A/N: Hey gang, been a while but I'm back. I did this for Oldestman! He asked me to finish one of my scribbles and I picked this one. Of course no story is ever really done but I got this one to where I wanted to go…hope you like it. Tom, thanks for the nudge and the support. Jim, thanks for the push. JT

Castle : The Bucket List - Chapter 13

It had been almost six months since the premiere of Nikki Heat and Katherine Beckett was not a happy camper. As far as she was concerned it had been over five months since, as far as she was concerned, she should have been changing her last name to Castle. She couldn't help smiling as she remembered the thunderous standing ovation that had followed the final fade-out of the movie and her smile grew as she thought about the after party that Rick had insisted on throwing at the Magician's Castle. Everyone who had joined them at the theater had showed up and the party had dragged into the early morning hours.

The next morning had arrived with a vicious hangover and rave reviews for the movie. Of course, her equal parts annoying and sweet fiancé had insisted that reading them to her, in his low, husky voice, would cure her headache. Of course, she hadn't the heart to tell him that he could have been in bed with her and read the phone book into her ear and the headache would have been banished by the deep well of desire that his warm breath and sexy voice always seemed to trigger in her. Well, that wasn't true; because she certainly had the heart, she just didn't want to give him anymore cause to strut around as he was sure to do because of the large number of glowing reviews for the movie.

Having heard enough and nearly overcome with lust because of his voice and his warm breath on her ear, she'd grabbed the stack of newspapers from his hands and thrown them across the room before grabbing his ears and pulling him down on top or her. When room service had delivered their breakfast at almost two in the afternoon, she could help the light blush that the bell boys knowing smirk had caused. She'd ducked into the bathroom for a quick shower and when she'd returned, her insufferable fiancé was sitting with his back against the headboard, hiding what she was sure was his own knowing smirk behind a newspaper.

"What exactly do you think is so smirk worthy?" she'd asked, planting her hands on her hips and giving him her patented death glare. Of course, she knew that he wasn't fooled and that just made it worse, and better, at the same time.

"I'm sure that I have no idea what you're referring to" he'd replied while slowly lowering the newspaper into his lap, the smirk gone and his "what did I do?' look combined with his 'you know you love me' look firmly in place.

"You know exactly what you did" she'd practically hissed at him while stalking slowly towards the bed, her fists slowly clenching and unclenching at her sides. "You practically told that young man that we'd been having sex…"

"Really great, mind-blowing, gee that Nikki Heat movie was the bomb diggity, sex" he'd interjected, his eyebrows wiggling rapidly, almost as he they were trying to take flight.

Struggling to keep her 'war' face in place, she'd continued to advance towards the bed and when she was only a couple of feet away, she'd leapt at the most infuriating man in the world, landing atop his lap, pinning him to the bed while she grabbed one of his ears with one hand while tossing the morning paper onto the floor beside them.

"Bomb diggity?" she'd growled into the ear she had firmly gripped between her right thumb and forefinger while her left hand had sought out, and quickly found, one of his nipples. "How about a purple nurple Mr. 'I'm just too cute'?" she growled huskily into the captive ear, releasing him moments later as he whined 'apples' over and over.

"What about breakfast?" he'd questioned, stealing a look at the loaded cart that was sitting at the bedside.

"After I'm done disciplining you" she'd breathed into his ear, thrilled and aroused by the response her actions and words were having on her 'captive', "after I'm done."

"And how will I know when you're done?" he'd teased back, his hands making short work of the towel she'd worn from the bathroom which soon joined the forgotten newspaper on the floor beside the bed.

"Trust me, writer man, you'll know" she'd replied while grinding into his lap, wondering how their breakfast would taste for dinner or, if they were really lucky, a late evening snack.

With a growl of frustration, Kate Beckett pulled to the side of the road and after shutting down the engine, climbed from the bike and started kicking at the rocks that seemed to be everywhere. Before she could lose herself to her frustration, two things seemed to happen at once; her passenger started barking at her and her phone started to ring. Pausing to take her helmet from her head, she took a few deep and hopefully calming breaths before she reached across the Harley's seat and released Shog's safety restraint, stepping quickly backwards when her traveling companion leapt from the motorcycles sidecar and rushed towards the grassy incline about fifty yards away. She couldn't help smiling as she watched the bulldog race towards the closest vegetation, pausing briefly to look back, almost as if she was checking to make sure that her ride wasn't planning on leaving without her. The chiming of her phone made her stop watching her four legged companion and when she looked down at the display, she wanted to growl again.

"What do you want, Castle?" she asked, not bothering to try and hide the frustration that had been growing for the last five months.

"Want, my dear detective?" he replied, the sweetness and concern in his voice almost making her forget their silly wager…almost. Just to let you know that I've dropped the latest pages off with Jeremy and to make sure we're still on for 'Needsday' which is only two days away."

"I know how many days away it is, Castle. Where are you now?" she spoke calmly but with an edge to her voice.

"You know I can't tell you that, Kate. The rules of the wager…"

"Screw the wager, writer-boy, I just want us to get married. Is that too much to ask?"

"No Kate, it's not. Just admit that you were wrong, and more importantly, that I was right, and we'll get married tomorrow."

