AN: first of all, thanks so much for all the reviews, they are all awesome! I've been inundated with work and school stuff, so this has been put to the back burner….

OK, time for some shout outs! (because I haven't had time to reply to reviews :D)

Bones djbecause you're reviewer number 100! Woot!Iv2bnsb1 the Josh thing will return, and be resolved, eventually. LouBird92, MLN, Googie, gloriajv, I'm glad the poem was so well received. wellwritten, docvap I'm glad the proposal was Castle worthy, and that you enjoyed it. And for everyone that I haven't mentioned, Thanks soo much, your reviews mean a great deal to me!

So without further ado…

-Enjoy :D

Disclaimer the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.

Chapter 14

Kate was dumfounded.

The whole way through Rick reading his poem she was wondering if it was going anywhere, but she totally wasn't expecting this. Well eventually, but not yet. Kate had been so engrossed in his reading (she always had loved listening to him read, even before she knew him personally) that she hadn't noticed the rest of his family leave. She was just staring at Rick. First his eyes, so full of love and adoration, then down at the simple but elegant, and surely very expensive, diamond ring nestled in the blue box, then back up at his eyes, but she didn't say a word.

How does one respond to a proposal like that? Well the straightforward answer was 'yes', but that seem too simple after his proposal. It was big, the way Rick did everything of importance in his life, yet intimate, the way she had always imagined a proposal should be. Just thinking about this in the silence, a tear started to trickle down her face.

"Kate?" Rick asked, his voice coated in worry. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Kate replied, more tears making their way out of her eyes. "I was just trying to figure out the best way to answer a 'yes' to your question." She stated, a smile spreading across her face.

Rick had a dazed look on his face until his brain caught up with what Kate had said, at that point the smile that spread across his face could have cracked the polar ice cap. He pulled the delicate ring out of it's box, gently picked up her left hand from where it had been resting on her belly, and slid the ring onto the third finger, where it nestled against her hand.

He then placed a light kiss on her fingers, bent and placed a kiss on her belly, then straightened and captured her lips in a searing kiss. One hand on her cheek, the other behind her neck, it wasn't long before it turned into a full on make out session. That was until they were startled apart by a loud thump, and a muffled scream.

"Mother, Alexis." Rick said, as he knew what had happened. "You can come back now," They immediately appeared. "And which one of you fell down the stairs?" He asked in a board voice.

"I did." Alexis admitted sheepishly, and then turned to Kate. "So?" She asked excitedly. In response Kate help up her left hand to show off her newly acquired ring and was almost immediately engulfed in a big, abet gentle, Castle hug.

Dam these hormones, Kate thought as tears started, relentlessly, streaming down her face. She was happy, happier than she had been in a long while.

"Ok, girls, break it up." Rick said after a few minutes. "Coz I need to take my fiancé to bed."

"Eww, Dad!" Alexis exclaimed. "Don't want, or need, to hear that!" She finished, shaking her head.

Rick opened and closed his mouth a few times before he could speak again. "That is not what I meant. It's just that it's getting late, and we've got a big day tomorrow, so we should be getting to bed."

"Yeah ok," Alexis said, and then added. "'Night Dad, 'night Kate, 'night Grams." Before giving each a kiss on the cheek and heading up the stairs.

Martha followed suit. "Goodnight Richard, goodnight Kate. Congratulations." She said before heading up the stairs also.

"Let's get you up to bed Miss Beckett." Rick said to her, offering his hand to help her off the couch and they ascended the stairs to their room to ready themselves for bed.

"Goodnight Rick." Kate said sleepily ten minutes later as she snuggled her back into his front.

"Goodnight Miss Beckett." Rick replied, and then mumbled. "Might be one of the last times I can call you that."

"If you even think," Kate started. "That we are getting married before I give birth to your children, you have another thing coming."

-!-!-!-

When Kate woke on Christmas morning it was because Rick was placing small kisses along the back of her neck. She cracked one eye open and noticed that there was snow outside the bedroom window and smiled. It had been quite a while since she had woken up to a white Christmas; in fact there she hadn't seen a white Christmas since the one before her mother was killed. Kate then noticed the diamond ring on her finger and her smile widened; she was taking the snow as a good omen.

Kate turned her head and met Rick's lips with her own in a slow, languid kiss. "Good morning." She breathed when they pulled apart for air.

"Good morning." Rick responded. "Merry Christmas." He said before meeting her lips in another kiss. They were interrupted by a knock on their door.

"Dad? Kate?" Alexis called through the door.

"Come in Sweetie." Kate called and relaxed back into Rick's arms.

The door opened and Alexis entered carrying a tray of hot chocolates for them. "Merry Christmas." She said as she walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "I have hot chocolate," Alexis said. "And marshmallows." She added with a twinkle in her eye.

"Thankyou Alexis," Kate said, sitting herself up in the bed before accepting her cup. "But I'll hold on the marshmallows, thanks."

Ten minutes later Martha made her entrance into Kate and Rick's bedroom. "Come now Alexis, we need to get the place ready, we need to get ourselves ready," She said, and then her voice turned to a stage whisper. "And we need to give these two time to get ready." Her voice went back to normal. "Guests arrive in an hour and a half, and everyone needs to be ready."

-!-!-!-

Kate stood in her and Rick's room looking at herself in the full-length mirror. She was wearing a simple dark emerald green dress with a square neckline, sleeves just below the elbow and hem just below the knee. Her flat black shoes and diamond ring set off the look. She was just brushing out her hair as Rick walked in.

"Kate you look stunning." He told her.

"You don't look to shabby yourself, Rick." She said back.

Rick walked in front of Kate holding out a slim, wrapped box. "Present." He said by way of explanation.

"Rick you already gave me a present." Kate told him, holding up her left hand.

"That was an opportunity that arose," Rick said. "This is your present." He said holding out the wrapped box.

"Fine." Kate said, taking the box, as she always knew she would. She carefully peeled the tape and wrapping off to uncover a slim blue box. Kate opened the box to find a sliver chain with a pendant on it of two entwined hearts. "Oh, Rick." She said holding the box out so he could put the necklace around her neck.

"Come, let's go down for lunch." Rick said, placing a light kiss on her lips.

-!-!-!-

As the pair got to the bottom of the stairs Rick took Kate's left hand in his right and looked out at the people milling around their living area; their closest friends and family. Lanie and Esposito, Ryan and Jenny, Captain and Mrs Montgomery. Alexis, Martha and Jim rounded off the group who were gathered for Christmas lunch.

Rick led Kate over to the kitchen counter and picked up a glass and, letting go of Kate's hand, clinked a spoon on the side of it to get the attention of everyone in the room.

"Firstly," Rick began. "I would like to thank you all for coming today, I know how busy a day it is." He paused slightly. "Secondly," Rick continued, taking Kate's hand again. "Kate and I have some news." He paused again. "We are, at some point in the future, getting married."

Suddenly Kate was engulfed in a Lanie shaped hug, along with the words, "Why didn't you tell me girl." Lanie then grabbed her left hand and inspected her ring at great length.

Kate received congratulations from everyone, after Lanie let go of her hand. The last person who came to her was her father, who also engulfed her in a hug.

"Your mother would be proud." Jim whispered in his daughter's ear.

"I miss her," Kate whispered back. "I wish she was here."

"Me too, Katie." Jim said. "Me too."

They were pulled out of their embrace by Martha's voice. "Lunch is served."

AN: So here's the start of Christmas at least. Next up, I'm going to skip over lunch and go to evening and more present giving. Kate's present for Rick, and stockings…

Anywho, let me know what you think :D