A/N: Nothing you read here will contain spoilers for anything other than aired episodes.
To Indie, for giving me the prompt, thank you lovely, for your patience, belief and help these last few weeks.
Thank you for reading.
Disclamier : (cos I haven't for a while) : I adore, beyond words, the show. I have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
"You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."
Early September 2014
When she arrives, in the back of a cab that circles slowly, the sun is streaming through the trees, dapples of green reflecting here and there, everywhere around her bathed in the almost silent beauty of the tail end of summer.
There are orange and gold flecks in among the green, twisted up with the browns of bark and twig - the first signs of fall approaching - but not enough that it looks anything other than a warm summer day. And she should be able to enjoy it, but her stomach is in knots.
Kate takes another breath to steady herself, the two before doing nothing at all to calm her racing heart, and she watches the view dart past the window. It doesn't help - this deep breathing she's got going - doesn't soothe or calm her as it should, but she tries again, and again, and though she holds her breath a few seconds longer than she should, it in no way slows her heart's erratic beat.
He asked her to meet him here, of all places, and though Kate tries not to panic, tries to remember the last time they stood here together, the last time they were happy here, she finds herself fidgeting and on edge.
Her eyes dart over the grass before her, the rise and fall of terrain so familiar and though she scans the area with finesse born of years of practice and on the job tactics, right now she doesn't feel like Beckett - kick ass detective - she's just Kate, heart open, lip worrying, fiancee of the sweetest, kindest man.
She knows if she could spot him she'd feel better.
There is no reason to worry or fret, not really, but they have had one hell of a year and it's hard to be apart from him - to be out of the loop. But he asked her to come and she came, of course she came. With the card in her hand, clenched tight between her fingers and a scowl across her forehead leaving her eyes feeling tight and pinched with the strain of it all, Kate holds the paper, turning it over and over again in her unrelenting grip.
The envelope is lilac, she smiles, touches at the soft swirl font of her name and turns it over once more. The paper inside thin, white and delicate, and seeing it sends a pang of something equal parts painful and beautiful through her chest.
The note is simple, bearing only a place name, time and date in Castle's handwriting, so clear and precise that she takes comfort in each word as she traces them one by one with the tip of her finger.
Two words as instruction are written at the bottom and her hands shake a little each time she reaches them.
Meet me?
She sighs a long shaking breath and touches at the question mark that lingers at the end of those two words. Because he knows her and loves her, wants her and he'll wait if she needs him to, all she has to do it say when, say yes.
All she ever had to do was say yes.
So of course, of course she'll meet him.
With her heart in her mouth and her fingers white with anticipation. Of course she'll meet him. And suddenly, as if the ride itself has come as a surprise, she's here, there, where she's supposed to be, as asked, and the cab rolls to a stop, engine still running for a quick getaway. But when Kate leans forward to pay, she startles back as the door opens at her side revealing the very man who requested her presence.
He makes her jump - and laughs at the shocked look she knows breaks across her face - and her hand flutters to her heart in shock, the delicate card she clung to so tightly suddenly forgotten on the seat next to her. A shaft of sunlight streams in through the open door and blinds her for a moment, her hand flying up to shield her face and Kate leans away from the open door.
Slowly, and through rapidly fluttering lashes, the black white blur of summer sun begins to clear and when her eyes finally adjust she takes him in - Castle - standing there with his hand extended for her and ... oh!
Her heart starts to beat a little faster.
No, scratch that, it pounds, it pounds harder and louder and harder still when Castle ducks down so she can see his face, with bright shining eyes and happy smile, and he waggles his fingers demanding that she take his hand.
"Katherine Beckett," he smiles softly, and oh, just his voice alone tells her everything, "I know we tried this once before -" Oh god, she's going to cry and her feet feel like lead and he's wearing a charcoal grey suit with the top buttons of his crisp white shirt popped open the way she likes.
She loves to slip her fingers in against the warmth of his chest, feel the beat of his heart under her touch - the beat almost her own as it permeates her skin - and he knows. The soft and teasing twinkle in his eyes tells her over and over again he knows how much she loves it.
Her hand shakes as it slides against the gentle but insistent press of his palm, their fingers twine and his thumb sweeps the back of her knuckles sending waves of reassurance through her immediately.
The breeze seems to call her out, beckon her from the car and when it takes a second too long for nature's enticement to lure her free, Castle clasps both of her hands in his and pulls her up from the back of the cab.
The sunlight is intense and blinding, making her eyes flare wide and then close rapidly as Kate gasps and for a brief moment - before the golden rays force her into self imposed darkness - Kate catches a white flutter behind him.
Her fingers tighten in his and Castle whispers at her to breathe.
She can still hear the murmur of voices floating around them like foam on an ocean spray, that sweet sound of family, so familiar.
His fingers touch her face and she opens her eyes. They're almost nose to nose, Castle's gaze flitting over her face with more warmth than the sun that streams down over them and a loud, shocked noise - half caught in her throat half expelled in the grip of her fingers when they land on his chest - escapes her mouth.
