A/N: Just went through my outline and there will be four more chapters and an epilogue after this one. I have so loved posting this throughout February for you all to read. I hope you've enjoyed it. I've been toying with an idea for another sequel that will focus on the rest of Kate's pregnancy and the birth of their baby. Let me know if that's something you would enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or the characters used in this story.

Castle brings Kate's journal with him to the precinct on Thursday. He's still behind on catching up and she has paperwork to finish.

He's not exactly surprised when he finds that there are a few more days missing, but he's unsure of what her words will say. She's constantly surprised him with all of the ways she found hope even after rough days.

July 26th, 2014

Castle,

You didn't walk away from me.

I know you didn't.

I'm so sick of what the evidence keeps pointing to.

I had to pick up my mom's wedding dress from the cleaner today. They've been trying to get the mud stains out since Martha dropped it off for me right after you went missing.

It's ruined. The stains wouldn't come out.

I couldn't bring myself to part with it so it's here, in a garment bag in the back of our closet.

Now not only do I not have a fiancé to marry, I have no dress to get married in.

I had to skip some days and I'm sorry for letting that hope slip through my fingers, but I just don't know how much more I can handle.

If you were here you would tell me that it doesn't matter what I'm wearing when we get married. You'd laugh when I rolled my eyes and tell me to go pick out a new dress. You would fix everything because that's what you do; it's what you've always done for me.

But if you were here, none of this bad stuff would have happened and we'd be married right now.

Castle closes the book, immediately reaching for Kate's hand. She frowns at first, not because he's holding her hand, but because of the randomness of it.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, squeezing her fingers to emphasize how much he means those two words.

"For what?" she frowns again, wondering where this sudden seriousness has come from.

She spots the closed book on the edge of her desk, realizes the reason for his shift in mood.

"For everything you went through while I was gone, for what happened to your mom's dress, for all of it. I'm just sorry. You didn't deserve any of it."

She smiles because how could she not? Her husband is the sweetest man.

"I wish that it had never happened, but it made me appreciate you so much more. It opened my eyes to so many things that I was taking for granted. I got you back, and I got to marry you, and we're having a baby. My hopes are becoming a reality."

"You've always been my hope, Kate. Always."

She lets him kiss her in the middle of the precinct, because they're married and he came back to her.

And when Gates looks up from her desk to find her best detective in a lip lock with her husband, she just smiles and shakes her head. After everything those two have been through, they deserve every minute of their happiness.

Would love to hear your thoughts! xo