A/N: Thank you all for the comments and kind words. You're the best! Keep the suggestions coming.

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By the time they got in bed, they were both a snotty, slobbering, weeping mess. They went through their nightly routines without saying anything, brushing their teeth, washing their faces, changing into pajamas. . .nothing. Then they crawled into bed and Kate broke the silence.

"Rick, thank you for opening up to me tonight." They were laying on their sides facing one another, almost nose to nose. Their conversation was whispered and intimate. "I know how hard it is to be broken and insecure on the inside and put up a front for people. Please just know that, with me, you never have to do that, okay?"

Closing his eyes for a brief moment, letting her words seep into his soul, Rick looked at her and swallowed the lump in his throat. "Always, Kate. The same goes for you. I don't want you to hide who you are from me, ever. We're both fucked up, so we might as well help one another get through it."

That last bit brought a smile to her lips. "Absolutely. We'll be two fucked up wanderers holding each other up." After a pause: "I'm sorry about your dad, Rick. But, no matter what happens between us, I'll always be here for you."

"And I know that no one will ever take the place of your mother, but I have one with a personality enough for two so we can share her if you want."

His ears were blessed with the sound of her beautiful laughter, laughter which stopped all too soon. "Seriously, though, Kate. I'm sorry your mom can't be here for any of this. I wish more than anything I could take away some of your burden."

Kate released a breath and closed her eyes. Scooting closer to Rick so their noses were touching, she whispered, "You already are, Rick."

Following suit, Rick's eyes slid closed and his large hand cradled her jaw. Under the sinfully soft duvet cover, their bodies were aligned and the raw emotion from earlier in the night was palpable. Finally, she broke the tension. She kissed him softly and sweetly once, twice before she couldn't resist anymore and deepened the kiss.

Her tongue followed the ridge of his bottom lip until he opened up for her. Throwing her leg over Castle's hip and slinging her arm over his shoulder, her tongue delved into his mouth, running over the roof of his mouth and bringing his bottom lip between her teeth. She rolled her hips into his and they let out simultaneous groans of pleasure.

"Castle," she whispered, nearly whimpered.

His mouth moved from her mouth to paint kisses on her jaw, the sensitive spot under her ear, down her neck. He traced her collarbone with his tongue and she ran her hands through his hair. Kissing all over her chest, she moaned when he ever-so-lightly ran the tip of his tongue over her taut nipple back and forth, then in circles; first one then the other. By the time he was done, she was a whimpering, squirming mess.

"Castle, please," she whined (never begged). Glancing up at her from his spot between her breasts, he just smirked and slithered down a few more inches. He placed open mouthed kisses over her abdomen, briefly dipping his tongue into her belly button until he made it to her hip. His teeth scraped down her hip bone and her hips raised off the bed, begging him to touch her where she was weeping for him.

Moving to the inside of her thigh, he quietly whispered soft words of affection and support into her skin. "Lean on me," "I'm here for you," "Let me help you," and "You're so beautiful, Kate," poured from his mouth into her legs as he placed kisses up both her legs until he could sense Kate's core aching for him in every way. Her hands were in his hair and she was moaning and groaning under him. Finally, he gave her what she needed.

So slowly, Castle ran his tongue through Beckett's center, tasting her, smelling her, seeing her, breathing her in. With every lick, nip, and suck he was trying to put together all the pieces of everything she thought was broken. As he played with her clit with his tongue and she cried out for him, grabbing her breast with one hand and fisting his hair with the other, he grabbed on to her legs and held her so tightly that he thought he might bruise her. At least then she would know how deeply he cared for her.

When he finally slipped two fingers into her heat, her hips rocketed off the bed and the hand in his hair tightened painfully. Reaching deep, he hit that spot in her that caused her breath to leave her and timed his inner strokes to his flicks of her clit with his tongue. He felt as her walls tightened around his fingers and her hips rolled in time with his ministrations.

"Oh! Castle, yes! Do you see? Do you see what you do to me?" Beckett somehow managed to croak out before groaning long and loud, her walls still tightening even more around him. When he paused, though, she screamed at him to keep going, so he did. "Oh, God, Castle, you're so amazing! So good, and I can't—" She cried out as she came around his fingers.

Castle's eyes were welling up with tears while he worked her down from her orgasm until she stopped convulsing, reveling in the feeling of her still contracting around him. Reluctantly, he removed his fingers from her and crawled up the bed to grab a condom from the bedside table. When he looked back to his wife, she was looking at him with tears in her eyes, too.

Unceremoniously, he flopped down beside her and swiped a thumb under her eye. Before he could say anything, she began. "Rick, I hope you know that the way I react to you is more than just my physical attraction to you. I know that we've only been married for ten days, but I think you're an amazing, wonderful, silly man who has so much to offer the world, and I'm glad I get to be your Mrs."

Unable to hold back, Rick let out a quiet sob, followed quickly by Kate. "Hey, hey," Kate whispered, "shh, don't cry. I'm here, Rick."

Once he quieted, Rick kissed Kate firmly on the lips. "Thank you, Kate. I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"Hush, Rick. You are worth it." With those words she kissed him and took the condom from him. Opening the foil, she rolled the condom on him, watching intently as his eyes squeezed shut. Giving him a few tight, slow strokes, she guided him onto his back so that he was propped up a little by the head board.

