Chapter Note/Story Note:. This chapter is the longest to date and probably will be. I wanted to get in Alexis' 'Best Man' toast. I hope you do not see each toast as a rehash of the Caskett story. There is some overlap but I try to bring in parts of the story specifically related to that character. There is one more 'toast' and some fun before the end. Meanwhile I hope you continue to enjoy.
The Castle characters are not mine. Their use, or the use of, or resemblance of any other characters, to any persons, living or dead, and the words and opinions they may speak are my creations just for the story.
Castle and Beckett straighten themselves out after a five minute quicky. "Well, I guess I can cross that one off my bucket list," Beckett said..
"What number on the list was that, my wife?" Castle asked.
"Are you really asking for my number?" Beckett smiled with a Cheshire Cat grin.
"Well, I want to see if it was the same as my number on my list."
"I saw your list Castle, I did not see any reference to what we just did on the list."
"Well my dearest, it many not have been on the list, but I was seriously thinking about putting it on their, a little below my number 1." Castle looked at her smiling and moving his eyebrows up and down.
"Men" was all that Beckett could say without bursting out laughing. When she composed herself, Beckett asked, "What were talking to Chief Brady about. I overheard a little of the conversation?"
"I have seen this helicopter flying overhead a few times. I am afraid it is some rag or something else that is invading our privacy, not to mention it Matilda King could be upset if some rival puts pictures in their magazine before she does. That all may sound crass, but I have seen it happen before and I do not want to ruin this day now, or forever." As Castle was saying this, his voice was getting higher and louder. His face getting red with anger.
Kate cupped his face in her hands, held his head still and looked at him square. "Rick, I do not care. Nothing could ruin this day. I would not have cared if we got married at City Hall. I am married to you and that is all I ever wanted. The whole world should know that I am yours and your are mine."
Those eyes. That is one of the things that attracted Castle to her in the first place. Those eyes. He calmed down looked at his wife, his extraordinary wife. They said together, "Always."
Both then heard Lanie in the distance. Her voice was becoming stronger as she got closer. "Kate! Castle! Where are you two?" Upon seeing them she shouted again, "Girlfriend where have you two been." Upon closer examination of the newlyweds, Lanie gasped, "Oh no you two didn't. Kate, number 4?" Beckett coughed and her face was becoming sunburn red. Lanie was afraid she would faint. Castle saw this and ran to get a shot of something alcoholic. He found a tumbler of vodka and gave it to Lanie. "Ok, Ok,, take a sip of this."
After choking it down, Beckett relaxed. "Lanie! You just caught me off guard." and then she whispered, "I did not want Castle to know the number, at least not yet." Both then started to laugh. Castle relaxed now that all was calm.
"Bring the rest of the vodka, Castle, you two are in for more roasts, toasts and dancing. We will all need some fortification." With that, the trio went back to the main gathering. these people do bring in revenue for the town.
The band was playing slow dance tunes for those who wanted to dance. Meanwhile, people were milling around, enjoying fruit, cookies and little cakes. On the screens were videos of guests singing tunes from the karaoke machine. Some could have competed on American Idol. Others would not get pass the first stanza. Some gave congratulatory wishes to the background of music. One or two actually changed the lyrics to the song or at least the refrain to make specific to Kate and Rick. Some were humorous, some sweet.
At one point, Jim Beckett and Martha were on the screen singing 'Sunrise, Sunset'. Castle and Beckett saw this and took each other's hand. They were enchanted. When Martha and Jim were finished, they turned to each, on the screen, "Well Jim, you sing pretty well for a lawyer."
"Well, Martha," Jim said, "we lawyers like to 'cut loose' once in awhile. And you seem to take your singing pretty seriously, for an actor."
Castle and Beckett were beginning to have flashback nightmares watching this unfold on screen. The 'Horror' movie continued. "Well Jim then, lets see how serious you take this." Martha started to sing 'Take me out to the Ball Game'. On screen, Jim Beckett joined in. Both were in good spirits and when they finished, together they said, "Everyone." The band started playing the song and everyone joined in. When it was finished every guest was clapping. Martha stood up to take a bow and pulled Jim Beckett up with her. Both took bows. Beckett and Castle couldn't stop laughing.
