Kate was miserable. She blamed Ryan and his Chinese take-out leftovers in the precinct fridge. Food poisoning left her nauseous, throwing up, and drained of energy. She alternated between lying on the bathroom floor of the thankfully large master bathroom suite bathroom of the loft, and curled up on her side in their bed. In the middle of the night, after dry heaving left her spent, Rick was comforting her by massaging light circles on her back, a bowl of clear broth nearby.

He watched her with concern, hating to see her suffering – though hearing her swear in Russian sent his imagination off in possibilities they could get into when she wasn't feeling so sick.

"Stop staring. It's creepy." Her voice lacked much vehemence to it. There was even a small smile. It'd been a really long time since she'd had someone care for her so tirelessly when she was feeling this shitty.

He smiled a little. Truth.

He brushed her dark hair back from her face, tracing along her jawline lovingly. Cradling her lightly with his other arm, her helped her sip some soup to replace the fluid loss. On a vibrant Saturday night in New York City, it occurred to him that there was no place he'd rather be.

"I'd do this the rest of our lives if you'll let me," he said softly against her temple.

Her lids fluttered shut, as she muttered back, "What? Watch me puke?" A moment later, her dark eyes popped wide open, disbelieving gaze turned on him from a face pale from illness. "Is that…"

Before she could finish her sentence, he realized he'd picked his moment and committed to it. "Yeah. I want to marry you. I want a family with you. I want to hold you in sickness and in health."

Her breath hitched, and she swallowed, too stunned by his words that the nausea became a distant backdrop for a moment. "You're asking me now?" Her voice hitched.

For once, he didn't have to screw up his courage. He didn't have to stutter over the words. "Yeah, I'm asking you now, because I want to be the one doing this the rest of our lives, pulling your pigtails, caring for you... I can be more explicit. Katherine Beckett, will you let me be your one and done?"

This was working out better than he'd expected. She was in no condition to flee or injure him if she didn't like his proposal. He looked into her eyes, grinning down at her playfully.

After a moment of silence, she laughed weakly, her voice raw and hoarse. "Yes."

It took Kate another two days to feel fully back to herself. She was a little uncomfortable with the rock on her hand, glad to have a much less conspicuous band for being on the job. She was delighted it came from their treasure hunt!

It became a precinct joke that Castle asked her when she was down for the count and too weak to resist his wiles.

She cornered Alexis to find out just what Castle had planned (relieved it didn't involve a hot air balloon, though his plot was still conspicuous) for his original proposal and hatched her own plan.

Kate feigned surprise when he presented her with tickets to Skye Blue's New York City concert.

The singer looked healthier than she had the last time they'd seen her in concert, not long after they'd solved her sister's murder and helped her on the road to recovery from addiction and loss. Her cheeks had lost the despairing hollows, the bags under her eyes gone. Her words in song were still filled with some of the grief and passion of her sister's loss, but an underlying strength gave her voice the extra timbre that reviews raved about. Mid-concert, she paused to narrate the origins of some of her songs and took a moment beneath the spotlights to call out to the crowd, "There are a couple special guests tonight, Kate and Rick. Without them, you would not be hearing this."

Rick stared in surprise at his girlfriend…err…fiancé. He'd thought he known the script for the night, and then abandoned it in favor of the simplicity of a wonderful evening out with his family. Kate looked adorably flustered with color high in her cheeks, and tugged his hand to rise with her to cross to the stage when summoned by Skye. Alexis looked on, clapping with starry eyes. Kate was stunning beneath the lights in a clinging silver dress that he smugly thought highlighted the sparkle from her ring, not to mention her figure. The hand he slid around her waist was proudly proprietary as long as he could get away with it.

Rick waved to the crowd with a performer's ease, surprised again that Kate was handed the mic from Skye. His future wife looked into his eyes, in front of the huge crowd and his family, and asked, "Richard Alexander Rodgers, will you marry me?"

For once, he was dumbfounded, speechless. Her smile was brilliant as she gazed at him, with the kind of luminosity that always struck him, even if she hadn't surprised him like this. He managed, from somewhere, a resounding "Yes", and the crowd exploded when she reached up to take his face between her palms and give him the kind of passionate kiss that made his toes curl. Good natured catcalls followed them as they exited the stage after huge hugs from Skye, and then a tackle from Alexis.

Skye Blue, singing about love, sang to them this night. He leaned into Kate, his arm around her waist, and whispered softly, "Hey, Kate…the song make sense."

