A/N: Remember that fluffy chapter I promised? It's he-ere. And it's a little longer than these chapters have been lately, which could be a good thing. Enjoy! We'll talk later.

Castle woke up the next morning feeling like the nine-year-old on a sugar rush that Kate had once accused him of being. Ever since he'd had the idea for what to do today, he'd hardly been able to think of anything else.

He'd slept well, and as far as he knew, so had Kate. She was still sound asleep when he got up, so was careful to leave the room noiselessly. She'd slept through bits of some of the movies the day before, which to be honest was part of the reason he'd suggested a movie day, so he was fairly confident that she would be awake soon, but still he didn't want to wake her up before she was ready. He knew she had a lot of catching up to do.

But now that he was awake and the plans for later were solidified, he was so excited that he felt like he was bouncing around the house. He started brewing coffee out of some combination of habit and the fact that he was sure Kate would want it when she got up, but he certainly didn't need the energy boost.

He walked out onto the deck and looked across the water. The conditions were exactly as he'd hoped they'd be. All evidence of the previous day's rain was gone. The sun was shining, the air warm, and the water just slightly windblown. This increased his excitement even more.

He leaned against the porch rail as he tried to decide what to tell Kate. Should he fill her in on the plan, or let it be a surprise? He wanted to surprise her, but first he decided to see how she was feeling. If she was in a disagreeable mood, he realized he might have to tell her what they were doing to convince her to go along with it. He was sure of one thing, though. She would love it.

After coming to this conclusion he went inside to check the coffee, not because there was any actual reason that he needed to check it, but because he wanted something to do. He was pleasantly surprised when he found Kate there filling a coffee mug. "Good morning," he greeted her brightly.

She smiled tiredly. "Morning."

He felt concern instantly wash over his face. Kate was one of two people in the world who could take him from exalted to worried so quickly, and the other was his daughter. "Did you sleep okay?" he asked. "You look tired."

She looked up from the task of pouring cream into her coffee and smiled at him again, this time a little patronizing. "I slept fine. Better than I have in a long time. I just haven't had my coffee yet."

"Ah." He grinned. It was possible he'd gotten so used to the broken version of Kate he'd been with for almost a week now that he was starting to forget how she usually was. That wasn't good. How was he going to help her get back to normal if he was no longer sure what normal was? Yes, he reminded himself. She does always look tired before she has coffee in the mornings. "Well, I'm glad."

She leaned against the counter and took her first sip of coffee. "Me too."

He tried to quell the excitement that was welling back up inside of him, but some of it seemed to bubble over. "Big plans for today," he heard himself say. "I hope you're ready."

"Oh? What kind of plans?"

"You'll just have to wait and see."

"How will I know if I'm ready if I don't know what the plans are?"

"Huh." She had a point. "I guess you won't."

"What if I don't want to do whatever it is?"

He smiled. "You will."

"How do you know?"

"I know. Don't you trust me?"

She raised her eyebrows. "With that look on your face? Not at all."

"Excellent. Great place to start. We have to be there by twelve, so be ready by… eleven-thirty."

"Be where?"

"Nice try."

"Well, how do I know what I have to be ready for if you won't tell me where we're going?"

"You're gonna want to wear a bathing suit under your clothes. And that is as much information as you're getting."

She frowned. "So we're going swimming?"

"No. Did I not say that's all you're getting?"

"Are you forgetting that I make people tell me things they don't want to tell me for a living?" Her face fell as soon as it was out of her mouth. "Made," she corrected herself softly.

He internally sighed. This was all he needed. A reminder of why they were really here to dampen her spirits and darken the mood of the day. But he could do it. He could bring her back up. That was the point of what he'd arranged for today anyway, wasn't it? To distract her, to do something that would make her genuinely happy, at least for a little while? "It's still who you are," he reminded her. "That doesn't just go away."

She rolled her eyes with something a little bit deeper than her usual exaggerated annoyance. "Then why can't I get you to tell me where we're going?"

Oh, she was good. Making him feel sorry for her so he felt that he had to tell her? That was admirable. He didn't believe it had been entirely intentional, but nevertheless, she was good. But he wouldn't break. He was going to surprise her, dammit. "It's no reflection on you," he assured her. "I'm just that good."

