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Chapter Text

~Detective Kate Beckett~

Knock, knock.

She waited patiently for a moment, mentally steadying herself for what she was about to do. Just as she was starting to consider that it might be a good idea to knock again, the door was opened by a red-haired teenage girl, around 17 years old, who smiled politely at the detective. “Kate. How are you doing?”

“Hi, Alexis. Considering I just broke things off with Josh, I’m actually surprisingly fine”.

“You broke up with your boyfriend? Why?”

“Yes. And I broke up with Josh because he was never around. Because I wasn’t really happy when I was with him. Because I was never really in love with him. That’s why”.

“I see”.

There was silence between the two women for a few moments, while Kate mentally prepared herself for the next stage of her reason for being here. Talking to Castle himself. “Um… Is your father here?” Kate queried.

“Yeah, he’s in his study, working on the next Nikki Heat book. Do you want me to let him know that you’re here?”

“If you wouldn’t mind. There’s something I have to tell him”.

The red-haired teen nodded. “Of course. Why don’t you come in and make yourself comfortable? I’m sure he’ll be out in a minute”.

“That would be good. But first… I have to ask you something. And I want you to give me an honest answer”.

Alexis regarded her curiously. “That depends. What is it you want to know?”

“How would you react if I told you that I was in love with your father? And I mean seriously in love with him”.

Those words caused Alexis to pause and consider her next reply carefully before responding. “Really?”

Kate nodded. “Really, Alexis. I’ve been trying to keep my feelings to myself for a while, trying to tell myself that they were wrong, that I was with Josh, that I loved Josh. But then after the undercover kiss your father and I shared on our last case, I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. I broke up with Josh, and I came here to tell your father that I am in love with him. And that I want to be in a relationship with him. Because in all honesty, I really do”.

“Does he make you happy?” Alexis asked the detective, who grinned at her in reply.

“More than I think he knows”.

“Then I’m happy for you. Both of you. It’s about time the two of you stopped fooling yourselves and actually got together, to be honest”

“I’m glad to hear you’re okay with this. Because I will do everything in my power to make it last. Now, are you going to tell him that I’m here to talk to him, or are you just going to make me stand here all day?”

Alexis laughed again, the sound like music in the quiet air of the loft, then turned and headed for the closed door that led into her father’s office, dimly aware of Beckett heading in the direction of the couch in front of the TV.

~Richard Castle~

The office door opened and a red-headed girl looked in. “Dad”.

The writer glanced up. “Yes?”

“Detective Beckett’s here. She said that there’s something that the two of you really need to talk about”.

“Alright. Thanks for letting me know, Alexis”.

Richard Castle stood, following his daughter out into the lounge. As he stepped through the door of his office, his eyes immediately focused on the young woman curled up on the couch waiting for him, and, not for the first time, he thought about how right it looked for her to be sitting there. She almost looked like she belonged there. “It’s creepy to stare, Castle” she commented without looking, somehow knowing exactly what he was doing.

He chuckled. “Sorry. You just look so comfortable sitting there, that’s all”.

“I am”.

Wordlessly, she shifted into a sitting position and gestured for him to sit down next to her. Once he had done so, she sighed. “Look, about that kiss last night…”

“I know. You never want to talk about it again, right?” Castle interrupted.

Kate shook her head. “No. I do want to talk about it. I want to talk about what it made me realize”.

“And what would that be, then?”

“I broke up with Josh. I liked him, but he just wasn’t what I was looking for. I wasn’t really in love with him like I thought I was”.

Castle placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I really am”.

“Castle, that undercover kiss… I tried to ignore it, but I just couldn’t. It brought everything I feel about you to the surface. When I’m around you, I’m actually happy. I feel like I can relax, and the world doesn’t seem like such a bad place. I feel like I have someone I can face the world with, and I love that feeling. I love you”.

Rick seemed taken aback for a second, though quickly regained his composure. “I love you too, Kate. And I’m not just saying that because it’s what I want you to think. It’s what I want you to know. I am in love with you, and I have been for a while now”.

Speechless, Kate leaned in and pressed her lips against his in a passionate kiss. “You have no clue how long I have wanted to hear those words from you” she whispered.

