As promised, here is the second and final part of the story, essentially snapshots of Caskett life post-Kate's yes. Enjoy!
Kate was with Castle in the loft, getting ready for an official function. They had just closed a case and been hoping for a nice, quiet day off at home, but Gates and the mysterious ways the NYPD sometimes worked had conspired to throw all their plans out the window. And to top it off, she was required to wear her dress blues.
"CASTLE!" Beckett screamed at her fiancé the second she attempted to do the top three buttons of her shirt.
"You called?" He walked into the bedroom adjusting his tie. He looked so good in his tailored suit that she almost forgot how mad she was.
"What is this?"
"I don't follow." His face showed genuine confusion, so she held her temper in check.
"The shirt, Castle, I'm talking about the shirt. Oh, and my pants are kind of tight, too. Dammit, Rick, did you wash them? They must have shrunk and now they are way too tight. I can't go to an official function looking like this."
He actually laughed. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, which he noticed, so he quickly supplied an explanation. "Kate, um, these are your, ahem, other, dress blues."
"What other dress blues?"
"Allow me to demonstrate." He moved confidently behind her, pulling the shirt tails out of her pants and tying them in a knot above her midriff. As a finishing touch, he popped a few buttons until the blue lace of her bra was revealed, and placed her peaked cap on her head at a rakish angle. "There," he said, taking a step back to admire his handiwork. "I also got you a belt with certain, um, accessories."
"You can't be serious!" Kate exclaimed after taking a look at her reflection in the mirror. "I look like those bachelor party cop twins from the photo shoot in the precinct a few years back!" She was seething with anger. "You turned my uniform into a stripper's outfit! I need a proper uniform for today, Castle!"
"Actually, this is the second set I ordered back when you had your new regular blues tailored. Said set is to be worn only in here. You can use me as a stripper pole any time you want, by the way."
Beckett's old dress uniform had been ruined when she got shot, so Castle had graciously, or so it had seemed at the time, recommended her a tailor where she could order a new one. Little did she know that he'd spent the money to get her an additional uniform, one that matched the sluttiest side his fertile imagination had created for Nikki Heat.
"Did you now?" She gave him her infamous death glare, for good measure. It didn't faze him one little bit. "So, where is my normal uniform?"
"Right here." He reached into the closet and pulled out a garment bag. "Want me to put on some music?"
"I'm not indulging your perverted mind by incarnating your stripper fantasy of Nikki Heat, Ricky," she growled and quickly unbuttoned the shirt, shrugging it off of her shoulders. She grinned at his disappointed pout and decided to throw him a bone. "But let's take a rain check." Soon, she was in her proper uniform, which had been so tailored as to accentuate her femininity, but in a much more subtle, modest way.
"Why was Gates so insistent on having both of us attend?" Castle grumbled as they exited the loft and headed for the building's parking garage. He was still a bit miffed at Kate for her having nixed his idea about taking the Ferrari.
"Heck if I know," she huffed.
As it turned out, the ceremony was to honor them and their entire team for their excellent performance in making New York a safer place for its people. In fact, the second the Mayor had learned about how Jerry Tyson had been disposed of, on top of everything else the dynamic duo had done for the city, he decreed that this time he was definitely going to give Castle and Beckett medals. Of course, both Esposito and Ryan were getting medals of their own as well, since they were an integral part of the team.
"The medal would look good on your other uniform," Castle said, out of the blue on the way back.
"Maybe," she said, appearing to be focused on driving. "But then again, I was expecting you to say how good I'd look wearing the medal and nothing else." The blatant innuendo was enough to shut him up for the rest of the drive to the loft, to Kate's immense satisfaction.
-o-
"I'm getting too old for this," Castle informed Ryan and Esposito as the three, plus a last minute addition to their merry little band staggered towards his suite at the Sapphire. The three had reasoned that since they'd had such a good time at Ryan's unofficial bachelor party, they could go to the same venue for Castle's.
"Ditto, bro," Esposito rasped out. His throat was sore from all the karaoke singing, but at least the machine had been working just fine and he'd even been congratulated by other bar patrons for his performance.
