A/n: Just wanted to touch briefly on the comments about Kate's feelings for Castle/their friendship due to the lack of communication. This is, in part, taken from the movie, where the guy and girl have little communication during their separation. It's funny, though, because I didn't find it that odd. Back in college, my best friend spent a semester in England and I heard from her about once every three weeks. Now, admittedly, I'm a "Castle" aka I will email you 2-3 times a day every day about random shit, but still I didn't find it odd because of that experience. (For those interested: it's been 8 years, I still email her at least 2-3 times as much as she emails me - some things never change lol)

Chapter Four

This was it; this was the night. This was the night that Richard Castle's life changed forever. As a professional writer, he considered setting an appropriate scene to be high on his list of skills and he was happy to say that what he created on paper easily translated to reality.

First, they would meet at a swanky, sexy piano bar he knew Kate enjoyed. They would have drinks and he would listen attentively to all the details of her trip. Then, shortly before eight, a town car would pick them up and whisk them off to their reservation at one of the best French restaurants in the city. There, a private table adorned with two dozen roses and fancy champagne awaited them. At that point, when she was presumably stunned by his gesture, he would casually suggest that she think of the evening as a real date. When she undoubtedly agreed, he would nudge the subject a little further during their meal and, hopefully, if all went according to plan, the night would end in their first real kiss. It was going to be perfect!

Castle arrived at the bar almost twenty minutes early just to assure he beat her there. He wanted a chance to settle in, perhaps have a drink to calm his nerves. Nerves! Him! Richard Castle! The last time he was nervous going out with a woman, he'd been seventeen, but that night—with such potential for so much more—butterflies filled his gut.

For the prior two weeks, Castle could think of little else than what exactly he would say to Kate when she arrived back in Manhattan. He wrote out nearly a dozen different variations of speeches before he settled on words that made sense. At first, he started elaborately with flowery prose peppering her with compliments, but in the end he decided to just be honest with her. He would tell her that in her absence he'd realized just how much he missed her, how much he enjoyed her presence in his day-to-day life and maybe after ten years it was time they took their relationship to a more romantic level.

The concept of having a real, steady girlfriend was certainly a contributing factor in his nerves. The last time he had someone in his life he would have called a girlfriend was over seven years earlier, when he was in a relationship with his publisher, Gina Cowell. As far as relationships went, he thought that one started okay and went fairly well for the first two-thirds of its duration. Of course, in the end, after she cheated on him, it turned out to be an utter disaster and that's when he decided never again. The problem was: he just wasn't very good at relationships.

The more he thought about it, the more Castle decided this was perhaps a factor of the fact that he did not have a very good relationship example to mold his own after. His mother married for the first time when he was five and was divorced two years later, so he did not have a strong recollection of that relationship other than it involved a lot of yelling, which left him hiding in his bedroom.

Her next marriage came when he was seventeen and too consumed with his own social life—and causing as much mischief as he could manage while at school. That marriage lasted about the same amount of time before dissolving, but by that point Castle was attending NYU and thus did not have to suffer the battles that came with the end of their relationship.

Despite her lack of success, Castle's mother never badmouthed marriage. She was always willing to try again (and try again she did). As a result, Castle never thought of himself being one hundred percent against marriage. He did, however, know he was not going to jump into nuptials as easily as his mother did. He needed to find the right person. A person with whom he could build a life, a future.

When Kate emailed him on Wednesday stating that she would be journeying back the following day and would love to see him Friday night to—quote—tell him everything, Castle's heart immediately began fluttering in his chest. He didn't just want her to come back and tell her about her trip. Or come back and go to Sunday brunch with him for the first time in seven weeks. No, he wanted her to come back so he could see her every day, curl up on the couch with her and watch a movie so he could kiss her goodnight. In Castle's mind, that was the exact foundation on which he wanted to start a relationship that could potential lead to something permanent.

Beginning at ten to seven, Castle began obsessively looking out for Kate, knowing that she was a habitually early person. He alternated looking at the entrance to the bar and at the time on his phone until, just as the digits on his phone display flipped to 7:00, he spotted her. The vision of her walking through the door, smiling and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear felt like oxygen filling his lungs for the first time in weeks. She was stunning. She wore no more makeup than usual and a simple black dress he'd seen her in at least a dozen times, but the fact that he knew the journey they were about to embark on made her all the more beautiful to him.