"And you have no idea how long I have wanted to say them to you, Kate. I am so glad that I finally got the opportunity to tell you".

Kate blushed furiously. "I am too, Rick".

"Get a room, you two".

Alexis threw a pillow at them. Without tearing his blue eyes away from the detective's hazel ones, Rick snatched it out of thin air seconds before it hit them. "I have a room".

Smirking slightly, he got to his feet, extending his hand to the young woman sitting on the couch. "Shall we, Detective?"

She grinned back at him as she took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. "We shall".

And for the first time for what Kate was hoping would become the rest of their lives, Richard Castle led her into his bedroom by their (still) joined hands, closing the door firmly behind them.

Chapter Text

Something was different. Rick was lying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. There was a weight on his chest. No, not on his chest… against it. There was a weight against his chest, one that felt almost like Detective Kate Beckett’s arm. But that couldn’t be right… could it? Kate was with Josh. They had only kissed as a distraction to rescue Ryan and Esposito from Lockwood a few days before. Hadn’t they? “Castle…”

Okay, that was Beckett’s voice. Was he dreaming? Because if he was, it was officially the best dream ever. “Kate?”

Something shifted against him, and suddenly a pair of hazel eyes was staring into his blue ones. The owner of that particular set of eyes had a sleepy smile on her face, and… yeah, that was definitely her arm draped over his chest. “Good morning, Rick”.
Huh. She had just called him Rick. That was something that Kate Beckett very rarely did, and, when she did, it usually meant that she was very, very, annoyed with him. “Am I dreaming?”

She laughed quietly. “Only if I’m dreaming too, which I doubt I am. But, just to be sure…”

She quickly pinched his arm, an action which elicited a quiet gasp from the author. “Yup, definitely not a dream” he muttered, rubbing the same spot with his other hand.

“Told you”

His new girlfriend shifted suddenly, swinging her long legs over her side of the bed and getting to her feet. “Come on, Castle. Breakfast”

He smiled to himself as he got up. He wasn't dreaming after all. He was lucky enough to be able to call Detective Kate Beckett his girlfriend now. And he didn’t think he’d ever been any happier.

~30 minutes later~

“Got any plans for this weekend, Castle?”

Castle looked up from the plate in front of him upon his girlfriend’s query, and paused briefly to consider his response before speaking. “Well, it’s Friday today. I was thinking about going up to the Hamptons for the weekend with Alexis once she gets out of school this afternoon. Just getting out of the city for a couple of days, you know? Since Captain Montgomery did tell all of us to take the rest of the week off after we closed the Lockwood case, why don’t you come up with us?”

Kate thought quickly. The last time she had decided to accept Castle’s invitation to the Hamptons had been just over half a year ago (just after she had broken up with Demming), and he had left with Gina just as she was about to tell him. She was determined not to make the same mistake a second time. “If it’s okay with Alexis, sure”.

“If what’s okay with me?”

Both adults turned to see a red-haired girl standing at the bottom of the stairs, having come down from her room just in time to catch Kate’s last statement. Castle smiled gently at his 17 year old daughter. “I invited Kate to join us in the Hamptons this weekend. If that’s alright with you, anyway”.

Alexis nodded, giving a warm smile back. “Why would it not be? I’ve been kind of hoping this would happen anyway, so it’s fine with me”.

Rick stood, pulling his daughter into a warm embrace as Kate stood, grabbing her jacket from where she had thrown it over the back of the couch the night before. “I’m going to head back to my place. I need to pack a couple of things for this weekend, after all. Pick me up at about 3:30?”

Rick nodded. “Sounds good. See you then, Kate”.

“Bye”

Within moments, she was out the door, closing it softly behind her. Alexis sighed gently. “I like Kate, dad. She’s good for you. Please don’t screw this one up. Don’t let her be another Kyra”.

“I like her too, Alexis. I really, really, do. And I have no intention of doing anything to drive Kate away. I am completely and totally in love with her, and nothing will ever change that”.

