A/N: Speculation for what might happen to inspire Caskett set a date. I haven't seen any promos so shouldn't really be any spoilers.

Elevated
Life Measured in Elevator Rides

He's nervous. An unsteady hands, can't-beat-this-level-of-Angry-Birds, no appetite kind of nervous.

He sits quietly in his chair beside Kate's desk, watching as she combs through the files on someone else's cold case. It's another thing to add to the list of what he loves about her - that she does this when she's done with her own paperwork. She doesn't screw around waiting for another body to drop; she uses her time to make a difference for the people who thought they'd never get any answers.

Her eyes flick from left to right and back again with alarming speed. She's the only person he's ever met who can read nearly as fast as him. His left knee bounces in time, his body long past being able to contain his anxious excitement. He glances towards Gates' office. It hadn't been easy to persuade the Captain to go along with his plan, but she's kept her end of the bargain, discretely routing cases to other detectives so Beckett wouldn't be busy this afternoon.

Castle gives up on Angry Birds and jabs the home button to check the time. It's finally late enough to ask Kate to stop for lunch. He looks at Ryan and Esposito, who are at their desks doing a pretty unconvincing job of looking busy. Javi peeks over the top of his monitor and Castle gives him 'The Signal' (a nod). The boys roll their chairs away from their desks quietly, then they take off in the opposite direction. Castle looks back at Beckett, who's so engrossed in the case that she hasn't noticed the boys' departure.

Castle makes a show of putting his phone into his pocket and claps his hands onto his thighs. "You know, I could really use a cheeseburger right about now."

Kate looks up from her desk and smiles. "Mm, yeah, because you've been working so hard," she teases.

She's such a little smart ass. Just like him. God, he loves her so much sometimes he can't speak. He does manage to get one word out around the sudden choke of emotion. "Remy's?" he squeaks.

Her eyes narrow quizzically. Detecting. She already knows something's up.

"Sure, Castle."

He helps her into her coat and they walk over to the elevator. Castle presses the down button, poking at it when it doesn't light up right away.

He'd only made the decision to do this yesterday, and he's surprised at how anxious he feels about the whole thing. It's not as if he hasn't done this before.

The elevator finally arrives. "After you," he says, brushing his hand low over Kate's back to guide her in. It's something they do nearly every day, but as the doors slide closed he can't help but think that when this particular ride is over, they're going to be a little different than they were before.

He's breathing more shallowly now, and the lack of oxygen is doing funny things to his sight, to his increasingly damp palms. Kate leans back against the wall and crosses her arms, letting her workplace persona relax now that they're out of sight of their coworkers. Her arm is pressed against his, and he marvels at how far they've come. She must have been expecting the usual relaxed, adoring side-hug from him, maybe a kiss on her temple, and all she gets when she turns to him is a wild-eyed stare.

"Castle? You okay there?"

The tinny sound of the elevator bell dinging saves him from answering. The doors slide open on the Vice floor, but the two men that step on aren't from Vice. It's Ryan and Esposito.

"Oh, hey guys," Ryan says brightly. He's laying it on thick, acting surprised to see them there. Keyword being acting. Castle groans inwardly and makes a mental note to give Kevin a session with his mother so he's less obvious in any future secret plans.

Beckett straightens just a fraction when she greets the two men, but she doesn't ask what they're doing on the floor below Homicide. There's a better vending machine on the Vice floor, with Butterfingers and Kettle chips, so she probably assumes that's what they've been up too.

The elevator descends with a slow whoosh and a mechanical creak. The seconds separate out into years. She's a detective; she's bound to catch on soon. If not on the next floor, then the one below that.

The elevator slows again, and the light above them ticks down to the five. Robbery. The doors open and Lanie's there in her lab coat, looking down at a thick medical report.

"I'll call you later with the results of the tox screen, Jenna," she calls to the woman Castle thinks might be Detective Harrison. Lanie's a very good liar, but even with her involved, it's probably not going to be enough. Because people go to Lanie, she doesn't go to them. Not to mention Robbery only has to deal with the M.E. on oh, two cases a year.

Lanie steps into the elevator. "Hey. Are y'all headed to lunch already? It's all play and no work up there, I tell you." Lanie presses the button to speed up the doors closing and sighs as if she's having a stressful day.

"Actually," Kate says, "Castle and I were headed to Remy's - are you too busy to come along?"

