It was the 13th of November, Kate's Birthday was in just under a week and Castle had no idea what to get her. He'd considered buying her jewelry but after the whole thing with Jerry Tyson it just didn't feel right. Dammit he'd have to ask her.
That night as they were cuddling on his bed he asked:
"Hey, Beckett what do you want for your Birthday"
"I don't know but not Jewelry"
He ran his fingers through her hair as he nodded understanding completely why she didn't want jewelry
"I think I have an idea"
The next day, Castle didn't meet Beckett at the precinct instead he made his way down to the little old antique store where he knew he could find what he was looking for.
He found an old fashioned padlock and key, both were beautifully carved like a something that might guard the way to the Secret garden. He paid the cashier $50 for the set and made his way to the 12th. The lock and key wrapped in bubble wrap and placed carefully in a plastic bag
"Yo, Castle where you been bro" came Esposito from behind him
"Nowhere just running a bit late that's all"
"Uh huh, sure, what's in the bag then?"
"This oh nothing just a little something-
"For Beckett, you know bro I'm happy that you and Beckett are together now but if you hurt her I will make you bleed"
"Nice to know, anyway where is she"
"In the box, where else"
Castle placed the bag under his chair and opened the draw where he knew she kept her Nebula 9 photo just to see if it was still there. It was, resolving to buy her an autographed poster for Christmas he placed the bag under his chair and went to watch Beckett from the observation room.
On the 17th of November miraculously Beckett had the day off work and was allowing herself a rare treat; a sleep in
Castle on the other hand had been up at 7:00 preparing everything, he'd made Beckett every type of breakfast in the sun; Scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, fried eggs, sausages anything she could ever want. He made a fresh pot of coffee just for her.
At 9:00 he heard footsteps coming from her bedroom as she made her way out of her room in a light shirt and sweatpants, even in a casual shirt she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Her face beamed a thousand smiles when she saw all the effort he had gone to for her.
Ever the gentleman he pulled out her chair and waited for her to sit before taking his own seat.
"Castle this is incredible, you didn't have to do this for me"
"No but I wanted to"
Castle excused himself from the table and retrieved the small velvet bag from his jacket pocket. As he came back to the table Beckett noticed he was holding something in his hands, she asked him what it was he held it out to her across the table.
She took the little velvet bag feeling how soft and silky it was against her fingers, she opened the bag and tipped the contents out onto the table
As the beautiful bronze key touched the table, Beckett looked up at Castle slightly confused she had told him no jewelry but she hadn't expected this. Castle joined Beckett at the other side of the table
"This key is a perfect match to a lock that is located somewhere in either your apartment or mine, if you can find it, which you may not because I have hidden it somewhere you will never think to look,
For the rest of the morning Beckett checked every possible place that the lock could be, however by lunch she had made no progress into finding the location of the lock
"Come on Castle give me a clue"
"Nup. If you're as good a cop as you say you are, then it should be easy to find"
"Castle please give me a hint"
"No, fairs fair, use your detective skills"
As the day progressed Beckett tried to convince Castle to reveal the location, at five o'clock they left for the small dinner party at Ryan and Jenney's house
The dinner was small and tasteful; everyone had pitched in and brought a small plate of food to share after everyone had eaten they moved to the lounge to watch a movie, Beckett and castle cuddled in one of the arm chairs while everyone else piled in on the seats around them.
"Alright Beckett, you chose what to watch"
"Hmm… The Secret Garden"
After the movie finished it was very late, Castle and Beckett decided to just go back to Castle's loft together rather than spending the night apart.
The next morning Beckett had to go back to work, but not before looking in every nook and cranny of Castle's loft, looking for the supposed padlock that was hidden somewhere in the apartment
"C'mon Castle gimme a clue"
"Fine, I'll tell you a riddle,
I lie, where the sun shall never go, yet it is not dark where I lay. The seasons change, the days go by but still I lie. Where am I?"
"Castle that didn't help"
Castle just smiled at her and finished his cup of coffee, then got ready for what would most likely be another day of paperwork. Since he and Beckett had finally gotten together he'd actually been doing his share of the paper work. Or at least sitting there while Beckett typed up the arrest reports.
Weeks past and still Beckett had no luck in finding the mysterious padlock, on Christmas morning however Castle had yet another surprise for Beckett. As she made her way out of his bedroom on that chilly New York morning, she saw him sitting there on the sofa with a box the size of an A4 sheet of paper
He heard her quite, tentative footsteps and smiled to himself; he'd finally decided to tell her where the padlock was.
