Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Family, Humor
Rating: M for violence, language and sexual situations
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: As with my past short chapters, wasn't sure I was going to get reviews, so very happy I did so let me get straight to the thank yous! Beckett-Castle4ever (Not surprised seeing you were feeling sorry for Castle in the last chapter. Or to read that you're hoping Beckett will find him. And it was great to see that you thought it was sad when he was thinking about Julia and her not calling him Daddy or saying I love you to him… which sounds bad but I mean that in a good way. And loved seeing that you thought I had good details!), vetgirlmx (Very happy to see you liked the last chapter so much! And yeah, that was the first time I wrote strictly in Castle's point of view, so nice to see it went well to you! Yep, I can be dark… I find I write better with that and… yeah, with romance, lol. And I thought with the situation he would think about his loved ones, but then not be able to think he's not sure how things'll go, since of course he doesn't know. But with him being calm… I figure after all the years working with Beckett he'd know when he really needs to be, and that would be one of those times of course. Also you're right; keeping calm means a better chance of getting out with less in the way of injuries or anything worse. Very happy to see you want to see what happens next, not surprised you're of the mind he needs to be rescued immediately. And your PS made me giggle a bit, though I can see where you're coming from with that), pcol22 (Glad to see you thought it was a great chapter again, even though it was short, lol. And expected you to want to see more about who kidnapped Castle. And of course, so happy you're looking forward to the next chapter already!) and sammysgirl78 (You know, I take it as an awesome, awesome compliment that you enjoyed how I had Beckett say I love you to Castle versus what we got on the show. I actually wrote that thinking that myself, as while it was nice she said it, the situation on the episode was… not all that great, lol. So I wrote my own version since I could! But thanks so much for that! And not surprised you're seeing Castle going to try and rescue himself. Had to laugh a bit at you saying you were hoping they find him before he does something stupid, but not surprised you want him to be found in the end. And so happy you're looking forward to reading more, which you can do here now!). So thanks so much to those of you who took the time to review the last chapter, I definitely am grateful for that and loved reading everything I got!
A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Scared by John Lennon, from his album Walls and Bridges.
Just Manage To Survive
"Mommy?"
Turning as the whisper broke the absolute silence of the bedroom, Beckett paused while putting her hair into a ponytail, seeing that Julia was sitting up in the bed. "Sweetie, it's very early, you need to go back to sleep," she said, going over to her.
"I can't, is Castle back?" Julia whispered again.
"No, I'm going to leave right now to get him," Beckett told her, smoothing down her daughter's sleep mussed hair. "Do you want to go with Alexis?"
"I don't wanna sleep," Julia said, sounding tearful as she shook her head. "Let me go with you Mommy, please."
"I can't Julia," Beckett said soothingly as she picked her up. "My job is no place for a little girl."
"What if you need help? I can try to help like Castle does," Julia said, pressing her cheek to her mother's.
Understanding then what Julia was trying to do, Beckett kissed her temple, lingering for a moment before she pulled away to tell her, "I'll be okay, and I'll have your uncles with me to help."
"To get Castle?" Julia asked.
"To get…" Beckett started to say as she stepped out into the living room.
"We couldn't sleep anymore," Alexis said, smiling weakly as she sat at the table with her grandmother.
"Some tea might help relax us," Martha said. "Are you going?"
"I need to get ready and Esposito's going to brief everyone involved before we go," Beckett said. She went over to the table and as she handed Julia to Martha she saw a to go cup on the counter. "Coffee?"
"No, tea as well, we thought you could use something soothing too," Alexis said as she reached over and squeezed Julia's arm.
"Thank you," Beckett said. "I'll call," she said simply before going over to the closet to get a jacket before she went back to Julia. "I'll talk to you then sweetie, okay?"
"Kay, but… be careful Mommy, and make sure Castle is too," the little girl begged her.
"I know," Beckett said before she shared a kiss with her daughter. She nodded to Martha as her fiancé's mother squeezed her arm once, looking over at Alexis who was giving her a very shaky smile. Taking the tea, she left, slinging her work bag over her shoulder as her steps were quick and loud in the empty hallway. She took a sip of the drink, the herbs not doing much in the way of calming her down, her entire body tense with uncertainty, thinking of Castle and hoping that he was alright.
"Okay, video feed is on," Ryan was saying in the back of the van as they were heading to the warehouse.
"Nothing was found last night?" Beckett asked.