"Yeah, sorry. Maybe next time."

"What, you just going to talk about it in front of us and then not ask us to come? asks Esposito.

"Oh, come on, Javi, you know it's a standing invitation," says Kate.

"I could do some damage to an Oreo milkshake," Ryan says.

Castle can't concentrate long enough to join in on the conversation. The cat's about to be let out of the bag. He feels the elevator jerk to a stop on the fourth floor. When the doors open, the usual view of the dreary cubicles on the Community Affairs floor is blocked by two women. Two very familiar women that don't belong at the precinct.

"Martha? Alexis? What are you guys doing here?" Kate asks. It's not often that she gets thrown off, but she is now. The two extra passengers pile in, and with seven people in the elevator, it's getting a tiny bit claustrophobic.

"Oh, we were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd stop by." Martha waves her hand in the air. "You know, want to make sure the NYPD is aware of issues in the community."

Kate's not buying it. Martha's well-sheltered from the issues facing most New Yorkers.

"Rick…?" she starts, voice sliding upwards in question. She's about to ask him what the hell is going on.

But then they're on the third floor, and when Jim Beckett steps into the already full elevator Kate shuts up. He can almost see the pieces clicking into place.

"Hi, Katie," her dad says, pulling her into a tight hug. She hugs him back, but she's stiff, shocked.

Castle waits until the elevator starts moving again to put the final step of his plan into action: he jams his palm into the emergency stop button. The car jerks to a halt between the first and second floors.

Their family members lean against the walls, lining the small room with love. It leaves Castle and Beckett standing in the middle, facing each other.

"Castle - "

His name is just the quietest breath on her lips. He shakes his head, and she folds the questions away, decides to trust him, to dive into the moment with him. He takes her hands in his, finding the softest spot on each with his thumbs.

"Kate," he says, and embarrassingly, his voice is wavering already. He swallows and carries on.

"You and I have ridden in this elevator together 1,947 times. When we make it down to the lobby, it'll be 1,948."

She laughs, a bright, bouncing sound that's absorbed instantly by all of the bodies in the small compartment. "You been keeping count, Castle?"

"I'd like to say yes, but actually I had Ryan pull up the sign-in records for every time I swiped my guest pass. Now, stop interrupting, please."

Kate bites her lip to keep her smile in check.

"I've been trying to think of how I could possibly explain how much I cherish you. How grateful I am that our lives have collided and wound together so spectacularly.

"And as much as I love it, our story isn't very straightforward. I wanted to find a way that would touch on all our milestones. But, seeing as you stubbornly resisted my charms for an appalling amount of years, there was only one place we've been with any regularity. Here, in this building, in this very elevator.

"People take elevators for granted," he continues, "but I'll bet that whoever's been watching the security videos over the years could has seen the changes in us." Kate blushes at that, because there are a few things that have made it onto the surveillance footage that probably shouldn't have.

"My life before riding within the confines of these rusty brown walls was incomplete. So, I've made a list of my top ten rides with you."

Kate rolls her eyes, but her beaming smile doesn't fade, and she sees her happiness mirrored back in the faces that surround them.

"I tried to rank them, but they're all pretty awesome, so I've put them in chronological order. We'll start with the first ride up after I was officially allowed to start shadowing you. In case you don't remember - "

"Coming back from the Sara Manning's crime scene - the nanny on the Upper East Side," she says.

"Exactly," he says, wonder shining in his eyes, honored that she remembers. "Anyway, I was a little shellshocked, because we'd just been to her parent's house to tell them. You were so quiet afterwards, reverent. As we rode up the elevator you were standing so impossibly straight and tall, and my respect for you grew so much in that moment. I could feel it - the grief you carried for them. I think it was the first time I realized how different you were. How extraordinary.

"The second, and possibly my favorite, was riding down with you after we ate that ridiculous dinner at your desk after you shot Dick Coonan." He can bring it up now without too much pain, but he's still careful around her newly healed scars. "I'd been wondering if my feelings for you were starting to turn into love for a while, and that day tipped the scales. As the elevator descended, I was falling hard, and you were beside me, looking more radiant in that pink shirt than should have been possible given the events of the day. And you wanted me to stay. No other words could have been sweeter than the ones you gave me that day."

She squeezes his hands and doesn't let go, like she needs him to anchor her through this. Despite her tough facade, she's an emotional woman. She feels things so deeply, and it's asking a lot to do this in front of their friends, so he lets her clamp down until the bones of his fingers ache so she can keep it together.

