A/N: This post-ep for 5x19 'The Lives of Others' came out of a, let's just say 'vigorous', debate on Twitter after the episode aired. My thanks to Dana Keylits, dtrekker, brookemopolitan, BlueOrchid96, ColieMacKenzie and 1822andallthat for your part in that debate. In the end we agreed to disagree over a couple of things that happened on the show. But it spawned this post-ep story, which was first requested by Carolina17. So to all of these co-conspirators, I say thank you. I haven't been feeling the Caskett muse so much lately, but you're helping me find my way back.

"I saw pearls in her mouth and the velvet cushion of her tongue and I heard the magic words come out of her."
― Glenda Millard, A Small Free Kiss in The Dark

The Detective With The Pearl Earrings

Her earrings shiver as she slowly moves her head, luminous pearls dancing in the ambient light while she slowly brushes her lips back and forth over his, their fingers tightening on each other's clothing, bodies, seeking out skin, swallowing down the moan that rises in their throats since his mother is upstairs, his daughter on the phone somewhere out by the kitchen.

They break apart, breathing heavily. Castle rocks back slightly on his crutches and Kate catches him; one hand on his jacket lapel, her other arm wrapped around his back to prevent him from toppling. She smiles, her eyes crinkling at the sides, the pavé, diamante embellishment on her earrings catching the candlelight, and they twinkle like stars, throwing pinpoints of white light onto her skin.

She's glowing.

Castle watches her with an awed smile on his face, his cheeks still flushed from all the excitement of the surprise party, the memories bubbling up constantly, filling his mind with wonder, the most overwhelming of which is that Kate Beckett went to so much trouble for him.

Just for him. All for him.

She rented an apartment, a storage locker, she got her boss involved in the ruse, the boys, his (her) family, a troop of actors... He loves to be the center of attention, she knows that, and she put him right there - center stage. She even had cop cars show up at the building with real cops inside to fake the bust on the fake perp's apartment. He's having a hard time getting his head around the lengths she went to to surprise him on his birthday and keep him entertained with a make-believe mystery to puzzle over while he's been bored stupid and grouchy as hell at home. All while holding down her own demanding job.

She did all of that just for him.

"Hey?" murmurs Castle, kissing the smooth skin that softens the lines of her collarbone, before touching it with the tip of his tongue, tasting her.

"Mmm?" Kate asks, kissing his neck, her own exploration involving that spot just above his collar that his razor makes extra sensitive.

"I'm sorry I've been such a grouch these past few days."

Kate laughs then brushes her lips over his again, making him shiver.

"Past few days, Castle? Try the last couple of weeks."

"Really?" he pouts, dropping his head. "Was I that bad?"

Kate runs her fingers through his hair creating parallel lines through the soft darkness above his ear.

"Let's just say that we are not going skiing anytime soon. Or embarking on any other sports that involve risk…or you showing off," she warns him, playfully poking him in the chest.

"I was not…" he starts to insist until Kate gives him a stern, silencing look.

"You were showing off. We already settled that point. Beach vacation is next on the agenda. Bora Bora sounded pretty good to me. So…as soon as you are mobile enough…"

Kate grins at him, her whole face lighting up, teeth and the whites of her eyes glowing luminously in the low light, shining with a radiant pearlessence when Castle grins back at her, the nearness of that possibility filling his eyes, his whole face, with excitement and joy.

"Want to know one of the things I love about you?" he asks her, discarding his crutches, wrapping both arms around her waist, the silk of her dress whispering in the dark when the sleeves of his jacket slide over the fabric that encases her slender hips.

"One of the things?" she teases, the apples of her cheeks pinking up beneath the pale blush she artfully applied for the party.

"Mmm-hmm," he nods, pressing the tips of his fingers into the muscles either side of her spine, making her arch her back, her pelvis pressing more firmly into his, fitting them together.

They both sigh, their shoulders dropping at the intimate contact, everything so easy between them these days, feeling closer than ever.

