The Swing Set

Castle gets down on his knee "Katherine Houghton Beckett will you marry me?"

To say that she was shocked was an understatement… when he began talking she was almost positive he was breaking up with her and now here he is down on one knee asking her to marry him. God, this was going to be hard. Taking a moment to gather herself… she answered with one word, "No."

He is devastated and about to say something when Kate continues "Castle, I was offered the job and plan on accepting it."

"Kate, I don't understand… I told you whatever you decide."

Unable to look him in the eyes she responds "I have decided… and I chose DC. Castle, I can't commit to both a career and marriage…. This position is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me."

He can't believe what she is saying…"So you are telling me that a job is more important than finding your one and done?"

She doesn't answer just continues to look away from him. Knowing she has no reply he continues "Well I see there is nothing left to say… Goodbye Beckett." He stands up and starts to walk away… never looking back.

She waits until he has already started to walk away before turning back to watch him. Tears flowing down her face, she whispers "Goodbye Castle." She is torn... part of her feels like getting up, chasing after him and telling him yes, the other half keeps telling her she made the right choice…. She is no good at relationships and sooner or later he would grow tired of her holding back or keeping things from him. Either way she has made her decision and must live with it.

12th Precinct

Beckett returns an hour later, getting off the elevator she sees Ryan and Esposito sitting at their desks. They look up at her, both surprised to see no Castle with her. They thought for sure when she said there was someone she needed to tell first… she was referring to him. They were certain she had gone to fix whatever it was that caused a rift between them. She slowly approaches "Hey guys, could you meet me in the break room in ten? I need to make a phone call and talk to Gates for a minute."

"Okay Beckett" they say in unison.

Kate proceeds to the ladies room, making sure she has some privacy. She calls the Deputy Director back to inform him she's accepting the offer. She then knocks on Captain Gates office door.

"Come in Detective Beckett."

Kate does and closes the door behind her.

"So I guess you have come to a decision" Gates asks her.

"Yes sir, I have decided to accept their offer."

"Congratulations, I know you will do a fine job with the Attorney General's Office. I'm surprised I haven't seen Mr. Castle with you, he did know about the offer?"

Caught off guard Kate replies "Not at first, but he knows now."

"I see" says Gates "So are you going to ask him to go to DC with you?"

"No sir, I think we might have run our course."

"I'm sorry to hear that Kate, you both seemed happy together."

After finishing up her conversation with the captain, Beckett heads for the break room where Ryan and Espo are waiting.

Espo starts as soon as she closes the door "So, are you going to finally tell us what all this is about?"

"Yes" she starts "Do you guys remember a few weeks ago when Agent Stack was hear?"

"Yeah, what about him?" Ryan asks.

She continues "Before he left he presented me with a chance of joining the Attorney General's Office Task Force in DC. I called and had an interview scheduled with the Deputy Director 2 days ago."

Espo adds "You mean the day you showed up late to the crime scene without Castle."

"Yeah… I just got back from DC. Anyway, I was offered the job and decided to take it."

They are both stunned by her confession. "So, you are leaving?" asked Ryan.

"Yes" is all she replies.

Esposito sits there thinking about what she had told them. Then it hits him "You didn't tell Castle about the interview… did you?"

"No, I thought it best to wait until I heard something."

"But he found out anyway… that is why you have been upset and he hasn't been around?" Espo continues.

"Yes" is all she says.

"Is everything okay now?" Ryan asks.

She looks down towards the floor and doesn't answer.

"Kate, tell me you didn't chose the job over Castle?" Ryan pleads.

"Ryan, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. How am I supposed to pass it up?"

Esposito can take no more "You're kidding me right…. You're telling me a job offer is more important than the man who has not left your side the past 5 years… A man who put his life in danger repeatedly saving yours… A man who just a week ago stayed with you while you stood on a bomb with seconds left until he solved the password to save you… You're telling me working for the AG's Office is worth throwing that away?"

