WHO: Rick Castle and Kate Beckett WHEN: Backdated October 31, 2013. WHERE: The Central Park Carousel STATUS: Complete RATING: Low (so sweet you might have a cavity) SUMMARY: Castle puts a ring on it. (If you want to see Kate's ring, click here.)
Today was the day. Today, Richard Castle was going to propose properly to Kate Beckett. In May, he had watched himself propose to her on television. But both he and Beckett hadn't personally lived those events as she was from the episode prior. So while their television selves were engaged, they weren't. Not yet, anyway. Today, they would be because Rick knew she'd say yes. Or else, she'd give him a heart attack if she said no.
After watching this past week's episode, he was glad that he had already spoken with Alexis regarding his engagement to Beckett here in this world. In watching that episode Monday night, Rick couldn't figure out why he hadn't told Alexis. That wasn't like him. Alexis would have been the first to know. He let that thought go and instead focused back on the task at hand.
He had promised that he wouldn't be dressed up, even if dressing up for Halloween was one of his favorite things ever. For the occasion, Rick wore a nice suit that he had purchased specifically for this. Rick had picked out several rings that he thought Beckett would like and let her choose. There were so many good choices, that Rick couldn't decide and he just hoped she'd be able to. A flower arrangement with a note attached to meet him at one at the carousel in Central Park. There he was waiting.
Rick had arrived at the carousel an hour before the appointed time. He was a little nervous. Rick wanted everything to be perfect for his proposal to Beckett.
Halloween was one of those holidays that Kate simply lived through. She didn’t hate it or have a yearly wrestling match with mourning and guilt like with Christmas, but she also didn’t share the active love of all things costumed and spooky that both Castle and Alexis seemed to have in spades. She knewCastle - that he planned and plotted costumes and ways to trick and treat with the best of them and, by living with Alexis, had also learned that the Little Castle (though she wasn’t nearly as young as when she had coined the nickname) was equally as infectious as her father.
Maybe it was her cop nature, but this had been the first year since Castle had moved into her life and turned it upside down that she’d been excited and willing to dress up. But, of course, work had derailed that plan as a murder had been discovered along the annual Halloween Parade route and launched Kate into late hours of canvassing and shadowing a detective to assist where she was needed.
And it had been a great opportunity, a chance to prove herself to a police force who only knew her from television and didn’t put a lot of stock in that. That was fine with her, she was happy to show her qualifications with hard work and had so far jumped on all the opportunities presented - tagging along for witness interviews and whatever else had been required.
But that work had come with the benefit of Halloween, and the day after, off. She’d been told to disappear from the precinct and only come in if called Saturday. She’d shared as much with Castle, so a note requesting her to come to Central Park hadn’t seemed all that odd. Central Park on Halloween? He was likely going to take her to a haunted house or back to zombie laser tag, or something where she’d spend the afternoon rolling her eyes and pretending to be annoyed when she was delighted to just experience the child-like way Castle had towards the world.
It was something she struggled with, just letting go and appreciating the moment, and Castle was a brilliant example to follow.
So she’d gotten dressed, slipping on a grey sweater and her most comfortable combination of jeans and boots, grabbed her phone and her keys and headed off - pausing just before she slipped down into the subway to text Alexis of her whereabouts.
The ride had been quick, the lunch rush tapering off and leaving preschoolers with nannies and a few tourists for Kate to share the ride uptown. Even more kids were inside the park and on the sidewalks, most already dressed for the holiday and a few already clutching pumpkins with pieces of candy as their nannies and mothers and a few dads led them along sidewalks towards the carousel and other parts of the park.
As she approached, caught behind two twins wearing Snow White and Buzz Lightyear, respectively, Kate scanned the crowd for the familiar face of her boyfriend. She didn’t spot him immediately, but it was always possible she’d beat him there. She loved Castle but sometimes he wasn’t the most punctual person.
Rick was starting to get worried. It was just about one and he still hadn't seen Beckett. He realized that he should have specified which side of the carousel so he walked around until he spotted her. At that point, he knew that she hadn't seen him and he was a little tempted to sneak up behind her. Then he shook his head and smiled, knowing if he did sneak up behind her, it would not go well for him.