Castle took a step towards the entry way, raised his hand and waived, hoping she would spot him. He watched her eyes search the crowded area, land on him, and relax into a smile as she nodded her head, acknowledging his presence. She made her way through a cluster of people trying to exit the crowded bar area and came to a near standstill before slithering through like a salmon spawning up stream. It was only when she broke free that Castle realized she was not alone, but being followed by a blonde man equal to his own height. Strange. What was that about?

"Castle! Oh my gosh—feels like forever, right?" She laughed and stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Longer than forever," he replied, beaming down at her.

She immediately stepped back from his embrace and snagged her arm around the elbow of the blonde man behind her. She dragged him forward and made the introductions. "This is William Fitzgerald; William, this is Richard Castle."

"Pleasure," William said, reaching out his hand.

Still confused, but maintaining an expression of politeness, Castle shook his hand. From just that one spoken word Castle could tell the man was a Brit, which proved even more intriguing. "Yes; it's nice to meet you. How…how do you to know each other?"

Kate giggled and looked up at her companion. "Do you want to tell him or should I?"

"He's your friend, darling; you should have the honors."

Turning back to Castle, Kate's grin stretched wider across her face. "Castle, this is my fiancé."

Instinctively, the writer took a step back, feeling as though he'd been hit in the chest with a battering ram. Surely…surely he'd heard her wrong. Fiancé? No, she hadn't said that. That…made no sense. This was Kate—Kate! Back in college they'd teased her mercilessly when she'd left slip that she had strict rules about how long she would date a man before sleeping with him. That girl would never—never!—get engaged to someone she knew less than a year let alone two months!

"I'm sorry—what?"

"My fiancé—he's my fiancé."

Yep, okay, she was definitely saying fiancé, but…what!? "Does…does that still mean future husband in England?" Castle asked, feeling his entire face break out with sweat. No, no, no. This was not happening. This was not happening. The night was supposed to end with them together. Not Kate hanging on the arm of another man. Jesus, the adoring way she looked at him. What was going on!?

"Castle!" Kate laughed and smacked at his forearm. "C'mon!"

"I…I'm sorry. I just…I'm shocked," he said, turning and groping out a hand for the high top table his mostly empty scotch glass rested on. Yep, he was definitely going to need more of that. And a chair; he needed to sit.

When he slid into his previously occupied seat, he was able to witness William pulling out Kate's chair and skimming his hand across her shoulders once she sat. She grinned at him, and Castle's stomach did a summersault in his gut. "How, um, how did you two meet?" he asked.

"Well, it's kind of a funny story, actually."

"I'm sure," Castle said, gulping down the remainder of the amber liquid.

"I'm going to get us a round. White wine, love?" William asked his companion. She nodded and thanked him. He asked Castle to pick his poison as well, stating the next round was on him.

"Castle," Kate hissed once he was gone. The writer's eyes focused on her. "Real quick before he comes back—I know you're shocked. I probably should have warned you but…" She shook her head as though she changed her thought mid-sentence. "Look just try to keep an open mind about William, okay? He's a really, really great guy."

"Sure, absolutely. I mean, he'd have to be for you to be engaged to him, right?" Castle said with a forced laugh. Meanwhile, his left hand, which rested in his lap, balled into an ever tighter fist. Keep an open mind? Sure, he'd keep an open mind. It was the only way he'd keep from pummeling the British bastard.

When he returned balancing three drinks in his hands, Kate smiled up at the square-jawed, blue-eyed blonde man. Fiancé; this was her fiancé. She had to keep reminding herself. True, it had only been four days since he proposed, but it still seemed completely unbelievable that it was true—that he was hers.

Seven weeks earlier, during her flight across the Atlantic, Kate decided this was it; she was making a change then and there. Really, her thoughts of alerting the course of her life began during Castle's mother's wedding a month prior. She'd let them simmer and stew, warming up to the idea of letting go of the past and moving on to brighter things. This was not a decision that should be taken lightly. It was, after all, her future.

Kate Beckett was a workaholic. She knew this and accepted it about herself. From the day she graduated high school and as she moved seamlessly through her bachelor's degree and into her master's, Kate had her eye on the prize. She was going to get a doctorate, come hell or high water. Her parents, both lawyers, had their doctorates and so she would get hers; no questions about it.

For ten years she worked hard in school, studying, writing papers, and re-writing papers. Her life did not have a moratorium on fun or dating. She took time off to go to baseball games with the boys and had boyfriend now and then, but when it came right down to it her degree took priority. On the cusp of her thirtieth year, Kate did not regret that decision. She had proudly earned her doctorate and wouldn't change any of the decisions she made on her way to that end goal. Yet, with that final degree in hand it was time for her to move on to her next journey.

