Chapter One

The Quickening

Kate and Rick were searching an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront for their suspect in a series of murders. They had chased him inside when he had fired at them with a large caliber handgun and fled when they had tried to bring him in. Kate quietly handed him her backup piece. She would rather he didn't come at all as they didn't have their vests on, but she knew he wouldn't stay behind if she was in danger, so it was the only gesture she could make as they cautiously entered the warehouse.

"Dr Harrison! It's over! Why don't you just come out and make this easier on yourself?"

Kate's shouted request for him to surrender didn't meet with an immediate answer as they carefully picked their way through the darkened warehouse lit only by the sunlight streaming through the broken windows.

Suddenly he was right there in front of them, leveling his gun at Kate's chest and she froze for just an instant, her subconscious dragging her back to the day she was shot a year ago. Rick shoved her aside, as he and the deranged man exchanged shots at nearly the same time. Castle's shot had hit the mark, penetrating Harrison's left eye, he was dead before he hit the floor.

"Nice shooting Castle!" Kate said, but there was no answer. As she swung her head from Harrison's body she saw Rick drop to his knees, a blank look on his face, and an expanding dark purple stain on his light blue shirt, dead center on his chest.

"Castle!" Kate screamed as she ran to where he dropped fully onto the concrete floor, as she pulled out her radio, barely able to choke out the words through her own sobs...

"One Lincoln forty One Lincoln forty! Officer needs assistance...sh...shots fired...officer down!"

She gave the street address while vainly trying to staunch the blood flow to a wound she knew in her heart was mortal.

"Rick...no...I love you, I love you...please dear God...no..."

As she felt his heart stop, she pulled his head into her lap and completely lost control, her eyes welled with tears which fell in uncontrollable waves as she rocked back and forth cradling his head, pressing kisses onto his paling lips, sobbing over her fallen love.

In her tearful, heartbroken state, she did not witness the effects of the quickening. She didn't see the wound in his chest close, did not register his heart begin to beat again, nor the flash of energy wash behind his eyes. Only when Rick sucked in a gasping breath and fully sat up was Kate shaken from her reverie, to suddenly be awash in terror as Richard Castle, whom she had just seen die in her arms, was suddenly, once again alive. She jumped to her feet and backed away, her mind unable to process what she was seeing, her breathing coming in shallow ragged gasps. She did the only thing a sane person who had been dealt this type of shock could do.

She moaned softly and fainted dead away, collapsing bonelessly to the warehouse floor.

….

One hour later

It had taken Richard Castle a bit of fast talking to explain that he was indeed all right after the cavalry showed up. He had zipped up his leather jacket to hide the rather large blood stain on his shirt and had done his best to make Kate comfortable until she could be checked by EMS. She was conscious but mumbling incoherently about having seen him die. Though the paramedic had wanted to take her in for a psych consult, Castle told him that she was fine, just that the shooting had brought on a PTSD flashback.

When they finally let him go, the paramedics released Kate into his care, and departed as she was in otherwise perfect health. After giving his report to IAB who cleared it as a clean shoot he told Ryan and Espo that he would take Kate home and make sure she got some rest.

Lanie put him on notice that she would be coming out to check on her in the morning, once she was done with the autopsy of their killer. Castle nodded, then slid Kate's keys out of her jacket pocket as she passed him in a slight daze. He guided her to the passenger seat of her police cruiser and belted her in. He knew that he would be having a very uncomfortable conversation with her once she had gotten some sleep and processed what she had seen that afternoon. One he hadn't had in a very long time. As he looked over at Kate, nearly asleep in the passenger seat as he pulled into her space at her apartment building, his mind raced back to a much earlier time...

….

9 AD

Kalkriese, Germania

Just before dawn

Publius Quinctilious Varus had led them into a deathtrap in the Teutoburg forest. The 17th and 18th legions were gone, and only a small fraction of the 19th legion remained. Their annihilation was almost total, and very soon would be. Nearly all of the higher ranking officers were dead either by their own hands or those of the Germanic barbarians. Something Praefectus Marcus Gaius Eggius knew quite well. He had held the sword for General Varus to fall upon personally. Those like the coward Numonius Vala who had abandoned his men and tried to flee were simply cut down as they fled.

He could see the barbarians massing at the edge of the forest, preparing to assault the meager fortifications his men had hastily constructed during the night. He knew that when dawn came, they would press their attack. He knew that he and his men, the last and best of Legio XIX would be making their last stand this day. Surrender was not an option. Slavery, death, or worse awaited them at the hands of the Germanic heathen that way. He had given the order to bury their legion standard and eagle to keep it from the hands of the enemy. The heathen might take their lives, but not the honor of their legion.

They would stand and die here for the glory and honor of the Roman Empire. He walked amongst the men of his cohort, giving each man at least a few moments of his time. The cowards and shirkers were all gone now. They would all be in the hands of the gods soon. Better to die this way, standing up like men.

Here in this place they would make their final stand, together. He could think of no finer men to make this last stand with him.

….

Kate Beckett's apartment.
Present Day

Kate Beckett woke in her own bed, fully clothed with the exception of her coat shoes badge and gun. The events of that afternoon seemed a thousand miles away, as if part of a macabre dream from one of Rick's favorite zombie movies. She hadn't received a shock like that since the zombie walking case this past May.

It took her a moment, before she realized that she wasn't alone. Rick was sitting next to her bed with a paper to-go cup, which he held out to her as she sat up. As she tasted her favorite skim late with two pumps of sugar free vanilla, her brain flashed back to earlier in the day.

"Please tell me that was just a dream, Castle." she pleaded, her mind still seeing his head cradled in her lap, his lifeless empty eyes staring up at her.

"I'm afraid not, Kate." Rick replied softly, as he saw her eyes widen "I had hoped this could wait for a better time, when our relationship was more solid, but I have one last secret to reveal."

Rick put out his hand, Kate took it and he led her out to her living room couch. He sat her down on it and got down on his knees before he looked her in the eyes.

"My name is Marcus Gaius Eggius, Praefectus of the 10th cohort of 19th legion of the Roman Imperial Army."

What blurted out of Kate's mouth was not what he expected.

"But there hasn't been a 19th Roman Legion since..."

"That's correct Kate, not since it was wiped out to a man along with the 17th and 18th Legions in the Teutoburg forest in 9 AD." Rick interrupted. "I was there."

"But...but...but...that's not possible...it can't be...that isn't..."

Rick rose to his feet and took two steps back, producing a slender dagger from out of his coat pocket before dropping the coat to the floor and plunging the dagger into his chest.

Kate shrieked his name and leaped for him as he pulled the blade from his chest and dropped to his knees. As her eyes filled with tears again, this time she saw the bleeding stop and the wound close up with her own eyes. Saw him painfully take in a gasp of air.

"Kate," Rick groaned, the pain of what he had just done creeping into his voice. He may be immortal, but this still hurt like hell! "I was born two thousand years ago and I cannot die."