don't own any of this. The way I see the pace of this show it's 1.125 seasons away from this. The whirlwind of romance in chapter 5 is equalled to the break of the case of Beckett's mother being killed. Massive shoutouts to all the fanfic writer from purpleangel to the writer of the Advent series to the writer of Melting Slowly Saga. You guys and/or gals are awesome. Thank you for takin my time. Build up is everything right? Shut up and read it.

The door to the interrogation room closed behind him. Closure. We finally got the sonofabitch. He looked out into the bullpen and he saw Kate. She was leaning over her desk and her eyes had flipped up at the sound of the door closing. She saw him and it was immediate connection. An unspoken conversation had with a single glance. It was more like 3 conversations between them happening at the same time. Like a symbiotic explosion of inhale, exhale all covered in a we need to talk glance. They'd only been officially dating in private for a month and hiding it well but she told him that if they ever catch the killer then she won't give a damn who knows.

The killer was signing his confession. The sonofabitch that killed her mother was confessing. He was turning it all in. He was dooped by his coherts to kill her for asking too many questions. He was going into protective custody, changing names and bringing everybody down with him. His face was heavy with guilt. Her mother not the only one he killed. He was confessing to all of it in exchange for a new life. He'd probably end up mowing lawns on sundays next to mr and mrs american next door neighbor in a pink popped collar shirt, sharing iced tea and keeping his effing mouth shut but they got him. It took a miracle and Castle and another miracle but Kate Beckett decided that for the greater good of all the families that had been effected by the conspiracy that led all the way to the senate of the U.S. And the department of defense she was willing to deliver a "lighter" sentence in exchange for the whole thing to be over and done with. So no one would haunt her again. The killer would be in a sense neutered and she would not be threatened in the future and she would have... Rick.

Sure there would be a trial. Sure there would be press and questions and he would come up in those questions but she was willing to go through that for what she needed to move on. Hell she'd go see the stupid therapist again to get all the crap out of her mind if need be but she wasn't going to let any emotional trash and garbage and filth and low self esteem or whatever inadequicies she felt she might have. But damnit I can move on. She thought. I can have Rick.

She locked eyes with him. He was outside the door. She tilted her head towards the elevator. She pointed him with her eyes to the elevator. She pivoted her body and hips towards the elevator. He was not stupid at all but he wanted to see what other body part she would use to indicate ELEVATOR NOW! She then lowered her head and began to walk to the elevator. He began his intercept route to her.

Esposito saw the two hormonally charged adults meeting at the elevator. Picked up his phone and called. When the ringing stopped and he heard a "Hello?" he look at his watch and said "11:27 am." There was no misinterpreting what that ment. About 17 voices each shouted exclamation to "Hell yeah!" to "Thank you Jesus!" for you see the hook up pot had reached $299,487. It was payday in more than one places for sure. The pot had grown quickly over the last 6 months shortly after Castle spotted a detail and Beckett pursued it to vigorous capabilities. Most gathered the stipulations implied by the case. Beckett had pursued the fresh angles harder than her normal self. She had dragged Castle out of a burning building at one point and he had pulled her out of an elevator shaft after the elevator had fallen 17 floors. No one was quite sure what the exact moment of realization occured but just that it had. She had come in one day after they questioned someone quasi linked to the investigation and they just seemd different together. They smiled at each other. They laughed. Who would laugh while someone is investigating their own mothers death? Certainly not Beckett. But sure enough she was and everyone just assumed that something had happened.

11:27 am. Elevator. Castle grabs her and pressing her against the wall and lowers his head to her. "I love you Kate." Her eyes filled with such joy and want she uncontrollably exhales. There mouths met and mushed and pushed and gave to the ebb and flow of the tongue and muscular wants of the jaw. Ding! The elevator door started to open and as Castle backed away he realized that every part of his body was touching her. Mouth, pelvis, chest, hands and legs were all trying to find a new angle of the body next to them in which to wrap or contort in the partnerly way of saying "Thank you" that he had prayed he get. The door though was a harsh mistress as it opened to reveal that about a dozen or so.. no wait crap 3 dozen cops all standing there with there heads down. All pretending they didn't see a thing. Richard didn't know what to do and just stood there but was tugged away by Kate who was virtually dragging him out into the parking garage. At one point while they were walking away distant "Finally!" was heard.

Where's your car? She demanded with her body, mouth and tugging. "Take a right!" He exclaimed. The door to Lot A was insight and he was able to finally tighten his core and bring himself to an upright position and match her step for step. Like no one else ever had. They reached the lot. He reached for his keys. She reach for hers. He got his keys first. "I'll drive" she said. She snatched the keys out so fast it was like a ninja. Like that comic book heroine she metioned that one time. He couldn't remember. She was in a fury to get him where she wanted him. To his loft.

Iron Gates herself was quadruple and quintuple checking the confession. Re-re-re and RE examining in her mind the mental checklist of the legality of what was happening. "So you waive your right to a lawyer?" Yes. "You waive your right to remain silent?" Yes. She got a text on her blackberry and all it said was "11:27 am". She barely snuck a smile. She was number 18 in the pot. Right on time.

