So… this one shot literally came from nowhere. I was thinking of something to write the other day and this just popped in my head!

This is for Sheridan. I have been teasing her with this fic for a few days now and I think I may have slowly killed her in the process. Thank you for supporting me through all of my stories! I love you, girl!(:

Disclaimer: You're on . FANfiction. Not ANDREWMARLOWEfiction. So yeah. I think I've made my point.

"I hate going to weddings alone," Castle stated, a little disappointed in the fact that his daughter had ditched him to go to a Lady Gaga concert with her boyfriend.

Beckett smirked at his boyish pout. "Well maybe we could be each other's plus one."

Castle's frown was immediately turned upside down. "Yeah!" he replied. "And then avoid the stigma of sitting at the singles table. Yes, that would be nice, I'd like that."

Kate smiled at him and then turned to see the ecstatic groom skipping toward them. Beckett and Castle both greeted him, and after he walked into the church, they also greeted the bride.

The feelings of the bride and groom were all too familiar to Castle and all too foreign to Kate. Kate has never been a bride, as to where Castle has been a groom twice before. Both times Castle got married, he never was as excited as Ryan. "You know, I've gotta say, I kind of envy him," Castle said, speaking his mind.

"Well, who knows, Castle, maybe third time's the charm," Kate replied.

Castle refrained himself from saying that he hoped someday Kate would be his third, although he knew that she probably would never think of it that way. Castle was oblivious to the fact that Kate had the same feelings. She wanted him to be her one and done. Hopefully she was the charm for his third time.

Finally coming out of his daze, he smiled at his beautiful partner and said, "Yeah, could be. Shall we?" He extended his arm out to her.

"Yeah," she said, smiling back at him and hooking her slender arm through his muscular one. They proceeded down the aisle together and sat down next to each other in the third row of pews.

Castle and Beckett walked into the reception hall together. "We should probably look for our table," Castle said.

The pair looked at the name cards on the tables until they spotted the two that said "Richard Castle" and "Katherine Beckett". They were sitting next to each other at a table also accompanied by Lanie, Captain Gates and her husband, Karpowski, and a few other people from the precinct. Esposito was sitting at the table with Kevin and Jenny because he's the best man.

Castle pulled Beckett's chair out for her and she sat in it with a smile. "Such a gentleman," she thought. He sat in the seat next to her and they conversed for awhile until the rest of the guests arrived.

"How about we get the newlyweds out here for their first dance, eh?" the DJ announced through the microphone. Kevin and Jenny made their way to the dance floor and held each other tight, smiling, laughing, and kissing through their first dance together as a married couple.

As they danced, Castle couldn't help thinking that he wished he was the one up there in a tux with the beautiful Kate Beckett in his arms in a white dress and a veil. He wanted that so badly. He wanted her.

Beckett watched Kevin and Jenny in awe. As Castle said that he envied Kevin earlier, she also envied Jenny. She's a girl; she gets that giddy feeling when it comes to thinking about her wedding. When she was a teenager, she sat with her friends and talked about what her dress would look like, who her bridesmaids would be, how many tiers her cake would have, and what the accent color would be. Of course she's planned up her dream wedding.

If you would've asked Kate when she was a teenager who the man standing next to her on the altar in the tuxedo would be, she wouldn't have been able to tell you. If you would've asked Kate that question four years ago she wouldn't have been able to tell you the answer either. But now, she knows who she hopes he is. She knows who she wants to marry. All she has to do to find him is look to the man sitting on her left. Richard Castle.

The disk jockey's loud, raspy voice broke Castle and Beckett out of their reveries. "Alright, how about all of the couples come up here and have a dance?"

As people started to make their way to the floor, Castle stood up and held his hand out to Beckett.

"Kate, may I have this dance?" he asks her kindly.

She glances at the people around her, wondering if it is a good idea to get up and slow dance with her partner. The DJ did say that it was a "couple's dance". They're not exactly a couple.

Hell, she walked in to the ceremony with him, arm in arm! What's one dance going to hurt?

Plus, she does want them to be a couple. She told him that she wants him to be there when her walls come down, so she could have a relationship with him. Because she loves him.

And it's taken her all this time to realize it. She has loved him from the moment he turned around and asked her "Where would you like it?"

The first time she arrested him. The first time she thought he was a self-centered jackass. But now, she knows who he really is. He's an amazing writer, incredible father, loving son, and an overall generous, kind man.

She has never said the three words to any man other than her father. She's never felt like she could. Her relationships have never been serious enough. She hasn't even been in a romantic relationship with Castle, but for some reason, she felt like she was ready to tell him. Tell him the three strongest, most amazing, loving words that any woman could ever say to any man.

She knows he loves her, too, because he told her. As she was lying in the grass, bullet in her chest, bleeding out, he held her and professed his love to her. He didn't know that she heard him, but she did. She wasn't able to choke out the words at the time, telling him that she loved him too, but she did then and she still does now.

"I'd love to, Castle," she says, taking his hand.

He pulled her up and walked her over to the dance floor, still holding her hand in his. As they made it out to the floor, he wrapped his arms around her waist and immediately pulled her close. She loved being so close to him, breathing in the scent of his cologne and the unique smell that is so him, so Castle. She brought her arms up around his neck, moving even closer to him. His eyes stared into hers, silently telling her about all the love he had for her. She stared back into his blue orbs and smiled sweetly at him. They swayed back and forth to the slow tempo, bodies responding to the touches and feelings. He ran his hands up her slender sides, caressing her lovingly, as she toyed with the short hairs at the nape of his neck. Their gazes never left one another's. No words were needed as they swayed.

