Warning! Hurt and comfort ahead! Again, I did not plan that out. These things just happen, people.

Despite the lack of maneuverability, the chance of discovery, and the potential for disaster (in many forms), people still insist upon having sex in cars. It was an activity that Beckett no longer condoned but had participated in on many an occasion in her younger years.

However, she was fairly certain that no one had yet had sex in an ambulance.

The argument in favor of such an act was more elbowroom, solid doors that could be locked and no windows for people to peer into, a sturdy frame to keep rocking to a minimum, and it was relatively soundproof.

The case against such a course of action was, of course, that they were in what was practically an emergency room on wheels, and that someone could catch them at any second because of that.

Beckett wasn't particularly concerned with weighing the pros and cons, because at the moment Castle's right hand was down her pants while the other was tangled in her hair. Fortunately she didn't mind it, as she was busy trying to get his shirt off (so many damn buttons!) while kissing him senseless.

Nearly getting buried alive will do wonders for your sex drive, apparently. Something about reaffirming your physical and emotional bond and feeling alive after a near-death experience, she was sure. Beckett tried not to think about that – either the philosophical and psychological implications or the actual being stuck beneath a mountain of dirt thing – and focused on the man here with her now; the man who had also just gone through hell and emerged, drained but victorious… the man who was currently waging war with her zipper.

"Rick, just… let me." She broke free of his questing fingers and peeled off her pants; soggy and stained from the soil she'd crawled through. Her shirt was next. He stopped her at her bra, though.

"Allow me." He whispered. He reached around and undid the clasp, planting kisses on her breasts as they spilled free.

She hummed deep in her throat, her mouth open and slack with pleasure. "Now you." She mumbled as her eyes slid closed.

There was the sound of fabric moving and buttons popping, and then it was simply blissful skin on skin. Castle was warm and sweaty and alive, his muscles taught beneath the thin covering of skin. They jumped and twitched as her hands gripped and glided over his skin, and he groaned as she absently massaged his shoulders as they kissed.

He murmured some indistinct words, his mouth imprinting them onto her skin as he moved down her neck. Although she couldn't fully make out what he was saying, she knew what he was getting at by his tone, and she shushed him.

"Don't." She warned him, her voice breaking. "Stop thinking, Rick, please, just…"

"Kate." He groaned. He pulled her closer to him, right onto his lap, his hands spanning her back. "Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate…" Every time he wasn't kissing some part of her body, he was saying her name.

"I'm here." She promised him. "I'm here, you're here, oh God Rick…"

The worst part had been the separation. They'd faced bombs, possible radiation poisoning, a gigantic freezer and drowning in the Hudson (just to name a few scenarios), but they had always, always been together. Beckett remembered clinging to the edge of the roof last spring, crying out for Castle. She had never felt so alone until that moment – that is, until she'd been six feet under, knowing he was in the same condition but not with her.

Gently, he laid her down on the floor of the vehicle, his blue eyes filled with sorrow and love. She rubbed circles into his back, encircling him with her legs. She remembered the microphones the bastard had put in the coffins, allowing them to speak to one another. She remembered what Castle had repeated to her, over and over again, once they'd lost hope of being rescued.

He was repeating those words now.

"I love you." He whispered. "I love you so much, Kate. Always. Always, always, always; I love you."

He said them as he slid into her, as they began to move. She kissed him again and again, branding him with her love. She was never good with emotions; she never handled them as well as she wished she could have. So she soaked up his love and his strength, desperately showing him with her body how much he meant to her.

Her orgasm was just as good as usual – that is to say, amazing and better than any she'd had with another partner – but it wasn't earth shattering. It wasn't the point. The point was to be with him, to feel him with her, not to work off steam or have a little fun. She needed every part of him with her, in her, so joined with her that they couldn't be separated no matter how hard the world tried.

They lay there for a bit afterwards, running their hands slowly over each other, and kissing lazily when the mood struck them. She kept staring right into his eyes, drinking up all that she found within. He stroked her hair, carefully untangling the sweaty knots.

"Kate…" He whispered, the word drawn-out and turned into a prayer. It was as if in that word, he could find all the answers to the universe. The meaning of life, the definition of love… everything.

"I love you." She whispered back. All I want is you, all I need is you, everything is you, you, you.

He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling up adorably.

"We should get checked out and go home." He reminded her.

She nodded. She didn't want to leave his arms, or this place, this little cocoon they'd carved out of the mass of people and noises and insanity. But common sense was making her aware of her exhaustion, and the possibility of brain damage from oxygen deprivation, and that she still needed to give Gates an official report, and…

"C'mon, Kate." He got up and offered her his hand. She accepted it, letting him help pull her up.

Dressed and looking presentable once more (or as presentable as they were going to get with their clothes covered in dirt), they crouched by the back doors of the ambulance.

"Are you ready?" Castle asked, searching her face.

Was she ready to face the world again? A world where a killer that nearly got them still lurked, a world filled with questions and uncertainties and bothersome captains and all manner of unpleasantness? Was she prepared to go through it all again?

She wasn't sure.

Castle's hand found hers, capturing it in a warm, safe little hideaway. At least in a world where her life and everything else could be taken, her heart was safe with him.

"Let's go." He said softly.

They stepped out of the ambulance and into the world.

Yeah yeah, so technically an ambulance isn't in a hospital, but it has the whole hospital theme and it was in the parking garage so hey, I'm claiming artistic license!