For his part, Ryan carried himself with dignified stoicism, having already accepted the monumental hangover awaiting them in the morning. Fortunately, they wouldn't be driving back to New York from Atlantic City. Castle had hired a car service for the purpose. Still, he felt he had to contribute to the drunken conversation. "I wonder how the ladies are doing."
Castle suddenly grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "I can tell you where they are." He fished his phone from a pocket and clumsily opened an app.
"Dude, are you calling Beckett? She said not to bother her until tomorrow… well, until later today."
"I'm not drunk or stupid enough to call her. I'll just use the tracking app I installed on her phone."
"You are so dead," Esposito chuckled. "She's gonna find out, you know. The last thing my boy Ryan and I need is to be considered your partners in crime."
"Espo, you two are my partners in crime *solving*" Castle pointed out. And then… "No way!"
"What?" Esposito and Ryan almost bumped heads with their pal as they leaned in closer to look at the phone screen.
"Beckett is at the Package Store!" Castle blurted out, as he recognized the address on the display.
"The strip club?" Ryan remembered it from an older case.
"With Lanie?" Espo added.
"Not only with Lanie, but Jenny and…" Castle shuddered before continuing. "… Alexis."
"Not cool," Max whined.
"Yeah, the mere thought of my Kate getting a private dance from Hans Von Mannschaft makes me nauseous."
"Who?" Ryan asked, trying not to laugh out loud.
"The dude he and Beckett went to that joint to interrogate, Kev," Esposito clarified.
"Oh, I remember him now, from Beckett's report."
"We need to head down there, but first we have to pick up a few fire extinguishers," Castle declared.
"No can do, bro. The ladies are going to kill us and then make our dead bodies disappear."
"Espo's right, Castle. Odds are that Jimmy Hoffa will be easier to find than us."
"Listen to them, Mr. Castle," Max slurred. "I don't want to end up as Alexis' next cadaver."
"No need to worry about that happening, Max," Castle said, patting the young man on the shoulder. "She won't wait till you're dead. She's gonna gut you alive."
Max's face fell noticeably. He knew Alexis could be vicious when she wanted to.
Little did they know that Kate and Lanie had installed a similar tracking app on Esposito's phone and thus were totally aware of their men's whereabouts. The irony of it all…
-o-
Rick and Kate were having breakfast while reading this morning's edition of the Ledger together. As it was happening with some regularity lately, the front page was dedicated to yet another political scandal, apparently involving one Senator William H. Bracken, whose popularity was steadily plummeting towards zero.
"I don't know who managed to dig up so much dirt on Bracken, or how, but they're doing a damn fine job thus far," she remarked. "He must have pissed off some very powerful people. I can see no other explanation."
"Don't you love to see him squirm in front of the press?"
"Oh yeah," she agreed.
"And this is only the beginning." The second he said it, Castle clammed up. Frankly he was so happy to see his Kate enjoying her, correction, their arch-rival's predicament so much, it'd just slipped out. Unfortunately, she didn't miss said slip-up.
"Castle, do you know something I don't?"
"Just guessing," he attempted a save. "It's snowballing for him, so I think we have every reason to expect more of his dirty laundry to come to light. I mean, we had no idea about some of the skeletons in his closet."
"You're blinking. You always blink when you're bluffing. Spill it."
He very reluctantly disentangled himself from her and made his way to the office.
"Richard Edgar Castle, get back here! I'm not done with you!"
He came back with a copy of Ian Fleming's second book, Live and Let Die.
"What is this?"
"See for yourself," he said, handing her the original first edition.
"Oh, Rick... Is it from your Dad?"
"Yes. It's also a message from him to us."
"It's a message," she repeated. "Live and let die." Kate's eyes went wide as she understood the not so subtle message – Live your life and let Bracken die – and proceeded to leaf through the book.
"He wrote me a dedication of shorts," Castle pointed out for her.
She flipped to the title page. "Consider this a late engagement present... or an early wedding present. Signed, JH." She looked up at him. "Your Dad is behind all this?"
