For my awesome BrainTwin!
Happy BrainTwin-aversary.
The soft sounds of the wedding march begin to play, causing the crowd's quiet murmurs to cease as they immediately rise to their feet and turn towards the aisle. Kate focuses on the quiet click of her heels against the pavement as she links her arm through her father's, tightly grasping onto the bouquet of flowers with her free hand. She steals a glance at him from over her shoulder, taking in the ecstatic expression on his face and can't help but wonder what he would think if he knew what was actually going on in her head.
Kate blows out a deep, slow, breath as they turn the corner, hesitantly moving her gaze up to her soon to be husband and, for a moment, the knot in her stomach seems to loosen. Maybe she can do this after all.
She stifles a laugh at something her father says, though she's not one hundred percent sure why she thought it was funny. She's not even quite sure about what is said, but it's soon drowned out by the sound of an unfamiliar voice shouting her name while trying to outrun the security guards hot on his trail.
"Ms. Beckett, Ms. Beckett!" the elderly man exclaims, and Kate turns her head just in time to see the security men tackle the man to the ground, proceeding to drag him away from the ceremony.
"Mr. Beauford?" Kate questions in confusion as she waves the security team off, uncertain as to why her lawyer has crashed her wedding.
The lawyer shrugs out of the men's grasp, angrily smacking one of them in the chest with his papers before making the short walk toward Kate.
"You are one hard woman to get in touch with," he states, shaking his head.
"Mr. Beauford," Kate begins, quirking a brow in question at the man, "we signed the papers. What are you doing here?"
The man swallows, casting glances to his left and then right before leaning into Kate and lowering his voice to a quiet whisper. "He did. You didn't."
"What?" Kate deadpans, eyes widening as the lawyer flips to the correct page and, sure enough, there is an empty space where her signature is supposed to be.
"You mean….I'm still married?"
"Well, I mean, only if you want to be," the lawyer replies kindly.
"For god sakes, Kate, I thought you took care of this," Josh's quips from behind her and Kate shakes her head, giving a small shrug of her shoulders in reply. "It's an honest mistake. Does anybody have a pen?"
A gentle hand on her shoulder causes Kate to jump; an expression of shock and confusion on her face upon seeing her current mother-in-law standing in front of her while holding a pen.
"These things don't just happen, you know," Martha remarks quietly. Kate cautiously accepts the pen, turning her attention back to her father.
"Can't ride two horses with one ass, Katie bug."
It's the most absurd expression that she's ever heard the man say but, somehow, it makes sense.
She can't sign these papers. It really had been an honest mistake to begin with, or maybe it was simply fate's way of giving her a little push in the right direction.
"Josh…" she trails off, taking a moment to try to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. "You don't want to marry me."
"I don't?" he questions in a tone full of surprise, laced with hurt.
"No, no, you don't, not really." Kate continues, shaking her head as she takes a step toward him. "You see the truth is," she pauses, swallowing hard, doing her best to keep herself together, "I gave my heart away a long time ago, my whole heart, and I never really got it back. And I don't even know what else to say, but I'm sorry. I can't marry you. And you shouldn't want to marry me."
Thunder booms and bright flashes of lightning illuminate the dark night sky. What was an occasional sprinkle of water only a mere moments ago has officially morphed into a full blown summer storm. She's already drenched from head to toe. The makeup and hair that she'd sat perfectly still for hours in a chair are ruined, along with the dress and shoes and everything else that she's wearing at the moment but, in all honesty, Kate could care less.
She quickly cuts the engine of her father's truck and pushes open the door, slowly taking a few steps forward. His truck is here, just like she knew it would be. Royal is perched in the passenger seat, and Kate can't help the quiet laugh that slips past her lips at the sight as she walks around the truck to where she can just barely see him.
She loses the shoes almost halfway through; they're basically ruined now anyway and with every step her heels sink further into the drenched earth, only serving to slow her down.
"Hey Writer Boy," she calls out once she's close enough, biting back the urge to smile when he turns to face her, "you owe me a dance."
"Nice dress," Castle quips dryly, fighting the urge to roll his eyes as he focuses on making sure the rod is securely planted into the ground. "Where's your husband?"
"I'm looking at him," she replies simply and Castle's brows furrow at her words, confusion written all over his face. "Apparently, you and I are still hitched," she explains with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.
"Is that right?" he inquires, still not entirely sure about where this conversation is headed or what she's even doing here.
"Why didn't you tell me that you came to New York all those years ago?" she finally asks, desperately needing an answer to the question.
"I needed to make something of myself," he states simply and Kate laughs because she never expected to hear those words coming out of a famous author's mouth. "Are you about done?" she quips, flashing him a wry smile.
"What is it about you Southern girls?" he comments, earning an eye roll from Kate because that's technically not true, but she'll let it slide just this once. "Can't make the right decisions until you've tried all the wrong ones?"
"At least I fight for what I want," Kate retorts, following him as he begins to walk away.
Castle whips around to face her, clearly not convinced. "Oh, what do you want, Kate? I don't even think you know."
"You're the first boy I ever kissed, Rick, and I want you to be the last."
Her words cause him to pause. He wasn't expecting that, not at all, but it still doesn't change the fact that he's furious with her. She can't just waltz in after all this time and just decide that she's finally in this thing. What happens when she wakes up the next morning or a few weeks or months from now and decides that she's made a mistake again? Or, heaven forbid, another tragedy strikes. Losing her the first time almost killed him. He's not sure that he could go through it again.
"Maybe you and I had our chance," he states morosely before beginning to walk away. If he stays any longer he'll give in and he can't. He just can't.
"Fine, have it your way, you stubborn ass." Kate huffs, angrily balling her hands into fists at her sides, yelling over the sounds of the storm so that she's sure that he can hear her.
That gets his attention.
Castle pauses, whipping around to face her and shaking his head. "Whatcha want to be married to me for, anyhow?" he queries, not having the slightest idea what the answer could be.
The corners of her mouth lift as she stalks toward him and Castle is even more confused now than he ever has been.
"So I can kiss you anytime I want," is all she says before her hand cups the back of his neck, affectionately toying with the short hairs at his nape and he can't help but smile. His arms wrap around her waist as hers twine around his neck.
The moment their lips meet it's as if everything stops.
Fireworks, lightning strikes, confetti, and any of those other little awkward romantic clichés that everyone secretly wishes would happen to them but are really too embarrassed to admit it continuously whirl around in his head and he knows that he can't ever let her go again.
And she never wants to be anywhere else without him. In this one moment, he's taken the pieces of her, that she could've sworn were broken beyond repair, and somehow managed to put her back together again. It's all that she could ever hope for and everything that she never knew that she would ever need all combined into one tiny, amazing moment.
Thanks for reading! As always, reviews/feedback of any kind are appreciated. :)