286. Chapter 286

After Once Upon A Time in the West

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Shucks, pardner, I don't own me no Castle. No cattle, either. Rating: K Time: See above.

Kate Castle stood at the window of their hotel room and watched the full moon rise over the Sonora Desert. Her husband walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist. He leaned over and kissed her neck.

"Time for bed, Mrs. Castle." He whispered.

"I know. It's just that, in spite of everything, this was really our honeymoon. I'm kind of sad that it's almost over."

"We still have one more night. Then it's back to New York, I'm afraid."

She turned around and put her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. "I just can't help but think about how much we've been through to get here. We're married. I'm your wife and you're my husband. For so many years after Mom died, I really thought I'd never have a husband or a family. I thought I'd spend my whole life with nothing but my job."

"You still have the job." Castle teased.

"And then I met this ruggedly handsome writer and fell in love with him. And I knew, I absolutely knew, that he'd never want to marry…"

"The remarkable Kate Beckett? I can't imagine any man who wouldn't want to marry the spectacular, fascinating, absolutely magnificent and perfect Kate Beckett."

Kate smiled and kissed her husband once more. "As I was saying, I knew he'd never marry a badly broken, lonely, obsessed cop. Never going to happen."

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." Rick said in a deep voice.

"Thank you, Darth Castle." Kate said with a smile. "But even you have to admit that our getting together is not… typical."

"Who wants typical?" he replied. "I want you. I want remarkable. I want Katherine Houghton Beckett Castle and I will accept nothing else."

Kate laughed and led him to the bed. "So, our last night on our honeymoon?"

Much later, Kate lay in Rick's arms, smiling. "There's something we have to do back in New York."

"I know. And we'll do lots of it."

She slapped his chest lightly. "No. We have to do something for Lanie, Espo and the Ryans. We probably should have asked them to our wedding."

"We're having them over to our reception."

Kate shook her head. "We have to do something a little more than that. There's isn't anyone closer to us than them that's not family. In fact, they really are family."

"No problem. I know exactly what to do."

…...

Kevin Ryan, Jenny, with Sarah Grace, and Javi and Lanie looked out of the window of the stretch limo to see the four Castles standing in front of their house in the Hamptons.

"There they are." Ryan waved at the four. "It's going to be hard to think of Beckett as Castle now that she is…Castle."

"Kevin, "Lanie spoke up, "she's been his and he's been hers for years now. The wedding only confirmed that."

Jenny shook her head. "I think the wedding did more than confirm it."

Before anyone could comment, the limo stopped and Espo opened the door. "Bro! How you doing?" He said as he hugged Castle.

They friends morphed into a mass hug until everyone was hugged.

Ryan hugged Martha and looked over at Rick. "Castle, you really don't have to do this, you know."

Rick nodded. "Okay." He leaned over and called to the driver. "Take them back. We're not doing this."

He was assaulted by a chorus of boos and then shrugged. "I seem to have been outvoted."

"So what's the plan?" Lanie asked.

"First were going to have the bachelor party." Rick said.

Lanie raised an eyebrow. "A bachelor party after the wedding?"

Kate nodded. "With the bride along to make sure that if the groom gets any sexy lap dances, they're from me."

"Put your suitcases inside. And Jenny, Alexis and Martha have generously offered to baby sit Sarah Grace tonight."

"We were bribed, actually." Alexis added.

In no time, they were back in the limo. Castle refused to say where they were going. But their destination was the local arcade. Espo's eyes lit up when they walked inside. "Bro, look at that. Madden Football 2014 on the biggest big screen I've ever seen. You up for this, Ryan?"

Kevin looked over to Jenny. "Go ahead. Lanie and I will watch you two."

Espo shook his head. "Please don't watch, Jenny. I'd hate for you to see your husband cry when I demolish him."

"Okay, Javi. Just for that, I'm not going to go easy on you like I usually do."

Kate's eye lit on something. "Lover," she whispered, "there's a pitching machine over there. Want to hit a few?"

"I'm not really very good at baseball, in fact…"

"I know." Kate said, taking his hand and leading him to the machine.

An hour later Lanie, Espo and the Ryans hunted down the Castles who were taking a break by the pitching machine.

"How are you doing?" Espo asked.

"I'm just getting into my groove." Castle said, picking up his bat and taking a few swings.

"He's hit two balls so far." Kate said. "I've hit fifty four."

"Out of how many?" Ryan asked.

"Sixty. " Kate said, smiling.

"Well, you should move up to the big leagues then. The Espo League. Care to try?"

Kate looked over to Jenny. "How'd they do at Madden?"

"I consider that I gained a moral victory." Kevin said quickly. Espo just grinned.

"I'd better take Espo on before he gets too cocky."

"You are going down, Beckett. Um, Castle. I will crush you."

In the end, however, Kate won, thirty two hits to thirty.

Espo took it well. "Sure she got more hits, but hers were all infield grounders. Mine were majestic big flies. Out of the park. Over the wall in center field."

"Only if center field is behind the backstop." Kate muttered.

"Okay, folks. From here we go to the very best restaurant in the Hamptons and then we go to drinks in the best bar in the Hamptons. Tomorrow, we'll cruise Long Island Sound in style on a tall ship and then have a catered dinner at our house. Alas, then it's back to the city and work."

Kate Castle stood at the window of their room and watched the full moon rise over Long Island Sound. Her husband walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist. He leaned over and kissed her neck.

"Time for bed, Mrs. Castle." He whispered.

"I know. It's just that our honeymoon is over, and now our reception for our closest friends is almost over. I'm sad."

"We still have one more night. Then it's back to New York, I'm afraid."

She turned around and put her arms around her husband. "I love you so much. I want you to know how happy I am to be your wife."

"No happier that I am to be your husband. And I have an idea."

Kate glanced at the bed. "I'm sure you do."

Rick grinned. "That, too. But I want us to re-new our vows next year, right here at our house, with all the people who would have been here at our wedding, one year after we should have gotten married. And then we'll be off to an island paradise for the best honeymoon possible. Is that okay with you?"

"I love it and I love you." She replied and kissed him. "After all, what could possibly go wrong?"

Author's note: And so we're at the After…for Episode 7.07. I wrote this after watching the ep on the ABC TV Castle website. I won't be able to see Kill Switch again until next Tuesday, however. The further After …stories for Season Seven will follow, unless I finally run out of ideas. So what will I do in the meantime? I have two stories that I'm working on. One takes place in the Castle canon near future and the other is an AU set in Season Three. However, liking Castle as I do, I'm going to start re-watching from Flowers for Your Grave. I really can't see another 286 After…stories from me. I really am not that imaginative. On the other hand…

And happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers. And a special thanks to everyone who has commented and reviewed my stories. I know I don't reply to every one, but I do appreciate every one.