Chapter 12: Believing Is Seeing

Years after an accident leaves him permanently blind, Rick Castle meets Kate Beckett in a coffee shop.

"I want her to be the first thing I see."

He listens to Alexis sigh, soft and understanding like always, before she skims a fingertip to the bandaging that's been encompassing his eyes for the past week. The doctor promised he could take it off before the wedding, that if the surgery was in fact successful, he would be okay while exposed to soft lighting, including the dying light of a sunset.

Which, according to his daughter and 'best man', is only a few minutes away.

He may finally see his family again, the world around him, his own reflection. He may finally see Kate.

"She will be," Alexis promises, patting his cheek while he sits on the edge of the guest bed in his tux. "I'll lead you to the dais set up in the backyard and then, right before Kate steps out onto the aisle, I'll take the bandaging off."

He nods at the brief run through of a long thought out plan. His surgery was two weeks ago, just shy of the wedding he's been counting down the days to and they've been conveniently staying in the Hamptons for his recovery ever since. Kate has been on edge since the moment he decided to go through with the risky treatment, skeptical of the new technology being used, the consistent but small pool of successful recipients. But she knew from the second Doctor Milton, his long time optometrist, referred him to the procedure that he would jump on it.

Anything for a chance to see again, to finally have the chance to see her.

She's done her best to keep his expectations in check, promising him that no matter the outcome, nothing changes between them.

"I'll always love you, Rick," she murmured to him the night before the surgery, staying up late into the early morning hours with him, the anxiety in her voice clashing with her reassurances, but not rivaling them. She was uncertain of the surgery, but there was no doubt in how she felt about him. She dusted her lips to his blind eyes, kissing his lids, brushing the tips of her fingers to his brow. "Whether you see again or not, you're what I want. That's never going to change."

He drew her body in close, mapped out every inch of her in the darkness for what might be the last time. If he's able to see when the bandages come off today, he's going to love her with eyes wide open on their wedding night.

"Just remember what the doctor said," Alexis chides, moving around in the downstairs guest room where he dressed in his tux, fixed his hair with practiced ease. "Open your eyes slowly after the padding is off. If the surgery was successful, everything will be blurry for a while, but up close, you should be able to see Kate without too much trouble."

Hell, he'll take blurry over total darkness any day.

"I'm excited to see you again too, Pumpkin," he murmurs, reaching out to touch her arm. She slows to a stop, cradling his hand between both of hers. He hasn't seen his daughter since she was a teenager and she's continuously assured him that she hasn't changed much, just a little taller while her hair is shorter, chopped off to sit at her shoulders now. But he can hear in her voice how much she has grown in the past eight years since the accident, the bank explosion that stole his sight. His daughter is a college graduate, starting medical school in the fall, continuing in her mission to become an opthamologist, to treat cases like his one day. Provide others with the miracle of returned sight.

"Dad," Alexis chuckles, squeezing his fingers between hers. "Don't worry, I know you want to see me and Gram, but Kate… I know it's different, I know this could be the first time. Are you nervous?"

Rick sucks in a breath. "Yeah, a little," he confesses. "I've never cared what Kate looks like, you know I stopped caring about looks a long time ago, but the idea of finally seeing her... it's just a lot. Overwhelming."

Alexis lets go of his hand, but he can feel her smiling.

"Just know you won't be disappointed."

She's seriously pretty, Alexis told him three years ago, after his first date with Kate in the form of a family dinner. Like, model pretty.

He already knew somehow, guessed that she was gorgeous. Having his daughter reveal the tidbit about her appearance was only confirmation, leaving him to wonder and agonize over what a woman like her could want with a man like him.

Everything, she showed him. Prior to meeting Kate Beckett, he was becoming complacent in discontentment, no longer writing, stuck in a shallow end of self-pity. Kate forced him to stop feeling sorry for himself, led him back into life, reminding him that there was far more to seeing in the world to experience.

She wanted everything with him and he gave it all, took in return.

"I could never be disappointed," he murmurs, his lips quirking.

