"I think I like Paris best in the rain," she hums from his side, huddling with him beneath the cover of their umbrella. He should buy another one, so they don't have to share, but then he wouldn't have his wife pressing into his side as they walked down the Parisian streets and why would he want to ruin that?

"Really?" Castle replies, grunting as they hop over a particularly large puddle. Walking with her to their favorite little cafe that was located only a half mile from their apartment had been lovely, the clouds present but the rain withheld. A downpour had swept through the city halfway through their meal, though, and now they were strolling through the drizzling aftermath. "I wouldn't mind some dry, sunny weather right about now."

"We have to make a stop in LA before we go home, right?" Kate quips, arching her brow at him. "You can enjoy your sunny weather when we get there."

"That's in nearly two weeks," he whines, wiggling his fingers from within the tangle of hers. Beckett squeezes his hand in return, the fit of their knotted fingers in her coat pocket snug and comforting. "And Berlin and Dublin are supposed to be cold and rainy too."

"Don't worry, baby," she hums, lifting on her toes to graze her lips along his jaw while they're forced to pause at the crosswalk. "I'll make sure to keep you warm."

Rick's blood heats at her words, the skin beneath her lips feverish even as Kate drops back to the soles of her shoes.

"Have I mentioned how grateful I am that you were able to accompany me on this book tour?" he chokes out, his arousal simmering at the delighted sound of her laughter. It often surprises her, he's noticed, when he expresses how grateful he is to have her with him on this trip, to have her with him at all. It's elicited a swirl of relief and gratitude in her eyes every single time and while it assures him of how in this she is, he wants the surprise to dissipate.

He never wants her to second guess how much he wants her, loves her. How he's forgiven her.

"Quite a bit, yeah," Beckett confirms, nudging her cheek against the resting place of his shoulder while they await the pedestrian signal to flash from across the street.

"I've never had so much fun," he elaborates as they cross, dodging the sea of human bodies they have to navigate through, holding tight to the shared umbrella when a clumsy business man's jostles theirs. "I mean, when I was younger I would do the typical partying scene after the signings, but this… seeing cities with you has been so much better."

"Castle," she murmurs, her hand squeezing in his, her thumb brushing along the path of his knuckles from within the confines of her coat pocket. Her gaze downcast, the fringe of her lashes kissing her cheeks and hiding her eyes from him. "I love you."

Rick cranes his neck to press his lips to her temple, catching a glimpse of the shy emotion swirling through the jaded greens and shimmering amber of her eyes when she tugs him from the flow of traffic, down a less populated street.

"It's our last day in Paris," she starts, sticking close to him beneath the umbrella, but taking the lead down the empty but charming little street. "Want to spend the rest of the day exploring it with me?"

"Duh," he chuckles, any reservations he had about enduring extra time in the rain dissolving beneath the warmth of her smile. He and Kate had been able to visit most of the city's dazzling tourist attractions, had been able to indulge in a few romantic strolls, but they had yet to travel through the city without a destination in mind, wandering together without care, and the idea sounded all too appealing. "Anything with you."

They begin to slow along the sidewalk and Kate withdraws her hand from the embrace of his in favor of looping her arm around his neck.

"Before we start our afternoon adventure…" Castle retrieves his phone from the inside pocket of his jacket, waves it at her even as she groans in feigned irritation.

It's become a sort of inside joke for the two of them, this sudden urge he so often has to photograph her, to capture all of these wonderful moments, but he knows that she doesn't mind, that his wife secretly likes it when he sneaks a picture of her or simply holds up his iPhone with the camera app opened and ready for her.

"Are you a writer or a photographer?" she had asked him on their final day in Milan last week, a scowl on her lips upon noticing his phone aimed at her during her gazing of the magnificent Milan Cathedral, but her eyes had glimmered with that teasing quality he knew all too well.

"Maybe I can be both," he had shrugged, pocketing the device. "But I don't think I'll pursue the latter. Kinda want these pictures of you all to myself."

"Sap," she had sighed, but her lips had pressed to his neck, staining the underside of his jaw in red lipstick, an image she had insisted on photographing herself.

"Come on, one more Parisian picture for my scrapbook," he coaxes, nudging her back out onto the cobblestone streets, her body framed by the corridor of elegant buildings, the rows of motorbikes parked along the charming road. "Smile for me, Beckett."

Kate gives him an eye roll and he captures that too, smirks when she huffs her frustration at him through the drizzle raining down around her. 'Adorable' is not a word he thinks many would associate with his wife, but witnessing her stand in the middle of the street with her umbrella poised over shoulder and a smile that does little to hold in her laughter while he pokes his tongue out at her, he can't conjure up a more befitting adjective.

"Happy?" she questions, quirking her brow at him, but the smile is still on her lips as she rushes back through the rain to him, holding out the umbrella to offer him shelter once more.

Castle ducks beneath the black umbrella to cup her face in his hands, smudge a kiss to her mouth that has her humming in contentment and sipping the raindrops from his tongue. "Couldn't be happier."

Kate fingers comb through his dampened locks, the heat of her body rising up to meet his eradicating the brief chill of the rainwater he had endured for the sake of a picture, and he thinks rainy days in Paris may be his favorite too.