Thank you to Jo, my awesome beta! You rock!

For Better or for Worse

Part Two

After Kate hangs up the phone, there is a rush of panic. Everyone scrambles, trying to find out exactly what has happened to Castle. Used to leading, Kate's at a loss, and she smiles gratefully at Esposito when he decides that she and Jim will travel to the scene of the accident, while he and Ryan will put their karaoke skills to good use to keep the guests entertained. Martha and Alexis also stay behind and wait to hear an update on their son and father.

Jim takes Kate's hand as they sit together in the back seat of the chauffeured Rolls Royce. There has always been an unspoken bond of grief between them. They only have to travel a few miles, but it feels like it is taking forever to get there. She tries not to let her mind get too far ahead of the possibilities.

As they approach the scene, Kate can see the flashing lights from the emergency vehicles. The moment she jumps out of the car, she hears someone call her name.

"Detective Beckett!"

She immediately recognizes Chief Brady from the Hamptons Police Department. As he approaches her, Kate observes the long skid marks that lead off the road and over the embankment.

"What happened?" she asks him.

"It looks like Castle's car blew a tire," Chief Brady explains, as they all begin walking toward the scene. Kate is carefully holding up the skirt of her dress to prevent it from getting dirty as she tries to get a handle on what she is seeing and hearing. "When he over-corrected, he hit the guardrail." He points across the road. "And then ended up down in the ravine." They walk over to the edge of the road where Kate looks down and sees Castle's Mercedes sedan upside down in the ditch. "He was lucky he was his wearing his seat belt," Chief Brady remarks. "A passerby who witnessed the accident called 9-1-1."

"Where is he?" Kate asks.

"He's over in the ambulance," Brady informs her. "I'll take you to him."

Kate asks her father to go wait by the Rolls and then follows Chief Brady past the fire trucks and police cars toward the ambulance. When they reach the rescue vehicle, the back doors are open and she can see Castle inside being attended to by a paramedic.

The relief Kate feels when she finally sees him is overwhelming. She's trying to blink back the tears that are threatening to fall. Castle's lying on the stretcher and the paramedic is apparently suturing his head. She stares for a moment, waiting for him to say something before she realizes that he can't see her from the stretcher and he doesn't know she is there.

"Rick?" she says softly.

Castle startles and tries to sit up to see her, but the paramedic pushes him back down. "Mr. Castle, please lie down until I am finished."

"Sorry, Matt," he says to the medic.

"It's all right, Castle. I'm right here," she reassures him. Kate places her hand on his pant leg, right near his ankle, so that even though he can't see her, he can feel that she is there. But the reassurance is more for her, because she needs to feel his warmth and know he's alive and that she hasn't lost him.

"I'm so sorry, Kate," he apologizes.

"It was an accident, babe. I'm so glad you're okay."

"It's my dream coming true," he says matter-of-factly.

Seriously? "It's not the dream," Kate assures him. She'd laugh if she didn't feel like crying. "What happened to your head?" she asks him.

"The airbag deployed," Castle replies. "And somehow I got a cut on my forehead. They wanted to take me to the hospital, but I asked Matt here if he would just quickly patch me up. I wanted to get to you as soon as possible."

"Castle, with a laceration on the face you really should have been seen by a plastic surgeon," she tells him.

"Kate, it's six tiny stitches. And I'm not worried about a scar on my face. I think it'll be cool." She rolls her eyes. Of course he thinks having a scar will be cool.

Paramedic Matt finishes the stitches and then covers up Castle's wound with Steri-strips. "Mr. Castle," he says. "You'll need to keep those stitches clean and dry. They'll need to be removed in about five days. You can sit up now, and if you don't feel lightheaded, then you are free to go." Matt looks over at Kate. "It looks like you and this lovely lady might have somewhere important to be."

Castle sits up, his eyes widening as he sees Kate in her wedding dress for the first time. Even though she's not superstitious, she had truly hoped that the first time he saw her in her mother's dress would have been when she was standing in the back of the aisle on her father's arm, not at the scene of an accident. But she loves what she sees in his eyes right now. It's a look of love. No, not just love, pure devotion. Adoration. He smiles at her and she smiles back. He looks as happy to see her as she feels to see him.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Castle?" Matt asks.

"Incredibly blessed," he replies, not taking his eyes off of his fiancée.

Matt smiles at Castle and then steps out of the ambulance. "He's all yours," he tells Kate.

Kate climbs into the ambulance with her fiancé and sits right across from him where Matt had been sitting. Castle looks down at his clothing. "I got a little blood on the tux."

Kate reaches over and finds a pre-moistened wipe in the medical supplies on the shelf. She removes it from the wrapper and begins cleaning the blood off of Castle's tuxedo. Memories of sitting together in the back of an ambulance when she had attended to his wounds another time come flooding back. She can no longer stop the tears that begin to fall.

"Don't cry, Kate," he tells her. "I'm going to be all right."

"I know," she replies, looking up into his eyes. "But I wanted this day to be perfect."

Castle reaches over and brushes the tear from her cheek with his thumb. "It will be perfect." He slides his hand around the back of her neck and gently tugs her head toward his and gives her a soft kiss on the lips. "God, you look beautiful."

"Thank you." She smiles. "You don't look so bad yourself," she says, caressing his cheek. "Even with that bandage."

Kate finishes cleaning up the blood from Castle's clothing and places the wipe in the waste container.

"I thought it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding," he says with a smirk.

"Yes, well, it's also bad luck to not show up to your wedding."

He smiles. "Touché." Castle stands, taking Kate by the hand, and climbs out of the ambulance before helping her out. "Let's go get married."

To Be Continued

A/N Thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate the enthusiasm you've shown for this story. I'd love to know your thoughts.