A/N: So I was going to continue this were I left off, but the mcowgirl08 gave me an idea that I couldn't get out of my head. So this last chapter is set in the future. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Real Wedding Plans?

Castle fumbled nervously with the little black box he held in his hand. He opened it and took the ring out again, making sure it was still exactly the way he bought it. It was a simple white golden ring with one small diamond in it. The moment he saw it he knew that it would be perfect for Kate. If she'd accept it of course.

They had been together for over a year now, if you didn't count the time that he was 'only' shadowing her on murder cases. It's the greatest relationship he's ever been in. Challenging at times but always interesting. After the first case they had worked together he had sort of asked her out. When she declined he had said something like, "It's too bad, it would've been great." After he said that she had bit her lip, leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "You have no idea."

Only then he didn't have a clue of how true those words really were. She was even more unpredictable and surprising than he thought she would be. That was probably why he was so nervous right now. He had no idea how she would react. He had spent a lot of time thinking of how to do this. He knew Kate was a romantic but she didn't like being in public too much. So he had decided to just ask her at his apartment.

Also he had been wanting to ask for permission from her dad first, but then decided against it. She would make him regret that if she'd ever find out. He did ask Alexis what she thought about it though. Because when he married Gina, Alexis didn't seem all that excited about it. She had been right about that, since that marriage ended in a divorce. That's why he was very happy that Alexis even encouraged him to marry Kate. She almost seemed happier then he felt himself.

Although that might have something to do with the fact that he was so nervous.

He took another glance at the clock and walked another round trough the room. He had been pacing back and forth this room for over an hour, sometimes walking through the kitchen to check on the food, and otherwise just mindlessly walking around. Suddenly one single sound broke the silence in his apartment, causing him to almost jump.

As he walked to the door his heart started thudding louder and louder in his chest. He took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Kate was greeted by the sight of an gaping Rick Castle, who's gaze slowly moved over her body, causing her to blush lightly. "Hi" She said.

"Hi." He said when he finally met her eyes. "You look stunning." He added with a broad smile. She was wearing the small cocktail dress he had bought her a couple months ago. It hugged her curves in all the right places.

She knew he liked that dress on her, so she'd been wearing it a lot on their 'monthly date'. Of course they spent a lot more time with each other than just once a month, but when they had started dating there always came something around which made them have to cancel their plans. So much that it took a month before they could finally go on their first date. After that Castle had sort of joked that, if it wasn't too much, they could have one date a month. She laughed about it at first, but it kind of became their 'thing'. They spend a lot of time with each other during the month and slept over at each other's apartments as well, but they had one 'official' date a month. Sometimes he took her to some fancy restaurant and at other times he just cooked dinner for her, or the other way around. It was nice.

"Come in." He said, after which he took gently grabbed her arm and led her into his apartment.

After he had seated her at the table he went to the kitchen again to get the food.

During dinner they talked a bit about work the case they were working on, Alexis and some other things. Small talk mostly.

"Do you like it?" Castle asked as she took another bite of her food.

"Yes, I already said that, " She replied with a small chuckle, "twice."

"Oh, right. I forgot." He answered as he stood up to get the bottle of wine. Just as he wanted to refill her glass she stopped him.

"Rick, you've already given me three refills, are you trying to get me drunk?" She asked teasingly.

"Eh, no I− sorry." He replied as he hastily but down the bottle again.

He was acting kind of weird all evening, she'd noticed. He seemed… distracted, not being his usual self. "Rick, is everything alright?" She asked concerned.

His head jerked up and he replied, "Yes, fine. Just−" He sighed. This was ridiculous, he was acting like some teenager who wanted to ask a crush on a first date. He was a grown man for god sakes, plus he'd done this before. Well, that women had been pregnant with his baby, but still. He didn't exactly know about his second wife though. That seemed to be sort of a mutual thing, a bit rushed maybe. Geez, you're thinking about your ex-wives just before you want to ask Kate to marry you, get a grip!

"Just…?" She asked, encouraging him to say what's on his mind.

Okay, this is the moment, don't screw it up. "Okay, I might as well say it now." He started. "I had prepared what I wanted to say, I even endlessly repeated it in the mirror, but right now I have no idea what those words were."

She gave him a puzzled look.

"But in the end it is all about those four words, it doesn't really matter what's said before them." He continued. He grabbed the box out of his pocket and dropped down on one knee. He saw her eyes grew wide, only he didn't know if that was positive or negative. "I know this is pretty cliché, the whole dropping on one knee thing, but it seemed like the right thing to do." Finally he opened the box and asked, "Kate Beckett, will you marry me?"

Thousands of thought swirled around in her mind. The nagging voice that once told her to push him away was now screaming one word at her, YES. A smile spread across her face when she realized that she totally agreed with that voice. "Yes, I will." She replied.

All the worry and nervousness left his body at once. After he had slipped the ring around her finger, he interlaced their fingers and stood up. He had the most excited smile on his face that she'd ever seen.

"You know what this means, don't you?" He asked her as he moved closer, their fingers still interlaced.

"Hmm?" She asked, as she let go of his hand and moved her hands to the back of his neck.

"You are going to have to look up that notebook of yours again." He said.

She grinned and pulled him to her, letting their lips meet once again.

The End.-

A/N:So this is officially the end. I might, if you're interested, make a sequel. That sequel will take place between chapter six and seven, starting where were I stopped at the end of chapter six. I'm first going to focus on my other story for a while, but maybe after that.
Anyway, thanks for reading! And also a huge thanks for all your encouragements, kind words and constructive criticism, I really appreciate it. As always I would love to hear from you.

~ELfict