"No, good thing though, because Gates would have killed us if she found out we had Tebo out there," Esposito said. The night before, after he and Ryan had left Castle's loft, he'd asked the retired officer and friend of his to scout the building though it was incredibly dangerous to do so. "But since Reynolds had the fence wired up we're lucky Tebo couldn't get in there."
"I'll have to thank him," Beckett said, distracted with putting the wire through her blouse. "This isn't recording right?"
"If I see you able to get to Castle," Ryan told her, nodding when she tapped his shoulder to check how she'd placed the microphone. "And Reynolds is no longer a threat, whoops, lost the signal," he continued, pretending to jerk his arm over the buttons bringing the feed of the sound and visual to the van.
Beckett nodded to him gratefully and then said, "Is SWAT ready?"
"All set, and we'll have an ambulance on stand-by as soon as you leave the van," Esposito said. "So do you have everything set?"
"Yeah, I go in, Reynolds will know I'm there, and he'll likely call me to him," Beckett said. "Grayson will search through the windows in the parking structure to see if he can find him, and hopefully Castle too. I'll go in, and if I need you guys, I'll say my dad's name."
"Sure you want to use that as an alert?" Ryan asked.
Shrugging, Beckett felt the van slowing down, and felt the knot in her stomach growing tighter; the tea Alexis had made her doing little to ease her tension. She stepped out and turned to Esposito who'd come with her. "Are we good?" she said back to Ryan.
"We're good," he called.
"It's right there," Esposito said, pointing to the building next to the one they'd stopped in front of. "Remember, we'll be on the bottom floor of the parking structure until you're inside and we can be sure that Reynolds' attention is on you," he told her as she was putting on her vest.
"Are there any snipers?" Beckett asked once she'd finished and Ryan told her the wires were fine.
"None, I promise," Esposito said. "But if I need to-"
"No, I don't want to risk Castle's life," Beckett said immediately. "I need to get him out alive. What about Reynolds' partner?"
"Nothing on that," Ryan said, coming to the door. "There was some money, about five thousand in that second account under Reynolds' name he used for that sting two years ago; what we told you last night. If he had a partner, it's likely he hired him. It's almost eight Beckett."
Without a word, Beckett turned and left them, walking over to the address Reynolds had given her the day before, her heels sounding impossibly loud on the sidewalk as that area of the city was nothing but old buildings, a warehouse and the lone parking structure that was a place for transients and drug dealers. Looking around her, she could see an unmarked car heading to the parking structure, and knew it was the van getting into position. Brushing her fingers against her gun holstered to her thigh, she sped up her pace a little more, soon seeing the only warehouse with large windows, recognizing it from the day before.
"Esposito," the detective said in the van as his phone rang.
"What?" Ryan turned to his partner at the man's shocked tone in that question and quickly checked back on the video feed from Beckett to make sure she was still walking before he looked back as Esposito hung up the phone. "What happened?" he asked.
"That was Karpowski, they found Reynolds an hour ago," Esposito told him. "He was floating in the Hudson, shot to death."
Reaching the fence around the building, Beckett saw a gate, and went over to it, waiting for an alarm to go off. But when there was no sound, only the creak of the wind blowing the gate open further in front of her, she stepped inside, leaving it open. She glanced up at the windows, which were intact, trying to discern some kind of movement from the shadows inside, though she wasn't expecting Reynolds to be that obvious. Going in, she saw there was only one room in the warehouse, and she was alone. Turning to look for stairs, she heard a voice coming through the steps behind her.
"We're up here Katherine," the voice said.
Frowning as the voice was definitely not Reynolds', Beckett withdrew her gun, and started up, pressing back against the wall and watching as she came to the second floor. She saw a figure pacing back and forth further down the large room, and said, "Rey…" before the officer's name died in her throat.
"Oh holy shit," Esposito said as Officer Thomas swore behind him and Ryan.
"Rizzio," Beckett said, getting over her shock when she saw the rug behind the man. "You're the killer."
"Kidnapper too," Rizzio said. "I'm sorry about the gun, but you know, I had a feeling Esposito might have tried to work his way into the plans to find me."
"You've been sick," Beckett said.
"Yeah, for a long time, remember back at the Academy? First time I saw you Katherine, and I've been sick ever since," Rizzio replied. "Not that eloquent, but I'll learn."
"Where's Castle?" Beckett asked, ignoring him.
"So that's all you came here for? Not even to see me?" Rizzio asked. He made a tsking sound and shook his head. "I had a feeling, he told me, warned me you might not want anything to do with me because of the writer. But I owed him, so here you are."
