"You were almost a little too rough in that last kiss Rick," Beckett said, coming out to the lounge once she was ready.
"I wasn't anywhere near your neck, love," Castle said, turning from the window to watch her walking out to him. "Nice."
"Nothing to scare Julia," Beckett said jokingly. "And she has seen me in this before."
"She's going to be worried though," Castle said, unable to help admiring her in her tight black dress she'd worn their second Valentine's Day together.
"Luckily we'll be there to help her," Beckett replied. She walked over to him then and put her hand on his chest before he could lean over to her.
"It's not like your lipstick is dark," Castle protested though he didn't try that again. He took her hand and after they left the room they went down to the floor where their family was staying, not surprised when Julia opened the door at the room she and her sisters were sharing. "You look great sweetheart," he told the little girl as they stepped inside.
"You too Mommy, Daddy," Julia said, seeing her father was wearing a tie as they had told her the restaurant they were going to for tea required it. She felt reassured that she was dressed well enough and said, "I'm glad you brought this dress Mommy."
"So am I," Beckett said. "You didn't do your hair though."
"She wanted to wait for you," Jim said, since he was already in the room.
"Go get your brush," Beckett said, going to the end of the bed and sitting at the bench there. She wasn't surprised when Julia got her brush from Jim and then hurried back to her. "How would you like me to style it for you tonight?" she asked as Julia sat with her back to her at the end.
"I don't know," the little girl said honestly. "Whatever you think will be good Mommy."
Listening to Castle as he whispered into her ear, Beckett smiled and nodded and then proceeded to brush out Julia's hair.
"Hey I thought I heard a lot more talking than there should have been," Alexis said jokingly. "You guys look great."
"You do too 'lexis," Eliza said quickly.
"She's right, you do," Castle said, hugging his daughter. There was a knock on the door then and he said, "And that'll be your gram."
"You're done sweetie," Beckett said, finishing Julia's braid by tying a dark blue ribbon that had been around her dress box in Paris at the end of it. It matched the color of her dress and as the little girl stood up she straightened the white sash.
"Come here darling," Martha said, bringing her over to her. "Turn around," she said. She smiled at the others as Julia did so and said, "Perfect, you look more than ready to join your parents tonight."
"Thank you Gram," the little girl said shyly though she was smiling.
"We should get going," Alexis said, looking at her watch. "Our reservations."
Picking up Eliza, Castle kissed her cheek and told her, "Have fun out tonight and listen to everyone, stay with them. But you know that already I just have to say that because I'm your dad."
Giggling Eliza hugged him tightly and then said, "I will be good Daddy."
After the two had shared a kiss Beckett took the toddler and kissed her cheek gently saying, "I'm not going to repeat everything your daddy said, just that I hope you have fun too."
"You too Mommy," Eliza said with a smile. She shared a kiss with her mother before she asked to be set down and once she was she rushed over to her sister, hugging her tightly. "You have fun Jules!" she said firmly.
Laughing with the others Julia said, "I will, don't worry."
After they had said goodbye to the others Castle and Beckett walked with them down to the street outside the hotel to watch them get into a taxi. With Julia between them they watched the family leave before pausing to watch a double decker bus pass in the other direction.
"Okay," Beckett said, smiling at the little girl. "I think we're ready to go."
"Yeah," Julia said. When they walked back into the hotel she said, "What do we talk about?"
"You mean while we're eating?" Castle asked her. When Julia nodded he told her, "Whatever you want to."
Nodding at that Julia still couldn't help but feel a little nervous as they came to the Palm Court and she looked at the large, bright room in awe as there was a tall, gilded ceiling and walls and a gold statue to their left. When a waiter led them to their table she was surprised to see that it was next to the statue and she looked at her mother before Beckett was leading her to a table. She was about to protest when her mother sat next to her; Castle alone across from them; but both her parents just looked at her so she merely smiled as she listened to her father ordering their tea.
"You like mint tea right?" Castle asked as the waiter left.
"Yeah," Julia said, knowing that her father was only kidding as he knew that already. "Do I have to put milk in it?"
