Three:

Two hours later, she and Rick were exchanging vows in one of the more expensive wedding chapels in the city, complete with minister, flowers, and photographic documentation of the event. While New York is billed as the city that never sleeps, Kate was sure that Las Vegas wrote the book. Where else could one obtain a fitted wedding dress and set of rings in ninety minutes? All that was required were those four magic words. Cost is no object.

Lanie stood beside her in her own gown unable to suppress her smug smile. She was happy for her friend and glad that her efforts were not wasted. The others waiting their turn, cheered as Rick and Kate were introduced as husband and wife for the first time. A quick limo ride and they were back at the hotel and anxious to consummate their vows.

Deciding that a celebratory drink was in order, the three headed for the nearest hotel lounge and Rick ordered champagne for everyone there. Those in the pub style bar cheered and toasted the couple at Lanie's prompting. It was while they were enjoying their drinks that Lanie explains the whole plot to get the two of them together. Kate's initial shock that not only her best friend, but also Rick's ex had plotted to get them together turned to gratitude. Rick took the news well, grateful that regardless of why, Gina wanted him to be happy.

Between the exhaustion, the anxiety and the alcohol the three soon decided that it was time for bed, although two of them had no intention of sleeping. They exchanged hugs and kisses and Rick promised Lanie a special thank you for bringing Kate to him. She gives him a playful jab in the arm and replies. "Well, you know they say diamonds are a girl's best friend..." She chuckles as she gets on the elevator to her floor.

The new couple walk to the express elevators that serve the penthouses and Rick keys in the code. The door opens, the two step inside and into each other's arms before the doors close. The kiss was gentle and loving as Rick looks into the most beautiful pair of eyes he had ever seen. "Mrs Castle." He remarks as his lips begin a string of kisses along her neck, making her shudder in response.

Not to be outdone, she returns the favor, while replying. "Mr Beckett." The doors open and he scoops her into his arms and carries her into the penthouse. He doesn't stop until he sits her gently down on the king sized bed. The enormity of it all hits her and she begins to cry. 24 hours ago, hell, 4 hours ago she was sure that she had lost her one shot at happiness.

Rick sees his bride crying and immediately assumes that she is having second thoughts and stops taking off his jacket. Kate sees the look on his face changing and calls out. "I'm not crying because I have regrets babe. I'm crying because you have made me so happy."

The smile that appears on his face in response lights up the room as he tosses his jacket on the chair near the bed and toes off his shoes. He climbs up onto the bed and begins to kiss the tears from her cheeks. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, thanks to you." The two begin the process of slowing removing each other's clothing and learning what making love truly meant, three times...

X-X-X-X

Kate walks back into the bedroom and sees the wedding dress along with her underwear scattered on the floor at the end of the bed and all of the memories of the night before came flooding back. She was married. Mrs Richard Castle. Where was her husband?

As she began to let her imagination run roughshod, sure that he had came to his senses and realized what a mistake he had made, the elevator doors opened and he appears, two large to-go cups in hand. "You wouldn't believe how many places I had to go to..." Rick sees her standing in the bedroom, wrapped in a sheet and stares in awe. The light shining through the windows bathing her in an ethereal glow. He was certain at that moment he had never seen a woman as beautiful in his life.

She sees his reaction and offers a shy smile as regains his composure and closes the distance between them. Extending his arm with her coffee in it he offers. "Here, thought you might need this..." She takes the proffered cup into her hand and mouths 'thank you'.

Sitting down on the bed, she brings the cup to her lips and takes a sip. Kate smiles as she tastes the offering, finding that it was very close to the ones he brought her in New York. He sits down beside her and takes a sip from his own cup. She can sense that he is nervous, which brings back her own anxiety, afraid that he's made a huge mistake.

The silence is deafening until Kate finally breaks it with. "So it wasn't a dream..."

The look of relief on his face seems to make her fears fade away as he replies. "If it was, don't ever wake me. You were right, I had no idea."

The sincerity in his words makes her love him even more and she inquires. "So no regrets?"

Rick shakes his head, but then counters. "You?"

"Only one. That we didn't do this sooner, before I nearly lost you." Kate replies as he wraps her in his arms, holding her tightly.

Taking the cup from her hand, he sits it, along with his own on the nightstand before remarking. "Well, we certainly have a lot to make up for then don't we?" He gives her a lopsided smile and waggles his eyebrows, making her laugh as he lays her down and pulls the sheet away.

X-X-X-X

It was nearly dark out when they finally decided that they needed food. They had attempted to leave earlier, but that plan was quickly scrapped by the shower they decided to take together. Kate had never considered something as simple as washing her hair as foreplay, but the way that Rick did it quickly led to round whatever. She had lost count by now.