Beckett was cursing the gap in the floor in between them then, as she watched the officer go around to the rug behind him and kick it open. Her hands on her gun tightened when she saw her fiancé's bloodied face as his unconcious body rolled almost to the edge of the floor.
"Sorry about his face, but he was a little… I guess you want to call it belligerent this morning when I got him out of the room he spent the night in," Rizzio said. "Now, Katherine, you have a choice here, stay with me, or go with your partner," he said, nearly spitting out the word partner as he took the safety off his gun and aimed it down at Castle.
"You want me to make a choice?" Beckett said, not really sure what she could do as she couldn't jump over to their side.
"Grab that board behind you," Rizzio said, nodding to it.
Glancing back, Beckett hesitated, not sure if he wanted to try and disarm her, or wanted her over on that side to keep talking to her. She decided to take the risk and take the opportunity she'd been given to get as close to her fiancé as she could. She put her gun back and went to the board before she turned around, dropping it and withdrawing her weapon.
"Damn it," Esposito said in the van. "I could try-" he told Ryan.
"And if you missed? Beckett would kill you," the detective replied. "Just have SWAT ready to go in."
"Let him go," Beckett was saying, aiming her gun at Rizzio's head since he was holding Castle up in front of him.
Not replying, Rizzio kept his eyes on Beckett, but let her see that his finger was on the trigger. "Bring the board over here, or I'll blow his brains out."
Beckett suddenly reached behind her, and pulled the wire on her for sound out of the pack in her back pocket. She was able to speak and she said to Rizzio, "If you hurt him-"
"That's if you don't do what I asked," Rizzio told her simply. "The board Katherine, now or else your wedding is never going to happen." He caught the falter in Beckett's turn to the board, and taunted her saying, "I knew about that already, you really honestly thought I was just going to stand by and let you ruin your life. You never even look at me, but you know already that we're soul mates Katherine, we-"
Beckett had dropped the board as loudly as she could over the gap in the floor at his use of the term; what she'd talked about with Martha only the day before concerning her and Castle. She became furious at the man, wondering how he could assume she thought of him favorably in any way. Luckily the act of withdrawing her gun yet again was enough to calm her down and she said, "I rarely talk to you Rizzio, how can you be so sure?"
"I love you Katherine," the officer said, tapping the gun; his finger no longer on the trigger; against Castle's temple. "Since I first saw you and followed you to the 12th, but you didn't realize that did you? I watched those men come and go, never really understanding you, and wondered why you did that. You were waiting for me. But then he came along," he said, jerking Castle a little and making his head slump down before he pulled it back. "I found out you were engaged when I realized why the hell you'd been rubbing your thumb under your ring finger on the left. That was back in January, so probably after he asked you. So I decided, you needed to see that he was not the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, and got that ready.
"But you're a stubborn woman Katherine, and I couldn't get you to believe he was a killer," Rizzio said. "So I decided this was the better way to go. Just come over here, and we'll get out of the city, I have help, and we'll have a life together better than anything he could give-"
Beckett had only been listening with half an ear to Rizzio's delusions, waiting for the right moment, and right then, Castle's head had tilted to the side before rolling down and putting him off balance in Rizzio's hold, leaving her an opening. The fact that Rizzio's finger was back on the trigger was the final straw she needed, not wanting to tempt fate or be too slow to react should he try to shoot while trying to distract her. She shot, twice into the officer's shoulder, sending him and Castle flying back. "Shots fired, Rizzio is down, you need to get two ambulances in here Esposito," she said into her walkie talkie she'd brought with her.
"Call them in," Esposito said as Ryan was casually flicking the switch on the video feed off before they ran out of the van with Officer Thomas joining them.
Going across the board seemed to take ages for Beckett, but she was finally able to get to the other side, and she pushed Rizzio's body away from her fiancé before she turned her attention to him. "Rick?" she whispered, touching his face gently with her fingertips. There was no response, so she grabbed at his wrist, feeling his heartbeat steady; guessing he'd been knocked out before Rizzio had brought them there. She heard the sound of several people running into the building on the first floor, but didn't pay any attention to it as she studied her fiancé's face, trying to see if he was seriously injured. She had to wince as she touched his nose, it wasn't broken she could feel, but the blood staining his shirt let her know that he'd been hit there several times besides Reynolds slamming his knee into it.
