turn to be ravished.'

R&R&Enjoy