~Later that afternoon~

Rick stopped the car outside a large beach house, before turning slightly in his seat to look at the woman in the passenger seat. Kate had fallen into a peaceful sleep about halfway between her apartment and their house in the Hamptons, and Rick hadn’t had the heart to wake her before they got to their destination. Now that they were there, though? Well, that was a completely different matter. He undid his seatbelt, leaning carefully over to gently shake the detective’s shoulder. “Kate”.

She bolted awake almost immediately, and almost reached for her gun before realizing that the three of them were currently in Castle’s car, which was parked on a beautifully-forested driveway outside of a large building. They were completely, totally, safe. “Where are we?”

Alexis, who was sitting behind the older woman, leaned forward, giving Kate as much of a hug as was possible given their current situation. “This is our beach house, Kate. Our home away from home”

“Did I fall asleep on the way up?” Kate queried.

Rick nodded, smiling slightly at his girlfriend if the three of them got out of the car. “You did. We were about halfway between your apartment and here, in fact. I would have woken you up earlier, but you looked so peaceful when you were asleep. It was almost like a weight had suddenly been lifted from your shoulders”.

She smiled back at him. “I suppose you could say that. I guess I’m just happy. Ever since my mother’s death, I’ve basically been… well, I’ve been surviving, but not living, if that makes sense at all. I’ve been so focused on work that I haven’t really had a social life. But then you guys came into my life two years ago, and I felt like all the magic that seemed to disappear when my mother died came rushing back. I feel like there’s less pressure on me now, and like I can actually have both my job and a social life as well. I guess I just wanted to say thank you both for everything you’ve done for me over the past couple of years”.

Both Rick and his daughter hugged the young woman in response. “Always, Kate. You’re pretty much part of our family anyway. All you have to do is ask, remember?”

Kate smiled, shaking her head slightly. “I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway, are we going to stand out here all afternoon, or are we going to actually go inside?”

Rick laughed and, digging his hand into his coat pocket, pulled out a simple silver key. “Let’s go in”.

Striding quickly over to the door, he unlocked it and tapped in the code to disable the alarm system before rejoining his two favorite women in the world. “Why don’t the two of you go into the lounge and relax for a bit while I bring the bags in? Alexis, I’ll put yours in your room, as usual. Kate, do you want to sleep in separate rooms or the same room this weekend?”

She pretended to think about it for a moment. “Same room, Rick”

“Alright then”

Chapter Text

~The next morning~

-POV: Kate Beckett-

Three years ago, if you had told NYPD Detective Kate Beckett that, in the year of her 31st birthday, she would be waking in the arms of her favorite writer, her partner, her boyfriend, in the very fine comfort of his home in the Hamptons, she would probably have arrested you for being insane. But that’s where she was. And in all honesty, all things considered, she didn’t think that there was anywhere that she’d rather be. The corners of her mouth twitched in a smile as she became all too aware of his eyes on her. “It’s creepy to stare, you know”.

He gave a low chuckle, pulling her closer to him so that her head rested on his chest, their right hands intertwined. “Morning”

She twisted in his arms to face him, raising her head so that her hazel eyes were looking into his gorgeous sky-blue ones. “And good morning to you too, Rick”.

Rick tilted his head down to meet hers, pressing his lips against her own. “Did you sleep well?” he queried.

Wrapped in your warm arms? Oh, hell yes. “Incredibly. And how about you?”

“With the woman I love beside me? I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had a better night’s sleep. And I don’t think that there’s a better way to wake up than this” he whispered.

“I second that”.

He smiled slightly. “Good, because after today, I don’t believe that I’ll ever be completely satisfied with waking up any other way again”

She playfully smacked his chest with one hand, and he pretended to wince. “You wound me, Kate”

“Oh, shut up. So, what’s the plan for today?”

“Well, the one thing I really want to do today is spend time with my extraordinary girlfriend. So, how about we get up, get ready, have breakfast (and coffee, of course), watch a movie with Alexis and then go for a walk on the beach?”

She paused to let his suggestion sink in, one thought playing on her mind. What did I ever do to deserve the love and loyalty of someone as amazing as you, Rick? What did the broken NYPD detective, who spent the past 11 years trying so hard to protect herself from getting hurt again that she didn’t notice she’d lost all passion for life, ever do to deserve your love? She mused. “Kate?”

