Final Chapter… :-(

Rick stood in the dark closet, waiting and smiling to himself. Any moment now, she would come along and then he'd pounce, he just had to have patience. She'd come this way eventually, right? She just had to! And there was no way his absence would go unnoticed, not today, so he leaned back to wait.

Her voice jolted him, sending now familiar lightning bolts of desire coursing though him, and he shoved away from the wall to listen, preparing for his moment to pounce.

"Have you seen my husband?" Kate asked an unknown, unseen somebody, a smile in her voice.

"Oh, yeah," the familiar voice of his daughter replied. "I thought I saw him heading toward the bathrooms a few minutes ago," Alexis replied helpfully.

"Thank you!" Kate gushed in reply.

The conversation was obviously over now and Castle could hear the swish of skirts as Kate finally headed his way. When a flash of white passed his cupboard door (on the way down the hall toward where she thought he was in the bathroom, no doubt), Rick reached quickly out, grabbed Kate's arm and hauled her backward into the dark closet with him.

Unprepared for the attack, Kate screamed- actually screamed- a little sound of surprise. But Castle hauled her body against him and when Kate realized who it was, she put her hand to her heart and gasped, "You scared me, Castle!"

Rick smiled in a self-satisfied way and teased her. "I thought nothing scared my pretty detective?"

"A girl- detective or otherwise- never expects to be attacked on her wedding day. So it's a bit startling when it does happen." Kate gave him an annoyed look and added, "What are you doing in here anyway, Castle?"

"I wanted to surprise you, Castle," he teased pointedly, using her new last name. "Remember what usually happens when you and I are alone in a closet together?" Rick began kissing her neck, guiding her backward to press her into the wall and hold her in place.

"I told you, I'm hyphenating my name," Kate reminded him, trying to sound annoyed, even though she was breathless and tilting her head to give her new husband better access so he could continue kissing her neck.

"And I told you, I'll still be calling you Mrs. Castle for the rest of our lives. Together." His voice was low and husky, and his warm breath washed over her skin as he spoke, making her tremble and giving her goose bumps. Rick was delighting in the fact that as of today, the beautiful woman in his arms was his wife and he would now have the opportunity to call her his every day for the rest of their lives. Together. He planted several open-mouthed kisses over her skin, moving from the gentle slope of her shoulder, up the curve of her graceful neck and to the corner of her jaw. Her pale white gown with the wide, low neckline left much of her bust exposed. Her hair was pulled up to emphasize her graceful lines and Castle delighted in touching every one with a kiss.

As Rick drew closer to her mouth, Kate's eyes closed and she whispered, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm kissing my wife." His mouth ghosted over her lips in the promise of a kiss, and Kate could tell he was smiling. "In a closet. Where it all started."

Kate smiled now, too. Even two years later, they both remembered that first time together with fondness and laughter. Though it had been incredible, and they never forgot that first time on the concrete floor with the musty filing cabinets, each time they came together seemed like it was better than the last and Kate looked forward to spending the rest of her life finding out how much better it could be. But just because she knew he was great, didn't mean Kate teased him any less; "If you think I'm going to let you fumble me in a closet, on my wedding day-" Kate began, her tone a denial, until she broke off when Castle's hand came up and squeezed her breast through her gown.

"Fumble?" he retorted. "Baby, I mean to score."

"But it's time to take pictures," Kate protested half-heartedly, even as she moved her shoulders in a way that gave Rick the room he needed to slip one hand beneath the low neckline of her dress. His palm closed over her breast and Kate moaned. "They can't take pictures of a wedding without the bride and groom," Kate added breathlessly, in another pathetic attempt to still her husband's hands on her body.

"You're right. They can't take pictures without us," Castle agreed, his mouth at her ear. Even though his words agreed with her, his hands only worked to detain her further. His free hand slid down her thigh, studying the contour of warm skin under slippery satin before taking a handful of material and tugging it up. "They'll just have to wait," he concluded, taking her earlobe into his mouth, rolling the tip of her breast between his fingers and pushing his other hand between her legs all at the same time.

Though Kate wrapped her arms around his shoulders to hold him close, her hips rocked against his hand as he touched her, and it appeared as though she were lost in the moment, she still managed to warn him, "Don't wrinkle my dress."

Rick chuckled against her neck, amused that she was still able to form coherent thoughts. He- apparently- wasn't performing his husbandly duties correctly; he'd have to remedy that. "I wouldn't dream of it," he assured her before closing his mouth over hers- finally- in a plundering kiss that took her breath away and stole all thoughts of dresses, weddings and pictures. All she cared about was the man touching her in all the ways she loved, and quickly bringing her closer and closer to bliss.