"Do you want to?" Beckett asked her. When Julia shook her head she said, "Then you don't need to. So what did you think about today?"
Grateful to her mother for that Julia answered, "It was so much fun but there were a lot of religious paintings. I know that's how they painted then but I like the mythological ones… or landscapes."
"Which is probably why you like Mucha," Castle commented. "But they did have some nice paintings."
"The ones of horses were good," Julia said with a slight nod, looking around and realizing some of the other people there were glancing at them.
Following her daughter's gaze Beckett saw what she did and she smiled slightly saying, "They're probably looking at us."
"Oh, really?" Julia asked softly. When both her parents nodded to that she breathed out a little and said, "I hope so." But she then had a thought and said, "What if we do write that book?"
"We're nearly finished with it," Castle said. "We weren't planning on having a picture for it if we get it published. Though I was telling your mom a family picture with you would be so cute." He wasn't surprised to see Julia's eyes widen for a moment before he continued saying, "But she convinced me it would be better to just say who we are on the book jacket."
"If they make the book into a real one," Julia said. She smiled when her father nodded in what she knew was supposed to a begrudging manner but couldn't speak as the waiter was coming back with their tea. "Oh Mommy, this reminds me of when we went back at home," she said as she watched Beckett pouring the tea.
"It does," she said in agreement. "But there's something about it here that makes it more authentic."
"Like these cups," Castle said, studying the floral patterned china.
"You've stayed here before," Beckett told him as she was helping their daughter prepare her tea the way she liked it.
"Never had tea before," Castle responded easily. He took a sip of tea and said, "I'll accept it."
"Accept it," Beckett said, rolling her eyes.
"After Earl Grey," Castle said to her simply.
"Do you talk like this when we're not with you?" Julia asked, having watched them in amusement.
"We do," Castle answered first. "But we're not doing that the whole dinner."
"During this trip we've talked about our plans, you and your sister," Beckett continued. "Whatever comes to mind really we talk about."
"And you like that," Julia stated.
"Does that seem weird to you?" Castle asked, studying her to see her expression.
"No I'm just wondering if that's what you do on a date too," Julia said, blushing a little.
"You're sure she's not dating," Castle said to his wife.
"She's not," Beckett said in exasperation, though it was a mock tone of voice since she knew he wasn't serious. "She's just wondering. And sweetie what we talked about changed when we got married but that was because we didn't really need to get to know each other that much as we did when we were just dating."
"And even then we knew a lot," Castle said.
"Not a lot," Beckett corrected.
"That's true," Castle replied with a nod. "But hey, we're still in love so we must have done something right." When he saw the expressions on their faces across the table he said, "Doesn't work?"
"No but you answered my question, thank you," Julia said.
Watching as their food was served Beckett said to her daughter when they were alone again, "One of these is salmon, I'm assuming you won't want that."
Julia smiled and said, "No thank you."
"Then we can divide these more evenly…" Castle said, setting the two salmon sandwiches on two plates. "We have ham, egg, cucumber… cheese with chutney; that might be spicy."
"Let me try it first for you," Beckett told their daughter who nodded. "And last should be chicken. Go ahead and pick three of those sandwiches that are left."
Julia took the first three that her father had named and watched her parents split up the rest. She then said, "Are we still going tomorrow?"
"Going to tomorrow?" Castle asked teasingly as she took a bite of the cucumber sandwich. "I think that'll happen."
"We're going to the museum," Beckett said, rolling her eyes at her husband.
"I can't wait for that," Julia told them, trying to temper her excitement as much as she could. "But it's a big museum isn't it? I remember in the book it was huge."
"We'll have to do what we did at the Louvre probably," Castle said, looking at his wife.
"We will but we're only heading to Harrod's after that," Beckett replied. "And we do have a while until we have to go to dinner before the play. So we'll try to see as much as possible."
"I can't wait," Julia repeated. She giggled behind her hand as her parents smiled at her and said, "So you know for sure."
"I had a feeling," Castle said.