Though she in no way had a desire to follow in Martha Rodgers' footsteps (she was more of a one-and-done girl when it came to marriage) the woman's wedding had reminded her that yes, she wanted to get married and yes, she wanted to have a family, and she wanted both of those things preferably before the end of the next decade. Thus, sitting in her cramped middle seat on that British Airways flight, Kate made a list—a mental list of the qualities she wanted to find in her future life partner.

Did she expect to find a man who ticked an alarming number of those boxes on her third day in a foreign country? No. Did she expect that man would reciprocate her strong, almost immediate feelings? Of course not. Yet, six and a half weeks later, there they sat.

"William and I met on my third day in Oxford. I was just kind of wandering around the town, trying to get my bearings, but I was being totally clueless. You should have seen me, Castle. I had a map—a real paper map—and I was trying to use that to find my way…only to realize that GPS has totally ruined my ability to follow a real map!"

When she laughed, Castle smiled and nodded; without his iPhone he would certainly be doomed, especially if he ever got lost.

"Anyway, so I was walking around, not paying attention, trying to find my way back to the house I was staying at when I literally ran smack into someone. I bet you'll never guess who that is!"

When Castle watched his normally calm, rational, rarely emotional friend giggle like a school girl as she stoked the forearm of her betrothed, he fought the urge to gag. Who was she? What had happened to her?! "It was William, I bet." He responded, attempting (and failing) to mask the dullness of his tone.

"It was me." William confirmed.

Kate chewed on her bottom lip at the memory. "What you must have thought of me—I probably looked like a mess. I'd been caught in the rain earlier that day," she added as an explanation for Castle's benefit.

"You looked beautiful, of course."

Kate felt a shiver travel down her spine as she always did when William called her beautiful using his delectable accent. Then she turned back to the writer. "William gave me directions, but I was still confused so he offered to walk me back to my place and…that was it," she concluded with a happy shrug.

"He proposed to you on the walk!?" Castle asked, his eyes wide.

She laughed. "Don't be ridiculous Castle. No, he proposed a few days ago."

"When I realized I just couldn't stand the thought of her going back to America without me," William finished before slipping an arm around Kate's back.

Right, Castle thought. Because waiting just a few weeks to propose makes MUCH more sense! "Wow…well, that is…quite a story."

"I know; crazy right?" Kate laughed.

Crazy indeed, Castle thought. Beyond crazy. Completely and totally insane and one hundred percent the opposite of what he thought would be their topic of discussion that evening. Nevertheless, he took the change in stride. "So, Will, what is it that you do?"

"It's William," he corrected.

"He doesn't like nicknames," Kate added quietly.

Castle apologized quickly, but William shook his head. "You didn't know. And I'm a professor, actually."

"Oh, so you worked with Kate?"

"No, I have my PhD in Archeology."

"Archeology…interesting," Castle commented. And boring as hell! He added to himself.

William smiled. "I enjoy it."

"Listen, Castle, I'm sure you had some grand dinner plan for us, but honestly? We're really beat. I mean, for us it feels pretty late."

Castle bobbed his head. "Sure, sure—time change; I get it. But, ah, before you go. I-" Castle paused, mid-thought. What was he doing? What was he going to say? "I need to ask you if you've completely lost your damn mind?!" That was what he wanted to say, but of course he could not. Instead he settled for: "I…I'm going to throw you an engagement party—I want to, that is."

Kate's eyes widened. "What? Oh, Castle, no that's not-"

"Please," he interrupted. "I insist. Truthfully…well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but I actually have a little welcome home party type thing for you planned tomorrow afternoon."

She smiled gently and tilted her head to the side. "Castle that's sweet but you didn't have to."

He smiled and sipped his drink. Welcome home party slash congratulations Kate and Castle on your new relationship slash now apparently an engagement party for Kate and her professor friend…that was all the same thing, right? "No trouble at all. So what do you say? All of our friends will be there and I'm sure they're going to want to meet William."

Kate laughed and shrugged; clearly, she had no choice in the matter. "I…well o-okay. Thanks, Castle."

He shook his head and held up his hand, palm out. "It's nothing. I'll text you the details okay? You two kids go home and, ah, rest up," he said, forcing himself not to think of the other things they might do.

Kate slid down from her chair, walked over and gave him a kiss on the check. "See you tomorrow."

Castle nodded and shook Williams hand before watching them walk away. "Yeah…tomorrow…"