So folks here it is, the conclusion to their Valentine's Day date. This is for all the wonderful folks over in CastleTV chat. Cook and NCISchick….just a word of caution, this should not be read during class…unless is a 'squee allowed' class. This is sappy and snarky and a lot more fluffy gibberish. I hope it meets your expectations.

Characters are not mine…..SIGH….

From Chapter 18:

They swayed to the music for a few more minutes in the quiet glow of the fireplace and the city lights in the background.

She pulled her head off his shoulder and kissed his cheek. He opened his eyes. She kissed his lips, soft little pecks and then her tongue traced his lips, her hand in his hair. He deepened the kiss and brought his hand up from her waist and reached for the zipper on her dress.

She smiled into the kiss and pulled back. "Not so fast there, Mr. Castle."

She unlaced her hand from his and locked her hands together behind his neck.

He smiled at her. "This has been the best Valentine's Day ever."

"Yes, it certainly has." She leaned in and kissed him again. Not holding back this time. Pushing her body flush with his.

When they came up for air, she kissed him softly one more time. "I think it is about to get a whole lot better."

He leaned in and whispered into her ear. "You've no idea."

For the second time that night she leaned her head back and let out a hearty laugh.

He laced his fingers through hers and led her upstairs, his other hand in his pocket wrapped around the small black box.

He led her into the bedroom and turned her so she was facing him; his hands settled lightly on her waist. "You know, I have seen what is under this dress many times, but the fact that you have nothing on under it is going to be my undoing."

"That was kind of the plan." She loosened his tie and unknotted it then started to undo the buttons of his shirt. "I think this is my new favorite shirt."

"Why do I get the feeling the only time I'm going to see this shirt again it will be on you?"

She kissed his chest and then moved to his mouth and kissed him deeply. "I've wanted to do that all night, you know."

She locked her hands around his neck and leaned into him and kissed him again. "You know after our first case. When you suggested we go out to dinner to debrief each other?"

"And you turned me down."

"Um hmm." She let her tongue trace his lips. "If you hadn't weaseled your way into my world I had actually given consideration to calling you and inviting you for a drink."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I knew you had a crush on me. All this time you made it look like I was trying to get you into my bed and it was you trying to seduce me."

"Well, I have to say I'm pretty happy with the way things played out. I wouldn't give up what we have right now for anything."

He pulled her in tight and kissed her and reached back and unzipped her dress. His hands caressed her back and slowly made their way up into her hair. He nuzzled her neck and sucked on her ear. He whispered softly, "There is something I would like to ask you before you completely turn me into an incoherent noob."

She chuckled and slid her arms down the front of his bare chest. He let his hands drift back to the bare skin on her back and let them settle on her waist. She kissed his chest and his neck and then whispered into his ear. "I'm a little busy right now and I can't think of anything you need to ask me that could possibly be more important than what I am trying to accomplish right now." She nibbled on his ear.

He moaned and kissed her, "I think maybe you are trying to avoid the question."

"I'm not trying to avoid it, it isn't necessary because it is a given."

He quirked an eyebrow at her and kissed her on the forehead. "You do know that I am hopelessly in love with you, right?"

"Oh I can assure the feeling is mutual Mr. Castle." She winked at him as she untucked his now unbuttoned red silk shirt from his pants. She ran her palms along his chest and kissed him lightly. She undid his belt and pulled it out of his pants. His hands remained at her waist; his eyes watching her face. She undid his pants and let them slide to the floor; he stepped out of them and slid her dress off of her shoulders; his heart stopped when she stood there smiling at him with indeed nothing on, she slid his shirt off and tossed it onto her side of the bed so she could wear it later. His hands travelled over her bare back, he placed feather soft kisses on her shoulder and made his way to her neck, his hands resting on her waist and sliding up until his thumbs came in contact with her breasts. She let out a small gasp and arched her back into him. He continued to pepper her body with kisses. Her hands were busy removing his red silk boxers and pushing him gently towards the bed. In one quick movement he placed an arm at the back of her legs and his other around her shoulders and picked her up and placed her on the bed. He leaned over her, bracing himself on one knee and hovering above her taking in her beauty. She was still smiling at him and reached up to pull him down on top of her, she wrapped her legs around his waist and one hand was around his neck and raking though his hair, the other was on his face, she kissed him furiously, moaning; both of them finally giving in to the passion they had been waiting all evening to unleash on each other.

Hours later, almost morning, the sun was just coming up and there was a soft glow in the room, he felt her stir. At some point during the night she ended up in his shirt and boxers. He had gotten up to don a pair of boxers for himself and slid the ring out the pocket of his pants.

He lay there thinking about the conversation he had with his daughter the week before.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, Pumpkin."

She walked over to the couch in his study and sat down beside him. He was staring at a ring in a little black box.

"That's really pretty. Is it for Kate?"

"Yeah, it's a replica of her mother's wedding ring. She used to wear hers around her neck on a chain all the time. She doesn't wear it anymore because she's afraid something will happen to it. She almost lost it when her apartment blew up."

"Is it for something special?"

He smiled at her. "She didn't want anything too fancy. I'm not sure she's ready for an engagement ring. Sometimes I think she is and maybe I'm not. What do you think?"