She blinked, broken from her thoughts, and looked up, meeting her boyfriend’s sky-blue eyes. “Are you alright, Kate?” he queried, clearly concerned.

She nodded, forcing the tears back. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think that sounds like a brilliant idea, Rick. Shall we get up, then?”

Without waiting for an answer, she swung her legs over the side of Rick’s bed and made to get up, though was quickly stopped by the writer’s gentle hand on her shoulder. “Kate, please don’t lie and pretend that everything’s fine when we both know it isn’t. You tensed up after I spoke, almost as if something that I said concerned you. Did I say something wrong?”

She shook her head vehemently, and slipped back into the bed, once more pulling the blankets over herself and snuggling into his warm embrace. “No, it wasn’t that. It’s just… every time you call me extraordinary, I wonder what someone as broken as me ever did to earn, or to deserve, the love and the loyalty of someone as amazing as you” she whispered.

Rick leaned in, placing a chaste kiss to the top of her head before giving a response that he had obviously spent a lot of time thinking about. “Kate, you are the most amazing person I have ever met, and I have no idea what I would do without you. You inspire me more than words could ever describe, and, the more I learn about you, the deeper and deeper in love with you I end up falling. Your courage, and the strength of your heart, amazes me more and more every day. You are the most extraordinary person I know, and that will never change. And you never, ever, had to do anything more than be yourself to deserve my loyalty. You’ve had it ever since we started working together”.

New tears, this time of happiness, glistened in the detective’s eyes as her boyfriend’s words registered, and she shifted slightly in his arms so that they were at eye level. “You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that, Rick”.

He smiled at her and pressed his lips to hers in a passionate, though brief, kiss. “I meant every word of it, and I always will. No more self-doubting, alright?”

She nodded in response. “Alright, Rick. I promise”

He smiled at her again. “Good. Now, as much as I wouldn’t mind staying in bed with my gorgeous girlfriend all day, we are going to have to get up sometime soon”.

-Five hours later-

Rick slid open the glass door that separated the main room from the balcony, turning slightly to gesture for his girlfriend to follow him out into the fresh air. The pair crossed the balcony to where two beach chairs sat beside the private swimming pool, facing out towards the ocean, and Rick smiled at her. "I come out here whenever I need to think, or even when I just want to relax. I think that there's just something sort of therapeutic about watching the waves crash against the beach and listening to them hiss as they break apart".

Smiling back at him, she slipped her hand into his, giving it a tight squeeze. "I couldn't agree more".

Chapter Text

Saturday afternoon-

“I was going to say yes, just so you know. That summer”.

Rick looked up from the book that he was reading, raising an eyebrow in curiosity as he met the hazel eyes of his girlfriend, who was sitting on the grass beside him. “Sorry?”

“Last summer. Remember, you invited me to join you up here for the summer?”

Rick nodded slightly, remembering the offer he had extended to her before the case started. “I remember. What do you mean; you were going to say yes? You were still with Demming…”

The detective shook her head fervently. “No. No, Rick, I wasn’t. I broke up with Demming shortly before you left. When I asked to speak to you just before Gina showed up, I wanted to tell you that I had decided to accept your invitation after all. That I had broken up with Tom because of my feelings for you, because I wanted to have a chance at a relationship with you. But instead you walked out of the Precinct with her on your arm, and I felt like my heart was breaking all over again as you left”.

That was when the realization hit the writer. Kate asking to speak with him in the hallway before he left. Kate abruptly changing what she was going to say as Gina walked up to them. The anger and fury that everyone had treated him with upon his return to the Precinct in the fall. But most of all, the pure relief that he knew Kate had felt when he and Gina had broken up. “Kate…”

He reached out and snaked an arm around his girlfriend’s waist, pulling her close to him so that her head was resting on his shoulder, their sides pressed tightly into one another. “I had no idea” he said simply.

She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “I didn’t really expect it to come up. It’s just… I figured that if we’re going to do this, really do this relationship, then we might as well be honest with each other. And why not start with something like that?”.

