A/N: Bit late and I might have reached full sap capacity ...
They stay pressed against each other for a few seconds more, foreheads kissing just as sweetly as their lips, the warmth of the firelight dancing in her eyes and her simple, heartfelt words on a happy little loop in his head.
Her mother would have loved him and though he downplayed his reaction, listening instead to Kate's confession and worry, inside he's just a little giddy with that information.
She would have loved him and Kate does and they're getting married!
Castle grins, a slow and easy thing as he enjoys the feel of her thigh filling his palm. She's happy, even in her brief moment of sadness and he knows it's not the first time, most certainly won't be the last. Castle knows that in their plans for a long, happy life, there will be days peppered with darkness, little sprinkles of rain from the cloud of her mother's murder, but somehow, together, they've already let it make them stronger.
They're getting married, sooner rather than later, and she doesn't want to wait, is as eager for their married life to begin as he is.
"Can I see the dress?"
"No." Her sigh is heavy against his lips as if she's letting the weight of her worries out on a long, slow breath. "Not a chance." She smiles lighter by degrees every second and there is a certain level of threat to the words, kinda like when she reminds him she has a gun.
It's sexy.
"Can I at least know the color so we match?" He hedges.
Kate laughs, shakes her head, and his fingers squeeze her knee again. Reassuring and calm, he smiles back at the sound of her voice in his head, as eager to be walking down the aisle as he is.
God, he loves her like this. Soft and open and sweet, within reach and just ... her!
Kate sighs again, shifts a little awkwardly when he won't give up his hold on her and she shoves against him so they can sit back.
She grumbles, wanting to curl herself around him and she gets annoyed when he won't cooperate, it's cute!
But before he lets her bully him into snuggles on the couch - yeah, ok bully might be pushing it - Castle struggles forward, against the pull of her arms and claims his half-full wine glass.
Nothing's ever half-empty with her.
He snickers under his breath at himself, her smile rising immediately without her even knowing why and he tips the glass towards her, offering to share.
"What happened to getting me one?" She smirks, neither needing nor wanting a response when her fingers slide between his and she takes the offered stem, bringing the wine slowly to her lips.
Her enjoyment is immediate, evident in the rush of color that climbs high on her cheeks. Her lids fluttering in time with the muscles in her throat when she swallows and Kate makes a quiet noise of appreciation.
She smacks her lips, licks at them to catch any wine she may have missed and arches her eyebrow at him questioningly.
Yes, he was waiting for her and drinking that wine.
There is something intimate about being able to share a cup or a spoon, a glass of wine, with her. Something silly and sweet given everything else they share now, but watching as Kate swallows the liquid - how she saves him the last sip with yet another smile - a rush of warmth suffuses Castle from head to toe.
She holds the glass out to him but he pushes it aside and guides her fingers back to the table, claiming her hand once its free and sliding his body closer.
Kate leans back with a warm hum, letting him come for her, pressing her back into the plump couch cushions, sinking into her as she sinks into them.
She saved him the last sip from the glass and his eyes drop to her lips, not wanting the wine breathing on the table, but the alcohol staining her mouth.
He wants the taste of summer fruit and spring sunshine that lingers in her kiss, the fire and exhilaration that it ignites within her.
Castle wants to share a little taste of the future and forever and whatever other sentimental nonsense she makes him dream up when she's looking at him like he's the only other person on the planet.
His fingers slide into her hair, thumb skirting the seam of her lips to draw the pliant flesh apart and her eyes close before he nudges her cheek with his nose insistently.
No hiding, Beckett, not tonight.
She smiles, all teeth and giddy love, lashes parting slowly to find him again and her wrists lock at the back of his neck. Her eyes are huge and defiant, dark, luminous pools that give up the truth almost as easily as she does herself now.
It takes a little while, barely a heartbeat really, but it all comes pouring out in a rush. Love and I wasn't hiding, I was reveling and planning and maybe daydreaming about that day just as much as you were.
