Epilogue

"You know that you don't have to do this," Rick tells her for the third time. "I would totally understand if you wanted to give it a miss."

"I've told you that I want to go, so stop hovering. You can wait in the lounge if you can't stop fretting," Kate says to his reflection as she checks her makeup in the mirror. One last swipe with the lipstick and she's ready to go.

The metallic bronze sheath dress hugs her figure and shimmers with every movement. It seems to sparkle but not as brightly as the solitaire diamond earrings that she is putting on. Even amongst all the other beautiful women who will be there tonight Kate will standout. The clothes, the makeup, the accessories, and her stunning beauty would be enough to grab anyone's eye.

"You know that there will be photographers there," he warns her as he tries to fix his black bow tie. "We could end up on page six of tomorrow's paper."

She just rolls her eyes at that; as if she hasn't already considered all the implication of going to the Nikki Heat premier on Rick's arm. She turns to survey the mess that he's made of the material, brushing his hands away so that she can tie it for him instead.

"I thought that you would want to avoid the limelight for a while, especially after what happened last month," he tells her.

Life is only finally getting back to normal after the whole Kimmy Roberts affair. Three blissful weeks of not having the press camped out on her front door and being able to do her job as a cop without interference.

"Hmmm," Kate murmurs as she finally gets his bow tie to sit just right. "I can't send you on your own, look what happened that last time," she jokes.

He takes her hands in his own, stopping her fussing for a moment. "As much as I appreciate the babysitting services, are you sure that you are ready for the intrusion into your private life again?"

Kate looks up to meet his eyes, giving him her full attention. "I can cope with it. We're together and this kind of thing is a part of your life so unless we stay in the closet forever then from time to time I'm going to have my photo taken. And yes, sometimes the pictures or the stories that accompany them may not be flattering. But I knew this might happen even before I decided to sleep with you."

Rick is hesitant to bring it up but that's not how he remembers their first time together, "I thought that first time was because you were upset over Josh's accident and I just happened to be there." If that crash hadn't happened then he and Kate would probably still be dancing around each other.

There's an uncertainty in his voice, she can tell that he still has fears about their relationship stemming back to how it all started. Even now after they've admitted their love, he still has concerns. Kate drops her gaze back to his bow tie, Rick deserves to know the truth about that night but she's not brave enough to look into his eyes as she confesses.

"Maybe the situation wasn't ideal, and maybe we got together for all the wrong reasons. But even before that night I'd chosen you," Kate takes a deep breath and then pushes on with the rest of it. "I never told you why Josh and I fought … the reason why we broke up. It was because I couldn't get you out of my head and Josh knew it. I've been in love with you, Richard Castle, for a very long time."

He's stunned by her confession; unsure of what to say. As a writer he should be able to say something poetic and touching at this moment but no words come to mind that encompass everything that he's feeling so he lets his actions speak instead. Rick pulls Kate in as his lips seek out hers, there's a fiery passion as well as a calm, profound love in that kiss. It combines both thunder as well as well as the stillness after the storm because she is everything to him.

"I love you too Kate," he tells her once the kiss finally ends.

"Ok, so let's go and face the cameras then," she says as she pulls back. "Actually, hold on a minute," Kate contradicts herself in the next sentence because his mouth is smeared with her lipstick. Pulling out a tissue from her clutch purse she uses it to dab away most of the color but leaves a little spot of red right at the corner of his mouth.

So what if their picture is going to be taken tonight? That little red spot is her mark on him, let the world see that Richard Castle belongs to one Katherine Beckett and she belongs to him.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who made it to the end, your company has made this a very enjoyable journey.