The car was moving fast. Way to fast. Entirely way to fast. Beckett was weaving her way through traffic. Castle was paralyzed with arousal and fear. "If you want to help lean your head out the window and make siren sounds." She smiled and laughed. Snapping out of the degrees of stiffness his body had he pushed the automatic driver side window down and began going "Wooooo OOOOOOOO oooooo WOOOOOOOO..." It was a celebration siren in his mind. In her mind it was a reminder that she had a best friend and soulmate. She laughed of course but in her minds eye the "Wall" that so many said she had was falling down brick by brick. Castle going "Wooo?" A beautiful clanky brick sound went off in her head.

This went on for a block or so until Castle ducked back in and rolled up the window wide eyed and giggling like a school gir- okay well school boy but a manly, handsome schoolboy so that made it okay. She loved this man. She was ready and she wasn't going to hold back anymore.

The car finally came to stop although the parking space was by no means in a clearly marked area. Castle didn't seem to care though as soon as the car stopped he rolled out of the car and was running to the driver side of the car where Beckett was buckled over in laugher at his antics and stepping out of the car. "Too fast for you Castle?" He grabbed her hand in sprint and pulled her along his side now, "The speed i've been wanting you to go since we met." She blushed as much as a sprinting detective being pulled by her partner could be. She's wanted this too. When she cuffed the killer herself it was like an emotional weight the size of a car was removed. Her eyes had locked with Castle when she finished her Miranda rights to the killer and the moment was like a void. A gaping hole of black, hollow angst became grey and warmer. Not gone. Just not as bad.

They reached the doorman all giggles and waived "Hi." To which the doorman pulled out his cell phone and began texting.

Doors don't fly open in the Castle domain. They open yes but they don't FLY open. Today the door explodes nearly off the hinges and it bangs off the wall and eeks it's way back to the stopped position then Castle swings his left foot around catching the outside and using his right leg contracts and then pushes the door closed. Beckett on his toes and mouth mushed and exploring his face and mouth. It's like she's 13 and making out with Justin friggin' Bieber. Her brain raced, 6 years and he was a good boy. He needs to know how I feel about him. "Rick", he is all ears but his mouth is addicted to her lips. She pushes him away a little, "I love you." Castle, with his heart pounding in his throat all he can think to say is "Kate, I-" but it's too late she kisses him again. It a warm, lighter kiss held for what seems like enternity. She releases slightly and Castle pushes back to gain the pressure but she pushes herself away. "I love you, Rick." She says. He knows it. He tries to say something but she shuts his mouth shut with her kiss. "Rick," his name out of her mouth was like a drug. Kate-cain or Kate-ijuana or whatever but he loved hearing his name from her mouth. "I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in this whole world. It makes me sick I went this long without telling you and I want to give you everything I have." He froze like a deer in headlights. "You hear me? Rick?" I am so going to marry this man. The thought was a flash. She smiled intinctively and tried to bury it momentarily but realized that every ounce of her being was beating the holy crap out of self imposed wall and would not let it rise again for this man.

If ever Castle was going to tear up in the heat of the moment it would be now. Man up! His muse, his partner, his best friend and the love of his life was telling him he was right. Not just right but right. He wasn't Mr. Right Now. He was Mr. Right Always. The kissing had stopped.

The interrogation had stopped too. Gates had concluded everything. The killer confessed he was trained to assassinate starting from the age of 6 and had a very Eastern Bloc kind of upraising. Mother was a whore and father was a drunk. Cold war left over kind of stuff. Castle would have loved it because it's absolutely reeks of a spy novel. He was on page 26 off his confessions. He had approximately killed 192 people starting in 1981. Various gangsters and people in bars and strangers who decided that a Jersey Shore marathon was enough to make them think they are hard. Informants, jurors and spies had no chance against this guy and we got the sonofabitch. The NYPD was nothing to mess with. Her phone went off with a time off 12:08 pm. It was a text message. A mass text to the Castle pot recipients. Gates heard a distant yelp of celebratory woops and hollaring. Right on-

A hand grabbed the back of her hand and she felt the cold interrogation table in front of her right temple, then black.

Her eyelashes curled just right to make a shadow just a bit on her undescribable piercing gaze. It gave that smoldering look that he thought she tried to cover up too much. He was entranced yes but he always seemed entranced by her. This was different. He was about to do something very stupid but it felt so damn right to do it. He stepped back. "How long have we been together?"

"About a month."

"No. I mean like how long have we known each other?"

She lowered her chin and kept her eyes locked with his like a school teacher trying to get an answer out of a mischevious grade schooler. "What are you getting at?"

"I mean..." He stopped. Heart racing and his body sweating now.

"I mean how long as two people have known each other. How long have we been together?"

"Six years about."

