A/N: I apologize for the delay in posting this; we had a snow storm yesterday and with all the clean up i forgot about you guys! This is the final chapter; epilogue will be up tomorrow.

Fourteen

Hours later, Kate and Castle lay together in bed, lazily dozing. Kate rested her head on his broad shoulder while tracing lazy lines against his chest and stomach with her fingertips. Castle lay with one arm behind his head and the other around her, stroking her arm sporadically.

When Kate noticed him repositioning his legs she realized he was awake and said gently, "You know what I was thinking?"

"Hmm?"

"It's not…it's not weird."

"What's not?"

She lifted her head and turned it so she could look at him. "Us, like this."

Their transition from partners to lovers had been so seamless it hardly felt like a transition at all. One moment they sat side by side; partners who rarely if ever crossed the touch barrier between them. The next moment they were kissing and caressing, hands everywhere as they made love. Yet, both versions seemed natural to her.

Castle considered this a moment. "Isn't that because in many ways we were already together in every sense but the physical? I mean, I haven't been with anyone since-" Castle stopped himself short of confessing that truth and instead said, "Well, it's been a while."

"How long?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"No, Castle. " She pushed herself upright so she could look down at him. "I want to know. Please," she added when he gazed at her cautiously.

They had a several second stare-off before he relented. "I…I guess a little more than a year."

Kate reviewed the prior year's timeframe in her mind. "Since…since you broke up with Gina?" she deduced; he nodded in confirmation.

Stupid. She felt stupid. All that time he'd been waiting for her—waiting for her to be ready because he already was. And she… She had been with Josh. Hiding behind her relationship with Josh. Using it as an excuse that no one—least of all herself—believed.

The old, pre-therapy Kate Beckett would have shrank away and hidden with this knowledge, letting it consume her. Allowing herself to fill with self-loathing and retreat. But the Kate Beckett she was at present—the one who had been enlightened by therapy to let things go, pushed these notions in her mind. Her relationship with Josh was over and it was in the past. She couldn't go back and change or undo any of it. She could, however, move forward with the lessons those choices taught her.

Kate leaned down and pressed her lips to Castle's. Pulling back she said, "I haven't been with anyone since I've been shot."

He smiled at her and pulled her down against him. At first, their kisses were gentle, leisurely. Then, slowly, the heat began to build. Kate rolled over onto her back and pulled Castle with her. Just as her hands began to skim down his body, he pulled back and looked at her with complete awe.

"What?" she asked gently.

He shook his head. "Nothing. It's just… part of me can hardly believe this is happening." He brought his hand up to stroke her cheek, his thumb skimming across every inch. He brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen cross her eyes and held firmly to her face. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Her words made Castle's heart soar, the feeling in his chest unlike any other he'd had before. The only notion in his mind was making sure that she felt exactly the same as he did in that exact moment. So he kissed her, hard and deep. He peppered kisses all the way down her jaw, throat and collar bone. His lips traveled across her scar, between her breasts, down past her belly button and finally to the crest of her hipbones.

There, he paused to look up and meet her gaze. She smiled at him. She looked excited. She looked…happy. And, he thought cheekily to himself, she was about to get much happier.

After spending the majority of their afternoon in bed, Kate and Castle grabbed an early dinner before heading to the airport to catch their flight. During their meal, cab right to the airport, and even during their trip through airport security they could hardly keep their hands off each other. If their fingers weren't intertwined, they touched another part of each other: an arm, a knee, or someplace a bit more intimate (only if no one was looking). They exchanged stupid, dopey grins that made the other person laugh, but they didn't care; they were idiots in love ready to let it all hang out.

As they waited for their flight, an elderly couple, presumably noticing their nauseating actions towards one another, asked if they were newlyweds. Kate confirmed that they were and Castle thanked the couple when they offered congratulations.