Just then the door swings open, the click of nails on hardwood clattering through the bedroom's entryway, and Castle grins as Benny rushes up to meet him.

"Incoming," the voice of his mother warns from the door Benny must have dragged her through. The dog knew better than to go find Kate upstairs and since the surgery, Benny has been glued to his side, more protective than ever.

"Hey buddy," he chuckles, reaching for the dog that scrambles between his knees, tail batting hard against his shins. Rick smoothes his hands over the black lab's head, hearing him pant in approval. He can smell the salt from the ocean clinging to Benny's fur and feels something satin wrapped around the dog's neck as he scales his hands lower. "Is he wearing a bowtie?"

"He's the ring bearer," Alexis points out. "He has to dress for the occasion, right, Benny? Besides, he loves dressing up."

"Your collection of Christmas sweaters does kind of attest to that," he mumbles to the dog, smirking as Benny nuzzles his hand. "You're sure he can carry the rings?"

"What do you think I was out there on that freezing beach with him for?" Martha huffs, her voice growing closer with the approaching sound of her footsteps. "We practiced for half an hour. The pooch is golden."

"Good boy, Benny. Kate's going to be so proud," he praises, scratching behind the dog's ears.

"Don't act as if you won't be too," Martha teases, coming up beside him. "You look absolutely dashing, Richard. Katherine is going to swoon the moment she lays eyes on you."

Castle's ears go warm, his lips twitching. He shouldn't, shouldn't hope for it so damn much, but he hopes he's able to swoon when he sees her too.

"Thanks, Mother."

"Speaking of, it's almost time, kiddo," Martha reminds them, draping her hand at his shoulder with an excited squeeze. "Are you ready?"

He closes his eyes beneath the bandaging and sucks in a silent breath through his nose. His heart thumps with anticipation, hopeful to regain his eyesight, but eager for more than that.

Blind or not, he's about to marry Kate Beckett.

Castle stands from the edge of the bed.

"More than ever."

Kate stands in front of the mirror in the master bedroom, trailing fingertips over the detailing of her mother's dress, tracing the gorgeous lace of flowers across her clavicle. Sleeves were sewn on as soon as they decided to hold the wedding in December, the soft embroidery continuing naturally down her arms, thin but enough to keep her relatively warm in the winter air.

They won't be outside for long, the ceremony likely to be brief, but their few guests will be kept warm with thick throw blankets Lanie helped her pick out. She initially suggested a wedding in the fall, but Rick is a romantic, coaxing her into the idea of marrying on the day they met in December. He insisted that he doesn't mind the cold, charmed her with the magic of a winter wedding, but the weather has been the least of her concerns, the last thing she's thinking about right now.

"Kate."

She jerks at the whisper of his voice, her eyes flickering to the reflection of the bedroom door in the mirror, just in time to see him sneaking inside.

"Castle," she hisses, catching his smirk in the glass. He still wears the thin gauze of bandages over his eyes, the state of his vision not yet known, probably won't be until sometime next week during his checkup with Milton, but Alexis promised her she would replace the patches with less prominent protection for the wedding.

"I want a pair of those laser goggles so I can look like Cyclops from the X-Men," he requested, earning a simultaneous eye roll from both daughter and fiancée.

Castle walks slow but sure footed through the room, the path memorized, and the sound of her voice like a trail of breadcrumbs. She's been to his gorgeous Hamptons mansion a few times in the past three years, the beach house almost becoming a second home for them both. Enough so that he knows his way around most of the rooms without help, without Benny or his cane to guide him.

"What are you doing up here?" she sighs, turning from the mirror as he grows closer, bracing him with her hands at his hips once he reaches her.

