Lifeboats
"You look so pretty, Kate." Alexis breathes, lying on her back in the bed with her legs propped up against the headboard so she's bent almost at ninety degrees. Casting a glance over to the girl, Kate smiles shyly and heads for the dresser. Her hips settle against the hard edge of wood and she leans in close to the mirror, inspecting her makeup in the softer lighting of their bedroom.
In the reflection, she watches as Castle's daughter rolls over onto her stomach and props her chin in her hands, apparently enthralled with the process of Kate's getting ready. Alexis sat on the counter while Kate fixed her hair and makeup and only left when Kate ushered her out so she could use the bathroom.
With Castle in the room it's not such a huge deal; she's seen the very worst of him and so him seeing her use the bathroom pales in comparison. She's just not quite there with her quasi-daughter. "Thank you, Alexis. Are you excited?"
"Yeah." Alexis beams, kicking her feet against her father's pillow in a muffled almost-rhythm that Kate feels like she ought to recognise. "When do you think I should take my braid out? Right before we leave?"
"If you do it about ten minutes before we go I can help you tame any kinks."
"Cool." Alexis grins again. They have a half hour before they need to leave for dinner, and Alexis is forbidden to put her dress on until the last possible moment. Well, actually Rick had been mostly joking when he said she had to be careful not to stain or crease the deep forest-coloured velvet, but Alexis has self-imposed the rule as if unaware that her father could afford to buy her thousands of new dresses.
Kate is still pottering around in her robe, a silk thing that Rick gave her as a six month anniversary gift. Now here they are, almost at the year mark. Rick's last chemotherapy treatment was a week ago, and next week he has the tests to determine whether he's officially in remission.
Shaking her head slightly, Kate forces herself to stop dwelling on it. It's really not helping, only making her worry, and tonight's not about that.
Tonight is a celebration of Alexis' wonderful performance in the school play last week. She was wonderful; Martha is adamant that her granddaughter will surely follow in her own theatrical footsteps. It had been a blessing for Alexis to have something else to focus on, something that ate up so much of her time outside of school and got her out of the loft.
And for Castle too, having something to look forward to had been wonderful. He'd cried, watching her perform. Proud tears he did his best to hide with his head buried at Kate's shoulder. "Hey Allie-bug, can you help me pick out some earrings?"
"Do you have options?" Alexis purses her lips and gets to her knees, crawling down to the end of the bed so she can sit cross-legged and watch Kate.
Beckett's nickname for the girl started out as a point of contention, dividing the two of them from Rick and Martha. Alexis' father was adamant that he gave her that name and he intended to use it, not shorten it. And Martha uses everyone's full names, a sure sign that she's accepted you into the fold. It makes Kate's stomach flutter when Rick's mother calls her Katherine, even now.
So yes, Kate had to fight for the right to call Alexis by a nickname. A fight that lasted all of three seconds once the girl in question batted her eyes at her father and told him that she liked having something special to share with Kate. That she'd never had a nickname before and she was glad it was Beckett that gave it to her.
Rummaging around in the jewellery box, Kate fishes out three pairs of delicate silver earrings and gathers them in her palm, turning to lay them out on top of the sheets and let Alexis look at them. "Here we are, bug. Which do you think?"
"Those ones." Alexis picks up the graduated diamond drop earrings and holds one up to her own ear, lifting up on her knees to look at her reflection. "They're pretty."
"Thank you." Kate grins, dropping a kiss to the top of Alexis' head and gathering up all three pairs of earrings to carry back to the dresser. Fastening the pair Alexis chose at her ears, she tucks the other two back inside her jewellery box and turns back around to face the little girl on the bed, wiggling her head to make the earrings jerk and dance.
"Can we both get dressed now?"
"Sure."
Flopping off of the end of the bed, Alexis disappears inside of the closet and comes back with Kate's dress and her own. She hung hers next to Beckett's earlier this evening so the two of them could get dressed together and both surprise Rick.
Alexis peels off her clothes and stands shivering in just her underwear, holding her arms straight up for Kate to slip the dress over her head. Right on the cusp of self-consciousness, Castle's daughter stands naked and unashamed, but seems eager to get dressed again as fast as possible.
The material of Alexis' dress is lighter than it looks, so that when she spins the skirt flares out around her knees. Kate tugs the dress down over the girl's head and laughs when Alexis huffs to blow the wispy hairs out of her eyes. "Hey there."
"Hey." Castle's daughter grins back, turning around so Kate can do up the zipper and fasten the tab at the nape of Alexis' neck. When she turns back around, Kate arranges the collar and smoothes a hand over the crown of Alexis' head and down her braid.
"You look like a princess."
"You do too and you're not even dressed yet." Alexis giggles, pushing Kate over towards the bed where her dress is laid out. The dress is simple, black silk that whispers against her skin when she pulls it over her head, and Kate runs her palms down the skirt of it. "Wow."