The beginnings of a grin were spreading across her face. "Oh, please. You would fold like a road map if I used the right ammunition."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why Kate Beckett, that sounds suspiciously like a challenge."

She shrugged. "Maybe it is."

"I'm not going to tell you," he insisted. "It'll be a surprise. Trust me, it'll be better that way."

"Something that you say I'll like…" she said, evidently trying to guess. "And from how excited you are, I'm guessing it's something you'll like too, and something I'll need to wear a bathing suit for…"

"Can't you just let it be a surprise?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Afraid I'll figure it out?"

"To be honest, yes. I will never underestimate your detective skills." He flinched as soon as he heard the "d" word leave his mouth. One step forward, two steps back.

She flinched as well, but thankfully didn't react further than that. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll let it be a surprise."

He smiled. Maybe she was making more progress than he'd realized. "Good."

"This is somebody's house," Kate asserted when he parked the car outside of a place that was just a little more modest than Castle's.

He nodded. "Very good."

"What are we doing here?"

"A friend of mine lives here."

"And we're… visiting?"

"Nope." He led her to the door and rang the bell.

"Then what the hell are we doing here?" she muttered.

Before he could give her the evasive answer his mind had started formulating, a man in a Hawaiian shirt who looked to be somewhere in his forties answered the door. "Hey Rick," he greeted him. "Good to see you again."

"You too, Steve." He shook the man's hand in greeting. "This is my friend Kate," he introduced her. "We're all set."

Steve beamed. "Great." He stepped outside and started leading them around the back of the house. "The jet ski's all ready for you. The tank's full, just keep half an eye on the gauge and make sure you have it back before it hits E."

"Good man, Steve." Grinning, Rick turned to Kate for her reaction.

Her eyes had widened comically. Clearly he'd been successful in surprising her. "Jet ski?" she mouthed to him.

He nodded and let Steve lead them to the back of his house, which was significantly different than Castle's. Castle's property was right on the beach. Here there was grass that led the whole way from the house to a boardwalk a few feet above the water line, at least the way the tide was now. A sea wall separated the water from the houses, and behind Steve's house a dock jutted out into the water. Tied to the dock was a green and black Sea-Doo, so well taken care of that it appeared new, the gel coat gleaming in the sun. "You've done this before, right Rick?" Steve asked.

"Oh yeah, a couple times. But why don't you go over everything again for Kate here?"

Steve agreed and quickly went over the controls and what they all did. Then he fitted each of them with a black neoprene life jacket and patted the jet ski fondly. "Take care of my baby, okay Rick? Oh, who am I kidding? You're Rick Castle! You're a responsible guy. I'm sure it'll be fine. You got a perfect day for it. Have fun out there." With that he waved and left them on the dock.

As soon as Steve was out of earshot, Kate cocked her head at Castle. "Has he met you?"

Castle smiled. "Once. At a book signing I did here a couple of years ago. He's a fan."

She smirked. "I never would've guessed."

He ignored this comment. "He told me if I ever wanted to borrow his jet ski to give him a call. Alexis and her friends have ridden it a few times, so I assume he's basing his information about my responsibility on what he knows about my teenage daughter."

Kate nodded. "Now that makes a little more sense."

"Okay," he said as he sat at the front of the Sea-Doo, careful not to tip it. "Are you gonna continue to make fun of me, or are you gonna get on?"

Still smirking, she sat down behind him. She left a good amount of space between them and held firmly onto the handle behind her seat. "Alright, let's go."

He pushed the lever in the direction that made it go forward, just as Steve had showed him, and allowed himself to float a few feet away from the dock. "You ready?" he asked.

"Ready," she affirmed.

He squeezed the throttle with his thumb, and they rocketed forward with a stomach-lurching jerk. He screamed in a voice a lot more high-pitched than he would've liked and let go of the throttle. By the time they jerked to a stop again, Kate's body was right up against his, her arms wrapped tightly around him. He silently cursed his bulky life jacket.

When he was confident that the jet ski wasn't going to move any more without his consent, he turned around, laughing. Kate let go quickly, her cheeks pink. "Castle, what the hell!" But the edge was taken off of her scold by the fact that she was beaming. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"No, not trying," he laughed. "That just happened a lot quicker than I thought it would."

