A/N : Contains some situations of an adult nature. Nothing graphic, but read at your own discretion.

CHAPTER NINE

With great determination, Neal set out to find Alex. He asked everyone at the party where she was, but nobody seemed to know where she went. Neal wasn't discouraged though. He excused himself and went outside to find her.

At the beach, he saw Kersen and Merpati trying to make sandcastles. He quickly approached the two kids for information.

"Kersen, Merpati, you wouldn't happen to see Miss Sierra around here somewhere, would you?" Neal asked them.

The two children looked at him and then at each other, and then pointed at two completely OPPOSITE directions. "That way!" the two said in unison.

Neal chuckled and shook his head. "I get it. Did she by any chance tell you guys NOT to tell me where she went.?" he asked again.

Merpati gently nodded her head as a yes, while Kersen shook his head vigorously.

Neal smiled at the two. So, this must be what having kids must feel like. he thought. "Okay, I'll make you guys a deal...I'll help you build your sandcastle after you tell me where Miss Sierra is." Neal said.

The two looked at each other once again. Merpati whispered into Kersen's ear. Then, the young boy spoke up. "You help us with our sandcastle first, and THEN we tell you where Miss Sierra is." Kersen told him.

"Smart kid." Neal muttered. "Okay then." he agreed.

They began to build the sandcastle. The children started to help him out at first, but merely stood there after a while and let him do all the work. The looked in awe of what Neal was building. He worked diligently, and eventually finished his little kingdom made of sand. He paused briefly, admiring his handiwork.

He lifted his head to look at the kids. "What do you think? Good enough?" he asked. The two nodded their heads and both gave him the two thumbs up sign. "Now, tell me where Miss Sierra is. A deal is a deal." he told them.

The two kids paused, and then looked behind him. Neal turned around, only to find Alex trying to duck away and hide from him again. "Too late...I already saw you." he called her out.

Alex slowly came out from the corner. "Hey." she greeted in a casual tone. She looked sternly at Kersen and Merpati, who quickly ran away, laughing.

"Hey yourself." Neal replied. "You've been hiding from me." he accused her.

"Now, why would I do that?" she asked.

"You tell me." he said.

Alex looked past him and saw the sculpture in the sand. She gasped out loud in astonishment. "Neal, that's beautiful!" she praised his work. She moved closer to have a better look. It was a model of New York City, made out of sand.

"You're changing the subject." Neal pointed out, as he moved closer to her.

Alex ignored him and focused on the sandcastle. "Hey, that's the McNally Jackson." she said pointing to a small sand building. "And that's Lombardi's! Best pizzeria place in NoLiTa!" she exclaimed with delight.

Neal annoyance quickly dissipated as he heard the joy in her tone. He moved closer behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his chin upon her shoulder. "You really like it?" he asked.

"Yes." she answered. "You really can turn anything into a work of art. Show off!" she teased. She stared at the sandcastle once again. "You must miss it a lot." she said, in a more serious tone.

"Don't you?" Neal asked her.

"Yes...but I can always go back if and and when I want to." Alex pointed out.

"And I can't." Neal said flatly. "Well...I'm in paradise now, so it really doesn't matter." he declared.

"Liar." she told him, before pulling away.

"Where are you going now?" he asked.

"I have things that I need to do." she responded.

"The only thing you need to do at the moment is keep me company." Neal told her.

Alex shook her head. "I have some place else where I need to be." she said firmly. She tried walking away, but Neal stopped her.

"The only place where you need to be is here with me." he said. "Come on, Alex! You can't deny me that. It's my birthday." he pointed out.

"Speaking of which, don't you have a party you need to get back to?" she asked.

"I don't have to do anything that I don't want to. Right now, I want to spend time with you. Consider it a birthday gift." he answered.

"I already gave you your present." she reminded him.

"I'll give your gift back to you if you promised to stay with me." Neal offered.

"You can't just vanish at your own party." Alex told him.

"Why not? It's my party. You're sneaking away...I'm coming with you." Neal replied.

Alex laughed slightly. "Fine, then." she said softly.

"What's that?" Neal asked.

"I said okay...you can come with me." she answered, as she walked away.

Neal grinned widely. He took one last look at his New York City sandcastle, before turning away to follow Alex.

"Where are we going?" he asked, jogging quickly to catch up to her.

"You'll see." she answered mysteriously.

They kept walking until they reached the end of the shore. Alex pulled away a net covering, to reveal a wooden, double-ended lapstrake rowboat, about 14 feet long.

"Hmmm...yours?" Neal asked.

"It belongs to a friend of mine. He lets me borrow it every now and then." Alex replied.

