43. Chapter 43

After Always

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: This is one of the episodes I'd like to own, but don't. Rating: M Time: Soon, and for the rest of their lives.

Kate and Rick lay entwined in each other's arms, totally spent, after hours of passion. Kate gently nuzzled Rick's neck as Rick stroked her hair. "Kate, your hair is still wet. You'll catch cold if you're not careful. I'll get a towel.

Rick started to get off the bed, but Kate put both arms around him and held on tight. "No, stay here, please, Rick. Don't go."

"Is something wrong?" Rick asked, concerned.

"No, something's right. It may not look like it to you, but I've worked very, very hard to get where I am right now. In bed with you. I don't want you away from me for a second. I want you right with me. I want your arms around me. Always. "

Rick smiled at her. She smiled back. "You know, there are going to be problems with that plan. Not that I don't love being in bed with you, but we might just have to get out some time."

"Why?" Kate teased. "I don't have a job. You can write in bed as easily as in your office."

"What about food?" Castle asked with mock seriousness.

"We can order out."

"Bathing?"

Kate thought with a very serious look on her face, then smiled. "We can have Martha bring in a bucket full of hot water each morning while we hide under the covers. Then we can give each other sponge baths."

"I confess, the brilliant Detective Kate Beckett has thought of everything."

"Everything?" She asked.

"Except this." Rick put his arms around her and pulled her on top of him, then he sat up so she was sitting on his lap. "Hold on tight." He said and stood up, holding her in his arms. "You've thought of everything except how to avoid getting a nasty head cold from having wet hair."

Rick walked to the bathroom and put Kate down. "Be sure to hold onto me." Rick reached over, got a bath towel and started drying Kate's hair. As he rubbed her hair with the towel, he noticed that she jiggled most entrancingly. "I like the way your boobs jiggle when I do this."

"How about when I do this?" Kate said in a sultry voice and began shaking her upper body, causing her boobs to bounce back and forth, up and down.

"I love that."

"And this?" She began twirling her boobs in a circle, then stopped them and sent them in the other direction.

"Even better. " He whispered in her ear. Castle wrapped the towel around Kate's head and picked her up again. He carried her back to the bed and gently put her down. "Kate, before we do anything else, I have to apologize to you."

"If it's about keeping your deal with the mystery man a secret, forget it. No apology is needed."

Castle shook his head. "No. I won't apologize for trying to keep you alive. I know you were furious with me, and…"

"Was furious." Kate said, whispering in his ear. "Was furious. Past tense. Very past tense."

"I still need to apologize for something I did. I left you. I love you and I left you facing death. I should never have done that. You don't leave someone you love to face death alone. Even if you forgive me, I never will forgive myself. And, Kate, I will stand by you always."

Kate pushed the bedclothes off of her and took Castle's hand. "Rick, look at this." She moved his hand to her lips, then down over both of her boobs, then across her flat stomach, to her curly pubic hair, then to her smooth thighs and finally back up to rest his hand on her clit. "Look, Rick. This is yours. Not just my body, but my heart, my mind and my soul. It's all yours."

"Kate…" Rick began.

"Shh!" She said. "You were right. I was ready to die for my cause. Since I was nineteen, my life has been about getting justice for my mother. It was about the past. And then suddenly I was actually facing the death I had told myself that I had accepted. And I didn't accept it. I wanted the future. I wanted a future with you. The most important person in my life is no longer my dead mother. The most important person in my life is you, Richard Castle." Kate hugged Rick tightly. "I need you so much. I love you, Rick."

Rick stroked Kate's hair. "Are you sure you can leave your mother's death behind like that?"

Kate nodded. "I quit my job because I don't need it any more. Whoever it is that was after me will now know that I'm no longer a threat to them. Your mystery man can keep me safe for the rest of my life. And I can be with you. I'm tired, so very tired, of the life I had before you."

"Speaking of being with me, what are you going to do?" Rick teased. "I can't quite see you as a housewife. Cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming the loft, cooking from scratch, all while looking gorgeous."

"You don't think I can?" She said with mock severity.

"Oh, you'd be the best housewife in all of New York. But I'm serious. Do you have a plan?"

Kate nodded. "I've been thinking that I might go back to school. I was pre-law at Stanford. I doubt that I could get into a really prestigious university, but I can still get into a good school and then go on to law school. I don't have to be a cop to get justice for people. I could even go part time for a while so we have time to be together. I want us to be together a lot."

"Kate Beckett, Esquire?" Castle said. "I like it. I could use my all-time favorite muse to create another character. I could add to the Nikki and Jameson dynamic. Nikki starts working with a dedicated, driven, brilliant assistant district attorney who has no social life. I wonder if Nikki and Jameson could find someone who'd be good for her?"