The invitations to the wedding were highly coveted. Kate let him talk her into sending out hand drawn invitations that looked like a location map if you folded it in just the right way. She drew the line at making guests think they were abducted by aliens on the drive to the reception site, and waking up in a mysterious location.

On the last weekend of summer before Alexis left for her another year of college, her dad was getting married and his loft was a flurry of activity. She watched his mirror reflection attempt to tie his tie twice before taking over for him with an affectionate, misty smile.

Their wedding day was a quiet, a small civil affair without the hullaballoo that attended his first two marriages. She went for simple and elegant in a slim ivory gown without frills, its beauty in the exquisite tailoring and the way its seams followed her figure. It made her beauty glowingly ethereal. Lanie made a minute adjustment to Kate's hair, pinned up with a gardenia tucked low behind her ear. The only jewelry she wore was her mother's ring around her neck, her engagement ring on her finger, and the enormous diamond studs that were a gift from Martha and Alexis.

Rick and Kate chose to get married without attendants by the mayor in the small but opulent Trustees Room of the New York Public Library. Kate had smiled when she'd arrived that day, remembering the time she arrested him not too far from where they were to be wed, shortly after they'd met and Martha told her where to find him while he was evading arrest. It meant something to them that his old refuge was the site of their wedding. Their 12th precinct friends were there, along with his Gotham city poker crew, their guests seated in concentric circles around them.

He had Alexis walk him down the aisle, his daughter looking far too grown-up in peacock blue iridescent silk. They stood together by Judge Markway, waiting for Kate to appear.

Before they started the long journey down the aisle, Jim Beckett cleared his throat as he leaned in to whisper softly to his daughter, "Your mother would have been really happy to see this." However trite the words, they can never get old. The unshed tears added a luminosity to her eyes as they met Rick's steadfast gaze while she walked down the aisle to meet him.

Alexis relinquished her father in a gesture that curiously mirrored Jim Beckett's handing off of his daughter, and Jim smiled at the redhead and escorted her to their seats beside a dramatically, yet sincerely, misty-eyed Martha.

His vow included a willingness to break her out of jail should the occasion arise, to the puzzlement of many of their guests. Montgomery pantomimed not being able to hear that.

Lanie took pleasure in watching Castle's face, at the awe on it. He felt awed that he got to be standing up there with Katherine Beckett, that she was finally "his" as much as he was hers. In truth, he looked a bit gobsmacked.

Madison's restaurant catered the reception and the food is gastronomic heaven. Madison couldn't resist leaning in to whisper loudly at Kate, as she personally presented the main course with a flourish, "I told you you wanted little Castle babies!"

Somehow it seemed apropo that in the middle of the reception, another thought hit him as he was spinning his new bride on the dancefloor. "I was thinking," he said, leaning in to whisper, "...maybe the therapist knows more than he let on!"

She rolled her eyes, an expression so familiar it just made him grin. "Ryan and Esposito closed the case without us hours ago." He looked so crestfallen that she leaned in to kiss his downturned lower lip. "It's okay," she whispers, her lips playing over the corner of his mouth. "This way we won't be distracted….later…"

The papers, of course, had a field day with their wedding. "Famous author weds his muse in fairytale romance" – it was practically guaranteed to tick Beckett off. Fortunately, she was honeymooning with Castle in Italy. They honeymooned in Italy. He loved showing her Italy, and he saw Italy like he'd never seen it before through her eyes.

Paula had her hands full in New York dealing with the press. Nikki Heat books flew off the shelves, and fan sites were rife with rumors that there was a code that supposedly revealed the love letter embedded throughout the first three books.

Esposito rolled his eyes at that. "You didn't need a damned code to figure that out." He tossed the paper aside, and glances over at the empty desk, with its anally organized paperwork and bins, and the equally empty ridealong chair.

"Hey Ryan, time to roll. Field trip to 34th. I've got a bet with Karpowski that we close at least four cases before Beckett and Castle get back from their honeymoon."

Author's Note:

First, I wish you a very happy new year! :) May all you long for come to pass in the coming year.

Thank you for reading this, for being along with me on the journey, for keeping me motivated in a creative endeavor that has really brought me a great deal of satisfaction. I hope I depicted favorite characters in a way that you enjoyed - it's the whole point of writing.

Any constructive criticism on the overall arc of the story would be great, especially for me to keep in mind as I look to the next one. (I'd also appreciate suggestions on the next one! I'm contemplating turning "Almost" - a one-shot - into a longer story arc as a series of snapshots of holidays/celebrations over the course of a year. I'm open to options. Things you're NOT interested in seeing is good to know too! :)

Thank you thank you thank you.