"Can't stay long," he murmurs, lifting his hands to her face, fingertips grazing her cheeks. Her eyes flutter shut beneath his familiar ministrations. "I know the wedding's about to start and Alexis will come looking for me any minute now, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Her lips quirk beneath his thumbs and she raises one of her hands to cradle the back of his, hold him there as she tilts her chin to graze a kiss to his palm. Not having her mother or her father here on her wedding day has been a persistent pang in her chest throughout the last few weeks. She's wearing her mom's dress, something Johanna would have been so proud to see, but she slipped into the gown on her own, curled her hair and arranged it into a delicate bun at her nape without help. Lanie is a wonderful friend, has been at her side since this morning, and Martha has been an amazing mother-in-law to be, passing down a stunning pair of blue earrings for Kate to wear, but the ache of something missing, two someones, never necessarily dissipates.

The two women brought smiles to her lips, but they weren't her mother. Just like Esposito, the fellow detective she loves like a brother who will be walking her down the aisle in a few minutes, isn't her father. Both roles replaced by family she never knew she needed, soothing the hollow cavern inside her chest, stopping it from gaping.

"I'm okay," she promises, whispering the words along the heartlines of his hand. "Too excited to marry you to feel sad."

Castle leans into her, brushing a kiss to her forehead.

"I bet you look so beautiful right now," he murmurs, evoking a true smile across her lips. She lifts her chin to touch it to his cheek, pressing her joy into his skin.

"Not telling you how I look, not letting you figure it out either," she chastises, catching his hand before it can skim downwards to study the design of her dress. "Not until we're out there crying over vows and saying 'I do'."

"You plan to cry for me, Beckett?" he teases, taking a step back when she doesn't relent, refuses to let his hand wander.

She hums, her fingers rising to trace along the edge of bandaging at his eyes. "Probably. Can you cry under those?"

"Haven't tried," he answers with a shrug.

"Your eyes are okay? No pain, right?" she asks, sighing as his thumb stretches to follow the line of her brow, smoothing away the concern that furrows there.

"I feel better than ever, Kate. Promise," he murmurs, skating his thumb down her socket to rest on her cheek once more, using his other hand to draw hers to his lips. He presses a kiss to her knuckles, soft and solidifying. "Ready to marry you."

"Then get out of here and go wait for me," she prompts, swaying forward to dust her lips to his cheek despite her words, a breath away from the corner of his mouth. "I'll meet you out there, Rick."

Alexis guides him out of the beach house, through the backyard that she describes along the way.

"There are birch trees placed throughout the lawn and they've got those golden twinkle lights twined around them," she murmurs, leading him down a straight path that he assumes is the same aisle Kate will walk. "They're laced through the archway over the dais too. Kate's bouquet is white roses with sprigs of lavender, so there are a few matching bouquets tied to chairs, petals all across the grass. It's simple, pretty."

"What's the sky look like?" Castle murmurs as they approach the steps of the small platform where he'll stand with his daughter at his back, an officiant at his side, and Kate in front of him.

"It's perfect, Dad," Alexis whispers, the awe subtle but alive in her voice. "It's cloudy, but the sky itself is pink and purple, a few faded streaks of sunlight. Gorgeous and gentle."

"Perfect," he echoes, picturing it all too clearly, not missing the insinuation of that last adjective.

Gentle on your eyes if they're able to see.

Alexis holds to his arm while they climb the three short steps to reach the dais. She shuffles him over to his supposed spot, cementing him there with the touch of her hands to his shoulders.

"As soon as she steps out," his daughter confirms one last time with a fleeting graze of her fingers to the bandaging. It's loose at his sockets now, the taped edges barely hanging on, ready to come off.

His heart begins to pound.

"Gram is in the front row," Alexis continues her description of the scene from his side, Lanie is sitting next to her, there's an empty seat for Javier, and then Kevin and Jenny complete the row."

"The two seats for Kate's parents?" he inquires, hearing Alexis's hum of assent over the calming crash of waves in the near distance.

"Opposite side of the aisle. Gram found these lanterns in a boutique when we went to town yesterday, they have candles inside the glass that you're able to light," Alexis explains. "We bought a couple, stands too, and hung them on either side of the chairs. Think Kate will like it?"

Oh, he thinks she'll love it, even if it makes her cry.

"I know she will, Pumpkin. Remind me later to thank both you and Gram again later for being so thoughtful," he murmurs with a soft curve of his mouth.