"Are you enjoying your dinner?" Beckett asked, turning to Julia.
"Oh I am," the little girl assured them. "And I can't wait to try the scones."
"And the desserts at the top I'm sure," Beckett said wryly though she smiled at her daughter.
Seeing the loving smile on her mother's face Julia wanted to hug her tightly in thanks. But she couldn't forget where they were and she only smiled back at Beckett before her father was asking her something.
"Do you miss your dancing sweetheart?" Castle asked.
Looking over at him as she had to wonder why he'd asked that Beckett turned to Julia, wondering what her reply would be.
"I am, I hope I won't be out of shape when I go back to them," Julia said. She frowned and said, "I wish I could practice."
"You could," Castle told her. "We're taking you up to our room tonight to watch a movie so you could practice a little before that."
"We should walk though," Beckett told them. "I'm thinking we can go to Green Park, since it's right across the street."
"How much can we walk through?" Julia asked interestedly as they'd walked by it before but hadn't gone into it.
"A little but not too far since it's going to be getting a little late for you," Beckett replied.
Excited at that Julia finished the last of her sandwiches before she looked at the sculpture they were near, studying the woman in it. She nearly jumped when Beckett put her hand on her shoulder and turned her attention to the scone that her mother handed her. "There's going to be a lot left over," she told her parents as she put some cream and strawberry jam on both sides of the scone, trying to be as neat as possible.
"Luckily we can take the leftovers with us," Castle replied. "And have it for breakfast tomorrow."
"Even the clotted cream and jam," Beckett said with a slight smile as Julia looked surprised at that.
"Even the desserts?" Julia asked.
Glancing at the four different kinds of dessert at the top; two of each; Castle said, "Maybe but that's up to your mom."
"We'll see," Beckett told her, refilling their tea cups.
Julia smiled and then asked her parents about who their favorite artists were as they ate their scones. She wasn't surprised when they both agreed on Mucha; since they had earlier; but also they talked about another favorite. "Is that the one from the museum in California?" she asked when they said they had always loved the painting Irises.
"It is and it was wonderful to get to see it of course," Beckett said. She then looked at her husband and said, "One summer we need to take them to just California."
"I was thinking about that," Castle told her in agreement. "And that would be great."
"Even though we went there before?" Julia asked though she was thrilled at the idea.
"The whole state," Castle told her. "From the top to the bottom so you can see all of it." He wasn't surprised when Julia couldn't stop herself from looking excited and he smiled saying, "But that's in the future of course, for now are you still hungry?"
Julia nodded and took a yellow macaron from the top before she took a bite. She looked around the room before she finished eating and said, "Thank you for bringing me."
"You're very welcome," Beckett said, running her hand over the back of her head.
"Mommy," Julia said in slight exasperation though she was smiling; a little embarrassed at that.
"I'm sorry but you know I love you sweetie," Beckett said.
Julia smiled at her mother and nodded before she said, "Do you like your dessert?"
"A lot," Castle said, studying his wife as he could remember when Alexis would start to become embarrassed by his displays of affection or when she thought he was treating her like a little kid. He made a note in the back of his mind to talk with her about that later when he saw that Julia was refusing a chocolate cake piece from her mother.
"We have a lot here," Beckett said to her husband as she was finished with it herself.
"I'll text Alexis, tell her that they will have dessert when they come back," Castle replied, knowing what she was thinking.
"Eliza will like that," Julia said with a smile as her mother motioned their waiter over. She was surprised when she directed the man to send the leftovers to hers and Castle's room but guessed it was possible to do that at a hotel like the one they were at. She waited as patiently as she could for her parents to finish so they could go; reaching out to take both her parents' hands once they were leaving the restaurant.
Walking down the street and then across it to Green Park Castle and Beckett led their daughter down a path with trees around it until they stopped at the roundabout across the street from St. James' Park.
"Do we need to go back?" Julia asked them.
"We do," Beckett said. "But we'll walk back the long way, through the middle."