"I thought you said you'd done this before!"

He shrugged. "I'm a compulsive liar."

She hit his back with a good amount of force, but his life jacket absorbed most of the blow. "You're a compulsive idiot!"

"Okay, maybe, but you have to admit that was kind of fun."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, but it'll be more fun when we actually go somewhere. And you are letting me drive later."

He nodded. "Aye aye, captain. Alright, let's try this again. You ready?"

This time she took hold of his life jacket strap with one hand and the handle behind her with the other. "Yeah. Let's go."

He squeezed the throttle again, this time very lightly at first, gradually increasing the pressure as they picked up speed. He dodged the waves at first, trying to run between them, but he soon discovered that hitting them a little harder made Kate tighten her hold on his jacket, so he started aiming for the waves, trying to overcome the instinct to let go of the throttle when they soared up into the air. He made sure to stay within sight of the dock, having no interest in getting lost at sea on a tiny boat, but there was plenty of water to play with here. Steve had been right, the conditions were perfect.

Kate was laughing behind him the whole time, which made the experience even more fun. It felt good to hear her laugh. She'd been unhappy for too long. He'd thought she'd like this, thought it would be good for her, but he hadn't realized she'd like it this much. When he finally stopped and turned around, it was partly because he wanted to give her a chance to drive, and partly because he just wanted to see her face.

He wasn't disappointed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her so happy, if he ever had. "What do you think?" he asked, beaming as well. "Good idea?"

"Awesome. Can I drive for awhile?"

He nodded. "Absolutely." They fumbled over each other a bit as they tried to switch seats without tipping over, but the Sea-Doo proved surprisingly stable. While a bit graceless, everything stayed upright.

He understood Kate's dilemma about where to hold on once he was in her seat. There was a handle behind him, but holding onto that was a little awkward and didn't feel so stable. The only thing in front of him was Kate. He ended up doing something similar to what she'd done and held on to the handle with one hand and her life jacket with the other.

"You set?" she asked after giving him a few minutes to figure everything out.

"Yep. Let's go."

Apparently having learned from his earlier mistake, she started off easily, and made the transition from not moving to moving pretty fast with a smoothness that he hadn't managed to achieve the whole time he'd been driving. He'd felt like the jet ski had handled a little jerkily, but this didn't seem to be a problem for Kate. She maneuvered it through the water effortlessly, jumping waves and heading away from the dock toward the open ocean as soon as she started driving. She drove faster, more recklessly than he had, but also with more skill, as though she'd been doing it her whole life. Even the way they splashed back down to the surface after hitting a wave seemed softer, more controlled. All in all, it was a better ride.

But after they'd been going for awhile he started to grow a little uneasy, a feeling he didn't enjoy growing in the pit of his stomach. He turned around and could barely see the shore, let alone the dock. With each wave they crested the feeling grew stronger, until he felt compelled to poke the back of Kate's life jacket. "Hey," he yelled to her over the low hum of the engine and the crash of the waves around them. "You think we should turn around?"

"We still have plenty of gas," she called back.

"I'm not worried about the gas, I'm worried about the fact that I can't even see the dock anymore."

She slowed down a little and grinned. "I won't get lost."

They hit another wave and his stomach did a back flip. "Seriously. Can we go back?"

Apparently having heard the seriousness in his voice, she stopped the jet ski and turned around to face him. She frowned when she saw his face. "You okay?"

They drifted over another wave, smoothly this time, but still unpleasantly, and his stomach churned. He swallowed hard. "I've been better."

Realization crossed her face with a mocking smile. "Oh my god. You're seasick. I thought you were Mr. 'I love the ocean'?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so too." At this particular moment, his love for it wasn't at an all-time high.

"My driving a little too intense for you?" she teased.

They rolled over yet another wave and he didn't quite manage to hold back a whimper. He didn't answer, as it was taking everything he had to ensure that the sandwich he'd eaten on the way here didn't make another appearance in a much less pleasant form.

She frowned and nodded, becoming serious. "Okay, we'll go back."

"Thank you," he managed to sigh.

"You wanna drive?"

All he could do was shake his head. That was not going to work.

"Okay, I'll try to go easy," she assured him. "You'll be okay." She turned back to the handlebars and prepared to start moving again. "Ready?"