Rick drank in her moans and sighs of pleasure, muffling her noises with his kiss. No matter how many times he'd touched her over the past two years they'd been together, no matter how often they did this, Rick thought he'd never get enough of these enthusiastic sounds she made as she came for him. And now, as she threw her arms around his neck, Rick buried his face in her hair and just held her close, breathing in her familiar scent and absorbing her warmth.

When she seemed calm enough after her release, that time when she was most willing to give him whatever he asked of her- up to and including finally marrying him- Rick asked her, "Are you really going to hyphenate your name?"

Kate's responding laugh was quiet and still a bit breathless. She pulled away to smile at her husband even as she sighed reluctantly. "No, I guess not," she told him begrudgingly.

Rick's smile lit up the dim room and he clutched her close in his happiness. But Kate pulled away again, and Rick knew she wasn't done talking yet.

"But do you think..." Kate hesitated. Smiling softly, she pulled one of his hands off her waist and replaced it over her lower abdomen. "Could we name our baby Beckett if he turns out to be a boy?"

Rick's eyes widened in surprise, and when he seemed to be asking a question with those intense blue orbs of his, Kate's smile widened and she nodded in response. Kate hadn't thought that his smile could grow any bigger, but she'd been wrong. Rick wound his arms around her tightly- taking care not to put too much pressure around her stomach- and he lifted her, spinning her in a small, tight circle in the little closet. When he set her down again, he crushed her close, pouring all the joy he felt into his kiss.

"What if she's a girl?" Rick eventually asked. "Do you want to name her Johanna? Because that's okay with me."

Kate laughed in joy. "We'll talk about it," she promised. "I don't really want to name him Beckett that was just my way of letting you know he's there. We have plenty of time to talk about names and I think Alexis should help us pick one."

Rick leaned in to kiss her again and it was one of those kisses Kate loved, wherein Castle attempted to mould their bodies into one and never let her go. The kind that made all the songs make sense.

Suddenly the door knocked loudly and the newlyweds broke apart with a startled gasp.

"Dad!" Alexis called, pounding some more. After only a short pause, she yelled again, "Mom! Get out here! The photographer's paid by the hour!" Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the pounding stopped and the sound of heels clipping on the floor announced Alexis's departure, obviously not wanting to be witness to whatever damage her parents had done to each other.

Kate looked up at Rick in wonder, tears forming in her eyes. "She called me 'Mom,'" Kate whispered.

The two women had had a couple conversations over the years about what Alexis was to call Kate, starting when Castle announced- officially- that the adults were in a relationship. "You can't keep calling your father's girlfriend 'Detective Beckett,'" Kate had once teased. In the ensuing two year relationship, Kate and Alexis had agreed that the younger woman was allowed to call the elder whatever she wished, up to and including 'Mom'- but only after Kate was married to Rick. But even though Alexis had expressed the desire to use the honorific, Kate was still surprise- and honored beyond words- when it seemed to come so easily to the girl.

Rick put his hand to her neck, tenderly brushing his thumb over her cheek, rubbing away a single tear. "She loves you," Rick pointed out.

"I know." Kate cleared her throat, swallowing back more happy tears. "She tells me so at least twice a day." She took a deep breath and a moment to collect herself, including wiping away any remaining tears from beneath her eyes. "You go out there and stall. I'm going to go... fix myself, in the bathroom."

"You look perfect," he assured, with one last kiss before leaving the dark closet, making sure no one was around to notice Kate's subsequent emergence.

In the picture that sat on his desk for the next fifty years, Rick had his arms wrapped close around his bride's waist, his fingertips caressing the baby-bump that wasn't even showing yet, the first of three children they had together. Kate's face glowed in that picture, pride and love shining in her eyes as she held her husband's forearm with one hand, the other resting on Alexis's shoulder. The girl was smiling up at her parents with so much excitement on her face; only thirty seconds before that picture had been taken, they had informed Alexis that she was going to be a big sister.

A/N: Oh, gosh, I think I need a dentist after that; I'm sure the sickening sweetness of this last chapter left me with cavities! Haha! I know it was mushy, but it was the happily ever after! It's supposed to be. I just hope it was acceptable!

Something similar actually happened to me! When I was 17, my mother and her husband announced that they were pregnant, and they actually asked me to help them think of names. You have no idea how excited I was when they actually chose one of the names I'd picked out! It was so cool. It wasn't until my brother was about three that I finally asked my step-dad if I could start calling him 'Dad'. I even legally changed my name a few years later! So I think the thing about Alexis and Kate could be true... (especially since they already like each other in the show and I didn't even warm up to my step for a few years…)

That's the end of this story! I'm sorry to see it end, but this was always just supposed to be a short piece, a bit of fun to explore some of the different ways to get these characters to stop dancing around each other and just get it on already!

Anyway... THE END!