She speaks volumes with her eyes, ancient texts and romantic poetry, song lyrics and mysticism, all written in those lines of hazel, green and brown.
Castle takes his time as he reads her slowly, absorbing each of the silent words with reverence. His eyes drinking her in until his lips finally part and do the same.
Their mouths meet on an electrifying hum, a crackle, a quiver that races over them both. The stroke of her fingers down his spine brings his body in flush with hers, the press of her thighs against his own hard for a brief second before she parts and lets him fall into her body.
It's a wriggle on the couch but, oh, it's worth it.
Kate hums a little note of something familiar, but before he can catch it she quiets his kiss for a few softer kisses at the edge of his lips, mesmerizing him before coming back in and claiming him again.
Her fingers curl under the edge of his shirt and start to climb and oh, yes, he likes where this is going. Excitement sudden and bright, racing through her, chased across her skin by the urge to be sweet with each other, to celebrate and be tender, to be as close as physically possible as her fingers drift lower and -
"Darlings, this is starting to become a habit."
His mother breezes into the room and Castle growls against the lips he's trying to get lost in before he buries his head in her neck, and Kate throws her head back and laughs.
She makes him jump with her sudden bark of joyful laughter. Castle lifts his head and finds a safe place to rest his elbow so he can stare at his grinning fiancee.
She brings her hand up from the almost indecent path it had been trailing between them and runs the tip of one finger down the length of his nose.
Her smile is wide and clearly not going anywhere. "We're celebrating." She calls and mischief lights up her skin, flushes her cheeks and darkens her pupils.
"Oh?" His mother calls back and Castle can tell from her tone she's not really listening as she bustles about, clinking glasses and bottles and - from the sounds of it - fixing herself a stiff drink. "Another criminal brought to justice I assume."
Kate grins up at him, traces his cheek now and shouts back, "No, we brought the date forward."
"Huzzah for those that see the light." Martha mumbles not so quietly under her breath but Castle doesn't care, Kate's smile just gets wider and her fingers are still playing over his face.
"We've been talking venues."
Castle can't quite believe that his future wife and current mother are planning their as soon as humanly possible wedding while his body is wedging the bride-to-be's into the couch and she's groping his butt with one hand.
But apparently it's happening and he's just going to have to deal with it.
Castle squirms forward and earns a warning glare, a breathless giggle, he does it again anyway because he can and he loves her.
"Not The Cordova House then?"
She gasps and traps it between her lips with the press of her teeth, reaching to cradle his face, her voice low and sweet, "Anywhere, anytime." Kate breathes just for him, tracing the bow of his lips, tapping her fingers at the smile that breaks across his face.
"We're aiming for spring." She says louder, for his mother's benefit, thumbing his lower lip and smiling. "If you think of anywhere -"
"Of course."
Castle laughs quietly, whispering and kissing the hot curve of her neck, "Let's get married tomorrow," kisses again, "I have a judge on speed dial," and again, "I could meet you at your desk and we could be honeymooning by noon."
"Not the precinct." Kate grimaces, hissing at the feel of his tongue but arching her back and pulling him closer, her eyes flitting towards his mother in the kitchen with her back to them.
"What happened to anytime, any place?"
"Okay," she smirks, "anytime I'm not at work and any place that isn't my desk. Happy now?" Her lips close over his earlobe, tastes his skin and her teeth nip a little in retaliation.
"I'm getting happier." He squirms and they both laugh when she gasps.
They pepper their arguments with kisses for a while, throwing words back and forth until Martha clears her throat. Castle opens his mouth to remind her, his couch, his fiancee, but Kate jumps in first.
"Oh and I got a dress." She winks at him, laughing when his mother oo's and ah's and demands to see it as soon as possible.
With a teasing glint in her eye and a soft smile, Kate agrees.
"No fair." Castle whispers, not the least bit bothered when she looks so happy, so delightfully joyful at showing his mother her dress.
But he pouts for her benefit.