As they were doing so Julia looked around at the trees they were passing as well as the other people and she squeezed her mother's hand tightly before they made it back to Piccadilly, the street the hotel was on. When they were back up in her parents' suite she said, "I'm glad you got this for Mommy."
"Me too, it's great to have a big room," Castle replied. "You know the best part of this though?"
"What?" Julia asked, curious as to what he thought.
"Two TVs," Castle said.
Coming out from the bedroom Beckett caught that and told him, "As if we're here that often to be able to watch it."
"You haven't?" Julia asked.
"Your sister's been letting you watch TV?" Castle asked with a smile.
"Just in the mornings," Julia told him and her mother too. "While we're getting ready."
"Cartoons?" Beckett asked. When the little girl nodded she smiled and said, "That's alright and it's not for long."
"No, just for a little bit," Julia replied. She then smiled and said, "We got to see Rupert sometimes."
"I'm sure you were glad for that," Beckett said as she watched Castle getting the remote for the TV before he joined them on the couch.
"Before we start the movie can I ask you and Daddy something?" Julia said as they watched Castle turning on the TV.
"Can you dance? You can," Castle replied. "Just let me know what song-"
"No, not that… not yet," Julia protested. "I was wondering why you had dinner with just me? Why not Alexis and Eliza too?"
Looking at his wife Castle saw her shake her head slightly at him so he let her reply to that while he watched her to see how she would answer.
"Because we wanted the chance to spend some time alone with you," Beckett said, wrapping her arm around her daughter's shoulder and pleased when she didn't try to move away from her. "You're our middle daughter and we don't want you thinking that we spend more time with your sisters."
"But you don't," Julia said earnestly. "You spend time with all of us."
"Still we wanted to do something special with you one time," Castle said. "When Eliza was a baby we spent a lot of time alone with her."
"You had to," Julia said. "But thank you… again."
"You're welcome. So now do you want to dance?" Castle asked.
Smiling Julia said, "Sure." She told her father what song she wanted to hear him play and then began to dance the Jive. She tried her best to do the steps without a partner, luckily able to remember the steps she and her partner had done their last competition.
"Great," Castle said as soon as Julia had stopped dancing and he stopped the song. "You haven't forgotten that at all."
"No," Julia said with a smile, slightly breathless.
"Can you practice anymore or do you need Peter with you?" Beckett asked.
Leaning over on the coffee table Julia thought for a moment and said, "I can practice Bhangra."
"What song would I pick for that?" Castle asked. He was startled when Beckett took the phone from him and then worked on it for a moment. When she showed the phone to their daughter he asked, "How do you know the songs?"
"She told me," Beckett replied to him with a slight smile. "Ready?"
"Yeah but I'm not that good at this," Julia said, blushing a little bit since she hadn't had the chance to practice in front of her parents alone.
"It doesn't matter," Castle said quickly, reassuringly.
"You haven't been dancing this one for too long," Beckett said. "And that's what practice is for."
"Okay I'm ready," Julia said with a smile after she'd taken off her shoes. She began to dance to the Indian song, trying her best to move as her dance teacher taught her. It was hard and by the time she had stopped she was breathing heavily saying, "I need to practice more."
"Will Ms. Grey do that?" Beckett asked, hugging Julia to her as she sat on the couch.
"I think so, she always goes back to dances that we've done before," Julia said. She watched her father pick up the remote again and said, "Daddy?"
"You did a good job sweet-" Castle started to say.
"No can we play a game?" Julia asked him.
"I can go," Castle told his wife with a smile as he didn't mind giving the two some time alone.
"What do you want to play?" Beckett said.
"Michigan rummy," Julia said firmly. "It's about all we have isn't it?"
"Smart girl, I'll be right back," Castle told them. He stood but instead of leaving he leaned over and pressed a kiss to Julia's forehead before he took his wife's lips gently and quickly.
Watching him go Beckett turned to Julia when they were left alone and she said, "Want to look at your book while we're waiting?"
"Oh yes please!" Julia said, jumping up before hurrying over to the bedroom.
"You knew where it was," Beckett said in amusement as she watched her daughter return with it in her arms.