Knowing her well enough that she is not going to respond, the boys leave out the break room and head for the elevator, not saying another word to her. Sure, she is/was their friend but Castle has become important to them too. They cannot believe she just gave up probably the most important person in her life.

The Medical Examiner's Office

She enters the morgue to find her friend sitting by her desk looking over some files. "Hey Lanie" Kate starts "Do you have a minute?"

Lanie lifts her head up taking a good look at her friend. She can tell by the puffiness in her eyes that she had been crying. She also looks thoroughly exhausted as if she has gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. She starts walking over to Beckett "Girl what's going on? Are you Okay?

"Yes, No, I don't know" is all Beckett can say.

Confused Lanie asks "Does this have to do with writer-boy?"

"Kind of" Kate starts then continues "He proposed Lanie."

She is just about to shriek when she looks into Kate's face and can tell this is not a good thing. "If he proposed… why do you look the way you do? Shouldn't you be happy? After all it was just a few days ago you came in here not knowing where your relationship was going."

Kate takes a deep breath and then responds "I said no"

"You said what?" Lanie asks in disbelief.

"Lanie I was offered the job in DC and decided to accept it?"

"Kate, you could have both…. You know as well as I do that man would follow you anywhere."

"I can't Lanie… This job is certain… and Castle, well he isn't."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Lanie he has two failed marriages, I know they are not all his fault but still I just can't take that chance."

"Are you going to tell me that Castle is not worth the risk? After everything that man has done for you."

Kate is just about to respond when Lanie holds up her hand "No what it is your life and your decision… if you truly believe this job is more important… I'm not going to argue with you, but I think you are making a terrible mistake. Now if you'll excuse me I have some work to finish." And with that Lanie turns away and heads back to her desk.

Castle's Loft

He has no idea how he made it here. The last thing he remembers is her saying no. His heart felt like it broke into a million pieces. She has chosen the job opportunity in DC over him. He feels so stupid… he honestly thought she loved him and wanted the same thing. Wasn't it her who asked him a couple of weeks ago where they were headed. Of course he understood her meaning, but chose to play it off. He knew what he wanted then…. Kate, marriage, kids. He didn't answer her because he was afraid she wasn't ready yet. And her behavior at the time kind of confirmed it… the kiss with Vaughn…. Hiding her conversation with Agent Stack…. Keeping the interview from him. All these should have been signs that although she questioned him… she was not totally committed herself. Just then he phone buzzes, he looks down to see that it is not the person he hoped… it was Espo. As much as he wanted to pick up he lets it go to voicemail. He is hurting and would not be able to talk. Minutes later his phone goes off again… this time Ryan. It continues for the next hour when he now has Lanie calling. "I guess Kate broke the news to everybody" he says to himself. Still he refuses to answer.

He heads over to his office grabbing the bottle of Beau James Whiskey he had stashed. He sits at his desk pouring himself a rather large glass before taking out the engagement ring in his pocket. He stares at it for a while as if it could give him the answers he needs before placing it in his desk and downing the glass. It burns on the way down but he hopes it will numb the pain. He knows getting drunk is not the answer so he decides on one more glass before stashing it back.

Heading into his bedroom he sighs looking around. Everything here reminds him of her. Her elephant figure sitting on her night stand. Her clothes lying in a pile with his. Even her cherry scent still fills the air. God, he misses her. He feels tears coming on but fights to hold them back telling himself "this is what she wanted." He enters his closet grabbing a box and starts packing her stuff up. He knows the sooner it is out of site, the sooner he can forget about her.

DC –Two Months Later

Kate enters her apartment feeling exhausted. The job had not turned out to be what she thought it was going to be. At first it was new and exciting she got to work alongside different agencies, travel all over the country, and work on cases other than homicides. But that wore off fast. She also found out there is a lot more power work , a lot more channels to go through, not much time to yourself and most of the cases involve internal investigations within the Justice Department. So much for the belief that by taking this job she would be helping more people.

