Thank you to Jo, my fabulous beta. Your help and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

For Ali

For Better or for Worse

Part One

Richard Castle tosses and turns. Images flash through his mind as he sleeps: fire, water, lightning, a boat... He wakes with a start...sweaty, exhausted, and breathing very heavily. He takes a moment to compose himself, get his bearings. He feels completely drained. This could quite possibly be the worst night's sleep he's ever had. When he finally recovers enough to get out of bed, he shuffles out of the bedroom looking for Kate, but halfway to the kitchen he's stopped by his mother.

"Good gracious, Richard, you look absolutely dreadful," Martha says, and he winces. It's too early in the morning for this much brutal honesty.

"Good morning to you too, Mother."

"No, no, I'm speaking as a concerned mother. I told you it was a bad idea to have your bachelor party two days before the wedding."

"It wasn't a bachelor party, Mother. It was just a chance for me to get together with some friends to celebrate before the wedding. It was something Ryan and Esposito wanted to do since I hadn't chosen either one of them as my best man."

"Sounds like a bachelor party to me, dear." Martha smiles at him. "Are you sure you're not coming down with anything?"

"Not at all," Castle replies, not meeting his mother's eyes as he lies. "Never better."

"Well, good, then my work here is done. I am off to get my hair done for the wedding. Ta-ta." Martha waves goodbye with a flourish.

"Bye," Kate calls to her from where she sits at the bar in the kitchen.

"Bye," Rick repeats as he walks over to his fiancé. He lifts the cup of coffee that Kate has left for him on the counter and takes a sip. "Ah, thank you."

"You're welcome. Sorry I didn't wait up for you. I was exhausted last night. How was the party?"

"It was fun," he answers. "I think everyone had a great time. The guys from the precinct had a contest to see who could collect the most phone numbers from the girls at the bar. If you're wondering, L.T. won."

Kate smiles.

"And not surprisingly," he continues, "Ryan and Esposito monopolized the karaoke machine. They've written a song for the wedding reception and they gave me a sneak preview."

Kate laughs. "That sounds great. I can't wait to hear it." She stares at him for a moment. "Your mother is right, you do look terrible. Did you get any sleep?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"You were restless last night. What's going on?"

"Nothing." He knows that she knows it's not nothing.

"Babe, you were whimpering in your sleep. What is it?"

Castle finally tells her. "I had a terrible dream." He pauses for a moment. "A nightmare, actually."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"No, it's stupid." He really doesn't want to talk about it.

"But you're obviously shaken by it. Please tell me."

"Fine," he agrees. "But have you ever woken up from a really awesome dream and then tried to tell someone about it and it doesn't sound quite as cool when you're retelling it?"

"Yes."

"Well, keep that in mind as I describe it to you." She nods in agreement as he begins to reveal his dream to her.

"I dreamt that the Universe was conspiring to keep us from getting married."

"The Universe?" Kate raises her eyebrows, but doesn't say anything else.

"Yes," he replies. This already sounds bad, but he continues anyway. "We went to get our marriage license and they wouldn't issue us one because you were already married to somebody else."

"I was already married?" She laughs. "To whom? Let me guess…Josh? No…Demming?"

"No. No! God, no. That really would be a nightmare. It was someone named Rogan O'Leary. He was an old college buddy of yours and the two of you had run off and gotten married years ago in Las Vegas and had never gotten it annulled."

"Rogan O'Leary? Castle, how much did you have to drink last night?"

"None. I promise. Two Cokes, that's it. I didn't want your dad to be the only one not drinking alcohol."

She smiles at him. "Thank you."

"So you and I went on a wild goose chase Upstate to track down this O'Leary fellow and get him to sign divorce papers so we could get married," he continues. "In the meantime, the venue where we were going to have our wedding ceremony went up in flames and then there was a flood in your apartment and your wedding dress was ruined."

"Wow!" Kate replies. "What are the odds of all that bad luck?"

"Right?" Castle agrees. "But it gets better…or worse," he adds. "Then there was a car accident. My car was run off the road by a black SUV. And then I was abducted."

"By aliens?" she offers. He narrows his eyes at her; by now she is teasing him.

"No." He pauses, not sure if he should continue this ridiculous tale. And it is ridiculous. But he barrels on anyway. "By Chuck Norris."

"You were abducted by Chuck Norris?"

"Yes," he answers. "On our wedding day. And then Chuck Norris took me to Asia where I helped the CIA save the world from Al-Qaeda."

"You saved the world from Al-Qaeda?" Her tone is skeptical and he can tell she's trying to stifle a laugh. "On our wedding day?"

"Yes. I told you it was stupid, Kate. But it all felt so real."

"It's not stupid, babe. It's actually kind of funny." Kate gets up and walks around the counter to where he is standing. She caresses the side of his face. "I think it's sweet that you're worried about something preventing our wedding. It makes me realize even more how much this means to you. But nothing will go wrong. We got our marriage license two weeks ago. My mother's wedding dress is cleaned, altered, and safely tucked away at my father's house. And as for our venue, I'm pretty sure the back lawn of your Hampton's house is safe from fire. But just to be on the safe side, you might want to have your gardeners give it an extra watering."

"Very funny," he says.

"Castle, you have a wild imagination. That's one of the many things I love about you, your crazy theories. But it would be completely preposterous for all of those things to happen to keep us from getting married. I know the Universe may have conspired against us in the past, but I feel like it's time for the Universe to be on our side."

Then she chuckles.

"What?" he asks.

"I think you may have just dreamt the plot of your next Derrick Storm novel."

Castle smiles. She's right. "Yeah, maybe."