"I could see from where I was sitting," Julia said, handing it to her mother. She sat back next to her and watched as she opened to a certain page. "How pretty," she said, since it was the artwork Zodiac.
"I know," Beckett replied. "It says here it was a design for a calendar."
"That would be a great calendar," Julia said. When her mother turned the page she blushed a little as it was a woman from the waist up nude but she said, "What is it?" as there was writing in French on it.
"An advertisement for this, the Salon des Cent, which was an exhibition where people could buy lithographs like Mucha made," Beckett explained. "Which is why she's holding the tools she is."
"Hey you're looking at the book?" Castle asked them. "I thought you would wait for me."
"You got back fast," Beckett told him, smiling.
"No one in the elevator I got," Castle replied simply before he set the box down on the coffee table. "How're you two going to sit?"
"We won't look at each other's cards," Beckett said, looking at their oldest.
Smiling at that Julia said, "I won't. But will you be able to play there like that Daddy?"
Since he'd moved the armchair on the side of the table Castle said reassuringly, "I'll be fine and I'll win."
"You don't know," Julia shot back before grinning at him.
"We'll find out now," Beckett said to them in amusement before she took the deck of cards from the box. She shuffled and then dealt the first hand, looking at her own.
"Are you going to keep that one?" Julia asked.
"No I'll take the other one," Beckett replied.
"You're not supposed to groan Julia," Castle said after she had done so.
"Why not?" the little girl asked.
"It lets us know that you don't have good cards," Castle explained. "So you might lose because of that."
"I'm not sure if it works like that love," Beckett said to him. "Not for this game anyway."
With a slight shrug of his shoulders Castle said, "Which one of you has the first card?"
"Now you're telling us that you don't have it," Julia pointed out to him.
"Okay so maybe I did," Castle replied. "But that doesn't mean I'll win."
"But it looks like you do have the next card," Beckett said as she'd set down the first card he'd been asking about.
Castle gave her a look; with no real threat behind it; and then set down the two next cards before he watched Julia go next. They went around like that until finally Beckett put down her last card and he said, "See? Ended up being your mom and she didn't give away anything."
"I know," Julia said, laughing slightly. "But that was fun, can we keep playing?"
"Yes we have some time before they'll come back," Beckett replied, looking at her watch for a moment. "And we'll see who wins in the end, since I wasn't the only one to get chips."
Dealing the cards that time Castle said, "I'm excited to get to go."
Sharing a look with Julia, Beckett looked at her husband and said, "That's great but we have no idea what you're excited to go to."
"The play," Castle finally said, not surprised when his wife gave him a look. "I'm drawing you into my conversation," he explained defensively.
"So am I," Julia said. "Are they going to have British accents?" she asked as she suddenly realized that.
"You'll have to ask your gram," Beckett said. "She might know if they will or not." She put down the first card and the game began again as they set down cards into the middle of the game board. She wasn't surprised when Castle won that time and she smiled at their oldest as Julia took chips from one slot, leaning over and kissing her temple before she shuffled the cards for the little girl so they could begin yet again.
"What are you doing?" Castle asked, coming out to his wife as he closed the light in the bathroom behind him.
"Looking at the pages on the British Museum," Beckett told him. "And she's right, it is huge. But there are some places where I think we don't necessarily need to go."
"Like what?" Castle asked, climbing into bed next to her.
"Well… the coins, prehistory I would say," Beckett replied. "But the others we should probably take them to."
"This isn't as reliable as the map we'll get there," Castle said, looking at the map of the place in the book. "Wait, do you think she'd want to see the Lindow Man?"
Looking at the figure in a picture on the bottom of the second page, Beckett thought a moment and said, "Maybe. I think we should likely leave that decision up to her."
"But not Eliza," Castle said.
Giving him a brief look Beckett said, "But what we will see they'll enjoy."
"How do you think they'll do looking at the mummies?" Castle asked her as he saw one of a cat at the top of the first page.
