664. Chapter 664

After Till Death Do Us Part

Episode 4.11

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: If anyone here knows why I should own Castle, let him speak now. Rating: K Time: See above.

"I can't believe how beautiful my wedding dress is." Kate said, looking at herself in the mirror.

"All it took was a little time and money to make the wedding dress as good as new. Luckily I do have a little money and it's been two years since we got married."

"And more than that since I stood right here and waited for you."

Castle nodded. "I'd do anything to have married you that day. I wish I could go back and…."

"Change the past?" Kate said with a smile. "You can't. Any more than I can change what happened on our first wedding anniversary." Kate blushed. "Just remember that I love you more than anything."

Rick put his arms around Kate and held her close. "At least when we repeat our vows this time, you'll get the wedding you deserve."

"I got the wedding I wanted. I became your wife. That's all that mattered. And I've never been happier than I've been as Mrs. Castle." She smiled at him. "But I do love the idea of repeating our wedding vows here in the Hamptons. All of our friends are here to see this."

"Yeah, at least Ryan, Espo and Lanie are happy. The guys have been bitching for weeks about this. I told them, Alexis was our best man the first time we tried and when we finally did get married. And Lanie's been bitching about having to diet again to get into her bridesmaid's dress."

"She has not been bitching!" Kate said, defending her friend.

"She's expressed, in the politest way possible, a bit of frustration about her diet?" Rick tried again.

"Better." Kate said with a nod.

"And it's nice to be able to be with my bride-to-be who is already my wife this time. I hate this superstition that you can't see the bride before the wedding nonsense. "

"I haven' let you out of my sight for a three days and I'm not going to. Not after what happened the first time we tried to do this." Kate raised her skirt to show her long, trim legs and her back-up Glock strapped to her calf. "I'm taking no chances." Then Kate looked back down at her legs. "Damn! I forgot my garter. It's in my suitcase in our room." She headed for the door just as Martha and Alexis came in.

"We have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue for the bride." Martha said. Both redheads were smiling hugely.

"I can go get the garter, Kate." Castle said.

Kate nodded. "Okay, but hurry right back or I'll come right after you."

Castle walked into their bedroom and went straight to Kate's suitcase, open on the bed. Then a gloved hand covered his mouth and a voice hissed in his ear. "Don't say a word."

When he was released, Castle turned around. "Dad, what are you doing here?"

The man Castle knew as Jackson Hunt shook his head disgustedly. "My son is getting married, where else would I be? Okay, I know I missed the real wedding, but I wanted to be here for this."

"So, is there something in the genetic makeup of CIA agents that says they have to sneak around everywhere?"

"I'm avoiding your mother."

"Martha? Why?"

"She's never been exactly happy about what happened to Alexis in Paris, or our case together in New York. And what happened to Beckett last year because of some CIA type got her even angrier. Like I run the CIA or something."

"How do you know how she feels?"

Hunt gave Rick another disgusted look. "Don't you think I have sources of information? You do remember what I do, don't you?"

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Dad? Do you have the garter?"

"I gotta hide. Alexis will tell Martha for sure." Hunt whispered and got into the closet.

Rick opened the door and held up the garter. "Right here." He took Alexis' arm to lead her away from her grandfather.

"Dad! Didn't Kate unpack her suitcase?"

"There's no reason to. We'll go back to the city tomorrow to leave on our honeymoon and our suitcases for that are all packed back in the loft."

Alexis shook her head. "Kate's going to need something to wear later tonight and for tomorrow." She glared at her dad." Everything is going to be wrinkled, and she'll need her toiletries and…I'll put everything away. You go take the garter to Kate."

Rick tried to stop her, but she was insistent.

Jackson Hunt watched his granddaughter put her step-mother's things away. He was able to determine that Alexis was very precise and thorough. And slow.

As soon as Martha and Alexis were gone, Kate heard a knock on her door. As soon as Kate opened the door, a well-dressed, older woman slipped inside. It took Kate a second to recognize her. "Rita? What are you doing here?"

"I'm attending your wedding, of course. I couldn't get to the real one, but this almost as good." Looking at the shocked look on Kate's face, Rita laughed. "It's not like I have a lot of time to attend family get-togethers, so when I can, I attend them. By the way, I'm not Rita while I'm here, I'm Claudine from the LA office of Black Pawn. Gina isn't here, is she?"

Kate shook her head. "She had something come up at the last minute….Was that you?"

Rita just smiled. "I tried to get in touch with Hunt to tell him to come, but the last I heard he was in Syria someplace, and you know nothing about Syria, understand? Well, the CIA gets all anal about telling family where someone is even if the family is CIA." She did an eye roll. "Sometimes I wonder how we ever get anything done. Oh, by the way, I'm trying to avoid Martha. I've heard she's unhappy with Hunt about….everything, so it'd be best if I stayed out of her way."

Before Kate could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. Lanie called, "Kate, are you in there?"

"I'll hide in the closet." Rita whispered.

Kate opened the door to find Lanie standing there with a crying Detective Ann Hastings. "Hasting's boyfriend, Paul, dumped her last night. He had a job offer in LA and picked that over her, the asshole." Lanie explained.

Then, Castle stuck his head in the door. "Got your garter. We need to check on some things downstairs. There's a problem with the sound system and the florist."

Lanie waved Kate away. "You two hurry along, I'll stay with Ann."

And so Rita stayed in the closet, listening to a very long and detailed description of what a rat someone named Paul was.

Eventually, everyone went off to the wedding, including an older woman who sat in the back wearing a large pair of sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat. Also in the back, but standing in the shadows by the porch was a clean shaven older man with suspiciously black hair and a very deep fake tan. Both had disappeared by the end of the ceremony.

As they got ready for bed that night, Kate put her arms around Rick. "Do you remember me telling you about your step-mother?"

"Rita something?"

"That's right. She was here today. She wanted to come to the wedding. I guess she doesn't have much in the way of family and this was important to her. She said she couldn't get in touch with your dad about the wedding and she wanted to avoid Martha."

Rick was slightly shocked. "But my dad was here. He was here in our bedroom. He wanted to avoid Martha, too."

They both walked to the window, hoping that they might see someone familiar out there. They didn't.

"Maybe one day we'll have the whole family together, Mr. Castle."

"I'm happy with just being with my wife."