I loved the end of the series, the part with the kids, but felt the whole shooting should have been cut and had a longer happy ending. So, here's my ending without the shooting (one with the shooting with come soon).
Castle and Beckett enter the loft.
"I feel like I could sleep for a week." Beckett says as Castle closes the door behind them.
Castle counters with a more optimistic, "How 'bout some breakfast, first, best way to start off a hibernation?"
Beckett starts to answer but hesitates, "Rick, can we talk first?"
The look on Castle's face shows the fear that this can't be good. It breaks Kate's heart knowing how she hurt him and wanting nothing more than the wipe that hurt away. She knows what needs to be done, and she's ready to do it.
"Come here, babe." Kate gently beckons and she heads for the couch, her hand extended.
With hesitancy in every step, Castle accepts her hand, sitting beside her on the couch, his large hands encased in her smaller ones.
"Castle," she begins, then takes the less formal, "Rick, what we just went through, what I felt when Mason said you were dead, I just…." her voice catches. Seeing Castle about to interrupt she squeezes his hands and summons the strength to continue, "when I thought you were dead, I wanted to die, too. I was at war, part of me wanting to stop Mason, to kill him, and part of me hoping I'd lose so we would be together again."
"Kate, don't. I…" Castle tries to interrupt again.
"No," Beckett interjects, "let me finish. This last year, what we've been through, what I did to you, I don't ever want anything like that to happen again."
She relishes the love in his eyes and continues, "I think it's time I resigned from the NYPD."
"No, Kate, why?" Castle can't believe what she's saying.
"I want a new job." Beckett confesses.
He nods a bit, thinks for a second, and then looks her straight in the eye, "You really want to run for the Senate?"
"Maybe," she confesses, "eventually. But first, I thought I'd try 'stay at home mom' on for size."
Castle's eyes light up and his jaw drops but she stops his question before it is spoken, "Not yet." she answers as she pulls him to his feet, "but I think we're going to have a lot of fun getting there." she concludes as they make their way to the bedroom.
Cue, scrolling across the loft to the end scene with the kids as was in the ep.