"Beckett, is he alive?" Ryan asked, coming across the board since he was the lightest out of the six of them.
"Yeah, he's unconcious," Beckett said, looking over at him as he went to Rizzio and took someone's jacket, pressing it to the officer's shoulder. "We have to find Reynolds," she said, trying to get her mind back to the case though it was hard to do.
"He's dead, that money was likely from Rizzio," Esposito said as the officers with him left and went down to try and find a way for the EMTs to get up to the other side of the second floor. "Did you know him that well at the Academy? Graduated with you too right?"
"Yeah, he did, but I didn't really know him," Beckett said, looking around then herself to see where the paramedics could come to get her fiancé out of there. "He was very quiet."
"He and Reynolds friends?" Ryan asked.
"Not that I ever saw, but I was more focused on my training than anything else," Beckett said. She heard voices in front of them, and then got up; going over to the gate she'd seen on the other end. "Can they come up Thomas?" she yelled through the collapsible gate of a freight elevator.
"Yeah, we're letting them up at the same time," the officer yelled.
Turning around, Beckett was a little startled to find Esposito gone, but guessed he'd gone around to join the others once the EMTs were there. "How is he?" she finally asked Ryan about Rizzio.
"Clean shots, no major arteries hit, so he probably will pull through," the detective answered.
Watching as Ryan directed the first paramedic with the stretcher to Rizzio, Beckett watched the second man with one come over to her. "He's got some bruises and cuts, and he's unconcious," she told him as she stood aside and let him examine her fiancé. "Most likely because of chloroform." More people were coming up, some more paramedics, and Esposito arrived with Thomas and the other officers. "Is SWAT clearing the area?"
"Just in case there's anyone else involved," Esposito said, nodding. "Gates needs a statement from you, and we need to get Castle's statement too whenever he wakes up."
"Do you want me to give you mine now?" Beckett asked, watching as the paramedics with Castle waited behind the ones with Rizzio at the elevator.
"Go, it'll be easier for me to get yours at the same time," Ryan said.
"Thank you," Beckett said gratefully, squeezing his arm and then jogging after the two paramedics going inside the elevator with Castle. "I'm-" she started to say.
"I told them you've been trying to find me, you should come with," Castle said from the stretcher. He opened his eyes and looked into the smiling face of his fiancée saying, "Hey Kate."
"Hey," Beckett replied, squeezing his hand. "Okay?"
"Headache from the chloroform and the fight I didn't win before he knocked me out," Castle said on the ride down. "He was obsessed with you; I tried to tell you it was Rizzio but…"
"Shh, it's okay, we found you, and we have Rizzio," Beckett murmured.
"Did you shoot him?" Castle asked, studying her as they walked out to the gate.
"I had to, he was holding you at gunpoint," Beckett said. When she saw his concerned look she quickly said, "I had video on me when I was in there, and sound but I pulled it off. So I won't be sued again."
Nodding, Castle had to let go of Beckett's hand as he was put into the ambulance, but he then said, once they were on their way, "How's everyone?"
"Worried, but I'll call them while you're being looked at, we'll call them once Ryan gets our statements," Beckett said, watching him. She glanced at the paramedic that was working on her fiancé, and then took Castle's hand, squeezing it tightly as he entwined their fingers, feeling the relief hit her so strongly that it was almost draining, just thankful everything was finally over.
"Beckett," Ryan called as he walked down the hall to where she was talking with a doctor, nodding once at something the man said. "Hey, is he awake?"
"Yeah, sorry, he woke up when we were going into the elevator, I forgot to tell you guys," Beckett said, unable to help smiling. "He's fine if you're wondering why I look insanely relieved right now."
"I don't blame you; did you contact his mom and Alexis?" Ryan asked.
"Already done, and Julia too," Beckett replied.
"So hopefully they're alright now," Ryan said.
"They want to see him, I would like to go home with him, but first let's get this wrapped up. Does he have an officer outside the room he's been put in?" Beckett asked.
"Two, since Esposito and I agree he should have the numbers stacked against him," Ryan replied. "I saw what happened, but Gates is going to want to know in your statement what happened exactly."
"Sure," Beckett said, going to two chairs against the wall. She quickly told Ryan up to the point when she'd taken off the sound feed, saying when she finished, "I was probably overreacting, but I didn't want to chance Rizzio saying anything about our relationship."
"Well, since he talked about your engagement," Ryan commented. "I don't think I can blame you for doing that."
"Anything else?" Beckett asked.
