Epilogue: Kinda?

"What do you mean you don't like pizza?"

She looks to the both sides of her to find equally wide blue eyes staring back at her in utter and complete shock, and if they didn't look so concerned, she'd burst out laughing right there.

It was the day of her graduation and Rick and Alexis had made sure to be right up, front and center in the crowd to watch her as all of her hard work paid off. She was glad she had these two during the rest of her stay at school. They kept her company, kept her grounded and when she was stressing out over her finals, they encouraged her to take a break – a break that ended up being a couple games of laser tag and a food fight in the kitchen a couple hours later and she had to admit, it loosened her up a bit just enough for her to finish studying the topic she was working on that night.

They had just returned to the loft, it was pretty late and they were getting hungry and funny enough for the first time in their relationship, this was the first time he decided to suggest pizza, to which she violently shook her head in disagreement to.

He had eyed her curiously and asked why, and so she told him.

She did not eat pizza.

But apparently the Castle's on each side of her found that to be quiet the abomination, as now they were looking at her as if she were some kind of extraterrestrial being.

She shrugged and bit back a laugh as she rested her hand on Castle's thigh, smiling when he automatically dropped his hand to her hers and loosely intertwined their fingers.

"I haven't had a slice of pizza in almost a year." She told them.

"But … Why?" Alexis questioned, sounding offended by Kate's dislike of her favourite food.

"How can you not eat pizza, you work at a pizza parlor." He said, squeezing her hand slightly, turning himself to face her on the couch as he silently waited for her to answer.

She shrugs again, settling back into the cushions on the couch.

"I used to love it actually, ate it every day." She starts.

"And what unfortunate event happened that made you abandoned the best thing on this planet?" he asked, his voice carrying such seriousness, you'd think they were talking about something other than just pizza – although apparently pizza was very important to him.

Se rolls her eyes at his serious tone and continues, "It got me super sick this one time and I just brought it all back up and from then, I've just never had the desire to eat a slice again."

She finishes and waits for either one of the Castle's to respond, a moment of silence passes before Castle lets out a huff.

"Fair enough." He states, "Here I was thinking I would have to break up with you."

She turns to him, "Why would you do that? Me not eating pizza just makes sure there's more for you."

"Yes, that is true, but I do love to feed you." He says, lowering his voice and head a bit, making her insides tingle.

She takes a breath, remembering that they weren't alone and pats his knee with her free hand, "You can never go wrong with Chinese." She tells him.

He nods, "Chinese can work too." He looks over at Alexis, "Do you wanna order?" He asks her.

She pulls herself up from the couch, "Sure thing, the usual?" She asks, receiving nods in unison. She shakes her head and walks over to the kitchen, grabbing the phone on the way to order their food.

She rejoined them minutes later, settling in with them as they decided to watch a movie before their food came.

Kate was snuggled up against Castle's side, wrapped up in a blanket, half asleep. Alexis sat on the other side of Kate, half paying attention to what was going on on the screen and half to what was going on on her phone screen.

In just a few minutes the doorbell and Alexis jumped up to answer it, before Late could untangle herself from the blankets and castle himself.

She paid the delivery guy and brought the cartons into the kitchen as Kate and Castle trudged in behind her, stomachs rumbling, well aware of the hot food that they wouldn't wait to just stuff their faces with.

They shared out their plates, Kate and Castle heading back to the couch to continue their movie. Alexis said her goodnight, decided to take her food up and turn in for the night.

He takes his seat in the couch, setting both their plates on the coffee table, before reaching out for her, dragging her down to sit beside him. She curled herself against his side, humming with content as he hands her her plate.

They eat in silence, each stealing food out of the other's plates, or simply feeding each other. In just a few minutes their plates were empty and they were lazy and full. She had moved to lay half in his lap and half on the couch.

She was full and warm and happy.

She was happy, she had never been so happy before this – these past few months had meant so much for her. He became her rock and support system and she just didn't know how she would have gotten on without him. He made her forget what it was like to be without him, that's all she wanted to do, the only place she wanted to be, with him, by his side and if she could help it, that's where she would remain.