"She's seen them already," Beckett replied; knowing he meant Eliza. "So that I'm not concerned about. But the Lindow Man will probably be more terrifying."
"She might think it's a monster," Castle murmured, looking at the picture again.
"Have you ever gone here?" Beckett asked him.
"Yes but that was back when I first brought Alexis and she was much younger," Castle told her. "So I don't remember everything; mainly the big stuff like the Parthenon sculptures and the mummies. But it'll be a nice refresher for me."
"Did Martha go?" Beckett said. At his shake of his head she said, "Then it'll be a nice trip."
"Most likely," Castle said, leaning over and kissing her shoulder through her NYPD shirt. "You didn't want to wear your nightgown?"
"I'm a little tired," Beckett said though she was smiling at him. "And I think you are too, so let's leave that alone for… a little."
"I don't like leaving it alone," Castle said in mock petulance. He grunted when she patted his thigh; dangerously near to his groin and said, "You said to leave it alone."
"For you to," Beckett said teasingly. She smiled when he groaned in annoyance and said, "Sorry I couldn't help it."
As he watched her flip the book open to a random page Castle said, "It was fun tonight."
"It was," Beckett said a little thoughtfully. She turned to her husband then and asked, "Does it bother you when I spend time alone with her?"
"No if you're thinking that she should want to spend time with both of us I'll say that she does," Castle answered quickly. "But you were her mother first and you two have that bond. So I didn't mind leaving you alone at all."
"We could have gone with you," Beckett said, closing the book but holding her finger in place.
"True but why bother when we would just come back to the room," Castle replied. He was a little surprised when his wife leaned over then and kissed him, groaning in pleasure though it didn't last long enough to him. "I don't know what I'm supposed to think."
"I'm doing that for you," Beckett replied. "We'll get some sleep. Another question I wanted to ask you though."
"Yeah?" Castle asked her.
"Harrod's?" Beckett said.
"I have been there and to a play but not the theater where we're going tomorrow," Castle replied.
"Is that the same person who drove with you past Abbey Road?" Beckett asked him with a smile.
"It is," Castle said simply. "Do you want to hear details?" he asked, looking at her in a little surprise as he didn't think she would.
"No I'm just wondering one more thing," Beckett said.
"Alexis wasn't with me," Castle answered before she could ask. "I wouldn't do that with her on vacation. I've never done that, you can ask her. This is the first time I'm doing that."
"You mean we have been doing that," Beckett said to remind him of their first family vacation in San Francisco.
"Luckily we have a family to watch the girls," Castle said. "Like last night."
"Which was last night," Beckett said easily. She couldn't help smile as her husband groaned in disappointment and she said, "It was great to see Eliza had fun tonight."
"I know," Castle said, not too annoyed as he was tired too. "I'm not surprised she enjoyed the dancing at the restaurant since she's seen Julia doing… sort of a similar style Indian dance." He couldn't help smile then and told her, "Remember the look on her face when she ate her dessert?"
"Not hard to," Beckett responded though she had a slight smile on her face as well. "And all that pink smeared on her lips."
"I told you I'd help you clean it off," Castle said in mock defense. He then took the book still in his wife's hands and put it over on the nightstand on his side. After he got up and went to close the windows, jumping when his wife said his name.
"You take my book away from me and then go to close the windows?" Beckett told him in an angry tone.
"I did," Castle replied since there wasn't really much threat in her voice.
Giving an exaggerated sigh Beckett told him sternly, "Come back to bed."
Castle didn't reply to that, instead hurried to join her again, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as he said, "Should we watch TV now?"
Beckett was about to say no when her husband leaned over, kissing her gently on the lips. "Why bother asking me if you weren't going to let me answer?" she said, watching him.
Castle didn't respond to that and instead he leaned over, kissing her deeper before they slowly parted. He looked intensely into her eyes and said, "I was watching you change earlier."
"You don't think I didn't notice?" Beckett asked him, smiling though it wasn't exactly that strong of a smile.
"And you were okay with that," Castle said, slightly startled.
"I was," Beckett told him. She then bit her lower lip and told him, "I allowed myself that."
