So obviously this is way overdue and for that I apologize. Apparently there are only so many hours in a day and apparently I'm expected to spend all of them doing obscene amounts of school work. Le sigh. I hope this chapter makes up for the long wait and that it helps mend your shattered hearts from Monday night's ep.

Reality Star Struck

"So," Lanie stated determinedly, passing the evidence folder to Kate while changing the subject away from the murder at hand, "plans for Valentine's Day?"

Kate opened her mouth to reply, found herself caught up in memories. It'd been a couple weeks since she and Castle had had a chance to read from their journal, but after a relatively early close two nights ago they'd found themselves with time to spare and were once again drawn in by the pull of his words.

Dear Kate,

I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I've spent most of the last nine months feeling that way simply because we've finally had the chance to be together. But this... this is everything.

I've never forgotten that afternoon in the radiation tent when you confessed that you weren't happy with Josh. When you admitted to having one foot out the door in your relationship with him. I never asked but I had a feeling even at the time that this wasn't the first time you'd found yourself in that situation. I'm not judging you. Not at all. I completely understand why you chose that path.

Which is why I also understand the pure depths of your gift to me last night. Giving me a place in your home...

I won't lie and say I'm not dying to hear you verbalize those three words that I'm fairly certain you feel but aren't ready to say. I see it in your eyes and I feel it in the way you touch me and kiss me. I can tell that the feeling is there, and I can be patient. I can wait until you're ready because I don't want you to feel pressured. But at the same time, I'm so excited for the day you say the words aloud so I can say them back and know that you're ready to hear them. I'm ready for the day when it doesn't have to be this unspoken secret, when we can have memories of me expressing my feelings that aren't tarnished by the low points of our relationship.

I want to be able to kiss you and tell you I love you every single night before we fall asleep, every morning when we wake.

I know that it will come with time, though. I believe in that. In you.

And your gift to me tonight says it all, Kate. It says more than anything else you've ever said or done. I know you well enough to know that giving someone a drawer in your dresser isn't something you'd take lightly. It's not something you'd do for just anyone, even if you were dating them.

I told you as much last night but I want to be sure that you know just how much that means to me. It's the sweetest, most thoughtful, most romantic gift anyone has ever given me.

(By the way, you definitely won this round of gift-giving. Granted, mine didn't quite go as planned.)

At this point I could go on and on and turn this into another one of my rambling, sappy love letters because that's how I'm feeling at the moment. But I won't, because I think you proved last night that sometimes a few words speak louder than many. So instead I will leave it at this:

Thank you.

I love you.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Rick

"Kate."

"Hmmm?"

Lanie raised an eyebrow at her friend and Kate felt heat rush to her cheeks as she realized she'd just been caught fantasizing about Castle's words... and what his words had led to.

"I asked if you had plans for Valentine's Day."

She shook her head, forced herself back into reality. "Right. Yes, we do."

"And," Lanie pressed.

"And what?"

"What does writer boy have planned?"

Kate smiled thinking back again to last night, to the conversation that followed the reading of the letter. Valentine's Day was still a week off but Castle's natural exuberance had led to a very spirited debate about plans for the day.

Their first year was spent as a quiet evening at her apartment. Well, not entirely quiet, actually, Kate thought with a blush.

"We're just staying in," she answered quickly, putting an end to that train of thought before her mind had a chance to take it any further.

Lanie smirked. "I see."

"No not... not like that," Kate spluttered. "I mean, it probably will be like that. You know. Obviously. But he took me out last year so this year we're staying in and I'm cooking."

Her friend nodded approvingly. "Intimate and romantic. You know, sometimes you two are too sickeningly sweet for your own good."

Kate rolled her eyes, turned to head for the door. She had a murder to solve, after all, and she wasn't exactly in the mood for her friend's incessant questioning.

As the double doors swung closed behind her, she heard Lanie's parting words echoing down the cement hallway.

"I expect details next week."

"How's writing going?"

Castle startled from his daydream at the sound of Kate's voice, guiltily shoved his laptop closed. Not that he was hiding anything from her. There was nothing to see, really, because every time he got an idea he ended up writing sappy paragraph after sappy paragraph. Not something of which his editors would approve.

So he'd deleted it and started over. Three times in a row. And he still had nothing.

"It's uh... fine," he lied.

Kate raised an eyebrow, crossed to his desk and perched on the edge next to him, long legs temptingly close to his arm.

"Really?"

"Sort of..." he hedged.

"You're writing a sex scene, aren't you?" she probed. He always tried to hide those from her, though she wasn't sure why. She was going to read them eventually.

"No," he refuted, voice losing all hesitant tendencies. "I was writing..." Castle sighed. "Nothing. I've written nothing."

"But I thought..."

She tried to drag him into the shower with her half an hour ago but he declined, claiming a sudden burst of inspiration which, after a pinch to his ear, he promised did not involve shower sex.

But it might as well have, because he was in such a loving mood that he was apparently incapable of writing anything other than cheesy romance. Certainly not appropriate considering that Nikki and Rook were currently on a surveillance mission in a seedy part of town.

"I know," he admitted. "I had an idea. It was right there. But the words just... wouldn't come out."

Kate hummed her acknowledgement, alluringly crossed her legs, resting her foot against the side of his chair. The soft robe she'd pulled on after her shower slid up just slightly, revealing the bare side of her upper thigh, and that was all it took to completely distract Castle from any semblance of writing.

She smirked. "Writer's block?" she teased.

"Oh no," he shot back, not missing a beat. Castle lifted a hand to rest on her thigh, fingers trailing up the inside of her leg, a tantalizing, arousing pattern. "Plenty of words in my head. They're just... not entirely appropriate."

She raised an eyebrow again. "Really now?"

