Ok, I'm a bit behind schedule cause I've been playing with these characters at the Ology, Best Crime Show contest! Feel free to visit it, we can use all the Fans we get! ology/1765/castle should be the link to it!

As always, thanks to my beta caskett. Vs .stanathan (I'll be sending you some things tonight), and thanks to you, for keep on reading this story. Feel free to review, but be warned: reviews, alerts and favorites, make me happy thus make me write more !

Hour 40

I guess I must have fallen asleep after all, for the next thing I know, Beckett is crouched next to me on the couch.

"Hey. When did you get here?" I mumble sleepily.

"About 10 minutes ago." She looks down at me with a disapproving glare and says: "What are you doing here? You have the most comfortable bed in the world and yet you decide to nap here?"

"Hey my couch is comfortable too! Besides, I couldn't sleep."

"Didn't seem that way to me…"

"Well, yeah, I couldn't sleep while I was in the bed!"

"And why on earth not?"

I' m embarrassed about this, so, in the smallest voice I can muster I say "Because it smells like you…"

"What? I didn't quite catch that."

Oh but I beg to differ. Her smile tells me she heard every word of it. But I give in. Her smile is mesmerizing and I seem to be in some sort of trance over it.

"My bed smells like you!"

"And that is a bad thing?"

"It is when you're not in it! I smell the cherries and that amazing smell that is all you and I just miss you. I tried holding your pillow, but it's not the same. It's cold and impersonal, while your body is warm and oh so alive…"

"Tell you what. Why don't we go to your bedroom, find me something more comfortable to wear and we both try to sleep? I took a pain killer on my way here and I'm already feeling its effect."

"Oh my God, Kate! I completely forgot about your bruises and I made you walk in the park for half the day!"

"You didn't force me to do it, Castle! It was actually my idea. It felt good to be outside, and it felt great to be with you, holding hands, hugging under the trees. Please, don't make me regret admitting to being tired now, after the amazing day we've had so far."

"Fine. But I still don't like the fact that I forgot about your bruises!"

"I do. It means you were more preoccupied with us and our future than with the last mistake I made. I've told you already I'm not proud of those bruises, and knowing that you forgot about them makes me feel good with myself. Now chop, chop! Get up so we can both get some rest."

"Can I kiss you until we fall asleep?"

"You don't ever need to ask if you can kiss me. As long as you don't go around kissing me in front of Iron Gates, feel free to kiss me whenever and wherever you wish to do so. Well, besides a murder scene. Those are off the table too. And if I were you, I'd refrain from kissing me too much in front of my dad…and Lanie won't let it go if we go around kissing. And the boys might threaten you…"

You know what? I'm tired of this. I just kiss her to prove her point. I can kiss her whenever I want? Well, I want to do it now. And I do so. Thoroughly.

"Hey! I wasn't done yet!"

"If I'd let you continue, you would have restrained the kissing to my bedroom!"

"Shut up and take me to bed."

"As you wish!"

I stand up and putting an arm behind her knees and another at her back, I pick her up. I was sure she was going to protest but she just holds me around the neck and kisses me on the cheek. "Don't get used to it. I won't always allow you to do this."

"I'll take what I'm given when it's given to me. And as I've told you before, I'll find a way to get you to allow me to take care of you to the full extent of my ability."

"Whatever you say writer boy! Now please put me down so I can change."

"Ok, but you have to remain topless."

"Says who?"

"Says me. If I'm not wearing a shirt, it's only fair that neither should you."

"Or you could put one on."

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because my bruises are even worse now than they were this morning. And I just don't want to see your eyes looking as sad as they did then. So, unless you've suddenly learned how to school your features into hiding your sorrow, then I really don't want to be topless right now. But I do love the feeling of your chest to my face..."

"I feel like I should complain about it, but I'll let it slide just this once. I've been offered the great opportunity to have your face nestled on my chest, and I won't jeopardize that. So, what do you want to borrow? A button down or a regular t-shirt"

"Actually, I brought my own stash of bed clothes…"

"Is there anything you think I'd enjoy in particular?"

"Actually, I think there is, but you're not ready for that, stud. At least, I know I'm not. So if it's fine by you, I'll wear one of my t-shirts, a pair of your incredibly soft silk boxers and change in the bathroom while you start making some space for my clothes in your closet."