They both check their phones for the first time since they returned to the room as husband and wife, finding that both had their inboxes full of voicemails. Rick's were from seemingly every person that had his number, except Kate. The most were from Alexis who sounded more desperate for him to return her call.

Unbeknownst to the newlyweds, TMZ had obtained a 15 second cellphone video clip from one of the other couples waiting to tie the knot at the wedding chapel. Although the video was of poor quality, it clearly showed the first kiss and the minister introducing them as husband and wife. While the TMZ story got little traction in the majority of the country, in New York it took off like wildfire, especially after the article aired on Page 6 the previous day.

The look on Kate's face as she listened to her messages morphs from happiness, to shock, and finally anger. Somehow, several of the media outlets had gotten her cellphone number and were requesting interviews, or to comment on stories already circulating.

Rick looks at Kate and offers. "I really need to speak to Alexis..."

Kate nods in understanding and replies. "Lanie's left me a half dozen messages, each one sounding more urgent than the last." He walks into the living room, leaving her to speak in private as he speed dials Alexis.

"Hey pumpkin, sorry for not calling earlier. I forgot that I turned my ringer off." He offers, trying to keep his tone jovial.

"I've been trying to get ahold of you for hours. Have you been under a rock for the last eight hours? It's everywhere dad!" His daughter lets him know in no uncertain terms that she is angry and very upset. "Is it true? Did you really run off to Vegas and marry the detective?"

The last thing he expected was having to defend his decision to marry Kate to his daughter. Gina and Paula, yes, but not Alexis. "I didn't run off to Vegas to marry Kate. In fact, I was going to spend the weekend here before heading to Los Angeles to help on the Nikki Heat movie. She shows up here to my surprise and."

"You marry her!" The redhead finishes his statement. "Didn't she have a boyfriend? At least that's what the story on Page 6 said..."

"What are you talking about? And how did you find out about my marriage anyway?" Rick inquires, nonplussed to be on the defensive.

"TMZ has a video of the two of you kissing and being introduced as husband and wife. The local media is having a field day with it, convinced that it's nothing more than publicity stunt to counteract the reaction to the Page 6 picture of the detective kissing her boyfriend in the precinct."

Rick is stunned by the revelation. While he cared little about the video, the page 6 story and picture of Kate and Tom kissing was hard to ignore. He was also keenly aware of how much she valued her privacy and wondered if she knew.

She was receiving the same news from Lanie as Rick spoke to Alexis. She owed her best friend big time for everything she did, especially after learning how Lanie had spent the better part of the day trying to do damage control with Gina and Paula.

Lanie was actually surprised that Kate took the news as well as she did, considering her friend's fear of the public eye. That was until she asks. "Who's Rogan O'Leary?"

It was as if every ounce of blood drained from her face. Rogan was her most embarrassing reminder of her foolish behavior during her 'Rebel Beks' phase. It was 1998. She was a twenty year old, entering her junior year at Stanford and still being the rebellious K-Beks, with her dyed black hair, biker jacket, and her Emo makeup. Rogan was the bass player for a band that regularly played at one of the off campus bars she and her friend's frequented.

Something about his look and attitude appealed to her and the two began seeing each other the next two months. With Thanksgiving approaching, Kate was supposed to fly home to celebrate the holiday, but instead lied about needing to stay and study. She and Rogan decided to spend the holiday in Vegas. After a night of excessive drinking, Rogan suggests that they visit one of the wedding chapels and tie the knot. Thinking that it was nothing more than a joke, she agrees, deciding it will be good for a laugh later.

It wasn't.

A week after their return to Stanford, Kate catches Rogan with another girl and ends the relationship. Upon her return to New York for the Christmas holidays, she is confronted by Johanna for her lie, as the credit card bill had arrived, proving that she had been in Las Vegas. Needless to say, things between the two of them were strained the entire time. Until that cold January night in 1999 when the two NYPD detectives showed up at their door, telling her father that her mother had been murdered.

Her dreams of becoming the youngest Supreme Court justice died that night as well. She transferred to NYU and applied at the police academy. It was after she completed her training and was filling out her insurance beneficiary information that she learns that her marriage to Rogan was real. He had listed her as his spouse on a worker's compensation claim he had filed a few months earlier.

Stunned and embarrassed by the news, she then had to reveal the whole story to her father and ask for his legal help. By this time, he had begun his descent into the bottle and did not try to mask his disappointment in her actions. Still, he helped her with the divorce and she wrote the whole episode off as a foolish act of youth.

Until now.