Not sure he could handle the slightly awkward somewhat-sideways position he'd been in a minute ago, he held on solely to Kate's jacket. "Ready," he echoed.

She really did take it easy, keeping the speed significantly slower than she'd been going before and trying to skirt between the waves as well as she could. As far as that went, there was only so much she could do, but he could tell she was trying. At this point he wasn't sure it helped, because even the slightest movement sent his stomach lurching all over again, but it meant something that she tried. But unfortunately the slower speed made the trip take longer, and to him it felt like an eternity before they were even back in view of the dock.

He had no memory of how or when it had happened, but he was vaguely aware that his forehead was resting on Kate's back as they drifted toward shore again. "Get back on land," she instructed when they were close enough for him to step onto the dock. "I can tie it up myself."

"You sure?" he moaned.

"Rick, go."

He stepped onto the dock, feeling vaguely like he was in a dream, and stumbled down the gently rocking planks of wood and onto the grass. He took a few deep breaths, more appreciative of the firm ground beneath his feet than he could remember ever being before. He started watching Kate tie the jet ski up exactly like Steve had left it, but even as she did this it was rocking with the waves, and he soon had to look away.

Trying to quell the nausea he could still feel, he ended up turning completely away from the water, so that when Kate was done she came up behind him. "Feeling any better?" she asked.

He nodded. "Solid ground helps."

She chuckled. "You know you still have your life jacket on?"

"Oh, right." He took it off, exposing his bare chest to the late-spring ocean breeze, and tossed it over toward the dock. Then he found himself staring at the deep v-neckline of Kate's black one-piece.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I see you're feeling better."

"Hey, I'm sick, not blind."

"Mm." She smiled and shook her head. "You're gonna be just fine." The way she said it he wasn't sure if she was reassuring him or herself. "You made me a little nervous back there," she told him. "You should've seen your face. It was completely white. Looked like a ghost."

He looked down at his feet guiltily. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. And I didn't mean to cut the ride short. You should go back out without me. I know you were having fun."

She shrugged. "Nah, that's okay. I had enough."

"Are you lying to me to make me feel better?"

"You'll never know."

He chuckled. "Okay, back to the car?"

"Back to the car." She smirked. "What do you say we stop at that place that keeps advertising the two-pound buckets of chili cheese fries on the way home?"

He groaned and backhanded her shoulder. "Evil, evil woman."

Random background information that you don't need but I feel like sharing anyway: We rented jet skis on a family vacation over the summer. It was on a lake, not the ocean, so it was a bit different... I've never actually been on a jet ski in the ocean, so I tried to let my imagination fill in the gaps... but that was actually when I got the idea for this story. I'd written the beginning (the earlier draft... when I knew Beckett had lost her badge but I didn't know what was going to happen after that...), but it wasn't until I was sitting on the back of a jet ski with my sister driving that I decided I would love it if Castle and Beckett were on a jet ski together. And of course I started brainstorming ways that I could make that happen in a fanfic, and I thought of the Hamptons... and the current version of this story (in idea form, anyway) was born. So I've basically had this chapter floating around in my head since the end of July. It only took me... two and a half months to write it? Hopefully I did it justice. I have a feeling the idea in my head was a bit more epic than the chapter ended up being... but it was still quite a fun chapter to write.

So apparently in this chapter I decided to take a little break from torturing Beckett and torture Castle instead. Apparently he had it coming. Yet another twist that I didn't see coming until I wrote it... but hey, whatever. This story really seems to have its own opinions about where it wants to go. I try to give it directions, and it just laughs at me turns down some awkward back road that actually turns out to be quite scenic, and leads in the same general direction anyway. (Yet another screwy metaphor that worked it's way into my A/N... I should start writing these down. I guess I do, technically.) Anyway, for the record, I didn't just make Castle seasick for irony's sake... although I admit that the irony definitely wasn't a turn off. There is a method to my madness, and you'll find that out soon enough. :)

See that review button at the bottom of the page? If you click it, type something really nice, and hit submit, a cookie will come out of your computer screen. The better the review, the bigger the cookie. I kid you not.

Okay... maybe I kid you a little. Or maybe not. How will you know for sure until you try it? :) Regardless, thanks for reading! You're awesome.