"Hey honey, Merry Christmas"
"Thanks, you too. What's that?" Beckett asked pointing to the small flat box on the sofa
"That, is my Christmas present to you"
Castle Handed Beckett the small wooden box. He smiled as her face registered that the lock that was holding the box closed was a match to the key he had given her for her Birthday.
She opened the box and smiled as she saw the autographed cast photo for Nebula 9
"Oh Castle really you didn't have to do this"
"Well I wanted to, I love you Kate and seeing you smile is the best thing in the world to me."
"I love you too Rick" she whispered before dropping the box on the sofa and pulling him in for a long slow kiss. Just as Martha came swooping down the stairs, the two of them broke apart, blushing.
"Richard, darling, Merry Christmas" Martha called
"Mother, I thought you were spending the holiday in Rome"
"No, I decided to spend it with family"
"Of course you did" Castle replied with a winning smile
After a breakfast of waffles, Nuttela, strawberries and ice-cream they spent the rest of the day visiting Alexis, Jim, Ryan and Jenny, Lanie had gone on a romantic holiday with her "secret" boy friend but Esposito had disappeared as well.
Having spent the whole day driving around town visiting friends, Castle and Beckett were exhausted, and decided to spend the night at Castle's loft as it was closest. As a Christmas treat Beckett had even let Castle drive, Beckett sat and tried to count the number of apartment block that had small Christmas lights around the windows 5,7,10.
Finally they arrived at Castle's loft, it was getting close to 10:00, but it was Beckett's turn to surprise Castle. When they walked into the loft there was ambient candle light, the fireplace was lit and there were two cups of hot coco sitting on the bench with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles on top.
There was a note on the table from Martha that read "Took Alexis to see the Nutcracker, enjoy yourselves" Castle showed Beckett the note before picking up the coco.
In March Castle watched the money for a two person two week stay in Greek transfer out of his account before going to meet Beckett at the precinct
When Castle entered the bullpen it was empty, even after dating for nearly a whole year Gates still had no clue that they were together and they wanted to keep it that way. Everybody else knew though, it wasn't hard to tell.
"Beckett, I got tickets"
"To where?"
"Greece"
"Castle what, huh, why, for how long" Beckett exclaimed flabbergasted
"Two weeks, because I wanted to take you somewhere"
'I'd better tell Gates then"
A week later the two of them landed in Greece. Castle had planned an extremely romantic itinerary that started with them having a romantic dinner near the coliseum.
The trip was purely magical, romantic and funny at the right times, but the two weeks ended and back to work they went.
Not long after they got back their one year anniversary began to toy with the corners of Castle's imagination, he had no idea what to do for it. Then one night after Beckett had fallen asleep he had an idea.
One Saturday morning Castle made his way down to Greenwich Jewelers, looking for a ring.
He stood his hands clenched in his pocket as he leaned over the rings looking for the one that would be for Beckett. He could feel the CCTV camera's on him and smiled as he saw the perfect ring, it was a silver ring with a basket setting of a two ruby's separated by tiny pearls; he paid for it in cash, not wanting to leave a trail.
Castle breathed a sigh of relief as he left the store, the ring safely tucked inside his jacket pocket, all he could think of was Beckett on that beautiful morning in Greece, that and how he was going to ask. This time it would be small, and sweet. Not a hot air balloon ride. He would just ask her tonight, surprise her at her place with flowers.
He let himself in her apartment and waited for her to come home from the case she was working. At exactly 6:00 Beckett entered the apartment
Castle was already standing with the box in his trouser pocket waiting for the right moment to pull it out and supriser her.
"How was work?"
"We got him, did you get any writing done"
"No I had some other stuff to take care of"
"Oh... Yeah like what"
"Like the fact that today is our one year anniversary"
"I know, I was about to come and surprise you, actually"
"Well I got us into, The Dovetable at 7:30"
"I guess I'd better get ready then"
About half an hour later Beckett came out of her room in a gorgeous violet evening gown when Castle saw her, his heart skipped a beat and he knew that she really was the one. He had changed into one of his best suits.
He pulled the little box out of his pocket and went over to her calling her name as he did. Beckett saw the box in his hands and thought she knew what was coming but was still massively unprepared for it.
Castle went down on one knee he hadn't planed to but it had seemed the right thing to do before saying "Kate, you are my very breath, I love you and never want to see anything ever happen to you." Castle opened the box before asking "will you please do me the honor of allowing me to be your one and done."
Beckett saw the ring, the purity of the pearls against the brilliance of the rubies and the contrast between the ring and the velvet it sat against before replying "Richard Castle, I love you and I would give anything to spend every waking second of my life with you so. Yes I you can be my one and done"
Castle pulled the ring out of the box and very gently slid it on her finger where it would sit from now on.