She snuggles closer to him, turning in his arms to press her face in his side inhaling his comforting scent. She brought her feet under her and in one swift move, he pulled her to sit in his lap, his hands resting on her hips, thumbs tracing patterns over her the bone there.

"You okay?" he asks, his voice just above a whisper.

She nods against him, "Perfect actually." She smiles against him, fisting her hands into his shirt, pressing an open kiss to the side of his neck.

He hummed and she pulled back just enough to see his eyes reopening, a small smile on his face. She shifted again, facing him, swinging one leg over his thighs. She rested her forehead against his, her breath fanning over his face. She closed her eyes, taking in this moment of happiness. She was where she wanted to be, with who she wanted to be, feeling warm and secure and loved and she just, she just couldn't keep it in anymore.

"I love you." She whispered, her eyes still closed.

He was silent for a while, prompting her to opening her eyes, to see if he fell asleep – which he has done during conversation before even if he continues to deny it.

She finds his eyes, blue and wide and swimming in tears.

"Did you just - ?" He chokes out, gripping her tightly to him, as if he were afraid she would realize what she had just said and make a run for it.

But she knew what she said and she meant it, she felt it and she needed him to know just how much he meant to her, how much she loved him.

She nodded, wiping a thumb over his cheek to catch an escaped tear.

"Oh Kate." He breathes, reaching a hand up to tangle in her hair, bringing her down to crash his lips against hers.

She fisted her hands in his shirt, in attempt to get impossibly closer to him. She tilted her head this way and that to deepen the kiss.

His lips were soft and warm, with the trace of Chinese food and ice cream they had right after her graduation. It was intoxicating and it was making her giddy, but she just couldn't stop, couldn't pull away, oxygen wasn't a necessity right now, she just wanted to never stop kissing him, especially when his tongue slipped past her lips and she breathed out a throaty moan.

His hands came up to her cheeks, gentling their kiss, pulling back momentarily. He stared at her, with darkened eyes, his heart thundering against his ribs and she was sure hers was doing just the same. She brushed a thumb over his swollen lips, wiping at a trace of lip gloss that she left there.

"I do." She says, allowing her eyes to fall shut, "I love you very much and I just wanted to know how much I do and how much I appreciate you and I love you for coming into my life – I have never been this happy and it's all thanks to you. There's just this feeling I get when I'm around you and it's so overwhelming and I just have to tell you how absolutely in love with you I am." She opens her eyes when she feels his thumb moving over her jaw.

He pulls her to him again, pressing his lips to hers softly, pouring out all the love he had for her into the kiss.

When he pulls back, she chases after him, feeling the need for him overwhelming everything else.

"I love you too Kate." He breathes as she slowly kisses her way down his jaw. His hands grip her thighs and he stands, she wraps her legs around him, never stopping her descent down his throat, her lips working, teeth nipping and tongue soothing and he's about to fall over when she suddenly pressing her hips against his.

He bites back a groan as he deposits her on to the bed and slowly climbs over her, staring down at her dilated eyes, mused her and swollen red lips.

"I love you more than I love pizza." He smirks.

She barks out a laugh, whacking him in the chest.

"I sure hope so." She answers.

"I mean, pizza did bring us together." He points out as he lowers himself over her, lips teasing the skin below her jaw.

"Castle," She whispers, fisting her hands in the back of his shirt.

"Hmmm?" He answers, the vibration of his response on the skin he was paying quite a lot of attention to had her eyes squeezing shut and her desperation increasing.

Quickly, she flipped them, staring down at him with hooded eyes.

"You talk too much." She growls, descending over him.

"It's why you love me."

"I can think of other things." She smirks as he moves to remove her clothes, his hands trailing over her soft skin.

"Anything in particular?" He murmurs, worshipping her skin.

"If I tell you what fun would it make? You just have to figure it out." She said as he attached his lips to the skin on her chest.

"That, I can definitely do."