The start of the day is overcast and gloomy. The sounds from the pipe organ at St. Patrick's Cathedral are one every police officer in the country knows. Smitty, Juan and his girlfriend of 2 years, Dave and his wife, and Herman Baez and his wife sit at the front pew of the church. Across from the BDU team sits Captain Gates and her husband, Javier Esposito and his love Dr. Lanie Parish, Sitting next to her is Kevin Ryan and his wife Jenny and their daughter Sara Grace. Rick's mother rounds out the BDU unit side and then the observance starts.

Dave's wife as well as Captain Gates each take their respective spouses hands and interlock them together at their fingers. It's a moment they never want to forget. The priest at the head of the altar waits to speak as he looks down at the attendees. It's then when he looks at the massive doors open at the end of the church and his smile gets bigger by the second. There at the end of the aisle stands James Beckett and his daughter Katie. They wait for their cue and they are prompted to start walking down the aisle. Kate looks up to her father before they start their long trek.

"Katiebug are you ready?"

"Dad, I'm more than ready!"

As they slowly head towards the altar, Richard Rodgers and his daughter stand there watching the painfully slow walk to be by his side. Finally, as they reach the final step that leads her to the altar her dad uncovers the veil that keeps her pure. As he does so he leans in and gives a kiss to his daughter's cheek. Turning she gently squeezes his hand for support and he acknowledges it with a squeeze of his own. She ascends the last step and takes her place next to her soul mate and his daughter. The music comes to an end and the priest Father O'Connor starts his monolog.

"All stand"

The attendees all rise.

"My dear friends, you have come together in this church so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love in the presence of the Church's priest and this community. Christ abundantly blesses this love. He has already consecrated you in baptism and now he enriches and strengthens you by a special sacrament so that you may assume the duties of marriage in mutual and lasting fidelity. And so, in the presence of the Church, I ask you to state your intentions.

Richard and Kathrine, have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?

"We have." They both respond in unison.

Will you love and honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?

"We will."

Will you accept children lovingly from God and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?

"We will."

Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.

Rick takes Kate's hand and repeats after father O'Connor.

"I, Richard Alexander Rodgers, take you, Katherine Houghton Beckett, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

Rick looks lovingly into her eyes and waits.

"I, Katherine Houghton Beckett, take you, Richard Alexander Rodgers, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

Father O'Connor asks the couple the following questions:

"Richard, do you take Katherine to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and honor her all the days of your life?"

"I do" Rick answers.

"Katherine, do you take Richard to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honor him all the days of your life?"

"I do" Kate answers.

You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings.

What God has joined, men must not divide.

The attendees respond "Amen."

Lord, bless and consecrate Richard and Katherine in their love for each other.
May these rings be a symbol of true faith in each other, and always remind them of their love. Through Christ our Lord.

Again the attendees respond with "Amen."

Rick takes the ring that Alexis hands him takes her hand and says the following:

"Kate, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Rick slips the ring on he finger and lowers her hand.

Kate looks to her dad who passes her Ricks ring and she says the following:

Rick, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The attendees respond one last time "Amen."

The priest looks at the both of them and makes the following statement.

By the power vested in me by the State of New York and the Catholic church I now pronounce Richard and Katherine husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.

Rick draws Kate into a loving soft kiss and it's a quick one because after all they have been through they deserve a party!

The priest happily announces...

"Now it's my pleasure to announce for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rodgers!"

Kate takes Rick's hand and they make their way to the start of the receiving line and proceed to thank all of their guests. The reception follows shortly and then it's on a plane to their honeymoon in Hawaii for 5 days.

Rick thought he would he never see the day where he was free from Colin's grasp. It was funny if he thought about it, he knew Colin all to well. They had been friends for all of their childhood and he could anticipate his moves before he even thought of them. Colin, in the end, was predictable. This was his downfall.

Flashback...

As Rick looked at Kate and then to Colin through the window of her car he hit the brakes hard and they came to a stop. Rick know that there was going to be a hell of an explosion, but to Colin's surprise, it was not Kate's car that was destroyed. It was his own Ford pickup.

Rick had just finished the sweep of Kate's car for the bug and he noticed that the passenger side kick panel had come loose. He reached down to re-secure it and then that's when he noticed that it felt different, it did not feel like hard plastic. He carefully removed the panel and found the detonator embedded into it. Inspecting it closely he knew that it had been planted by Colin. Rick was fuming. The fact that he had replaced most of these panels with explosives got Rick to think. If he just saved one detonator from the kick panel he would find a new use for his newly acquired C-4. Retrieving the brick of C-4 from Smitty's car he molded the detonator into the brick and jumped back into Kate's car and headed to Colin's hideout. He could see that Colin was still at home and sneaking up along the bed of his truck he found the spare tire just lying in the bed. Raising it up quietly he placed the brick of C-4 under it. Moving back to her car he arrived at BDU headquarters and scanned the panels for detonators with the newest tool for detecting electrical components. Once he did it was not too hard to reprogram the detonators to a different frequency. Colin had used his own frequency sadly Rick knew what it was, it was his sisters birthday 8/22/73. Which was 82.273 MHz. Rick had effectively disabled the receiving transmitters in Kate's car and packed everything away. He then walked into Baez's house and started to bitch about how Colin had been tracking Kate with the tracer. He did not want to let on how Colin had essentially turned her car into a rolling land mine.

So when Rick looked over to Colin he knew that there was little time to react. The button was depressed and the explosion of the of C-4 had literally disintegrated his truck. Rick, Kate, and Alexis did not get away unscathed. Their car was overturned and ended up teetering on the front windshield and roof from the concussion of the detonation. Thankfully everyone was wearing seat belts and came out of the whole ordeal with just cuts and scrapes. Nothing time could not heal. Smitty actually downplayed his injuries. Colin had shot at him as he drove up behind him. It was a lucky shot and it went through the front windshield and caught him in the shoulder. He missed anything critical but he would need to be in a sling for about a month. Baez recovered from a mild concussion.

Rick was free, his past no longer ruling his life now. He had the woman of his dreams, his daughter was more than happy that they had found each other and Alexis now had a woman she could look up to for guidance and support. Suddenly Captain Gates starts clinking her glass with her fork.

"I need everyone's attention...Please."

The room quiets and Gates starts to speak. "Hello everyone! May I please have your attention for just a few brief, heartfelt moments as we toast the lovely bride and groom? And then, we eat cake!"

Everyone chuckles at her opening comment.

"To Kate and Rick, I've never met a more perfect couple, and I doubt I ever will. You bring out the best in each other... although, that is pretty easy to do. I wish you all the happiness moving forward. Congratulations"

There is a loud response from the room "HERE, HERE!" With glasses raised, they all acknowledge the Captains toast. Rick and Kate turn to face each other look lovingly into each others eyes and then embrace in a long and passionate kiss.

Fin.

Thank-You for everyone who has faved and been following this fic. It was one of my favorites to write. I hope everyone is pleased with the ending!

P2P