833. Chapter 833

After Till Death Do Us Part

Episode 4.11

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I have parted with Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"I love you, Mrs. Castle." He whispered in her ear.

She smiled and stopped dancing for a minute. "I love you too, Mr. Beckett."

Rick laughed. "Oh, are we going to do that? Be some sort of New Age couple with different names. Will we name our children Cosmic Muffin and Tornado?"

"Of course not. We'll be who we've always been except now we'll be together."

"Together. Oh, I do like that, Mrs. Castle. I've wanted to be together with you for years and years."

"Oh? And what do you mean by forever?"

"Forever. Like this. You know, married. Me and you?"

"And how long have you wanted forever?" She asked teasingly.

"Since well before you were shot."

"Liar." She shot back.

"What do you mean, liar? I've been in love with you since forever. I began to realize it when you were with Demming and by the time I broke up with Gina, again, I knew I wanted to be with you forever."

"Oh, and you don't remember ever saying anything that might contradict that?"

He frowned in concentration and thought. "Not a thing, why?"

"Do you remember the murder of the Atlantic City casino owner, Sam Siegal?"

"Of course. I remember all of our cases together."

"So do you remember telling Esposito that the thought of marriage filled you with an impending sense of doom?"

Castle does his best to look shocked. "No. I'm sure I never said a thing like that."

"Oh? Do you by any chance remember a certain female tiger?"

"Absolutely! Anything that tries to have me for dinner, I remember. What about it."

"Do you recall saying that if you ever had to be hitched to someone, it would be me? And do you remember immediately denying you'd said the word hitched?"

"I vaguely recall a conversation after we got back to the precinct, but nothing like that."

"Those are your exact words. Castle."

"What, do you have recordings of every word I've ever said?" Castle looks at her in shock. "You do! Are you going to be throwing every word I ever said back in my face from now on?"

"No, I don't records things you say. That would be illegal. But, I am a detective and I do remember things that I hear. Especially things that have to do with you and our relationship. I'll tell you what I think. I think that you were madly in lust with me for the first year or two and wanted to get me into bed, and no more. Then, between Ellie Monroe and Gina, you entertained the idea of something a little more permanent with me. Even when we got together, it was like pulling teeth to get you to talk about where our relationship was going. You finally proposed only because I was leaving to go to DC."

Castle looked at her and frowned. "Okay, let's say, just for the sake of argument, that I might have said something to Espo that could have been construed as indicating I was opposed to getting married, on some level. And let us say, for the sake of argument, that I might have used the word hitched in relationship to us and then denied it."

"Oh, for the sake of argument? Is this like one of those interrogations where the crook gives us information without ever confessing to a crime? Because breaking my heart is a crime in my book, Castle."

"And I plead guilty. I'll spend the rest of my life paying for my crime."

"But you did say those things, Castle. I heard them. I can call Espo, you know."

"Mrs. Castle, please remember that when I said those words, assuming that I said then, that I had already told you that I loved you. And you weren't ready to hear that. You didn't tell me that but you did say at the swings that day that you needed time. Now suppose I did say something like "I would like to be hitched to you, Beckett." What then? That would have been just like me saying right there that I loved you. Something you were not ready to hear. Who knows what it might have done to our relationship?"

"So, it was all my fault?" Castle could see the smile in her eyes and began to feel better.

"Suppose that you admitted to me that you had heard me and just told me the truth, that you needed time to process everything that had happened, and it was a bunch. Do you think I would have told you that I wasn't about to wait? I would have done anything for you, Kate and you know it. So, those words, if I said hem, were my way of giving you an out about how we felt about each other. I took the pressure off of you."

Kate laughed. "So, you were just helping me out?"

"As I always do and always will."

Kate kissed him. "And thank you for doing all of that for me."

"I do remember telling Ryan that he was a lucky man. And I meant that. And I'm the lucky man tonight. "

"And I said that the third time might be he charm and I meant that. This is it for us, isn't it?"

"You know, as I walked you down the aisle when Kevin and Jenny got married, I could really see us getting married, Beckett. I sat there watching Kevin and Jenny and wondering what it would be like to be up there with you."

"You really thought about that?"

"And there hasn't been a day since that I haven't thought about Mrs. Kate Castle." He waited for a beat and added, "And Mr. Rick Beckett."

"I thought about it too, Castle. Especially when we were dancing. You were holding me and it really felt right. You and me together. I should have said something. I should have told you how I felt, but I was afraid."

He shrugged. "I should have asked you to marry me a lot sooner, or at least brought the subject up. But I was scared, too. It had taken us so long to get where we were, and we still hadn't caught Bracken, I didn't want to push you and take a chance on ruining things between us."

"Do you sense a pattern here, Castle?"

"We should really talk to each other?"

"Um, that. And we should say goodnight to everyone and go upstairs. It's our wedding night, after all."

"Shall we go?"

"Lead the way."