After a less than pleasant, turbulence-filled ride home, Kate and Castle arrived in the city shortly after six in the morning. Despite being exhausted, Castle insisted on stopping for breakfast on their way back to his loft. He explained simply wanted one more meal with his wife when he had her all to himself—before they revealed their secret marriage to their friends and family. Kate couldn't argue with his logic so she agreed and it turned out to be a good decision; the waffles were delicious.

During their travels, they agreed to return to the loft first to hopefully catch Castle's mother and daughter and tell them the good news. Then, they would hopefully meet up with Kate's father to tell him the news. And finally they would tell Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie. For the time being, that group completed their notifications list, as they decided not to flaunt their marriage too much while it was still new and they were adjusting to it.

Hand-in-hand they arrived at the loft and nearly ran smack in to Martha as she was on her way out the door. "Oh my goodness!" She proclaimed, pulling them both into a hug. "Thank god you two are back. You didn't have a run-in with that crazy killer man, did you?"

"No, Mother," Castle said. They had also had a heart-to-heart about the Tyson situation. Castle agreed to let it go for the time being since, as Kate said, they would find the bastard, but they could not let him control their lives. "But we, uh," he glanced over at Kate with a silly grin, "we do have something to tell you. Is Alexis here?"

"Oh, no you just missed her," Martha said. "She needed to get to school early for some meeting or something."

"Oh," Kate said in a slightly downtrodden tone. She had been quite amped up to reveal their marriage to Castle's family; this was a bit of a letdown.

"Oh…well…I guess we should wait then." Castle sighed, stuffing his hand down into his pocket.

"Wait for what? Richard, what are you up to?" his mother demanded of him.

"Nothing, Mother. We just…we wanted to tell you and Alexis together."

"Tell us what?" she asked. "You know I cannot stand suspense!"

"Well," he began, gazing at his bride. She nodded, agreeing that it was only fair to tell Martha since they had practically teased her with it. "Well, uh…see, Kate and I…well, we got married in Vegas."

"M-Married!" Martha stammered, looking back and forth between the two smiling individuals before her.

"Yeah…uh, surprise!" Kate added with a silly laugh.

"Oh my goodness…well, this—this certainly is a surprise!" Martha said, clutching her hands to her chest.

Kate felt her cheeks grow hot. "You're not upset, are you?"

Martha softened her expression and pulled the younger woman into a hug. "My heavens no! Surprised—well, stunned more like it, but never upset. This is wonderful news! You two are clearly meant to be together."

Kate laughed gently as she reciprocated the hug. "Thanks, Martha."

"But what a shame you missed Alexis. Ah, well, this will be her surprise when she gets home from school."

"Yes, we want to have dinner to celebrate," Castle added.

With that, Martha hugged them and offered her congratulations once more. Then, she hurried off, insisting that her acting students would be terribly depressed if they had to wait one more extra minute for her arrival. Kate and Castle exchanged amused looks once she had gone.

"So…calling your father next?" he asked.

"Ah…" Kate glanced at the clock on her phone. "I think he has a class right now but-"

She was interrupted by the ringing of Castle's cell phone. He dipped his hand into his pocket and retrieved the device. "Ah, it's my lawyer; better take it."

He turned and took a few steps from her to answer the call.

"Mr. Castle," the lawyer began, "I'm calling in regard to your recent wedding in Las Vegas."

"Ah yes." Castle turned and smiled at his companion. "Did you get all the paperwork you needed?"

"That's the reason I'm calling, you see."

His brow furrowed. "Oh ok. Hold on, let me put you on speaker so my wife can hear as well." Castle pulled the phone away from his ear, momentarily ignoring the way the word "wife" on his lips caused his heart to flutter. His lawyer's tone seemed atypically serious and that concerned him slightly.

Kate approached with a curious look and they stared down at the phone together when Castle said, "Go ahead."

"Mr. Castle, I'm sorry to tell you that Nevada was unable to process your marriage license because you failed to provide adequate proof of divorce at the time of filing."

Castle felt his throat thicken as he met Kate's wide-eyed gaze. Okay, so impromptu weddings in Sin City were romantic, but not necessarily practical. "Well, can't we send it today? We could email or fax-"

"No, they've already denied your license."