"And then there's first time we went to Remy's alone together. After that case where you ran off and asked some firefighter on a date. I didn't like him, Kate, not one bit, with his puppy-saving heroics and his stupid abs and his - anyway, that's not the point, the point is that on that ride down in the elevator, the conversation just flowed, and it didn't stop until you'd tucked me into a cab at two am.

"You opened up to me that night, more than you ever had before, not about big, serious things, just little things, like that you hate the smell of vinegar and that you had a gerbil for four days when you were seven.

"And of course there's the one after the magician case, when you pulled those flowers out of your sleeve. I wasn't always sure that you liked me, or could see me as someone with feelings, but that gave me hope."

"The fifth was when we rode up after we spent the summer apart after your shooting, and even though I was furious with you, it felt so damn good to be back by your side. I almost didn't want to get to the bullpen and have to share you with these two goons. I just wanted to stay with you in here forever."

Espo and Ryan make a show of being offended, and everyone chuckles.

"Then there was that ride up after we met Detective Inspector Fancy Title Hunt. We were both rolling in jealousy, and I know it wasn't very nice of me, but I liked that I was getting under your skin. And then you turned the tables on me when he showed up in his little white towel and I was just seething. It wasn't my finest moment, but looking back, it just proved how much we cared."

"And obviously there's the ride down after Gates told you that you had to serve out your suspension."

He doesn't go into detail on that one, but he might have to refresh her memory later. Although, the way her eyes are sparkling mischievously, she remembers exactly why he liked that ride.

"I also really loved the first time we came to work together as a couple - a secret couple - because this was the only place you'd let me touch you."

"Eww, Dad," Alexis groans.

"Not like that!" Castle says, flushing red. "Just, like, holding her hand, jeez - you know what? Nevermind."

Jim is trying to suppress a smile, and his mother is having a heyday.

"Um, that sort of brings me to a ride that I hope you'll remember, but I can't go into too much detail on," he whispers to Kate, like it's possible to hide anything from the other occupants of the elevator. "During the Bigfoot case?"

"Yep, I know which one you're talking about," she cuts him off before he starts delving into the story, because really? Her dad is right there.

"Yeah, bro, save it for the honeymoon," Espo says, and then they're all laughing again. Castle glares, but she can tell he's having fun.

"Anyway, moving on," Castle says loudly. "Lastly, there's the ride up after you closed your mom's case. I was so incredibly proud of you." He won't recount how she'd leaned on him, how she'd clung to him, but it's all there, in the history of their love, and he can see all of the memories reflected in her eyes.

"So, although I could never spend too much time in this elevator as your partner, I'd say we've spent enough time in here as just friends, and then as more than that. We've even spent enough time in here as an engaged couple. I was thinking maybe we should make our next ride the first one as husband and wife."

Castle drops to one knee. He releases one of Kate's hands and it flies up to her mouth, and her shoulders shake with emotion - a crazed, cathartic joy straining to get out.

His voice is rough. It scrapes over her whole body.

"Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me this afternoon at City Hall?"

"Yeah," she blurts out immediately. "Yes. Yeah, of course I will."

He beams. She tugs him up off the floor and tries to plant one on him, but instead he captures her hand and slides her engagement ring off.

Then he locks eyes with her and carefully slides it right back on. It falls into the pale indentation, right where it's belonged for the past year.

She kisses him then, her fingers soft on his cheek. It's the way she always touches him in public, like he's precious to her. At home she's more brazen.

They're both smiling like loons. It's making it hard to kiss properly but he doesn't care. Everyone's clapping, creating a bubble of sound around them, a cacophony of chattering and cat-calling. Someone pushes the button to cancel the emergency stop and then they're moving again.

When the elevator reaches the lobby, their friends sidle out first, leaving Castle and Beckett swaying in a warm hug. The doors start to close, and when they're almost alone, she presses her mouth against his throat, his jaw, his ear.

"Wanna know what my favorite elevator ride has been?" Kate whispers, her lips close to his.

"Hmm?"

"This one."

A/N: I know I should have worked on the end of 'Magnitude' today, but I wanted to get this out before tomorrow's episode. As seems to be the case lately, I don't feel like I've done my idea justice. Hope you enjoyed it anyway, and happy day before the wedding! :D =Bri x