"Like I told you, he's been keeping tabs on me and my family, you included. I guess he put two and two together about Bracken. I never told him anything."
"I bet Bracken has no idea who's behind it all."
"He's sure to be looking, but I think he'll never catch on. Dad is just way above Bracken's league when it comes to skullduggery and subterfuge. He's a spy, after all."
"How far do you think he'll go?"
"For you... us? All the way. Frankly, I won't be surprised if Bracken doesn't last a week in prison, courtesy of the Mob."
"A week, huh? You're giving him way too much credit."
"Enough talking about that scumbag. Dad has got this."
"I want to meet him," she said, pulling him close for a kiss. "He sounds like a great guy."
"He is. I'm the living proof of it." He kissed her before she could come up with a biting remark. They were still kissing when her phone rang.
"Beckett... OK, see you there." She drained her coffee cup and made for the bedroom, shrugging her robe off of her shoulders. "That was Ryan. We got a new case. Are you coming or what?"
"Right behind you," he shot back, as he hurried to change out of his pajamas.
-o-
The hardest part of the wedding preparations had been, strangely enough, picking out a suitable venue. The beach house in the Hamptons? Too far away from the city. The library where she'd first arrested him? Too cramped. The bookstore? Ditto. The precinct? Again, ditto, plus Gates would have never allowed it. The swing set in the playground? Not enough privacy. Other potential venues had also been considered and rejected for a variety of reasons, until they both had a flash of inspiration.
This was how he found himself waiting for her in the same place where the Storm Fall launch party had been held; the same place they'd met for the first time (the second time, actually, but the first they'd been properly introduced). He straightened his tie for the tenth time and nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Next to him, Ryan and Esposito could not pass up on the opportunity to tease him a little bit.
"This is the third time you're doing this and you're still nervous, bro?"
"I thought practice makes perfect," Ryan added.
"It's the first time with Kate… and the last time I'll ever be doing this," Castle informed Esposito. He sneaked a glance to Mayor Weldon and Judge Markway, who were jointly officiating the wedding. He got encouraging smiles from both.
Eddie, the piano player from the Old Haunt, began playing the bridal march. Castle momentarily lost the ability to breathe when he saw Her. She was walking down the aisle with her father, followed by Lanie, Jenny and Alexis, the three in amazing blue dresses that contrasted beautifully with Kate's white gown.
"I'm leaving her in good hands, Rick," Jim said, giving his daughter away.
"You have no idea," Rick and Kate said together. Jim nodded and went to take his place next to Martha Rodgers and Jackson Hunt. To all but a select few, the latter was just an old family friend whom Martha had asked to accompany her to her son's wedding. He had recently retired from the espionage business, his record had been expunged and he was now just the average Joe Citizen.
Captain Gates marched up to them, and nodded to Ryan and Esposito, who took Castle's left hand and Kate's right and without warning slapped a pair of handcuffs on them. She said nothing, just smiled meaningfully and went back to her seat next to her husband. Rick and Kate looked at her, then at their friends incredulously, and finally down to their joined hands and shrugged. Truth be told, they were beginning to appreciate the gesture. At least this time there was no tiger in the room.
"Dearly beloved, we gathered here today to join Richard Edgar Castle and Katherine Houghton Beckett in matrimony," Bob Weldon began.
Markway took it up from there. "Marriage is a partnership, a sharing of two lives combined into one and a responsibility not to be taken lightly. If anyone has just cause that those two should not be joined together, let them speak now, or forever hold their peace."
No one spoke up. Bob turned to Castle. "Do you, Rick, take Kate to be your lawful wedded wife, to love and cherish her through thick and thin, for the rest of your life?"
"Always," Castle responded with a smile.
The judge turned to Kate. "Do you, Katherine, take Richard to be your lawful wedded husband, to love and cherish him through thick and thin, for the rest of your life?"
"Always," she replied, smiling.
"Then, by the authority vested in us by the State of New York," Bob began.
"We pronounce you husband and wife," Markway finished.
"You may kiss the bride," they informed Castle in unison.
He smiled, gathered his bride in his arms, dipped her and kissed her soundly, to thunderous applause from the assembled guests. "I love you. Always," he told her.