The worst part wasn't that she had gotten married as a drunken 'goof'. No, the worst part was how she had judged Rick because of his two failed marriages, assuming that he was the one at fault. The hypocrisy of her 'I'm a one and done girl' remark to him had her wondering how she could face him now that it was sure to be made public.

Rather than have to tell the whole sordid story twice, she tells Lanie to meet her in the lobby in twenty minutes and she would explain it all over dinner. Knowing that whatever it is must be bad, she agrees and the call ends. Opening her travel bag, she pulls out a pair of jeans and top as she can hear Rick still talking to his daughter in the other room. By the time he returns to the room, she is dressed and sitting on the bed.

He takes one look at her sitting there and immediately his senses go on high alert. He knew her 'tells' well enough now to know that she had something she wanted to say to him. Something she was sure would upset him. Given everything that had happened in the last few days, he couldn't imagine what it could be.

"What's the matter?" He calmly inquires as he slips on his shoes.

"I told Lanie to meet us in the lobby. I figure that I can tell you both at the same time and only have to do it once..." Kate replies as she rises to her feet.

Rick can tell that whatever she has to say is something she is ashamed about and decides that it would be better to wait rather than force the issue. He simply nods and follows her to the elevator. They begin their rapid descent in silence, until she asks. "How did Alexis take the news?"

The elevator slows as they near the lobby and he replies. "Better than I thought." He can see from Kate's posture stiffening, that she has misread his remark. "No, it's not the though of you and I getting married that bothered her. It's the way she found out through the media and not from me. After I explained that by the time we were married it was nearly 4 in the morning in New York and that it wasn't the type of news that you leave a voicemail about, she seemed to understand."

His remark seems to calm her a little as he slips an arm around her waist, giving her a reassuring squeeze as the exit the elevator and make their way into the busy hotel lobby. The easily recognizable sound of Lanie's voice calling out to Kate has them stopping and reversing the direction they were heading. Rick releases his hold on Kate as she closes the distance between she and her best friend.

The two women hug and Lanie makes a remark about how tired Kate looks, giving her a smirk and a knowing wink. Kate gives her a mock frown which results in both women laughing. Rick looks on with a smile of his own, happy for the two.

"I'm starving. You're buying dinner right?" Lanie asks, already knowing the answer. Rick smiles and the three head for the steakhouse that was there. A quick flash of his Penthouse keycard to the young hostess and they were immediately taken to the tables reserved for VIPs and high rollers.

One look at the menu has Lanie gasping and Rick chuckling at her antics. "Geez Castle, I thought food prices were high in New York! I could eat a week for what they want for the entree alone."

The waiter stops to take their drink orders as the three make small talk about anything other than the events of the last 48 hours. Drinks served, the conversation begins to veer towards the inevitable. Kate decides that she might as well get it over with and proceeds to reveal the whole embarrassing story of her other Vegas wedding.

Lanie was stunned speechless by Kate's revelation, which was never a good sign. The women look at Rick, who has not made a sound since she started her story. "Please say something Rick! I know I should have mentioned this, but it wasn't something that I was proud of..."

Rick starts to speak, but is interrupted by the waiter coming to take their meal orders. The three order their meals and the waiter quickly moves away, leaving two anxious women waiting to hear his response. Now her waiting until they were in a public setting and with Lanie present before she drops a bombshell like this makes sense. He went through a gauntlet of emotions as she told her story. He understood why she would keep something like this a secret as he had done a few stupid things in his time while under the influence. Things like riding a police horse through Central Park, nude. He wished that she would have told him beforehand. It wouldn't have changed his mind regarding marrying her, but he would have definitely chosen another location.

The longer he sits there, the less hope she feels that this will have a happy ending. He finally breaks his silence. "What do you think of a real wedding ceremony at my house in the Hamptons on the 4th of July weekend? You know, one where we can invite all of our family and friends... While I may not be your first husband, I expect to be your last, and you, mine."

Kate practically jumps from her chair, throwing her arms around his neck and peppering his cheeks with kisses. "I love you Richard Castle! More than I ever thought was possible and yes, I would love to marry you again in front of our friends and family." She then turns to look at Lanie who had an equally large smile on her face. "See, it was a good thing we got you a nice dress because I expect you to be my maid of honor, again."

She then turns back to Rick and plants a kiss on his lips that has Lanie blushing before pressing her lips to his ear and whispering. "We should get plenty of practice in to be ready for our next wedding night..."

End. (for now)

AN: I started an epilogue that, much like this story grew into something bigger. Depending on where the story takes me, it might be two parts, or possibly a sequel. For now, let's call this one done.