Chapter Six

"It's about damn time!"

Kate almost jumped when she heard the words directed at her from across the lobby of the Sheraton Virginia Beach. In her exhausted stupor she almost did not recognize that it was the voice of her partner, Javier Esposito, until he stood in front of her dressed in a tuxedo with a pale blue shirt beneath sans a tie, which he held in his left hand. Gesturing with it he asked, "Where the hell have you two been?"

Kate groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You don't even want to know."

Thought their "We're totally going to make it!" mantra persisted for much of their drive, an accident just outside Norfolk slowed their progress to a near standstill. For twenty-five minutes they inched their way through the snarl, barely traveling more than ten miles per hour at any given moment. They exchanged nervous glances and agonized over the progression of the clock until finally they were able to clear the mess and return to regular highway speeds. Now, they had less than one hour to check in, change, and make it to the church for the ceremony. As if their trip had not been stressful enough.

Kate stopped walking just in front of her colleague and the writer did the same, reaching out to shake his hand as a greeting. He also commented, "It has indeed been a long journey but we have arrived."

The detective gave the writer a side-eye. He made it sound as though they had trekked across the desert on foot in search of a promised land. Instead, they had driven down a very modern highway in a very nice, new vehicle. It could hardly been considered a "journey" but she was too tired to make a comment to the contrary.

"Just in time too." Esposito pointed out. Then, slinging his tie around the back of his neck he said, "I'm heading over to the church now; you guys get checked in. Glad you made it."

They said their goodbyes before walking over to the main front desk area to get checked in. Kate honestly half expected the hotel to tell them that their rooms were no longer available—that despite them having called and warned the hotel that they would be arriving late that the hotel had lost the message or recorded it and correctly and despite it being late-September, the off season for beach goers, their rooms had been given away to wandering travelers. Fortunately that was not the case, but Kate still remained moderately surprised when she was handed her room key; by that point in the trip she was merely conditioned to except catastrophe at every turn.

In a matter of minutes she and Castle were in an elevator on the way up to the second floor where their rooms were. Upon arriving at the floor above, a quick check of the sign on the wall told them that Kate's room was just to the right of the elevators and Castle's was on the far left side at the end of the hall.

"Wanna switch?" He offered, presumably thinking the noise of the elevator car traveling up and down all night long would be unpleasant for her.

She half laughed. "Are you kidding me? By the time I get to bed tonight I could probably sleep next to a cruiser with its sirens on."

He chuckled as well. "Fair enough. Want to…meet up in the lobby? Walk over to the church together?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "What if I'm sick of you?"

The writer's jaw dropped and his face immediately went a shade paler. "I…ah, I-" He began to stammer and Kate laughed, thoroughly enjoying how uncomfortable she had made him.

"Gosh you're an easy mark, Castle. Yes—I'll meet you in the lobby." She added with a soft smile.

He gave her a momentarily stern look, but then grinned and turned to walk down the hall.

Still shaking her head at her joke, Kate turned to unlock the door to her own room. Of course she had been mostly kidding, but she had spent an almost unbelievable amount of time in the writer's presence since her trip began. Perhaps the most unbelievable part was that she didn't even mind it. In fact, it might have been strange if they didn't walk to the church together, but she simply explained that by thinking that perhaps it made the most sense to stay together because they were the only ones that understood how bizarre their journey had been to that point.

Once inside, Kate found her room at the Sheraton to be quite nice, particularly for a chain hotel in a beach town. Her eyes fell on the king-sized bed and jealously overtook her. Oh how she longed to sleep in a bed with sheets and a mattress purchased inside of a decade. Then again, given how little she had slept, even the bed back at the Good Sleep Motel might have seemed appealing. Unfortunately, due to their tardiness, she did not have time for a cat nap; she didn't even have time for a shower! Well, not to wash her hair, anyway.

After pulling out her dress and shoes and laying them across the bed, Kate hurried to the bathroom, twisted her hair into a bun, popped on the hotel-provided shower cap to keep it as dry as she could, and practically dove into the shower, washing all essential parts at top speed. That way, she would have just barely enough time to put on makeup, her dress and figure out what to do with her hair. Hopefully she could do all that without making either herself or Castle late to the event they'd worked so hard to attend.

Standing in the hotel lobby, leaning against the wall opposite the elevator alcove, Richard Castle patiently waited for his partner to arrive so that they could walk to the church together. As he lived in a home with two women, one of whom in particular took an extensive time perfecting her appearance, he was used to waiting and did not mind it one bit. For his partner, this was especially true.

Partner.

Yes, Kate Beckett was one again his partner and he could not have been happier about it. Okay, their renewed partnership had not been officially discussed—she had actually only invited him to stop by the precinct and not join her on her next case, but Castle knew where that invitation would ultimately lead. He was merely a hop, skip, and jump to returning dutifully to the chair at the desk beside hers after over a year away and he was one hundred percent confident in his ability to scale those final hurdles and land there permanently. He was definitely not going to screw it up this time.