“If only I had known…”

Kate pressed a tender kiss to her boyfriend’s lips, effectively stopping him in mid-sentence. “You didn’t know. How could you have known, Rick? We both thought that I was happy with Demming, and that I was happy with the way things were currently going. You had no reason whatsoever to know, or even to suspect, that I was going to accept your invitation, alright?”

“But if I had…”

Sighing, she kissed him again, more passionately, conveying all the love she felt for him into the simple press of her lips against his. “Everything could have changed. We could be sitting on the beach of some island paradise, or lazily sipping coffees while sitting on the couch in the loft together. But on the other hand, we didn’t know each other quite as well then as we do now. We might not have been strong enough to make a relationship between the two of us work. But all that’s in the past, Rick. We’re here, together, now, and that’s all that matters. We’re all that matters”.

He smiled, returning the kiss. “You’re absolutely extraordinary, you know that?”

She giggled quietly as he kissed the tip of her nose, which surprised him. As a rule, Kate Beckett never, ever, giggled. Yet she just had. Wow. Their new relationship really had changed something in her.. “So I’ve been told. Anyway, now that I’ve told you something, it’s your turn to tell me the truth about something”.

Though he was slightly nervous about what she was going to ask him to tell her, Rick nodded. “What do you want to know?”

“How you really got into writing” his girlfriend said simply.

Rick sighed in relief. Now that was something he had no problem sharing… “I was ten years old, and my mother and I were in the New York Public Library. She was off doing… who-knows-what… and I was looking for a new book to read, and I met this older man. He was a complete stranger to me, but it was like there was something about him that I could trust. Anyway… he asked me what I was doing, and I told him that I was trying to find something new. He handed me a copy of Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming, and told me to read it. Once I did, that was when I really knew that I wanted to be a writer” he replied.

“No wonder you almost jumped at the chance to take that offer just over a year ago, in that case” Kate mused quietly.

“I guess so. Alright, your turn to answer something”.

“Fine”.

“If I had told you the truth about what happened in the alleyway a couple of days ago, that the kiss was what was really amazing and not the way that you knocked the guard out, how would you have reacted?” he queried quietly.

Almost as if he was afraid of the answer. Kate smiled softly at him. “I might have kissed you again in that ambulance after we saved Ryan and Esposito. And then I might have broken up with Josh sooner”.

She paused briefly to let what she had just said sink in. “Your turn again… Did you ever think about getting married again? They say that the third time’s the charm, after all”.

“To be honest, yes. But I promised myself it would only be with a woman who could see past the millionaire playboy shell and see me, love me, for who I truly am. Ever think about having children?” he replied.

Kate tilted her head thoughtfully, staring up at him with the wide hazel eyes that had always captivated him. “No. At least… Not since my mother died. I could never imagine bringing children into a world where someone’s life can be snatched so abruptly away. But now… I can see myself having children. With the right man. Have you ever thought about having more children?”

“With the right woman. I’d like to believe that that woman, the hypothetical mother of my hypothetical future children, is you, Kate”.

Did he just say that he wants to have children with me someday in the future? Kate thought, a blush slowly tinting her cheeks a light red. Just when she thought she couldn’t fall in love with her boyfriend any more, he had to go and say something like that, and prove her totally wrong. And for some reason, the thought didn’t scare her off as much as it once might have. “And, hypothetically, if I ever have children… I’d want their father to be you” she whispered.

She pressed her lips to his in a searing kiss, then pulled away, getting easily to her feet. “C’mon, Rick. Let’s take this discussion somewhere a little more private…”

Chapter Text

~Monday morning~

The early morning sunlight filtered in through the bedroom window of the apartment, playing lightly across the features of the writer and the younger woman asleep behind him. She muttered something in her sleep, rolling over and burrowing her face into the crook of his neck before sighing contentedly and snuggling into his embrace. A gentle hand brushed a strand of her brown hair away from her eyes, and she opened them slowly, blinking as a chaste kiss was pressed to her forehead. “Good morning, Kate”

Her boyfriend’s voice, still husky from sleep, filled her ears, and she inwardly wondered what other ways she could get his voice to sound like that. “Morning” she whispered back.

“What time is it?”

