Previously...
"Your hands are cold," he says, as they climb the front steps and enter the drafty rear of the church.
Kate rubs her hands together and makes a face. "Damn. I left my wrap in the car."
"Wait there. Don't move from that spot. I'll be right back," Castle promises before dashing off.
Her expression is so adorable that he doesn't mind returning to the car they just left in the schoolyard not minutes before to fetch her pashmina.
He searches the inside of the Bentley first, but the silk wrap is nowhere to be found. When he pops the trunk, he is surprised to find an overnight bag stowed inside. The pearl gray pashmina is neatly folded on top. Beneath the wrap, he can see her makeup bag, a pair of shoes, and a change of clothes are also tucked inside. His heart starts to beat a little faster. He doesn't know what this discovery means, but he knows what he wants it to mean.
"You're not the only one with dreams, you know," she had said to him yesterday, right after he proposed. He tried last night, down by the Hudson River, but he never got a chance to ask her what she meant, what her own dreams are.
On impulse, he pulls out his cell phone and makes a call.
He makes a second phone call, far shorter than the first, then he grabs Kate's wrap, slams the trunk lid, locks the car, and makes a beeline for St. Teresa's church.
He's jogging up the front walk when he catches a glimpse of his partner, his partner, Kate Beckett, and it almost overwhelms him: that singular truth and the heady rush that comes with it. Kate Beckett, who once wanted him gone, is now his partner, and they've got four solid years under their belt. What's more, he proposed to her yesterday evening and she didn't say no!
You've already got me, Castle.
I just want you.
With these words whispering in his ear, he slows down to a fast walk trying to regain some dignity, taking the moment of his approach to watch Kate unobtrusively as she chats to a woman in a large hat who Castle doesn't recognize. When Kate turns towards the open doors, so obviously seeking him out, she looks lit up from the inside the instant they reconnect. She's smiling at him with everything she has, her face so luminous he'd believe Tinker Bell had taken up residence behind her eyes.
Eager to be back by her side, he abandons any pretense of playing it cool to take the steps two at a time.
Once he reaches her, her body language seems strangely invigorated; she bounces on her sexy high heels in front of him like an excited puppy. "I thought you got lost," she says, beaming at him with delight now that he is newly 'found.' If this is what wedding fever does to Detective Beckett, they need to find new friends who're on the cusp of getting married. Or maybe they should just...
Castle cautions himself to get a grip, slow things back down, but try as he might the other guests are forgotten as they stand there smiling at one another, a pulsating aura of energy surrounding them. It's so palpable that anyone watching would be able to see it for themselves if they knew them well enough.
Seconds tick past. Kate chews on her lip and her eyes flicker off and on to his mouth. Finally, Castle thinks, "Screw it." He can't hold his joy inside any longer. "I really wish I could kiss you right now," he says. "You're glowing, Kate." Rashly, he darts in to kiss her on the cheek before handing over the pashmina.
When she smiles at him this time - Wow! She's so radiant he feels like he could measure her luminescence with a Geiger counter.
"Thanks." Her eyes sparkle as she surreptitiously smoothes the back of her hand down the front of his silk tie; the tie she helped him pick out this morning. "You look good, too." She hooks a finger into his belt loop and tugs playfully, causing him to stumble into her and catch hold of her by her waist.
Castle laughs in surprise that she would do something so playful and flirtatious in public. "Hey, careful. I almost stepped on your toes."
Kate tuts and shakes her head at him. "Oh, no. You do not want to do that. There will be dancing later. And once everyone is drunk they're not gonna care that you're all up in my space, putting your hands all over me, see? So you'd better not make me lame before the music starts."
Castle is delighted by her plan and by her light, teasing mood. "I like your thinking, detective. And just where are your hands in this scenario?" His eyes twinkle as he builds on her fantasy.
Kate smiles coyly. Her expression says she knows some big secret and for once is just dying to share it with him. She crooks her finger to beckon him closer. When he's as close as they can allow themselves in this crowd, she whispers, "I'd say that my hands will most definitely be⏤"
Before she can finish the thought, Ryan skids across the marble floor outside the sacristy almost crashing into them. They quickly move apart. "Priest's ready," he rushes out breathlessly, dancing on the spot like a boxer while he bobs and weaves to look above the heads of the milling guests. "Have either of you seen Jenny? I'm worried she's changed her mind."
