'Are you alright?'

Esposito glanced over at Meredeth, who gave him a weird look from her beautiful eyes in the back of the limo. It was The Big Night, in more ways than one, and for his money, his woman had never looked better. She'd gone shopping in Tokyo and was wearing a gorgeous aubergine silk dress with golden dragon accents and matching golden silk ballet flats; her hair was doing that flippy-out-at-the-tips style that made Esposito think of angel wings.

He tugged at the collar of his own new linen shirt, the weight of the jeweller's box hanging heavy in the breast pocket of his silk jacket pocket. Pulling all the extra overtime while Meredeth had been in Japan meant extra dough to spring for a new Italian suit from Castle's personal tailor for tonight.

After all, it was the biggest night of his life. And hers, too; she just didn't know it yet.

'Yeah, just unwinding from a long day, that's all.'

'I know the feeling. I'm still trying to get back onto NYC time, only it's a little trickier when you're technically a time traveler instead of the three hours to California.'

Esposito picked up her hand, threaded his fingers through hers and kissed the back of it lightly. 'Do you know how much I love you?'

'You tell me every day.' Meredeth felt her eyes begin to well up a little, forced it back. She couldn't go into the party with ruined make-up; the fashion police would have a field day with it. 'Ready for your red carpet night?'

'You bet.'

They exited the limo to flashbulbs and shouted questions. Meredeth, being an old hand at this kind of thing, gave her patent broad smile and a polite wave of the hand as she kept an arm looped through his the entire time. When one reporter broached the question of a secret marriage taking place the month before her easy laugh made Esposito's pulse jump and dance wildly.

'Not true at all. It's something we've talked about but nothing is happening yet.'

As soundbites went, Esposito knew the info-tainment journalist would have the best one for the eleven o'clock news.

They made it into the main reception room, making Esposito goggle. He'd lived in New York his whole life and had rarely stepped into the Waldorf when at the 54th, and even then it was always through the service entrance. Crystal gleamed, voices murmured in hushed tones and the air was thick with the heady scent of amaryllis, which happened to be one of Meredeth's favourite flowers. He'd made sure of that, just like he'd made sure that the guest list was strictly private and Robina had been good as her word - only friends, family and the requisite colleagues were here for this one.

'Oh, wow, this is something else,' Meredeth breathed, looking around. She was thankful she could take a break from the big parties she'd been to in Japan, and the previous launch party for her book had been nothing short of a circus. But then, they'd made the anouncement about the miniseries prior to that one so it was expected to have been something large and grandiose. Tonight, she looked around and saw nothing but familiar faces - everyone from the Twelfth was there, Constance and Terrence were there, Cam and Lili, even Rosalita and Alejandro had made it.

'This is exactly what I wanted. Thanks for making sure Robina got it right, babe.'

'It's an important night, I wanted all the details taken care of for you. Hey, there's Ryan and Honey-Milk.'

Meredeth glanced over, saw the new parents beaming as they walked over; Ryan looked dapper in his dark suit and Honey-Milk in a cute green dress that left no room for squabbling on whether or not she was breastfeeding. 'You made it! How'd you get out of the house so quickly?'

'Well, it wasn't easy leaving Dell with Jenny's brother but I managed to pull her away with minimal tears, ' Ryan replied, snagging a canape from a passing waiter.

'Right.' Meredeth nodded along, as she saw Honey-Milk mouth not me, all him behind her husband's back. 'Are Beckett and Castle here yet?'

'Yeah they're over there with Lanie and Martha.' When Meredeth headed off to get a drink, Ryan kept his eyes on Esposito's face. 'You all set for tonight big guy?'

'Yeah, I think so.'

'You worked on your little speech?'

'I did.'

Ryan pursed his lips and nodded as he people watched, noting the way Beckett and Lanie exchanged glances after Meredeth greeted them on her way to the bar and shook her head. They were going to ruin everything if they couldn't keep it together.

'When is the question set to be popped?'