But then their small crowd is murmuring, Rick's ears catching on the keywords whispered between their family and friends, leaving Alexis's lips at the same time.

"There she is."

His daughter's fingers ease beneath the loosened bandaging, deftly removing it from each eye while everyone's attention is elsewhere.

"Okay," she whispers, squeezing his shoulder once before taking a step back.

He feels like he may pass out, his chest fluttering too fast and the lids of his eyes heavy with lack of use. But this is the moment he's been waiting for, mere seconds away from knowing if he'll be able to witness the woman walking down the aisle to be his wife. He can't miss it, can't waste any more time not seeing her.

He opens his eyes.

Benny trots along in front of her, dutifully carrying the small basket that holds the wedding rings in his mouth, his tail wagging as he approaches Castle on the dais.

Kate grins after the dog, following in his footsteps with Esposito at her side, keeping her steady with his arm beneath her hand and his head held high. She was able to see the backyard from their bedroom window, admired the lovely setup from above. It's simple, beautiful, just like she wanted, but none of it compares to the sight of Castle standing on the white platform in a tux, the palette of pinks and clouds of purple framing his figure, their dog descending loyally to sit at his feet, and the wedding officiant waiting with a patient smile.

Alexis must have helped him remove the eyepatches he was wearing because his sockets are bare of the white gauze, his eyes fluttering while he waits, listens for her approach. She trusts Alexis with Rick's health, the opthamologist in training well-versed in precaution; she must have deemed it safe enough for him to be without the added protection in the faded light of the sunset, probably even checked with the surgeon just to be certain.

She's glad for it, glad she's able to clearly see the face of the man she fell in love with, no bandaging blocking his features. Those gorgeous eyes she loves whether they can see her or not.

"Never seen you smile so big, Beckett," Espo teases at her side, but she doesn't have to look to hear his own smile in his voice. Happy for her.

"Never thought I'd be smiling this big," she admits on a breath. She never thought she'd be smiling so much, period. Not after her mom was murdered, after her dad drank himself to death, but then she met Richard Castle.

"You deserve it, boss," Esposito whispers as they reach the dais.

"Thanks, Espo," she murmurs once he stops to let her mount the steps herself, leaving her with a quick peck to her cheek. But she can't tear her eyes away from Castle, finally eliminating the last few paces of distance between them and ascending to stand on the platform with him.

She hands her bouquet to Alexis, catching his daughter's excited grin, and sucks in a deep breath in an attempt to calm the wild cadence of her heart. But Castle is staring back at her with wide eyes, shockingly clear, a vibrant blue.

"Rick?" she whispers, concern immediately ziplining through her sternum, but he's shaking his head, lifting his hand to her cheek. He doesn't seek her expression through touch, though, his fingers motionless and content along her cheekbone while his eyes explore instead.

He's never looked at her like this, has never been able to make direct eye contact or trail his gaze along her features, as if… as if he can really see her.

"You're just so beautiful," he breathes, his eyes roaming every inch of her face, glittering with the swell of moisture in his gaze. "So beautiful, Kate. Nothing I tried to come up with - nothing compared to how stunning you actually are."

Her heart stops. It's - but they told her the results of the surgery wouldn't be determined until next week, until after they returned from the honeymoon, he and Alexis-

Kate glances to his daughter, watching the two of them with a hand covering her mouth, but the apples of her cheek are rising with a smile that has to be hiding beneath her palm. She knew.

Castle can see her.

He can't stop staring at her, soaking in every detail he can manage to absorb. The flawless bone structure he's felt beneath his fingertips every day for the past three years, the olive skin and soft brown hair with streaks of honey like gold, the tender pink of lips he's kissed too many times to count.

"You're perfect," he whispers, all he can manage, because she's just… god, she's breathtaking.

He always imagined Kate was stunning, never doubted it once, but nothing his mind conjured up came close to this, to the real thing. The woman he loves is utterly striking, her face as beautiful as her heart, her body like her soul. Better than he imagined, better than he deserves.