"Mmhmm," he answered dreamily. "Every sentence is infused with this memory of a very sexy woman in very sexy lingerie doing some very inappropriate things to me last night."

"And who was this," she lowered her voice, "sexy woman?"

"You might know her," he offered with a shrug, fingers slipping higher and higher, flirting with the crease of her thigh, and she bit down on the inside of her cheek but she knew Castle knew what he was doing to her. "She's really hot. Brown curly hair, gorgeous body, eyes that are this mixture of green and brown and so completely mesmerizing that I just..."

One hand jerked out to fist in his shirt, tug him closer, and then his words were cut off by her lips on his, hot and passionate and so needy.

"You know, I never get tired of kissing her either," he panted between kisses.

Kate slid off the desk and Castle followed her every movement with his eyes, subconsciously stood to follow her as she slinked off towards their bedroom. Halfway across the room she paused, turned, and his dark eyes were torn between watching the movement of her hands on the belt of her robe or her lips as she spoke, soft and low.

"Prove it."

"Am I ever gonna get to actually give you your present?" Castle asked, still breathing heavily, sprawled on his back in their bed with Kate curled into his side.

He'd been planning to give it to her last night, on Valentine's Day itself, like a normal person would. But between the Star Wars light saber, the delicious dinner she cooked him, and the slinky red lingerie that followed, he'd been otherwise engaged. Very much so.

Somewhere between rounds two and three he'd realized he hadn't actually given her his gift, but Kate was far too sated and warm and comfortable to even consider separating from him for even a few seconds. So she shrugged, told him it could wait until tomorrow, and secured her promise with a languid kiss.

Except now they faced the same scenario, though after yesterday she had a feeling there would be no more rounds today.

Kate lifted sluggish eyes to his, offered a small shrug. "I suppose."

"Well I mean, if you don't want it..."

"Castle."

"Or if you're afraid it's going to be better than what you got me. I can see how you might be nervous..." he teased smugly.

She gave him a loving shove to the shoulder. "Just go get it."

He grinned, rolled over and tugged open the drawer of his nightstand. He extracted a letter-sized, blank envelope, settled back in bed, and extended it to her.

"Open it."

Kate hoisted herself up onto one elbow, freeing her hands. She took her time with the gift, taking advantage of the opportunity to make him squirm as she turned it over in her hands, examining the edges, shaking it, attempting to read whatever was inside through the paper. She could see the excitement dancing in his eyes, knew she was torturing him just a little bit, but sometimes he was just too easy.

"Seriously?" he whined after a full minute. "Kaaaate."

"Yes?" she asked innocently.

He bit his tongue, though just barely, and Kate could tell the suspense was killing him. With a chuckle she slid her finger beneath the edge of the flap and slowly opened the envelope, putting him out of his misery.

There were three pieces of paper inside, stacked carefully, and she made sure to read them in the correct order.

The first was a note, handwritten, and just a few words.

To the most intelligent, stunning, extraordinary person I know.

Happy Valentine's Day.

I love you.

A smile blossomed across her face, broad and beautiful, as she reread his words, felt them seep into her veins. Even after all this time, she would never be immune to the power of just a few words from this man.

'Thank you' seemed so bland but no other words seemed to suffice so instead Kate leaned in, kissed him lovingly, poured the jumble of emotions from her heart straight into the kiss.

From the way he smiled against her lips, she had a feeling he understood.

Castle leaned away first, though, anxious for her to unveil the rest of his gift to her. He'd taken a bit of a risk, hoped beyond hope she'd be okay with it.

Kate gradually allowed her eyes to fall back to the items in her hands. Slipping the note to the back of the pile, her eyes fell onto the next piece of paper. It was rectangular, black and white, with her name, times, and a list of three letter codes on it. The paper behind it was identical except it bore his name. Her eyes scanned the page rapidly, seeking confirmation.

Italy. September seventh through the twentieth.

"Castle," she breathed.

"Is this okay?" he asked nervously, so tentative, a childish innocence in his eyes. "If not I can always..."

"It's perfect," she burst out, leaning in to press her lips to his again, deep and loving.

It'd only been two weeks since they'd actually set the wedding date, seven days since Kate insisted on helping to pay for the wedding and Castle compromised by agreeing that she could pitch in if he could be in charge of the honeymoon.

She'd said yes, under the stipulations that Hawaii was out, as were other resort-covered tropical islands. It went unspoken, of course, that Paris was also out of the question.

But leave it to Castle to plan a two week honeymoon to Italy in just under a week.

She kissed him again, soft pecks, both of them smiling against each other's mouths.

"Thank you," she murmured, clutching the ticket receipts to her chest.

Castle wrapped his arm around her in response.

"We're getting married," she whispered. It had been five months now but she still found herself so completely overwhelmed by it at times.

"We are," Castle agreed, equally in awe.

"And we're going to Italy."

He grinned, proud of himself for remembering an off-handed comment she'd made a few months back about always having wanted to go to Italy.

"I feel obligated to warn you that there may not be a lot of sightseeing involved," Castle teased.

"Oh yeah? You have other plans?"

"I mean, you'll be naked a lot so I'll be seeing some very gorgeous sights..." he leered.

Kate rolled her eyes, couldn't help herself.

"Considering that we'll need to work off all that delicious pasta..."

She watched as her meaning dawned on him, smirked.

Castle gently tugged the envelope and papers from her hands, tossed them onto the nightstand with one hand while guiding her closer with the other. She melded into him easily and he kissed his way across her jaw, speaking only when his lips were right near her ear.

"Shall we start practicing now?"

"I'm pretty sure we've had plenty of practice in the last three years, Castle."

She felt him pause, thrown off his game by her words.

"But I suppose a little more practice never hurt anyone."

Apparently there was going to be a round two tonight after all.

Thoughts?