Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. I do not own them or Castle.

REPOST: A/n: Fic #2 for Sav's birthday. I actually really love this one and she did too. Which is all that matters. But I hope you all enjoy it too.

Their skin is still damp. Cooling slowly with each breath. Steadier than the one before. The blankets are gone, lost to the floor and there's not a single pillow left either. Nothing but them. Bare skin and soft lazy kisses. A press of her mouth to his as she wiggles closer. Her blood is still buzzing, her body still tingling, shaking in aftershocks of everything he's just done to her and still, she wants more. Does that end?

She always had it stop before. The constant craving, the need for the person she was in a relationship with. But not with him. She wants him, craves him. Even a touch, a kiss, she always wants some part of it. Even just that look he has in his eyes sometimes when she catches him staring.

The one he has right now. In the soft light of morning, his eyes are just a tad more warm and sparkly than usual. But maybe hers are too. And it's not just the sex, nor the fact that they spent the whole night in each other's arms, mapping skin and tasting the paradise offered in the dips and grooves of one another. A smile spreads over her lips as she stretches against him. Yeah. It's been a night to remember. And she knew it would be. Their first night.

Not as a couple. But as a married couple. She doesn't really feel any different. Tired but he's to blame for that and maybe it's her own fault too. She's the one that woke him this time, as soon as she'd realized he had fallen asleep her hands had wandered, squeezed and stroked until he'd been panting and begging. Oh yes, she'd made Richard Castle - a now married man - beg for her. He had more than returned the favored. His lips. His tongue. And those clever hands.

And now it's just sleep that beckons as she snuggles down against him. Her ear over his heart, her body thrumming from the heat of him and his skin against hers. She scrapes her nails playfully over his chest, laughs softly when he groans out her name. They're both spent. But she kisses his skin, nips at his pec. Just because she can.

She's his wife and that thought alone has her grinning like a fool. He's her husband. And when her palm flattens, his fingers find it, curling around. He plays. He touches things. And it used to drive her absolutely insane. Still does, a little but it's sweeter now. She can't really complain when she's falling asleep in his arms, half on top of him.

Especially not when she watches the way his fingers move over hers, the way they touch gently and when he strokes over her ring finger, she melts. He twists at her rings, spinning them, touching, feeling. And she lets him. She lets him play, and nudges his hand with her thumb.

"They're not going anywhere, Castle."

"I know." His voice sounds strained, it draws her eyes up to his face. "Just wasn't sure we'd make it here."

"Hey," she murmurs to him, soothing and sweet, "we wanted our fairytale, our happy ending."

They kept going. Kept fighting for it. And it's not what they'd planned. But it's their kind of perfect and she's never been happier. He makes her happy and free and a whole list of things she's entirely too tired to ramble off. She doesn't want to think of their first attempt. She won't. It was ruined. It'd been botched and the magic destroyed. They're still here. They made it.

She loves him. Adores him. Absolutely and completely needs him. He's her constant. The one thing in her life that sticks. Even when she didn't want him to. And now he's absentmindedly touching and spinning the rings he placed on her finger yesterday. The symbol that they're going to be with each other always.

And he wears a matching band. Not something she thought she'd find ridiculously sexy until she was the one sliding it in place. And it is ridiculously sexy. To mark him as off limits for good. He's hers for the rest of their lives. No one else can have him. They can try, they can flirt but she knows where his heart is, who he sleeps with, who put that ring on his hand. Maybe she's just a bit territorial.

She can't help but wonder if it's the same reason he can't stop touching hers. She stretches, presses her lips to the underside of his chin and then snuggles back down. Content. Sated. Sleepy.

"I love you, Kate." And that just puts the dopey smile back on her face.

"I sure hope so, you're kinda stuck with me now." He squeezes her hand and she squeezes back, runs her thumb over his knuckles. She sobers. "I love you too."

And that's pretty perfect. She wouldn't change a thing about their story. Not one thing. Because if something went differently, if they hadn't stripped each other raw and almost lost their chance more than once then none of this would feel the same. She wouldn't love him as deeply, wholeheartedly. They probably wouldn't have stuck because she wouldn't have let him in. The wall would still be there. But now it's rubble. And he's inside her heart, which is where he's always belonged. He's mended her. Put her broken pieces back together. And she's the one that started that, the effort of bettering herself but he helped.

He was there. And she didn't scotch tape herself back together on her own. He held the jagged edges in place as she secured them. Even when he wasn't right there with her, he helped. And he'll continue to do so. Just as she will for him. That's what their vows meant.

She's yawning into him, watching his fingers dance around with her own. Her heart is still thumping just a tad faster than usual. He's her husband. It hasn't quite sunk in but it sends heat straight to her core. As if she hasn't already had him inside her multiple times tonight. In multiple positions. And she's still sensitive enough to quiver at just the possibility of having him again. Of feeling the thick slide of him as he thrusts, of latching on to the muscle of his bicep and sinking her teeth in.

"Babe," she has his attention, can feel it as she shifts her leg over him, rubbing her thigh against his shaft. "Up for one more?"

They're worn out, but she wants him one more time before she succumbs. And he wants her too...or at least his body does. She can feel him jerk. She can feel the rumble in his chest. And the almost pitiful whine he lets out.

"Is that a no?"

"You're gonna kill us both." But he's the one that pounces. Suddenly not as tired as she believed him to be.

"So not a no?"

He rolls them, pins her hands with his. Fingers intertwined. Smiling down at her as she wraps a leg around him, pulls him closer. And no. She doesn't think this will ever dissipate. The hunger for him. The way her blood sings with just one touch of his lips to hers. Or how arousal punches through her as soon as he sucks against her neck and presses his hips right against her pubic bone. She rocks up against him, she doesn't need the foreplay, still slick from their last round.

"Castle, now. Just..." He steals her words. Sliding into her just a little roughly. Both of them stop. Needing a moment.

And when she's ready she pulls their hands to her lips, kissing his fingers. It's different this time. Not as soft or playful. Something sleepy and rough. Both of them racing for oblivion. She doesn't let go of his hands, keeps them locked in hers. The bed shakes, their skin slaps, and she bites on his lip when he hits deep.

Her back arches, chest heaving. She's splintering apart quick and sharp. His name on her tongue. And he's the one shaking when he collapses against her. Her hands turning white from his grip. She kisses his temple. Over his eye. Down his nose.

To catch his lips. Keep them against her own. Imprinting a whimper against them when he pulls out. Too sensitive. But she lets him go. Curls back into his side when he flops over. He's still gripping her fingers, rubbing over them, playing with her rings. She nuzzles him, smiling. It's a pretty good way to end their first night as husband and wife.

She's asleep in seconds, his touch the last thing she remembers.