Day 1
November 14, 2014
"Who still has a travel agent?" she teases from the passenger seat of their rental car.
They glide along the paved highway, leaving Diamondback Ranch behind in the dust. Yeehaw!
Next stop: the international airport in Phoenix, Arizona.
"Don't you know by now? I've got a guy for everything," her husband smiles and kisses the crown of her hair just as his Bluetooth call connects with a representative from Zephyr Travel.
"Thank you for waiting. We can't wait to help make your next trip easy breezy."
It was sweet really, the way he'd tried to give her a honeymoon in the Wild West and it was somewhat fun… but like everything lately, it kept falling apart, nothing ever feeling quite right, the magical moments - few and far between.
She's so sick of murder and mayhem. Of mysterious disappearances and missing time. Sometimes, she can't believe the nightmare is over. It still feels like a dream that she got him back.
This though…this is real. They beat the odds. They made it. They're married and he's her husband.
And now they can finally have their happy ending. And a proper (if abbreviated) honeymoon.
Four more days—courtesy of Kev and Javi. Well, five, since Gates pitched in a vacation day of her own. So really, they have a whole week, and wait—plus the weekend, they have seven days total.
Seven days to just be newlyweds; seven days just for them.
"Hey, honey?" he says, nudging her out of her reverie. He's been using that moniker a lot lately. And strangely, she likes it. (A lot.) He's the only one who could ever get away with being soft and mushy with her.
(What can she say, she's sweet on him.)
"Yeah, babe?" she tosses back, smiling to herself.
"How do you feel about the Bahamas?"
The Bahamas are the closest island getaway with the shortest amount of travel time.
They were originally supposed to honeymoon in the Maldives. But it's halfway across the world, a day's sacrifice just to get there…and she doesn't want to waste another minute trying to recreate what was taken from them in the past.
No…she just wants to focus on the future and forge new paths; make new and happy memories.
A six hour flight later, they're barreling down a one-lane road in the late afternoon toward a private enclave outside of Nassau, the Bahamian capital.
Before they cross the threshold of their seaside bungalow, he scoops her into his arms bridal-style once more. She throws her head back with a joyous laugh, glad that this time there's a luxurious bed with a heavenly mattress to fall onto. King-size. (That's more like it.)
And oh do they fall, a wonderful tangle of limbs, their clothes quickly joining the floor as they start their real honeymoon.
Their travel agent had performed some sort of sorcery to have a welcome dinner delivered to their door hours later—Bahamian staples like conch fritters, fried plantain appetizers, and a fish stew that comes with Johnny cake, a sweet-style bread loaf perfect for soaking up every last bit of soup.
They eat on their back porch and sip on rum punch as the sun sets into crystal blue waters in stunning strips of pink, purple, and orange.
Once they're both finished, she walks toward the ocean, tossing a wicked smile over her shoulder. And proceeds to strip off the button-up she stole from her husband; shuck her boy shorts down her legs. He scrambles after her, divesting himself of his silk boxers, only to trip over them in his eagerness and crash into the sand with an unceremonious oof.
She laughs as she sinks into the pleasant warm water. "You okay, babe?"
When he reaches her, he snares an arm around her waist and growls into her neck, "You're gonna be the death of me, Mrs. Castle." She turns in his embrace like a slippery seal and presses her naked body against his in delicious wet friction.
"Don't die on me yet," she husks, wrapping her legs around him, the water buoying her. "I've still got plans for you, Mr. Beckett." She licks a line up his neck and he chokes on a breath. Her teeth snag his earlobe. "Not until we're old and gray," she whispers softly. "Deal?"
He pulls back to meet her gaze, his eyes a deep navy, rich with love and lust. And grins, warm and lopsided.
"Deal."
Her husband drops a needle onto the Frank Sinatra record they'd selected. Their bungalow has an impressive vinyl collection sequestered in a little alcove. And he had the idea to roll the record player out onto the back porch so they can look up at the stars together.
"Did you know the Bahamas are known as The Islands of Song?" he announces.
The turntable emits a couple scratchy and soft bleeps until the smooth crooning of Old Blue Eyes filters through.
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight
She sidles up to him and gently tugs his waist to hers, their pelvises kissing. "That so?"
"Dance with me," he murmurs, hooking her close. She brushes her mouth with his and lays her head in the nook of his neck, slotting into place.
May the dance never end and the music never stop.
They sway under the moonlight in matching bathrobes, barefoot, as she inhales his scent. A fresh citrus and Moroccan oil; the fancy shampoo from their shower. They'd gone another round after their swim, washing off the brine of the ocean together. She feels so clean and refreshed, almost born anew.
They don't have to cram into a small bed later, think of death or chase demons in the dark. No more chaos. Simply peace.
As if he can sense her thoughts, he tightens his grip around her. She burrows further into him, her heart overflowing. Solid ground again.
Fuck, they almost didn't have this. They almost…no. She's not gonna think about what ifs and worst case scenarios. They're here now. As husband and wife. That's all that matters.
The next song comes on—The Best is Yet to Come.
A-Wait till you're locked in my embrace
Wait till I draw you near
A-Wait till you see that sunshine place
Ain't nothin' like it here
xxx
A/N: Sometime last year I was itching to read a Caskett honeymoon fic. Naturally, I went to the CastleFanFics archive on Tumblr and found a couple smutty post-ep one-shots that take place at Diamondback Ranch and Banni by chezchuckles, a nice honeymoon two-shot set in Thailand, but I was specifically searching for a fic that covered their 'private island getaway' mentioned at the end of 7x07.
I literally scoured FFN, even going so far as to scroll back to Fall 2014 when the episode originally aired but there was nothing! I lamented this fact on Twitter and someone suggested I just write the story into existence myself, so that's exactly what I did, lol. And I thought there'd be no better time to share than on Caskett's 10 Year Wedding Anniversary today (November 10th).
I did have some help along the way—the iconic ipreferwestside generously donated some time to consult on my outline during the brainstorming phase. As well as the amazing somethingofthewolf, who additionally beta'd for me. Please check out her one-shot on AO3, the place that i've been dreaming of. She's a new writer and already extremely talented!
This fic was also a little challenge to myself: each chapter is only about a thousand words or so. Short and sweet. And because of that, I have the story mostly pre-written. There will be seven chapters total, each one covering a different day of the honeymoon - next update will be on Tuesday.