It's all written there in the lines of his face, his intentions clear and honest, his love a light that shines from within, casting away the shadow of fear and doubt. Kate finds she can't release the strangle hold she has on his collar when he starts to speak. She knows his words are about to floor her once again, take her knees out from under her, and she needs something to hold on to.
Him, she needs him.
His voice is low and his words sound steady, relaxed, confident. He's as sure of her and this and whatever it is he has planned as he has ever been of anything. He's serious in the quiet way that breaks her apart with its single focused intensity. He commands the world to be quiet all around her with just the whisper of her name.
"Kate -" Castle brushes his knuckles across her cheek, curls a strand of hair behind her ear and brings her closer, " - We tried this once before and it was a disaster."
Tears fill her eyes then as the memories of May come at her, hard and fast. But it's not the rush of panic that she swallows down, not remembrance for how what should have been a perfect, sweet, love filled, romantic day turned against them that steals her breath. It's knowledge of why she's here now and what's about to happen that stuns her into a blurry eyed silence.
God, she loves him with so much of herself that if she could give it all over to him right now, all the pieces that make up how and why and exactly how much she loves him, she's not sure there would be anything left.
"But we came through it." Castle promises, swears, reminds her all at once.
She nods, she can do nothing else, tipping into his hand when he wipes away a stray tear, eyes glistening as they watch each other. They wear matching smiles, loving and sweet and he touches at her lips when Kate's start to quiver.
"Stronger."
God, yes, they are stronger for it, for everything they have had to endure. The worry and the fear, the nightmares that came after. They are stronger. Unbreakable.
"Closer."
Yes, yes, she nods, he's right, she couldn't have survived these last few months with anyone else. Kate squeezes him tighter, not afraid he'll disappear but claiming a little, reminding both that as much as she's his, he's hers too. And yes, there is worry as the memories return, but they are fleeting, nothing in face of what they have.
Castle makes everything better.
He always has.
"Together."
"Yes." Kate croaks, both weak and fierce and holding onto him like she will never let go. Because she won't. It's that simple.
"So, Katherine -" he hums at her ear " - Houghton -" his lips light and warm over her cheek " - Beckett -" their smiles meet, even if hers is a little watery, " - will you marry me right here and now? Outside in the park, straightforward and easy, with just the people we love most in the world - staring creepily?"
He turns her slowly, his arm a secure and grounding loop around her waist, his chin dipping down to rest on her shoulder as she surveys the scene beyond. A little group of ten or so gather before them, watching, not a single one of them ashamed to be they do stare, creepily and not so creepily, with bright knowing eyes and mischievous, conspiratorial smiles. With nods and waves and tippy-toed excitement they each let Kate know in their own ways that they were in on the plan.
Her whole family working together.
They let her know that they remember too and this time it will all be okay.
The swings - their swings - creak idly in the wind, the chains on two of them strung through with flowers and she catches sight of petals fluttering as the seats move with the breeze. And slowly, oh so slowly she realizes that everyone is waiting on her.
Her writer, again - and probably always - waiting on her!
"I'm wearing jeans." Kate croaks, ridiculous and shocked and for whatever reason - whatever reason that makes her the luckiest woman in the world - Castle laughs and holds her a little tighter.
His laughter ripples out through their congregation and he plays up to it, squeezing her tight, "Can you never just say 'yes'?"
He grins at her side, his arms wrapping around her and holding her to his chest, the press of his grin into the side of her neck tickling so that she squirms and Castle nudges her attention towards the waiting masses.
She croaks and groans and when she still finds herself lost for words he sighs, rolls his hand over her hip to touch at the denim and hums quietly, "Then they'll have a great view watching you walk down the aisle." He laughs again, a teasing caress making her jump in his arms and her father clear his throat and oh, really? that makes Castle look a little sheepish.
His eyes drop to hers and suddenly she can see that he's nervous and really Castle? as if she's saying no!
He holds her and wraps her up in the warmth of his body until she shivers and tilts into him. Castle moans under his breath, a delighted, sexy sound just for her and her heart thunders in response.
Wow.
Just. Wow.
She doesn't know how he does that, how he goes from sweet and silly, to cute, to sexy, loving, kind and downright delicious, all in mere seconds but she hopes he never stops. Hopes that they will always be this to each other.
Kate stares at him, her eyes roaming and her heart swelling with want and pride and she focuses in on his lips, presses her own together wishing they were his she could feel. A throat clears again - maybe not her dad his time, maybe his mother and okay, okay, they're as bad as each other - and her eyes fly up, a laugh spilling out and the blush to her cheeks chasing her lids as they flutter skyward.
"Will you?" He whispers and she turns, her arms rising up fast as she buries herself in him, kissing him hard and growling "Yes" so loudly the people behind them start to chatter animatedly.
Their excitement is catching and she deepens the kiss, nips at his mouth for his teasing and strokes over his lips gently in greeting. He lifts her off of her feet and sets her back down with a bump, their foreheads tipping into each other and snuffles of laughter shared between them.
Castle's breath scatters out across her cheek, his lips warm and wet as they softly meander over her skin and he hums, sounding delighted with himself as he does. He kisses her, again, once more, light and barely there in the summer sun, breathing the word against her lips.
"Surprise!"