Blank: Chapter 19
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DISCLAIMER: Most of these characters are not mine at all, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe. The others? Yeah, they're mine
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5:38 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, April 17, 2012, at the Cliff House in San Francisco
"You want to tell me what that was all about?" a half-tickled Kate Beckett asks, a smile on her face. "For a second there, we were having a romantic moment. The next thing I know you are playing hero to a damsel in distress – very impressive by the way – but then you ruin it by running away like a madman."
Richard Castle, now somewhat out of breath from his downhill sprint and fast walk back up the walkway ramp, smiles in return.
"You think I'm a hero?" he winks, unable to help himself from giving her a waggle of the eyebrows. Which in turn gives him a roll of her eyes. For a moment – for a brief moment, it seems they have transplanted themselves back to the east coast, complete with innuendo and teasing comments. It is almost comical that both realize this at the same moment,
It renders both of them silent. The silence is – of course – awkward.
Fortunately, the reason for the evening in front of them reappears as he feels the ring box moving between his fingers. The motion of his fingers catches her eyes, and her gaze immediately drops to his left hand, and the object inside.
Recognition – and perhaps a little hope – kick in immediately for the ex-detective from New York City.
"Rick?" she questions, her eyes now finding his.
"Well, so much for the best laid plans, and all of that," he smiles in return. He reaches for her right hand with his right hand. He places her hand in his left hand, allowing her to feel the box, allowing her to absorb the moment. Glancing out toward the ocean one more time, he closes his eyes, taking in a deep breath of ocean air.
He stays this way for a few seconds . . . and then a few seconds more . . . before finally reopening his eyes and glancing down at the woman next to him. Years flash by in an instant. Their first case. Their first argument. Their first breakup. Every body-drop. Every writer-boy comment. A red dress at a Russian poker game. The moment he saw her coming toward him at the airport in this city, just a few months ago. Their first time standing in this spot outside the Cliff House.
The first time they made love.
Her flying off the bed with the arrival of Hurricane Martha.
Only now does he notice the tears in the eyes of the woman he loves. Tears for the moment at hand, a moment both of them had to wonder would ever arrive.
"Rick?" she questions again. "Really?"
"Really," he replies, trying to keep his vision clear, a beautiful smile on his face. "If it is what you want. Because it definitely is what I want."
She merely nods her head, unable to come up with words at the moment. She hears a strange voice from a man a few feet away say the words "Cool, man" as Richard Castle drops to one knee in front of her.
"Next week, if you will remember," he begins, and she almost rolls her eyes realizing that he is going to tell her a story.
Of course, he is. It is who he is. It is who he will always be.
"Next week we head back to New York," he continues. "We get to watch two of our friends get married. We get to watch Kevin and Jenny do what seems to come so naturally for so many people . . . but not for us. Until now."
He is taken aback as she grabs him by the shoulders, and uses him as leverage to drop to both of her knees, now facing him. Before he can react, she moves her head forward, and without thinking, as if attached by a string, his head moves forward to meet hers.
Unknown to either of them, a disguised Alexis Castle has moved to within a few feet of the kneeling couple, and the young woman, with one hand over her mouth in response to Kate's kneeling, fights tears of her own as she watches her father – for hopefully the final time – offer his heart to a woman.
"This is something I have done before, but never like this," Castle continues. "I haven't wanted to rush to this moment because of my past failures. But I realize that those failures were – in large part, because my mistake was not made during those marriages. It was made before those marriages. By asking the wrong woman. You might ask how I know this."
He moves his head away from her, forcing her gaze to meet his.
"Because I have never fallen to my knees like this," he tells her. "I have never felt the explosion of butterflies that you give me just by saying good morning. I have never felt the responsibility to take care of someone so fiercely – and ironically, I feel this for someone who doesn't need me for that reason. You can take care of yourself. You have done so your entire life. It is a big reason why I am here, on my knees, absolutely out of control in love with you."
He brings his head back to hers, then continues.
