Part II
A/N: I think the reason the song "Dust to Dust" hits me so hard is because I understand that feeling. In my own life as well as in regards to Caskett. (Don't make fun... I just got married... I am still in sappy mode.)
Here are two, strong successful people who never thought they really needed anything... Until they met each other.
Suddenly everything they thought was a fairy tale turns out to be true...
And then nothing else matters...
I know that feeling. It is amazing.
I wish that feeling on each and every one of you.
And now back to our normally sarcastic program. )
A/N #2: 1 Hour, 22 minutes, and 47 seconds.
An eternity.
A/N #3: Just under the wire! Castle was right about procrastination...(Under the wire for us west coasters anyway. You east coasters are already lucky enough to watch 3 hours ahead of us so... suck it!)
PS: I had already written the re-proposal scene and since I am on the west coast... I haven't seen the premiere yet so Stana_Katic's tweet made me die laughing when I really needed it!
Alexis Castle frowned, looking down at her watch. She had been up, gone to school, gone by the library, stopped by her dorm room and then come home... and her father was still in his boxers and a bath robe.
She knew how badly he was hurting... but it had been more than a month.
It was time.
"Dad." She sat down on a stool at the counter, watching as he moved aimlessly around the kitchen. "Dad?"
His head finally snapped up. "Hmm?" He smiled weakly. "Hey, sweet pea. Want some eggs?"
"It's 4:20 in the afternoon, Dad..." She shook her head. "I want to talk to you."
"What about?"
Alexis couldn't help laughing. It wasn't funny... it was just... insane. "About you... and Kate."
His smile froze.
Anyone else would have never been able to tell the difference.
But Alexis was his daughter. "Dad... she said no."
The writer's faced changed for just a moment; the pain he felt visible and more than palpable.
The redhead blinked back tears. "I'm not trying to hurt you, Dad... but-" She swallowed. "You're more than who you were... when you were with her."
Richard Castle looked at his daughter with absolute clarity.
"What if I don't want to be?"
"Dad-"
"No... Alexis. This time I get to be the parent." He reached out, cupping her cheek gently across the counter. "She brought out the best in me." The writer smiled sadly. "She was the best of me."
Alexis opened her mouth to respond, only to stop short when three brisk knocks echoed through the loft. She swallowed. "I'll go see who it is."
She hurried to the door; throwing it open and feeling her jaw tighten when she saw who was on the other side. "Beckett... What do you want?"
Kate Beckett hung her head slightly, feeling the words slam through her. She was not surprised by the young woman's coldness... but she WAS surprised by how much it hurt. "I need to talk to your father."
Alexis crossed her arms. "I don't think he needs to talk to you."
The older woman swallowed, hard. "I made a mistake." She whispered, wondering how her life had come down to justifying her actions to the nineteen year old daughter of the man she loved. "I made a mistake."
The redhead tilted her head; looking at her closely. "What mistake?"
"Leaving?" Kate laughed softly. "I don't have anything left, Alexis. No pride... no stubbornness... no job... Nothing... NOTHING means more to me than..." She breathed in deeply. "I have made... so many mistakes. But I'm here." She shook her head. "I'm here."
Little Castle looked at her closely, the chill in her eyes slowly disappearing. Leaning forward slightly she whispered, "If you hurt him again..."
"I won't."
Kate's words were so full of emotion that it stopped Alexis' heart for a moment. When it began beating again, she swallowed and nodded, opening the door wider.
"Dad?" She called out. "You have company. I'll be upstairs."
The young woman closed the door and hurried away, disappearing down the upstairs hall just as her father stepped out of the kitchen.
"What was that, Pump...kin..." His voice trailed off when he saw Beckett standing in his foyer. "What are you doing here?"
Kate stepped closer. "This is where I belong."
Castle frowned. "Where? New York? NYPD? The loft-"
"With you." She cut him off, moving close enough to feel the heat flowing off his body. "Wherever you are, that's where I belong."
The writer stared at her for a moment, then turned and headed back to the kitchen. "And what?" He pulled his coffee press out of the cupboard; filling the kettle with water and setting it on the stove. "That's supposed to be enough? To hear you say that?" His eyes went stony. "I would have died with you, Kate." He hung his head and tried to get his breathing under control. "More than once."
"I know." Her voice was small... so small he had to turn and look at her to hear her words. "I think that scared me more than anything else." She shrugged off her coat, hanging it on the peg that had become hers over the last year. Crossing the room, she sat down at the counter. "I've never... had anyone in my life... quite like you."
"And?"
"And I'm not willing to give that up."
Rick smiled sardonically. "I seem to recall that you already did."
"I quit."
Castle froze, a measuring cup full of fresh coffee grounds held immobile in his hand. "What?"