Neal helped her push the boat into the water. They both hopped in. Alex gave him a life vest. "Put that on." she told him, while putting on her own jacket. Once they were both secured, Alex took both of the oars, and started rowing.

"I can do that, you know?" Neal said.

"Do you know where we're going?" she asked him.

"No." he answered.

"I do...so that makes me in charge of the rowing." she said. "Now, all you have to do is sit there, keep quiet, stay pretty and enjoy the ride." she ordered him.

"Yes, ma'am!" he replied. He kept quiet for the most part of the ride, until he couldn't take the silence anymore. "Be honest. You're going to take me to the middle of the ocean and then drown me, aren't you?" he joked.

"If I wanted to drown you, I wouldn't have bothered with the life vest, now would I?" she pointed out. She stopped rowing when they were about a mile away from the shore. They sat there silently.

"Now what?" Neal asked.

"Now, we wait." Alex answered.

"Wait for what?" Neal insisted.

"Shush!" Alex used her fingers to press Neal's lips together to keep him quiet. She paused for a moment. "You hear that?" she asked.

Neal shook his head. He was about to say something, when he heard huge splashing sounds from the water, followed by high-pitched shrills and chirps. Not too far away from their location was a pod of bottlenose dolphins playing in the water.

"Welcome to Dolphin Bay, Caffrey!" Alex announced. "This is when the life vest comes in handy." she said, as she pushed him into the water.

She chuckled as she heard him gasp in surprise. She quickly joined him within a few seconds. Together, they swam closer to the pod. They watched in amusement as the dolphins did flips and dives. A few of them leaped into the air , while some 'walked' on water using their tails. They listened as the dolphins whistled and made loud clicks and squeaking sounds, as if they were trying to communicate with them.

"Whoa!" Neal shouted. "That was very inappropriate!" he said to the dolphin who just poked him in the butt.

Alex laughed. "That's Oscar. It's his way of saying hi." she told Neal.

"Nice to meet you Oscar." Neal said to the dolphin. He shifted his gaze to Alex. "You know their names?" he asked her.

Alex nodded. "You already met Oscar. That one to your left is Matina. The one next to her is Rani. Over there is Kai. The one next to him is Darwin. That one is Ula. And this baby one right here is Kishi." she said, pointing to every dolphin of the pod. "Everyone, meet Neal George Caffrey." she said, followed by loud chirping sounds. "They're very glad to meet you, Neal." she translated.

"Pleasure's all mine." Neal laughed. "Uh oh...seems like Kai and Ula are having a fight." he said, noticing how Kai was head-butting Ula, while Ula scratch her tooth at Kai.

"Uhm...no." she replied. "It's...one of their rituals." She looked away from Neal, slightly blushing. "Dolphins tend to behave aggressively when they're about to mate." she added.

"Mate?" Neal repeated. "Hmmm...KINKY!" he chuckled. He slowly swam closer to Alex, turning her around to face him. "Thank you." he said.

"For what?" Alex asked curiously.

"Oh, I don't know...for being fantastic and amazing." Neal replied.

"You say that now...but the qualities you find so interesting and amusing about me at the moment, will be the same reasons that you'll hate me for in the end. You just wait and see." Alex scoffed, as she tried to swim away.

Neal caught her before she could escape. He wrapped one of his arm around her, while his other hand gently cupped her chin. Slowly, he brought her face closer to his. "Do you trust me?" he asked her.

Alex wanted to say no. But there was something in Neal's eyes...something intense, which made her reconsider. "Yes." she whispered, nodding her head.

"Then TRUST me." Neal told her. "God knows I don't deserve it. But if you give me another chance, I promise you won't regret it. I am done hurting you, Alex. I just want to make you happy. Please, believe that. I NEED you to believe that." he pleaded.

If past experiences have taught her anything, it's to take anything that Neal Caffrey says with a grain of salt. Only, something seemed to be different this time. He seemed different. Her head was screaming for her to turn away; her heart was shouting for her to take a chance. She stared into Neal beautiful blue eyes, and all her doubts melted away.

"I believe you." she answered softly.

Neal's face beamed with happiness. He pressed his body closer to her and pulled her into a deep, slow kiss. A kiss filled with promise. A kiss that seemed to last an eternity. A kiss that jolted her body right down to her core. They both moaned into each others mouth, and only pulled away when they ran out of breath.

They held each other close, while they continued to watch the playing dolphins, occasionally giving each other passionate kisses. Eventually, the pod of dolphins swam away, as the sun began to set.

"We should be heading back too." Alex told him.

Neal nodded as they swam back to the boat. He took charge of rowing the boat this time, as they returned to shore. Alex just sat there quietly, staring longingly at Neal. He smiled back at her.

"What are you thinking?" he asked her.

