A.N. I know. It has been forever since I updated this story. You probably thought it was abandoned. But, fear not. I am back at it. I've spent most of the last two years writing unpublished Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, and West Wing fanfiction. But I want to finish this, my last Castle story. And I will. I'm going to spend the next month getting it done.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle. If I did, TV would be better these days.

Chapter Six

February 24 1999

"Rick, can we talk?" Kate asked. She had just arrived at his apartment after calling and asking him if she could come over for a bit to hang out. Rick had seemed distracted, but she thought nothing of it. He often got in the groove on writing his next book, so she wasn't too worried about not having his whole attention.

Kate had decided that she needed to finally figure out what was holding Rick back from taking their relationship to the next level. They were both virgins, so she didn't think he was shy. She didn't know anything about having sex either, so they would learn together. She wasn't expecting their first time to be great, but it would be special.

She was ready.

But there was something that was holding him back. Every time they made out and were suitably alone, Kate thought that it would lead to them finally going the distance. But he always pulled back at the last minute. The last time it had happened, Kate had even had her shirt off. He was enthusiastic enough seeing her in a bra, and had even bravely put his hands on her tits, but then her had slowed her down.

Kate honestly wasn't sure what to expect.

"Sure, Kate. What's up?" Rick asked, leading her into the small dining room/kitchen space. Despite being a published author, Rick still lived in a small one bedroom apartment that wasn't really all that much bigger than her dorm room back at Stanford. Kate had asked him once why he hadn't moved somewhere bigger, and he had just shrugged it off. She knew that he had made quite a bit of money from his first novel and the signing bonus for his second, so she was a bit confused as to why he still lived in a dump.

Kate sat down on the rickety wooden chair at hid 'dining room' table and took a deep breath. He was her soulmate. He wasn't going to break up with her just for bringing up a sensitive topic. Hopefully.

"Kate?" Rick asked when she was silent for too long.

Kate looked away, then back at him, and then away again. Then she blurted out, "Why won't you have sex with me?!"

Rick looked at her with wide eyes. "What?" He asked, drawing out the word. He looked adorable when he was confused, but Kate wasn't going to think about that.

She took a deep breath and then asked again, "Why won't you have sex with me."

Rick blushed and looked away.

"I mean, do you think I'm ugly or maybe you think I'm not into you or something? Rick, what's going on?" Kate could hear herself getting desperate, but honestly every other part of their relationship was amazing. She couldn't figure out what was holding him back on this issue.

Rick sighed.

"Rick? You can tell me anything, you know? I know you…" Kate blushed. "You've never done it before. But neither have I. When we first met you said we'd learn together, but every time we get close, you back off."

"I know," Rick said, finally speaking for the first time.

"So, what's stopping you."

"I…" Rick ran a hand through his hair and then looked directly at her. "I want to get married."

Kate stared at him in shock. "Wait. What?"

Rick laughed, though it didn't have much humor in it. "I want to get married. To you. You know, before, we, you know."

"You want to wait until we get married to have sex for the first time."

"I know, it's stupid, and I should have said something. I don't even know why I have it in my head. Some stupid romantic notion or something. It's one of the reasons why I just never wanted to have sex with someone else. When I first got published, there were a ton of opportunities, but I just knew I only wanted my soulmate."

Kate looked away. This wasn't what she had expected. In a way, it was sweet. He wanted their first time together to be on their wedding night.

On the other hand, she was horny as fuck, and she really didn't want to wait. Kate turned back to him.

"Then let's get married."

"Wait. What?"

-:::-

February 25 1999

"Wait. What?" Johanna Beckett asked. Kate smirked. Honestly the last day had been madness. She had gone into her conversation with Rick, expecting his reservations to be about some insecurity, something that she could easily help him work past. She had even taken the day away from her parents so that they could spend some time in his bedroom. – She had ended up in his bedroom. But it was just for sleeping.

But then, Rick had dropped his bombshell, and she had decided that waiting was dumb. Kate knew she was being reckless.

No. She was not marrying Rick just because she wanted to have sex with him.

Well. Not only because she wanted to have sex with him.

Kate knew without a doubt – and had pretty much since the world gained its color – that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Sure, she had decided right away that she didn't want to get married until she finished school, but really, her mother was right.

Dammit.

Life was too short, and there was really no reason not to get married. Not if both of them wanted it. And they did.

"Can you run that past me again, Katie?" Johanna said.

"Rick and I are getting married. This summer. Before I go back to school in the fall."

"I thought that you wanted to wait?" Her father asked, his face neutral.

"We did. But we changed our minds."

"And why did you do that?" Johanna asked, her lips twitching.

Kate rolled her eyes. She knew what her mom was doing. Johanna wanted Kate to admit that she had been right all along about them not waiting to get married.

"You were right," Kate said through gritted teeth, knowing that it was best to just get it out of the way. If she drew it out, it would only make her mother happier about being right.

"Ha! I told you so!" Johanna squealed out, hitting Jim's arm enthusiastically.

Kate rolled her eyes again and flopped down on the sofa next to her mom. Johanna was now well on her way to being completely healed from the attack. The doctors said another month and she would be very close to being back to where she was. Kate was happy. The last month had been hard. Her mother was not a good patient. Like, not at all. She complained, and refused to take her meds, and then was mean about it when the pain got to be too much.

Kate knew that she was exactly the same when she was in pain, so she tried to have patience when dealing with her recovering mother. Tried. Often failed. But definitely tried.

"So, this summer, eh?" Johanna asked when she had calmed down. "Do you have a date?"

"No. We need a venue. It doesn't need to be huge. It's just going to be family and a few friends."

"Even though Rick is famous?"

Kate laughed. "He's only famous in his own mind. Even if he gets his next novel done by then, it won't be out. And while his first book did well, he's not going to gain a lot of attention just because he gets married to his soulmate. It's another good reason to do this now. He's going to be famous soon, and I really don't want the attention being taken away from the wedding."

"Well then, we best get planning."

"That's my queue to leave. Congratulations, Katie," Her father said, standing up and then placing a kiss on her forehead. "You and Rick remind me so much of your mom and I. I can't express how happy it makes me that you've found each other. Don't let you mom get too excited with her plans."

With that, the traitor walked away, leaving Kate alone with her mom whose smile was way too big. Scarily big, really.

Kate sighed. Maybe she and Rick should elope.