"You can-" Her lips part and he watches her eyes - those gorgeous eyes that he tried to fathom the color of for years now - pop and burst with gold flecks of realization. The shock illuminates the shade of amber, the swirls of greens. Kaleidescope eyes. "You can see me?"

His fingers dust at her cheek, his thumb skimming along the delicate skin just below her eye. She has a beauty mark there, he notes now, hiding beneath her lashes. Just one of many tiny details he never would have found with the trace of his fingertips alone.

The moment he opened his eyes mere minutes ago, he was greeted by long seconds of fuzzy darkness, hardly an improvement from what he was used to. He was prepared to suck it up on the spot, resign himself to the world of blindness he's learned to live with, but then the darkness began to clear. Blurs of color blended through his vision, the streaks of sunset in the sky that Alexis described, the blanket of green grass, the hulking black spot of their dog at his feet. The approaching figure in white.

It took a few blinks, a couple of deep breaths to stop the vertigo, but by the time Kate climbed the steps to the dais, took her place in front of him, he was able to see her with striking clarity. The first thing he's seen in eight years.

The rest of the world is still encased in a fog, an abstract mosaic of shapes and colors all around them, but with Kate so close, standing right in front of him, he can see her perfectly.

God, he can't believe he can see her.

He nods, his throat thick with tears, with relief and joy and everything in between. But Kate is surging up into him, siphoning it all from his lips with the seal of hers. He almost forgets all about the wedding, about how they were supposed to wait for this part, but tears are catching on the fingers he uses to cradle her cheeks, her breath short and causing their kiss to fall apart against his lips.

"The surgery worked," she whispers the realization, a whimper threading through her words.

Kate eases a hand between them, dusts the tips of her fingers along one of his eyes, in awe of the change, of him.

"I wanted you to be the first thing," he rasps, snagging her fingers to draw them to his lips, pressing a kiss to each one. "I wanted you to be the first thing I saw again."

"Rick," she chokes, her lips finally spreading into a smile. The most beautiful smile, wow.

She wraps her arms around his neck, fingers submerging in his hair and her chest rising to meet his as she hugs him tightly, fits another kiss to his mouth that has his eyes threatening to fall closed. He can hear his mother weeping, Alexis sniffling at his back, and he knows he's put a big pause on the ceremony, stolen the moment with his resurrected vision, but Kate's lips are smiling beneath his, her joy an overwhelming thing that spreads through them both. He would crash a million weddings, including his own all over again, to feel her happiness so bright and strong, to see it.

Rick brushes his hands down her back, his fingers skating over the delicate embroidery of her mother's dress, and drops his forehead to rest against hers. Her lashes rise, revealing the gold of her gaze once more, and he swears he falls in love with her all over again.

"Hi," he murmurs, watching her lips quirk. He has so much to study, so much to learn, details of her to memorize, but for now, he expels a soft breath, lets his heart swell with her smile.

"Hey," she whispers, stroking her fingers down his cheek. "Wedding's going great so far."

A laugh slips from his mouth. "Kinda crashed it."

Kate shakes her head, the gorgeous line of her throat working with a swallow. "Made it better. You can see, it's - best wedding gift I could want for us, Rick."

He raises his hand to the familiar home of her cheek, but she's curling her fingers at his wrist, kissing his palm - she does that all the time and he always tried to picture the press of her lips to his hand, the cradle of her cheek in his palm, and now, actually being able to see it is so… surreal.

"Alexis. You need to see Alexis, and your mom, and this place," she breathes, drawing back just enough to reach beside him. He tears his eyes away from her, breath snagging in his lungs as Alexis comes into view. Oh, his beautiful baby bird, the girl he remembers as a teenager, is a young adult.

"Told you," Alexis chuckles, watery and soft, and he reluctantly releases Kate so he can drag his daughter into a fierce embrace.

"You're so grown up," he rasps, cradling the back of her head in his palm. He pulls back to cup her face, assess all of the subtle changes his daughter has grown into. Her features matured, her hair shorter, her eyes alight. "But still my little girl."

