Hi everyone,

Finally finished the next chapter. Castle's adventure is beginning now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

Chapter 4

Kate tiredly opened the door to her apartment, knowing that it had been a long time since she had stepped foot into her home. The last two and a half months were spent at her family's cabin to recover, but she had a doctor's appointment tomorrow and she hoped to return to work soon. That was, if her psychologist approved of her return. Until then she had no real plans.

It was strange to be home again. In contrast to the family cabin, New York was loud and hectic. Her apartment looked as if she had just left this morning, and her eyes immediately darted to the left.

There it was: Castle's letter leaning on a vase, still sealed.

She wasn't sure whether or not she had wished for it to disappear in her absence. Until now, she hadn't been able to talk herself into opening it and reading the last words he wrote for her. Because that would make his leaving final; that he had really left for good after all this time.

But it wasn't just that. Kate was still angry with him for leaving without a word. Castle hadn't come to her to tell her the news personally, but instead just walked away as if they hadn't been working together for three years. Her friends hadn't told her anything further than his plans to accompany Alexis to Paris and that was her own fault. The news about Paris had come from Lanie, but before she could tell Kate about anything else, the detective had shot a dark glance at her best friend, telling her to stop right there. At that time she didn't want to know anything about him. He seemed to not care about her, so why should she care about him?

But something had stopped her from getting rid of his letter. Josh told her more than once to just throw it away, especially after he noticed that she wouldn't open it. Once, Kate actually had managed to throw it away, but then she spent the whole evening sitting on her couch, staring conflictingly at her trash bin. Until, after what seemed like an eternity, she finally pulled the letter out again and placed it back on her dresser. Kate just felt incapable of destroying this piece of paper; this letter that held Castle's thoughts, carefully written down for her.

Josh. They broke up just before she drove to the cabin. Though Josh said he understood, she could see the hurt in his eyes and felt bad for putting it there. But as much as she tried, she couldn't imagine a future with him. Since then, Kate had hardly thought about him, but hoped that he'd find someone who could offer him so much more than she could. A woman that could love him with her whole heart; not someone that had already given her heart away a long time ago.

Kate carried her bag further into her apartment, resolutely ignoring the letter that seemed to burn a hole into her dresser. She'd meet Lanie for coffee tomorrow, because she desperately wanted to get up to speed on all of the things she had missed during her absence.

The pain she had felt every time she moved had slowly died down over the time. Now it hurt just a few times a week. The beginning of her recovery had been the worst. Kate had completely been useless, unable to even lift her arm without crying out in agony. She had been forced to depend on others and that was something she never liked. Kate loved her independence and to lose it, even if it was just temporarily, was something she'd never accept. It made her feel vulnerable and she worked hard to get this part of her back. The moment she had been able to manage on her own, her dad left her alone, letting her lick her wounds in peace. After all, he knew his daughter well enough to know what she needed it. But that didn't stop him from calling once a day though.

She could hardly wait to get back to normal.

Castle sat on the little terrace of a hotel in the French town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Two days ago, he had bid his farewells to his daughter, smiling as he thought back on how she had once again tried to change his mind. But he had stayed adamant. He had made good use of his time in Paris and prepared himself for his new adventure. He had once again promised to call as often as he could, but he'd keep his family, and all the other people whom cared through posts on his website informed. Even then she wasn't happy to have to visit his website, but he had told her that she could see him any time she'd want through little videos he'd take with his phone. It may not be live, but it was as close as he could get.

As Alexis had hugged him at the airport, Castle had felt like she was squeezing all oxygen out of his body, but the tight embrace was exactly what he needed before he left for his tour. Six weeks without seeing his daughter was the only disadvantage of his plan.

After they finally let go of each other, Alexis headed towards her flight to New York and he went to his plane, which had taken him to Bordeaux, France. Once there Castle had checked into a hotel, put his bag in his room and made his way to the railway station to book a ticket to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port for the next day.

What he didn't know was that this simple task would be the first, albeit little, challenge of his tour. The man who was selling the tickets for the railway was set on believing that Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port didn't exist in France. So there the writer had been, in front of a ticket counter with a man who couldn't speak English while he in turn couldn't speak French. Though Castle learnt a few phrases while he was in Paris, it was nowhere enough to get through that thick skull of this very stubborn man. After some time he got help from a man who had been patiently waiting for his turn, so at least they could communicate properly now. It all ended with him grabbing a map and showing the man that the place really existed and that it was in France, right at the border to Spain.

