A/N: Thanks for the comments and follows everyone! I hope you all like the few remaining chapters!

Rick wakes up the next morning to a series of chimes from his text message alert. His phone sits on the nightstand beside him, but Kate is essentially wrapped around his torso, keeping him immobilized to the middle of the bed, out of reach of his phone. While he loves the idea of staying in bed with his wife, he needs to know if his mother and Alexis are coming to brunch later. He tries to move his phone closer with telekinesis, but the phone stays where it is.

"Why does that never work?" he grumbles.

Kate snuffles awake and mumbles, "what never works?"

"Nevermind."

"What time is it?"

"Uhh, it looks like it's 7:30. What are you wanting to leave for the restaurant?"

Kate rolls onto her back, releasing Rick from her restraint, and rubs the sleep from her eyes. "I'd like to get there a little before everyone, so 11 is probably good." Kate pushes herself into a sitting position and runs her fingers through her tangled hair. "Are Alexis and Martha coming?"

"I don't know. I was just going to check my phone." Rick is finally able to grab his phone and sees several texts from a few different people, two of which happen to be his daughter and mother.

"They both say they will be there," Rick confirms.

"Good, now we have some time to figure out a way to tell them."

"Why can't we just say, 'Hey guys, we got married!'? Because that would free up a lot of time this morning that we could be spending doing other married-people things."

Kate snorts out a laugh, "Wow, you are insatiable."

"Only for you, honey, only for you."

"What are we going to say to explain your black eye?"

Rick pauses to think for a moment. "We could just tell them the truth because knowing my mother, she wouldn't believe it anyway and will assume I walked into a door or something."

"That is more believable when it comes to you," Kate agrees with a playful smirk.

"Ha. Ha."

Kate smacks Rick on the thigh before climbing out of bed. "Come on, Babe. We've got things to do before brunch," she calls as she leaves the bedroom for the kitchen.

"I thought I was doing you!" Rick bellows to his retreating wife.

Much to Rick's chagrin, he is unable to charm Kate back to bed. Instead, Kate drags him along to pick out a few consolation gifts for their family as a preemptive apology for excluding them from the wedding. With their three gift bags, they walk to the restaurant together and arrive early as planned.

As she predicted, Kate's dad is the first of the group to arrive. Jim Beckett is just as punctual as his daughter. He spots Kate with her writer shadow sitting at a table near the window. Kate grins when her dad approaches the table and she stands to give him a hug.

"How are you, Katie? I wasn't expecting a guest to join us today," Jim says, extending his hand to Rick.

Rick stands to shake hands and says, "Hi, Mr. Beckett. Nice to see you again."

"Please call me Jim." Jim takes a seat at the table and notices the two empty chairs beside him. "Are we expecting more people?"

"Yes, Castle's mother and daughter are coming too."

"Uh huh," Jim says with a knowing smile.

"And there they are," Rick announces, standing again to greet his girls.

"Richard, what happened to your eye?" Martha declares. "Were you playing around with that marshmallow cannon again?"

"That was one time, Mother," Rick scoffs.

"I think it was more like three times, Dad."

"Et tu, Alexis?" Rick gives his daughter a hug before inviting the two redheads to take a seat.

"Hello, Katherine, I wasn't expecting you to be here too. I take it this is your father?" Martha asks gesturing to Jim.

"Hi, Martha," Kate stands to give Martha a friendly kiss on the cheek, "and yes this is my dad, Jim Beckett."

"Pleasure to meet you," Martha says, then turns and puts her hands on Alexis's shoulders, "and this is my wonderful and awe-inspiring granddaughter, Alexis."

"Gram…" Alexis admonishes, before taking Jim's hand in greeting. "Hello, Mr. Beckett."

Kate looks over to Rick and gives him a hopeful smile, then Rick asks everyone to have a seat.

"So what brings all of us here today?" Martha asks, cutting right to the chase.

Rick and Kate look at each other, giving their family a big hint by the way they smile at each other.

