Hey guys! First of all, thank you all for the amazing feedback on last chapter, and truly on every chapter! I'm extremely grateful for your support, I have never dared to imagine that this story would have such success. You guys made it possible with your nice and encouraging words, on some chapters I really don't know what I would have done without you… The knowledge that you like and enjoy the story and that you are waiting for the next chapter, curious to find out the story I wanted to tell… It was overwhelming and incredible and unbelievable at the same time and I can't even express my gratitude! Wow, I'm getting all kinds of emotional about posting the last chapter of this fanfiction…
Anyways, thanks to everyone who read this story, put it (or me) into favorites or on alerts, reviewed anonymously or with a name, I hope you know it means the world to me! :)
Now, onto the epilogue, I really hope you will enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Still after 25 chapters and two years of complete adoration towards this show and the cast and crew, I don't own it…

Epilogue

"Rick! Rick wake up!" he heard a familiar murmur cut through the haze of his dream. She sounded urgent and there was a sparkle of tension in her voice that made him open his eyes instead of pulling the blanket over his head and going back to sleep.

He blinked until his eyes got used to the darkness around him and these few moments were enough for his brain to wake up fully and be able to think. He looked to his right and saw her sitting on the edge of the bed with her legs dangling off at the side. She was looking down at her hands that rested on her slight baby bump. Castle's heart still started racing when he remembered that this woman was pregnant with his child. His baby. They were going to have a baby together!
"Kate, what is it? Are you all right?" he asked in a concerned voice, pushing himself up on his elbows and awkwardly shifting in the bed until he was right behind her. He sat up and put his chin on her shoulder, breathing a kiss onto the side of her neck.

"He kicked, Rick!" she whispered and Castle's breath hitched in his lungs. He slowly slid his own hand over hers and spread his fingers to touch her shirt.

"Really?" he asked, all remains of sleepiness gone from his voice, now replaced by eager excitement.

"Yeah… here! Do you feel it? Wait…" she nodded softly, grabbing his hand and pulling it where her hand lay a second ago. Castle held his breath as he waited patiently, feeling Kate's rushing pulse with his cheek at her neck. His heart was beating fast as well as he automatically stroked her belly with small moves of his fingers. "Now! Now you feel it?" she asked in a thin voice.

And he did. He felt the soft nudge that came from within her. His mouth fell open as he felt the kicks of his son, so strong for such a small baby but still feeling only like a flutter of butterfly wings against his palm. His eyes watered so he closed them and dug his nose into Kate's shoulder.

He had been through it all when Meredith had been pregnant with Alexis but this was different. Because it was with Kate. Because even if he loved Meredith, his complete adoration towards Kate was so much stronger, so overwhelming that he couldn't even compare it to his first marriage. He knew for sure that he could never ever live without her. He depended on her, trusted her, needed her, loved her with all his heart and from the look in her eyes whenever she smiled at him he knew that the feeling was mutual.

"Oh Kate..." he whispered in a shaky voice and pressed a tiny, wet kiss under her ear.

"I know..." she chuckled, covering his hand with her own, entwining their fingers on her belly.

"I love you!" he murmured and she turned her face towards him to capture his lips in a sweet, affectionate kiss.

"I love you too!" she whispered back, nuzzling her nose against his cheek.

Rick felt some wetness on his skin and as he pulled back he saw that she was silently crying. He kissed her cheek with a grin and she let a watery smile spread on her face as she averted her eyes shyly. Castle scooted even closer to her, spreading his legs around her and hugged her tightly to his chest as he kissed a trail up her shoulder and neck to her cheek. She pressed her face to his and as Castle glanced sideways at her he saw that her eyes were shut, her expression one of a merry peace. Her beauty never ceased to amaze him, she was more and more breathtaking with every passing day and he felt so lucky to have her. So lucky to call her his wife. His eyes trailed down to her left hand with a white gold wedding ring on her ring finger. It was a modest ring with a small diamond, soldered together from her engagement ring and their wedding band. She almost never took it off and it made his heart swell in pride whenever he looked at it. Whenever he looked at her. She was his now, and he was hers. Forever.