"Of course," she whispers, the tears beginning to dry in favor of a smile. "Always will be."

His heart threatens to explode, so thoroughly overwhelmed by his daughter, by Kate, by everything and everyone else he has yet to see. But no, no more, enough for now. His wedding, their wedding-

"No pain?" Alexis asks, staring into his eyes with a critical gaze.

"No, no," he assures her, assures them both as he lowers one arm from around Alexis to reach for Kate at his side. "It's just like the doctor explained. Blurry, but I can see up close. And I know we have to call to update him, but - would it be okay if we finished getting married now?"

Alexis grins and one of the boys, Esposito, he thinks, chuckles from the crowd, the sound weaker than he's used to, a little watery. Castle attempts to steal a glimpse of them, of his mother, Lanie and Jenny. But his vision only stretches a few feet out in front of him, everything else still hazy.

"Castle, are you sure you don't want to postpone this for a bit?" Kate murmurs, brushing her knuckles to his bicep.

His gaze swivels back to her. "No, this is - I'm able to see you, see my daughter again, our family. I get to see you in your wedding dress," he breathes, coasting his hand along the side of her bodice.

He accepted a long time ago, when he felt the certainty that he was going to marry Kate Beckett one day, not long after he fell in love with her, that he would never get to see it. That, like with everything else in his life, no matter how important, how worthy the view, he would have to appreciate the experience, her, in other ways - the sound of her laugh, the smell of her hair, the sensation of her smile against his. It was a lovely idea to imagine, the possibility of Kate in a white dress, but he never actually believed he would have the privilege to see it with his own eyes. He won't waste it now.

"I don't want to wait another second, Kate."

He watches her steal a glance at the officiant, the kind man they met with a few weeks ago to discuss the ceremony, waiting in a black pea coat and white scarf, lips in a small curve.

"Whenever you're ready," he offers and Castle takes her hand.

"Never been more ready," he murmurs, squeezing her slim fingers, stroking his thumb to the engagement ring on her fourth.

His surgeon, Malone, told him that the first thing patients tend to notice, to fully appreciate, during those first glimpses of renewed sight are little things like leaves on trees, the details of clothing, the play of light from the sun, but for Castle, he will always look back on this moment and think about how the first thing he fell in immediate awe of with his returned vision is the way Kate looks so openly in love with him.

"Yeah," she whispers, twining her fingers through his. "More than ready to marry you, Castle."

Alexis squeezes both their shoulders and takes a step back, resuming her position alongside Castle and holding Kate's bouquet. The dog nudges at their knees and Castle glances down with a gasp.

"Look at you," he chuckles, reaching down to scratch Benny's head. The black lab remains obedient in his sitting position, but his tail is moving a mile a minute. The small basket holding the wedding rings is still in his mouth, bobbing with the movement. "Not a puppy at all, huh?"

Castle eases the basket from his teeth, extracting the two rings from atop the pillow inside, and sets it down at their feet.

"Good boy, Benny," he murmurs, stroking the dog's fur and adjusting his bowtie before rising with the rings. Benny's mouth falls open, pink tongue hanging out, wearing a smile of his own.

"Always a good boy," Kate confirms, the sound of her voice encouraging Benny to shuffle close, nudge his muzzle to her calf. She grins, scratches behind his ears before Castle shifts to stand in front of her once more, still holding tight to her left hand.

He lets her have the wedding band he'll wear while he carries hers in his palm, lifts it between his fingers to slide onto hers. The officiant gives him a nod and Castle swallows, meets Kate's eyes staring back at him. The woman who inspired him to create a whole new series of novels when he'd given up on ever writing again, the woman who made him believe in love at first sight without ever having to open his eyes.

"Kate," he murmurs, her breathless on his lips, calming the raging storm of his heartbeat. He's memorized his vows, but no words, not even his, will ever be enough for her. "The moment I met you, my life became extraordinary."

Their guests have all migrated inside, the dropping temperatures of nightfall making the reception in a Hamptons mansion all the more appealing, but Castle asks if they can stay outside a little longer. They're still blurry for him, but he wants to see the stars, witness the shift from day to night.