Just as he glanced down at his watch to see it displayed the time to be twenty-five minutes after the hour, Castle heard the elevator doors open with a chime. Looking up, the sight before him took his breath away. Kate Beckett approached looking quite differently than she had during their car ride, where she wore jeans and a gray NYPD t-shirt, and even different still than she had in the airport when they met up. As she approached, Castle took her in.

Starting at her feet, he observed sinfully sexy red sandals with a spikey heel high enough to make her nearly equal to his height. His eyes traveled up her luxuriously long legs to the hem of her skirt, falling just at the mid-lien of her thigh. Her dress was red to match the shoes and appeared to be made of a silky smooth body-hugging fabric that had a lace overlay turning what would have been a tank style dress into one that had capped sleeves. Starting at her bust and moving northwards the red under layer of the dress was missing, leaving a lace cut out illusion neckline. Keeping on theme, she wore red lipstick and drop earrings that glistened with both gold and hints of red. Simply put: she was stunning, and the man generally so adept at the English language, nearly crumpled into a stammering puddle.

"B-Beckett—oh, wow. You look—wow!"

She chuckled and skimmed her left hand back over her head, where her hair was twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck. She then reached that same hand out and brushed it over the sleeve of his jacket. "You're looking pretty handsome yourself, Castle."

"What? This old thing?" He asked, gesturing passively to what was actually a custom made Hugo Boss suit. Knowing they needed to get moving, he offered her his arm, but she politely refused and they walked out of the hotel side by side. Once out on the sidewalk he turned to her and asked, "Where is this church again?"

She eyed him curiously. "You mean you didn't bring your…" She paused to dig into the metallic gold purse dangling from a strap around her wrist. From it, she procured a folded sheet of paper and held it up proudly "…invitation map?"

"No." He laughed. Had there been something in the invitation packet other than the invitation? He had definitely thrown everything out after texting Jenny his confirmation of attendance and putting the date, time and location in his phone's calendar.

She folded her arms over her chest and eyed him carefully. "What did you plan on doing then?"

"Finding a herd of well-dressed people and following them."

She rolled her eyes as she unfolded her map. "You're absurd."

"I know."

As it turned out the church was quite easy to get to from the hotel; it was on the same street just three blocks further in from the beach. As they walked, Castle pointed out that he recalled a conversation with the boys in which Kevin mentioned that they had chosen the reception venue for its proximity to the church, and since the reception venue happened to be a hotel ballroom, everything had worked out.

Their trip was quick and uneventful, which was a relief to both of them, and soon they were welcomed inside the church by a familiar man posing as usher. Unlike when they saw him an hour prior, Esposito was now wearing his tie. In addition, he had a white boutonniere pinned to the label of his jacket. He handed them both programs before holding out his arm to Kate. "May I escort you to your seat, ma'am."

She chortled and was about to reach out for his arm, when Castle stepped around in front of them, waving the male detective off and saying, "I can take it from here, thanks." After receiving peculiar looks from both law enforcement officials, he backtracked carefully. "I-I mean if you want Beckett—if it's okay."

Kate nodded to her coworker. "Go on. Maybe you can help one of Jenny's single friends and she'll save you a dance at the reception."

"That is the goal." Esposito muttered to her before turning towards the next guest to greet. Meanwhile, Kate slipped her hand around Castle's elbow and he led her into the church sanctuary. When they passed a sign that said, "Pick a seat, not a side," Castle expressed his disappointment that it indicated there would not later be a battle of who was the strongest: the bride's friends or the groom's. Kate asked him what was wrong with him.

"So does this mean you don't want to sit next to me for the ceremony?"

She shrugged. "Well I've sat beside you for almost eight hours, what's one more?"

Castle allowed her to slide down to the middle of a pew six from the front of the church. When he came to rest beside her, he corrected her statement. "Nineteen."

"What?"

"You've sat beside me or been beside me in some form for nineteen hours." From dinner, to their time in the airport terminal, to the car, hotel bed, and then car again, they had never been outside of an arm's length apart for more than a few minutes in the duration of that time.

Kate groaned at this jaw-dropping number. "Oh god…that's so long."

"Um, sorry?" The writer offered, thinking for one melancholy moment she might decide to switch seats. Instead, she surprised him by sending a smile in his direction.

"Not just with you—I mean that's how long this ridiculous journey took us. Nineteen hours."

"Minus the three we spent sleeping."

"Right."

Despite the fact that he saw their journey as an adventure, Castle did understand the detective's annoyance. Had everything gone as planned, the trip would have only taken around two and a half hours. Twice as long would have been annoying, three times as long quite angering, but over seven times as long? That was quite ridiculous.