Kate snatched her phone from the table next to the bed and glanced briefly at it, before cursing. “Shit! It’s 7:15 am, Rick, we have to be at the Precinct in forty-five minutes. We need to get up. Now”

It was at that very moment that her phone rang. Sighing, she slid her finger across the screen and tapped in her 4-digit passcode to unlock it, quickly answering. “Beckett”.

“Beckett, its Esposito. We’ve got a fresh one”.

Kate scowled. “Alright, text me the address. I’ll swing by Castle’s apartment and pick him up on the way and we’ll meet you and Ryan there, alright?”

“Alright, Beckett”.

Esposito hung up, and a minute later Kate’s phone chimed, alerting her to a text message with the address. Beside her, her boyfriend groaned. “Body drop?”

“Yeah. At a rather upscale apartment, it would seem. I’ll take a quick shower if you want to get coffee started?”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t we shower together; save some water?”

~Forty-five minutes later~

The detective and her partner stood side by side in the lavishly decorated apartment, looking down at the body of the lottery winner.

“What have we got?”

Esposito walked over from where he and Ryan had been speaking with a middle-aged man in a dark suit. “The vic’s name is Jay Hixton. He won $117 million in the Florida lottery last year”.

“Looks like he went on quite a spending spree. Typical mistake for someone who just came into money to make” Castle mused.

“Speaking from experience, Castle?” Kate queried.

Rick shrugged. “When I scored my first bestseller back in college, I spent all of the money in six months”.

Turning her attention back to the body, Kate knelt down beside the medical examiner. “What have we got, Lanie?”

“Cause of death was a single gunshot to the chest, time of death was probably somewhere between 11 last night and 2 this morning. Judging by the wound, and the abrasions on his arms which indicate that he fought back, I’d say a struggle ensued and the gun went off, hitting Mr. Hixton in the chest”.

Kate eyed the gun that lay next to the body. “That’s a big gun. It’s too big for that entry wound. This isn’t the murder weapon”.

“Told you she’d spot it first off” Lanie muttered to Esposito, who handed the medical examiner a $1 bill.

Tucking it into her pocket, she shook her head. “The gun that killed Hixton was a 9mm automatic, and the one beside the body is a .357 Magnum”.

Kate looked around the apartment, her gaze stopping on an opened wall safe. “Okay, so maybe the killer forced Hixton, at gunpoint, to open the safe where the .357 was kept, Hixton went for the gun, struggled with the assailant, and was killed when the gun went off”.

Esposito made an observation about the winning lottery ticket which was mounted on a frame on the outer wall of the safe, causing Kate to roll her eyes as Castle asked them what they would do with $100 million. “I’d buy a Ferrari” Esposito responded immediately.

“I have one. Not all they’re cracked up to be”.

“Still a hell of a fast car though”.

“Only as fast as every other car when you’re stuck in rush hour traffic” Castle retorted.

Kate scowled. “This is all very well and good, but can we please get back to the case?” she demanded.

Ryan finished speaking to the middle-aged man in the dark suit and both of them walked over to join the others. “The victim’s butler, Reginald Easley, found the body this morning”.

“How much money was in the safe?” Beckett queried.

The butler spoke quickly and confidently. “$100,000. Mr. Hixton found it reassuring to have so much money close by, having come from a poor background. Lots of people knew that he had so much money. He had a habit of buying everything in sight. No thought to how much money he was flashing around or how dangerous it was to tell people that there was plenty more of it at home”

“In New York, that’s like inviting someone back to your house to kill you” Castle observed.

“Have you ever seen this gun before?” Beckett asked the butler.

The older man shook his head. “Never. But if it helps, the bank bag that contained the $100,000 also included a dye bomb that was set to go off three minutes after it left the apartment”.

Beckett nodded. “That does help. Thank you. Ryan, Esposito, canvas the area for the bag. Mr. Easley, when was the last time you saw your employer?”

As the Irish detective and his partner left to do as she had requested, the butler considered the question. “Last night. He left at around 5pm in order to meet his wife for dinner”.

