Title: Ultimatum

Author: mindy35

Rating: T, sexual situations.

Disclaimer: Not mine, no money made.

Spoilers: thru to "Rise".

Pairing: Castle/Beckett

Summary: Please see chapter 1.

A/N: Just a short chapter to finish off. Thank you to all who read and commented. :)

III.

Castle woke with his nose deeply entrenched in Beckett hair, an arm slung round her waist and her skin pressed against his from head to foot. It was still not a sensation he was used to, after a week of sharing a bed with her. What Castle was getting very used to though was such moments being interrupted by the high-pitched trill of his lover's ever-present cellphone. It had become his one nemesis in life, his sworn enemy. It seemed to exist just to intercede in their growing intimacy. Or at least, the thing seemed to have a demonic little sixth sense about when he had Kate Beckett naked. Or was in the process of getting her naked. Or was thinking about getting her naked. Which, he had to admit, was a lot of the time of late. His biggest hurdle in doing so, now that he'd scaled that wall of hers, was her wretched little phone.

Castle rolled away from the sleeping woman in his arms, cracking his eyes open and throwing an arm in the direction of the bedside table where Beckett's phone was ringing and vibrating away so insistently. He slapped a hand at it in a bid to either silence the thing or annihilate it entirely. He only succeeded in sending it flying into a pile of clothes on the floor, which at least muted it some. Castle gave a sleepy grunt and gave up. There was no way in the world he was getting out of Kate Beckett's bed, not while she was still in it. So he rolled back towards her warm body, hoping that the minor commotion hadn't disturbed her. But as he curled himself around her again, her head lifted from the pillow, bleary eyes peering over her shoulder at him.

"Did you just…fling my phone?" she muttered, her voice displaying the aftereffects of their late night and deep, satisfied sleep.

Castle picked his head up off the pillow, blinking sleepily. "Hm? What…? What phone?"

"My phone," she answered, not at all convinced by his innocent act. "That phone you hear ringing."

"Oh, that phone," he mumbled, giving a dismissive shrug before nuzzling his nose back into her tousled hair. "I didn't hear it. I was asleep."

"No, you weren't." Beckett rolled over, propping herself up on her elbows.

"I was until it woke me," he replied, pouting up at her. "I hate your phone."

She snorted, glancing round the room for it. "Don't be a child, give it to me."

Castle scooched closer, planting a string of kisses up her shoulder. "Just let it ring, stay in bed a little while longer. Snuggle with me."

Beckett turned her head towards him, treating him to a mild glare. "Come on, Castle. Where'd you fling it?"

"But we never get to just lie here and relax," he whined, one hand sliding up her body, attempting to coax her back into their embrace.

"You don't want to relax," she replied, running a hand through her hair and starting to look more awake. "You want to have sex."

"Well, sex is very relaxing."

"You don't say?"

"It's true, I read it somewhere." Curling a hand around her neck, he drew her down to him for a kiss. "It's a great de-stresser and you looked very stressed right now..."

She allowed the kiss for a moment before yanking her lips free. "Can't, Castle. I need to answer that. Give it here."

"No," he said, pecking at her lips. "I refuse."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes then lunged over his big body, over his side of the bed towards the continuing jingle of the phone.

Castle caught her, tackling her with his full body and hauling her back across the sheets. "Oh, no. No, you don't, not this morning."

She twisted in his grasp, landing on her back and glaring up at him. "Quit fooling around, Castle, that might be a job."

"Of course it's a job," he replied with a huff. "The only calls you get are about a body dropping."

"That's not true," she frowned, her eyes cutting to one side before she added, "You call me."

"Well, I'm right here so I'm pretty sure it's not me on the other end of that very persistent ringtone." He paused, his whole face perking up as the phone abruptly silenced. "And now it's stopped so…problem solved."

Beckett let out a breath, her body relaxing beneath him. "You know, if we are going to do this—"

"If?" he interjected, lifting a brow at her. "We are doing this."

"Well then, you are going to have to get used to my phone ringing at all hours and me having to just leave whenever it does." She ran a palm down his shoulder then back up to his neck, her thumb dipping into the little dint in his chin. "This is my job, Castle."

"I know," he grumbled, his grip on her loosening, "but we haven't had one morning to ourselves since we…you know."

