Esposito was dreaming; he was Nemo in the Pixar movie and the entire homicide bullpen of the 12th precinct had transformed into the dentist's aquarium. He could feel something soft against his arm, and looking down saw it was Jacques the cleaner shrimp brushing up against his face.

'Javi,' it said in Meredeth's voice. 'Javi, wake up snooze-a-roo.'

He snorted once, rubbed his hand over his arm to bat it away and instead felt Meredeth's fingers there. He groaned a little as the sleep cleared from his eyes, saw she was already showered and dressed despite the fact it was just after six-thirty. 'I didn't hear you get up.'

'I have an early meeting, and I wanted to give you a little bit of dessert now,' she said holding up a box, 'in case we have to break dinner tonight.'

Sitting up, he took the box, shook it slightly. 'Is it a really big Hershey bar?'

Meredeth gave him a swat on the arm. 'Okay, I know we agreed on a limit since it's only our one month and tomorrow's my birthday, but I didn't buy you forty dollars worth of chocolate.'

Esposito shook his head, ripped through the shiny silver paper. He whistled appreciatively as he held up the black lace flyaway baby-doll, saw there was also matching panties with the little ties to add thigh-high stockings if they were so desired.

'What is this?'

'Like I said, dessert.' She grinned broadly, kissed him once lightly, then deepened it as he pulled her onto the bed. 'I made us a little breakfast, too.'

Esposito gave her a look. 'Is it pancakes?' When Meredeth said she cooked, she didn't just mean heating things up in the microwave, she cooked. It might have been chauvinistic of him, but there were some days now when the simple knowledge he'd go home to smell a homemade meal being made was his carrot at the end of an interminably tiresome shift. Even on the nights he didn't see her, knowing he would go home went and find Meredeth's leftovers in the fridge got him through the worst of the wrong turns or paperwork of a case.

'Even better.'

'Nothing beats pancakes, Mere, everyone knows pancakes are edible thank-yous for sex.'

'Not even waffles from scratch?'

Esposito's eyes went laser keen. 'With chocolate chips?'

'And coconut. After you shower first. I don't want mooning over breakfast pastry to make you late.'

By the time he was out of the shower, freshly shaven and dressed for work, he felt the smile creep over his face as he walked into the kitchen. Indeed, she had made waffles, and they stood in a lovely golden stack on the plate in the middle of Esposito's miserably tiny kitchen table, along with a bowl of glossy green grapes, fresh coffee for him and orange juice for herself, and a package propped against a jar of peanut butter. 'What's that?'

'The other part of your gift. I hope you like it.'

'I don't know. Waffles and the promise of black lace dessert is hard to top.'

Meredeth held her breath as he ripped open the package with just as much ferocity as the lingerie. Panic surged hot and bright as his face went totally blank. 'I thought you might like that to put on your desk. If it's too soon for something like that, I could-'

She cut herself off when he set it down to walk around the table, and taking his face in her hands, kissed her so sweetly she was surprised cartoon birds weren't bursting into song around her head. 'Okay strike that,' she managed when his lips left hers.

Esposito picked up the picture of the two of them she'd had framed. It was the same day they'd taken Arturo to the park and she'd taken some pictures to show off when she'd gone on her talk-show interview circuit. He stood behind her, poking her in the stomach to make her laugh as his chin rested on her shoulder, his own grin mirroring hers. Up until then, the only picture he had of her at work was the one Castle had sent him from the , and he doubted very much however happy it made him, that the two of them dressed as Michael Corleone and Magenta from Rocky Horror Picture Show would meet with departmental approval. 'It's perfect,' he murmured, tucking it into his work bag so he could put it right beside his monitor. He knew Ryan would give him grief on it, but the look of pure happiness on Meredeth's face in the photo was more than enough to drown it out.

Looking at his watch, he realized he had to meet Ryan; he scooped up his waffle like a bagel and crammed it in his mouth. 'I have to run, but promise me you'll be in your office around noon-ish.'

'Why?'

'Just trust me.'

She kept her word despite the fact it was almost one and nothing had happened as he'd promised. It had given her the motive to stay in her office keep her nose to the grindstone on her column; when she got into the zone, she could miss marching bands and nuclear war, and today was no exception as she looked up to see Kristof standing in her doorway, an amused grin on her face.

'You need to come up for food, if not for air.'

'Says you.' But she shoved back from her desk, she reached for her coat. 'You ready?'

'Actually we have to cancel. The lettering guy's on his way over with mock-ups of the Open Your Eyes cover.'

'Tell him to come up here rather than your office. More space.'

Kristof pulled out his cell, and looking past the door frame, let out a chuckle. 'Looks like you've got a fan.'

'What?'

