TRANSITION

Castle closed the door behind the agent and stood still for a second staring at the burgundy panelled steel as if he could see through it. Eventually he turned to face her, afraid of what he would see, what those recently ushered words would do to her.

Kate was still standing in the same spot, her hands, protruding from the orange sleeves still clutching the key he had handed her moments earlier, mouth still partly open, the two small, vertical creases between her eyebrows visible, the wall light behind her making a halo around her hair.

He moved the two steps it took to reach her, pulled her into him and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her temple and whispering "I'm sorry".

For what seemed an eternity, there was no reaction, no lessening of the ramrod straight back, no response to his gently stroking hands … the old fears began to ooze out of the carefully constructed compartments of his mind where he had hidden them all away over the previous year or so.

Then he felt her release her pent-up breath against his neck, felt her body relax into his, her arms separate to move around his waist and hug him back. He released his own breath, until then unaware that he had been holding it, tried to brush away the tears that had sprung, unbidden to his eyes.

He felt her push her head back and looked down to meet, much to his surprise, her laughing eyes "Castle! Are you crying?"

"No … no!, just had something in my eye ..." he stuttered.

"Yeah, right!" she smiled, reaching up to wipe away the moisture with her thumb. Then tapping his chest with the palm of her hand she added. "I need some wine!"

He released her and they moved back to the couch, Castle making a detour to pick up a glass and the bottle of red wine she had left on the kitchen counter after dinner. Settling back down as they had been before he had got up to tell her about the DC apartment, he handed her the glass and poured out the wine before placing the bottle on the table at the back of the couch. He was too confused by her behaviour to pick up his own glass of white, so with Kate once more tucked into his side he took her free hand in his and said "Ok, now tell me why you are taking this so calmly!"

Kate took a sip of wine, set the glass down next to his and turned within his arms to face him, her brow furrowed yet her eyes quite clear and calm. Though she was facing him he could tell she was actually looking inwards, so he waited her out. Eventually she placed her hand on his chest and rested her cheek on it.

"I guess I wasn't really surprised … or upset. Don't get me wrong … I've never been fired before! That hurt … but Washington … it … it was what I expected … and yet not what I expected! I thought I was fighting for justice but as McCord pointed out to me, things in that town are shades of grey, not black and white …" she smiled up at him "… and you know me, I don't do greys!"

"No, you don't …. and you have no idea how proud that makes me" he said.

Kate huffed a laugh taking his hand in her free one lifted it to her lips and kissed it. "Thanks Rick. That case in DC made me realise how much I missed working with you and I also knew it was a one-off … that there would be no way you could become my sidekick again … that l would as you said, be constrained by "Classified" whenever I wanted to bounce an idea off you …." she sighed, "then this case came along and it was even worse …" she swivelled her head to look up at him "… seeing you and the boys on the case, not only not being able to tell you things, but being made to work blind ourselves, it wasn't how I imagined it … or how I was told it would be when I went for the interview" she turned her head back, took his hand in both of hers and absentmindedly began to run her thumbs gently over his knuckles.

"I suppose I should have known better, not been such an innocent … you know, power, politics, … but somehow I made myself believe I'd make a difference, that justice wouldn't be held to ransom by political interests." A self-depreciating chuckle escaped her as she altered her position, pushing herself up until she was resting her head on his shoulder. "Listening to Ethan Wright threatening to throw Svetlana Renkov to the wolves whilst we just stood there and did nothing …"

"So rather than resign, you committed professional suicide?" he asked her as ran his free hand through her curls.

"I'm not sure I'd actually considered all the implications, but I guess that if it hadn't been today it would have happened somewhere further down the line …. And probably not too far down it either!"

"Well, I wish things had worked as you'd imagined, I can only say that given what happened I am ….. a, very proud of you Ex-agent Becket and b, wondering what to do with the lease on that apartment!"

Kate released his hand, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself all the way up till their eyes were level and only inches apart. "That, Richard Castle, was a wonderful thought you had. I just wish we'd had some time to enjoy it …" She paused whilst they kissed "... maybe we could go up for a few days whilst I pack my stuff and we can say goodbye to the place in style? I'd like to see what you'd leased anyway."

"Ooo..key…" he said slowly, still looking at her with a frown on his face "… but …. I'm still not used to this version of Beckett … I mean … no semi-demented rants about your future … what to do … " he stopped as she poked her tongue out at him and shook her head.

"Let's get me back home, and then I can look at what to do …. I don't want to rush into anything."

"You know that Gates would probably jump at the chance of having you back at the precinct?"

"Hmm … but it would also be a bit awkward … for everyone"

"Only until the first body drop!" he laughed "then it would all slot back into place, I'm sure of that at least. And the boys would love to have you back … especially seeing the state of your desk!"

"My ex-desk … I'm not sure I'd want it back anyway …. yuck!"

"We could always set up as Private Investigators …. The Castle-Beckett Agency!" he threw out with a grin.

Beckett answered with a raspberry "No way …. anyway, it would be The Beckett-Castle Agency"

"Oh yeah?" he responded, running his fingers down her ribs until he found her ticklish spot. Minutes later Kate was writhing in laughter and gasping for breath as she tried to squirm out of his grasp.

Eventually they settled back down, Castle once again half sprawled on the couch as Beckett tucked herself into his lap, her head on his chest, their hands curled round their glasses as they sank into companionable silence. It had been quite a day in one way or another … tomorrow would be the beginning of a new chapter …. and the direction it could take was going to prove both interesting and full of challenges.