Swearing heavily under his breath Castle said, "You make it hard to just go to sleep love."
"I know," Beckett said softly. "Believe me when I say I'm going through the same thing."
Castle wanted to try and convince his wife then that they weren't all that tired and could likely be together again; unable to help remembering how they had been the night before. He brushed his lips across the side of her neck and murmured, "I can't say I won't be able to hold myself back tomorrow."
"I didn't expect you to," Beckett said, wrapping her arms around him tightly. They kissed again and far deeper than they had before as she held onto him securely, feeling his hands grasping onto her back. She shivered as their tongues met hungrily inside her mouth before his hands were sliding down to the small of her back. When they finally pulled away from one another she took a moment to catch her breath and said, "I'm surprised you can hold back now."
"My body is reminding me if I tried to take things further than this it wouldn't last as long as I'd like," Castle said. "Or what I'd make you want either."
"You're too sure of yourself," Beckett said, rolling her eyes.
"Not really, I know what I can do," Castle said. "And you should realize that could be reversed right?"
Beckett sighed though she was having a hard time fighting the smile on her face and she said, "We can watch some TV."
Castle knew she'd said that to calm them down, so he nodded in agreement to that as they lay back together, her against his side. While he was flipping through channels he asked, "When was the last time we did anything like this?"
"Not for a while," Beckett replied, taking the remote easily. She smiled when her husband had no objection to that and she knew the reason why as he began to kiss her forehead and temple. "Here," she said when she spotted something on one channel.
"Benny Hill? Not good," Castle said, shaking his head and taking back the remote to change the channel. "I used to watch it," he said as he could tell his wife was looking at him from the corner of his eye.
"Not a surprise," Beckett said, watching him. "Monty Python?" she said in surprise as he came to another channel showing that.
"It's later, that's probably why they're both on," Castle said with a shrug as he held his wife to his side.
Beckett pressed closer to him as they watched the show, laughing with him and listening to the way Castle's laughter was deep in his chest. When the show went to commercial she moved to raise herself up and leaned down, kissing him gently on the lips. She was pleased when he readily reacted to her; thought not surprised; and she kept that going for a little longer until they needed to part to breathe. "Should I apologize?" she asked him with a smile as they looked at one another.
"No," Castle said, moving her onto her back and kissing her. They kept doing that and he was surprised that he felt no urge to take things further with that. But it wasn't something that they'd never done before; just something that didn't happen all that often. He was startled from gently caressing her tongue with his own at the sound of laughter behind them and he said, "I guess we should finish."
"I guess," Beckett echoed, trying not to laugh. She smiled; trying to be innocent; when her husband glanced at her and she kissed his cheek before they settled back down to watch the TV again.
After they had watched that episode and went through another one Castle finally asked, "What time are we getting up?"
"We're having breakfast with them and the place opens at ten," Beckett said slowly as she was trying to figure that out. "So I think we need to get up at eight forty-five." She sat up with her husband as he reached for his phone and set his alarm there before she was wrapping her arms around him to kiss him. It was a little more intense than she had wanted it to be but since he was responding she decided there was no need to not continue going. Once they had eventually stopped she pulled away slowly and told him, "I love you Rick."
"I love you too Kate," Castle murmured, brushing his lips against hers.
Feeling him moving with her as she lay down on her side facing away from him Beckett pressed back to his chest. Once she was set she whispered a goodnight and closed her eyes feeling very warm and comfortable where she was at that moment as she let her drowsiness take her over completely.
"Sweet dreams love," Castle told her. He wasn't sure when exactly she fell asleep but he soon heard the sound of her deep breathing and he couldn't resist, leaning over to her ear. "Dream of me Kate because I sure as hell am going to see you," he whispered, almost harshly, to her. He pressed a careful kiss behind her ear and then said, "Never can stop my love." And with that he laid back down, holding her close to him as he soon felt his own fatigue creeping up on him and started to sleep as well, doing so easily as he was already anticipating what he would see when he did finally meet his wife in his dreams.