Before Kristof could say anything, a delivery girl appeared with a long narrow package in her arms and a clipboard tucked under her chin. 'Delivery for Meredeth?' she asked in a voice that sounded like Daisy Duck with a cold.

'Yeah.' Meredeth signed for the packages, opened the long flat one first. The floral scent hit her instantly; it wasn't roses she lifted from the bed of greens but of cherry red amaryllis, sunflowers, pink gerber daisies and yellow tulips. All her favourite flowers, she mused, of course he wouldn't go for the over-done. The card was a medley of brightly coloured stripes with black lettering spelling out a joke. 'Ma'am I think you dropped something,' she read, before flipping open the card and laughing as she continued, 'my jaw. Happy one month Mere, ex-ex-Jay.' Inside the card, he'd also put two tickets to an off-Broadway production of her favourite show - The Rocky Horror Show - for the following Friday night. Without hesitation, she immediately dialed his number.

'Hey, you like your gift?'

'Thanks for the flowers, Javi, they're beautiful. And you've got the time to see the show that night?'

'Took it as a half vacation day. Did you open the other one?'

'The other what?'

'The other envelope. There's two in there.'

She dug into the box, then ripped open the second envelope marked 'Dessert' and felt her eyes go round in surprise. It was a professionally shot black-and-white glossy of him against a New York City skyline backdrop dressed only in a black pair of pants and his thin gold chain with a tiny crucifix on it, hands in his pockets and giving that intense stare that made her feel light in the head. She cleared her throat before she spoke so her voice wouldn't squeak. 'You did that on purpose, getting me all stirred up when you know I can't do much about it until later.'

'Well, let's just say you're not the only one who knows how to tease about good dessert.'

She couldn't help but laugh; when he turned it on, he really turned it on. 'I'll see you tonight.'

'Garoto's on Sixth, seven-thirty, provided I'm not hauled onto over-time.' Look for the handsome Puerto Rican in a nice suit.'

'Deal.'

She hung up the phone, waited a beat before she murmured, 'Love you, Javi.'

Esposito had felt guiltier in his life, but he couldn't remember when; he'd been able to make it to Garoto's for seven thirty, and had gotten a call from Beckett mid-way through the meal, telling him to haul his ass back to the precinct as their number one suspect had skipped on his lawyer and was now demanding to tell his case to the arresting officer - none other than Esposito himself. He'd given Meredeth his apologies, to which she'd given him an understanding kiss and they had their food wrapped to take with them.

Now, four hours and one very cranky sketch artist later, he let himself into her apartment, yawning widely. He saw she'd left a little note on the fridge for him too - Dinner's in the fridge, dessert's on the couch. He turned around, and felt his heart break between guilt and arousal.

She'd put on the lacy lingerie, including the thigh-high black stockings, and had fallen sound asleep sprawled on her back on her comfortable sofa. He crossed to her, brushed her hair off her brow as she sighed in her sleep. It was rare she looked so peaceful when she slept; it was part of the reason he liked to spend overnights with her so he could comfort her in the event of one of her night terrors.

Tossing his jacket on the table, he hooked one arm under her knees and braced her back in the other, and carried her into bed. He saw her eyelashes flutter as he placed her on the bed, and her lips made a little pucker. 'Javi?' she asked sleepily.

'Yeah, it's me.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, I fell asleep. I was trying to wait up for you, surprise you with dessert when you got home.'

Esposito stripped off his belt, loosened his tie as she sat up. 'It's okay, baby.'

'How did everything go at the station?'

'Difficult. Guy babbled more than Castle on a sugar high but we got some good information out of him.' Esposito started to unbutton his shirt but the now-awake Meredeth rose onto her knees on the bed, put her hands on his chest. 'Sweetie, really, it's okay, you can go back to sleep. I didn't expect you to wait up after you had a long day too.'

Meredeth unfastened one button at a time until the shirt hung loose on his body before she slid it off. 'Suddenly not so tired.'

She got to her feet, kissing him with just a little bit of a tease in it. She manoeuvred so that he was now sitting on the edge of the bed and she walked forward so that her legs straddled his, and taking his hand, kissed his fingertips before she took his hand and moved it so it slid down one shoulder strap of her lingerie, then the other. Still holding his hand, she turned it so it lay palm-down on her skin, and she ran it down between her breasts, to where the lingerie fastened together; he flicked the hooks open with a deft move, then just let his hand rest there to feel the double-time tempo of her heartbeat. When she moved even closer so she was now straddling him fully, she placed her hand on his cheek and smiled her luminous smile that made all of Esposito's stress melt away like butter. 'Happy one-month, Javi.'

He wrapped his arms around her and leaned back so she was sprawled on his chest. With one hand still over her heart, he used the other one to comb through her hair before he pulled her back in for another mind-searing kiss. 'Happy one-month Mere.'

R&R&Enjoy.