Kait asked for Jim Beckett. I can never say no to that.

He should have been expecting this.

When she'd called him earlier that night, asking him if he'd be able to come up to Castle's house in the Hamptons for a few hours, she'd sounded strange, like she was nervous and excited and he'd barely had the chance to say that he would be there as soon as he could before she was laughing and breathlessly telling him to bring a suit and that she couldn't wait before she hung up the phone and left him confused on the other side.

So he'd called up his sponsor and canceled his monthly meeting, telling him that his daughter was up to something and he had to make sure that everything was alright.

When he gets there, there are only a few cars outside – Kate's cruiser and Rick's shiny new car he'd replaced after he'd come home, and another that he didn't recognize.

It didn't make sense until Martha came running outside to greet him with a huge smile, her hair half done up in curlers, slippers on her feet with a red dress on and a blazer hanging over her arm. She opens up the backseat of his car and takes his garment bag, kisses him on the cheek before she ushers him inside. He sees Alexis at the table, already dressed and in pink, an assortment of calla lilies and roses on the table in front of her as she twines some ribbon around the stems to cover the places she cut off the thorns. It's a bouquet. There's a lily off to the side and he realizes it's a boutonniere for her father and suddenly he can't stop smiling.

They're getting married. Finally.

Martha sees the moment when it clicks and she laughs again, pulling him into a hug, and he hugs her back, laughing with her until she pushes him back and towards the stairs, telling him to pick a room and get changed because Kate was nearly ready and she had to go check on her and make sure her son was dressed and hadn't disappeared this time.

And then they laugh again. It's four months coming but they laugh and he thinks that's all that matters.

Their children are getting married.

She wishes that her hands were steadier as she knocks, but the room on the other side of the door is quiet, and it feels like a crime to disturb the peace that's come over the house.

Everyone is happy, so happy, and there are no nerves this time. She's surprised, because this has been coming for so long, but all the running around is not because they're worried that things will go wrong – it's because they're excited. There are no caterers, no bridesmaids, no florists or guests or anything other than family and while she knows that there are people that they both wish could be there, the only thing they care about in this moment is each other. The only thing they're racing is the sunset, and they'll make it. They'll make it through all of this.

She can hear her son talking to Alexis as they tried to figure out how to pin the boutonniere to his jacket without the classic pins, smiles and shakes her head as the woman on the other side of the door calls out for her to come in.

When she opens the door, she feels her heart skip. Katherine doesn't have the make-up crew or the hair stylist or her mother's dress. There's no photographer running around trying to get the best shot as the light in the room fades. There's just Katherine.

She's always been grateful for this young woman who has changed her family's life and has always known her son thinks the world of her, but it's this moment, with Katherine all dressed in white, calmly doing her own wedding make-up in the mirror that she gets a small hint of how extraordinary she truly is, and how very lucky she is that Katherine's immersed herself fully into this life with her son.

Katherine looks up from the mirror and smiles, and she can't help but blurt out just how lovely she is. Katherine stands up and reaches for her hand, and she takes it without hesitation, squeezing it tightly.

She nearly forgot about the box in her hands, but she places it on the surface in front of her future-daughter-in-law.

She watches Katherine's reflection in the mirror, the way her eyes soften even more than she thought possible as she lets go of her hand and opens the box, the familiar blue earrings glistening back at her. They're still hers. There is still no one else she'd rather be in her son's life.

She doesn't tell Katherine this. She knows. She leans down and presses a kiss into her hair, tells her she has five minutes and then her father is coming down to get her to walk her down the aisle.

Katherine asks her if Richard is ready and she can't help the small laugh that bubbles past her lips.

He's ready.

He's been ready for a long time.

The door's open when he gets downstairs.

He has to stop for a moment and watch her as she fiddles with her hair in the mirror. He expected this moment to come in a court house this time around. He thought he'd see her in a sundress or something but here she is – heels and lace and satin up in the Hamptons where he watched her hope of forever crash so quickly only a few short months ago. Two ruined dresses, a ruined day, and two long months of self-doubt and anguish and she's still here, standing tall and proud and ready to try again.

He knocks on the door frame and she spins around to face him. She smiles at him, and in that moment she's never looked more like her mother. Johanna on their wedding day was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and their daughter gives her a run for her money. He knows without a doubt that she would be just as proud as he is right now.

He wants to tell her how proud he is of her, but he's never been good with words.

Kate walks over to him and fiddles with his tie, thanks him for coming on such short notice and then laughs. Her eyes water a little bit and she tells him that she can't believe that it's finally happening and he laughs with her.

He owes a lot to Richard Castle, but he can never repay him for any of it. He's forever indebted to him for teaching his daughter how to love and open her heart to the world again, despite how much damage the world has caused in return.

He grabs his daughter's hand that's fiddling with his tie, squeezes it tightly before he loops it through his arm. Her makeshift bouquet is sitting on the dresser near the door and he grabs it, gives it to her before he leads her out of the door to her future.

There's a moment as they're walking out the door that he thinks he's doing this wrong. Like somewhere in the Dad Handbook he never got there's a chapter about how he's supposed to be upset giving his only daughter away.

But then he turns the corner and feels the way her shoulders relax, sees the look of awe that comes over Rick's face as he sees Kate walking towards him.

And he tries to keep his emotions in check, but he wants to laugh as he kisses his daughter's cheek and stands next to her at the altar as they exchange vows.

He's never been happier.