He pulls her into his arms and she's still stunned by the fact that it's over. Fifteen years in the making and the evidence she needed was right in front of her the whole time. She wants to kick herself for it, for not coming to this conclusion sooner, but she tells herself that now isn't the time. She should be happy now. Happy that it's over and that she's marrying the man who helped her through all of this in less than a week.
The realization hits her that she wouldn't have been able to get this far without him and she buries her chin against his neck. She'd yelled at him for forcing this case back open five years ago, but if he hadn't, her mother's killer could have ended up the next president of the United States. She shivers at the thought and Castle pulls her closer.
"It's over," he whispers into her ear. "You're safe now."
She almost wants to cry, it's all so overwhelming. She arrested Bracken for her mother's murder. The whole reason she became a cop…
"I'd say this calls for a celebration," Esposito says, walking over to them.
Kate turns to look at him, moving Castle with her so she doesn't have to let go. She just wants to stay wrapped up in him, not do anything else.
"Come on," Esposito starts as Ryan and Gates join them. "I'm buying."
She looks up at Castle, knowing he'll see right through her.
"He's right," Castle tells her. "We should go out and celebrate."
She nods once, finally slipping out of his grasp. "Let me go call my dad first."
As she walks away, she can hear Castle whispering to them. She picks up a handful of words as her phone rings. He's telling them about the alcohol she was force fed, telling them not to push her too hard tonight. Esposito tries to joke about how she can out drink all of them, but Castle just shakes his head, no doubt thinking about the state he found her in at that motel. He's become very protective of her. She loves that, loves him.
"Katie?"
"Dad, hi."
"Everything okay?"
Kate smiles into her phone. "Better than okay, actually. We got him, Dad. I arrested Bracken for Mom's murder today."
He grows quiet on the other end and it almost sounds like he's crying. "Did you get hurt at all in this process?"
She thinks about the blood Castle told her, her head had left on the motel wall. "It's just a scratch."
"I'm so proud of you, Katie. I know you're great at your job, but I never thought you'd actually be able to…"
"I didn't either. I couldn't have done it without my team."
"She'd be proud of you too, you know."
Kate smiles again. "Yeah, I know. I just wish solving this could bring her back as crazy as that sounds."
"It's not crazy. I wish it could too, especially so I'd have a date to your wedding."
That gets her to laugh.
"Speaking of weddings," Jim starts. "Your timing with solving this thing is rather perfect. What is it like, six days away now?"
She nods even though he can't see her through the phone. "Yeah."
"I know you wish she could be here for this. I remember you two had a dress all picked out and everything when you were little."
She laughs again. "Needless to say, that is not the dress I'm wearing."
He laughs too. "Oh I know. I've seen your dress, remember? It's a lot more in style than the one your mother picked out."
Kate catches Castle's eyes from down the sidewalk. He's watching her, a stupid grin on his face. She smiles, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
"Oh a client's here, I have to go. I'm sorry."
"That's okay, Dad. I just had to share the good news. See you in six days, if not sooner."
"I'll be there. Just in time to walk you down the aisle."
"You might want to get there a tad bit earlier," Kate laughs.
"Okay fine," Jim laughs as well. "Tell Castle hello for me."
"Will do. I love you."
"Love you too, Katie Bug."
She groans at her childhood nickname as she hangs up the phone. Kate looks up and sees her team walking toward her. While they approach, she unclasps the chain from around her neck and slides her engagement ring off and onto her finger, before reclasping the chain and letting her mother's ring fall back against her chest. Castle slips his right hand into her left one, his thumb tracing over the band of her ring.
She looks up at him, melting into his side. "Dad says hi."
Castle nods, squeezing her hand.
"So we going to The Old Haunt?" Ryan asks.
"I don't think I've been there," Gates says.
"Really? Castle owns the place," Ryan tells her.
"Why am I not surprised that you own a bar, Mr. Castle?"
He shrugs as they continue walking down the sidewalk. "It's not like I manage the place. I just bought it to keep it open."
"You just wanted possession of that really expensive scotch," Kate says, poking his side.
"You wouldn't happen to have any of that left would you?" Esposito asks.
Castle hums thinking about it. "I might. Let's go look."
Castle watches her from their bed as she takes of her makeup and runs a wet washcloth gingerly over the cut on the back of her head. She slips the chain with her mother's ring off over her head and lays it next to the sink. He watches as she grips the edges of the sink so hard her knuckles turn white as she stares into her reflection.
"Come to bed, Kate."
She sighs, pushing away from the sink and twisting her engagement ring around her finger. She crawls into her side of the bed, snuggling into his side.
"I made an appointment with Dr. Burke for tomorrow."
"You really think your PTSD is going to come back that hard?" he asks, stroking her hair.
"I killed two people," she says softly. "I can't even remember the last time I took a life."
"Coonan," he says just as soft. "You killed him to stop him from killing me."
"Of course it was because of this stupid case," she says, shaking her head.
Castle kisses her temple. "But it's over now."
She shakes her head again. "We still have his trial to look forward to."
"Don't do that. You arrested him, it's over."
"He could still have friends on the outside. He's tried to have me killed one too many times for me to believe that it's really over until I see him in his grave."
"Kate," he starts, pulling her into him further. "You were happy about this earlier, what happened?"
"I've had time to think."
He sighs, rubbing at her back.
"I mean yes, I'm ecstatic that we finally found the evidence we needed and that he will finally be going to jail. I solved my mother's murder, the whole reason I became a cop in the first place, and I couldn't be happier about that. But I can't stop the worry from forming in the pit of my stomach. I'm responsible for sending him to jail and ruining his political career. If he wanted me dead before…"
"You can't think like that. That's what he wants, to get into your head."
"You make him sound like a serial killer."
"Isn't he?"
Kate lifts her head up and kisses his jaw. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For bringing us down after our 'we got Bracken' high."
Castle kisses her hairline. "You've been through a lot this year, Kate. More than normal it seems. I understand that you're scared. But believe me when I tell you that you're safe now."
She pushes herself into his lap, her knees bracketing his hips. His hands bunch into the shirt of his she's wearing.
"I wouldn't have survived the past six years without you," Kate says, pressing her forehead against his. "I don't just mean because you've saved my life from time to time. Emotionally, I wouldn't have survived."
His hands drift up to tangle in her hair, pulling the shirt up in the process, revealing her bright red lacey underwear.
"You wore your sexy underwear to arrest Bracken?" he asks with a laugh.
She shoves him. "I need to do laundry."
He keeps laughing, bringing his hands back down to grab at her ass.
"Stop it," she laughs, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.
"You're the one who decided to straddle my lap," Castle says against her neck.
Kate rolls her eyes and gives in, sinking back down to his waiting hands.
"You know I think we really did pick the perfect time for our wedding," Castle says, moving his hands to her lower back. "Our honeymoon is going to be a much needed vacation after this week."
She nods, one of her hands toying with the tuft of hair at his neck. She holds her other hand up to him, her pinky finger extended towards him. He scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion.
"No more talk about Bracken or this case until after the honeymoon. These next couple of weeks are about us. Just us."
Castle smiles, and removes one of his hands from her back to lock pinkies with her. "Deal."
She sighs, collapsing back against his chest. "It's over," she says more for her benefit than his. "Over."
He kisses her temple again. "You did it, Kate. You defeated the dragon."