Rick Castle had walked out of the park in a distracted haze. He couldn't believe she'd said yes. After all the issues they'd had recently, he'd started to believe he wasn't enough. The talk with his mother had forced him to face some harsh realities; realities he was afraid were too established to overcome. He'd finally woken up to the fact that they weren't on the same page. He'd been waiting for her, she'd been waiting for him but never in the same place metaphorically due to their poor communication. He'd not wanted to sound desperate, though he was. The job was an incredible opportunity, but the lies leading up to it were emblematic of their recent issues. He was ready to face them head on, as the ring showed, but until she'd whispered yes, he'd been convinced she'd turn and run as usual.

"Castle, what are you thinking about?" she hoarsely whispered.

"How beautiful you are with that ring on" he replied. They'd arrived back to her car at last, spilling into it and exchanging deepening kisses. Somehow, she'd then driven back to the loft without one single accident, though a few close calls due in no small part to his kissing her right hand/arm/shoulder/neck as she tried to navigate the road. Getting through the lobby and up the elevator still clothed was a major accomplishment in his mind. Martha was in the Hamptons, due back in a week, and of course Alexis was safely away to Costa Rica. They were alone, and he intended to take full advantage of his fiancée as soon as the damn door would open. Which was a difficult task to do with her draped all over his length, kissing him with driving passion. Finally getting the lock to respond to his fumbling key, they stumbled into the foyer of the loft, slamming the door behind, and immediately started pulling off all the offending fibers that separated their bodies. He somehow guided her in to their bedroom and they collapsed onto the bed, lips still fused together, drinking all the love and passion their souls shared. Rick had long ago discovered that sex with Kate Beckett was exponentially better than any sexual experience he'd ever had previously. However, knowing she was going to be his wife, was his forever, opened up a piece of him that he'd not realized was still closed off. As their bodies came together, he was once again made to realize that making love to a woman who loved him back was not an experience that could ever be compared to any other sexual release he'd shared with women not named Kate Beckett.

Lying with her draped all over him after they'd both been sated, he was nearly speechless. Though, as it turns out, nearly speechless for Castle is not nearly speechless enough. As he played with her left hand, admiring how his ring looked, he asked "When do you want to tell everyone?"

"When is your mom due back?"

"A week" he rumbled.

"Why don't we wait until she's back, have dinner for her and my Dad? We can tell them then" she replied. "Pretty sure my dad is going to the cabin for some fishing next weekend, so we could do the dinner the night before he leaves." She turned more closely into him, excited about the plans in her head. "We could skype with Alexis at the same time, so they all three hear it together. But I'll have to leave it off my finger this week at work, or Lanie would be all over my six as soon as she sensed diamonds on me."

He smiled that smile he only gave to her. "Maybe you could wear it on a chain this week under your shirt. I want to tell our parents first too, before everyone else. Would that be ok?" She nodded in agreement, giving him a quick kiss, thankful he understood her desire to keep the news to them until his daughter, Martha and her dad could be told. "Do you like the ring?" He'd spent hours shopping for the perfect one. He'd known she would have hated an ostentatious display, so he'd spent a long time and a lot of effort choosing for her something that she'd like but that he thought represented his love for her adequately.

"I love it" she said, as they both stared at the prisms of light dancing off of it in the semi dark room.

He couldn't resist continuing to speak, now that he had her lying next to him. "Do you have a date in mind?"

She stiffened a bit, but relaxed again when he started stroking her hair. "No. I just want to enjoy this for a bit before we start talking dates. Plus, we still have to talk about the job, about DC and what that means."

"We'll make it work" he said. "I meant it when I told you I'm all in, no matter what your decision is. The job itself was never the issue, it was the way you went about it. Behind my back, as if I didn't matter."

She'd pulled away a bit as he talked, but wasn't leaving. "I know, and I'm so sorry. I felt like you were pulling away from me recently. I didn't know where we stood and I was sure I wasn't going to get the job. I just wanted to find out more before I told you. Your life has always been here and I felt like you'd be hurt if you knew I was looking at a job in D.C."

"It hurt more that you didn't include me."

"I know that now, but at the time it just seemed like the right decision." She sat up in bed, a cold rush of air gusting between their bodies with her movement. He could feel the chasm inching open between them again, but wasn't sure what to do to stabilize it. "Castle, I think I want this job. But I also want us." She peered at him through her ruffled post-coital hair. God he loved her hair. "Do you really think we can do this; I can do this?"

He reached out and grabbed her left hand again. "Katherine Houghton Beckett, together we can do anything" he said with all the gravity of his soul. He needed her to understand he just wanted her. Geographical location was irrelevant.

She rewarded him with the biggest smile he thought he'd ever seen. It was like the sun was suddenly in his bedroom. And the supernova of passion that followed her smile buoyed them both beyond any niggling doubts that fled to the dark corners of the room.