Well, here we go… the last installment of this story. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, I know I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for everyone who reviewed and added this story to their alerts or favorites, you're all wonderful! I hope you like the epilogue. Let me know what you think.

It's been great,

Becka.

Disclaimer: Castle is not mine. I'm just head over heels for the Caskett ship.

One year, five months, two weeks, and several hours later, Kate Beckett stood in the back of a church. When she came out of this church, she would be Kate Castle.

She smiled as the music started. She was-for the first time in thirteen years-truly content, and truly happy. The people responsible for her shooting and her mother's murder were behind bars for the rest of their lives. The day they had caught them was the day they set a date for the wedding.

Lanie, the maid of honor of course, turned to face the bride, "You look radiant, Kate." She handed Kate her flowers and hugged her best friend. "Oh, and I told you so," she added with a loving smirk.

"Thanks, Lanie." The thank you was loaded with the meaning of a 'thank you for putting up with me' as Kate reflected on how Lanie really was right all along, even after the hours she had spent complaining about Castle to her at the beginning, Lanie had always supported Beckett and Castle.

Kate clutched her father's arm as the procession began to move. Jim Beckett smiled at his daughter, noticing the difference in her as of late. Ever since Castle came into her life, the walls she spent years building started to crumble. Now that the scum responsible for killing his wife and almost killing her daughter were taken care of, that wall had completely come down. He couldn't thank Castle enough for bringing his daughter back to him. He kissed her temple and they began to move.

The whole church turned to look at Kate.

Ryan and Esposito (the joint Best Men) froze as they looked at Beckett. She was practically their sister, and they felt nothing but love and respect for her as she glided down the aisle.

Martha and Alexis looked at the newest addition to their family. They loved her and welcomed her warmly and openly. Kate really had become almost mother-like to Alexis over the past year, offering help and guidance whenever Alexis didn't feel comfortable going to her father.

Rick's jaw dropped when he saw her. He forgot to breathe. He knew she was beautiful, but nothing should be allowed to look that amazing. It took everything he had not to run towards her right then and there. Their eyes met and their smiles grew, his heart almost physically aching from the overwhelming amount of love he felt for her right now.

And while everybody else was looking as Kate, Kate looked at Rick. The man who broke down her walls. The man who ran after her when she ran away. The man who fixed her when she was broken. The first man to genuinely love her for all that she really was. Her man. Her heart skipped a beat when they locked eyes and she tried desperately to keep her pace and not sprint into his arms as fast as she could.

As they looked into each other's eyes, vowing their lives and love for each other, the whole room was awed by the intensity of their eyes and the sincerity of their words. Everybody there knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, at that moment, that these two would make it.

And they did.

They were one of those few couples who love each other senseless until the end.

They had a beautiful daughter named Johanna, who didn't cure cancer, but they loved her all the same.

They continued to be the Detective and the Writer: crime solving duo, until Kate's retirement from the force as the most accomplished female detective in NYPD history.

Rick continued to write, Nikki Heat becoming his best-selling series ever.

They had fun and exciting days and long passionate nights.

They had lazy days where they didn't do anything.

All the while, they never got tired of the electricity between them, in simple touches or loving glances. The never got used to the feeling of the other's touch on them or in them. Their feelings for each other never grew desensitized, and Kate's stomach still flipped every time he said the words "I love you," and they said it often, meaning every word.

And at the end, after loving each other for fifty years, it still wasn't enough time together. When Kate could no longer be independent, Rick took care of her, bathing and dressing and feeding her, taking her to the doctor's and the hospital, holding her hand as she drifted off into that next world. He whispered those three words he had said the last time he watched her die so many years ago, "I love you."

And this time, just before the lights went out, she answered him, "Always."

A tear rolled down his face when her hand went limp in his. "Forever," he choked out.

He died two weeks later. The doctors called it old age, but his two daughters knew better. Richard Castle died of a broken heart. He died so he could be together with her.

And they were. Rick and Kate: forever and always.

THE END.