When Rick and Kate came back to the loft the next day, it was almost noon. Alexis and Claire were preparing lunch and Jim was playing with Andy on the couch. As the couple was trying to get to their bedroom unnoticed, Alexis turned around.
"Hey guys! how was your party?"
"Oh it was great!" Kate answered, "now I just want to go to bed and stay there until tomorrow when I have to leave for work."
"Dad, what happened to your shirt?" Alexis asked when she got closer to her father.
"Nothing, nothing happened to his shirt." Kate answered before Rick could say anything, pulling him by the hand to their bedroom where she closed and locked the door.
"What was that?" Rick asked, laughing.
"What were you going to say?"
"I don't know, I …"
"I'm sure she would have thought something was up anyway and I'm not ready to share everything with your daughter just yet, and I will never be ready to share these kind of details with everyone, and certainly not your daughter."
"Yeah, because you literally dragging me in here does not seem strange at all!" he laughed. "You really think I would have told her what happened? How we were hardly in the elevator of the hotel before you literally threw yourself at me? How in a desperate need to get me naked you torn my shirt half way down before we passed the door of the bedroom? How …"
"Ok, I get it." Kate laughed, taking her dress off to put something more comfortable on. "But I didn't hear you complain last night."
"Oh I'll never complain about that, or there will be something wrong going on." Rick said, going to her and taking her in his arm. "I'll remember last night all my life." he whispered in her ear, his hands roaming over her body covered only in underwear.
"Last night was … more than anything I could have ever imagined. It was just … perfect!" Kate said, kissing him lightly.
Rick didn't lose time to deepen the kiss and Kate soon felt her panties fall on the floor. She sighed with happiness when she felt him carry her to the bed. She was exhausted after their night of sweet and passionate lovemaking – they left the hotel only because they had to leave the room before noon – she didn't think she had any more energy left but apparently her body seemed to think otherwise … and she was more than happy to oblige.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
When they finally emerged from their bedroom, lunch was finished and Jim was doing the dishes. Kate went in the kitchen and gathered the ingredients to prepare sandwiches for her and Rick. They had not eaten since the dinner at Lanie's the night before. Well, they had had some breakfast. Kind of … It started rather innocently … until Rick "accidentally" dropped some maple syrup on her thigh. Needless to say it didn't stay innocent very long and that they ran out of syrup pretty soon. Kate was startled out of her thoughts when her father shut the cupboard door next to her. She blushed as soon as she realized she was so lost in her memories she was still in front of the open fridge.
"Do I want to ask?" Jim asked
"No, you don't want to." Kate answered, gathering her things and heading to the living room table.
A few minutes later, Rick went back in the kitchen to get some water for the both of them.
"What did you do to her to make her so happy?" Jim asked Rick, no particular answer in mind.
He did get an idea when he heard Kate yell "DAD!" from the table and when he saw Rick choke on his water and blush more than he could think possible.
This conversation was dropped there, for everyone's greatest pleasure. The rest of the day went by slowly and calmly. They all decided to have a Disney marathon, so that Andy could watch with them, even if he went to play after half an hour. Kate quickly fell asleep against Rick who shifted so that she could lay more comfortably, her head on his lap. Rick was fighting to keep his eyes open and finally lost the battle during the second movie, a hand on Kate's cheek, the other buried in her hair.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
When Detective Beckett walked in the precinct the next morning, she felt like she didn't belong there. She belonged in her bed, in her boyfriend's arms, maybe on the break room couch but certainly not at her desk. She put her purse on the desk and collapse on her chair.
"Hard weekend Detective Beckett?" Jake asked
"No, just too short. How many times did I tell you not to sit in that chair?" Kate asked, angry. "Today is really not the day to mess with me, I'm warning you …"
Just as he was about to talk, Jake was cut off by the appearance of a really relaxed and really tanned Kevin Ryan.
"Hello everyone! Missed me much?" he asked, sitting at his desk and clearing the paperwork that has been piled up on his desk. "Maybe you didn't have time missing me, you were too busy partying … without me!" he continued, handed a newspaper to Kate who had approached his desk.
"What is it?" she asked, taking the newspaper.
"I don't know, you tell me. Look at the last page."
Kate turned the newspaper and … stopped. Stopped moving, stopped thinking, stopped breathing.
"What is THAT ?" she almost yelled
"Well, apparently it's you hitting on Javier during a party." Ryan laughed.
Kate glared at him before going back to the newspaper. On the picture, she was dancing with Esposito and both of them had huge smiles on their faces. The headline read Things are heating up for Nikki Heat. She read the caption under the picture and could not believe what she saw: A new love interest for Det. Beckett? it sure seemed so on Saturday night … TBC ...
"I can't believe that! I …"
"Hey, wouldn't that be my new love interest sitting on my desk?" Esposito asked, laughing, when he entered the precinct.
"Shut up Espo, that's not funny!" Kate snapped.
Before he could reply, Montgomery was coming out of his office and walking towards them.
"Well, I'm glad to see your team complete again Beckett. How was the honeymoon Ryan?"
"Perfect Sir."
"I'm glad to hear it. Now please go back to work, we have a fresh one." he said, giving Kate a piece of paper with an address on it. "Oh and Detective Beckett? Try not to distract your new love interest too much during the investigation!" he added as the three detectives were entering the elevator.
He saw Kate glare at him when the door closed and heard a "Shut it or I shoot you" destined to her fellow detectives when they couldn't stop laughing.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
When Kate went back to the loft that night, she was not happy.
"Hey Kate, how was your day?" Rick asked, coming to kiss her, leaving her father and Andy play with a ball while Claire and Alexis were in the kitchen speaking French. Why the hell are they speaking French? Kate thought.
"Horrible!" was the only answer she gave Rick, taking her coat off and kicking her shoes in the closet.
"What happened?" Rick asked, taking her by the hand and leading her on the couch.
"Well, first of all, I'm tired. Second, everyone thinks I'm cheating on you with Esposito. Even the Captain made fun of me. Then we got a big case but the Feds showed up and took it without any explanation. Oh and also, you didn't come to the precinct as you said you would. And finally I'm tired."
"You said that already," Rick laughed.
"Well it's because I'm VERY tired." She said sharply, daring him to say something on the topic.
"Ok" he answered.
During their staring contest, Jim couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" Kate asked, not in a good mood.
"You remind me of your mother, that's all." Jim said, a smile on his face.
"Dinner's ready!" Claire announced form the kitchen.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
After dinner Rick had drawn Kate a bath, in which he had been invited, for his greatest pleasure. They stayed in the tub until the water had turned cold but Kate was still tense and grumpy.
"Go lay down on the bed," Rick said locking the door of their bedroom, "and get rid of that towel."
"Rick, I'm really not in the mood right now, I …"
"No, I just want to give you a massage, it'll help you relax, help you go to sleep and tomorrow you'll be as good as new."
"You know how to give a massage?" Kate asked, surprised, but laying on the bed without any hesitation.
"I'll have you know Miss Beckett that I give the best massages in … this whole building. Now shush and relax."
It appeared that Richard Castle really did give extraordinary full body massages. Kate was sound asleep after half an hour. He continued to massage her until she was completely relaxed and covered her with the comforter before leaving their bedroom.
"How is she?" Jim asked as Rick settled on the couch with his laptop.
"She's sleeping. She'll be better tomorrow."
"Did you talk to her?"
"No, I'll wait for tomorrow. There is no point in worrying her tonight. Is it still here?"
"Yes." Jim answered from the window seat where he was sitting.
Looking outside, he spotted the car that had followed Rick everywhere he had gone during the day. This time however, there was no one in it.