"So…what does that mean?"

"It means that your Nevada marriage is void."

Castle felt his heart sink down past his belly button. Staring into Kate's eyes, he asked sadly, "We're not actually married?"

"No, not legally. I'm sorry, Mr. Castle. Please let me know if I can be of any more assistance."

Castle mumbled a goodbye to the lawyer and then returned his phone to his pocket. Stepping forward, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Sick, he felt sick. And heartbroken. And a little angry at himself. "Kate…I'm so sorry." He sighed into the top of her head.

She squeezed her arms around his back before looking up at him. "No, no it's not your fault. I mean, neither of us was really thinking a hundred percent clearly at the time."

"So…I guess we're not married."

She gave him a sad little smile. "I guess we're not."

He skimmed his hands down her arms until he reached her wrists, giving them both a squeeze. "What do you want to do?"

Her brow arched. "What do you mean?"

"I mean—what do you want to do about this? How do you want to fix it? We can get married tomorrow. Here in New York with my family and yours—and the correct paperwork. Or we can wait. We can do whatever you want."

She smiled slowly. He always seemed so focused on her, and that was very sweet, but they were partners and needed to be weighted equally in any relationship. "What I want? What do you want, Castle?"

He brought his right hand up to cup her face. "You, Kate. I just want you. And I want you to be happy."

Kate felt a few tingles at the base of her neck and in her chest at his words, and the loving gaze he gave her. She turned her head enough to kiss his palm and then said. "Honestly? I think we should wait a little bit. Maybe…maybe this is a blessing in disguise."

She was alright with the fact that they had gotten married. If that marriage had been legal, she would have been more than happy to face each day as Castle's wife: for better or worse. But, as it was not legal, she could not help but think it was for the best. She still had issues she needed to work out, and the stress of living together plus all the other nuances of married life would be a struggle for her.

Castle could not help but nod in agreement. He wanted to marry her, there was no doubt about it, but he also wanted her to be comfortable with the situation. Better yet, he wanted her to want to be his wife—not just be stuck with being his wife. Still, he needed to make sure one thing was very clear. "But we are together, right?"

Kate couldn't help but chuckle at how very concerned he sounded. "Of course, Castle."

He slid his hands down to her waist and pulled her hips against his. "Might I be so bold to say we're engaged?"

Chewing on her bottom lip, Kate thought about this for a moment. "I don't think that would be too big of an assumption, but Castle I don't want us to jump right into anything. I want us to enjoy the beginning stages of a relationship together before we have a huge wedding."

Bemused, he asked, "Is that what you want? A huge wedding?"

She cringed. "No, not exactly. Well maybe, I don't know. I don't know… I—I never really thought about it. Oh my god," she laughed. The realization was washing over her like a sunrise bathing light over the land. "I think it's really just hitting me that we got married. We got married!"

"Well, not technically," he corrected her.

"Right…but we intended to." Oh my god! Oh my god! She thought to herself. What had she been thinking? She hadn't been thinking and that was so unlike her!

Castle took a step back from her. "So…no to the engagement?"

Realizing she was hurting his feelings, she quickly swooped in and pressed a kiss to his lips. "No, actually…no let's stick with the engagement. I'm ok with everyone knowing I have intentions to marry you one day, because I do."

Castle placed his hand upon his chest and said dramatically. "And I do."

Realizing he was pretending to be saying wedding vows, Kate groaned. "Ugh. Castle."

He laughed. "What?"

"You're so…"

"Amazing? Talented? Ruggedly handsome?" he offered with a cheeky grin.

She "hmmp-ed" to herself and looked up at him, slowly shaking her head. "Annoying. Frustrating. Completely and totally-"

He cut her off by smashing his lips against hers and giving her a kiss so passionate she almost forgot to support her own weight. Nearly hanging in his arms, breathless, she looked up and gently touched his face. "Incredible."