I do as I'm told, and I can't say I'm disappointed when she comes out. Seeing her in a ratty old Stanford T-shirt (seriously, how old is that thing? 14 years or so!) and my boxers and doing nothing about it is as hard as seeing her half naked and doing nothing about it. Because you'll see, there is something incredibly arousing about seeing her that comfortable in front of me. We've actually done nothing big yet and she's already foregoing the lace for the baggy t-shirt. She's that sure of herself. Of us. "I love the wardrobe choice, Beckett."

"Really? I thought you'd say something about it being less sexy than me in one of your shirts."

"First of all, sexiness is a quality you bring to anything you wear. As far as I'm concerned, you could wear a garbage bag and you'd still manage to turn my head. And secondly, I was just thinking that the level of comfort we've developed in two days is extremely arousing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure you're sexy as hell in lace and I'm dying to see you wearing something that's meant for my eyes only, but having you in my bed, getting ready to take a nap in the middle of the day, wearing a t-shirt that is almost as old as my daughter is an arousing fact in itself."

"How about a little less conversation and a little more action Castle? Come to bed so you can kiss me to sleep."

"I thought you wanted for me to make you some room in my closet?"

"I wanted for you to start doing that while I got ready, not while I sleep. What makes you think I could sleep surrounded by your smell but without your warmth next to me? I'm not the only one who left an imprint on this bed. Actually, I think that I can even smell you in the mattress, regardless of the sheets we've been sharing for the last couples of nights…"

I don't need to be told twice. I leave my clothes were I found them and go straight to bed. She comes to me immediately, and she has her arms around me almost before I'm fully lying on the bed. And before I know what's going on, she's straddling me, her tongue down my throat. Her hands holding mine over my head. I want to bring them down and run them all over her body, but she won't let me.

"You said you wanted to kiss me to sleep. No one said anything about touching. Besides, I won't ever fall asleep if you start running those hand all over me."

"But Kate! I need to touch you! I need to feel you."

"And I need to sleep. I'm getting less responsive by the minute. I took one of the pain pills I had left from, you know, after the whole bullet to the heart odyssey and it's really knocking me out." And she's right, she's getting less responsive by the minute, because before I get the chance to actually fight again to get my hands free, she loosens her hold on them and I'm free to move them around. But we're both kind of ready to nap and I'm not stupid enough to start something we won't finish. As I'm placing my hands on a safe spot on her back I realize that maybe she's given me my hands back with an ulterior motive: suddenly her hands are in my ears. I guess it's kind of an automatic response, but I can't stop the need to, just in case, cover my nose, awkwardly breaking the kiss in the meantime and eliciting an amazing yelp from Beckett. "My God Castle! What were you thinking!"

"You had your hands in my ears! I was just trying to protect my nose! We both know you can twitch them evilly!"

"First of all, how on earth would I twitch three of your body parts with only two hands. And if you think I'm going to bite your nose you're truly mistaken. Secondly, if you really thought I was going to cause you bodily harm, then I was doing something incredibly wrong…" Suddenly she looks unsure of herself. How could she possibly doubt her ability to turn me on?

"What? No! You were doing some really amazing things with your mouth there Beckett! It's just that you let go of my hands after stating that you wouldn't and you suddenly had yours over my ears. I kind of had a reason to worry about it, you know… you've abused them often enough the past four years…"

"Well, you'll be happy to know that the abusive times are over. Trust me, if I ever need to bodily harm you, you'll be enjoying it as much as I."

"Can't wait for that Miss Beckett." I guess she must see something mischievous in my eyes, for she simply rolls over and gets off of me.

"Hey! I wasn't done kissing you!"

"I know that look Castle. You're planning something, and I'm not going to keep on kissing you knowing that you're probably going to get me all worked up and then just start snoring or something. So, after your little display of mistrust, I suggest you get your arms around me and dutifully try to sleep if you want my forgiveness."

"But Kate! I want to keep kissing you!"

"You have to earn that right!"

"Is that a challenge Miss Beckett?"

"It is, but you're gonna have to postpone proving you can manage Rick. I really am tired… So could we maybe, just, you know, cuddle for an hour or so?"

"Yeah, we can do that. But trust me, that's a challenge I'm intending to win."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you! Now shush, I'm trying to sleep!"