"Okay, tell me," she whispers, granting him permission while letting her eyes trip falteringly up from the pale pink glow given off by his silk tie to his face, before darting away to study his ear and then drawing back to meet the irresistible dark blue of his eyes, like the skittish, elegant movements of a nervous gazelle.

"How much you've changed," he tells her, his head tipped to one side as he appraises her startling beauty.

"You like that I've changed?" she laughs, this answer unexpected.

"Yes," he nods, smiling at her amusement, watching as her brow furrows, deciding he had better explain. "I watch you now…with my mother…how she 'Katherine's' you all the time and you don't even bat an eyelid. And with my daughter – how you two worked on this together, sneaking around, keeping secrets, working me over so that I was completely sucked in and utterly clueless. You fit right into this family, Kate. Better than anyone else ever has."

Her heart begins to race a little at that, since she knows he means better than the two ex-wives who've come before. She's just grateful he doesn't get that explicit with his wording, since it would imply something else too. Some next step perhaps that she's pretty sure neither of them are ready to face just yet.

"And you…you even got Gates involved in my birthday surprise. I mean, what does she even think at this point? About us, I mean? Weren't you worried she'd bust us over this? Wonder why you were going to so much trouble…for me?" he squeaks, still so delighted by this fact.

Kate laughs again, and then she lets out a long, slow breath that is part amused sigh, patting her hand against his broad chest.

"Oh Castle," she sings. "If Gates hasn't caught on to you and me by now, she has no right holding the post of Captain."

"You think...?"

"Well, just look at the evidence. We arrive at work together, we leave together. We go on vacation at the same time. We come to the precinct carrying our own coffee every morning, instead of you arriving late and bringing a cup in for me. And the way you look at me sometimes…I know you try to dial it down when we're at work, but still there are days when you take my breath away. If she can't see that…" shrugs Kate, leaving the sentiment hanging between them.

"See, this is what I mean," Castle tells her, running a hand up and down her side, feeling the ripple of her ribs under his fingers through the silk bodice of her dress. "Stuff like this would have freaked you out less than a year ago. If I'd have known then how well you would adapt…"

He pauses, at a loss for words all of a sudden.

"You'd have what?" asks Kate, biting her lip. "Thrown me over your shoulder like a caveman and carried me off to the loft?" she laughs. "It doesn't work like that."

"I wish it did," he says a little petulantly. "Would have saved me a few worry lines, I can tell you."

Kate touches her fingertips to his face, gently stroking the soft skin at the side of his eye.

"Worry lines suit you, Castle. They give you character," she promises, leaning in to kiss the same spot tenderly. "We're exactly where we're supposed to be. Because we lived our way here…together. Natural progression. All of it."

"You sure?"

"Let me ask you a question? Do you think I'd have been okay with you calling me up at work a year ago to ask what time I was bringing dinner home? In front of the boys?"

"They heard that?"

"They heard you whining. And now they think I'm totally whipped. And they'd be right," she giggles, tugging on his tie, not really mad at all.

"You're whipped, Detective Beckett?" he whispers, grazing the shell of her ear with his lips, feeling the cool, teasing sensation of her pearl earring dancing against his chin.

"I think that…there may be certain times when you can…wrap me around your little finger," she confesses, poking him in the ribs. "You know I don't like to see you suffer. That's why I hated leaving you here alone to recuperate."

"Ahhh," he grins. "So if I just whine a little when I want something you'll…"

"I'm compassionate, Castle. Not an idiot," she tells him, pinching his ear.

"Ouch! Harsh, Beckett."

"Just making sure you know that there are still boundaries. I'm not a complete pushover. I do have limits, you know."

"Do those limits preclude you from helping me to undress?"

Kate eyes him carefully, a smirk on her face.

"Depends what you have in mind once your clothes are off," she replies, her lips pursed, arms crossed.

"Oh…oh, come here and let me help you out of that beautiful dress, Detective. Because I think you might be more than happy with my plans once you get me out of my clothes."