"Are you asking me for my permission to marry her?"

"Maybe."

"I think you're good for each other and you should be together. And I'm good with that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I love Kate and I can't think of a better person to take care of you when I go to college next year."

He smiled at the memory. He had been secretly dreading when she would be gone but having Kate with him would make it more bearable. He had even received Jim Beckett's blessing.

"I want to thank you, Rick."

"For what, dinner?"

"No, for taking such good care of Katie; for making her smile. I haven't seen her this happy since Johanna's been gone.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

He smiled at Rick. "I wondered when you would get around to that."

"Well, I'm not sure she's really ready."

"She'll never be ready. Don't be surprised if she does the asking."

"She sort of has in her roundabout way of not saying something."

He chuckled. "That's my Katie, doesn't surprise me one bit, you better jump on it before she changes her mind. You have my blessings and my couch when she gets mad at you. She has quite the temper sometimes. Just like her mother."

Rick smiled; he'd seen that temper and had been the brunt of her anger and frustration many a time. He could handle that. What he couldn't handle though was imagining a life without her.

She was wrapped around his body still sleeping mostly on top of him, her hair splayed across his chest; he had one arm holding her to him, his hand on her back under his red silk shirt. His other hand held the ring; it was resting on his chest. He felt her stir and she lazily moved her hand over his, she went to lace her fingers through his hand, he turned his palm up so the ring didn't fall out. He squeezed her hand lightly. He gave her a minute to realize what he was doing and for it all to register in her hazy, sleep induced mind.

She wasn't quite ready to wake up. Her brain and body were still languishing in post lovemaking bliss. She startled slightly at the feel of the object in her palm. She knew the shape, but it felt different, but only slightly. Her heart skipped a beat or two or five then started racing, she immediately became overwhelmed with emotion. In some way she had been expecting this all evening. She wasn't prepared for the onslaught of emotions that consumed her. She felt tears sting her eyes and she so much didn't want to succumb to them, she wanted to give him what he wanted, what they both wanted but now she was the incoherent one. He knew though, he always did.

He caressed her back gently and very softly started speaking to her. "This is whatever you want it to be. It can be an engagement ring if you are ready, it can be a wedding ring right now or tomorrow or in ten years, it can just be a ring that says 'I love you more than life and I want you to be with me forever and I'll always be there for you'. If you want me to take you to Central Park and get on bended knee and do a proper proposal I will. More than anything I want you to know that it means I love you, I love you so, so much Kate and I just want us to remember how insanely happy, in love we are at this moment. And if you don't want to wear it that's okay too."

She squeezed his hand and didn't say anything, he heard her swallow, she leaned her head into his shoulder and he could feel her tears. He held her tight for a few moments and then she lifted her head and peppered his chest and neck and jaw with tiny little kisses, finally finding his mouth and continuing to kiss him. She rolled over on top of him and sat up, never letting go of his hand, she was straddling him, wearing his red silk shirt with only one button buttoned, he could see her bare midriff and the rolled down boxers, she took her free hand and raked it through her hair and smiled at him, her tears running freely down her face and falling on his chest. She very slowly opened her hand and looked at the ring for the first time, her eyes widened and she took in a deep breath and looked at him.

"It is a replica, made of platinum; it will withstand anything you do to it. It's not gaudy or too big.."

She whispered "It's perfect, it's just beautiful."

"I know how much your mom's ring means to you and how you don't wear it for fear of losing it or something happening to it. So I thought this would be a good idea." He reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear and wiped her tears away.

"Would you like to wear it?"

She rolled her eyes and a new set of tears started, she smiled and nodded her head.

"Would you like me to put it on for you?"

She smiled and nodded, and whispered "Please."

"Here?"

She nodded again.

He took the ring from her hand and kissed her palm where it had been, he smiled at her and held the ring in his right hand and held her left hand, he brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it softly and said. "Katherine Johanna Beckett will you be mine, forever?"

She nodded her head and squeaked out a "Yes, yes I will."

He could feel his voice getting shaky; his eyes never leaving hers and he very quietly asked "Do you think maybe someday you would like to marry me?"

Smiling through tears she laughed at his hesitancy and rolled her eyes "Yes, Castle, yes. Yes I will marry you, you silly man."

He grinned like a baby and placed the ring on her finger and laced his fingers through hers. Her heart continued to beat erratically and she felt a feeling of contented warmth go through her whole body. She pulled him up to her and he sat with his legs crossed, she sat in his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, she snaked her arms around his neck, he kissed her on the nose and the cheek; kissing her tears away. "Thank you, from the bottom of my quaking heart."

She kissed him and said, "Thank you." She leaned forward and hugging him tight she said, "I love you, so much."

"So much Kate, so very much." The last thing he heard was her muffled laughter before he covered her mouth and rendered her speechless once again.

So I know there have been a ton of proposals out there and I hope this satisfies those of you who have been waiting for this. Not sure if there is more to this story or not. I'm thinking a Lanie/Kate lunch might be coming up. Thank you all again for your wonderful reviews and alerts. This writing stuff is consuming me and I really should get back to real life stuff like the mountain of laundry in my basement. Oh and work….YIKES…I'm going to be late….Hugs :o)