Castle glances at Kate and they exchange a flicker of amusement that Kevin thankfully fails to pick up on.
"She'll be here, Kevin," Kate promises, patting his shoulder. "Jenny's a lucky lady."
"Yeah, anyone can see you two are made for each other," Castle agrees. "We could see it the first time we saw you together. Right, Kate?" he says, enlisting her help in calming down the jumpy detective.
"Right. Made for each other," Kate repeats, but she's looking at Castle, not at Kevin Ryan.
Castle freezes. Why did he not see this before? She loves him. She's still staring right at him, such a soft longing in her eyes, and now he's pretty sure that she's in love with him.
He's is forced to pull himself together when Esposito appears to take Ryan inside. Word has reached him via the covert network that is Jenny's sorority sisters that the bridal party has arrived; they have to take their places.
"You two okay?" Espo asks, looking from Kate to Castle and back again.
"Hm?" Kate hums vaguely, finally dragging her eyes off Castle's face to look at Esposito. It's almost as if she's coming out of a trance: she draws a breath through her nose and suddenly stands tall, rolling her shoulders and shaking out her arms.
Esposito regards them suspiciously when he says, "You didn't fall out or nothing since we left you guys in the parking lot?"
Castle shakes his head as if the idea is ridiculous – which it is – but he still manages to look guilty because this is Espo, the big brother cop, questioning him. "Fall out? Us? Nah. We're good. Aren't we, Beckett?"
Kate's eyebrows rise in amusement on "Beckett" but she holds her tongue. "We're great." She shoos the boys away. "Better get him inside before the bride gets here."
Because he smells a rat, Esposito watches them a moment longer before he grasps Ryan by the shoulders and steers him into the back of the church.
Once they are alone again, they drift back together, like leaves simultaneously floating downstream, always finding one another despite the current.
"So, this is more difficult than I thought," Kate admits. She glances off to the side to see who might be watching them.
"Difficult?" Castle says, looking for clarification.
"Yeah. Coming here together, pretending as if nothing has changed between us? Ryan never even batted an eye."
"I think that guy's got more on his mind at the moment. Lanie and Espo certainly noticed." He pauses for a second before correcting himself. "Well, Lanie did."
"Castle," Kate murmurs in a low, for-his-ears-only warning when she feels his fingers graze her own, seeking, a mere second before he secretly takes her hand.
"What?" he replies with all the innocence and nonchalance he alone is capable of after four decades of living in close quarters with Martha.
"Stop!" she insists through the warm glow of flushed cheeks and an unstoppable, girlish grin.
Castle sighs, theatrically, of course, and begins the slow, exaggerated drama of removing his hand.
"Don't stop," she hisses impulsively in the next second, trapping his fingers with her own before he can completely take his hand away when she realizes that her panic over someone seeing them holding hands is far outmatched by the greater panic that he will pull away completely.
They look at one another, standing side-by-side in a beautiful church, all dressed up, flowers pinned to their clothes. The scent of peonies surrounds them, candles flicker nearby; the setting is impossibly romantic. Kate licks her lips before she looks him in the eye and says, "Castle, no matter what, please, don't ever stop."
A string quartet strikes up before Castle can untangle his brain and tongue to reply. Suddenly, the guests who've been lingering in the back of the church all around them begin pushing forward to take their seats.
Kate makes a move to follow the other guests inside, but Castle takes her elbow and turns her back, guiding her out of the flow of people.
She looks at him in surprise. "What? We have to go in. Jenny will be here soon."
"Why are we waiting, Kate?" Castle asks earnestly, blue eyes boring into hers now that they find themselves once more under an impossible time crunch. "And what are we waiting for? Tomorrow? Next year? Another sign from the universe?"