"Is that so?" she giggles, when he spins her round with a firm waltz of his fingers over her waist and begins unzipping the back of her dress.

Her pale skin is quickly exposed beneath the ebony satin, the individual vertebrae of her spine glowing in the candlelight like a magnificent string of pearls.

They make love carefully, but no less passionately. Her gentle, slow, rhythmic movements building everything steadily between them with an intensity that is almost overwhelming. Her breath coasts through the half-light, a gentle panting sound that is so filled with heat and need that it makes Castle's heart race and his blood sing with arousal just to hear her. Her quiet reverence and the extreme control she exerts over his body heightens every sensation, leaving Castle completely at her mercy, tethered to the bed, until whispered words of love and desire mingling with the wet, needful pairing of their mouths and the electric stroke of fingers over tingling, sensitized flesh finally brings them both to a powerful, shuddering climax.

Kate leans down to kiss his heaving chest, brushing stray strands of hair off his sweat-dampened forehead with the featherlight graze of her fingertips. Then she carefully climbs off him, letting him slip out of her, to roll onto her side and lie down next to him.

"Kate?" Castle whispers, after a few quiet seconds, his fingers coasting repeatedly over her forearm where it rests limply against his stomach.

"Mmm?" she hums, her eyes closed, her breaths now slow and even.

"Earlier tonight…before…before the surprise. You…you said one of the things you love about me…"

Kate stirs, leaning up on one elbow to look at him, her face lustrous and aglow.

"Your overactive imagination, yes," she smiles, pressing her lips to the soft flesh of his stomach and then grinning against his warm skin.

Castle catches her chin with his hand and tips her face up so that he can see her.

"You said 'love', Kate," repeats Castle quietly, his eyes darkened by self-doubt and uncertainty.

"Yes. And?" she asks, frowning a little. Not entirely sure what he's getting at.

"Love. That means maybe… Well, that generally means that there might be other things you love about that person. That there might in fact be a whole list of things…I mean, if you do love them, that is."

"Castle, are you asking me, in a not very subtle way I might add, if I love you?" she grins, stroking the side of his head, then letting her fingers caress his earlobe, before dropping her hand onto his chest, her palm coming to rest over his heart.

He swallows, visibly and audibly, and Kate watches his Adam's apple bob up and down uncomfortably.

"I…uh…I didn't mean to put you on the spot or anything…" he stumbles out.

"With your little fishing expedition?" she teases, her face an Oscar-worthy mask again, as she watches him squirm. And maybe Martha is rubbing off on her a little too much, she thinks to herself. But she can't keep the pretense up for long.

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry. Let's just forget I said anyth…"

"Castle?" interrupts Kate, smoothing her thumb over his chin to get his attention and then holding his gaze. "If you don't know by now that I love you…?" she tells him, pausing to let the words sink in.

She smiles at his dumbstruck expression, nodding her encouragement for him to believe what he just heard, what she's telling him, that it's true.

"I know I don't…haven't exactly said it…not often, anyway," she says softly, regretfully.

"Eh…not ever before now," he corrects, struggling to sit up, tugging the sheet up over his lap for this landmark discussion, feeling very, very naked all of a sudden.

"Well…that you were awake enough to hear," she double-corrects with a sheepish grin.

"You said it when I was sleeping?" asks Castle, letting out a loud belly laugh when Kate nods, her hair still in an elegant bun, no curls free to shield her flushed cheeks when she ducks her head in embarrassment.

"I might have practiced a little," she admits shyly, shrugging her shoulders.

She slowly looks back up, her gaze lingering over Castle's bare chest until she meets his piercing blue eyes.

"I hoped that actions would speak louder than words," she tells him, finding his hand amongst the bedclothes and clutching it. "I had hoped that you could see how I feel, Castle. Because I do try to show you. I do."

