A/N: You don't need to have read the first More Than Together to understand what's going on here, but it may help to fill in some gaps. This universe goes AU at the very end of Watershed; Kate doesn't take the DC job and tells Castle to shelve his proposal until they figure out where they stand.

End

"I love this apartment." Kate says morosely, taking a slow sweep of her space. It's unrecognisable now, all of her possessions packed away into boxes that stack like cinder blocks. A miniature version of the city contained inside the walls of her loft.

Leaning back against the kitchen island, she feels the bite of the switches for the burners low down at her lumbar curve, has to shift positions. So many memories in this kitchen. How the opening up of herself to Castle meant also allowing him to share her space.

She hasn't cooked only for herself in a very long time. And now, preparing a meal comes with the shift of her body around Rick's, all the ways he tries to distract her from what she's doing. Usually quite successfully, so she's taken to ushering him away. Sending him off to spend time with Nikki until she's done and she gets to set down the food she's crafted in front of him, wait for the lift of his eyebrows and his soft murmurs of appreciation.

His hands fall hot at her hips and he drags her lower body against his, leans in to push his mouth at hers. Letting him have this moment, she lifts up into his touch and touches her tongue to the corner of his mouth, delighting in the growl that rumbles out of him.

"Do you want to give it a proper send off?" He asks, leering at her. But underneath, she sees true concern. They've spent a lot of time talking it out. The logistics of her moving into his loft rather than the other way around.

And he's promised that they can decorate his own apartment, fill it with her things too so the loft is comfortable and familiar for the both of them. "No. We did that last night. I want to go home."

Most everything of her everyday life is already at Castle's apartment. They'd already been essentially living together before his proposal; they agreed that they'd move in together for real before he asked again. And he will ask again, she hopes soon.

They both know she'll say yes.

"Hey?" He says quietly, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers. "I am so grateful to share a life with you."

Settling a hand at his cheek, Kate presses a kiss to the swell of his bottom lip and hums into it, the fingers of her free hand curling in his waistband as if to hold him in place. "Me too, babe."

"The moving guys should be here any minute." Castle says, breaking away from her to stride over to her living room windows. They're enormous, and even if she doesn't have a fantastic view of the park or anything like that, Rick has always been drawn to them.

There has been times when she's slipped out from between the too-cool mass of the sheets in the middle of the night to find him here, watching the hum and swirl of the city beneath his feet. Sometimes she'd tug him back to bed with her, but sometimes instead she'd make tea for them both and stand at his side, try to see it the way his writer's brain does.

"I'll miss this."

"Your loft has windows too." She laughs, heading over to nudge her shoulder against his bicep. In flats today to make the manoeuvring of her life easier, and so it feels just like those nights, small enough to fold herself up inside of him.

He glances down at her, the corner of his mouth lifting and sending her heart clattering into silly tenderness. Lifting up onto tiptoe, Kate touches her lips just there, at the place where his amusement creases. The heat of Castle's chest is warm and good against her own and she hums, nuzzles into him.

"This apartment has been so important to us. To our relationship."

"Our worst fights." She fires right back, steadfastly refusing to let him get maudlin. "It's just an apartment, Rick. The real history is you and me. And now we're moving forward, together."

His eyes crease at the corners and he takes a step backward, tangling his fingers with hers to pull her away from the windows as well. "I must admit, I'm really looking forward to waking up beside you every morning and having you come home to me every night."

"I've been doing that anyway." She needles him, darting just out of reach when he tries to snag her and bring her in for an embrace. Their voices echo without her possessions around to dampen the sound and she feels a little foolish with it, bubbling over with amusement like a little kid. Joyful, too, at finally having made it here.

Eventually, she lets him catch her and loops her arms low around his hips, leaning back enough that she can tilt her chin to look up at him. He's huffing, but his eyes are soft and adoring on hers. "You have. That's true. But, for always, Kate. I can't wait."

"No more waiting." She agrees, and then there's a knock at the door and she untangles herself from his embrace to let the moving guys inside. There aren't many boxes to transport across town, not really. The amalgamation of their lives has been piecemeal, happening almost without either of them noticing until one day, the two of them at her apartment to let Alexis host a gathering with some college friends.

Kate had routed through her closet in search of something cosy to wear and burrow down in before she realised that almost all of her clothes were at Castle's loft. Her books, too, and her ornaments and cosmetics and really everything.

She had turned to him and said I don't want to renew my lease. The flood of his grin had been beautiful but really, unwarranted. She didn't ask if she could move in, because she already had. And today, nothing changes except her official address.

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