The music faded, and as couples started to break off from one another, Castle and Beckett were brought out of their own little world.

"I..." Kate started, obviously flustered.

He smiled at her and leaned in to softly kiss her cheek. Her breath hitched from the smallest of sweet gestures. She smiled back at him and grabbed his hand, holding it in hers as they made their way back to their seats.

"Hold on folks, don't sit down just yet!" the disk jockey yelled into the microphone. "I've got some good dancing music for you! Everyone come out to the dance floor!"

Kate looked at her partner. "Want to go?" she asked him.

"Sure!" he replied.

She tugged his hand, which was still in hers, back to the dance floor, with a smirk on her face. She was going to have fun with this.

Everyone danced to the Electric Slide, Cha-Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, and The Macarena. The upbeat music continued, as the older couples made their way off the stage. Some hip-hop song was playing, and Jenny and Kevin, Lanie and Esposito, Kate and Castle, and some younger couples remained, mostly because they were the only ones who knew the song.

Kate figured this was the perfect opportunity to make Castle squirm, so she turned her back to him and grabbed his arms to lace her fingers over his. She backed up into him so her back was right against his chest, and she bent her knees so her ass sat perfectly on his groin area. Kate heard his sharp gasp when she settled down on him. He released her fingers to settle his hands low on her hips. She started moving them to the rhythm of the music, grinding on him. She picked up the tempo and the intensity as her arousal grew.

Castle couldn't believe what was happening. Kate Beckett was grinding on him. He was preparing himself to wake up from the dream he was living, shocked that what was happening was real life. He could feel himself getting harder and harder underneath her.

As the song ended, Kate made one last grind into him and started to get off of him. He released his grip on her hips and grabbed her hand.

It was nearing 12:45 AM. The reception was supposed to end at one. "One last slow song, folks!" the DJ announced.

Castle swiftly grabbed Kate's hips and pulled her to him. She wound her arms around his neck again as she had done when they danced earlier.

"Kate, what was that for?" Castle said, gesturing to the part of the dance floor that they had just occupied.

"I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate you, Castle," Kate said with a wink, raking her eyes over his body.

"More like kill me slowly, Kate. I feel like my pants just shrunk three sizes," he stated.

She snorted at his teenage response and started to sway to the slow music with him again. She stared into his blue eyes, seeing the passion and love in them. He stared back into her eyes as well, trying to show her compassion and caring.

Before she knew what was happening, she was leaning her head toward him. He was doing the same, leaning toward her until they were so close that they could feel each other's breaths on their faces. He was hesitant to continue, for her sake, but she took away his worry by leaning in the rest of the way to capture his lips with hers. Her eyes slipped closed and let herself bask in the warmth of his soft, gentle kiss. It was lip to lip contact, no tongue, just a chaste kiss.

They remained like that for a while, letting themselves become familiarized with the feelings and emotions surging through them. They broke apart, eyes slowly opening and soft smiles on their faces. She cupped his cheeks as he leaned back in for another kiss. She let her mouth open to him this time, and let his tongue slip inside her mouth to tangle with hers. She let out a muffled moan into his mouth.

The moan was all too familiar to him, the same sounding moan she let out in the alley as they kissed the night they went undercover to save Ryan and Esposito from Hal Lockwood.

He smiled into their kiss as he heard the sound leave her throat. They kissed for what felt like an eternity, and when they broke apart, the last verse of the song was being played.

"Castle," Kate squeaked out.

"Hmm?"

"My... my walls."

As soon as she said that, he tensed up. He got nervous, wondering if maybe she had regretted what they had just done, because she still wasn't ready yet. He wasn't the type of man to push a woman, so his reply was, "Oh God. I'm so sorry, Kate."

"No, Castle," she immediately replied, placing a hand on his chest. "You didn't let me finish. My walls are... well... they're rubble, Castle. All around my feet. I knew they were crumbling but after what just happened I know for certain that they no longer stand."

Castle's face brightened at her reassuring words, and he immediately pulled her in to kiss her again. Kate prepared herself for what she was going to say to him, finally able to express herself in the way she knew she should after all this time.

Looking into his eyes, she whispered to him, "I love you, Rick. I have for a really long time."

"I love you too, Kate. I always have and always will."

The words had left their mouths and they had nothing else to say, too stunned at the fact that they had finally been able to say the three words to each other while they were both able to hear them.

Once the song had finished, Castle pecked Beckett on the lips again and she grabbed his hand, tangling their fingers instead of just holding it in hers.

"Kate, will you come home with me? We don't have to take the next step if you don't want to yet, but I just want you to be there with me."

Kate couldn't bear going home alone tonight after what had just happened. Even if they didn't take the next step, she just wanted to be able to bask in his love and warmth.

"Yes, Rick. Take me home with you."

They bid their friends goodbye and walked out of the wedding reception hand in hand, the world oblivious to the love that had just grown deeper and deeper between the two within the past few hours.

Awh, wasn't that cute?! Haha, well, there you have it!

Reviews make a happy writer!(:

Again, thanks Sheridan. Hope you liked it!