Author's Notes: Here is the end of Rick and Kate's story. There will eventually be at least two more stories in this universe, a Jenny and Kevin Ryan story and a Lanie/Esposito story. I haven't finished those stories though so they might be a little bit since I am working on another story right now also. I would again like to thank the people who reviewed the story, especially the following: AliasCSINYFriendsER, Little Popcorn, Restless Goddess, Dee Hensley, gmay, Nheath12, Winter-Sama, and BeckettNYPD.

Oh and before I forget, I still don't own anything Castle other than a copy of Heat Wave. All characters etc belong to others, not me.

Chapter 14

The Christmas Party at the Castle Place, Rick's POV

"Merry Christmas Eve," I greeted Lanie and Esposito after they rang the doorbell.

"Merry Christmas Eve to you too," Esposito said as he took Lanie's coat, revealing her stunning red dress.

"Thank you, Castle. The dress is beautiful."

"You are very welcome. Kate and Alexis went shopping for dresses for tonight and Kate said this would great on you. She was right, you look wonderful."

I smiled at the slight frown crossing Esposito's face as I hung their jackets up.

"What can I get you, Detective, Doctor?" I questioned him as I saw Kate walk towards us.

"A beer."

"Red wine."

"Lanie you look great! As do you Esposito," Kate said in greeting.

"You look pretty hot too, girlfriend," Lanie said commenting on Kate's emerald green dress.

"Thank you. Wanna officially meet James Patterson?" Kate asked with a grin.

"Seriously?" Lanie asked as the doorbell rang. "I didn't get a chance to say more than hi when I met him before." I reached for the door and welcomed Jim Beckett to the loft.

"Dad," Kate smiled as she gave him a hug.

"I'll introduce you both to him," I said giving a few minutes of private time to Kate and her Dad.

I grabbed the drinks for my friends the headed over to the living room to introduce them.

"Rick, nice party so far. Hi, James Patterson."

"Lanie Parrish," she said slightly blushing. I was going to have fun about that later.

"Excuse me a moment," I said as the bell rang again. Kate was still at the door so she opened it. It was Gina. Part of me wanted to see how this was going to play out and the rest of me just wanted to go smooth over any ruffled feathers. And looking at Gina, there were plenty of ruffled feathers.

"Welcome Gina. May I take your coat?" she started to remove it as I leaned to whisper to Kate, "Lanie is blushing over Patterson."

"Excuse us," Kate smiled as she and her dad went over to Lanie.

"Richard. Why is she opening the door at your Christmas party?"

"Because she was closer," I said knowing that was just going to annoy her more.

"People are going to assume she is your hostess and therefore your girlfriend if she answers the door."

"Did you not read the paper the other day?" She shook her head no. I saw no reason to inform her that Paula had finally released the statement that Kate and I were officially dating. "Besides people have always assumed that we were together. Her opening a door she is close to isn't going to make any difference."

"You seriously don't think that having Nikki Heat open the door at your big Christmas Eve party for all the big wigs isn't going to cause talk."

"For one thing Gina, we've dealt with plenty of talk before and second," my voice dropped. "Her name is Kate Beckett, not Nikki Heat. Don't make that mistake again."

"So are you dating her?" she asked surprised.

"You really should read the press releases for your authors. Besides what does it matter if we are dating?"

"I just can't believe you finally admitted it to yourself."

She walked off to make rounds and get a drink as mother headed toward me.

"So how did that go, kiddo?"

"Okay. Somehow she never saw the press release."

"Why don't you go be with Kate? I'll answer the door."

"Thanks Mother," I smiled as I made my way back to Kate's side.

Kate and I were both pleased that the party was going well. The press statement that Paula released the other day had obviously done its job. People knew we were together now but it wasn't the only topic of conversation. I should have known things were going a little too well when my mother called to make a toast.

"I would like everyone to raise their glass for a toast. To a very special couple who recently tied the knot." Some people spun around to look at Kate and I standing arm in arm with our glasses of sparkling apple cider raised. Lanie and Esposito and the Ryan's looked a bit hurt, and Gina looked down right pissed.

"They were married two months ago in Las Vegas and haven't had the chance for an official reception yet, so let me be one of the first to congratulate Kevin and Jenny Ryan."

