"Castle? Castle?" Kate yells, her voice strained from the smoke floating into her lungs, "Castle!"
"Beckett?" It's faint, but she recognizes the voice immediately. It's coming from the gates of the bank vault and she runs, her gun lowering as she shouts out to the others and pushes the gate open.
"They're here!" she runs toward the hostages – towards Castle – who are situated behind the bars of the vault. The door pushes open with ease, and Kate allows herself to sigh – relieved, because she's seeing him in one piece, in the flesh, smiling up at her.
"I told you, huh!" He laughs, and in that moment, it's the only sound Kate wants to hear. Because even after everything that happened today, Richard Castle is still laughing, still living – so very much alive.
Kate rushes to kneel in front of him; the smile that takes over her features is brilliant, showing all of her teeth. He laughs again, and she can't believe it's possible, but her smiles widens.
"Okay. Here we go. Ready?" he nods, and she slices her knife through the Flexi cuffs, effectively freeing Castle's hands. She can't help herself, so she reaches forward to grab the lapel of his brown suede jacket, stroking the material as another reminder that he's still alive.
"How are you?" she whispers, and right now, it's just the two of them in that room. There are no other hostages, no officers. They say with their eyes what they don't say out loud: I'm so happy that you're alive. Everything's okay. Everyone's okay.
As Kate stares into his eyes, another brilliant smile breaks onto her face. But this smile – this one is wider, the one that makes her eyes crinkle at the corners, lights up even the brightest room and tells him everything without ever using words. It's a smile that tells him that she's so glad he's alive, because she doesn't remember what it's like without him. A smile that thanks him for being there. It's a smile that tells him that she loves him, because even though she can't say it out loud just yet, he knows. She knows. They know.
It's the smile of woman who, for once, is celebrating life instead of death.
And Rick Castle has never seen anything more beautiful.