"That's enough, I just need to talk to him now," Ryan said, nodding to the room across from them where Castle was.
"Can-" Beckett started to say as she jumped up when the doctor stepped back out into the hall.
"Go ahead, he's asking for you," the man said with a nod.
"Get me when he's ready to talk," Ryan said, getting his phone that was ringing.
"So they tell me I'm fine, just going to have some lovely bruises," Castle said. "I asked if they'd last for three weeks and he said maybe. So you'll be walking down the aisle to a man with possibly yellow patches of skin."
"Borrow your mom's pancake makeup," Beckett teased him. She smiled when he grabbed her hand; since he was sitting on the edge of the bed; and pulled her to him tightly. She sighed deeply as she hugged him back and said, "Ryan needs to talk to you."
"Just a quick one," Castle said. He was relieved when she kissed him, not minding it was fast and very gentle, just relishing the fact that he was still alive to do so. "Okay, let's go talk to him."
"Hey, so you're fine I'm guessing," Ryan said as the two came out to him.
"Fine, but I want to help out still," Castle said. "Just don't let Gates know for as long as you can."
"Sure, I need your statement," Ryan told him. "From what you can remember of the attack at the office to when you woke up on the stretcher."
Nodding, Castle explained going into his publisher's office, to waking up just before Rizzio had talked to Beckett at the station. "By the way, how come you couldn't track him, he was on the phone for a while," he paused to ask.
"Turns out the inventor of that new scrambler is from right here in NYC and a hired thief as well," Ryan said. "Robbery at the station picked him up, and Rizzio got the item from evidence; the guy's still in jail waiting for his trial, so the scrambler was never checked to make sure it was there."
"And he would have known where to get it," Beckett said. "Where did he keep you?"
"In a room… closet, he called it a room, said it was enough to pen me in, apparently he took a lesson from the way the prisoners were treated at Gitmo, he was rambling," Castle said.
"Were you able to move?" Beckett asked, a little disgusted hearing that.
"It wasn't that small," Castle assured her. "More like a standard closet. But I was able to walk around, lay down though I was curled up so much my chin was almost on my knees. I tried to break down the door, but he got reinforced oak, so that was out of the question." He paused to take a breath, debating at the same time whether he should tell his fiancée about the pictures, but decided not to.
"So you slept apparently," Ryan said, watching the two glance at each other.
"Not that well, but I did. The next morning he came in, and he had that damn rug he put me in going from the office to his place I'm assuming," Castle said angrily.
"How did you know about the rug?" Beckett asked him.
"Because I smelled like a new rug," Castle replied. "And when I refused to get up off the floor he used his nightstick slightly too liberally; his fists too. I've got a really nice bruise, right here," he told his fiancée, touching his side.
"Are they bruised?" Beckett asked, indicating his ribs.
"No, I'm fine," Castle said. "But he punched me enough times to almost take me out, and once I was down on the floor he stood with one foot on my back before he held some chloroform on a rag over my mouth, and that's the last I remember until I woke up."
"Okay," Ryan said. "I'll-" he began to say when his phone rang again. "It's Espo," he told them. "Yeah? You did, how… that would make sense, okay, I'll let them know and see if they'll want to go," he told his partner before hanging up. "They found where Rizzio kept you, they used the new app you have that can track your phone Castle even when it's turned off."
"I just got that five days ago, it's a like a high tech lojack," Castle explained. "I have other apps by the company, they just released that one and boy was it worth what I paid."
"I'll go check it out," Beckett said quickly. "I'll stop by the station to get my car."
"Me too," Castle said. When his fiancée turned to him, about to protest, he quickly told her, "I'm alright, I don't want to rest, I've been doing since he put me under."
"Your clothes?" Beckett then pointed out.
"You brought me some," Castle said simply. "They're at the Precinct right now."
"Did you?" Ryan asked, a little surprised to see Beckett's slight frown.
Sighing, Beckett said, "Okay, let's go. We'll meet you there Ryan."
When he'd left, Castle said, "We should call them on the way back."
"We're far enough away," Beckett replied since they were across the river as that was the closest hospital to where Rizzio had been. She took his hand before they got to the lobby, seeing a few reporters there and swearing under her breath.
"Back way," Castle said quickly as his fiancée was on her phone to call a cab. They waited by the loading docks at the cafeteria, and he took the chance to ask her, "So it was news?"
"I would assume, I haven't watched any TV or looked online," Beckett said. "You'll have to let me know what you find when you search yourself after this."