"But leave out the part about the O'Leary wedding. None of your readers would ever believe that a secret Las Vegas wedding would stay hidden from government officials, especially considering all the background checks I've had in my career."

"Good idea."

"And besides," Kate reaches up and laces her arms around his neck. "I would never marry anyone else, because I've been waiting my whole life for you, my one and done." She leans up and kisses him on the lips. "Now go get showered. We still have a lot to do. Only T-minus 32 hours until we get married."

Castle smiles. "And T-minus 56 hours until our three-week honeymoon in the Maldives." He tugs her by the hand. "Join me?"

Kate smiles at him and willingly lets him lead her through their bedroom and into the bathroom.

Kate, Lanie, Martha, and Alexis had arrived in the Hamptons the night before the wedding. Not only had Kate wanted to spend some girl time with her Maid of Honor, but she had also known that this was the perfect opportunity to have some bonding time with Alexis before she officially became her stepmother. And having her future mother-in-law there while they watched movies and ordered in dinner? That had been just for fun, and just another sign to Kate of how blessed she was in becoming part of this wonderful family.

Castle had stayed in the city. He hadn't really wanted to, and Kate hadn't wanted to spend the night away from her fiancé either, but she had explained to him that this time spent with Alexis was very important. She'd also played on his superstitions about seeing the bride before the wedding.

As the sun had risen on the day of the wedding, large trucks and vans had taken over the circular driveway of Castle's house in the Hamptons. The florists and decorators had all arrived very early to begin setting up the tables and chairs and embellishing them with crisp linens and fresh flowers. The caterers had taken over the kitchen and had been preparing the cuisine for the wedding feast. Early in the afternoon, the pastry chef had begun assembling and putting the final touches on the five-tiered wedding cake. Martha and Alexis had gotten up bright and early to supervise set-up of all the festivities; Kate was confident that they would make sure the wedding would be perfect.

A couple of hours before the ceremony, all four women had gone to their respective rooms to start getting dressed and be primped and pampered by the hair and makeup team that Kate had hired. And now Kate is alone at last, enjoying the reprieve of a moment by herself.

There's a knock at the door of Kate's suite. "People are starting to arrive," Lanie announces through the door. "Are you ready?"

"Almost," Kate replies. "Come in."

Lanie lets out an audible gasp as she enters the room. "Oh, Kate, you look like an angel."

"Really?" Kate replies, swishing the poufy skirt of her dress. "Thank you, Lanie."

"I must say, your mother had great taste," Lanie states.

"Yes, she did," Martha agrees, as she joins the ladies in the room. Kate turns around to face her soon-to-be mother-in-law who is elegantly dressed in turquoise and florals. Martha takes a deep breath. "Ah, look at you, Katherine. I believe you are the most beautiful bride that I have ever seen."

Kate grins. "Thank you, Martha."

"Lanie, darling, could you just give us a minute?" Martha asks.

"Sure," Lanie replies and leaves the two of them alone.

"Martha, I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am to you and Alexis for all the work you've done to make this the perfect wedding," Kate says.

"And I want to thank you for making my son so very happy," Martha replies. "I brought you something." Martha hands Kate a scarlet velvet box. "In case you didn't have something blue."

Kate opens the hinged lid to reveal a stunning pair of sapphire earrings. "Oh, wow. They're beautiful." Martha smiles.

Kate walks across the room to the ornate mirror hanging above the fireplace. She places the box on the side table and removes one of the earrings.

"They were given to me by my mother to wear on my wedding day," Martha explains, as Kate places the first earring on her ear. " And by her mother before," she reveals. "Only women of substance have worn these gems," she continues, as she stands behind Kate to watch her put on the other earring. "They've been waiting, Katherine…for you."

Kate stares at her reflection, admiring the spectacular gems hanging from her earlobes, and observes Martha standing right behind her. Kate has always dreaded a wedding day without her own mother. She has wanted, more than anything, for her mother to be here to celebrate this day with her. But here she is with this marvelous woman, Castle's mother, who is making this day so very special for her. She knows how incredibly blessed she is to have her.

Kate turns toward Martha and gives her a warm hug. "I am so honored, Martha. Thank you."

"Oh, darling, they look exquisite on you."

Kate's phone rings. "Oh, excuse me," she says and walks across the room to pick up her phone off the table. "It's him!" She exclaims to Martha.

"Well, I will leave you to talk to your groom. I'll be outside," Martha says as she exits the room.

Kate smiles at the photo of her fiancé on her phone as she swipes the screen to answer the call. "Hey, lover," she greets. "How close are you?"

"Twenty minutes," he replies. "I have our marriage license in my pocket and I will be there soon." He pauses. "And Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She smiles. "I love you, too."

Kate holds her cell phone tightly in her hand and paces back and forth in the master suite. Martha, Lanie, Alexis, and even her father, Jim, have all congregated in the room with her.

"It's been an hour already," Lanie says as she glances out the window at all the wedding guests. "And the natives down there are getting restless."

"Where do you think he is?" Martha asks Kate.

"I don't know," she replies. "When I spoke to him last he said he was less than twenty minutes away." Kate dials Castle's number again and lifts the phone to her ear. She shakes her head. "Straight to voicemail," she tells everyone.

Kate's phone rings before she's even put it down and she quickly answers.

"Hello?"

She pauses to listen to the voice on the other end.

"Yes, this is she," she replies.

She listens intently as the message is relayed to her, unable to believe the words she is hearing. Kate hangs up the phone and fights back the tears that are forming as she turns to the group to deliver the news.

"There's been an accident."

To Be Continued

A/N Thank you for reading. Reviews are appreciated.