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Until I See You Again
Chapter 8 AU – One night was all it took to change her course of actions…
Epilogue
It was a beautiful autumn day, the leaves just starting to change into the beautiful shades of gold and orange and red. The sun warmed their backs as the light shone through the branches of the tree they were hiding beneath.
Hiding in plain sight was their specialty; how they had lived all their lives.
Looking at the couple pushing their young son, Rita couldn't help the pang of wistfulness that shot through her chest. The scene was idealistic, the perfect, normal family, and as much disappointment that she felt knowing that she'd never get to be involved, she knew it was better this way.
Safer for them.
"Do they know how close it came?" he asked, walking up behind her with his voice low and she didn't need to turn around to know he wore the same forlorn expression. Seeing them like this, the nagging desire to be in their lives plagued both of their thoughts, but it could never be. They had jobs to do and the job always came first.
LokSat hadn't believed the idea that Captain Kate Beckett had dropped her investigation. There had been plans in place for her termination as well as the murders of her husband and all of those she held dear to her. The intel had been intercepted though; they had managed to prevent it before anything had been set in motion.
He might not have been the best father in the world, but Jackson Hunt couldn't knowingly allow someone to murder members of his family. His protective instincts were part of what she loved about the man.
"No, they've been entirely in the dark," Rita mused, turning back to look at her husband.
"Good. It's better that they don't know," he muttered, with a sigh, as he moved to lean against the trunk of the tree. She glanced back at the couple before joining Jackson against the bark.
"You've never stuck your neck out that far before."
"Maybe not," Jackson grumbled, wrapping his arm around her waist. "No one will lay a hand on them if I can help it. They're family. I'll protect my family over everything."
There was no secret when it came to his son and daughter-in-law's frequent run in with life or death situations; they were like moths to the flames of danger. If they were involved in helping with every one of those situations, they'd never have time to complete any authorized missions.
Yet, LokSat was different entirely. It was bigger than what either Beckett or Castle could have known. From her surveillance, Rita could tell Beckett had been so far over her head during her investigation and the moment she brought Castle into the mix, the target on her head and Castle's had been too big to ignore.
It had taken far longer than they had originally thought, but in the end they had taken down the entire organization with only a few fatalities on their side. The entire struggle was worth it, especially now, watching the scene play out in front of them.
"You're okay with it?" she asked, raising her eyebrow as his eyes narrowed, considering her question. "Even if they'll never know how close it came and what you did for them?"
Jackson smirked and nodded, always a man of few words and even fewer emotions.
"I don't want them to ever know. It's safer this way," he said, but his words betrayed him as his eyes darted back toward the playground, searching for the small family. "But I will say one thing, seeing them – like this – makes me wish things could be different. Makes me wish we could be normal grandparents."
He was right. Checking up from afar, it always left her wanting, but things could never be different. They had burned far too many bridges to ever join mainstream society again. She leaned back against her husband as a sad laugh slipped from her lips.
"We'll just have to settle for being real life guardian angels."
"Maybe one day –" he hummed into her hair as she sighed. Missions had never been this hard before.
"He is beautiful."
She had been wrong about Rita.
Her initial thoughts that she had been involved in the LokSat conspiracy were so far from the truth. Every move she had made, hadn't been for Vikram or LokSat, but it had been for Kate and her well being. It was so strange to think, but now knowing that she actually was family, it all made sense, in a twisted way.
"Are they still standing there?" Kate asked, pushing their son, James, gently on the swing set, avoiding looking in their direction, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
"They are. They're still keeping watch," he said with a nod, glancing over his wife's shoulder to take a peek before moving next to her to smile at their giggling baby boy. "For a couple of experienced agents, they're pretty obvious."
If she were being honest, they had been pretty obvious this entire time. Even though she had quit the day to day investigation of LokSat, she had suspected that this wasn't something that she could just walk away from in one piece. When she had shared her fear with Castle, he agreed, deciding to increase security measures around the loft and his PI office. He had wanted to go as far as hiring her a personal bodyguard, but that idea was quickly vetoed by her already fragile ego. Pregnancy hormones had made her slightly neurotic.
It had been through the increased surveillance that they had caught wind of his father and Rita snooping around. Before long, they had come to realize that Jackson's sudden re-emergence was related to LokSat. A couple of times when evidence or leads had made their way across her desk, they would notice Rita or Jackson from a distance, always from a distance. After too many close calls averted by mysterious shadows, they understood even more what the agents were up to.
Who needed extra security when you had world class secret agents watching their backs?
"It's been a month since the last time. Nice to see they're still around."
Translation – nice that they weren't dead. When they hadn't seen them lurking, they had grown worried that something had gone wrong. A sinking feeling had plagued her stomach, both for Rita and Jackson as well for the fear of the unknown for her own little family.
"It must be over," she murmured, leaning into the warmth of his protective stance behind her as he brushed his arm across his abdomen, drawing her closer.
"If they're both standing there – alive, it has to be."
Kate looked up at the conflicted expression on his face, worry lines etching underneath his eyes as his lips formed a tight smile. He always had a messy relationship with his father, but the knowledge that they were fighting on their side, to protect them when they had James to worry about? It complicated things further.
"Should we invite them over?" she asked, twisting to rest her head on his shoulder to peek over his coat and sneaking a glance at the pair still resting against the tree. They looked peaceful, almost happy.
"Pretty sure my father only makes his presence known when necessary," Castle mumbled. She knew he didn't particularly love talking about the man, but it was unavoidable when they made these appearances. He shrugged at her, his shoulders rolling forward, almost defeated, as he walked over to pull their son from his swing.
"Does it bother you? He'll never know James…"
Kate watched as their little boy cooed in Castle's arms and playfully slapped his cheek with a loud giggle. Castle's eyes lit up in response, the dark brooding disappearing with the short embrace of their baby. Maybe Castle hadn't had the most amazing father, but that certainly hadn't stopped him from becoming one. There was no one in the world she'd rather have raising a child beside her.
"He won't, but that's okay," he confirmed, pressing a kiss against James's head before turning and placing a matching one into her hair.
"It makes you wonder how different things would be if he was involved in our lives," she mused. She looked up at her two men, grinning as she met Castle's hand on top of their son's back.
"The butterfly effect," he said, shaking his head. "Who knows what that could've changed in our lives? We may not have James, right now." She nodded; just the smallest change in their lives could've set them all on a different path. There were times that she had wondered where her life would've been if her mother hadn't been murdered, but she couldn't think like that anymore…
It was impossible to even imagine.
"We might not be together. Hell we may not have even met." Kate looked up to find her husband staring down at her with a playful curl to his lips before his free hand skated along her spine, to pull her tighter against him. She felt him lean slightly, the warmth of his breath washing over the shell of her ear as the rich tone heated her veins.
"Impossible. Katherine Beckett, every road would always lead to you."
The End
Thanks to everyone you read and enjoyed this story. This hadn't been the exact ending I originally planned on when I set out to write this story. This was initially going to be a full multi-chapter, but the constant plague of hateful S8 directed reviews made it impossible to continue writing it how I had originally intended to.
However, I refuse to leave something unfinished so I turned this Epilogue into a summary of sorts of what the original plan would have been while still leaving Castle & Beckett with a resolved hopeful ending.
xoxo
Thanks to my lovely friends who were also wonderful betas.