"Oh come on, like I would do that," Castle scoffed. When his fiancée just gave him a look he leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers saying, "I missed you love."
"So did I," Beckett whispered before she heard the cab coming up to them. She followed him into the backseat, and as they were on their way, called Alexis' number telling her fiancé, "They'll be home, they told me when I called them earlier they were going to stay until you got back."
"I hope they'll understand why I'm not going back yet," Castle said.
"Hey Alexis, yeah, he's here, hold on," Beckett said, seeing the young woman on the screen.
"Daddy! Oh god Dad, are you okay," Alexis cried, tears in her eyes as she saw her father's bruised and cut face.
"I'm fine sweetie, just minor flesh wounds, so no more worrying okay?" Castle told her.
"Are you still looking into the case?" Alexis asked as there was sudden whispering in the background on her end.
"Yeah," Castle said, sharing a look with Beckett.
"Will you watch him?" Alexis asked her dad's fiancée.
"Don't worry…" Beckett started to say as the screen suddenly shook. "Is that Julia?"
"Jules, hold on!" Alexis laughed, not too angry with her sister for doing that as she was glad to see how eager she was to talk to their dad. "Lemme just say one more thing." When the little girl had stopped she quickly said, "I love you Dad, and I can't wait until you come home."
"Me too," Castle said. "If you want to plan another surprise dinner, don't go crazy; just order some Dim Sum okay? And get a lot; we're inviting Lanie, Jenny and the boys."
"Sure, here's Julia," Alexis said.
"We are?" Beckett asked.
"Yep, plus we shouldn't keep Jenny in the dark anymore and should celebrate too," Castle commented. "But just dinner, I'm likely going to be exhausted later on."
"Me too," Beckett said. "Hey sweetie," she said when she saw their daughter on the screen.
"Hi Castle!" Julia cried, waving to them before the screen suddenly showed the ceiling as there was a thud.
"Hold on," Alexis called as she could hear her dad and Beckett laughing. "She was a little too exuberant with that wave; she dropped the phone on the table."
"Sorry," Julia said. "Hi Mommy, I'm happy to see you too. Are you kay?"
"I am now," Castle assured her. "And I've got some nice little cuts, but they don't hurt me; I promise."
"Kay, you are gonna come home right? You too Mommy?" Julia asked them.
"We will," Beckett said. "But we need to do just a little more work and then we'll be back to see you. If you heard Castle, we're going to have a big dinner tonight, so you need to help Alexis and Martha okay?"
"Kay, Martha wants to talk now," Julia said. "I'm happy you're okay and can come home again; Mommy too."
"I'm glad to hear that, I love you Julia," Castle said.
"I love you too sweetie," Beckett then added quickly.
"Love you Mommy!" Julia cried before she watched Alexis hand the phone to Martha.
"Oh Richard, you're sure you're alright?" his mother said in concern when she caught sight of her son's face.
"I am Mother," Castle said. "Just superficial luckily, but I will come home."
"I'll feel better once you do, but I know that Kate will take care of you," Martha said with a sigh. "I'll let you go," she said as she could hear Beckett talking in the background; to a taxi driver she assumed. "But we'll have a wonderful celebration for tonight."
"I'll look forward to it, don't forget to call Jim," Castle reminded her. "See you later Mother."
"Goodbye darling, Kate," Martha said. "Be safe."
"Definitely will be after that," Castle said with a nod, following Beckett out of the cab and into the station, relieved there weren't any reporters there to harass them as they went up the steps together and stepped into the lobby, not surprised nearly everyone turned to watch them as they walked to the elevator.
"Pretty surprised Gates didn't try to protest more than she did," Castle commented as they walked down the street to the address that Ryan had given them. "She… this is it?"
"I think so," Beckett said, seeing it was an abandoned apartment building. "What floor?"
"The first," LT said, standing guard at the door with Grayson. "But-"
Before the officer could continue, Beckett walked past him and headed through the lobby to the hallway beyond it. "What are you guys doing out here?" she asked Esposito and Ryan who were standing outside a room, noticing a pile of mousetraps down the hall.
"You don't want to go in," Esposito said. "Kate," he said quickly, putting his hand across the doorway to keep her from going in.
"Javi, move," Beckett said, a little surprised at his trying to stop her.
Looking at Castle, Esposito finally moved his arm, and said, "We searched around here, but there's not too much. It's a two bedroom place, he added the darkroom and the room where you were kept," directing the last to the writer.