'In about-' Esposito checked his watch '-fifteen minutes.'

'Good luck.'

At eight pm, when the launch was officially supposed to get underway, Meredeth found herself so overwhelmed with faces everything was starting to blur together into one gigantic mass of colour and scents. Fighting her way out of the crowd to stand at the center of the room while a discreet assistant passed Esposito a mini- microphone to clip to his shirt, she took his hand in hers and wasn't surprised to find it clammy. Esposito could handle the toughest bad-asses New York could drum up but public speaking made him sweat bullets. Her heart leapt into her throat as she saw that whole gang from the Twelfth precinct had gathered to be front and center; of course they'd support him like that...or mock him if he gaffed in his speech.

With a reassuring squeeze of his hand, she whispered to him, 'You can do it.'

Whatever nerves he'd felt leading up to this moment evaporated with that single line of encouragement from her. Clearing his throat, Esposito turned on the microphone and took the plunge. 'Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the official launch of Lady Hawk: Confessions. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Detective Javier Esposito and I'm the guy Meredeth kicks out of bed, particularly when our dog needs to hit the curb at four in the morning.'

There was only laughter, which made Meredeth's heart beat quicken. He was a funny guy but she hadn't expected him to open with such a personal joke. Still it drew in the human interest of the press, she supposed, as she was very picky about which reporters got what details. She smiled, shook her head as Esposito continued.

'When I found out that Meredeth was dedicating this work to me, it got me thinking, how can I tell her what she means to me the way she's done by telling me I'm her inspiration for her passion in life. And I realized there really was only one way to do that.'

Beyond confused now, Meredeth watched as he blew out a breath, switched off his mike and turned to face her. Her brain had about three milliseconds to register the sudden change-of-script move when he got down on one knee in front of her, still holding her hand. Her heart gave one great leap against her ribs as the light dawned and she felt her mouth drop open in shock, the power of speech having escaped her.

'Mere there aren't enough words to tell you how much I love you so I thought maybe this might do it.' He pulled the box from his jacket pocket, opened the lid to reveal the beautiful ring, its diamonds fashioned into a starburst flower. Tears of joy and surprise began to slide down her cheeks as she pressed her hand to her mouth.

'Oh, baby. Javi.'

Now there was a wobble in his voice, but he'd damn well get the words out. 'Will you, Meredeth Dakkars Coleman, do me the tremendous honour of being my wife?'

Meredeth stared in blank shock at him before the words exploded out of her in a great shout of ecstasy. 'Of course I will, you idiot!'

Esposito swallowed deeply to hold back the tears clogging his own throat as he slid the ring onto Meredeth's finger with an absolute perfect fit. He got to his feet - and staggered back three steps as his newly-minted fiancee threw herself into his arms, planting a whopping kiss on his mouth. He kissed her back with just as much enthusiasm, his arms wrapped tightly around her as he swept her off her feet on a small spin. Around him the room had errupted in cheers and applause; he distantly heard Castle and Ryan yelling, 'Way to go, Esposito! That's my boy!'

When he managed to unglue his mouth from hers, he laughed as he felt her shudder, laughing herself as she swiped delicately at her eyes.

'Bet you didn't see that coming tonight, did you?'

'Not at all.'

'And there's more.'

'More?'

'You know my sister works here in accounting, right? She got us a suite for the night.'

Meredeth's eyes dried instantly, popped wide. 'Are you serious?'

'Yeah. Lanie put together an overnight bag for you and Castle's picking up our room service tab.' He kissed her lightly. 'You want a few minutes to go check your make-up?'

'Oh no, it's fine, I'm sure someone has a compact in their purse.' She snorted a laugh, clapped her hands to her mouth. 'We're getting married!'

'You bet your fine juicy booty we are.' Holding her hand tightly, he turned to face the crowd, turned his mike back on. 'So as you can guess, she said yes. Thanks everyone and enjoy the party.'

R&R&Enjoy!