Here's the next instalment. Hope you continue to enjoy Kate's view of Season 4.

Thanks to those of you who've reviewed, I love to hear from you.

Disclaimer: Castle does not belong to me but to ABC & the genius that is Andrew Marlowe.

Chapter 14

'Til Death Do Us Part

Kate had had a very hectic week at work. Their caseload wasn't too bad but they were a man down. Kevin Ryan was on his honeymoon. As she cast her mind back to the previous Sunday, she smiled. Ryan and Jenny had looked so happy and their happiness seemed to be contagious. The more she thought about it, the more she decided that it would be a good idea to record the events of that day and the days immediately leading up to it because she had a suspicion that, at some future date, those few days would prove to have been a major turning point in her life.

I've never seen Kevin looking so happy. He was grinning from ear to ear; not a bit, the nervous bridegroom but a man who couldn't wait to commit himself to the love of his life. A few days earlier, however, things were a little different.

He and Jenny had decided to do a 'cleanse' before their wedding; nothing but water and lime juice. The morning we got the case, Ryan had 'forgotten' his bottle of green slime but Jenny, the ever-caring fiancée, had brought it in for him. They really are so cute together; Kevin said 'nauseating' but no, cute is the right word. I remember the day he proposed. Castle had suggested all these extravagant locations but as it turned out, he asked her to marry him in this very precinct, in front of all his fellow officers (and the screen version of me, sorry Nikki Heat, Natalie Rhodes, but the less said about her, the better). I confess, yes, I had more than a few tears in my eyes and I rather think our resident writer might just have had to wipe the odd one from his eyes, too.

The cleanse didn't seem to be doing Ryan very much good, though. It probably didn't help that his partner had decided that eating donuts right in his face was an entertaining pastime. Castle and I had to break them apart when Ryan finally snapped. We tried to persuade him to drop it but he was determined to see it through. Eventually, however, we managed to get him to eat. We were having a working lunch with boxes and boxes of every Chinese food you could think of (courtesy of Castle, needless to say) when Ryan came in. He took one look at the table and decided to work at his desk. That was it, I'd had enough. I told him it was time to eat; he had the posture of a feral cat. It was the moo shu pork that finally did it and once he started, there was no stopping him. I'm sure Jenny preferred a bridegroom with food inside him rather than the hyper-sensitive guy we'd been working with all week. She seemed happy on the day so it worked out in the end.

At one point, though, we were really worried the wedding wasn't even going to take place.

The case we were working on involved a guy who'd been poisoned and fell, naked, out of an eighth floor window onto a fruit stall. Yeah, I know, messy! The man's life was proving somewhat of a mystery; even I thought we might be dealing with an intelligence operative of some kind; Castle thought he must be Jason Bourne. He had two identities. His name was actually Michael Bailey but he appeared to have been living as Jake Hendricks for at least the last month and his cover id was very convincing. He also had a James Bond-like effect on women. We found a roomful of beautiful women who all claimed to have thought they were his 'one and only'. Who the hell was this guy? He appeared to have a very junior position at Global Twelfth Consolidated and, frankly, I couldn't see the attraction but I guess it takes all sorts.

The truth about the women, as it turned out, was laughable. Bailey and his two mates, Max and Pablo, were a crew; a crew of pick-up artists. When we interviewed them, they explained in great detail how they worked. I must say, it made me wonder what the hell these women were thinking. Pablo even tried it on with me,

"You have some beautiful eyes," was his line.

Seriously, what was that about? Did that really work? As it turned out, no; apparently ninety per cent of the time it fails, which did at least restore my faith in my gender a little. One piece of information we did acquire was that Bailey had kept a ledger in which he recorded all his 'conquests'. That ledger was the thing that we feared would stop the wedding. Castle was browsing through it, fascinated by the photographs of hundreds of women with nicknames, dates and details of the pick-ups. He suddenly stopped, looked very concerned and asked me when Ryan and Jenny started dating. As I recalled, it was around Easter, April 2009. His face fell as he showed me Bailey's entry for May 20th 2009 – Gyrating Jenny.

Castle was certain we needed to tell Ryan. I was equally certain that we shouldn't and that began a very interesting conversation between the two of us. I think my brain must have switched off because I'm not quite sure why this came out of my mouth but my question was,

"Castle, if we were getting married would you want to know about all the guys I've slept with?"

Wait, if we were getting married? Like I said, my brain and mouth didn't seem to be communicating too well but Castle was more concerned about my use of the word 'all'. I couldn't quite believe he had a problem with that after all wasn't he the hotshot, playboy, multi-millionaire writer who signed women's chests at book readings? Could he really be thinking I was a virgin? Surely not? Or was he just hoping, had he put me on some strange, virginal pedestal? But he was still fixated on the word 'all'.

