Prompt: Castle doesn't return to the precinct during Rise. The next time Beckett sees him is during 4x07.


She's surprised when his daughter's name appears on the screen of her phone, but it's quickly followed by the swamping sensation of dread. Kate hesitates, fingers hovering over the device in unease before she sucks in a breath and pulls the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she answers, a little more timid than she would normally allow, but his daughter is calling her after she hasn't talked to him in months? Can't be good.

"Kate," the girl practically sobs and Beckett's hands clench around the edge of her desk. "Kate, they're in there. They're hostages and there's robbers and they're going to - they-"

"Wait, Alexis, hold on a second," Kate attempts in a soothing tone, trying to remain calm despite the overwhelming pound of her heart and the deafening rush of blood in her ears. "Tell me what's going on."

"My dad and Gram," she chokes as Kate pushes back from her desk, grabs her coat from the back of her chair. She signals to Ryan and Esposito cover for me and strides to the elevator. "They went to the bank and now they're being held hostage. I don't know what you can do, but - but you have to get down here, Kate. Please."

"I'm already on my way," she promises. "What's the address?"


Alexis is a beacon of red flashing around the scene, flittering from officer to officer, until she sees her.

"Detective Beckett," she shouts as she races over. "Make them do something! They're all just standing here-"

"Alexis, listen to me," Kate murmurs, grabbing the not so young girl by the shoulders to still her. "They're probably doing what they can. Hostage situations are fragile. If they make one wrong move, upset the bad guys in there in any way, it could be fatal for your dad and Martha."

Alexis' eyes glisten, angry and hurt and scared, but she deflates under Kate's hands. "They're all I've got, do you understand that?" she rasps. "You may not care about him, but I-"

"No," Kate croaks, squeezing her shoulders. "I do, I care about him, so much, but I thought - when he didn't come back, I thought it was for the best," she confesses under the scrutiny of his daughter's gaze. "I wanted him safe, and he's safest without me."

"And miserable," she mutters before a new wave of panic suddenly washes over her. "He can't die heartbroken, Kate. He's been so broken for months, he can't-"

"When your father and grandmother come out of that bank alive, we'll fix all of this, okay? For now-"

The earth shakes beneath their feet, the force of the explosion sending both women stumbling. Alexis spins around first, screaming as the building billows with smoke and dust.

Kate grabs the nearest officer. "Stay with her," she commands as she rushes forward, grabbing a spare bulletproof vest she spots resting on the hood of a car and strapping it on.

She doesn't blend in with the SWAT group rushing in, but if anyone notices, they don't dare say.

"Castle!" she yells, coughing around the dust and debris clouding the air and burning her eyes. "Castle!"

"Beckett?" She hears the shout of his voice reply, confusion lacing her name, and she hurries towards the sound of his voice.

His brow furrows when he sees her through the bars of the vault shielding him and the rest of the hostages. Smiling uncertainly, he waves his fingers at her.

She rushes past the SWAT team and pushes through the unlocked doors, tripping over chunks of rubble until she finally reaches him.

The fall to her knees isn't graceful and she feels the concrete flooring bruise her bones, but it doesn't matter. He's alive and she hasn't seen him since the day she lied to him from her hospital bed, rejected him from her life and remained too cowardly to ask him back.

God, she's missed him.

Kate uses her pocket knife to cut the plastic bindings from his wrists and before he can speak, before he can even try to understand her unexpected presence, she surges forward, cups his face in her palms, and kisses him.

Castle stiffens in surprise, his lips still under hers, but then his arms come around her back, hugging her to his chest, and his lips curve upwards against hers.

"I'm so sorry, Castle," she whispers, tilting her forehead to his and stroking her thumbs along the corners of his mouth. "I'm so sorry for everything."

His hands span the blades of her shoulders, travel up to curl around her neck, and he looks up at her with hesitance, but there's tentative hope too. Even a hint of the love he had confessed to her all those months ago while she was bleeding out in his arms. It's still there, hiding in his eyes, waiting to come out. "Talk about it later?"

"Yes, later when you come over for the marvelous dinner I intend to cook if you would kindly untie me, dear," Martha chimes in.

Kate jerks back, offering Martha an apologetic look, but the older woman shakes her head, a soft smile on her lips as she holds out her hands for Kate to free her.

"It's good to have you back, kiddo."

Kate smiles back, helps both Castle and his mother to their feet.

All of the hostages are being escorted out of the vault, to the exit with the help of the attending team, but Castle holds her back at the last second.

"Kate."

She doesn't want to keep him from his daughter, hates the thought of her waiting outside unknowing and terrified, but Kate gives herself just a moment to wrap her arms around his neck, bury her nose in the distinct and comforting scent of him underneath the stench of smoke and wreckage. She has a lot to make up for, a lot to explain, but as Castle cradles her body to his and whispers his lips over her cheek, she has hope that they can make it, that they can fix what she broke.

Kate brushes a final kiss to his jaw before finding one of his hands, lacing their fingers as she begins leading him out of the ruins and into the light.