Summary: The day will come when Rick has to put down the pen on Nikki Heat. How will this impact our dynamic duo? When Rick decides to go out with a bang, will it be in the same sense as Derrick Storm, or does he have something else up his sleeve? Pure FLUFF/SMUT!

A/N: Pure FLUFF/SMUT warning! I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. This will be a two-shot of fun, so I hope you enjoy it because I pretty much have the second chapter done, too. On a sidenote, I had posted the first chapter of my first fanfic a few months back (following 3.13) but it has since been deleted. I couldn't finish it between nursing school and my mom being diagnosed with cancer, but I'm about to graduate and my mom is on the road to recovery, so I hope to get back to it because I loved the concept and received good responses. Maybe FF will become a habit. Just like everything else Castle related (can you say For Lovers Only?). Also, I'm new to tumblr and would love some amigos! nursebambi(dot)tumblr(dot)com

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. I barely own the clothes on my back given all my school loans. lol

The sky over Manhattan mirrored the concrete jungle in which it covered. Grey and gloomy, the weather seemed to be teasing the inhabitants beneath, covering them in a downpour before settling on dreary mist for hours at a time, luring them just far enough into errands before dropping buckets again. As Rick opened the door to the loft and set his umbrella in the corner, he noticed Kate's red galoshes lined up against the wall and smiled. They had a matching red bow on the front and when he had first seen her in them, all he could think of was his tough-nosed detective purposely landing in puddles in attempt to splash him on an after-dinner stroll around Central Park. Honestly, he hardly saw Kate as the type of woman to even own rain boots, except when he considered that she owned every other kind of boot known to man. That much was clear as he helped her unpack and move in to what was now their loft. As he shook out his coat and hung it in the closet, he found the overflow of her collection, additional evidence of Kate's penchant for shoes. Rick chuckled, pushing some of the loose pairs deeper into the closet as he removed his own shoes, sincerely glad that she allowed herself some indulgences even before he came into her life, and glad to have them there, serving as evidence that she was in his life, sharing a front hall closet. A home. Love.

Still, the image of his detective being so carefree and making bets with him that she could jump from one puddle to the other made him hope that someday it would come to fruition. It also made him glad that she was home.

Rick climbed the stairs, knowing that on a dreary day like today, a search of the office and their bedroom downstairs would prove fruitless. When he reached the top of the stairs, he nodded to the right, acknowledging the rooms that belonged to the precious redheads in his life, for whenever they decided to journey home. Turning to the left, he saw that the door he had been heading for was slightly ajar and as he moved towards it, the throaty sound of his love singing to herself filtered through the air to his ears. "Perfection," he thought as he pushed the door open at the end of her song, his eyes lighting up at the sight of his beautiful detective.

The room had been the first home renovation they attempted together, mostly out of necessity. If there was one thing that rivaled Beckett's shoe collection, it was her books, and when combined with his, the amount was absurd. Although they concluded that creating a library would be the most logical solution, it had also quickly become her favorite spot in the whole house. He wasn't sure if it was because it was the only one truly marked with both their fingerprints, although he had been certain to incorporate Kate's belongings throughout the rest of the house, or if she reveled in the memories of creating the room, down to the playful fight that erupted with splattered olive green paint and ended with them covered in the rich wall color and tangled together on the floor, Kate whispering that she was glad they had saved installing the hardwood floor until the end.

"You know what's even creepier than you staring at me? You staring at me with that shit-eating grin on your face," Kate chided, sticking her finger between the pages of the book she was reading before turning to look at him. The sparkle in her eye gave her away, and his grin broke into a full-blown smile.

"Well, detective, I just couldn't help myself, you are just so gorgeous," he offered as he moved past the custom bookshelves that displayed pictures of everyone that mattered, maps of their favorite places and sculptures and shells they had discovered together, towards the chaises lounge that she was sprawled out on. At this, Kate rolled her eyes and dove back into her book, seemingly uninterested.

"Is that the kind of thanks I get?" Rick reacted, placing his hands over his heart as if he were wounded, completing the theatrics by pretending to fall. In reality, he just wanted to sit on the floor at the end of the chair.

Kate responded with an exasperated sigh, but smirked, closing the book again and scooting her way down the seat so her legs rested on either side of him. He sat facing away from her, but twisted to see her expression as she slowly leaned down, her lips just close enough to his ear that he could feel her hot breath as she responded. "If that is the case, then shouldn't you be thanking me?"

Stunned but not all too surprised by her cocky banter, Rick surmised that in jest or not, she was right and answered honestly. "Touché, Kate, touché," he conceded before he pulled back far enough to capture her lips in a hot kiss. As they broke apart, their eyes stayed fixed on each other, Rick being the first to interrupt the silence. "I don't think I'll ever get used to coming home to greetings like that."

"Good," Kate answered, joining him in his chuckle. As she pulled away and moved back to her original spot, Rick caught sight of the book in her hand and was immediately somber.

"The final Nikki Heat, huh?"

"Yeah," Kate answered with a heavy sigh, not wanting to elaborate further.