"Kate," Rick said as he approached, making sure that he'd be in her line of sight as he did so. "Thanks for meeting me here. Beautiful day, isn't it? Wonderful weather for Halloween. I thought we could go for a ride around the carousel a few times." He teased. Rick was definitely nervous. He hadn't been this nervous since he became a dad. "You look lovely, as always."
“Hi,” she said after a beat, caught between wrinkling her nose to downplay his compliment and smiling in appreciation. As it so often did outside of work hours, the smiling won out, even as she registered that something was a bit off. It was beyond the fact Castle wasn’t wearing a costume (she’d been expecting him to show up as a flesh eating zombie or something), but rather what was lacking.
There wasn’t much joy - not that he was angry, but rather than he looked anxious, a mix of nervous and seriousness that almost had her worried for Alexis’ safety. But that was ridiculous as he’d never be discussing the weather if Alexis were upset or in danger.
But then her brain caught up to the rest of what Castle had said, putting a halt to her fears for Alexis’ safety and creating a moment of complete confusion, “Castle, you aren’t serious,” she stated, glancing over his shoulder at the carousel as it spun in slow circles, “You want to ride a carousel, on Halloween? Are you ill?”
Kate had been expecting zombies, ghosts and vampires and instead it was wooden horses, costumed kids and muzak. Something was definitely going on.
Rick chuckled and shook his head. “No, not ill. And not serious. Though, riding the carousel would be fun. I actually had another reason for asking you here.” He paused. “Perhaps after I do this, we’ll go ride around on the carousel once.” He reached for her left hand and as he did so, he slowly went down on one knee. “I have a very important question to ask.”
Rick didn’t have any of the rings ready, they were safely tucked in a couple boxes in his pocket, besides he didn’t need it yet. He’d have those ready for after she said yes to his very important question. He grinned, “Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?”
Her mind was still whirring, doing its best to figure out the piece of the puzzle that she was still missing. No matter how she added it up, nothing completely made sense until, suddenly, it did. There were moments in Kate’s life where she knew exactly what was about to happen, and this was no exception. Immediately she began cataloguing the scene around her, the children in their costumes, the bright colors of the leaves and the slight chill in the air. The look on Castle’s face was another one - the big smile and brightness of his eyes almost taking her breath away and, most definitely, enough to bring on the slight prick of tears behind her eyes.
“Oh,” she said softly, her mouth hanging open just a bit as he moved down to his knee. But her eyes didn’t widen, she wasn’t shaking - none of the reaction that she had expected of herself and, honestly, seen from herself when the scene had played out on television. Instead, she was calm, a slow smile spreading across her face as she lifted her eyebrows and waited for the question that was coming.
She had noticed there wasn’t a ring but, knowing Castle, he had a plan for that. Or, more accurately, a reason. But then the question was out in the air, and she sucked in a breath - the biggest and brightest smile that she could muster breaking across her face. “Castle….” she breathed, shaking her head as her voice caught and a few tears managed to make their way down her face, “Yes,” she told him, sinking down to join him on the ground as she threw her arms around his neck, “Of course I will, Richard Alexander Edgar Rodgers Castle. Of course.”
As soon as she said, Rick felt relief wash over him. His grin grew even bigger. Before he had a chance to stand up and hug her, she had thrown her arms around his neck. Rick hugged her back. He was over the moon with joy. "So carousel?" He teased. He pulled back so he could reach the box of rings he had in his pocket. "I'm sure you noticed that I didn't bring a ring," Rick told her as he pulled out the box. "I thought I'd give you a choice."
Rick opened the box and held it out for her to look at the selection of five rings he had brought with him. "Take a look and pick the one you want. I had a hard time deciding. Shocking, I know." Rick smiled and took the opportunity to kiss her. "I love you, Kate. Can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."
"You....what..." she stuttered, leaning back to gape at him. And then there were five rings - not just any rings, but five that were breathtaking in both size and craftsmanship.
Leave it to Castle, Kate thought, to give her a simple proposal and still find something else to overwhelm her with.