"Always," she confirmed. Then they were swamped by Jim, Martha, Jackson, Alexis, Esposito, Lanie, Ryan, Jenny and even Gates. There was hardly a dry eye among the ladies present.
They danced at the reception while still cuffed together. The boys cut them loose only to allow Kate to dance first with her father and then with her father-in-law and Castle to share a dance with his mother and then his daughter.
The first destination for their honeymoon took Kate by surprise. It was Paris. "Consider it my way of telling you how sorry I am for not taking you with me the last time I was here," he told her just after their flight landed at Charles De Gaulle.
She just kissed him in reply.
-o-
The first hint that something was amiss came when Kate devoured the s'morelet he'd made for himself one morning. She claimed she loved it, pronouncing it heavenly and asked for more. His first reaction was to place his hand on her forehead and feel for her temperature. An emotional outburst she'd had while clearing the murder board from the previous case planted the seed of suspicion in his head and it was enough for him to drag her to Lanie's office for a blood test.
A couple of weeks later, Castle walked into the bullpen with the boys, laughing over a good joke a uniform had told them.
"Hey, Kate," he said. "You'll love this, too."
She looked up from her desk, her face taking an expression of rage, got on her feet, marched over to her husband and slapped him hard enough to send him spinning to bump against Karpowski's desk. "I hate you," she snarled.
"What did I do?" Castle asked, shocked by her outburst and stunned by the slap.
"What did you do? You knocked me up, Castle! Thanks to you, I've been assigned to desk duty…"
"I don't recall you complaining about the, ahem, activities that led to you being…"
"SHUT UP! Where was I? Oh, yes. I got assigned to desk duty, while you and those two miscreants run amok in the city, and to top it all, I have to go without coffee and wine for the next few months! And I'm eating so much it feels like I'll turn into a Goodyear blimp!" She finished her rant, about faced and stomped off to the break room.
"Welcome to the mood swing phase, Castle," Ryan said, sympathetically patting his friend's shoulder. In her office, Gates had brought both hands to her mouth to muffle her laughter. The rest of the uniforms and detectives on the homicide floor returned to their work after having thoroughly enjoyed the show.
"Well, I better find a way to appease her. My safe word can only work so many times, after all." He practically ran out of the precinct to the nearest store selling the best decaf coffee money could buy. The taste of coffee might have a calming effect on his wife, he reasoned.
"You are still way more whipped than Castle, bro," Esposito was heard to say to Ryan.
-o-
"Jim, I must say it. Your baby girl sure has a dirty mouth when the mood strikes her. She's worse than a trucker, a sailor and a Marine put together."
Next to Jackson Hunt, Jim Beckett chuckled, both men getting a Martha Rodgers glare. Kate had been turning the air in the delivery room blue with her cussing. And when she wasn't cursing, she was threatening to shoot her husband or at the very least break a few of his limbs. Ryan, who'd never heard such foul language from a lady, let alone from Katherine Beckett-Castle, was holding his hands over his infant son's ears.
They all jumped in their seats when an unearthly scream (Ryan would later swear that Kate must have been a Banshee in a previous life) emanated from the delivery room, followed seconds later by the distinctive cry of a baby.
Richard Castle soon appeared, still in scrubs and carrying a little pink bundle in his arms. "Ladies and gentlemen, meet Johanna Marlene Castle," he said, pure unbridled joy evident in his voice. Martha and Lanie hugged, realizing that the baby's middle name was derived from their own names. Everyone gathered around, patiently waiting for their chance to hold the newest addition to the family. "You and I are going to have a long talk soon," Castle said, addressing little Ryan, who was squirming in his dad's arms. The infant insisted on reaching out for Johanna, prompting a growl from her father.
"Dude, he just wants to play," Ryan said.
"Now; he wants to play now. But a few years from today, he'll…"
"Dad, you're getting kind of paranoid," Alexis admonished him, snatching her little sister from his arms. She gave everyone the chance to fawn over the baby girl and then she took her back to her mom. "Here you go, Kate."