Beckett was standing in place, staring at the pictures on the wall, two of the walls from ceiling to nearly the floor, turning as she saw they weren't just of her alone, but with past boyfriends with their faces scratched, and towards the bottom on that wall, she saw that there were pictures with cut out pieces. She stepped up to one, and saw Castle, scratched out from his head to just past his shoulders and Julia was completely gone. She breathed in once, and then turned, striding to the door, hearing Ryan and then Esposito calling to her. She ignored them, and didn't stop until she was outside; needing the fresh air she sucked into her lungs deeply.
Touching his fiancée's back, Castle wasn't surprised when she turned around and hugged him tightly, not caring LT and Grayson could see them. He then said, "It's over with you know, whatever he had in mind, you stopped him love."
"I know, it's just, those pictures went all the way back to the Academy," Beckett said. She shook her head saying, "I can't help being a little creeped out at the fact all these men seem to want me; Rizzio enough to want to kill you. But Julia? Why take her out."
"I think," Castle said, letting her go as she stepped away from him. "That he didn't want to kill her, just not take her when he talked to you about leaving the city," he said; since she'd told him what Rizzio had told her as he'd been unconcious.
"Well, I guess that's a positive," Beckett said angrily. "We need to go back."
"Sure?" Castle asked.
"That was a little too much at once," Becket assured him. "I'm fine." When her fiancé nodded, she walked back inside with him following her, and they went into the apartment. "I'm okay," she said to their partners who were watching her closely. "So, nothing at all?"
"We found some of your blood in the room Castle, so that's how we knew he held you there," Ryan said.
"Are there pictures in there?" Beckett asked him.
Hesitating for a fraction of a second, Castle finally nodded, once, and told her, "I think he wanted to taunt me. More than likely he hated me for being with you and wanted to make this an emotional torture, not physical. And he sure did that," he muttered at the end as he watched Beckett go into the room.
"Okay, so anything else?" she asked, not looking for that long as she saw her fiancé's blood yet again on the floor.
"Not really, but let us take care of this, can you go down to the morgue and check in with Lanie about Reynolds?" Esposito asked.
"Yeah, thanks," Beckett said, since she appreciated them taking over in there. "Call if there's anything," she told them. "And document this as much as you can, I want this son of a bitch in jail." As she and Castle were walking back to her car she said, "Why did I run out?"
"It wasn't really a run, more of a stride," Castle said. "And you saw the way he cut our daughter out of the pictures, that was pretty freaky, so I can't blame you for feeling sick." When his fiancée looked at him in confusion he told her, "You looked like you were either going to collapse or throw up."
"That would explain Ryan and Esposito yelling after me," Beckett said as they got into the car. "I think we should take some comfort in Rizzio's insanity though," she commented as she headed to the morgue. "With all the pictures and your blood in the room, he'll be put away for a long time."
"Julia will be safe," Castle said, knowing that was the foremost thought in her mind.
"And you," Beckett said, reaching over to squeeze his hand before they let go so she could continue to drive. When they parked and she heard her fiancé breathe out in relief, she looked at him in slight concern, thinking he was in some kind of pain.
"What? Oh, sorry, no, I'm okay, just glad the media's not here either," Castle said. He followed her inside, and wasn't surprised when Lanie met them in the hall. "I'm fine," he said. "Getting tired of saying that," he commented to Beckett as the doctor was making him look to the right and left by pushing on his cheeks where there wasn't bruising.
"He is," Lanie said when Beckett looked at her. "And you?"
Guessing she might still be affected by the apartment, Beckett quickly told her friend about it, relieved when Lanie nodded in understanding. "Okay, so, we're here to check on Reynolds, anything suspicious?" she asked.
"At first I thought this was just a standard murder, four GSWs to the chest, tight grouping; Rizzio was a marksman wasn't he?" Lanie asked.
"From what I remember," Beckett said. "But you should be able to match the bullets to his service weapon if it was that."
"I could, but the bullets are gone. It's my belief; looking at the pier where his body was found; that he was shot there, and the bullets are going to be at the bottom of the Hudson," Lanie said. "But the wounds match a Glock, which he carried. The weird part was this," she said, handing them a soaked piece of paper in an evidence bag.
"That's not weird," Castle said, shaking his head. "That's Reynolds, his handwriting."
"Not that," Lanie told them. "It's this," she said as she got the black light.