Once again the newlyweds heard the klank of glasses. Of course they could not pass up an opportunity to kiss. They owed it to their guests. Then they heard an "Ewww" from Alexis. It was she that tapped the glass. They looked at her and then all three laughed. Alexis then began, "I know that I am not a traditional 'best man' but I am honored and proud to stand up for my father. He is my father and my best friend. He can be overprotective at times, but allows me plenty of freedom to do things on my own terms. There is no safety net for me if I fall, but my Dad is always there to lessen the impact. He is the best teacher I have had and will ever have. He is my sounding board, my go to person, the adult I most look up to and the adult that I have the most fun with. It is tough to raise a father like that."
The guests smiled and laughed. When the others looked at Castle, each handed him a tissue and as a chorus said, "Allergies."
"You can all guess then, I am very protective of my Dad too. I was too young to comprehend everything that was going on when my mom moved out. I was young when Dad married Gina. Grams says Gina was good for Dad as a 'business partner'. I do remember Gina giving me some things and she was always nice to me. She never wanted to play the games my Dad and I loved. She thought them to silly. I think it hurt Dad that Gina did not want to join in all the 'reindeer games.' When they eventually divorced, I was sad because Dad was sad."
"I am sorry sweetheart. I did not know you were sad. I would never do anything to make you sad." Castle said as Beckett was rubbing his arm.
"Actually you hid it very well. After a short time, I could not even tell if you were sad or not. I saw you go out with a wide variety of woman." Kate gave Castle a 'what the ... look'. He quickly turned to Alexis and pleaded for help with his eyes. Alexis then quickly added, "but your interest in any one of them was minimal to none. Soon I began to feel that it was just Dad and me. Sure there was Grams, but Dad and I were the 'A Team'. "
"Thanks a lot kiddo," Martha said with a smile.
"Well..." Alexis was a little flustered. After a minute she continued. "Even when Dad started his relationship with Kate, I knew I was still far and away his main focus. True, we spent less time together, but it was as much me as him. I was busy with school and boys, and he was busy doing his 'research'. I did recognize some early signs that Kate was more to Dad then just another woman."
"Thanks a lot Alexis" Kate laughed out loud.
"I'm not doing this very well, am I?" Alexis said a little sheepishly.
Castle and Beckett answered together "You're doing just fine."
"Well, anyway right after Dad got back from being 'picked up' by Kate the very first time, he said that despite his best efforts, he did not get 'arrested, despite his best efforts.' This had never happened to my 'ruggedly handsome' dad before. Instead of being depressed, or sloughing this off, he made him more determined to move on Detective Beckett, figuratively I mean." Alexis took a deep breath and continued, "Another very early clue I picked up on was when Dad was nervous for a 'date' with Kate. Although he denied it was a date, I could feel his heart beating faster when I was tying his bow tie. When Kate came back to return Grams necklace, a huge smile was on my Dad's face at her presence. I could even detect some happiness and excitement on Kate's part as she recounted the red carpet and other events of that night and day."
Esposito and Ryan shouted out, "More, more our dear fellow grooms person."
"To take a page from Kate and Dad's play book, the evidence of their love story continued to build. I can only tell it from my Dad's point of view but the pieces were numerous. To recount a few, Dad actually apologized for doing some thing impulsive and intrusive like when he started to look deeply into Kate's private life. I thought for sure that neither would forgive the other, but luckily for all us, they did. Then there was the time that Dad flew to Kate's apartment when he figured out that the serial killer was still on the loose. Before that when he was finished with something, he moved on. But he was still thinking about Kate which, thankfully led him to figure out what was really going on."
"Amen" all present said as one.
"In connection with that, I got my first piece of evidence that Kate felt something for Dad. Neither he nor she may have recognized it or even thought about it, but I saw and felt it. Mom and Gina rarely made breakfast for anyone. Any of the other women that stayed overnight expected breakfast to be made for them."
Kate nudged Castle and menacingly whispered to him, "Are these the 'secrets' you are going to tell me about later?"
"Yes, no, I er uh, Have I told you how much I love you?" Castle stuttered.
"You are so easy." Beckett said.
"I will show you how easy later my love." Castle replied as he breathed a sigh of relief.
"When Kate stayed with us after her apartment exploded, she was up the next morning making breakfast, for all of us. I mean for Dad, me and Grams." Alexis said. "I felt she was doing it out of gratitude and not a little out of love. She recounted how happy she was when her mother did the same thing for her family. Kate looked and felt happy and comfortable doing all this for us. It was a warm feeling all around. The food was very good too. Not like the S'morlettes Dad likes to make."
"Hey!"
