September 11th, 2004
The footprint of what was 1 WTC

It had been three years and each year it was harder to attend the reading of the names of those who were lost on 9/11. But Rick and his daughter did it just to show the people of this city and the world that this event three years ago will never take their city from them. Rick watched while Alexis stood next to him. He took the time to look around between the changing of announcers and saw that this is becoming more of a bull session than anything else. He saw politicians, he saw people who were using the ceremony as a way to get out of a day's work when it should be used to honor the people who were lost on that day three years ago. It's the one thing about New Yorkers he'd never understand. If there's one thing he will instill in his daughter's mind it's the fact that people died here for no reason whatsoever. Sure, the military was dispatched to the Middle East and they were trying to take care of the threat that way, but he thought that nobody cared about soldiers losing their lives over there because it was evident in the faces he saw here today.

Newly-minted detective third grade Kate Beckett missed the first reading of the names on September 11th, 2002. At the time she was dealing with a very drunk stock trader that she had arrested and was processing his paperwork during most of the reading. He was sympathizing with the others in the bar about how it was the first anniversary of losing so many of his friends. He just took it a little too far when he drank too much and got into a fight with a very sober stockbroker; it didn't end well. But when she was free to leave she had made it over to the towers' footprints and listened to the last thirty-eight minutes of names that were left to read. But today she was here for the whole ceremony. She saw NYPD brass, local politicians, Congressmen and Congresswomen, and a Senator here and there. It was sad when she thought about it. These people were taken away without any warning whatsoever. Once Igor Zukelmans' name is read she knew that that was the end of the list. As the mourners started to leave she walked over to the NYPD temporary precinct that overshadowed the Port Authorities headquarters. On a signboard were plans for the New World Trade Center. With what she read about it in the Daily News and the Post, it would be the tallest building in the northern hemisphere when they got around to building it. What they were proposing was one single Tower instead of two Towers. Situated in both footprints for the original one and two World Trade Center would be a museum above and below. This would take time. She for one really wants to see what they come up with for the memorial. Once she was done reading the plans she started down towards Liberty Street and something caught her eye. She saw two short pigtails bobbing up and down. She knew these pigtails because she saw them three years ago to the day. She ran to catch up to the man holding the little girl's hand and it all came back so clear now. She left them standing on Canal and Mercer streets three years ago.

"Hey you, across the street, wait up!" Kate shouted to be heard.

Rick heard someone yelling for him to wait. He turned around and saw a woman in blue jeans and a cardigan sweater. She has an Eddie Bauer women's trench coat cinched tightly around her waist. He waits for her to walk across the street.

"Hey, thanks for waiting for me. I was just wondering if you remember me at all?"

Rick took a good look at the person standing in front of him and he couldn't place her for the life of him. She had long curly brown hair, hazel eyes, and a body that would put every other female to shame within a mile of her. But he couldn't remember her.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but I don't know where I know you from. Maybe you could give me your name? That might jog my memory."

"I'll do you one better. Do you remember the corner of Mercer and Canal Street?"

Rick stood there thinking hard and the only thing that came to his mind was a young beat cop who was running to the 6th Precinct on 9/11/2001 but then stopped to tell him to get somewhere safe.

"Kate Beckett? Badge number 0334?"

"That's me. How are you, Rick? I'm sorry but I never got this little one's name," Kate said.

Alexis, now 9 years old, piped up and gave Kate her name.

"It's nice to meet you, officer. My name is Alexis Castle."

"Well, Alexis, it's nice to meet you too, but I am no longer an officer. I just accepted a promotion to detective first grade. I'll be starting my new job at the Twelfth Precinct on Monday."

"Kate, that's great news," Rick said.

"So, Rick, I'm just curious to know something."

"What's that, Kate?"

"Alexis Castle? I could have sworn you told me that your last name was Rodgers when we met in 2001."

"That, dear detective, is a long story. Can I interest you in a cup of coffee or maybe some lunch so I can tell you all about it?"

Kate, who had nothing to do at the moment, agreed. Soon Rick, Alexis, and Kate were heading away from the memorial and towards a diner that she knew very well. She thought that he might know about it too because he came down here every year to hear the names being read off. She looked over to him and said one word.

"George's?"

"Good food, good atmosphere, yeah George's."

George's Diner, among other restaurants in and around the city, donated most of their food on September 11th, 2001 and beyond. Each of the uniformed personnel assigned to the pile were able to walk into any diner or restaurant in lower Manhattan during the recovery operation and would be served a warm meal. This happened usually right after their shift was over. Kate knew that George's was a great place to eat and apparently so did Rick.

They were able to find a booth for three even during the lunch rush.

"So, Kate, tell me what you've been up to in the last three years since I saw you last."

"Well, after I met you on the corner of Mercer and Canal Street, I made it to the precinct just in time to catch a bus down to the Pile. From there we worked the Pile until December 12th for three months and one day after the attack."

"I don't know how you did it. I really don't – Kate, it must have been hell."

"Rick, you have no idea. We did everything we could to save as many as we could. Most of the time we worked past our twelve-hour shifts just wanting to get the job done. Technically the job itself was one big crime scene. And the reason we worked so hard was to put the families of the victims at ease knowing that their remains had been found and identified.

"So tell me, what's up with the name Castle?"

"Well, according to my publisher - who's all about image - the Rodgers name wouldn't sell that many books. So, putting their heads together, they came up with Richard Castle, 'master of the macabre'. And it seems to have worked because I sold more books than I ever dreamed of.

"Kate, about to get off the subject, but there are many times I thought about you down there during the months that followed the attacks. I even tried to find you at the 6th Precinct one day. I even left you a…"

Kate reached into the left pocket of her trench coat and pulled out an old weather beaten, dirty, and faded envelope that'd had been folded one too many times. From the envelope, she pulled out a letter written on 6th Precinct letterhead. When Rick looked up at her he couldn't believe that someone actually delivered his letter to her.

"…a letter. Yeah, I got it. Did you mean what you said in this letter, Rick?"

"With all my heart Kate."

"Well, I think you should ask me the question you promised you would on the third anniversary of the attacks, don't you?"

"I think I will. Katherine Beckett, NYPD Detective, badge number 0334, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Why Mr. Castle, I hardly know you!" Kate teased.

"Come now, Miss Beckett, don't play coy with me. For what we've been through, even though we've only met each other once, you had my heart even back then. You just didn't know it till right now."

"Well, in that case, Mr. Castle, if I have your heart then I might as well have the rest of you as well - so yes, I will marry you."

Kate re-read the letter that Rick sent to her three years ago.

Dearest Kate,

It's been two weeks since we met on the corner of Mercer and Canal Street. I have a proposition for you that I had given a lot of thought to what could have happened to us during the last two weeks on that day. I know that we are not a couple yet, and we hardly know each other but there is something about you that I can't seem to live without. It must be you. I really dread the fact that you are putting your life in harm's way to save others but I know this is your job. This leads me to a question that I will ask you if I can find you on the 3rd anniversary of the attacks. Kate Beckett, I want you to be my wife. I think that two people who meet the way we did deserve to live to a ripe old age together. Ours is a love story that's not quite finished yet. I know you hardly know me and I you but think about it - we could be great together.

Yours Forever,

Rick

Kate had received this letter a week after Rick wrote it. His letter saw her through some tough times and it's all she'd thought about in the last three years, hoping that he was alive and well since the attacks so he could ask her his question. Now she knew that they'd make it, because let's face it, they have both made it to right where they are now in this moment. Together again.