Kate assumed a very serious look. "A difficult task. Perhaps another lawyer? A serious, no nonsense, by the book type?"

"Surely, you can't be serious."

"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley." Kate shot back. As Rick laughed, she continued. "How about a writer? A free spirit, something of a man-child? Someone fun?"

"Why, Detective Beckett, I believe you have the makings of a writer in you. John Grisham had better watch out."

"Will there be any road blocks in their relationship?" Kate asked softly.

"What kind of a roadblock?" Castle teased.

"Maybe another assistant DA in her office? Perhaps a doctor?"

Rick pulled Kate to him. "No. I don't think they should even have as much trouble as Nikki and Rook. I think maybe they'll start out in bed and go from there."

Kate rested her head on his chest. "You were right. I did hide in relationships with men I didn't love. I never loved Will Sorenson. I never loved Demming. I never loved Josh. I only love you."

"And I love you."

Kate smiled. "Besides, my dating Demming and Josh was your fault."

"Wait! My fault? How could that be my fault?"

"I hadn't had a social life for years. When I met you, you were fun. I suddenly wanted some fun, some excitement in my life. I wanted to be someone's girl."

"Someone's, but not my girl?"

Kate nodded. "I was still afraid of getting close to anyone because of how the death of my mom affected me. And I was especially afraid of letting you get close to me. For a while I thought you were only interested in sex."

"It's never been just about sex with us, Kate. Not from day one."

"I know, but I didn't then. But I couldn't imagine that the Richard Castle would ever want any kind of permanent relationship with some cop. I just couldn't imagine it."

"You have never, ever been just some cop. You are remarkable."

"Thank you." Kate lightly stroked Rick's chest. "There's something I should tell you. Do you remember when you asked me to go to the Hamptons with you?"

"Sure. But you were going someplace with Demming."

"I broke up with Demming so that I could go with you. I was about to tell you when…"

"Oh, my god. You were about to tell me when Gina showed up." Rick pulled Kate to him. "Kate, I'm so sorry. If I'd known I would have…"

"Dumped Gina right there and then?" Kate said. "You wouldn't have. You're entirely too much a gentleman. It was just karma, Rick. I was nasty to you, I pushed you away, and then when I wanted you, guess what? I had pushed you away. I got what I deserved."

"No. There is no way you deserve any more pain, any kind of pain, in your life. My job from now on is to replace your pain with joy."

Kate slid her hand down Rick's stomach and took hold of him. "Do you think you could provide a little more joy for me?" As she stroked him, he became more erect.

Rick slid his hand between her thighs. Kate moved onto her back and spread her legs. Rick slid his middle finger inside of her and used his thumb to gently stroke her clit. Kate moaned. "Rick, I need you so badly. Please fuck me again. Fill me. Make me yours."

Rick laughed. "I will, but not just yet." He continued to slide his finger in and out of her while moving his mouth to her boobs. He licked first one nipple, then the next to hardness, then sucked as much of one boob into his mouth as he could. "Do you like that?" he whispered.

"Yes! Yes!" She moaned.

Suddenly he pulled his finger out of her. "No!" She yelled, but Rick pushed her boobs together and sucked both nipples into his mouth and gently bit them. She writhed on the bed, trying to push more of her breasts into his mouth. Then Rick straddled her, sliding his erection between her boobs and running it back and forth between the valley they made.

Kate spread her legs as wide as she could. "Rick. No. Please." Her head lashed back and forth, her hair flying. Finally, he exploded, showering her boobs, her face and her mouth.

"Like that?" He asked.

She smiled and began cleaning herself with her finger and then licking him off of her finger. When she was done, she smiled at him. "My turn." She kissed her way down his chest, his stomach and stopped between his legs. "My, my." She whispered. "This little thing needs some work." She took him into her mouth and began to lick and tease him to hardness. Once he was fully erect, she pulled her mouth off of him. "Did you like that?"

"I love that. I love you."

This time, she straddled him. She took hold of his erection and impaled herself on him until he filled her. "This is what I want." She whispered. "But remember what I told you. Anything you want, anywhere you want, anytime you want is fine with me. I'll do anything for you."

"What I want you to do is whatever you want." He said. "I want to please you."

"You do." She said as she began riding him, moving up and down, increasing her pace as she went. She grasped her own boobs and squeezed them together, then leaned forward so Rick could kiss them. At last she felt him come inside her. She ground herself down on him, hard, one last time and collapsed on him.

"So, do I please you?" She asked softly.

"More than anything in my life. And you will please me always."

"Always?" She asked.

"Yes, always."