"You like it?"
"Daddy's going to fall over." Alexis crows, apparently delighted with this idea. Sitting carefully in the elegant armchair at Kate's side of the bed, Castle's daughter tugs on her shoes. Shiny black patent leather pumps that she coveted for weeks before Kate gave in and bought them for the girl.
Stepping into her own heels, Kate holds out a hand to the girl and the two of them head for the living room. On the couch, Castle is so preoccupied with his iPad that he hardly notices their appearance until Alexis stops right in front of him and calls his name before twirling to show off the flare of her skirt.
"Wow, pumpkin, you look beautiful." Castle grins, hooking an arm around his little girl's waist to draw her in close enough for a smacking kiss at her cheek.
When he lets his daughter go again, Rick's eyes travel slowly over the length of Kate's body from her toes to her eyes. Letting out a slow breath, he stands up and comes for her, dropping warm palms to her hips and leaning in to kiss her softly. "You are. . .just stunning. Beyond words."
Heat floods in at Kate's cheeks and she dips her head to press her temple against his shoulder, sliding a hand up the placket of his shirt to fiddle with his buttons. "Not so bad yourself, babe."
"Gram!" Alexis yells from the bottom of the stairs, hopping from foot to foot as if she can't quite contain her excitement. Unsurprising really; she's been practically fizzing with anticipation for their dinner all week.
"Alright, alright, I'm ready." Martha laughs, appearing at the top of the stairs and descending gracefully. At the bottom, she tugs her granddaughter in for a hug and uses the arm around her tiny, bony shoulders to drag Alexis over towards her father and Kate.
"Mother, you look lovely." Rick says, leaning in to kiss his mother's cheek. His palm stays hot at Kate's spine, low down where her hips flare out and his fingertips brush the very top of the swell of her ass when she shifts.
Martha beams and smoothes her hands over her pencil skirt, letting go of Alexis so the girl can scurry over to the door and do her strange dance there instead. "Katherine, Richard, you look positively delectable. And wonderful together, if I may say so."
The compliment makes Kate blush again and she dips her head, managing a grateful smile. "Thank you, Martha."
Castle's daughter comes charging back over to the cluster of adults and grabs for Kate's hand, tugging on it. "Kate, my hair."
"I got you, Allie-bug." Kate laughs, full up with gratitude and love for this wonderful family. Tugging the hair tie off of the end of Alexis' braid, Beckett carefully unravels it and arranges the spill of fiery waves over Alexis' shoulders.
"Hey pumpkin, Gram got you something to say congratulations." Castle says, nudging both his mother and daughter over towards the kitchen island where Martha left the gift bag earlier. Once they're out of earshot, Rick turns back to Kate and meets her eyes, his mouth slowly falling open.
She watches the war of words flit through his eyes, so many things he seems to want to say, but eventually he settles on the most true of all. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Kate murmurs to him, stepping in to kiss him and utterly delighted to find that her ridiculous heels put her at the exact right height to get at his mouth.
Alexis comes scurrying back over with her grandmother in tow and thrusts her brand new headband towards Kate as if for inspection. "Can you help me?"
"Sure. It's beautiful." Kate remarks as she fixes the accessory in Alexis' hair, slipping her hand into Castle's when she finishes up. "Everyone ready to go?"
The others offer their affirmation and head towards the door, Rick hanging back behind his mother and daughter so he can lean in and kiss her softly. He doesn't say anything more, just uses the knot of their hands to guide her out of the loft and locks the door behind them.
She's not nine years old anymore, but Kate completely understands why Alexis is so excited. Family dinner is wonderful, especially with these Castles. Kate hasn't done this in such a long time, and best of all? Her father is meeting them at the restaurant. Rick and Martha and Alexis haven't just accepted her into their family, but Jim too, and the gratitude just might choke her.
Reclining back in his chair, Rick glances around the table and watches his family interact. His little girl is sandwiched in between her grandmother and Kate's father, Papa Jim holding her in rapt attention. They'd all been a little startled earlier tonight when Alexis had quietly asked if it was okay that she call him that.
Jim had beamed at her and kissed her forehead and told her he was honoured, and Rick hadn't been blind to the sheen of emotion in his girlfriend's eyes. Although Alexis has never asked if she can call Kate Mom, for the past six months Beckett has been a mother to the girl in every discernible way.
At his side, Kate leans in close and kisses his cheek, her mouth dropping to his ear as she hums against him. "Everyone looks happy."
"Mostly you." He murmurs back, dropping his hand to squeeze her knee under cover of the table. His free hand is draped across the back of Kate's chair and his fingertips dip down to trace the edge of muscle at her shoulder. "You're radiant."
