A/N: In honour of our dear Caskett finally getting married. This one is a bit of an AU. What if Kate never applied for the DC job? Set toward the end of season 5. No spoilers :)
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The worn grass path is as familiar to Kate Beckett as the back of her hand, her feet carrying her over the rolling slopes of the cemetery with ease while Rick Castle valiantly tries to keep up with her pace, tripping and stumbling over exposed tree roots and bits of rock along the way.
"Kate, slow down a little. My legs are breaking over here." Castle is whining petulantly behind her, purposely slowing and shuffling his steps to prove his point.
"Castle don't pout, it's not attractive. Besides, I don't want to be late." Beckett tosses an impatient glare over her shoulder at her huffing and puffing boyfriend and tugs him along a little faster, eagerness mixed with anxiousness and a smudge of fear settling low in her gut as they come to a slow halt in front of a small, nondescript grave marker.
"Hi Mom. I brought someone for you to meet. I think you'll recognise him." Kate directs her words at the tomb stone inscribed with the simple words "Vincit Omnia Veritas" under the name "Johanna Beckett". Castle watches Kate with a small smile, pleased and deeply touched that she's willingly invited him into this part of her life, the part that caused her so much pain for so many years. He wraps his muscled arms around her waist and lightly rests his head on her shoulder, whispering quietly into her ear when she's done talking.
"Can I say hi to your mom Kate?" Beckett jumps at the sudden noise of his rich voice and nods shyly.
"Of course Castle." Rick unwraps his arms from her waist and steps forward with a smile, oozing that boyish charm that Beckett loves so dearly.
"Hello Mrs. Beckett. I'm so delighted to finally meet you. Kate's told me so much about you I feel like I already know you. I hope Kate's told you only good things about me, though I imagine it's mostly complaints about my level of professionalism. There a few things I'd like to tell you, if that's alright." Castle pauses here, acting like there's not a single thing wrong in the world with talking to a grave stone. "First off, I love your daughter more than words could ever possibly convey. She's shown me how to be a better man to others and how to be a better father to my daughter. I promise on my soul that I will never intentionally do anything to hurt her, because hurting her is like hurting a piece of myself." Kate hangs back a little and tries to tamp down the tears threatening to spill over onto her cheeks as she watches the man she adores talk to her mothers grave like she's standing right in front of them. "Second, I want a future with your daughter, with kids and a picket fence and all that jazz, so I hope you can find it in your heart to accept me into your family, because I adore your family very much." Beckett is furiously wiping at the stray tears on her cheeks, thinking that she could not possibly love this man any more than she already does. "Third, I pray that you can give me your blessing for your daughter's hand in marriage, because it would mean the world to both of us to know that you approve of this." At the word "this", Castle turns to Kate and takes both her hands in his, holding them lovingly as he slowly gets down on one knee. "Kate. When I met you five years ago, you had so much pain in your heart that it spilled over into the people around you. You were haunted by things out of your control, and from the moment I first laid eyes on you at the launch of Storm Fall, I was determined as hell to make whatever was hurting you stop. I was a smug, self-centred asshole when we met, but you were so unlike any other woman I'd ever met that I was instantly enchanted by your every move. Three years went by and every day I fell a little more in love with you. The day you were shot, I saw my world, my future, draining out in your blood on the grass. That was and still to this day the absolute most terrifying day of my life. I had nightmares for weeks. When you were lying there on the grass, I said 'I love you' for the first time. A few months went by, with no calls or texts, not a single word. I thought that was the end. The end of us. And then you surprised me by showing up at the book signing. That was when I first got a glimmer of hope that maybe we would work. You asked me to wait a little longer, and I did because I love you and I would wait until the ends of time itself if it meant I got to be by your side. Ever so slowly, we tore down that wall brick by brick, and I was more than glad to help you. When I realised you remembered the shooting, I was devastated. I thought for sure that now this was it. So I pulled away, and went back to my old ways. I still hate myself for doing that to you so soon after we broke through your wall. The second time I said 'I love you' was when we were in your apartment, arguing about you staying safe. I said 'you are the most challenging, maddening, remarkable woman I've ever met.' That's still true to this day. But the next night, in the midst of a raging storm, you showed up on my doorstep like the hand of God himself had put you there. That night holds a special place in my heart. This past year has been beyond a shadow of a doubt the best year of my life. One lifetime is not enough to be able to describe my love for you. I can't imagine a future without you anymore. Where you're not the mother of my children. Where you're not the one growing old with me in a nursing home, chastising me for not listening to the orderlies and trying to do tricks in my wheel chair. I love you now and forever, until the end of time itself, so Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you make me happier than any other man and do me the honour of being my wife?" Castle pulls a small blue velvet box from his coat pocket and snaps it open to reveal a moderately sized diamond on a beautiful band. Kate is stunned into silence, mouth gaping open slightly like a fish out of water.
"Oh my god you're proposing!" Castle is confused, and more than a little panicked when Beckett doesn't say yes right away.
"Uh..yes?" Kate is gripping his hands tightly, overwhelmed with emotion as she processes the fact that Richard Castle just proposed to her in front of her mother's grave. It seems like a dream from her teenage years. Small tears of happiness spill over onto her cheeks as she takes a deep breath and nods excitedly.
"Yes. I will marry you Richard Edgar Alexander Rodgers Castle." Rick's face is frozen for a mere millisecond, surprise, shock, and eventually pure, wholesome joy flitting across his rugged features. He gently slides the ring onto her left ring finger and stands up, cupping her face softly as they share soft, gentle kisses. Kate turns to the grave with Castle's fingers tightly entwined with hers, radiating joy. "Mommy I'm getting married!" Castle laughs and kisses his fiancée's temple, keeping a firm yet gentle hand on her waist as they spend another 15 minutes happily chatting about their daily lives and the plans for the wedding. When they finally leave, Kate goes on ahead and Rick turns back for a moment or two, thinking that he would have loved Johanna. As the newly engaged couple wander back to the car, neither notice the beam of late afternoon sunlight lighting up the gravestone as if Johanna herself was watching over them, glad to see that her little girl had finally been able to move on with her life.
