Epilogue

A few weeks after the interviews Castle was sitting in his chair next to Becketts desk as once again a delivery man wheeled in a hand truck filled with copies of that weeks People Magazine. Castle watched as the stack was mobbed, but waited till the crowd thinned though he was very curious.

Once it cleared he and Beckett walked over to the dwindled stack of magazines. Beckett got hers and went back to her desk without pause. Castle picked up his and went stock still. There on the cover was a picture of the entire homicide department with the headline of "The 12th Precinct weighs in on Richard Castles Involvement As A Civilian Investigator"

He walked back to his chair slowly, completely shocked and it showing like a neon sign. He glanced at Beckett, who was silently reading it like she was reading a report. Since he wasn't going to get any info from her he sat down and started to read.

Each interview had it's own section complete with rather well taken photographs of the team member being interviewed. He had the decency to blush when he read Montgomery tell the story of how they met, but for the most part his expression was one of shock and awe.

As he made his way through each interview he grew more and more humbled. He'd known that he was appreciated, but he had no idea just how much until now and it left him speechless.

The last few pages were filled with pictures of everyone and some of the 12th itself and he looked at each as though they were a work of art. Once finished he closed the magazine and set it on his leg, his hand resting atop it as what he'd just read sank in.

He'd noticed Beckett watching him out of the corner of her eye and was sure that most of the room was doing the same. His mind was swirling with thoughts, each passing so quickly that deep thought wasn't possible.

After several minutes of silence, he slowly stood up and faced the bull pen, the magazine pressed to his chest as he cleared his throat.

"I never knew that you all thought of me this way. I'm honored and deeply humbled by your words. All I can really say is thank you, for putting up with me, for treating me as one of your own, for accepting me with all my flaws and eccentricities. I love you all too"

He smiled at that and sat back down, the room grinning at him, glad to have given back even just a little for all he's done for them. Castle looked over at Beckett and took his hand in hers. Their eyes met and there was no need for words to be spoken between them. After a few minutes her phone rang and magazines were put aside. Another murder had taken place and it was time to do what they did best.