Chapter 20 - Mrs. Cas..

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Have you ever had that moment in life when the world stops spinning? You struggle to determine if you are awake or dreaming? Your heart pounds out a hardy 'YES' and your overthinking brain tosses out roadblocks of 'It's too soon.'? Have you ever wanted to turn back the clock, allow yourself the time to control your mouth and answer as you should? If you have, you have entered the mind of Kate Beckett.

Rick feels a drop of sweat drip down the tip of his nose; it lands on the inside of his wrist. Kate is going to say 'no', he just knows it.

With hunched shoulders he slides back into the corner of the limo seat. Rick punches the power button to allow fresh air to swirl around the car; looking out the window he wonders how he could have been so wrong.

Rick's confidence oozed out of his body with each additional bead of sweat forming on his forehead. Sharing an ironic smile with himself, he thought - 'sweat is better than tears'. He knows Kate doesn't need to say 'no', her MO is to say nothing rather than deal head on with personal conflict. Isn't that why she took a year to admit she heard him?

Gulping as he feels the steady squeezing of his hand, Rick wonders - why is she still holding my hand? The very hand that had slipped the ring on Kate's finger? How could she?

Kate reaches out with her free hand to brush her knuckles along his jawline and slowly turns his face to hers. Meeting his eyes, Kate slowly began mapping the edges of his lips with her fingers. Her touch radiates from his lips to his heart.

Kate slides across the remaining space between them. Her knees nudging his thigh, Rick shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Why is she touching him?

Rick stills as he locks eyes with Kate. She slowly, suggestively moves closer to him. Her eyes flicking from the newly placed ring on her finger to his lips to his eyes and back again. With feline grace and hooded eyes Kate leans in and whispers in his ear, "You, Richard Castle are the remarkable one."

Rick blinks his eyes in rapid succession, shifting in his seat to face her…is she going to say 'yes'?

Kate skims her fingers over his lips one last time before bringing them to rest at the opening of his shirt. Her mouth hovers over his, Kate slowly inhales his air as he exhales, only to push her air back into his mouth. Castle instinctively runs his tongue over his lips in nervous anticipation of what's to come.

Kneeling on the seat next to him, Kate shyly murmurs, "Ask me again?"

Rick examines the coy smile playing at the corners of her mouth and the green -gold flecks in her hazel eyes are shining brightly. He asks with his eyes 'Why?'

"So, I can answer you the way you deserve to be answered."

Rick gently pushed Kate back to her original seat. Picking up her hand he reaches for the ring he had just placed on her finger.

Flashing a wide flirty smile, Kate clenches her hand into a fist. "Um, you can leave that right there."

Rick's eyes dance with delight, she is so going to say 'yes.' Dropping to one knee, clasping her hands between his, wearing a broad smile, "Katherine Beckett, I love you. I'm just a man hoping to spend the rest of my life pulling your pigtails."

Kate's smile radiates as Rick pulls himself up onto the seat beside her. Leaning in Rick hovers over her lips, teasing her as she had teased him, Rick breathes into her mouth, "Marry me?"

With the slightest blink of the eye to keep the tears from escaping, Kate rasped out, "Yes."

It was indeterminable who crashed into whose lips first,

the kiss was slow,

it was long,

it was wet,

It was deep,

it said 'till death do us part.

Kate found herself pinned across the length of the backseat of the limo. Castle was sprawled across her. He was crushing her and it felt divine.

Closing her eyes Kate deliberately hugged out a slow breath, reassuring herself it wasn't a dream. Kate opened her eyes to be greeted by piercing blue eyes and a cocky smile, she knew it was her new reality, "Hey handsome…are we really going to do this?"

Rick laughed out a "Yes."

Kate fingered the short hairs at the back of his neck, "Okay, then when?"

Ignoring her question, he slipped his hand under her shirt to draw circles around her belly button, "Do you have any idea how sexy you are going to look wearing nothing but my ring?"

Waving her ring finger in front of his face, "We can find out the minute we get to the Hamptons."

"THE minute? Like the minute I see the sign that says 'Welcome to the Hamptons'? Because that means limo sex, my place is twelve minutes past the sign."

"Twelve minutes? That is all you're going to give me?"

Rick couldn't resist swiping his tongue along the column of her neck, accompanied by a little grind into her, "If you couldn't tell, I have been ready to go ever since you said 'yes' ."

Pulling him in for a kiss, Kate purred, "You, Mr. Castle appear to be 'always' ready."

"Well, soon to be Mrs. Cas…" Rick choked on his words, did she want to by Mrs. Castle or would it always be 'Beckett'?