On top of that she was lonely. She missed New York, the 12th, the boys, Lanie, her farther and mostly Castle. She hadn't heard from or seen him since that swings. The boys also quit talking to her. They would only say something to her when they had too. Hell, they didn't even attend her going away party. The only people who she could talk to were her farther and Lanie. Jim Beckett called her once a week to see how she was doing. Their conversation usually lasting about an hour and stayed away from a certain writer unless brought up by her. During one bad week she actually asked him if he ever saw Castle. Startled by her question he told her he saw him once. Castle came to the house to return some photos of Johanna he discovered while cleaning up his office. She was upset when he told her that Rick didn't ask about her or her job. But then again why should he? She was the one who ended things.

Lanie called maybe every other week depending if work let her. Anytime she asked Kate how she was doing it was always the same fine. She also would not bring up Castle unless Kate initiated it. From time to time she asked if anybody heard from him…which Lanie replied "no". She told Kate the guys tried repeatedly to talk to him and even showed up at his loft trying to get him to work on cases with them… but he wouldn't. He apologized and said everything at the 12th reminded him of her.

The nights were even worse… she was so used to having him next to her. She thought after a while she would be able to sleep alone again, but she couldn't. And when she was able to sleep… her mind kept going back to the swing set. She knows now that she made the wrong choice, but she was determined to stick with it.

New York – Two Months Later

Rick Castle has spent the last two months burying his hurt and pain finishing his final Nikki Heat novel Crowning Heat. His is scheduled for a meeting tomorrow with Gina and Black Pawn to go over details regarding it. Out of respect and the years she has given to him as his agent, Rick has called Paula (his agent) and let her know about the bomb he is about to drop. Although not happy about it… she said she would support him. It took everything in him to finish the final Nikki Heat book and fulfill his contract. Nobody realizes how hard it is to try and write a story based on somebody who decided a job was more important than you. He wanted to give Nikki and Rook the happy ending that He and Kate did not, but he couldn't and the story ended up paralleling real life. After finishing he decided his life needed a major change…. He could not continue it when everything reminded him of her.

That morning he entered Black Pawn Publishing's office building knowing that Gina was not going to like what was about to happen. Exiting the elevator he was greeted warmly by her secretary Carol "Good morning Mr. Castle."

Smiling he responded kindly "Good morning Carol, I hope you are having a good day."

"I am thanks… Ms. Cowell will be with you shortly."

Ten minutes later Gina came out of her office "Hello Richard."

"Hello Gina."

Leading him over to the conference room to meet with the others she adds "I'm surprised you finished way ahead of your deadline…. Maybe know that your detective is gone you can focus on your writing and not on her?"

Castle has to bite his tongue; he really wanted to say something then and there but decided it would be better when he made his announcement in front of everybody.

After greeting everyone and going overall the basics Gina decided to get into the heart of the matter.

"Richard, since you are no longer wasting your time playing cop… as your publisher I am letting you know now that you will be going on tour to promote Crowning Heat."

Castle takes a minute gathering himself knowing that what he is about to say will knock the wind out of her. He clears his throat and continues "Actually Gina I will not be doing any book signings or promotional tours for Crowning Heat."

"What? Richard you have a contract and you will do what I tell you if you expect to have it extended."

"No Gina, I have fulfilled my contract with this last Nikki Heat novel… there is nothing in my contract saying I will need to promote it and as for extending it…. I am officially announcing my retirement."

The whole room erupts into chaos. Gina can barely speak "Wh... Wh... What do you mean retire?"

He smiles as he looks at her "It means that I am finished, I no longer intend to write anymore."

She continues to stare at him before asking "Does Paula know about this?"

"Yes she does… and she said she supported my decision. But before I leave there is one more thing you are going to do for me."

A/N: For those of you who have been following A Castle Falling, don't worry I plan on finishing it soon. I just got this idea in my head for a new story and decided to go with it. I hope you enjoy.