Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait for this one. I wish I could just sit home and write all day long, but duty calls. Kids won't stop eating or growing, and I'm stuck going to work until they turn 18 and leave the house. :p But, I am managing to clean up the house projects and hopefully one day soon, I will actually have free time to write outside of my fits of insomnia at 3 am. I love that you guys are sticking with this story as deeply as I am. I have an entire folder of unwritten or half written drabbles, and I still find my happy place inside them, so I'm not going anywhere for a long while yet. The story will go on, I promise.

Just a little one for today, though. This one has been pinging around my head for days, and it needed to come out.

Thanks again for sticking with me, and this little family I love so much. I hope you are all well.

Enjoy!

J

It was dark, nearly 3 am, according to the clock on the dashboard of her police issued, Dodge Charger.

Exhaustion twisted its way through her muscles, and around her bones. After nearly two full days on this case; no solid leads, and too solid alibis; they had found their missing piece and made the arrest, and Kate Beckett had finally crashed. The impact of too little sleep, and too much coffee, hit her like a freight train, and she wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and sleep for a week.

Gates had accepted the paperwork with a simple nod of the head, and ordered them all home for the next 48 hours, citing overtime, and something about detectives being useless like this, but Kate could see the fatigue wearing on her captain as well. Cases like these took their toll on everyone, it seemed.

Autopilot drove Beckett to gather her things from her desk, toss them haphazardly on the passenger seat of her Charger, and finally on the streets towards her apartment.

Castle had stayed by her side, plying them all with coffee and carbs, until his yawns were nearly on top of one another. When he refused to go home, she had resorted to playing dirty. A covert call to Alexis, asking the girl to summon her father home for dinner, was all it took.

He had leaned down to kiss her goodbye before realizing where they were, putting his acting skills to good use to cover up the slip. He had reached for his back with a groan, bemoaning his chair for the supposed ache. Esposito had taken the bait and had laughingly referred to Castle as an old man and Kate smiled her love to Rick, as he grumbled toward the elevators.

Her lips curled up at the memory of his parting wink, as she guided the Charger into a mercifully empty spot along the curb, less than a block from her front entrance. Beckett didn't even register the walk to the building, nor the elevator ride up. It wasn't until she stood outside the apartment door, keys in hand that she realized what she had done.

She had gone to him.

It was Rick's front door that stood as the final barrier between her and the sleep her body craved. The mechanical, drive home, had brought her here, despite the wanderings of her mind to her own bed. It should have terrified her, Kate had only been sharing his bed for a few months now. Their nights together were sporadic, they both still had their work, their chores, and Kate knew she clung to her independence a little too fiercely at times, but she loved the feeling of his body curled alongside hers in sleep.

She didn't give herself the opportunity to wage the internal war she could feel beginning, instead she slipped her key into the lock and stepped into the warm sanctuary of the Castle home. Kate dropped her shoes and her purse into a heap on the floor of the front closet, padding softly towards his office to lock up her gun. She ignored the contents of his safe, as she had done since the day he had told her she might as well have the combination, stowing her gun quickly. The gentle snores she could hear from within his darkened bedroom were like a siren song, drawing her in to blessed rest.

Kate watched him sleep, with a smile, leaving her clothes in a pile on the floor. She refused to let herself think about it, when she plucked a t-shirt from the top of his laundry hamper and slid it over her head.

Rick didn't stir as she eased between the sheets, and settled in with a sigh. Sleep came hard and fast, and she just barely registered the weight of his hand on her upturned hip and the firm cove of his body along her spine. His murmured words of love were lost in the tangle of her hair, and her unfettered consciousness gave her one final thought before claiming her completely.

He was her home.