Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. The last couple of months have been terrible for me. The first weekend of August I went with my mom to say our goodbyes to my Aunt, and her best friend since they were five. We get home, and ten days later get a call from my cousin telling us that Aunt Terri had passed. Cancer is a bitch. Mom then got sick and was put off of work until the end of this month, maybe longer, depending on how she's doing, leaving me as the only money maker in the house. Yesterday was my Aunt's funeral, and we made the five hour drive, to stay for three hours, to drive back home for another five, so needless to say, the last few weeks have been hectic.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Reviews are love, leave some.

Krystle


CB

Rick kisses the side of Kate's head, running a hand down her back, "Do you think you can walk?"

"My legs are still wobbly from ten minutes ago, Rick," Kate answers, lifting her head to smile sleepily at him. "You really did a number on me that time." She leans in and kisses him sweetly, and rests her forehead on his, "but I'm not complaining, it was…"

"Yeah, it was," he agrees. He gently eases himself up, pulling Kate with him, she has her arm around his neck, he picks her up bridal style, ignoring the scattered clothes in the foyer-they'll still be there after they wake up.

Kate giggles, "Castle, I could have walked if I leaned on you."

"Let me take care of you this weekend, Kate."

"Okay, but if you end up picking my clothes every day, I brought my gun," she jokes.

"You wouldn't shoot me," he smiles, and points out, "You love me too much, you'd miss me."

Kate runs a hand down his slightly stubbled cheek, "I do love you, Rick. So much." Grinning she leans up to his ear, bites it softly, "I guess my cuffs will just have to do."

CB

Rick is the first to wake from their nap. He looks at the clock-the red numbers showing that its half past eight. He turns and takes in Kate's sleeping form. She's on her stomach, hair fanned out across the pillow, her left leg bent at the knee and the right hanging off the bed.

Under any normal circumstance, she would feel him staring at her, and mumble to quit watching her sleep that it was creepy. He smiles; he really wore her out earlier. He pushes an unruly curl out of her face and kisses her forehead-she stirs, but doesn't wake.

Sliding out of the bed, he slips on a pair of pajama pants he keeps here, and lights a fire so its not dark when she wakes up, and then he heads for the kitchen. Looking around, he decides to make a dish he saw on Kate's Pinterest a few days ago. He pulls out the ingredients, and preheats the oven then he begins to prepare the meal.

As the meal is cooking, he sets the table. Two candles in the center, lit and flickering with his movement. Two wine glasses, and his best white wine, chilled and ready to pour. A single red rose from one of his bushes in the front of the house. He wants this night to be special. He wants her to be surprised.

CB

The smell of the wonderful dish Castle is making trickles down the hallway to the bedroom, rousing a sleeping Kate from her slumber. She stretches, and reaches an arm out to his side of the bed only to be met with cold sheets. Opening her foggy eyes, she sits up in bed. He's lit a fire, so it's not dark in the room, looking at the clock she notices that it's after nine. She didn't intend to pass out for the rest of the night.

She grabs the robe that Castle placed at the end of the bed for her at some point since he's been up, and heads to the bathroom. She looks in the mirror at her reflection at her 'sex hair', as her boyfriend would call it, she smiles, deciding to leave it. She knows what this will do to his already over sized ego, but she loves him, and if knowing that her hair is like this because of him will make him happy, then she's okay with it. She has her ways of making him come down off of his pedestal if she really wanted him to.

She pads down the hallway, and when she reaches the dining room, she leans against the wall, just watching him mill about the kitchen. She could watch him for the rest of her life, be with him for the rest of her life, and it wouldn't be long enough. She hates that she was so closed off to what was right in front of her for four years, before she finally let the wall crumble and accept him, his love, and everything that they were, are, and going to be.

Without turning around to face her, he says, "has anyone ever told you that it's impolite to stare, Detective?"

The smile that graces her face, is wide, and happy, "once or twice, but what can I say?" she crosses the room to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind, kissing the space between his bare shoulders, resting a cheek on his back. "My boyfriend's bad habits are rubbing off on me."

"Bad habits aren't the only thing that's rubbed off on you."

"Castle!" she exclaims, thanking God that he hasn't turned around to face her yet, because she would never live down the torture she'd get from him if he saw the crimson on her cheeks.