They sat quietly for several moments before Castle took note of their cohort walking a young, blonde, grinning woman down the aisle. As the tuxedo wearing man also smiled, Castle presumed the girl to be one of Jenny's single friends and gave the situation an approving nod. Turning to the woman on his right he asked, "Have you ever been in a wedding Beckett?"

She crossed her left leg over her right and turned to him. "Ah, yes—very shortly after college. A roommate of mine got married and she had seven bridesmaids."

"Seven." He echoed with a grimace. Both his weddings had two bridesmaids and two groomsman each, and sometimes that felt like too many.

She bobbed her head. "Yep. And the dresses were lime green."

Smiling, he said, "Oh it's getting better."

She chuckled. "No, it was actually very nice, but that was it—the only wedding I've been in. How about you?"

"Well I've been married twice."

She dropped her chin and said impatiently, "Yes, I know that."

He hummed and skimmed his hand across his chin. "And I've been a groomsman or usher…four times? Maybe five. Mostly when I was in my mid-twenties."

"Five times? Well, I guess I'm glad I've only done it once and probably won't again."

He tilted his head to the side when he looked at her. "Don't say that—you'll be in your own wedding!"

Her eyes flashed with an emotion he couldn't quite pinpoint. "Oh…right." Turning away from him so she could face the front of the church she added, "I was, um, talking about being a bridesmaid."

"Right," he said softly, not sure whether to believe her or not. His gut told him she wasn't; that she was implying she might never get married. As she had told him two years earlier that she was waiting for her "one and done" before walking down the aisle, that made him sad. Just a few months shy of her thirty-first birthday was absolutely not the time to be throwing in the towel on marriage; she was far too young for that.

Both from observation and from partnering with her Castle liked to think he knew a decent amount about the mysterious-at-times detective. She liked to keep her emotions and feelings close and not let them show; that much was plain within just a few hours of shadowing her. Whatever internal vault secured her innermost thoughts must have had security that rivaled that of Swiss banks, but in their year together he'd begun to see some cracks in her armor. She had a big heart and an unparalleled capacity to love, but she was afraid and on some level he understood. Yet, his fear only made him cautious and did not cause him to turn away from emotion completely. As the wedding music began, Castle silently hoped she'd be able to open up and let someone in some day, even if it wasn't him.

"That was a really, really nice ceremony." Castle commented as they stood in line with the other hundred and forty guests to exit the church.

"It really was." Kate agreed before handing the handkerchief she clutched tightly back to him. He immediately refused it.

"No it's fine; keep it. I have dozens." He promised with a smile. Truthfully, the fact that he'd witnessed Kate Beckett looking a little misty-eyed was worth the actual value of the monogramed square piece of linen a dozen times over. He was surprised, though pleasantly so, when he gazed in her direction during the vows. With a soft smile on his face, he had easily slipped his hand into the breast pocket of his jacket and passed her the cloth without a word. Always carry a handkerchief like a gentleman from days gone by; women love that. His mother's advice echoed in his mind as she accepted the item with a gracious smile.

Other than perhaps being a little long (Did they really need the full mass? Wasn't there some abbreviated version?) it really was nice and endearing how both bride and groom had sniffled through their vows. They really, really loved each other.

As they filed out of the church, the ushers and groomsman handed each guest a regular sized sheet of paper with information on the remaining events for the day. Their reception was to begin with a cocktail hour at 5 p.m. in the Sheraton Hotel's Cape May ballroom with dinner and dancing immediately to follow. Given the little more than three hour gap between events, Ryan and Jenny had provided suggested activities for their guests to do in that time period including grab lunch (they had listed several restaurants), go for a walk on the beach, and going shopping at one of the many interesting shops Virginia Beach had to offer.

"Did Ryan tell you why there's such a gap between the ceremony and reception?" the writer asked.

Kate nodded. "Priest availability didn't line up with the availability of the ballroom they wanted to use. Ryan seemed really worried about it, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal—unusual, but not that bad."

"No, I suppose not." Castle could not recall ever attending a wedding when a gap between the ceremony and the reception was any longer than needed to travel between venues, but that didn't make this bad; simply different. "Anything on this list strike your fancy?"

As they stood out on the sidewalk in front of the church Kate gazed down at the list and then back up at her partner. "No…I don't see 'collapse from exhaustion' as one of the options."

He laughed out loud. "Seriously. We can get lunch—and coffee."

She nodded in agreement. "Definitely need coffee…but maybe just something quick for lunch? I'd actually really like to get a shower since I didn't have the chance. If you want something more-"

"No, no; something quick is fine. I need to save up room for dinner—Ryan promised a seafood overload," he said while patting his belly and wiggling his eyebrows enticingly at her.

Kate nodded in agreement to their plans. "So where should we go?"

"Well." The writer paused to paused to pull out his cell phone. "Let's see what Yelp has to offer…"

A/N: remember - 2 more chapters :)