AN: Took longer than I hoped, but the dialogue wasn't flowing like I wanted... but I hope everyone enjoys the end. Thank's to everyone for following, favoriting, and reviewing this story. Here's the final chapter, enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.


Final Stand

Alley kept the gun trained on Kate's temple, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she waited for the cops to breakdown the door. She kept staring the door down as she heard the sirens getting louder and closer with each ticking second.

Kate didn't dare move a muscle because she knew how unhinged Alley was at this very moment. Kate didn't have many options remaining either. She knew she wouldn't be able to break her restraints, or talk Alley down from her suicide mission, so she was pretty much a sitting duck.

Eventually, the sirens stopped right out front of the worn-down warehouse, and the flashing lights were somewhat visible through some of the small cracks in the walls. Alley steadied herself as she waited for the fun to begin.

"ALLEY! We have you surrounded! Come out with your hands up, or we're coming in!" Esposito yelled from outside.

"Make one move and I'll blow her brains out!" Alley yelled back, before whispering into Kate's ear, "I always wanted to say that."

"Alley just listen to them. If you go peacefully…"

"If I go peacefully, I'll get ten years off my several life sentences… Gee, sounds great."

"Alley, you don't want to do this. There's still some good in you. You don't want to hurt Detective Beckett," Castle said from outside.

"How would you know? Because with my track record, I doubt I have a single decent bone in my body," Alley said back to the man.

"Alley, if there's one last thing you could do in your life, spare someone else's. Kate was nice to you, she tried to see the good in you… Don't do this."

Alley lowered her head, thinking about what everyone has said so far, and let out a sigh. She was slowly losing her resolve, but she didn't dare want to give up now. Her life was already ruined, so what's the harm in going out like this?

"Alley?" Kate whispered out.

"Look… I'm sorry for what I put you through, and what I've done to everyone that I have killed up until now. I never thought I'd get like this, and I wish I could have been normal like my mother wanted me to be. Like everyone wanted me to be. I'm real sorry Kate…"

"It's okay, Alley. If you let me go, and leave the building peacefully, we can figure something out. I promise you."

"I have no doubt that you would do that for me, and I thank you for that, but I honestly don't deserve it. We're already here now, and I'm going to follow it through," Alley cocked Kate's gun, as she continued to hold it against her forehead, and whispered out, "I'm so sorry… I do hope you'll be able to forgive me."

A gun shot echoed through the air, and Castle screamed out in pain. He tried to run into the building to get to the one he loved, but Esposito and Ryan tried their best to hold him back since it wasn't safe. Castle tried to desperately pull out of their grasps, but it was no use, they kept a strong grip on him. As Castle continued to free himself, he kept yelling out to Kate repeatedly, "KATE!"

"Castle, you can't go in there. It's not clear yet. Alley is still armed, and she can kill you too," Esposito said trying to get through to Castle.

"I don't care! I need to be with Beckett… She can't be… She can't be dead…"

"We'll send in the officers and take Alley down. Just wait for us to give the all clear, okay?" Ryan said as calmly as he could.

"F… Fine," Castle choked out.

Ryan nodded at him solemnly, before he motioned towards the uniformed officers to head inside the building. The uniformed officers cautiously went into the building and shuffled about as they made their way around. Esposito and Ryan decided to stay with Castle to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, getting himself killed as well. They already lost one friend today, they couldn't lose another one.

One of the uniformed officers came back and said, "All clear… Suspect down, and the victim is alive."

Castle's eyes shot open, at hearing those words, and he quickly pulled away from the guys, to run into the building. He blocked out Ryan and Esposito's calls to wait, because he couldn't wait any longer. He needed to see Kate, and to make sure that she was truly alive and okay.

When he got into the large warehouse, and into the run-down room that Alley had them in, he spotted Kate getting cut lose from duct-tape restraints. Alley was laying close by, with a bullet wound towards the head. He walked over to his partner, his recent girlfriend, the one that he loved, and pulled her into a tight embrace. He didn't care if everyone could see that there was more there than the friendship, they've gained over the last five years, he was just happy to have Kate alive and in his arms.

"I should have seen this coming. I shouldn't have gone to her place alone," Kate said as she continued to hug him back.

"She fooled us all Kate. I wouldn't have known either if Esposito hadn't pulled up all the info on her. She was smart, and she knew what she was doing," he said.

"I guess so," she looked down at Alley's still body, and said, "I'm just surprised she didn't kill me."

"Maybe there was still some good left in her after all."

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"Becket," Ryan and Esposito called out as they walked into the room.

She gave them both a quick hug, and Esposito said, "I'm glad she didn't kill you Beckett."

"Yeah, it was a close call, but I'm glad it worked out in the end."

"Us too… She didn't' hurt you, did she?" Ryan asked.

"No, I'm fine… Alley was trying to figure things out, fighting with her inner self, but I think she made the only choice she felt was right."

"Yeah, I'm just glad she didn't take you with her."

"Me too."


Two days have gone by since Kate was taken hostage by Alley, and everything was pretty much back to normal. Captain Gates suggested that Kate should take a couple of days off after everything that happened, but of course Kate said she was fine, and ready to get back to work. The captain wasn't having any of it, so Kate reluctantly took the couple of days off of work, and decided to spend her time doing some errands and hanging out with Castle.

"So, have any plans for today?" Castle asked as he made himself a cup of coffee.

