363. Chapter 363

After Till Death Do Us Part

Episode 4.11

By

UCSbdad

Disclaimer: Part of me wishes I could say I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"They say the third time's the charm, Castle." Kate whispered in his ear.

"So they do. But they also say it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding. I think I'd be better off sleeping in the guest bedroom tonight."

Kate put both her arms around him and held him tight. "Do you want to see what real bad luck looks like? Then just try getting out of my sight between now and the wedding."

"I get a choice of bad lucks?" Castle asked, trying to look like he was seriously considering which bad luck to tempt.

"No, you get some very good luck. You get to sleep with me tonight. Then we'll wake up and take our shower together. I found another bottle of that cherry body wash you like so much." Kate smiled and then purred at Castle. "Are you really telling me that you don't want to shower with me tomorrow and wash me all over with the cherry body wash?"

"All over?" Castle's voice raised slightly in pitch.

"All over." Kate confirmed. "And then we'll have a nice breakfast, grab our suitcases and drive to the Hamptons."

"Can I drive?" He interrupted.

"I'll drive. We'll take the Ferrari so we can outrun anything on the road, and I'll have both of my side arms with me. And plenty of ammo. And just to be sure, Ryan and Esposito will be following us. Espo got a few things from one of his old Special Forces pals, just in case."

"So we'll be escorted to the Hamptons by the Zero Dark Thirty people?" Castle sounded unconvinced.

"No, by our friends. And if you think you are getting out of my sight for even one second between now and the wedding, you are sorely mistaken, Writer Boy. Not after what happened the last time."

"That's Writer Man! Man! And if we going to take a shower tomorrow, with that cherry body wash, don't you think we should be working on getting…dirty?" He smirked at the last word and waggled his eyebrows.

"I think I just might have an idea about…dirty." She whispered.

"That's one of the things I love about you."

The next morning, Kate stood in front of a mirror and looked at her reflection. "Martha, it's beautiful. I was sure that it was ruined when I ran to Rick's car. How did you ever get my mom's wedding dress repaired?"

Martha smiled. "Katherine, dear, after a lifetime in the theater, I know every wardrobe mistress and theatrical seamstress on the East Coast and plenty of them elsewhere. It was a snap to get the dress looking like new."

"Yeah." Castle said, smirking." It was such a snap that my mother was on the phone daily issuing death threats by the score to those hardworking seamstresses."

Martha gave her son an arch look. "He exaggerates as usual. I merely encouraged them."

"Pour encourager les autres. As Voltaire put it." Castle added.

"Enough, kiddo." Martha turned to Kate. "And, once more, Katherine, the earrings. There is no one on this Earth that I would be happier to see wearing these. They were meant for you and you alone."

Kate put them on, looked at herself in the mirror, then hugged Martha. "Thank you so much, Martha."

"No, Katherine, thank you so much."

Kate was starting to tear up when there was a knock at the door.

"Beckett?" Called Kevin Ryan. "Are you decent?"

"Sure. What is it? Come on in."

Ryan stuck his head inside the door. "We have a problem. Jenny was trying on her bridesmaid's dress…and she threw up."

"Oh, my god!" Kate cried. "Is she okay? Does she need a doctor?"

"Not for another nine months." Ryan smiled sheepishly. "We didn't want to upstage your and Castle's renewing of your vows so we were going to tell everyone after the wedding. But, everyone is going to know now that we're pregnant again."

Martha stepped forward. "How's Jenny and how's the dress?"

"She didn't get too much on the dress and the doctor's looking at her now.'

Martha grabbed Kevin and headed for the door. "Fortunately, I have three people standing by just for this sort of emergency. We'll have a new dress made up for her if it comes to that."

"Isn't Lanie looking after Jenny?" Kate asked.

"No, it's Dr. Davidson." Kevin said.

Kate and Rick looked at each other in shock. "You didn't?" They said together.

"No, no. It's the husband of one of Castle's female writer friends. Her pen name is Yolanda Grimmsby. He's a nice old fellow, about sixty something and…I should be going." Kevin said, being pulled out the door by Martha.

Rick put his arms around Kate and turned her towards the mirror. "You are the most beautiful bride ever, Mrs. Castle."

"I'll bet you say that to all your wives." She teased. She saw at once that her remark had hit home. "Castle, I didn't mean it. Not like that. I'm so sorry. I should never..."

"Shh!" He told her. "That just means I have extensive experience with brides and I can truly say, you are the most beautiful bride ever."

"Thank you."

"How do you feel?"

She shivered slightly. "A little bit scared."

"Scared? Why? We got married a year ago today. This is just the renewal of our vows."

"In front of hundreds of people, Castle. When we got married before, we had been through so much, all I could think about was how happy I was that we were finally together. And there was just our immediate family there. This is different. We have paparazzi trying to take pictures of us. We have world famous authors here. We have Mayor, soon to be Senator, Weldon and his entourage. We have family members we haven't seen for years. We have…"

"The most beautiful bride in the history of brides, who is also a kick ass homicide detective. Those people out there should be afraid of you, not the other way around."

Kate leaned against her husband's chest. "I love you so much." She whispered.

"I love you just as much." He whispered back.

There was a sudden frantic pounding at the door. "Dad! Kate! Are you in there?" Alexis yelled.

"What is it?" Rick answered.

She came into the room. "Lanie and Esposito have had another fight and they refuse to talk to each other, and Mr. Captain Gates got into an argument with the mayor and Captain Gates is yelling at them both. And the frosting flowers on one side of the the wedding cake are all squashed. Can you come quickly?" Alexis was on the verge of tears.

"Ready, Mrs. Castle?" Rick held out his arm.

"Ready, Mr. Beckett." She took his arm.

Much later, back at the loft, when Rick and Kate were on their long delayed honeymoon, Alexis was looking at the wedding photographs and noting who was in each one. "Grams, can you come here?"

"What is it, darling?"

"There's a man in two of the photos that I can't identify at all. I know that there were a lot of people there that I really didn't know too well, but I made sure that we had lists and even little ID photos of everyone so we'd know who everyone was."

"Who is it?" Martha asked, looking over Alexis's shoulder.

"This man in the back of the wedding. The one with the white beard and the huge smile."

Martha's heart skipped a beat when she saw him. "Oh, my. He was there. I thought he might be."

"Who?"

"Your grandfather, dear. That's your grandfather."