After a long minute of Kate staring at the cover, her finger still steadfast in its role as placeholder, and Rick staring up at her from the floor, trying unsuccessfully to gauge her reaction, he asked the simple, but loaded question, "What do you think so far?"

Kate kept her gaze lowered as she worked up the nerve to tell him it was harder to let go of the characters than she thought it would be. Instead, she started in a safer direction, "You know, I didn't even want you to write books in the first place, Rick."

Rick offered a sympathetic smile, knowing that Kate's defenses were up. Unlike him, mourning the loss of a character, enduring the end of a series, it was brand new for her. Sure, Kate had read his books, being just as surprised as anyone when Storm was killed off, but this, the ending of Nikki Heat, was far more personal. "It's different being on the inside, isn't it, Kate?"

Kate finally looked at him and offered a weak smile, "Yeah, I thought I'd be relieved… and it feels ridiculous to care this much. It isn't even the story itself. I've been coming back to it all day and have barely past the first couple of chapters…"

Castle ran his hands over the bridge of her feet and up her calves and back down to her ankles before giving them a small squeeze in support. "You are anything but ridiculous, Kate. It is hard to let go of something you identify with. I mean, how long have you been watching Temptation Lane? And that's not even good." At this, Kate supplied a laugh and nodded, urging Rick to continue, "And you already know that no harm befalls my… er, I mean, Rook's, fearless heroine." Rick winked at Kate, but it only seemed to reverse all the progress they had just made as he watched her eyes cloud over.

"What if your fearless heroine does get hurt? You know, now that you won't be my partner anymore…" Kate mumbled meekly.

"Wait, what?" Rick responded in genuine surprise, "Kate, who ever said anything about me not shadowing you anymore?" The worry was evident on Kate's face and if he didn't know better, he would have thought her breathing was heavy in an effort to hold back tears. Her lack of response was all the response he needed. "Oh, Kate, is that what is making this so hard? I have no intentions of leaving the precinct and so far, no one has approached me about doing so. And should someone have a problem with my continued presence at the 12th, we will deal with it then. I can still be there in the name of research, even if its not for Nikki Heat."

Upon hearing this, Kate straightened a bit and smirked, replying evenly, "Well, I guess that's okay, then. Afterall, no one else could possibly sit in that chair comfortably, your butt divots being so bi-" Before Kate had a chance to finish her teasing, Rick spun around fully to his knees and grabbed at her ankles again, pulling her down the piece of furniture until her center met Rick's hips at the end. Rick had a roguish look on his face, satisfied that this new position was all the counter argument he needed. She sat up, a little taken aback, but shook it off quickly. "Okay, okay," she started with a laugh, "I get it. Your ass is amazing." She rolled her eyes but the light he saw shining in them gave her away.

"Honestly, I just figured with this being the final book, there'd be no pretense keeping you there..."

At this, Castle couldn't help but break out into a deep belly laugh, "Kate, seriously? You think that this is what is going to blow my cover, so to speak?"

Kate looked down at him, smirking at his pun in approval while simultaneously shrugging her shoulders. "Honey," Rick started again, matter-of-factly, while bringing his hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, "I think most people have had me figured out since page one-hundred and five. And I've written thousands of pages since then."

"Most people, except me," Kate added with a laugh, feeling at peace now that he had reassured her on the issue.

"Truth," Rick answered, grinning back at her. His hands had come to rest at the small of her back, and her legs instinctively wrapped around his hips. He took in this sight before he started again, "And since we are being honest, Kate, I have to tell you… I wasn't done with Nikki. But it became an extreme case of life imitating art. The more involved we became, the more we wound up on the pages. It's a compliment, really, because reality was better than fiction. Better than anything I could have written. At the same time, I didn't want to share everything with my readers, or receive a negative book review that was intrinsically an opinion of our relationship, or have the tabloids guessing just how true-to-life the sex scenes are. Do you remember what I told you in Los Angeles?"

Kate arched an eyebrow, smug in her reply, "That your intentions were pure?"

"Funny," Rick retorted, pulling her closer to him, causing her breath to hitch. "I seem to remember someone admitting after the fact that they were the one to come back out to the living room?" Pleased to see the blush spread across Kate's porcelain skin, Rick continued on his original point, "Which followed, of course, the conversation where I told you that I thought you were a mystery I was never going to solve. Kate, that's even truer today. And last night? Last night you agreed to give me the opportunity to spend the rest of my life trying. So even though Nikki may be done, we are just getting started."

Rick leaned forward, placing sweet kisses along Kate's collarbone, then each of her eyes as the sensation made them close. Rick continued his attentions as Kate thought back to the night before and the release party for the final book, Heat of the Moment. He had made some excuse about Gina needing him there early, and that she should take the time to relax and get ready, that there was no reason for her to rush, after all, it was just as much a special night for her as it was for him. In retrospect, she understood why he had been so adamant and oddly nervous. It was a special night; She just wasn't clued in as to how much. Suddenly, a thought dawned on her.

"So, was it in the heat of the moment that you decided to use the dedication to propose?"