Beckett raised an eyebrow, and the butler, noting her surprise, hastened to explain. “Mr. Hixton was married with a teenage daughter, but he and his wife were separated. If I might offer an opinion, I think the money might have been the cause of their troubles”.

Beckett nodded. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Easley. Let us know if you think of anything else that we might find useful”.

“Of course”.

As she and Rick exited the apartment and headed for the stairs that led in the direction of the ground floor, Rick sighed thoughtfully. “Back to the Precinct?”

Kate nodded. She’d have to talk to Captain Montgomery to make sure, but she was sure that he’d allow her to keep working with Rick as long as they remained professional. “Back to the Precinct”.

~Captain Montgomery’s office, 30 minutes later~

“Sir? Do you have a moment?”

The Captain glanced up, nodding at the young detective that stood at the open door to his office. “Of course, Detective. What can I do for you?”

“I just thought you deserved to know. After last week’s case, Rick and I… well, we talked things over and revealed how we really felt about each other”.

The Captain’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, so its Rick now, is it?”

Kate tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her blush. “Sometimes. We’re together now. I just wanted to let you know that we are both aware of the rules that mean co-workers cannot have a relationship, but…”

She stopped speaking when Captain Montgomery lifted his hand. “Sir?”

“Detective. The moment you stepped into my office I knew that something was different about you. I’m glad to see that you finally came to your senses regarding your feelings for Castle. Furthermore… as Mr. Castle is not officially employed by the city, and is not technically part of the department, I see no reason to have him, or you, removed from the team or otherwise reassigned. Just be sure to remain professional while at work, alright?”

Kate nodded. “Thank you, sir”.

As she turned to leave, the Captain’s quiet cough caused her to stop and turn to face Montgomery once more. “Yes, Captain?”

The older man smiled. “How about we test the deductive skills of Detectives Ryan and Esposito?”

“What do you suggest?”

“Get Castle in here. I’d like him to hear about this as well”.

“Of course”.

Kate crossed to the door, glancing over to her partner, who was staring, arms crossed, at the murder board. “Castle”.

He looked up instantly, and she gestured. He came running over straight away, and she pulled the door closed behind him. “What’s going on?” Rick queried.

“Firstly, Detective Beckett has informed me of your new relationship. As you are not technically employed by the city, I see no reason to have either of you removed from the team or otherwise reassigned. Just try to keep it professional”.

Rick nodded, accepting this. “Anything else?”

“While I’m sure you’ll want to tell Detectives Ryan and Esposito about your relationship soon, I’d like to propose a little game to test their deductive skills. Act normally, but make occasional gestures towards each other. Slight touches, leaning into each other a bit, the flirtatious banter. See how long it takes them to figure it out for themselves”.

“And if they don’t figure it out by the end of the case?”

Roy smiled. “Well, then, I suppose you’ll just have to tell them, won’t you?”

Kate and Rick glanced at each other briefly before Kate smiled. "Guess so".

Chapter Text

~New Year’s Eve, 2011~

Rick sat back in his chair, staring down at the small black velvet box that rested on the desk just in front of him. He and Kate had been dating for almost an entire year, and his girlfriend, the love of his life, had officially moved in with him and Alexis in late October, just two months earlier. And he’d been thinking about proposing to her for the last five weeks, which was about how long he’d had the ring. “Dad?”

He looked up, smiling slightly at the red-haired girl who had spoken as his daughter stepped into the room. “Hey, Lex”

Her eyes flickered down to the small box on the desk between them. She knew of his plan to propose to Kate, had known for almost as long as he’d actually been planning it, and had in fact helped him to pick out the ring that now sat in the box in front of him. His daughter sank down into the chair across from him, leaning in slightly. “Six hours until midnight. You’ve planned out exactly what you’re going to say when you propose to her, right?” she queried softly.

Rick nodded, gently tapping the screen of his laptop. “I’ve been working on memorizing it for the past three weeks, I’m pretty sure it’s as good as it’s going to get any time soon”

“Thank god for that. Things have been going so well for the two of you this year, especially since she agreed to move in here two months ago. I’d hate for something to mess it up”.

Her father gave her a simple smile before replying. “Me too, Alexis. Me too”.