After sitting in a comfortable silence for a few minutes she suddenly stirred and started to pull away and push herself up from the bed.

"Hey, where are you going?" he groaned disapprovingly, putting his hands on her arms in an attempt to keep her close to him but helping her get up at the same time.

"I gotta call Lanie, you know how pissed she would be if I didn't call her right away!" she told him, straightening her back and turning back to him with a small smirk.

"Kate, it's…" he looked at the clock on the bedside table. "…it's four AM." He reminded her, hoping to lure her back into bed and into his embrace.

"I know, but you know how dedicated godmother she is already! She wants to know everything and she bites off my head if I'm late to tell her any small thing…" she chuckled and leaned back to peck his lips once more.

"Okay…" he sighed and stared after her as she sauntered to her bag in the armchair across the room and fished out her phone. An adoring smile played on his lips as he watched her as she perched on the edge of the cushion and dialed. Then he thought of Lanie and their friends and how excited they all were when they found out about the pregnancy. Then his mind wandered back to the day when they found out about Kate and him.

It was the second day of Christmas and Castle was just leaving his loft with a huge bag of wrapped presents in his hand. His thoughts were, as always these last few months, on one topic. One Kate Beckett. He smiled as he saw her face in his mind's eye. He was so head over heels in love with her…
They decided not to introduce each other to their respective friends just yet, but he couldn't wait to see what Esposito and Ryan would think of her. He was sure they would love her, she was badass and funny and crazy sexy.

They spent yesterday together with Alexis and Martha and he had one of the best Christmas Eves of his life but tonight he was invited to Esposito's to dinner. Kate was also invited to her best friend's place for celebrating so they decided they would go separately, both or them spending some time with their own friends and meet up at his place tomorrow morning.

But Rick knew that he wouldn't be able to get her out of his mind all night. He got into his car and drove to his friend's building, trying and mostly failing to push Kate to the back of his mind. He was curious if she was having a good time with her best friend, if she was thinking of him at all and if she ever mentioned him to her friends. While he took the elevator up to the third floor where Javier lived, he thought about how little he knew of Kate's friends. Though she didn't know much about his either…

He took a breath to clear his mind before knocking on the door, hearing the sounds of traditional Christmas music and light laughter from inside the apartment. He didn't have to wait long until the door swung open and he found himself face to face with Javier's grinning girlfriend, Lanie. Castle liked her a lot, she was pretty and friendly but she had a sharp tongue and she loved to make fun of the boys.

"There you are, we were waiting only for you!" she greeted him and stepped aside so he could enter. The smell of cinnamon cookies and homemade food instantly flooded his senses and he closed his eyes for a second to breathe it all in.

"Something smells delicious, Lanie!" he complemented as he pressed a soft kiss on her cheek after dropping his bag of gifts on the floor next to his shoes.

"Thanks, Rick!" she murmured then motioned towards the living room. "Now, come on, everyone is waiting for you! You can finally get to know my girl, about whom I have been telling you so much…" she told him with a chuckle as they made their ways towards the sounds. Just as they rounded the corner loud laughter broke out and Rick could make out Esposito's roaring laugh. The people in the room were all gathered around the small fireplace with glasses of champagne in their hands, a couple of feet away from the sparkling Christmas tree. Castle observed them all one by one, Esposito who was standing opposite everyone else, facing the door, then the three people who stood with their backs to Rick. He recognized Kevin Ryan, Esposito's partner and the blond locks could only belong to Kevin's wife, Jenny. And next to them stood a tall and lithe brunette whose face Castle couldn't see. However, after running his eyes over her soft curls and champagne colored dress he couldn't help thinking that she reminded him of Kate. Castle grinned as he inwardly scowled at his lovesick brain, thinking how Kate would make fun of him if she knew that he couldn't keep her out of his mind.