"Thanks Alexis. How did it go out there?"
"You know Dad. He's already thinking about keeping Little Ryan away from her."
Kate chuckled. "I expected no less of him. Was he that bad with you?"
"You have no idea."
"Trust me, I do. For example, he once asked me to run a background check on a date of yours, Owen I think. If memory serves, it was before he took you to Junior-Senior Prom."
"Typical Dad," Alexis laughed. "And thank you."
"For what?"
"For giving me a sister."
Kate just pulled Alexis in for a hug.
-o-
Castle peeked around a doorway and motioned for Kate to move to a new position. She had her gun at the ready and sprinted to the cover provided by a couch. She swept the room, signaling for Rick to move as well. He ran and crouched behind the island counter in the kitchen.
"Do you see anything?"
"No," he replied. "What about you?"
"Nada."
"OK, keep quiet. We have a few more rooms to search."
"Which one should we search first?"
He looked around, all his senses on high alert. "This one," he replied, pointing to a half-open door. "We secure our backs and continue searching."
"I'll cover you."
"On three?"
"On three," she agreed.
"One... two... three!" He burst into the room, Kate following behind.
"There's no one here."
"Uh-huh. But this is a big place. She could be anywhere."
They moved to the kitchen again, as it provided the best cover and paused to reevaluate their strategy and tactics.
BZZZT! BZZZT! BLEEP! BLEEP!
"GAME OVER. PLEASE PROCEED TO EXIT," a mechanical voice announced.
"What the hell?" Castle wondered.
His wife was just as confused. "How...?"
"You guys should be more careful," a voice said from behind them. They turned to find a pair of bright green eyes looking mischievously at them. The girl said eyes belonged to was inside a cupboard under the sink. She was dressed in a black t-shirt, black jeans and had her chestnut hair pulled into a braid. The lights of her laser tag vest blinked and glowed in sharp contrast to the ones on her parents' vests, which had gone dark.
"Did your grandpa teach you that, Jo?" Kate asked.
"He told me to try and hide in places you wouldn't look, but also make sure these places are safe. Alexis suggested the cupboard," the six year old replied. Yep, Jackson Hunt was teaching her well. He and Jim Beckett were thick as thieves around their granddaughter and aiding and abetting Martha in trying to spoil the little girl rotten, with little success so far. And of course Alexis was always eager to teach her little sister various things.
Rick and Kate exchanged a meaningful look. Then they grabbed their daughter, threw her on the couch and began tickling her.
"Daddy! Mommy! Stop!" Johanna shrieked through her giggles. "You really are sore losers," she remarked after catching her breath. "And I believe I won the bet."
Castle situated her on his hip and she wrapped her arms and legs around her daddy, clinging to him like a koala to a tree. "You heard the lady, mommy," he told Kate.
"Let's leave the laser tag gear here and take her to the park. I'll put it away later."
"And we can pick up Jason from Dad's on the way home," Castle added. Jason Nathan Castle was his youngest child, born about a year after Johanna. The little boy's name was sort of a combination of his grandfathers' names. It had been the best choice after Kate had unequivocally eliminated Jameson as a possibility. The youngest Castle was also a target of the grandparents' group in their spoiling rotten efforts.
"Yay! Ice cream in the park!" Jo exclaimed. "Is Ry going to be there, too?" She was referring, of course, to Kevin and Jenny Ryan's son. The two were best friends (read: inseparable), much to Richard Castle's mock dismay.
"I can ask his parents, JoJo Bug," Kate replied, taking out her cell phone and speed-dialing Ryan. She spoke for a while and turned to her daughter. She looked up at her mom with expectant eyes.
"What did Kev say?"
"They'll be there."
"YAY!" She jumped off of her father and ran to her room to gather her backpack.
"And before you know it, you'll be walking her down the aisle," Kate teased her husband.
He looked at her, utterly horrified. "It will be like Alexis all over again." Alexis was currently traveling abroad on her honeymoon. "At least my darling wife has a gun."
"Then we better enjoy having our little girl around while it lasts. Come on, daddy."
"Yes, mommy."
THE END