~Twenty minutes before midnight~

The young detective stood by the window, staring out at the brightly-lit city below their apartment building. Broken from her thoughts by a gentle hand on her shoulder, she glanced up, lips breaking into a soft smile as she met the cobalt eyes of Richard Castle, her boyfriend. “Hey”

“Hi”

His arms slid around her waist, and she leaned slightly back into his embrace, before turning her eyes back to the city that lay just outside of the window in front of them. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” she queried softly.

“Absolutely breath-taking. New York at night is easily the second-most beautiful thing that I’ve ever seen” Rick responded.

His comment surprised her. “What’s the first then?”

“Actually, it’s tied between two things. One is Alexis, especially just after she was born. The other… Is something I’m looking at right now”

She turned in his arms to face him, pausing in surprise when she realized that he was staring at her. “Me?”

He nodded. “Yes. You’re absolutely gorgeous, Kate. I just… you deserve to know that. You’re this extraordinarily beautiful, confident, capable, smart, talented, woman, and I think… I just think I’m lucky to be able to tell you every day how much I love you”.

“No, Rick. I’m the lucky one. And for the record, I’m glad you love me, because I love you too. More than I’ve ever loved anyone else in my life”.

Rick laughed. “Let’s just agree to say that we’re both lucky and leave it at that?”

She giggled in response, pressing a light kiss to his lips. “Deal”.

He cast a quick glance at the clock, noting the time, before turning his attention back to the brunette woman in his embrace. “Ten minutes until midnight. And eleven until it’s officially 2012. You got any resolutions you’re planning to make for the coming year?”

His girlfriend smiled slightly. “I might. What about you?"

“Of course. Hey, do you think we should make our way back over to the others now? They might be wondering what we’re doing”

Of course, he had other reasons for wanting them to make their way back to the others, but his girlfriend (who would hopefully become his fiancée within the next twenty minutes) didn’t need to know that just yet.

~Nine minutes later~

Only a minute to go… Just keep calm, Rick, you can do this… You’ve been together for almost a year now, you’ve even discussed having kids together someday (in fact, that was during your first weekend as a couple after her breakup with Josh), you can handle a simple proposal the writer mused, toying with the small black box in his pocket. He hadn’t let it out of his sight since their New Year’s Eve party had begun, and he wasn’t intending to do so until the ring was securely on his girlfriend’s finger where it belonged. “Kate?”

His girlfriend turned slightly, her hazel eyes meeting his blue ones. "Yes, Rick?”

Rick took a deep breath before speaking again. “The past few years, ever since I met you, have been absolutely amazing. I just want you to know that”.

Kate gave him a puzzled look. “Okay…”

Rick smiled, taking her hand in his. “You know, the point of New Year’s Eve is that it sets the tone for the coming year. So at midnight, you kiss the person you want to spend the rest of the year with. I want to do something more though”.

She was curious now, despite any attempts she might make to hide it. “Oh?”

His eyes flickered down to her lips, then back up. “I want to kiss the person I want to spend the rest of my life with” he whispered.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized exactly what he meant, and she smiled softly at him. “Then perhaps you should” she replied gently.

Four.

“I’d be delighted to”.

His arms suddenly slid around her waist, pulling her closer into his embrace.

Zero. Suddenly, he leaned in, his lips pressing softly against hers as cries of “Happy New Year” filled the loft. As they parted, resting their foreheads against each other, Rick reached into his pocket with one hand, closing it around the box and preparing to reveal it. “Katherine Houghton Beckett. There are no words to describe how much I love you. You and Alexis have been the most important things in my life for a long time now, and I want to make sure of that for a long time to come. You are my inspiration when I need you the most, my biggest fan, and yet my biggest critic as well, and you do it all so well. I guess what I’m trying to ask you is…”

He paused, pulling the box from his pocket and opening it to reveal the simple diamond engagement ring inside it. “Kate, will you marry me?”

Tears of joy streamed down her face, and she nodded wordlessly, leaning into him further and pressing her lips against her new fiancé’s in a tender kiss. As soon as she regained her voice, she smiled softly at him. “Yes, Richard Castle. Yes. Of course I will marry you”.