"Esposito, always one to count on for a good mood!" he spoke up as he entered the room after Lanie and Javier grinned widely as his eyes found Castle. Everyone in the room turned towards him and Castle watched the brunette with interested eyes, curious to find out what her face looked like. He wasn't interested in her as a woman, he didn't even want look at another woman now he had Kate but he was excited to find out about this best friend of Lanie's. And truth be told, he was a writer and the brunette was the only one in that room who was a stranger to him and that meant that his brain was asking him questions. The first, burning one was, would she still remind him of Kate if he saw her face?

So he waited and as she turned, he had to realize that with every revealed inch of her face she reminded him more and more of Kate. In fact, when she was completely turned towards him, Castle's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Kate?" he gasped as he stared at his girlfriend who seemed just as surprised as him.

"Rick? What are you doing here?" she asked with huge eyes, taking a half step in his direction.

"What are you doing here?" he asked back, chuckling at the stunned expression on her face. Even after the massive surprise of finding here there he noticed how hot she looked. The dress she was wearing hugged all her curves perfectly and somehow brought out the color of her eyes brilliantly. She was absolutely breathtaking…

"Wait a minute, you two know each other?" Lanie shrieked and that was when Rick and Kate realized that there were other people in the room too. Lanie spun on her heel to stare at Castle then back at Beckett numerous times and Esposito, Ryan and Jenny seemed equally astonished at the news as well.

Rick glanced back at Kate and found a comical smirk on her face, one reflecting the amusement he felt. He let a smile spread on his face as their eyes met and both assured the other that even if they didn't plan it like this, it would be okay to let their friends, their shared friends know about them. Not that they had any other choice now…

And just like that, laughter burst out of both of them, making them double over from it and causing tears to flow down their cheeks as they tried to catch their breath while their friends were watching them with expressions of confusion and slight concern for their well-being on their faces.

"Hey dreamer boy, where have you been off to?" her soft voice broke him out of his reverie and Castle looked up at her with a grin.

"Just a little trip down memory lane…" he shrugged and slid over so she could slip back into bed. He opened his arms for her and she contentedly settled into his embrace, resting her head on his chest.

"Care to share with the class?" she murmured into his jaw and she pressed a sweet kiss to his throat.

"Just thought of our first Christmas together!" he told her and he squeezed his arms around her gently.

"Christmas Eve or the second night at Espo's?" Kate asked in a mischievous voice and Castle chuckled darkly.

"The second night, but now that you mention Christmas Eve…" he muttered, thinking of how they celebrated after Alexis and Martha left for bed. His blood still started to race, only thinking about it and he leaned down and kissed her feverishly.

"You're so easy…" she laughed at him between kisses.

"You love it!" he growled as he rolled them over and leaned over her to kiss her again.

"Guilty as charged…" she moaned when he nibbled her bottom lip and her fingers slowly crept up his chest and found their ways into his hair.

After making out shamelessly like teenagers until breathing became a major difficulty for both of them, Castle pulled Kate back on his chest and drew relaxing circles on her back with his hand.

"So… what did Lanie say?" he asked quietly, peering down at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Oh…haha! She was kind of mad at first, growling something like 'Girl it's Godknows-only-how-early-AM, why on Earth are you calling?' and then 'it better be something good or I'm going there to kick your shapely bottom!'…" Kate said and both of them shook with laughter as they imagined Lanie's grumpy face as she just woke up in the middle of the night because of a phone call. "Then when I told her about the baby she got all excited and she insisted on coming over first thing tomorrow morning! She said she wanted to feel it for herself…" she finished, making a face and rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of her best friend.

"I didn't expect anything less from her!" Rick murmured, still grinning and he pressed a tender kiss on her nose. His hands slipped on her belly, settling low to cradle and absently stroke the baby bump. "He's growing so fast..." he sighed. It still amazed him to no end that a baby was growing in Kate's womb, even after 5 month she still had to get used to the idea. But he couldn't deny that he was beyond excited about having a son. The things, the pranks they would do... There was just no way that his second kid would be so perfectly well-behaved as Alexis. No, he would be a boy and boys will always be boys. He would pull the girls' pigtails and break vases with his football and have a real teenage wild child phase with motors and tattoos and many many girls. As this thought entered his mind, another unpleasant thing occurred to him and he groaned. "Dibs on not having the double B talk with him!" he murmured hastily to Kate and felt her head move on his chest so she could look at him. He glanced down at her confused face, her eyebrows high on her forehead, her lips slightly pursed as she tried to figure out what he was talking about.