"Shut up." She huffs, biting her lip at him. When they got to the restaurant she tugged him aside and hissed at him that he'd better not embarrass her in front of her father. He's trying, he really is. She's just so amazing, he loves her so much, and the hard bulge of the ring box in his inside pocket is utterly distracting.
His mother and Jim both know what he intends to do tonight. He had thought, for about five seconds, that he might ask her once he gets the all clear from the doctor, but he really can't wait anymore. He needs to ask her, right now.
They're waiting on dessert, and once it's here he'll ask. Show her the empty ring box and tell her he wants to take her shopping and let her fill it.
"You still feeling good?"
"Yeah, great." Rick hums back to her, nuzzling at her cheek for that. How deeply she cares about him, how her heart seems to just spill over with it. "Don't worry so much, baby."
"Right. You're right. Hey look, dessert." Kate sits up in her chair, her weight shifting away from his side as she accepts her cheesecake from the waiter.
When everyone has their dessert in front of them Rick clears his throat and taps his spoon against his water glass, laughing self-deprecatingly when both Kate and his mother roll their eyes at him. "I have a toast, and a question."
"Daddy, I wanna eat." Alexis whines, enormous eyes flitting from him to her chocolate fudge cake and back. His daughter has no idea that he intends to make Kate a permanent part of their family tonight. A part of him had toyed with asking her first, but he doesn't think she'd be able to keep it a secret. Not from Kate. And that in itself speaks to her being more than okay with it.
"Alright, daughter. Hold on. I just wanted to say on behalf of the Castle-Rodgers portion of the table that we're truly grateful to have expanded our family to include you Becketts."
Kate's whole face breaks open on her smile and she leans into him, pressing that beautiful grin to his cheek in something close to a kiss. Across the table, Jim ruffles Alexis' hair and smiles too, a little less overwhelming than his daughter but still good. "Thank you, Rick. Katie and I are grateful for all of you too."
"Okay, good. That's kind of where my question comes in."
Sitting back in her seat again, Kate lifts an eyebrow at him even as she reaches for his hand, tangling their fingers together and resting the knot of their knuckles at the table top. For a moment he panics, sure that she must feel the cold sweat of terror that makes him clammy, but her mouth quirks in reassurance and it makes him relax in increments. "Shoot."
"Katherine Beckett." He starts, and already her eyes are widening and her hand is slack in his because he never calls her by her full name, and certainly not so seriously. "Kate." He laughs, a little bit teasing now, but she's still just staring at him. "I love you. Always have. And even though these past six months have sucked, I've realised that if I have to watch you walk out of our front door to go back to your apartment now it'll probably kill me."
"Castle-" She flinches, eyes automatically flitting to his neck and the source of some of both the worst and the best things that have ever happened to him.
He frowns and squeezes her hand, casts his eyes around the table a moment to see their family watching them with rapt attention. "Sorry, tasteless. Anyway, what I'm saying is that I've loved having you be a part of my family and I want that for always. So-" He wrestles to get the empty ring box free from his pocket and flips it open, bites back his laughter at the adorable confusion plastered across her face. "You want to fill this?"
"Are you. . .oh my god."
"Marry me, Kate. Please?"
"Oh my god." She whispers. There's a half-beat of total silence where it feels like the whole damn restaurant is waiting on her and then she falls into him and her hands are splayed at his cheeks and she's about half an inch away from toppling right off of her chair and into his lap but he doesn't even care because her mouth is hot and quick against his and he can feel the spill of her tears smudging across both of their cheeks. When she pulls back, it's to gasp and shake her head, laughing at the whole ridiculous situation. "Yes. Yes, of course. I'll marry you."
There's a crow of delight from his mother and something more subdued but most definitely in the same vein from Jim and Alexis has already wriggled out of her chair and come around the table to throw her arms around both of them.
Jim and Martha follow Castle's daughter and then everyone's standing up and hugging everyone else and Rick lifts his daughter right up into his arms, her long legs wrapped around his waist and clinging tight and people at other tables are watching and applauding at it's just-
So good. So absolutely perfect.
"You totally knew, didn't you?" Kate is hissing at her father, poking his shoulder, but her grin is enormous and her eyes are still bright with delight. To his credit, Jim stands his ground, drawing his daughter in for a hug.
Rick manages to wrench his eyes away from that and lean in close to his own little girl, still tight in his arms. "Hey pumpkin, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I wanted it to be a surprise for you too."
"It's okay, Daddy. I love Kate a lot. I'm really happy you guys are getting married." His little girl beams at him, wriggling to get down. He lets her go and accepts his mother's kiss, scrubbing her lipstick off of his cheek when she steps back.
In his peripheral vision he sees Kate stepping free from Jim's embrace and he moves up behind her, curling an arm around her waist and grinning when she turns to face him. "Hi, beautiful. You good?"
"More than." She laughs, darting in to kiss him. "We're getting married."
A/N: Only the epilogue left on this one now, guys!