If he had to be entirely honest, he always knew she was trouble. Anything that beautiful and majestic, and that wounded, was dangerous. He was reminded of a documentary on caged lion hunting he saw once. Backed against a fence, a trapped and wounded animal would fight tooth and nail for its life, friend or foe regardless. He pondered it for a moment. Did he somehow trap her with no means of escape?
Armed with arrogance and charm, he finally broke down her walls after years on the fringes of the friend zone. Ever the optimist, he believed that he could stick her broken pieces back together with unwavering faith, unconditional love and promises of "always".
But it seems he was wrong. Hurricane Katherine was such a destructive force, that nothing was left standing in her wake. He always thought of her previous lovers as lesser men. Now, he thought, perhaps they were smarter. Heeding the warnings and got to higher ground before the devastating winds and rain hit them head on. He now sees their courtship, engagement and year of wedded bliss for what it was: the eye of the storm.
He threw the last of the scotch down his throat and set the glass on the desk, resisting the urge to fling it at the wall. No, enough things have been broken in the name of the extraordinary KB. Instead, he contemplated his own wounds. The once self-assured millionaire mystery writer was now reduced to a pathetic puddle of despair and hopelessness. No amount of money or influential friends could keep him in one piece.
And yet, even though he now thought he saw her for what she was, he was still drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Richard Castle: Storm Chaser.
Just then, there's a faint knock on the door. Annoyed by the sudden interruption of his thoughts, he rises warily to go see who it is.
The open door reveals his wife. He'd like to say "in all her glory", but the woman before him was nothing like the confident, no nonsense detective she portrayed to the world. She looked worn down. Spent. And in her eyes he saw a mixture of fear and desperation.
Like so many years before, he asked, "Beckett, what do you want?" And like so many years before, she walked into his arms with false bravado. But this time, instead of kissing him, she sank into his chest with a sob. He held her for a long moment while she whispered apologies into his shoulder. And the she looked up at him and said, "You. I just want you."
He held her tighter for a while and when he finally let her go, she gave him a hopeful, beautiful smile.
A supernova smile that melted his heart just like the first time she blessed him with it. And then he knew. The storm has passed. The sun is breaking through the clouds. Now the clean-up can begin.