"I quit. The agency." Kate said softly.
"But..." Rick dropped the scoop and came around the counter, taking her by the arms. "That..." He swallowed. "That job is what you have been working for your whole career."
"I know."
"I can't..." He let her go and tried to move away, stopped only by the hands that grabbed his robe. "I can't be the reason you give up the most important thing in your life..."
Kate laughed softly. "Castle... YOU are the most important thing in my life." She let go of his robe with one hand, moving it to his cheek. "You were right when you said I have been working for this my whole career. It was my dream job." Her hand slid further, curving around the back of his head. "But dreams change."
The writer blinked in confusion.
"Rick..." She moved closer, pressing her body against his. "I went to D.C. and I did the job. And I was good at it." She shook her head. "But none of it mattered... without you there." Kate took his hand and knelt down in front of him. "I don't have a ring..." She smiled sheepishly. "But I still want to marry you." She kissed each of his fingers reverently. "Richard Edgar Alexander Rodgers Castle... Will you marry me?"
The writer could only look at her, his eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to make sense of what was going on.
It seemed as though the woman he had wanted more than anything in his life had just proposed to him.
That couldn't be right.
"I'm dreaming." He whispered.
Kate reached out and pinched his thigh... hard.
"Ow! Okay! Not dreaming!" He took her by the arms and pulled her up. "Kate..."
"Yes or no, Castle." The detective stared at his mouth, her breath washing over his face. "It's time to decide..."
Castle reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out the ring he had offered her before. "I decided a long time ago."
Kate stared at the diamonds and platinum he held out to her. "Why..."
"Because it was the only way to keep you close to me... while you were gone."
Beckett raised her left hand, her heart stopping as he slid the ring onto her finger. She stared at it... thinking the only thing she had ever seen that was more beautiful...
Was him.
She slammed into him hard, pushing him up against the counter as her lips crashed into his.
For a moment, he was frozen in surprise.
Then his hands went to her hips; his fingers threading through her belt loops to pull her against him... hard.
The kiss was wild, almost obscene with the sensual energy that flowed through them. Castle wound his fingers into Kate's hair, hissing his approval when she did the same, although she did tug a little bit harder.
"Kate..." He mumbled against her lips. "Kate..."
The detective pulled away, her breath coming in harsh pants. "What, Castle?!"
He looked at her sheepishly. "Alexis is upstairs."
Grabbing the belt from his robe, she turned, pulling him behind her as she quickly moved through his study and on to his bedroom.
With the door closed tightly behind hem, she turned and tugged the garment off his shoulders, letting it slide to the floor. She slipped her fingers into his boxers and pushed them down, unable to resist the urge to grip the length of him gently, smiling at the small grunt he couldn't suppress at her touch.
Leaning forward, Rick buried his face in her neck, biting her pulse point softly as he whispered, "Why are you still so dressed?"
Kate laughed, even as her hands went to the buttons of her shirt and made short work of them. "Is that proper grammar, writer boy?"
Castle watched as what seemed like miles of smooth, tan skin and black lace came in to view. Unable to stop himself, he surged forward; dragging the shirt and bra from her shoulders and kissing her senseless as his fingers worked on the buttons of her jeans.
He slid them down her legs slowly, kissing each inch of exposed skin as he dragged them down her thighs. When she was naked, he stopped, remaining on his knees as he buried his face in her stomach.
"I love you." He whispered.
Kate smiled. "I know." He looked up at her and she cupped his face in her hands. "I really do."
Nodding, Rick rose to his feet, wrapping his arms around her waist and tossing her backwards onto the bed.
Beckett laughed in delight, her heart catching when she realized if anyone but Castle had every tried that...
She lost her train of thought when he settled himself on top of her; the hardness she so loved pressing firmly against her thigh.
"Tell me." He whispered, his mouth trailing from her lips to her chin, then down her throat to her pulse point. "Please."
Kate smiled. "You're such a girl."
The writer pulled back, looking at her sharply.
"Okay..." She laughed. "Okay." She reached up and tangled her fingers in the hair at the back of his neck. "I love you. I want to marry you."
Grinning, the writer continued kissing his way down her body, stopping only to run his tongue along the sensitive flesh between her breasts.
Beckett curled her fingers more tightly. "Tell me..."
"I love you, Katherine Houghton Beckett." He looked up quickly. "Katherine Houghton... Castle?"
Kate's eyes widened. "Uh..."
Castle grinned. "Later... Right now... we have more important things to... discuss..."
A/N #4: I know I promised an M rating... but I had some upsetting family news today so I wasn't really in a smexy mood. And so, I will make this a 3 parter. You WILL get your smut, when I get my equilibrium back. And after that... back to COEM and CAFM.