"Sorry Dad. It was nice having another 'grown up around.' As Dad became more involved with Kate, he became less and less involved with other women. There was an occasional one here or there, but he was not into like before. He was happiest with Kate. Unfortunately he was also saddest with Kate. Sorry Kate, but it was true. I know you did not do it intentionally but there were a number or times Dad hurt. Like the time he wrote a character named 'Detective Schlemming.' I do not know where that came from but I assume it had something to do with another man at the time."
"That was Tom, wasn't it?" Kate looked at her husband.
Castle just shrugged. "I never put him the final book. Alexis said it didn't fit."
"Thank you Alexis." Kate said.
"Don't thank me yet. I now understand about those other times you and Dad seemed to have drifted apart. Back then though, I was very scared and mad. Scared and mad at Dad when he almost got killed at Captain Montgomery's funeral. Then I was mad at you when you did not talk to him for all those months of recovery. Objectively, I understood everything but my Dad was hurt and I wanted to comfort him. I think a turning point in my understanding and accepting the growing relationship was when Grams and Dad where hostages at the bank. I was so scared and when I saw you Kate, I could tell you were very scared too, but tried to keep calm for me and for Dad. You kept your promise to me and got them out alive. I did not thank you at dinner that night, I was a little busy with another crisis, but I was, am and will ever be grateful. Thank you."
Alexis went over to Kate as Kate stood up. Both hugged each other. For the third time that day, Castle felt that river of warmth flow through his body. How could this joy not last forever?
Alexis took the mike again. "Like the great love story this is, it was not over yet. All the evidence was pointing toward this happy ending but I was not yet fully convinced. Kate, you should know that I was very concerned for Dad after my graduation from high school. I thought for sure you would be spending time with him. When I heard he would be alone with 1000 cable channels and his X-Box, I was sad. I was also mad. What happened? Dad did not say anything but I have to say this could only have something, not good, that happened between you two. Maybe that is one of the reasons I drank so much that night."
Kate mouthed to Alexis, "I'm so sorry."
"Then again," Alexis continued, "maybe I was just feeling my oats." Castle had watched that whole exchange. He smiled at Alexis when he caught her acknowledgment of Kate's hurt and then trying to down play it. "I did not catch all the evidence of Dad and Kate's finally coupling the day after my graduation. I was too hungover. I should have realized something was amiss when Dad wanted me to savor and appreciate my first hangover, a right of passage. Eventually he got me aspirin and I slept it off. As the evidence, phone off, not getting me aspirin immediately, coalesced in my mind I realized Dad was with someone special. It could only have been Kate. When this was eventually confirmed to me, I was thrilled and sad at the same time. I was thrilled because I knew Dad was thrilled. I was sad because I thought I was not on the 'A-Team' any more."
Castle and Beckett called out together, "You will always be on the A-Team.'
Continuing Alexis said, "When I was younger, Dad made decisions for us which were life changing, like moving to the loft, marrying Gina and letting Grams move in with us. As I got older we would discuss any life changing decision with the other first. His proposal to Kate was the first life altering decision he made that would effect us without discussing it with me in a very long time. Intellectually I knew what happened, why it happened, how quickly it happened and I was not their to consult. I was ok with it objectively, but emotionally I was in turmoil."
"Maybe that is one reason I brought Pi back with me. My confusion really was with Dad, Kate was nothing but super nice to me. She understood where I was coming from and did her best to stay as neutral as she could. Now that I moved out of the loft, I experienced first hand what love and commitment were. Eventually I realized that what Pi and I had was not what Dad and Kate had. I liked Pi, but that wasn't enough. I saw Dad go through a marriage breakup and knew that what Pi and I had could and would not last. Marriage is tough enough as it is, so when I enter into it, I want it to be like Dad and Kate. Finally, finally, I know that through thick and thin, Kate will be there for Dad, he for she and both for me if I need it. I love them both and cannot now imagine my life without Kate in it. She makes it so much easier to keep Grams on track and raise Dad. To Kate and my Dad, Always."
"To Kate and Rick, always." the guests echoed.
End Note: Again, I want to thank all who have read the story so far. I hope you have enjoyed it and will continue to the end. I also want to thank all those who have taken time out to write something to me about it. Your words of encouragement drive me on, your constructive criticisms are well listened to and I strive to heed them all. Enjoy the final chapters and remember 'Reviews feed the Muse,' good, bad or indifferent.