"You know how we went to L.A. for a case a few days ago and then our flight back got detoured in Las Vegas? As crazy as it sounds, we actually decided to get married while we were there," Rick lets out a nervous chuckle. Kate is squeezing his hand beneath the table, which is the only obvious evidence of her anxiety given the shy but elated grin she is presenting to their families.

Martha, Alexis, and Jim all stare at the couple, not believing what they have just been told.

"I'm sorry, you what?" Alexis asks.

"Umm, we got married…to each other, if that wasn't obvious."
Kate jumps in, "I know this is very sudden especially since we weren't even dating, but," Kate places her free hand over Alexis's, "Alexis, I love your dad. He means everything to me and while the wedding was a spur-of-the-moment thing, I want to assure you that we are both committed to each other and we are taking this very seriously."

"I believe you. This is just a lot to take in," Alexis says.

"Are you happy, Katie?" Jim asks.

Kate's face lights up. "More than I have ever been."

"I may not understand the urgency of getting married, but if you're happy, that's everything a dad can hope for for his daughter."

"Thank you, Dad."

"So how did it all happen?" Alexis asks.

"I made a side-bet with her at the roulette table," Rick begins, his face reddening when he gets a quick and scrutinizing look from his daughter, "she would agree to marry me if I won straight-up...and I won...and we got married." Rick grimaces, waiting for Alexis to voice her inevitable displeasure.

"Seriously?" Alexis asks, convinced her dad is making it up.

"Yes, seriously. Well, sort of," Kate adds. "He was actually disappointed when he won because he didn't want to make me feel forced into marrying him because of a bet. He didn't realize how much I actually did want to marry him or that I was in love with him." Kate glances at Rick beside her and matches his loving gaze with her own and continues telling the story while only looking at him. "We intended on getting married that night, but apparently you need reservations to get married at most places there, so we set one up for yesterday morning and now, here we are, married."

A heavy silence settles over the group before Martha adds, "well, that'll be a fascinating story for the grandkids."

"Mother," Rick admonishes, breaking his gaze with Kate to glare at Martha.

Kate stares down at her lap, her face reddening at the mention of children. She and Rick hadn't discussed it, other than the brief discussion before they left L.A., but the idea, and the now probable reality, of being the mother to his children, frightens her but leaves a bubble of hope in her chest that she hadn't felt since before her mother died. Rick gives her things she thought she'd never have again after losing her mother. She found happiness in him, of course, but also a family. She and her dad now have Rick, Alexis and Martha and their presence in their lives fills in part of the hole her mother left behind. It will never be completely full because Johanna is still gone, but it feels smaller and less gaping with their new family. The diminishing black hole has less power to swallow Kate in her need for justice. She has more reason to fight for the life she wants rather than for the life she lost. It's what Johanna Beckett would want most for her daughter and Richard Castle was the person who could fill that role.

"Will Katherine be moving into the loft?" Martha asks.

"Uhh…" Rick looks back to Kate with wide eyes. They hadn't discussed their living arrangements and he didn't want to assume Kate would just move to the loft, even if Martha and Alexis weren't in the picture, but it seems the most logical choice in his opinion. "We hadn't discussed it, but…"

Kate jumps in, "I will be moving in at some point. We haven't talked about when, but soon, I imagine." She looks at Rick for a confirmation, who nods in response. "Also, we don't want to tell anyone else quite yet that we are married, especially at the precinct, so we would appreciate it if this was kept between family until we are ready to announce it."

Their new family sit in silence again, processing the startling change, before Alexis breaks the awkward tension, "Dad's never brought me back a stepmother as a souvenir, so that's a first." She shrugs and then smirks at Rick.

Rick bursts into laughter, followed by Martha and Jim.

Kate shakes her head but can't help the smile that graces her lips. "It better be the last time, as far as I'm concerned," Kate adds and clasps her hand over the hand Rick has resting on the table.

Rick smiles at her and brings her hand to his lips and kisses her wedding ring.

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