"I'm gonna catch you, Castle" she growled into the phone, "and then, after you get the tattoo, then, we're gonna get married!" she finished with a huff. The sound of the laughter from the other end of the call only made it worse. She hit the disconnect, drew back her arm and barely managed to stop herself from hurling her phone at a semi that just happened to be passing by at that moment. "Rassin, frassin, no good…" she mumbled to herself, her phone held in a death grip as she stared down at the screen saver of her incredibly infuriating fiancé, "…stupid frakking bet, stupid frakking book, stupid frakking website…" she ground out the litany that she had found herself going over more and more often.

"This is all your fault, Richard Castle" she informed the phone still held in her fist and, not for the first time…or the hundredth…or probably, if she was honest, the thousandth time, she secretly admitted that it really was her fault. She could have stopped the silly chase, with all its silly rules and exceptions, by simply admitting defeat and giving Richard Castle what he wanted. She knew she wanted the same thing and, she had to admit, she never thought the bet would last as long as it had.

'That stupid f'ing bet' she told herself, remembering the exact time and place when she'd told her been forced to 'find his ass and drag him back to new York so he could make an honest woman out of her'. They'd both laughed at her statement and he'd, still laughing, agreed, admitting that it was 'a good thing he'd come to his senses, otherwise she'd probably still be chasing him'. Somehow or other, one thing led to another and now, nearly six months later, Rick was continuing to surprise and frustrate her as he managed to stay one or two or sometimes five steps in front of her.

The wager had grown from friends and family telling them they were being foolish to tens of thousands of people, several websites and one publishing company watching as Richard Castle and Kate Becket played an unbelievably intricate version of catch. It had been just a couple of days short of six months and in that time Richard Castle had almost completed a new novel, somehow finding the time to write almost every single day. Alexis had been posting the pages on her 'Care and Feeding' website and Black Pawn was preparing to publish a special 'coffee-table' book with pictures from the 'chase' as well as the story he'd been plugging away at since the third day.

After the first week, she'd managed to convince Rick that they needed more than the chase and 'Needsday' had been added. It was a twenty-four hour period when they would suspend the chase and just be together to satisfy their 'needs'. Castle had teased her that he was fine, that it was only her needs but, as soon as their first 'Needsday" was nearing its end, he'd confessed to missing her more than he liked and if she hadn't chosen that exact moment to smirk in self satisfaction, the wager would have been over, but, she just couldn't help herself, and here they were.

As the days had passed, Kate constantly found herself amazed at the number of people who seemed to be following them, through the websites and, in some cases, even in person. At first she'd been sure that the websites would help her catch her wayward beau but when people started posting false leads and fake Richard Castle sightings and after being faked out a couple of times by posted hint s, she fell back on what she did the best; she let her years of training and her intuition guide her. And yet, somehow or other, Richard Edgar Alexander Rogers Castle was still in the wind.

She'd criss-crossed the country, east to west and north to south more times than she ever imagined she would have, if she'd ever imagined she were a cross country trucker. She'd been to the ranch half a dozen times and even been out with Molly twice, all to no avail. In fact, her first visit to the ranch had been when she'd gotten her latest mode of transportation, a World War 2 Harley with its original sidecar. Of course Castle had spent way too much money having it restored and upgraded with all the latest gadgets and, if she was honest with herself, she had grown to love this bike almost as much as her soft-tail.

The first time she'd seen the classic motorcycle, she'd nearly fallen down laughing at the sight of Shog sitting in the sidecar with her very own custom helmet and goggles. Since then, she always enjoyed her rides with the bulldog and the looks they would get from just about everyone they passed…except for today. Sure, she was enjoying the ride but her growing frustration with her fiancé was actually beginning to taint the enjoyment she normally got from these infrequent outings.

Looking back down at the phone still tightly gripped in her hand she came to a decision that was almost six months in the making. "It's time to make some calls" she announced to no one in particular, her thumb toggling the contacts menu. A bark at her hell told her that her charge was back from natures call and ready to get back on the road. She couldn't help smiling as she watched the ease with which her four legged passenger climbed into the side car and sat back on her haunches, obviously waiting for the helmet and goggles and, maybe not quite as patiently, for the safety strap. After touching the second icon on her frequently called list, she lifted the phone to her ear with her left hand while she got Shog ready to travel.

'One more stop, girl, and then we'll get you home" Kate said as she slung her leg over the seat. "Hey Alexis" she said into the phone, "I need your help with something…"

Kate Beckett was doing her best to ignore the buzzing sound and the dull ache from her lower back, telling herself that it was almost over. The chair she was currently in was surprisingly comfortable and, if not for the constant irritation near the base of her spine, she believed she might actually be able to sleep in this position. The sudden cessation of the buzzing and the lack of pressure where the artists hand had been resting told her that it was done and now, finally, after six long months, it was time to get what she really wanted.

"Property of Richard Castle" announced a voice from behind her. God how she loved that voice, she told herself. "Although, you could have added 'Number 1 Fan' to that as well."

"Castle, are you saying that my ass is big enough to need a tramp stamp that big?" she asked as the tattooist slowly cleaned the area of her latest art.

"No, of course not, I told you that you didn't need to do this…"

"I know that, Castle" she answered. Looking back over her shoulder, she couldn't miss the twinkle in his eyes as he smiled at her. "I got it because I wanted it. You're my one and done, Richard Alexander Edgar Rogers Castle, my one and done! Now, once TomTerrific here is done with the Neosporin, we've got a justice of the peace waiting back at the loft and we're getting married! You won the bet but I won you!"