He stepped towards her and locked eyes with her. Her beautiful freaking eyeballs didn't blink. "For the last six years I've thought about you everyday. You've fascinated and inspired me. The car and the house in the Hamptons and this place and every time I've ever bought food or done anything for you I've done because you have consumed me. You're not a goddess or an idol. You're my muse and everything I've ever done for the last 6 years I've done for you."

She wasn't comfortable with the muse title bestowed upon her even today. She still most of the time felt like the mostly awkward high schooler with braces. She had often overcompensated with aggression and directness. The funny thing about what he did was she made him feel like she could still blossom into something beautiful. A weird sort of post puberty ugly duckling story.

He stopped. He had to breath. God please. "All of any success I had since I met you has been because of you. I killed Derek Storm and Nikki Heat was born and I guess what I'm saying is...the money I made was because of you. Kate. Half of what you see is yours if you want it." Another deep breath. He had just scraped the surface. She was taken back alright but only because her high school boy toys and academy flirts and patrol partners, while yes they had an interest in her, none had committed to her like this. She had to break a few hearts and yes she's had her heart broken but NO ONE had been there to love when her heart was dead. Broken is one thing. Completely endanger of no longer being able to live is totally different.

"Everything I've ever made or bought or liked in the last six years Kate was because you changed everything in my life. Did you know I hated coffee before you?"

She exploded an audible laughter. It wasn't entirely true. He did like a frapuccino or flowery foo foo starbucks drink but for research he embraced the stale craptastic coffee the average cop went through. Thus the espresso machine.

"What I'm trying to say, Kate is..." his voice trailed off significantly. "I've never felt this way about someone before. The mother of Alexis couldn't touch you. I could not live without Alexis. She's my own flesh and blood and I would die if anything happened to her. Kate."

Why isn't he kissing me? Why isn't he undressing me and completely invading my body? If he says anything sweeter I swear I'm going to get a cavity or diabetes or a...

That's when she saw him take a knee.

The killer's name is Dryon Gorgon. A unique name for a killer with the stereotype of being a cold war relic. Boris or Alex or something unisyllabic would have been more noticeable perhaps. Dryon was no longer worried about his past. He put it all on paper, well, 30 pages to be exact and everyone was going to jail. He had last bank accounts and names and dates and a plethora of information. He did not want to kill anymore. He had only bludgened the black female in front of him and take her gun. Compared to the other things he's done? The devil wouldn't even notice. He did grab the gun though and he was willing to pull the trigger. He never once wanted to hit somebody with a bullet now but he had a mission. He was told all would be forgiven and promised a small island somewhere to repent if he killed Kate Beckett. The name Beckett was an explosion of familiarity and it took him all but 5 seconds to realize the connection. His brain raced and the connection was made and history recalled. The one kill he thought about. A reporter with a bunch of questions and unbelievably beautiful.

He gripped the gun slowly harder and harder. "I don't want to kill anymore." He said aloud with his left hand on the door handle. He raised the gun to his forehead vertically and inhaled. Then exhaled. A casual coolness came over him then he slid the door open.

The click of the door had alerted a few of the cops and when Esposito registered the sound he lowered his hand to his gun. He had developed this habit after a pedophile had once managed to walk out some time ago and he promised he'd never let something like that happen again. Then he saw Dryon and he froze. How the fuck did he get out? Did Gates do... No. Gates did nothing wrong. He gripped the gun and the world went into a frozen frenzy when he said "GET DOWN! NOW!" Then raised his gun. Dryon tumbled to the ground. There was going to be a battle.

Dryon let the door close behind him and felt a presence. Ryan was to his left and in mid stuff my face pose froze as Dryon lifted a gun and aimed at his head. Dryon's head lifted and matched the view level of something slightly above Ryan's head and fired.

Beckett's heart rushed into her throat and was pounding like an assault on Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, short and violent, ohmygodishereallydoingthis?iwasjustthinkingthis!amidreamingholyshitholyshit. Her thoughts raced and she put her hands to her face and brought her collars up to her face. Her shirt and coat and everything else she slap onto her face was covering her shock and surprise.

"Kate." He said. If ever a moment felt like magic it was now.

"Kate Beckett. Will you marry me?" Her breath instantly stopped. She felt light headed. She swayed a little. Her brain and thoughts screamed "Yes! Sweet Jesus Yes!" but her body was motionless and the fightorflight response had kicked in. Her brain raced and in one second all of this happened: Yes. ...

She inhaled and what came out was "I'm sorry."

Castle almost fell over in devastation. She reached for him and grabbed him before he hit the floor.

"Castle! No! No! I love you! YesiwillmarryyouandI'msorry!" She blurted.

Castle felt his heart stop and it was like someone hit his chest with a sledge hammer and then proceeded to rape him. He could hear Kate's voice "I'm sorry I waited 6 years to say yes to you! I love you so fucking much! Please, God! Don't die!" Subliminaly or subconsciously or subsomethingly he smiled. The happiest moment of my life and I faint? She wears the pants for sure. That's when the door opened.