Kate glances outside through the open doors of the church to where she can see Jenny in her white gown being helped out of her wedding car as her bridesmaids and flower girls assemble alongside. She glances back inside the church, down the aisle to where she can see Kevin waiting nervously beside Esposito. "Castle, this is their big day," she says, though any conviction in her voice is weak.
She is open to persuasion. Castle can hear it in her tone and see it in her eyes. He is good at persuasion, he is a master of persuasion, in fact, and with Kate Beckett, he's had plenty of practice over the years.
He takes both of her hands in his own, lightly squeezing her fingers as if in time with his pulse. "So we keep it quiet. Just for today. But please, Kate, say yes?"
He watches so many emotions fly across her face: surprise, shock, fear, amusement, the fight or flight of possibility. He believes he can see love, yearning, and desire in her eyes, too.
He moves closer, a renewed urgency in his voice. "Look, I don't care if you heard me before. I'm telling you now so that you can hear me clearly and know that I mean it one hundred percent. I'm in love with you, Kate. And I mean the kind of love people write songs about, the kind that lasts centuries penned in great literature. I'm more in love with you now than I've ever been in my life."
When she opens her mouth to speak he silences her with a fleeting caress of her lips.
"Just one last thing. We've known each other longer than Kevin and Jenny. Think about that. Some days I feel like I've been waiting for you my whole life. Please don't make me wait any longer. I love you, I respect you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Marry me, Kate? Please?"
The opening strains of Pachelbel's Canon in D Major begin to float from the right side of the altar where the string quartet is situated. Kate glances in panic towards the front walk of the church where Jenny is coming towards them on her father's arm. She's beaming. Two little flower girls are toddling their way up the steps, taking the treads one unsteady foot at a time while they try not to spill the contents of their white wicker baskets.
Kate turns back to look at Castle; her eyes are wide and clear. As the bridal party gets closer and the cello is joined by the joyful strains of three violins, she nods. What begins as a barely perceptible tremor becomes more certain, then vigorous and definite. As Jenny climbs the front steps of the church, Kate slips her arm into Castle's and they quickly head for the center aisle together, entering as the violins reach a joyful crescendo.
Kate catches Lanie's eye as they slide into the first open pew on the groom's side of the church and her friend gives her a beaming smile.
They have barely settled on the hard wooden bench when the guests rise to their feet as one. A hush falls over the congregation quickly followed by gasps of wonder, emotional sighs, and cries of, "Aww," as the tiny flower girls meander down the aisle carelessly dumping chubby handfuls of rose petals and occasionally pausing to smile or say hi to an amused guest.
They sit through the rest of the service in stunned silence, barely touching and yet never letting go of one another. They miss whole chunks of the mass, only registering the need to stand or kneel when the people around them stand or kneel down. They sing hymns a note or two behind, their sides pressed together as they share an order of service; everything a wonderfully colorful blur.
And somehow this is far better than dating and sleeping together, having rows and making up, though there is no doubt they will accomplish all of that in time. No proposal on Valentine's Day or New Years that feels make or break, or like a million other couples have been there before. No. This is back to front, it's original, and it's so much more them.
Castle stares at Kate in awe when she turns to him, so elegant and composed. She's smiling calmly as she slips her hand into his hand. "Peace be with you," she says, leaning close enough to graze his cheek with her lips and nudge his nose as they part. Her scent surrounds him, her perfume imprinted onto his skin, his heart pounds, his whole body shaking.
"And...and also with you," he repeats, prompted by those around him, slightly mechanical, stuttering, with eyes only for Kate.
She's still holding onto his hand when the priest announces, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." Only now there are happy tears in her eyes as the guests applaud and whistle.
"You did say yes, before?" Castle leans over to whisper. "I didn't like...imagine all of that?"
Kate squeezes his hand and takes a steadying breath. "You didn't imagine anything. I told you my dreams were the same as yours. Yes! I said yes," she whispers back, laughing beneath the cover of applause for their newly-wed friends as tears roll down her cheeks.
TBC...
A/N: If you're not familiar, I recommend you listen to Pachelbel's Canon in D Major on YouTube. It will make your heart soar. Thank you for the lovely reviews of the last chapter. At least one more to go. Liv