"The wild thing, the absolutely crazy thing, is that we met on one coast, but had to flee to another coast on the other side of the country to open our eyes, open our hearts, to give us the courage necessary to do what seemed so damn impossible back east. I fled New York. But so did you. You didn't have to. We are here at this moment, because of you."
"That's not true, Rick," she offers, but he places a finger on her lips.
"My story, my version," he chuckles, and she laughs with him.
"We are here because you showed a strength I didn't have. You came back home, Kate. This was always destined to be your home. And now it is. Let's cement this."
He takes the ring out of the box, and the gasp she utters as she witnesses its brilliance for the first time is a sound he will take to bed with him every night, for the rest of his life.
"Marry me, Kate," he tells her. "This ring is more than a piece of jewelry. It is beautiful, like you. It is brilliant, like you. It has your strength. But it is more than that. It is a reminder that every problem, every obstacle, every argument – all of them, all together – could not derail what was put in motion for you and I from the beginning. From before we were even born, I suspect. It is a reminder that you and I have always overcome, will always overcome, and will always grow closer, grow stronger, grow more brilliant."
He places the ring on her finger, exhaling in a huff of relief when it fits perfectly.
"Next week, when we are in New York, sitting in the cathedral, watching our friends get married, I want you to look at this ring," he tells her. "I want you to know that this is what I want for us. And even if I fall into another relapse, I will know what we are together. Because I will see this ring. And it will feel right. I will know it in my soul, Kate. I know this, because I did relapse. Today. After planning on proposing. And when I read in my journal that I was proposing, it was no surprise. It felt right. It felt like it was time. Even if I forget who I am, I will never forget who you are, who we are."
He slowly stands, pulling himself upright, then tugs her hands to pull her off the pavement as well. The claps and cheers of strangers around them bring them out of their personal moment for just an instant. Kate brings them right back to the moment.
"Are you even going to let me say yes?" she asks, laughing as she puts her arms around his neck, pulling them close.
"Absolutely not," he laughs with her, pulling her closer into a deep kiss. He enjoys her fingers rummaging through his hair, and the purring sound she makes into his mouth.
"Kate?" he queries.
"Mmm?" she replies, repeating their kiss once again.
"I love you," he speaks into her mouth.
"I love you," she repeats, then chuckles at the words.
"What it it?" he asks.
"Those three words," she tells him, staring deeply into his eyes. "The first time you told me those words, I didn't react well."
"Your reaction led us here," he tells her.
She simply nods her head, willing the guilt from so long ago to finally be buried forever.
"I love you so much," she tells him, burying her face into his chest, holding tightly to him, to the moment, to their future.
"Group hug!"
Both turn quickly, suddenly toward the feminine voice that has spoken the words. A stranger to Kate pulls herself into the fray between the couple, pulling both of them into the group hug as promised.
"Excuse me?" a confused Kate Beckett questions.
"Geesh, you really are no longer Detective Beckett anymore," Alexis Castle laughs, as she takes of the wig that has partially disguised her.
"Do I need to ditch the contact lenses as well?" she giggles.
"No Pumpkin," her father tells her. "No need at all."
"So you really did plan all of this," a happy Kate Beckett marvels. "This wasn't spur of the moment. You really –"
"Of course I wanted this," Castle interrupts. "Didn't you pay attention to any of my illustrious, heart-felt story delivered on one knee?"
The two women laugh as Alexis disengages from the two newly-engaged lovers.
"Enjoy your dinner, you two," she tells them as she turns and walk away, down the walkway toward her two friends who have been recording the entire proceedings. Glen offers a thumbs-up to the redhead, who replies in kind.
Castle gazes long after his departing daughter, a bright smile on his face, a smile that only gets larger and brighter as he drops his eyes to his new fiancée, who is mesmerized by the shiny object adorning her finger.
"Let's get something to eat now," he tells her, guiding her into the restaurant, knowing that the night is far from over.
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A/N: This ends this story, and leads into the next adventure in my head, which will place our intrepid duo back in New York City for a quick visit to old friends who are tying the knot. I did not want that story to occur without a ring being on Kate Beckett's finger. It opens up so many new possibilities for the next story, and future stories.