Kate placed her own mug down in front of her, as she sat at Castle's kitchen island, and answered, "There's one thing I had on my to-do list, but other than that, nothing much. Why?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to have brunch with me. Go to that small restaurant I was talking about a few weeks ago."

"Hmm… I'd love too, but I have to be there in about an hour. I'll take a rain check though."

"Okay cool… So, where are you heading? If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm going to visit someone… Get some closure, if you want to look at it that way."

"Do you want some company? I don't mind tagging along."

"Thanks Castle, but I think this is something I want to do alone."

"Well, okay. I'll see you later though, right?"

"Yep, and maybe we can have some dinner instead."

"Sounds good," Castle said with a smile.

Kate smiled back before giving Castle a quick kiss on the lips, and started heading towards the door.

"See you later, Kate," Castle said with a small wave goodbye.

"See you later," she said, flashing him a smile before she walked out the door.


Kate drove to a cemetery a few miles away from Castle's loft, and went to find the burial plot of Alley Lockhart. She had found out that Alley was being buried next to her adopted parents today, and wanted to stop by to pay her a visit. When she reached the plot, she found a uniformed officer there, along with a woman in her mid-forties, who she assumed was her biological mother. Kate nodded towards the officer before she went up to the woman and said, "You must be Alley's mother."

"Yes… Who are you?" Naomi asked.

"I'm detective Beckett. I'm the one your daughter kidnapped."

"I'm really sorry that my daughter put you through that. I wasn't even going to come out to see her, but I figured I should say goodbye. It's my fault she wound up like this anyway."

"Why would you say that?"

"I should have gotten her some help as soon as the signs started to show that she was different. Once she started lashing out, I should have done something, but I didn't. I could have prevented all of this, and then I'd probably have both of my daughters here with me… We'd be that happy, normal family that we once were."

"Don't blame yourself. You thought she'd grow out of it, and hoped for the best for your daughter. Who would have thought that she'd kill her younger sister?"

"I guess your right detective… I guess she did one good thing in her life, and that was sparing your life, but I honestly thought that that wouldn't be the case."

"I didn't think so either... I just wish we could have saved hers."

"Me too."

It was quiet between the two for a few minutes as they continued to look at the young woman's grave. Kate decided to break the silence and said, "I actually hoped you would be here today. I wanted to give you some news."

"What's that?" Naomi asked.

"I made a few calls, and was able to cut your forty year sentence down quite a bit. You'll only have to spend a few more years in there, as long as you keep up the good behavior."

"Wait… Really? You did that for me?"

"Yes, I did. If anything good can come from this whole fiasco, I figured that this should be one of them. You didn't kill Mae, and Alley pretty much confessed the whole thing to me. So, after thinking things through, I figured an innocent woman shouldn't be wasting her life in jail when she didn't do anything. It might not bring them back, but at least you'll be a free woman."

Naomi wiped a few tears that were running down her face, and said with a smile, "That's the best news I've heard in a long time. I for sure thought I'd be in there until the day I die, but I'm so happy I'll be getting out. I may not have my daughters with me, but I get to start over now. It may be hard to get back into the swing of things, but I'm sure it'll be well worth it."

"It's no problem. I just wanted to deliver the news personally before you heard it from anyone else."

"I appreciate that. Despite this tragedy, this may be the best day I've had in a long time."

"I don't doubt that," Kate said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. She unfolded the sketchbook paper that had a small polaroid photo attached to it with a paper clip, and handed it over to Alley's mother, "I saw this in the back of her sketchbook before she knocked me out. I thought you might want to have it."

Naomi smiled brightly, as she took the drawing and picture from Kates hand. She looked over it a few times before she said, "This was taken two and a half weeks before Alley killed Mae. They were having special prices down at the zoo, so I thought I'd take them for a fun day out. A man was going around taking photos of all the families, so we decided to do a cute family photo together. I never knew what happened to this photo, but I guess Alley decided to take it for herself. I never knew how good of an artist she was, and I'm proud of her. I just wish she would have been able to do something with those talents if she wasn't so messed up."

"She was definitely a great artist."

The uniformed officer cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry to break this up, but your time is up. We have to get back to the prison."

Naomi nodded sadly, and said, "I understand… Just give me a minute, please?"

"Sure thing."

Naomi took the photo from the drawing and placed it against Alley's tombstone. Once she was satisfied with how the picture was laying against the headstone, she took the drawing and folded it back up. When she was done folding it, she took the drawing and tucked it in the waistband of her prison pants. She turned to Kate, reaching a hand out for her to shake, and said, "Thanks again, detective. For everything."

Kate shook the woman's hand and replied, "It was no problem. Good luck to you."

Naomi gave her a small nod before she walked off with the uniformed officer, so they could head back to the prison. Kate looked over Alley's grave once more and said, "Alley, I hope you are at peace, and with your little sister. I know deep down you still loved her, and that you didn't mean anything that you did. You were just lost and confused, and didn't know how to handle the anger that was inside of you… And Alley, I do forgive you."

Content with everything that just happened, Kate stepped away and walked off to her car. Kate was grateful to be alive, and by no means was this the first time that she could have died, and it most certainly will not be the last. She loves what she does, and there's no way that she'll ever regret the job choice that she made, even when things like this happen. With that, she decided to go back to Castle's loft, so she could go spend time with the one that she loved, before another case came around to test her limits once again.