"Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips ..."

April 2014

"Are we really doing this?" She whispers, as Castle dips her low his eyes dancing and his focus drifting as his head bops along with the music.

"Yup."

"This isn't even our song." Kate grumbles and Castle pulls her upright, shrugging.

"That is not the point, Katherine." Martha berates and Castle snickers when his kick-ass detective suddenly looks sheepish, told off by his mother. Kate waits until Martha turns the other way, poking her tongue out at the retreating woman and jabbing her elbow into Castle's side so he yelps.

"What was that?" Martha asks, turning back to the poised pair with narrowed eyes.

"Dainty light-foot over here stubbed his toe." Kate smiles back sweetly turning her evil eyes on Castle when he opens his mouth to contradict her. He flinches, backs down and the balance restores itself as Kate breathes a sigh of relief.

"The wedding is fast approaching, children, and people will want a show." She waves her hands with a flourish and Kate smiles - tries to anyway - and lets Martha redirect the conversation. "It's not just about the vows and the first dance. It's about panache and showmanship, it's about wowing your audience -"

"Audience?"

"Congregation - whomever they may be." She waves her hand, dismissing them both and turning to an imaginary crowd of admirers, throwing her arms up wide, "It's about the pageantry."

"I thought it was about declaring your love." Kate points out, smiling at Castle when he turns to flash her with a wide grin.

"That, darling, goes without saying. For you two it's all about love and happily ever after. For the rest of us it's a long day. We want a little excitement." Martha smiles sweetly, pushing them closer together and waving her hand for them to try again. "We want a show!"

She spins on the spot with a flourish only to turn back to the writer and his detective before they expect, catching them in the middle of either poking each other or mocking her. She glares until Kate goes a little pink in the face, biting down on her lip, her eyes dropping. Her son looks neither contrite nor ashamed, but he does look happy and she couldn't really ask for more than that.

"The first kiss as man and wife is -" She waves her hands, gyrates with excitement, "It's the grand finale for the ceremony and it needs to be spectacular."

"Couldn't we just wing it?" Castle shrugs.

"Wing it?" Martha yelps.

"Ach." Kate turns to face him, her hands falling to her hips, "You want to 'wing' our first official married people kiss? Really?"

Castle jumps, tilting to the left, shocked by her sudden change in opinion, no longer at his side mocking his mother now, Kate is firmly on Team Martha. Scary theatrical kisses and all.

When his mother turns her back on them for a moment Castle points in confusion and raises his hands in a what the hell, Beckett? gesture that makes her smirk.

Kate points and mouths "Mother in law" and shrugs like she has no choice, schooling her face immediately when Martha comes back to them.

His eyes flick back and forth between his mother and his fiancee, confused and sensing safety in neither direction he wings this response too. Castle sidesteps and aims for the nearest chair to rest his aching feet, and both women round on him, their stances scarily similar as they approach him and force him to walk backwards into the couch instead.

"We are not winging our first kiss." Kate growls, "I am only doing this once, Castle." He can see the flicker of amusement in her eyes. There is a lot of bedroom voice in the Beckett making demands of him. Oh, well, that he can get on board with!

"Really Richard, all the years you spent watching me on the stage, where is your sense of the theatric?"

"It ran away." He pouts, getting no sympathy as they proceed as if he has too.

Kate turns to Martha, leaving her intense gaze lingering over him for a few seconds before she begins to plan. Kate claps her hands together loudly, grinning when Castle jumps, "So what were you thinking?"

Martha smiles, "Well the classic dip and tilt would work well depending on how you wear your hair." Martha reaches for a strand and twines it around her finger, laying it over Kate's shoulder and setting her fingers into a square, stepping back and looking at her through an imagined camera lens.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Kate?"

"With your cheekbones I can't see any style being a problem." Martha smiles,"Hmm, but the dress might be an issue."

"Mother?" Castle tries again.

"How so?"

"Woman I plan to marry?"

"Obviously, if he cups your cheeks with both hands we won't see your faces for photographs. But too planned and it will look staged."

"If you actually need a groom for this whole thing?" He shrugs to himself.

"Ugh, no." Kate grimaces, oblivious to Castle's startled reaction and unaware of the hand he lays over his heart in relief when he realizes she wasn't talking to him so much as panicking about staged kisses.

"No, we wouldn't want that would we." Castle grumbles, mocking her under his breath. He'd do it louder but he doesn't really want to get in trouble, just get her attention and he tries again, this time calling, "Kate."

Ignoring him the two women forge ahead. "I think the best scenario would be for the two of you to act out a few kisses and we can pick which one would work best on the day."

"Mother, Beckett" Castle yells, finally getting their attention, "We got this!"

He steps in, and spins Kate into his arms. With one hand low on her hip, the other settling gently against the long line of her throat, three fingers slipping to trail her hair line without actually parting the strands, his thumb sweeping low on her cheek and just missing her lips. He holds her eyes for a long, slow second before moving in closer.

Her arms rise up and fall to cover the beat of his heart, fingertips curling in his shirt. Her eyes flutter shut when their noses touch and lips skim each other, mouths skating in chaste greeting before Castle moves in and deepens the kiss. He tilts her back the tiniest amount and Kate groans quietly, opening to him, sighing into the kiss and fisting her fingers in his shirt so that he can't pull away.

The lazy, familiar perusal of her mouth leaves Kate pushing up onto her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and swallowing down his rumble of enjoyment.

They pull apart, breathing hard and Kate laughs, breathless and stained pink with love and happiness. "Told you we got this." Castle grins, twisting himself closer, touching her face.

"Works for me." Kate agrees, tipping herself into his arms, foreheads touching as she brushes her fingers over her still tingling lips. She pushes in close for another kiss, just like that, her blood buzzing with it warmly.

Behind them Martha claps her hands together in excitement and lets loose a bubbling laugh, "Now we got a show."