He pouts, but she offers up comfort as he knew she would, smiling and whispering a delightfully sinful promise, "The first time you see me in my wedding dress Castle, will be the day you get to help me out of it."
Three months (ish) later.
Her hair has fallen from the coil at the side of her head, pins on a tabletop somewhere near by, forgotten.
"You were right," Castle sighs, his fingers tangling in the curling tendrils as he sweeps them aside, breathing over her neck and seeking out the tab of the zipper.
It's approaching two in the morning and they're exhausted, but they're both buzzing and awake and a little desperate in their lingering touches.
Man and wife and alone, at last.
"That's good," Kate throws over her shoulder, cheeks blushed beautifully and a delighted smile wide on her face, "get used to saying that early, husband."
It's cheesy and silly and just perfectly timed to make Castle startle behind her. She bubbles up with laughter when his fingers drop from her zip, curling instead at her hip and pulling her body flush with his.
The broad width of his chest presses at her back. His white shirt is unbuttoned at the neck, sleeves rolled up, casually delicious in his post wedding ease and Kate leans into him, pulling his arms around her and tilting her head back to meet his eyes.
His jacket was tossed aside when they walked into the room, her hands devilishly fast, up and under and pushing it down his arms as he stumbled to keep up with her.
He got his own back not long after, teeth and lips and nimble fingers slipping under her skirt and helping her off with her shoes, trailing the soft silk of her skin, thigh to toe.
"What was I right about?" Kate murmurs now, meeting his lips when he leans in to kiss her.
His fingers trip the lacy sleeves, tracing idle patterns down her arms, thumb sweeping the stems of the flowers that spiral at her elbow, smoothing a line in the petals on his path to her hand.
Her skin is warm against his own, the palm hot when he turns it over. Castle lets his fingers surge between hers, each digit delighting in the feel of her, locking their hands together knuckle by knuckle so that their wedding rings kiss within their grasp.
He uses their entwined hands to twirl her away from him and she goes easily, turning on the spot, her smile indulgent and her eyes sparkling in the dim light of the honeymoon suite.
They don't have long, their plane leaves at seven, but they have now, and a lifetime thereafter.
Castle pulls her towards him when they are face to face, pinning Beckett's body to his chest by holding their hands behind her, even as her free one flies up to land over his heart.
They could be dancing. They were not so long ago.
Her fingers toy with the skin at the edge of his buttons and she shivers, loving how good he looks, how proud he makes her feel to be married to him.
His wife.
It's thrilling and exciting and Castle is tugging down her zipper once more and yes, yes she's ready for that part of this evening too.
His lips caress her ear, his smile and his touch possessive and claiming, his voice gruff with desire, "You were right when you said I should wait."
Kate feels her breath catch in her chest as the growl of metal teeth - separating to reveal the long length of her spine - fills the air.
"You were right, Kate, that I should only see you -" he paused, inhaling sharply, " - breathtaking - in your dress," Castle kissed her ear, pressed his lips to her jaw, sought out her lips, "on the day I got to help you out of it."
Releasing her hands, so the gown can fall to the floor in a liquid whisper, Castle moves back, in awe of her as she steps away from the pooled skirt that gathers around her feet. Her long legs shimmering like porcelain, her hand lifting slowly, eyes warm with invitation.
"I was right." She breathes, with a shy yet sly smile breaking over her face, watching him swallow up every step she takes towards him with the longing in his eyes.
The deep blue gaze rakes over her skin hotly, from the bow of her smile to the simple ivory lace line of her bra down to the opalescent shimmering band that dips dangerously low beneath her naval.
She yelps and clings, her arm looping around his neck head thrown back on a laugh when, unable to bear the distance any longer, Castle swoops in, fingers spread wide to cradle her back and curl under her knee to pick her up.
Then his body is crowding hers, surrounding, holding her close. His mouth hot and his hands roaming, "Are you coming, Mrs. Castle?"
She shivers, Mrs. Castle, his call back to their past lighting her up from the inside and oh, yes she is and maybe, maybe not coming, not right this second, but very, very soon.