"I...um..." she began, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes flicked between his grin and the box of rings, "I don't know, Rick," she said, the use of his first name a sign that while the answer had been east the choice of what was going on her finger wasn't.
"Which one do you like best?" she asked, realizing that his opinion mattered a great deal, even if it was her choice.
He loved it when she called him Rick. In response to her question, Rick looked at the rings. He liked them all and had had a tough choice narrowing it down to those five. After a minute or so, he picked up the princess cut diamond and held it out for her to see. “I quite like this one. Here, let me put it on.” He took the ring and slipped it on her left ring finger. “What do you think?”
"I think you'd be hard pressed to pick out anything less than a carat," Kate teased, glancing down at the ring with a smile, "Huge diamond aside, I think this is perfect." she told him, leaning forward to close the gap between them and touch her mouth to his.
"Thanks for forgoing a billboard in Times Square."
Rick chuckled. “Yes, I would be.” He returned the kiss. He was incredibly happy. Nothing could possibly go wrong. “I thought I’d try and give you a nice, intimate proposal. Wouldn’t it be nice to surprise all the fangirls with a billboard in Times Square to announce we’ve married? Speaking of, when would you like to get married?”
“Oh God, no,” she said, wrinkling up her nose at him with something that very much resembled horror on her face, “I’m flattered that they care, but they’ve got a tv proposal. That’s more than enough, I think. I’d much rather this one be just for the two of us.”
But she did grin, rolling her eyes good naturedly at Castle. Of course he’d want to put up a billboard or something equally extravagant. That was just his nature, but she so appreciated that sometimes he reined himself in to give her the more simple style that made her comfortable.
The question had her pausing for a moment, her bottom lip captured between her teeth as she tried to picture their wedding. Kate Beckett wasn’t the sort of girl who had spent her life planning every single detail - in fact from the age of twenty she’d been pretty sure marriage and children weren’t in her future - but now that she was getting married...
“Soon,” she said after a beat, glancing up at him with a soft smile, “I don’t really think we need a big white wedding with 300 people - we don’t even know 300 people. And you’ve done that before. I just….something simple. We’ll have a small ceremony with us and Alexis and then, if you want, I’ll let you throw the biggest party you’ve ever done. But this,” she gestured with her left hand, signaling her ring, “its just me, you and Alexis. We’re the ones who matter in this.”
“As do I. Got to admit, that it was a bit difficult to top that proposal.” Rick had spent weeks thinking of different ways to propose to Beckett. “I’m glad it was just us. While I do like the billboard idea, and I may use it, I prefer the more intimate romantic gestures.”
Rick nodded his head. “Yes, we don’t even know 300 people. I suppose that would mean we’d invite all the residents in the tower, if they wanted to come, but that’s too large and we don’t know all of them. I think a small ceremony of the three of us would be perfect. Then we’ll have a huge party! Either at Sam’s or the thirteenth floor!” It was then that he started formulating a plan. Rick thought about surprising Beckett with a wedding tomorrow. That would really be soon.
“Castle, no, you are not allowed to ever surprise me with anything using a billboard in Times Square,” Kate said quickly, shaking her head at him as she cupped his face in her hands, “I love you dearly, but I will not hesitate to shoot you. And that’d be a shame since we haven’t even been engaged for an hour yet.”
“I think Sam’s might be a better idea, unless you do want to invite the whole tower. More crowd control that way, easier to talk to everyone and enjoy it,” she added, sliding her arms around his waist as she tilted her head back to look at him, “As for the actual wedding…..Alexis and I will want to find dresses, and we need our license and a park permit, all completely doable in a few weeks.”
Even when it came to planning a wedding, Kate was practical it seemed.
“What if I tell you about it beforehand? Or will there still be a risk of shooting?” Rick teased. He wouldn’t without telling her. “Well, don’t worry about having to shoot me just yet because there is no billboard. And won’t be a billboard.”
He listened to her say a few weeks to get everything together. Which was completely doable. “You don’t want to get married tomorrow?” Rick asked jokingly, though he knew it was all serious. Marrying Kate was a serious and important event in his life that he was taking quite seriously. “Park permit. License. Dresses. All easily retrieved within 24 hours.”