It had never before taken him so long to get a simple train ticket.

The night at the hotel in Bordeaux had been a restless one. Castle just couldn't fall asleep, turning constantly from one side to the other. Maybe the excitement for his adventure had finally caught up to him. He napped a little on his way to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, but he had been afraid to fall asleep, since he had to switch trains once. It'd have been just his luck to miss his switch by oversleeping.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port was a small place at the foot of the French Pyrenees. To be honest, Castle had never heard of this place before he began to plan his tour. He imagined this place as a little sleepy village with not a lot of things to do, but man, had he been wrong.

In reality, this place was a small town, but it seemed to be filled with lots of other pilgrims who wanted to walk the Way of St. James. As he sat in a café this afternoon, he was surprised how many cars drove through the town. The temperature though was quite cold, so that he wore his warmer clothes.

Castle did a little sightseeing throughout the day. There was a market place where one could buy all kinds of junk. Apparently things a pilgrim needed for his trip to Santiago de Compostela, but even he, who was always happy to try something out, doubted he needed even half of those things. The only thing he bought was a big, heavy, wooden travelling stick. It had been a good idea at first, however as he walked through the streets he wasn't so sure anymore.

Before he had gone back to his hotel, he took a look at the beginning of the Camino Frances. The route began the moment one would walk through something like a town gate and ended after five hundred miles in the Spanish city Santiago de Compostela. In fact, it ended directly in front of the cathedral there. He'd had a look at the beginning of the way, the beginning of the Camino Frances. Castle's plan aimed for approximated thirty-five days, but he wasn't worried if it would take longer. He was a writer after all. Gina was angry either way, and a few more days wouldn't change this.

Before his departure, he got himself a pilgrim's passport. All stations of the Way of St. James had their own stamps. Those stamps would be marked on the passport. If one had the needed stamps, he or she would be rewarded with a gold-framed certificate. Furthermore, rumor had it that all of the person's sins would be forgiven. Castle wasn't a religious man by any means, but if there was some truth about this fact, then he really hoped that his sins would be forgiven. And, maybe, somewhere along the way, he'd even manage to forgive himself for what happened to Beckett.

Those stamps couldn't be cheated though. It wasn't possible to travel by car or train to all the needed stations. Some stations were only reachable by bike or foot. But one didn't need to walk the whole way for this certificate. To get this nice piece of paper one had to at least walk the last 62 miles of the path or the last 124 miles if travelling by bike. These stations consisted of pilgrim's hostels, churches or cloisters. But most of the pilgrims travelled the whole way, and they didn't do this because of the certificate, but instead for the experience they would collect on the way to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Other than him, a lot of people walked the way to think about god and do soul-searching. Castle was just looking for a new challenge. While this was his choice of words, his family took this trip rather as a distraction. A distraction from Katherine Beckett. Maybe they were right, but if Castle planned to do something to distract himself from the Detective, this certainly would be the wrong way. He'd travel alone. That meant thirty-five days with only his thoughts and he was pretty sure that Kate Beckett would be in them every single day of his tour through Spain. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

Today he had gotten his first stamp; the stamp that marked the point where his journey had begun. After he had gotten that stamp, he was assigned to a pilgrim's bed and when he entered the room, he was surprised at how many people there were. It seemed that Castle's last night before his adventure wouldn't be restful at all, seeing that around twenty pilgrims shared the room and everyone looked quite sociable.

He walked over to his bed for the night and put down his bag which weighed around twenty-four pounds and, as much as he had hoped to take a little bit more with him, Castle knew he had to limit the load. After all, he'd have to carry it all the way to Santiago de Compostela. Only the most necessary things had made it in his bag. A guide, a sleeping-bag as well as a sleeping pad, the passport, clothes for hot days (he already wore the clothes for colder days), a change of clothes, a coat, blistering plaster, sun cream, burn spray, a water bottle, a towel, his camera as well as his cell phone, and some money.

Before he went to bed, he switched on his camera. It was time for his first post, and why not start with a little video. Castle held up the camera and grinned into the lens. "Hey, guys."

I hope you liked it. Thanks for the response so far. I'm loving all of them. Haven't thought at the beginning, that this story would be so much liked by you guys!

You're awesome!