Kate pinned his erection between his body and her center, kissing him deeply as she rolled her hips over him. After several minutes of this, she was on edge again and his hands on her hips were squeezing tight.

"Kate," Rick whispered. "I need to be inside you now."

Their mouths never parted as she raised up onto her knees and let him position himself at her entrance. As she lowered herself down, though, she parted from him with a pop and brought her lower lip between her teeth. The angle was so good, allowed him in so deep. Time and space stilled in that moment until she felt Rick's fingers gently brush her cheek. Her eyes popped open—she hadn't realized she had closed them—and released her bottom lip from between her teeth before she drew blood.

Rick took the opportunity to surge up and kiss away the indentions her teeth made in her lip, their rhythm faltering slightly until his arm wrapped around her waist and he flipped them over. Her eyes widened with his next thrust and he hit that spot deep, deep inside her that caused her breath to leave her body, her face to turn beet red, and liquid to flow from her onto the sheet.

"Oh, Castle, yeah. Right there, baby."

Although her knees were bent toward her chest, Rick grabbed her thighs and hoisted her legs over his shoulders, bracing himself with a hand on either side of her head, driving deeply into her with each slow thrust. He watched her intently, cataloging her every facial expression, the small beads of sweat forming on her forehead, the way her eyes were clamped shut tight, how her inner muscles squeezed him every few moments, the sounds she made depending on how he moved inside her.

One particularly sharp, deep thrust caused her to cry out, "Oh, fuck! Fuck yes, baby, oh!" At that point, Rick had to close his eyes for a moment to regain his focus and not come too soon. She was just so hot, the way she moaned and circled her hips, gripping him on the inside and out.

"God, you're so hot," he whispered to Kate, though he was confident she hadn't heard him. The next words he uttered were a little louder. "Kate, look at me." She did, then cried out again. "So good, Kate, so good." He chanted these words to her until he could feel her arousal dripping down his thighs. "I'm gonna make you squirt, Kate. Are you ready?"

Her responding cry and arch was answer enough. "Hold on, then," he whispered before he drove into her relentlessly, the angle so good for hitting that spot that caused small rivers of liquid to flow down her ass, his thighs, and down to the sheets. He was going so deep and she was so close, but her clit wasn't getting enough friction.

Rick's voice nothing more than a deep growl, he leaned in next to her ear (thank God she was so flexible) and said, "Touch yourself, Kate. I want you to come around me."

"God, yes, Castle!" she exclaimed, reaching her hand between their bodies to find her clit, circling furiously until she could feel the orgasm beginning to build. "Yes, Castle, please, yes! God, make me come. I need to come, please."

At her words, he moved faster, begging his arms not to give out on him. "Oh, Kate, baby, I can feel you. You're so close. How does my rigid cock feel inside you?"

Kate couldn't answer but to cry out, squeezing her walls tightly and continuing to circle her clit, adding just a little more pressure, the need to come overwhelming.

Deciding to change tactics a little, Rick leaned down to whisper, "You're amazing, Kate, so beautiful and strong. You're an inspiration." When she whimpered, he whispered one more thing: "Now come."

Her back arched sharply, head thumping into the pillow as her orgasm crashed over her, fingers leaving her clit to clench his bicep and roll her hips into his. "That's it, baby. Good girl. Let me fuck you down."

Several moments later, when Kate was boneless and exhausted on the bed with Rick still above her, still inside her, she felt him peppering kisses to her face. "God, Castle, that was. . ." she trailed off.

"Yeah," he breathed as he felt the final flutters of her orgasm. "Think you can handle just a little bit more?"

Looking up at him slightly confused, she felt him twitch inside her and her eyebrows shot up. "You didn't—"

"No. Somehow. I must be some sort of sex god because the fact that I didn't explode inside you the second you came is a small miracle."

She could only stare at him for a moment until he gave her a sheepish grin. "If you don't want to, I can. . . take a cold shower or something."

Rick's eyes rolled back into his head when she squeezed her inner muscles in answer. "Hmm, you took care of me, now let me take care of you."

Rolling him onto his back, Kate turned around without letting him slip from her body so that she was now facing away from him, her hands on his thighs. She lifted up slowly, making sure to keep her muscles tight the whole time up, then slid back down just as slowly. The tension in his muscles let her know that he wasn't too far away from coming, so she picked up the pace.

"Does that feel good, Castle, hmm? You like it when I bounce on your cock like that?" She was a vixen, a goddess he never wanted to lose, and he squeezed her hips tightly, guiding her movements.

All he could whisper was, "Yes." He began meeting her thrust for thrust as she allowed him to move her faster.

"Mmm, yeah. You feel so good inside me, so big and thick. I want you to come for me, baby. I wanna feel you pulsing inside me."

Her voice, the visual of her riding him, the feeling of her surrounding him so wonderfully; he wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it made him combust, spilling into the condom and bucking wildly into his wife.

Moments later, when he softened inside her and she cleaned him up, tossing the condom away, she crawled into bed beside him and laid her head on his chest. "We're so good at that," she whispered, exhaustion creeping into her voice, making her heavy on top of him.

"That we are," he responded. "Tonight was good. I feel clean, if that makes any sense. Emotionally, I feel cleansed. Thank you for that."

Snuggling closer to him, she whispered, "You're welcome, Rick. And I know exactly what you mean."

Within moments, his heartbeat and her breathing lulled the other to sleep.