“Tomorrow?” she questioned around a laugh, rolling her eyes with that half smile on her face that was so telling of just how unannoyed she was by Castle and his suggestions, “Not possible, Castle. That park permit? How soon you can get it depends on where you want to get married. The license? 24 hours of notice, assuming that there isn’t a back-up. And there is always a back up on those.”
But for all her practicality, Kate didn’t want to completely deflate his wide-eyed ideas and optimism, “If we could get it together? I’d absolutely do it. But that’s a lot of work, Rick.”
“Where would you like to get married? Pick a place, any place. Where do you see yourself having your dream wedding?” Rick asked her. He was positive he could pull it together. “And a back-up. I think it’d be nice to get married here. Or a church. Actually, I’m cool with having the wedding anywhere. Even Vegas.” That was one way around having to wait.
“A lot of work would be worth it. We’ll see what happens. Whatever happens, it will be the most magical and romantic wedding ever.” He grinned and then kissed her.
The question didn’t throw her, Castle had always been about the finer details and she knew his writer’s brain was already conjuring up visions of both the two of them as a couple, as well as Nikki and Rook, and just how to make Kate’s perfect wedding happen.
And it amazed her that Castle cared that much, that he was so detailed oriented and concerned with making her happy and letting her live out whatever dream she had tucked away in her mind. Dreams that, for the majority of the time, Kate had never even hinted to him about. He didn’t care, he just loved her regardless and that knowledge had the power to take her breath away.
“It would be worth it,” she replied, dodging his initial question for the moment, “I’m not saying otherwise. I just don’t want you, Richard Castle, to get so caught up in giving me what I want that you are left out. And, in addition to that, I don’t want you to feel like we have to get married tomorrow. You don’t have to plan it on super speed to make me happy, Castle. That’s not what I want. I want you to enjoy this, okay? Just appreciate the fact that we’re getting married before we plan the whole thing.” And then she kissed him, a light peck on his lips that she followed with a smile.
“But, if I got married in the Park? The castle.” Kate answered, “Not because of you…” she added quickly, sticking her tongue out at him playfully, “But because the view of the reservoir and the city is one of my favorites. Plus, my mom and I used to come and spend afternoons up there. She’d read and I’d go play soccer or something with my dad or some friends. It’s got a lot of good memories up there.”
“The fact its a castle doesn’t hurt either,” she finished after a beat.
“Hey, don’t worry about me. Remember, I’ve been through this twice before. All I need is you and Alexis while we’re here.” Rick told her. Whether he get wrapped up into the details of planning Kate’s dream wedding or not, it was still going to be special to him and he wasn’t going to feel left out. “Your dream wedding is what I want. It’s going to be a magical day if it’s tomorrow, a week, a month, or a year from now.” He held up his hand, “No, I’m not going to torture you with a wedding a year from now. I heard you say soon. Within the next month, we are getting married.”
Rick grinned, it was totally because of him. “That’s a beautiful place. We’ll create more good memories there.” As it was getting to be November, Rick was sure it wouldn’t be too hard to find someone to marry them there, at any time. “No, a castle doesn’t hurt either. We are going to get married in a castle.”
“Outside the castle,” she corrected softly, smiling at him, “The park commission doesn’t allow marriages inside, its a fire hazard.” She was repeating what she knew from her time as a patrol cop, where tourists would often stop and ask routine questions like that one when she had been working near Central Park.
“But yeah, it’s going to be great,” Kate added, her smile growing into something a bit bigger and brighter as she pictured it in her head, “I might even let you buy me a Christmas present this year, since we’ll be married by then and all,” she teased, gently bumping her hips against his. “For now though, I think we need to go meet Alexis and tell her.”
“Fire hazard. Where is their sense of adventure? Outside the castle we will have an amazing wedding.” Rick grinned as Kate teased him. “Really? I’ll have to make it a good one.”
He nodded his head in agreement. “Yes, we do.” Rick held out his hand for Kate to hold. “I’m sure she’ll be very excited.” More excited than her television self had been.