"What do you mean? What double B talk?" she asked and Castle sighed in mock annoyance, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"The Talk. The birds and bees talk..." he said, mimicking so his eyes widened like saucers, making them look like as if they were about to pop out of his face. Kate laughed quietly, hiding her face in his T-shirt.

"Why, Rick? He's a boy and you're his father..." she started but he interrupted her cheekily.

"I certainly hope so." he muttered, earning a glare and a light swat on the chest from her.

"As I was saying... You're his father and you're supposed to talk to him about these things. If it was a girl, I would have the talk with her." she told him with a little shrug.

"But Kate, that's just not fair." He whined.

"Tell me how is it not fair?" she asked and he could hear that she was bothered by his childishness. After all it was four AM and Castle knew exactly how to push her buttons.

"It's not fair because I already have a daughter and I've already been through the horrors of having The talk. Fortunately Alexis was a piece of cake, I only had to tell her the basics and she got the rest from somewhere else. You know, school, friends, books, internet…" he said, sighing as he thought of his daughter. He couldn't help but smirk when the face of his tiny, twelve-year-old angel came to his mind. How she scrunched up her nose when he tried to explain things to her and it was all kiddie proof.

"You know what?" Kate asked, patting his chest. "If it's really necessary we can have the talk with him together!" she offered and yawned, hiding her mouth behind her hand then muttering a 'sorry'.

"That would be okay…" he agreed, deciding that he was too sleepy to continue this conversation. His eyes started to close in their own accord and he shifted a little so that he could hug Kate more comfortably to his chest.

"And anyways, it's really far away… We will do it all step by step! Together!" she whispered into the darkness of the room, her voice full of hope and love.

"Together…" he agreed again, finally letting his eyes slide shut and he squeezed her gently to himself.

Silence fell and Rick felt his thoughts escaping him, getting blurry by the moment. The rhythmical, slowing movements of his fingers on her back soothed both of them to a near asleep state. He was listening to her even breathing, letting the absolute contentment wash over him. This was what he had always wanted, this was what he had dreamed of. In the earlier days of their relationship there were moments that he was afraid that one day she would get a call with an assignment with such a huge amount of money for payment she couldn't refuse and leave but then as time passed by and she was still there, every day and every night he started to believe the incredible truth that she did love him and even though he was quite rich she didn't care about money… Now he wasn't the least bit worried that something would break them apart, he was sure that whatever life would throw their way they would deal with it, step by step, together.

"Hey Rick?" he heard her faint whisper cut through the haze of his sleepiness.

"Yeah?" he croaked, stroking her arm with his thumb reassuringly.

"Thank you!" she murmured.

"For what?" he asked, bowing his head a bit to look at her but she didn't move her head from his chest.

"For trusting me, for giving me another chance to prove myself, for loving me and letting me love you. For saving me!" she breathed, her tone heavy with emotions and Rick's heart filled with all the love he felt for this woman in his arms. He pressed a tender kiss into her hair, pulled her even closer to himself and silently thanked God for finding her, before whispering:

"Always!"

And this is the end. Decided to go with the classic 'Always'!
I really hope you liked it, please leave me one last review and tell me your opinion! Just so you know, every single review, whether it was only a word or a couple of sentences, made my days just that much brighter! :)
Thank you all for reading and reviewing and making this story officially my most successful fanfiction, I feel so thankful…
Regarding future stories, I have one idea in my head which I would like to write and since it's the summer holidays I hope I will have enough time to do so. I hope to see you guys at the next story, and if any of you have a story idea or a request, please feel free to contact me! ;)
I wish all the best for every one of you, you are the greatest and I couldn't have asked for better readers so thanks again!