Congratulations were passed to the happy couple as Esposito and Lanie turned to us.

"I swear, bro, I thought she was going to say it was you."

"I don't know why Mother did that. We told you, you will be here. We promise," I assured them as I noticed Gina practically storming her way over to us. "Excuse me."

"Richard, did you have Martha do that just to torment me?"

"No, that was just a bonus," I smiled. "Ryan and Jenny got married right after that big serial killer case and they never had the chance to have a reception yet so Mother thought this would be a nice way to acknowledge them."

"So she had to imply that it was you just for fun?" she fumed as she headed to the door.

"You know my mother. I can't control her," I said with humor.

"I don't know how serious you think you are with Kate but please be sure to tell me before you go off to Vegas or do something stupid."

"Kate really isn't the Vegas type, Gina," I said.

"You know what I mean Richard," she said exasperated.

"Why would it matter to you what I do anyway? We are not longer married."

"I'm still your publisher and I need to know how to handle the publicity of things before it leaks to the press."

"Yet you never even noticed the press release about Kate and I being together. Don't worry Gina. I don't plan on doing anything stupid," I said as I helped her into her coat.

The party was starting to wind down when Kate finally had the chance to come up to me about 15 minutes later.

"So what did Gina say?"

"Just that I need to tell her what's going on before I do anything stupid. I told her not to worry." I looked around and lowered my voice. "This thing with you is far from stupid so we can just tell her later."

"Good. It's about eleven so I better get going." Kate gave me a quick kiss and said "See you in a little while, Mr. Castle."

"See you in a little while, Miss Beckett." Even though she didn't let me get away with many kisses at the precinct, she didn't seem to mind nearly as much if I kissed her in public as long as it wasn't too much. "I'll send Alexis up and see if I can clear out this riff raff."

I didn't want to offend anyone but I did want said riff raff to be gone by midnight. Kate and I had discussed that we wanted Christmas day to be amongst close friends only. I saw Alexis talking with James Patterson over by the tree and knowing that she would eventually forgive me, I called out to her.

"Alexis, it's eleven o'clock on Christmas Eve. Don't you know that Santa can't leave presents for good boys and girls if they don't go to sleep?"

"Maybe for good boys and girls, Castle, but that sure leaves you out!" Patterson said with a smile. Alexis said good night to Patterson and his wife then, after giving me a kiss on the cheek, she excused herself to go upstairs.

Rick said goodbyes to most of the people that were lingering but occasionally asked some people to stay a bit to say goodnight to Kate. Soon it was a much smaller gathering of just family and close friends.

"Castle, it's just about midnight, Javi and I wanted to see about leaving. When will Kate be down?"

"She should be down in just a few. Jim, could you go check on Kate?"

Jim smiled and nodded at me then went upstairs. My daughter soon reappeared and smiled her Castle smile at me. I watched her as she picked up the camera then head over to Jenny and then a few other people also with cameras. I watched as she surreptitiously moved certain people into places that she wanted them to be. My daughter definitely had the Castle charm and knew how to use it. I smiled as the clock finally struck midnight.

"Merry Christmas everyone."

"Merry Christmas," various people responded.

"Where's my girl, Castle?" Lanie asked. "We need to get going."

"She'll be right down," I said with a smile.

"You okay, Castle? You've been acting kinda weird," commented Esposito.

"I'm fine," my smile just got bigger.

"Oh my, God," Lanie commented looking behind me to the stairs.

I turned to see Kate and her father walk downstairs arm in arm. She was wearing a long white dress, her mother's dress. It was very simple yet beautiful and perfect for Kate. I barely noticed the flashes from the camera and I was entranced by how extraordinary she was. Jim walked Kate over to me at the Christmas tree with just the soft Christmas music playing in the background. My friend Judge Markway finally broke the silence.

"Dearly beloved…"

NY Ledger July 5th 2011

Richard Castle and wife Katherine Beckett-Castle had fireworks of their own yesterday when they welcomed a baby girl, Johanna into their family. Mother and child are doing fine. Daddy insists his concussion is mild and he will once again be ruggedly handsome as soon as the stitches are removed.

The End (of this part of the story.)