A/N: Chapter two up in what must be record time for me! Enjoy it, guys!


Jim Beckett checked through his bag once more before zipping it shut and checking the time on his watch. Any minute, he expected the arrival of his daughter's soon-to-be mother-in-law. Although it had been quite some time since he'd first met Martha Rodgers, he was yet to believe he was actually used to her vibrant personality and her way of flying into a room, instantly commanding attention. Still, their journey to Rick's home in the Hamptons was definitely not going to be boring.

Sure enough, he'd only just dropped his bag down by the door when someone out on the street pressed the buzzer for his apartment.

"Hello?" he was pretty certain that it would be Martha and Alexis picking him up but it wouldn't hurt to check before he either allowed them in the building or went down to meet them himself.

"It's Alexis, Jim," Richard's daughter replied, voice reverberating metallically out of the speaker mechanism just beside his front door.

"Be right there," he promised, picking up his holdall again, along with a rectangular white box and the bag containing his pressed tuxedo before opening the door and stepping into the hallway. It was an effort to juggle his things around enough to free up one hand to lock the door, but once he managed it, it was just a few steps to the lift, which was luckily vacant just a floor above him and arrived momentarily to carry him down to the ground level of his apartment building.

He spotted Martha and Alexis straight away before he even exited the building. Their vibrant red hair was easily visible, deeper in colour in the spring sunlight.

"Let me take that for you, Jim," Martha said the instant he joined them on the street. Before he could protest, she had closed on of her hands around his holdall and eased it from his grip, leading the way to the car they were taking to Rick's Hamptons house – a flashy, sleek black thing that he wasn't sure he trusted either Martha or Alexis to safely drive. Luckily, as he slid into the back seat, he watched Martha seat herself in the passenger seat and noticed that the driver's side was already occupied by a man in black suit.

"Dad's car service," Alexis explained quietly at his slightly bemused look.


He watched mainly as Alexis directed people in the back garden that overlooked and backed onto the sea to arrange the seats and tie flowers around the arch Rick and Kate would stand and give their vows in front of. Although it wasn't their original venue, he thought that the garden was a lovely stand-in.

His suit hung off the top of the wardrobe in one of the house's rooms, just waiting for him to change into. Meanwhile the white box, he'd carefully taken to the room Alexis had told him Kate would be using to get ready once she returned from getting her old husband to sign the much needed divorce papers. He'd set it on the bed and caressed it lightly with fingers before easing off the lid and gazing at the bodice of his deceased wife's wedding dress. As he fingered the lace, its texture brought memories from the first time he'd felt it, when he and Johanna had had their first dance, and his hands had been comfortably placed on her waist as he wrapped his arms around her, the two of them slowly twirling in circles.

Knowing that Johanna wouldn't be there that afternoon to watch him walk Katie down the aisle and place her hand within Rick's filled him with a crushing grief, the likes of which he didn't think he'd felt since the funeral.

If Martha hadn't come to find him, requesting his help covering the seats, he probably would have sat on the bed and held onto the material, sobbing quietly over the life stolen from him. But, Martha had come, and so there he was outside covering chairs to stop leaves and dirt – or some damned bird crap – marring the pristine white cushions. Once the job was done, he stood off to the side, enjoying the sunshine on his face and arms as people milled about to get everything set up.


Kate arrived in a happy flurry, smiling brightly before she even caught sight of him and wrapped him in a warm hug.

"Hi, Dad," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Katiebug," he replied with a grin just as big as hers. Seeing her happy, especially after how downtrodden finding out she'd been married since she was twenty had made her, put him in high spirits too. He didn't have to ask to know that she must have been able to sort her paperwork with Rogan O'Leary. Nothing else but the knowledge that she was going to be able to marry Richard Castle would have put her in such a good mood. "Everything good?"

"Perfect, Daddy," Kate answered, beaming and apparently entirely unconcerned by the fact that she'd just called her father daddy despite being thirty six and not having referred to Jim in such a way for at least twenty years. "I need to go and get ready." Pulling out of her embrace, Kate flicked her eyes back to her father's to see his bemusement before skipping up the stairs and into the master bedroom.

He didn't take half as long as to get ready as his daughter did, getting into that dress and doing her hair and makeup, but he was still dressed in his suit and polished shoes, raring to go long before he needed to be. Leaving the peace of one of the guest rooms, Jim traversed the hallway, pausing to look into each doorway – it was a large house, Rick had (a mansion, really, if they were being honest) and he couldn't quite remember exactly where the master bedroom he'd left the wedding dress in. Finally he found it though, passing Martha in the hallway and entering the room to the sound of Kate sounding like she was positively buzzing with happiness as she spoke with Rick on the phone.

"Hey, Lover."

Jim smiled softly at the sight of her.

She looked like Johanna, though of course her hair was quite a few shades lighter. Her eyes and her face shape, her build, everything was incredibly reminiscent of his beloved wife.

She was stunning, simply radiant. If he didn't know better, he'd actually have thought it looked like she had a pregnancy glow. With a baby out of the question though, he knew it was her joy for this day rather than hormones that had her shining. How he had managed to help create and raise such a beautiful daughter, inside and out, was beyond him.

He loitered in the doorway, trying not to intrude on her quiet moment with Rick and waiting until she was done speaking with him on the phone before he took a few quiet steps into room.

"What do you think?" she asked a little breathlessly, fussing with the skirt on either side of her thighs, brushing down the lace before she raised her eyes to him.

"You looked wonderful, so much like your mother."

Her eyes watered at that and she laughed softly as she hurried to wipe away any and all moisture leaking from her eyes before it could spoil her makeup. "Don't make me cry, Dad."

He chuckled with her for a moment before asking the question he still remembered being asked on his own wedding day. "Nervous?"

"Yes and no." She picked up a folded piece of paper from the dresser that had seemingly been turned into a vanity counter, every inch of it covered with some kind of cosmetic powder or paste, lipsticks lined up in front of nail varnish and eye liner and a variety of things Jim couldn't even identify. She flipped the page open and scanned the words again, trying to commit the contents to memory. "I can't wait for it to start, to marry him, but I'm more than anxious about my vows..."

Jim nodded understandingly. "Standing in the church waiting for your mother and grandfather to appear was the longest wait of my life, and I was practically nauseous at the thought of speaking in front of everyone, but I stopped worrying the second the music started and I turned around to watch your mother start her walk down the aisle. You'll do fine, Katie," he promised, stepping forward to squeeze her hand reassuringly before seating himself in the seat in front of the window.

While they waited for Rick to arrive so the ceremony could begin, Kate applied the finishing touches to her hair, spraying it generously with lacquer to ensure it all stayed in place.

"I can't believe you thought I was pregnant," she muttered once she was done, using the mirror to look at him.

"Wishful thinking?" Jim suggested, shrugging unapologetically. So what if a small part of him wanted his daughter to get a move on in the family department? He wasn't getting any younger. He'd appreciate the chance to have a grandchild while he still had enough strength and energy to hoist the kid off the ground into a bear hug or teach the kid to play baseball.

Kate stared at him then, mouth opening and closing once or twice before she found words to reply.


A/N: So we all know what's going to happen next…