A/N- Wow. First published story. I dedicate this to all the writers out there building up the courage to publish their first story, and making this rash decision at 2:00 AM without the aide of a beta. I feel ya. By the way, if anyone is a lonely beta looking for a person to feed them bad stories to make into better ones, PM me. I'm looking for a miracle worker with experience in magic.
Disclaimer- Unless Santa can make it happen for Christmas, Castle is staying where it is. Ownership disclaimed.
ALWAYS
It's been that way for a while, now. That commitment. Kate likes to think she changed him in some way. Alexis likes to tell her so. He was that partying playboy who turned into that wise-crack almost detective who no longer carried a blonde bimbo on his arm every night.
Castle likes to think he's changed her in some way. Lanie likes to tell him so. She was that loner, the one so focused on work that she barely had time for anything, or anyone, else. She got that sparkle back in her eye, got that look of mischief back in her features.
All of their friends noticed the changes that the two went through. They certainly had tough moments, but there were the times that made it all worthwhile. The band case when Rick took a moment in the break room to put a hand to her cheek. The dream sequence in that 1940's case, when they both knew that they pictured Vera as Kate and Joe as Castle. The moment when she thought he had just been shot by the false witness, but appeared out of the darkness with a mob boss. In that moment, she threw her arms around him, and ignored the tape that binded her hands to listen to what he was saying. The time when after all the grief his ex-wife given her, she ended up loving him even more because of it. The trust he had in his eyes when he told her about the paper he paid for, his first big achievement for which he was praised for, and he was a fraud. And, lastly, the moment where the world stood still and Cstle got down on one knee and proposed to his partner in crime Kate, at the swings of their favorite meeting place. Which, she might add, was incredibly romantic.
After that all that and plenty more, they knew they'd be together forever, their experiences binding them, forever and always, which, by the way, was their favorite word.