"It's just the word 'all' suggests a lot. How many are we talking, exactly?"

I couldn't quite believe where this conversation was heading but it was turning very entertaining and I had a wry smile as I asked,

"Are you really asking for my number?"

I'd anticipated Castle backing down at that point but I should have known better,

"You show me yours, I'll show you mine."

Now that I did not want to know. I know Castle must have had plenty of women in his time, he's been married twice for a start, but it's something I try not to think about because, honestly, it hurts. Yes, I admit it, it makes me jealous. I couldn't let him see how the thought was affecting me so I knew I had to bring this conversation to a close.

"Men, you all wanna know but you don't wanna know." Yeah, not just men, I accept that. "Listen, every woman has her secrets including Jenny and sometimes, for the sake of a relationship, it's better not to share."

Hope you were listening there, Castle because I wasn't just talking about Jenny and Ryan.

As it turned out, we needn't have worried because Jenny had already told Ryan that she'd been with Bailey after they'd started going out but as they hadn't been exclusive at the time, he wasn't in the least concerned about it. To say we were relieved would be a massive understatement!

The days before the wedding proved to be a major hassle for Esposito. It had been a couple of months since he and Lanie had gone their separate ways but he was horrified to discover that she was bringing a plus one to the event and he spent the next few days trying desperately to find a plus one of his own while also trying to find out who Lanie was taking. I admit to a totally unexpected feeling of jealousy when Ryan mentioned that Castle had also replied with a plus one and when Castle described his date as 'beautiful, intelligent, funny and they way she smiles melts my heart', I suddenly felt slightly nauseous. Thankfully, he went on to say that his date was Alexis. The feeling of relief hit me hard; Alexis, the only woman I'm happy with him talking about that way, unless it was me, of course. Whoa, Kate, calm down! As it turned out, Alexis had a better offer for the day of the wedding, a private Lady Gaga concert with a young man she'd met while shopping with Martha so Castle was left on his own after all.

The case was tied up neatly before the big day. As it turned out, Bailey was into corporate espionage not the James Bond type and he simply got caught out by the wrong woman.

I'd spent hours wandering round the shops with Lanie trying to find the right dress to wear for the wedding. I'd not been to a wedding for quite a few years, excluding Castle's former girlfriend Kyra Blaine's and that didn't really count as we were only invited after solving the murder of the chief bridesmaid and I wanted this to be special. Kevin Ryan is like a brother to me and it just felt as though it was a family wedding. Yes, okay, I admit it, I wanted to look great because Castle was going to be there and I really hoped we'd get some time to dance together at the party.

When he arrived, he looked like a lost puppy, abandoned by his owner. He appeared to be on his own and that was when I learned that for Alexis going to a concert with a teenage boy trumped going to a wedding with her old man. I couldn't help myself then and suggested we could be each other's plus one. Castle jumped at the idea but I was a bit put out by his suggestion that it was the only way to avoid the stigma of the singles table. Hang on a minute, Castle, I've practically asked you to be my date at the wedding and you're only accepting to avoid humiliation? So not cool!

We had a brief word with the bouncing Ryan and Castle told him that he was a lucky man which, knowing Castle's track record when it comes to marriage, surprised me but after Kevin had gone into the church, he surprised me even more when he said,

"You know, I gotta say, I kinda envy him."

Did that really mean he could possibly be open to the idea of getting married again? I'd always assumed and to a considerable extent had been led to believe that Castle was done with the institution. Why does that bother me? Well, I guess every girl has her dreams, even Detective Kate Beckett. I've been a bridesmaid six times and I've always sworn that the next time I'm in the bridal party, I'll be the one in the white dress and maybe, just maybe, I've spent the occasional night dreaming about that day and the tall, ruggedly handsome groom waiting for me at the altar. Oh God, I'm such a sap! Anyway, my reply?

"Well, who knows, Castle, maybe third time's a charm."

"Yeah, could be," he said with a thoughtful smile, "Shall we?" with which he took my arm and led me down the aisle to our places.

I got my wish that evening. In fact, I got far more than I ever dreamed possible. With the exception of one dance with the groom and one with Esposito when I managed to prise him out of Lanie's arms for a few minutes, I spent the whole evening in Castle's arms, dancing the night away. That night, asleep in my bed, the dreams just kept on coming!

Ryan's wedding had awoken so many long-forgotten feelings for Kate. She put the diary aside and thought about them again. Her life was changing; she was changing and for the better, she knew that. She still had a long way to go but she was on the right track now. She wasn't certain of the final destination but she did know that more than anything else, she wanted Castle there on the journey with her.