Their final lead.
Every lead they had before led to nothing but false hope.
This is the last one, they said.
But who is she kidding? Even if they tell her that there was nothing more to do, she would still scratch and claw for any little clue there is just to find him. Her Rick.
But despite her confidence and determination, despite her knowledge and security that she is never giving up this fight, she's not sure if she can do this alone.
Can she?
How can she solve this mystery when she does not know where to start? When the man who was there with her, the man who never left her, the man who was with her in every case especially the toughest case she had faced and conquered, is the focus of the investigation?
Honestly, she doesn't think she can.
Their final lead. A warehouse.
Staring at the building, she can't keep her mind off of thinking this will just be another dead end.
"Beckett, you okay?" she heard Ryan ask.
She nodded.
And maybe she has already gotten used to their questions with an underlying we-know-you're-hurting-and-we-want-to-help-you message followed by a but-we-know-we-can't look because unlike before, she doesn't reply with a smile anymore. Even a sad one. She can't.
"Let's g-"
A gun went off.
She immediately reaches out for her gun and storms the door.
"Castle!"
Nothing.
"Castle!"
She scanned the room and found nothing.
Wait is that...
Blood.
On the floor.
"Rick," she whispers. Not wanting to believe what she is seeing.
She followed the trail and found him.
"Rick!" she holds him.
He's alive.
He shot a man. His abductor, she presumes. He will never resort to killing, he never had. She knows it's going to be hard for him to recover from that. But for now, she doesn't care. He's here. He's alive. Bleeding, hurt, but alive.
They don't speak. They just hold each other. They are both overwhelmed. She by finally finding him, and he by the fact that he shot someone.
But they are together.
Finally.
He's back.
As he promised.
He sees Kate and feels as if this is the beginning of something neither she nor anyone who knows her will forget.
He is hyped for things to come.
As hyped as a murderer is when he sees a knife.
Murderer. Once again. At last.
He changed his face and rehearsed to change his voice for this revenge. And he wants blood. Literally. Kate's to be exact.
Richard Castle is dead.
Katherine Beckett will soon be, too.
He's back.
As he promised.