"Oh, you know it's true," he says, turning in her arms, bringing his hand up to pull her face towards him. "And you love every minute of it."

She smiles, nods, and leans in, closing the gap between their lips. "Guilty as charged." Their kiss is soft, and loving, how she's gone so long without kissing him is beyond her. The rumble of her stomach breaks the moment, and she rests her forehead on his. "Sorry."

"Don't be," he says, "I'm hungry too." For more than just food.

"What did you make?" she asks, looking around at the slightly messy kitchen.

He pours her a glass of wine, and says, "Something that I'm sure you've been wanting for a while." Kate looks at him expectantly, "Why don't you go and sit at the table, I'll bring the food to you."

She sips her wine and smiles, "I can't wait."

As Kate's eyes roam over the table-the two lit candles, the place settings-she smiles. If you'd ask her a year ago if she ever imagined herself in a relationship with Richard Castle, she'd laugh in your face-and deny to the moon and back that she had any feelings for the writer.

If she was being honest with herself, she's known since LA that she was without a doubt in love with him. It was just a matter of breaking down the damn wall she built around herself. Yes, she's had boyfriends, Demming and Josh, but those were meaningless. She's always been a 'one and done' type of girl. She knew that Rick was the one she wanted to spend her life with; but having been burned by love, and by the events of her past; the murder of her mother, the alcoholism of her father, she needed to work on her heart before she was ready to give it to Rick fully.

"Dinner is served," Rick says, placing a basket of garlic bread and the baked pasta in the middle of the table.

Kate smiles, "This is-"

"The spinach and artichoke baked pasta that you saw on Pinterest last week," he says smiling, "I know you wanted to wait for a special occasion, and I think that saving you from being blown up is a special occasion."

She smiles, the smile only reserved for him, and leans up to kiss him softly, "When did you have time to print this off?"

"You should pay more attention, Kate," he says, "after you pinned it you took a shower, I took that as my opportunity to print the recipe."

"Well, it looks and smells amazing," she says, "let's eat."

CB

Neither of them realize just how famished they were until the baked pasta was three-quarters of the way gone and they were fighting over the last piece of garlic bread. Castle breaks the bread in half, offering it to Beckett. She smiles at him, accepting his offering.

"Well, this was a pretty successful dinner," Kate says, taking a bite of the bread, she doesn't protest when Castle reaches over, and places his hand on her slightly exposed thigh. She looks up at him, noticing the shift in his features. "What's wrong, Rick?"

"Nothing," he says, as convincingly as possible, and notices her 'not buying it' face. "Standing up there with you today, I was scared."

"Rick-"

"Please, just, let me say this," at her nod he continues. "I was scared, Kate. I knew the risks; I knew that there may be a chance that bomb squad wouldn't figure out the code, so I came back. I will always come back for you, you know that. I just couldn't accept the fact that it could have been the end. I just got you, after years of waiting, and watching you with Demming, and Josh, after the shooting-I finally have you. No amount of time with you will ever be enough.

Standing up there with you, I realized, I want more. I want you every single day, every hour, every minute, and every second. That will never change. My heart is yours. I want to wake up with you every morning and fall asleep with you each night. I want to watch as your body changes from the effects of being pregnant with our children, I want it all, Kate.

So, I guess what I'm asking, is, will you marry me?"

Her eyes are misty with unshed tears, as she sees him pull a ring box out of his pajama pants. This wasn't exactly the setting she imagined him to propose in-and yes, she's imagined it, but she knows that no place is perfect, it's perfect because it's him.

"Yes, Rick," she whispers with a smile, "Yes, okay."

Pure joy is present on his face as he slips the ring on, a perfect fit on her trembling finger. He leans in and kisses her softly, "I love you, Kate."

"I love you too, Rick." She whispers back, running a hand through his hair. "Everything you said, I want too. I don't care about your past, because it's made you who you are, and I love the man you've become. You're my one and done; but I guess you've already known that."

"I had a feeling," he says smiling, "well, I had hoped."

"It's you, always," she whispers, leaning in to kiss him, the dinner mess on the table long forgotten. His hands fumble with the knot on her robe and she breaks away from him long enough to whisper, "make love to me, Rick."

You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter,

You are the best thing,

That's ever been mine


Okay...so this wasn't exactly where I planned on this going...my muse is a funny little thing.