Castle leers at her, dropping her hand to stroke his fingers up and down her naked ribcage, his thumb gently brushing the soft flesh on the underside of one breast.

"Oh, I feel it alright," he grins, still swimming in a Champagne induced haze apparently.

"Not like that," she startles, laughing and swatting his hand away. "Look, if you want me to stop…"

But he catches her wrist to prevent her from fleeing if she gets the urge.

She doesn't want to flee from this. Not anymore.

"No! No, sorry. You were opening up to me, Kate, and I'm being a jackass. I'm sorry. Please…continue."

"Thank you. So, I might not be very good at saying it, but I've tried to show you every way I can."

Castle nods, watching Kate nervously chew her lip.

"But I also understand that you're a writer, and so words are important to you. Castle...I have wanted to tell you for such a long time. I just…" she trails off, shaking her head, two pearl drops swinging from side to side like Newton's cradle.

"Kate, it's okay," he tells her quietly, trying to mask his disappointment. "Stop torturing yourself. Let it come when it's ready."

"But I'm ready now. Castle, of course I love you," she blurts hurriedly.

And it's messy, rushed, clumsy, but finally out there. Finally free.

He stares at her, his eyes two pools of intense blue she wishes she could dive into forever.

"You mean that? Because I don't want you to feel you have to…"

"Castle, shut up and kiss me. I love you. I do. I love you…I love you…I lo…"

His lips on hers finally quiet the flood of unleashed emotion.

"Do you know how long…?" he shakes his head, trying to clear the ache from his throat. "It's been burning a hole in my pocket. But I didn't want to pressure you. I love you too, Kate. I've wanted to tell you so many times. To remind you..."

"Castle, I know you. I feel it too," Kate reassures him, lightly touching his jaw. "Yes, like that too sometimes," she nods, laughing when he leers again, both of them sniffing a little as they regard one another with bright, shiny, emotion-filled eyes.

When they stop laughing her face grows serious.

"Mostly, I feel it in all the small things you do for me. It's in every cup of coffee you hand me, it's there when you bring me breakfast in bed, when you pick up my dry cleaning even though I haven't asked you too, when you stay late at the precinct when I'm working on some dead-end case without the hope of a lead just to keep me company, or when you make dinner at my apartment even though you hate my stove," she grins.

"How did you even…?"

"Shhh, shhh, shhh," she says, tapping his lips with her finger.

Kate wraps the sheet around her and begins again.

"You know how I knew I'd get you to that surprise party tonight? How this plan would work out?"

"No. How?"

"Because you have an insatiably enquiring mind. Your curiosity knows no bounds. But more than that, Castle, it was because you care. You care what happens to complete strangers. You care enough to put your own life in danger. You are a special person, and I am lucky to have found you. You make one hell of a partner, partner," she teases, nudging his good thigh with her knee.

"We're much more than partners now, Kate."

"I know," she replies simply, nodding in agreement.

Castle holds out his arm and Kate settles into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You know I even see it some days when you look at me in front of the murder board. You'd think we were standing in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence looking up at Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus', and not some array of potential perps. It's there in all the ways you make my life better, easier, happier...special."

Kate swivels round so that she can face him.

"I don't need the words, Castle. But I know that you do. So…Happy Birthday. I love you."

Pearl, noun: Pearls come in wide variety of colors, also known as a "palette of colors". From white, yellow, golden, pink, blue to black and almost every shade in between. Pearl color refers specifically to the color of the pearl's body, considered the fundamental color of the pearl.

Colors generally range from cream, to silver-white (most common), to black (most rare). But there are also color overtones reflected across a pearl's surface. In fact, the color of a pearl more often than not is a meld of its body color and its overtone. A pearl with a "rose overtone" will describe a white pearl with a rose colored hue.

Eastern cultures believe that pearls symbolize purity and spiritual transformation. Simply wearing a pearl reminds the wearer to be honest, pure, wise, and to walk with the utmost dignity.

A/N: Love to hear your thoughts on the story or the episode. Liv