426. Chapter 426

After For Better or Worse

Episode 6.23

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I would never claim to own Castle, especially this episode. Rating: K Time: See above

Author's note: This is the worst Castle episode ever. The bar for the willing suspension of disbelief has been set so high that no one could possibly get over it. And Kate is so out of character that….But I digress. I am here to write about what the episode was actually about, nothing more. However, you may notice that I have slipped in a few almost imperceptible changes in this story. But you'd have to pay very close attention to find them.

Spring break, 1998, Las Vegas, NV.

"Come on, Kit Kat. It'll be crazy. And it's Las Vegas. You know, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." No one will ever know."

Rebel Kate Beckett leaned against the door in the back of the cab. "Crazy is a good word for it, Rogan. In case I forgot to mention it to you, which I didn't, both my parents are lawyers and I'm pre-law at Stanford. And a marriage is a marriage even in Vegas. I'm not that drunk."

"Hey, buddy." The cab driver yelled over his shoulder. "You wanna tell me where you want me to go? I ain't gonna sit here all night and listen to you and your girlfriend argue."

Rogan pulled out a flyer he'd found in a casino. "Yeah. Take us to the Drive Thru of Love." Rogan shoved the flyer into the driver's hands.

At the drive through chapel, Rogan paid for the marriage license and the cost of the wedding. Their cheapest wedding, to be sure, but they would be married by a real live Elvis impersonator.

The pulled up to the chapel and Elvis the Minister came out, resplendent in a powder blue jump suit and a fur lined cape. "Do you, Rogan take Kate to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold until you see the Big Man Upstairs?"

"Absolutely."

"And you, Pretty Mama, do you take this hunka, hunka, hunka burning love to be your main squeeze, until forever?"

Kate Beckett sat looking out the cab's window away from Rogan and Elvis the Minister.

"Um, Pretty Mama, do you take this…"

Kate turned around and made a one handed gesture that could be interpreted as saying that she thought Elvis was number one, but probably wasn't.

"Sorry, man, it looks like the lady isn't going to marry you." The King said.

"Just marry us, dammit ! I already paid for this."

Elvis shrugged. "No can do, man. The King can't be a part of marrying an unwilling woman. Only fools rush in and do that."

"Then give me my money back."

"Sorry. No refunds. It isn't our fault you're not getting married."

At that point the cab driver started asking how long this was going to go one. As the three men argued, Kate got out of the cab and began walking back to their motel.

May 9, 2014, New York City.

"Rogan O'Leary? I am not married to Rogan O'Leary!"

The clerk shrugged. "According to this you are."

"Who's Rogan O'Leary?" Castle asked.

"A guy I dated in college. Freshman year."

"And you married him?"

"I did not. He had us drive to some Vegas wedding chapel, but I refused to marry him."

The clerk spoke up. "That's not what the records say, Ms. Beckett."

"Let me see that." Kate growled. The clerk turned her computer around so Beckett could see it. "Wait! The license was issued almost fifteen years ago, the alleged wedding date was fifteen years ago, but the marriage certificate was only registered in Clark County five years ago. This is a phony."

The clerk shook her head. "According to the State of Nevada, you're married, Ms. Beckett, and you can't get married in New York."

"I can if I terminate my so called marriage to Rogan O'Leary." Kate said, narrowing her eyes to slits.

Armed with a dissolution order from Castle's lawyer, Kate dragged Rogan O'Leary back to his apartment. "Why did you send the marriage certificate to be registered in Nevada? And why did you phony up the marriage license in the first place?" She snapped.

"Kit Kat, we are married. Honey, don't you remember there with Elvis…."

Kate grabbed his ear and twisted it hard. "Would you like to reconsider your answer?"

"It was Tildy. I had to do it." Rogan screamed.

"Your girlfriend forced you to claim to be married when you weren't?"

"Sort of."

"How?"

"Tildy wanted to get married, but…I wasn't ready. But she got really insistent. I had to do something!"

"And sneaking out of town in the middle of the night didn't occur to you?"

"No. I borrowed some letterhead from a local lawyer, filled in the marriage license myself, faked the seals and wrote to the people in Nevada and told them that my client was married but for some reason the marriage license wasn't in their files. They registered the marriage and sent me a certified copy. Neat, huh?"

Kate smiled. "Do you know what that is, Rogan? It's mail fraud. A federal offense and you just confessed to a cop. With your record and my friends in the Department of Justice, I bet I can get you sent away for ten years. Maybe more."

"Kit Kat! You wouldn't?"

"Try me. "Kate let him contemplate ten years in prison for a minute or so. "Or, you could sign the dissolution decree and I'll leave you alone." She held out the decree.

Rogan took it and the pen. "Kit Kat, I really need a favor from you."

"How about I not take ten years from your life?"

Rogan signed and handed the decree back to Kate. "Can you at least give me a ride back to Tildy's bar?"

Kate glared at him, but it did no good. "Oh, all right."

As they opened Rogan's door, two men in ski masks grabbed Rogan and pushed Kate away. Kate drew her Glock and pistol whipped the nearest man, bringing him to his knees. "Police! On your knees with your hands on your heads. Now!"

Kate called the police, who were not at all surprised that someone had tried to kidnap Rogan. But since Kate was a cop, they did eventually show up to haul the two men away.

With her dissolution decree in her hand, Kate Beckett headed for the Hamptons to become Kate Castle.

May 12, 2014

As Castle hung up from telling the love of his life that her marriage to Rogan was officially over and that he had their marriage license in his pocket, he noticed a black Cadillac Escalade trying to pass him. He was worried as the car kept pace with him, staying right next to him. Then the windows were rolled down and the passengers, a group of teenaged girls, flashed their boobs at him and then sped off.

That's all I need on my wedding day. Castle thought. Beckett thinking that I'm checking out other women. I don't need anything bad happening today.

Nothing bad did happen that day and Richard Castle returned to his home in the Hamptons where he married the most beautiful bride ever, Kate Beckett.

And they lived happily ever after.

Author's note: I have now written multiple After…stories for every Castle episode up through the end of Season Six. Of course we still have some episodes of Season Seven yet unseen and in September we'll have a DVD of Season Seven, plus the signs seem to be good that we'll get a Season Eight. I will continue to watch my Castle DVDs, but I doubt that I can write another 151 After…stories. However, I remember saying something similar a couple of hundred chapters ago, so you may see some more stories, but probably not every day.

SPOILER ALERT

I've begun writing the sequel to Four of a Kind. Rick and Kate, and Simone Renoir (AKA Kathleen Beckett.), are back in more alternate universes along with an alternate Rick and Kate. This Rick and Kate may be different from "our" Caskett. To begin with, the new Kate has just been broken out of prison and the new Rick works for a shadowy company who provide "military specialists" for countries in Africa. As I don't post anything until the whole story is written, it'll be a while.