By half-past noon, everyone had arrived and was snacking on the light lunch set out, and for a moment Castle forgot that they were none of them legally related with the exception of Esposito and Meredeth to Lili, Cam and Rosie. Martha was cuddling Carey on her shoulder, extolling the virtues of his bi-coloured eyes while Dave and Esposito talked fantasy baseball. Meredeth and Sloan were eyeball-deep in discussion about their own artistic projects, while by the porch, Honey-Milk and Cam were talking about new certification processes at their respective hospitals. Even Tim and TJ were remembering the bond and the responsibility they'd had from the wedding the previous summer, and had taken to herding Dell and Rosie like they were their own siblings or cousins. They'd all come together somehow and forged this bond that made them into a very unique extended family.

And for him, the centre and the heart of it, was his beautiful bride. She couldn't kick the smile from her face today and he knew it would stay there well into the next day. She'd straightened her hair and put on Bermuda shorts and a loose blouse, he knew, to contrast the impact of her dress that afternoon. It was of the few traditional things they'd agreed upon for their very unconventional wedding - the first time he'd see her in her wedding dress was when she'd walk down the steps towards him.

His watch alarm went off, letting him know that they were at zero hour; draining his lunch-time cocktail, he cleared his throat.

'Excuse me, everyone, everyone needs to head inside for a little party surprise.'

He smiled as they all rounded themselves up, headed into the dining room where there was the most space; he waited until Beckett was the last one left on the porch before taking her hand and going inside with her. 'You nervous?'

'Terrified. You?'

'Shaking like a leaf. But it's worth it to see the looks on their faces in a few minutes.'

Beckett shook her head as they went in, gave his hand an extra squeeze for reassurance. 'However they react, just remember I love you, and my backup piece is in the glove-box of the Crown Vic.'

'I love you too.'

Castle gave her a quick kiss before they stepped into the dining room, saw everyone waiting in anticipation. 'First of all thank you for coming. I know some of you can't stay the whole weekend but it means a great deal that you came today, because it's a very important day for us.'

He glanced over at Beckett, saw the love shining in her eyes as she picked up the torch. 'We invited you all here under the pretext that today was a birthday party for me, but that isn't entirely true.'

'So it's just a party?' Ryan asked, confused.

'Oh no, it's more than just a party,' Castle clarified; his heart was pounding in his chest as he finally, finally got to give away the best secret. 'We're getting married today, on the beach at sunset and we wanted all of you to be here for it.'

'Surprise,' Beckett added in a gleeful little voice.

The room was dead silent as they watched their friends take it in; a pin-drop would have sounded like an explosion it was so quiet. Finally Meredeth spoke up.

'So I made your wedding cake?'

'Yes.'

'And the menu tasting we did was actually for your wedding dinner.'

'Yes,' Beckett repeated.

Meredeth's mouth hung open a moment, then she began to giggle. In a few seconds it turned into a full-on belly laugh, and the others began to join in with her as they realized they'd all been had. While they let out the crazy, Castle gave Alexis a subtle nod, and she disappeared only to return with a few uncorked bottles of champagne and Sloan followed behind her with a few trays of glasses.

'Why didn't you tell us, bro?' Esposito asked, linking hands with Meredeth.

'Well, with the unexpected announcement and arrival of Carey, we thought keeping things quiet might be good so that we wouldn't have to divide focus, you know?'

Beckett glanced over, saw Lanie with a strange look on her face. 'Lanie?'

'You did your wedding this way because of me? So you could be there for me and Dave'

'Yeah.'

On a sob, Lanie popped up from her chair and wrapped her arms around Beckett's midriff. 'I oughta smack you into next week. You didn't let us get to do any of the girly stuff we did with Meredeth. I know it's not your style but every girl needs some pampering when she's going to be..a bride.' Lanie squeaked out the words before she dissolved into ears on Beckett's shoulder. 'And what about a dress and flowers and food and the paperwork and everything?'

'We've gotten it all taken care of. Markaway is going to be here for six pm and perform the ceremony, all the flowers are in the basement staying cool so they didn't wilt, Meredeth got the wedding cake made and the caterers will be here soon to start doing their thing, hell even Sloan Machado is here to do the photography.'

'What about bridesmaids and ushers?' Ryan asked.

'No bridesmaids or ushers, just a maid of honour and a best man. I already asked Alexis to be the maid of honour, but Castle kinda had to wait to ask the best man,' Beckett explained, gave him a little nudge in the ribs.

'Right. After some careful consideration, I'd like to ask Gil to stand up there with me.'

Staggered, Gil pressed a hand to his chest. 'I'm honoured, but why?'

'Because you took a hard blow to the heart and not only recovered from it but fell in love all over again and are making a family with someone you met in a most unexpected way, and to me, that is very inspiring. So what do you say?'

'So long as I don't have to give a speech, I'm good with it.' Gil stepped over, dapped knuckles with Castle. 'And I won't flirt with the maid of honour, either.'

Alexis and Sloan had finished filling and distributing the champagne glasses, and finally passed one each to Beckett and Castle. 'Now it's my turn to say something,' she said. 'I know this isn't what any of you expected coming today but I think we can all agree on one thing, that today is a day for celebrating love. I love you Dad, and I love you Kate.'

They all clinked glasses and once they'd drained them, Castle slapped his hands together. 'Okay, it's half-past one and the ceremony is at seven, so, hair and make-up for the girls is in the main house and the men will be in the boathouse, with the exception of Carey because he needs to stay with Mom.'

The crowd dispersed and as they made their way to the places they needed to be, Beckett turned so her body was pressed against Castle's. 'We did it,' she grinned, giving him a light nip on his lower lip. 'We pulled off the surprise. And that's not even the best part of today.'

'Go get ready you. Look for the handsome guy in the pink shirt in a few hours on the beach.'

You got it.'

'One more thing.' Castle ran his hands over her arms. 'I love you.'

'Love you too.'

R&R&Enjoy.