A/N: I'm back! For all who were asking, I was travelling all over Italy and had a great time. Thank you for being so patient and for your awesome reviews on chapter 9! I'll reply to all of you shortly.

Without further ado, please enjoy the next chapter!

DAY 10: Nocturnal Activities

Kate didn't realize that she'd closed her eyes until a gentle hand rubbed her shoulder and she was lifted up into the air.

"Shh" Rick soothed her when panic flared in her chest and she struggled against the strong arms that seemed to carry her almost effortlessly. "It's alright, it's just me" he murmured softly and kissed her forehead. It took her several tries to blink her heavy eyelids open, but then she looked into the endless blue orbs of the man that she loved.

Now that her brain was starting to wake up from its daze, Kate noticed that he had one arm around her shoulders, the other one underneath her legs and was carrying her slowly through the living room. His chest was bare and she angled her head, but couldn't see whether he was wearing anything else. It reminded her…

"I'm naked" she realized and squirmed a bit in his grasp. He chuckled softly and stopped in front of the stairs.

"Not really, you still have your blouse on…"

He leered down at her, her legs bare, her hair tousled, her blouse open to reveal an inviting rosy nipple and most of her firm, round breasts. "…although I have to admit that it's not doing a lot to cover you."

But he was a gentleman first and foremost, so he ripped his gaze away from her tempting body and looked into her eyes. They were unusually small in her glowing face and he knew that she was mostly asleep.

He sighed dramatically, pulled her tighter against his chest and carried her up the stairs.

She was almost out again when he laid her down onto the bed, so he took his able fingers to her blouse and finished unbuttoning it for her. When he had undone the last, he was suddenly faced with the problem that he couldn't take it off her unless she lifted her upper body from the bed.

"Kate" he whispered, but she didn't react. "Kate" he repeated, and her eyes opened lazily.

She was looking at his belly button.
Or at least she thought it was his belly button.
It had to be his belly button.

She was so sleepy that she couldn't even really remember getting up the stairs and into bed, but she must have somehow done it because the ceiling behind his hovering body belonged to their bedroom.

She took a long second to let her eyes wander from the ceiling back to his belly button and then lower, disappointed when he was wearing boxers, but too tired to even voice her disappointment.

"Kate" he said, patiently and calm, and she let her eyes travel up his chest and collarbone and neck and chin and mouth until she met his gaze.

"Huh?" was all she could manage. He smiled softly and motioned to her blouse. Her tired eyes swept to her own body, looking but not seeing. It took her about 30 seconds to realize what he wanted from her, and he would have made a joke about it hadn't he been so tired himself.

She seemed to move in slow motion when she raised her self up and he helped her tug the blouse off. With his large hands at the small of her back, he guided her down and up a little towards the headboard.

"Love you" she murmured, her eyes closing once more. He stretched his barely clad body above her naked one to touch his lips to hers, his weight supported by his forearms next to her head.

"I love you too" he whispered and rolled to the side. He was just about to pull the covers up around their bodies when a hint of moonlight reflected off something at her wrist and he noted that she was still wearing her father's watch.

Carefully taking her hand into his, he gently traced the edge of the wristband, feeling her soft skin and the beat of her pulse before unclasping the old keepsake. He leaned across her once more and set it down on her bedside table, almost reverently. It was a piece of her, a piece of her identity and he cherished it as much as he cherished her.

He laid down beside her and pulled her against him until every inch of her sinful body was pressed against him, her smooth legs tangled with his and her head pillowed on his chest. Delicious hot air blew down his neck every time she exhaled.

Rick tightened his arms around her and fell into a peaceful slumber.

The ringing of a phone woke her at an ungodly hour. It didn't surprise her that her head was pillowed on his broad chest, but it amused her to see that she was naked and he wasn't. She hadn't slept this good in a long while and even the early call couldn't darken her relaxed mood. Her entire body was warm and sated and it was with great reluctance that she lifted her cheek away from his soothing heartbeat.

She frowned when she realized that it was Rick's cell and not hers that emitted its unwanted noises from his bedside table. Even without looking at a clock she knew that it couldn't be much later than five in the morning. Her heart skipped a beat.

Alexis!

She was currently at college in California, which meant that with the added time difference, it was the middle of the night - not a good sign. The thought that something could have happened to the girl catapulted her into action. She scrambled across the bed, slapping at Rick's shoulder on purpose and bringing her knee to his stomach on accident as she climbed atop his body in her hurry to reach the phone.

"Hmpfffsssearly" he protested and turned away, grabbing a pillow and pressing it onto his face to block out light and sound. She ignored him and answered his phone.

Kate released an audible breath when it was only Esposito. The other detective explained to her that he had tried her own cell first and it occurred to her that it was probably still down by the couch, along with her pants and her panties…

When she had hung up, she kicked at Rick's backside. "Get up, we have a case!"

She poked him with her toes and he swatted at her feet with his hand. "Grnffstoppitt" he mumbled into his pillow. She jumped from the bed, but stopped at its foot. Then she leaned in, grabbed the waistband of his boxers and swiftly pulled them down his body.

He opened one eye and curiously looked her up and down. She held up his boxers as if they were a prize and a slow grin spread across his face. "Hello, beautiful lady!"
Suddenly sleep seemed far away and other things were more interesting. He opened his other eye, pushed his protective pillow away and reached out for her, but she slipped out of his grasp.

"Nuh-uh! You need to shower, mister!" she ordered him and turned away to hide her blush when blurry images of naked skin and something about soap and gravity came to her mind.

"That might be the best idea you've had in a while" he said dreamily and she knew that his mind was exactly where hers had just been.

She turned around to glare at him. "Alone!"

He pouted and looked at her with giant puppy eyes, but she had no mercy. Throwing his boxers at his face, she stormed into the adjoining bathroom and firmly shut the door. His shoulders slumped when he heard the lock turn around.

"Kaaaaaate!" he whined and because he couldn't see her she allowed herself a bright smile of childish glee. She turned on the giant wonderful shower Rick had dubbed "The Double Rainbow Maker" and he sniffed like a baby. "Kaaa-haaaate!" he whined again and her laugh echoed off the tiled walls.

"Go shower downstairs" she told him through the closed door and stepped into the spray.

A/N: And yes, I am indeed having a ball with this story. ;)

A huge thank you goes out to manuxinhace. This chapter would have never been written if she weren't so insistently inspiring.