"Sealed the deal?" she suggested with a small smile.

"And you did say," he added, a little lilt to his tone, a little twinkle in his eye, "that I should stop you from running away from me if you tried."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Then you should have been more specific."

A grin curving his lips, Castle leant down, lowering his mouth to hers and initiating a slow, deep, leisurely kiss. One that she returned, her mouth opening to him as her hands lifted to his hair and dug deep. She surged forward, urging him onto his back and straddling his body as their kiss continued. She was just beginning to undulate against him, he was just beginning to fall into that blissful state she inspired in him, things were really beginning to heat up when Beckett's phone began to ring again. Castle gave an aggravated growl, his hands dropping to the mattress in defeat. Beckett pounced for the phone, diving over the far side of the bed to retrieve it.

"Tell them to call Esposito," he sighed, watching her cross her legs and pull the sheet up to her chest.

She shot him a look, phone pressed to her chest. "No. Why?"

"Because he's the only one of us who won't be having sex," he rushed to say before she pressed the screen to answer.

She thumbed the screen, hissing a sharp, "Castle!" then answered the call with her usual, clipped: "Beckett."

"Tell them," he murmured, budging closer to her on the bed. "Esposito is all alone, he won't mind. In fact, he'll probably appreciate the company. He and Lanie can bicker over the body. Just like how we used to before we found better ways to spend our mornings. It's great foreplay, Beckett."

"Shhh—!" She clamped a hand over his mouth and turned away, saying into the phone, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

Dodging her hand, Castle swept some hair away from her ear, kissing her neck and whispering against her skin, "If you don't pass it on to Esposito…I won't do that thing you like ever, ever again."

Beckett turned her head towards him, hand now covering the phone. "Which—?"

"You know the one I mean," he smirked, the fingertips of one hand drifting up and down her arm, making her skin goosebump.

She raised a brow at him. "Another ultimatum, Castle? Really?"

He gave a smug shrug. "Worked well for me the first time."

Her eyes narrowed, her head shook. "You know, it's gonna be a really long life together if you keep pulling that one out of the bag."

"Also if we never get to have morning sex," he muttered, nodding at her phone. "Tell them."

Beckett put the phone back to her ear, her voice rising to its normal level. "Yeah, no, I'm here." She sent him a sideways look before adding, "Okay, give me the address."

"Right!" Castle pulled away, casting his eyes around the bed. "Situation obviously calls for desperate measures…" Spotting her shirt from the previous day tangled in the sheets at the bottom of the bed, he grabbed it and instantly began tying one sleeve to her wrist.

"What're you doin'?" she whispered, phone still at her ear.

"Stopping you from running away," he answered, tugging on the shirt and making her fall back on the bed. "A man's gotta do and all that."

Beckett landed with a guttural gasp then looked up as he wove the shirt between the spokes of her bedhead. "Uh, dispatch…I…I appear to be a little tied up right at the moment. Maybe…maybe you could give Detective Esposito a call?"

Castle grinned down at her. "Now was that so difficult?"

"Thanks a lot," she muttered into the phone, her tone dry and eyes glaring up at him.

As soon as she finished the call, Castle stole the phone and flung it away. "You will not regret this, I promise."

She huffed as she watched it land on his boxers. "Could you not fling my phone, Castle?"

"I can buy you a new one," he told her, busy restraining her other hand. "One that has the decency not to interrupt us when we're in engaged in vitally important matters. There's gotta be an ap out there for that..."

"And by 'vitally important matters' you, of course, mean sex."

"Sex is very important to me. You should know this if we are going to spend the rest of our lives together."

"I'm getting that impression, yeah…" Beckett glanced up at her hands, lifting them in their binds. "Castle, you know I can get out of this, right? Like, easily."

"But the question is," he moved over her, propping himself on his hands, "…do you want to?"

Beckett bit her lip and said nothing.

He smiled, leaning down to kiss her. "That's what I thought."

"Well, Mr Castle…" She drew in a breath then released it, gazing up at him from beneath her lashes. "I am all yours until that phone rings again. So now that you have me here, what do you plan to do with me?"

"Everything I can possibly imagine," Castle murmured against her lips, pulling back to add, "Including something with ice cubes you're gonna love."

Beckett chuckled and braced herself for the ride of a lifetime.

END.