"I can't wait till we get back to shore." she answered, biting her lower lip seductively.

Neal grinned widely. "Me neither." he told her.

Once they got back to the island, they put the boat back to its place and covered it up again. They took their life vests off and were on their way back to Neal's villa when they heard a commotion. Alex gasped and quickly covered her mouth. She completely forgot. Lima's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Here he is!" Lima announced. Everyone exclaimed and greeted Neal back. Lima gave Alex a stern look. "You were only supposed to keep him occupied until we were ready." she chastised her friend.

"Sorry. We lost track of time." Alex apologized.

Lima noticed both their appearance, wet and disheveled. "I bet." she teased. "Alright, Blue...go mingle with your guests. We need to do some girl talk." she told Neal.

"Didn't we already have a party earlier?" Neal asked Lima.

"That one? That was for the children." Lima scoffed. "This is the real fiesta...the after dark party. For ADULTS only." she said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Enjoy!" she added before quickly pulling Alex away from him.

Neal tried to protest, but the two quickly disappeared in the midst of the crowd. He sighed and looked around him. He was surrounded by a huge gathering of people...some of them he knew, most of them were unfamiliar. There was a group of island people beating the drums, surrounded by face-painted fire-breathers and half-naked fire dancers. He saw Charlie and Tango dancing with a few island girls, while Mozzie tried his hand on playing the drums. Neal chuckled. On any of his past lives, this party would have been his kind of scene. But at the moment, he only had one thing on his mind, and that is to be with Alex.

He pushed his way out of the crowd, desperately searching for her. Finally, he found her standing by the portable bar next to Lima, watching the crowd enjoy the festivities.. He quickly grabbed Alex's hand and pulled her away. Side by side, they ran together, away from the crowd. They went into a secluded are, underneath the trees.

Neal pushed Alex gently, easing her back against one of the kelapa trees. He took her mouth and kissed her fervently, until he had her moaning.

"I need you, Alex!" he told her. "I need to be inside you so badly. I need to taste every inch of you!" he whispered, in between kisses.

"Later, I promise." she told him. "You just need to be patient." she added, followed by another moan.

"I think I've stretched my patience long enough!" he said, gently nipping her lower lip in between his teeth.

Alex winced, and pulled away slightly. "You can't just ditch your party twice in one day." she reminded him.

"I want my own private party...just the two of us." he demanded, as he placed open-mouthed kisses on the side of her neck. His hand slid underneath her soft cotton shirt, caressing her breasts non too gently, while his other hand slithered its way inside her denim shorts, his nimble fingers working their way inside her.

Alex let out a loud whimper, as she felt his fingers massage her core. It was a good thing no one could hear her through the loud music. She gasped and moaned louder while Neal continued his merciless assault on her body. She wrapped hers arms around his neck, her teeth gently latched on to his shoulders, biting him gently. She could feel her entire body shaking, as she inched closer to the edge. She mustered up her remaining strength to pull away slightly.

"Neal...please...not here...not now!" she begged, her body quivering.

Neal growled in protest, but eventually obeyed. He stopped his assault on her body, and rested his his forehead on the side of her neck. Once he regained his composure, he raised his head and stood up straight. "Fine!" he replied gruffly. "Not here." he repeated. Without warning, he scooped up Alex's body and draped her over his shoulders. Without permission, he began to carry her away, like a caveman dragging his mate back to the cave.

"Neal! What are you doing? Put me down!" she demanding, screaming and kicking aimlessly.

"No!" he replied abruptly. "You said not here, not now. Well then, I'm taking you back to my place and have my way with you." he told her.

"But...your party!" she reminded him.

"In case you haven't noticed, the party is going on, with or with out us. They're having fun...why can't I? It is MY birthday, after all." he pointed out, as he continued to carry her struggling body.

They ran into Charlie on their way back. "What's a crack-a-lackin', Firecracker?" he asked Alex, obviously quite tipsy.

"Charlie! Could you please tell Neal to put me down!" she ordered him.

"Yeah, right! Like that's gonna do you any good." Neal told her. He turned to Charlie. "Listen, man...you're in charge of the party now. Crank it up to a semi-respectable level." he said to the older man.

"Cool beans, Blue Eyes! You can count on me!" he gave Neal a two-fingered salute.

"TRAITOR!" Alex screamed at Charlie.

"Now, now...say goodnight, Alex." Neal told her, chuckling softly.

"Goodnight, Alex." she obeyed, admitting defeat, as she allowed Neal to carry her back to his villa without struggle.

"About damn time!" Neal said, grinning in triumph.

~END OF CHAPTER NINE~

FOOTNOTES :

*Hope you like this chapter. Thanks for all the continued support. Now, go enjoy the White Collar season premiere.