Kate doesn't mind, the two of them standing together on the platform where they said vows and 'I do's, her head on his shoulder and his arms around her keeping her warm.

"We can go inside if you want to," he murmurs, turning away from the night sky to stare at her. Never just a glance or a quick look. When his eyes fall on her, they remain.

"Get used to the creepy staring," he smirked while they were dancing for the first time as husband and wife, swaying to the music playing from his iPhone despite the DJ Alexis hired. That dance, their song, was reserved for them and them alone.

"Already am, you always managed a creepy stare whether you could see or not," she teased, but she arched on her toes to brush the curve of her lips to his cheek anyway, even though he didn't need it now, even though he could now witness her smiling without having to feel it for confirmation.

Kate cranes her neck, feels his smile bloom under the caress of her lips.

"I'm good here," she assures him, resting her head at his jaw.

"Christmas is going to feel really underwhelming after this," he muses, his gaze following the trickle of her fingers along his wrist, the special watch he still wears, probably no longer needs- "Keeping it."

She rolls her eyes, but he steals her hand, draws it to his lips, grazing a kiss along her knuckles.

"It's my favorite Christmas present ever and I still read Braille."

"Mm," she agrees, dragging their hands down to lie against his chest.

"What do you want for Christmas this year?" he asks, curious like a little boy. "I want to get you something amazing so I can actually see your face when you open it, see your reaction. I can't wait to see your reactions to everything we experience."

"I don't want anything," she chuckles, brushing her thumb over the smooth gold of his wedding band. "I have everything. You just became my husband and you have what you wanted most. You're happy and that's all I want."

"What I want most… are you talking about my sight or you?" he asks, quirking his brow. "Because I'd choose you any day."

"Rick," she scolds, but he shakes his head, shifts to lace his arms around her waist and draw her into the cove of his body. She sinks into his embrace, revels in the solid wall of him against her, the warmth of him all around her. It could start snowing and she still wouldn't be cold, not like this.

"No, I'm serious. If there had to be a choice, if the surgery would have been too risky, if I would have had to risk losing you or our family in any way, it wouldn't have been worth it," he explains, his hands squeezing her hips through the gown before spanning the flare of her back. "I knew I might have the chance to see today, but I'd give it up all again just for this, Kate. Just to be here with you."

Kate takes advantages of the extra height her heels allow her, simply having to lean in, steady herself with her hands at his chest, to kiss him. Long, thorough, and unhurried as he curves his palm at her nape, lets the other rest upon her jaw, fingertips skimming her pulse.

"I love you," she whispers, feeling it like fire in her chest. The way she loves him can be overwhelming, but she relishes the burn.

Castle dusts another kiss to her mouth before his forehead is sealing against hers. "I love you too. Because you're what makes me happy."

She sighs, nudges her nose to his, and tries to breathe. He's going to make her cry all over again, just like he did with the vows that wrapped around her heart like the warm embrace he has her in now.

You are the joy in my heart. You're the last person I want to see when I close my eyes, the person I want to feel beside me whether it be in darkness or in light.

"Even if I wake up tomorrow and it's all black again, I'll still be so happy, Kate. More grateful than I've ever been." Her lashes flutter, eyes open and lips parting to tell him to stop, to not even fathom the possibility of losing his reclaimed ability to see, but he isn't done, always has more to say. "Because I know what your smile looks like, how your eyes change colors, how beautiful you are in your mom's dress." He brushes one of the curls cascading along her cheek to sit behind her ear, the tips of his fingers grazing her temple, the slash of her cheek, with the same reverence she fell in love with three years ago. "I don't need to see the world, to see anything else. I got to see you."

Kate cradles his face in her hands like she's done a million times before and strokes her thumbs along his cheekbones. His eyes soften, cerulean and staring back at her, the way they always have when he's looking at her, even when he couldn't see. He may finally have the ability to examine her face with more than touch, to absorb the world around them with his eyes, to experience its beauty, but between them, nothing's changed.

"You always have, Castle."