Seeing the diagram on the back of the note, Beckett said, "That's your place Castle."
"The closet, damn it, I always wondered how Rizzio got in to get the postcards," he said. "I'll have to look there."
"But this might not be Reynolds, see the x? It doesn't match handwriting according to the analyst I contacted," Lanie said. "I know, Rizzio," she said when the two looked at her. "But asking the analyst, he said it could or couldn't be."
"We'll need to look into his financials, to see if he gave any money to anyone else the same amount he gave to Reynolds," Beckett told her fiancé. "We should head back."
"Oh, you're invited to dinner tonight, at six," Castle told the doctor before they could leave.
"I'll be there, I might be late, but I'll be there," Lanie said immediately. She watched the two leave, and smiled slightly as their relief was palpable. She found herself looking forward to that night, wanting to see how Castle and Beckett were together since she knew they were far more than partners.
"No money?" Castle asked, leaning over on the side of Beckett's desk to watch her search Rizzio's financials.
"Nothing out of the ordinary besides what he gave to Reynolds," Beckett said. "Let me call Lanie and let her know that's likely Rizzio's x."
Watching his fiancée talking to the doctor, Castle waited for her to hang up before he asked, "When do you think we can leave?"
"I should start paperwork, but-" Beckett began to say, understanding his desire to go home.
"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, I need to see you in my office," Gates said.
Looking at each other, Castle and Beckett went inside, the captain asking him to close the door behind him. They sat down at the two chairs in front of the desk, a little uneasy; wondering if they'd been found out before she began to speak.
"I've just finished discussing things with the mayor," Gates said. "And she's relieved you've caught the killer."
"Well, it's… we had to," Beckett said, unsure of what else to say to that.
"She also expressed a desire to speak to you both tomorrow morning, with me in attendance though it will be Saturday," Gates said calmly.
"About what?" Castle asked, sharing a look with Beckett.
"I don't know," Gates replied. "But we're all expected there at ten, so you can remain with your families; I'm sure your daughter will want to see you Beckett; since Ryan and Esposito were taking point they'll be in charge of the paperwork as you remember from the Wilder case, you'll only need to sign papers this time."
"Ryan or Esposito told you about the photographs?" Beckett asked, refraining from looking at her fiancé, knowing she would be unable to hide her expression at forgetting about the pictures of them that were outside the station.
"Yes, apparently, he was stalking you," Gates commented, not seeing that Beckett was tense in her chair, and Castle was holding onto the arms so tightly that his knuckles were white. "Pictures of you and pictures of you with your past boyfriends and Julia scratched and cut out. Are you still with the last one?"
"No sir," Beckett said, relaxing then as she knew then what her partners had done for her and Castle.
"Alright, you can go home to your daughter. The same goes for you Mr. Castle, and your mother," Gates said. "And remember, the mayor's office at ten."
"Yes sir," Beckett said, standing as Castle murmured the same. When they'd left and were back at her desk she said, "How…"
"I don't know but I'm debating if I should just give them the Ferrari for that," Castle said, feeling stunned.
"They'd fight over it," Beckett replied quickly.
"She didn't guess did she?" Ryan whispered once he was close enough to them to do so as he and Esposito had just arrived.
"No, she told us to go home, but I'd like to get the paperwork in, so I can maybe go home after we go to the mayor's office," Beckett said. "Thank you for doing that for us."
"We had to, but why are you going to see the mayor?" Esposito asked.
"We're not sure," Beckett said, hoping they would forgive her that lie since she wasn't ready to share with them what she and Castle were expecting to happen.
"Hopefully an apology to me," Castle commented.
"Are you going home?" Beckett asked as they'd fallen silent.
"No, I'll stay and get what I need done before we go together," Castle said. "Julia will want us to be together."
Nodding, Beckett said, "Let's get started so we can go." With that she sat down with the file of papers she needed to fill out, handing Castle her phone since he'd need a new one with his current phone in evidence. She smiled a little as she soon realized he was playing a game, and she worked a little faster to get everything completed.
Walking to his loft, Castle let go of his fiancée's hand, and when she looked at him he made her put down her work bag next to his door before gathering her in his arms, hugging her tightly. "Since I didn't really get to do this before," he told her before he leaned down and kissed her hard. He felt her slight moan when he did that, and kept up the kiss until they needed to breathe. He'd also kept it simple, as he knew their family was waiting for them inside. Taking her hand again he unlocked the door, not at all surprised when his daughter and Julia ran straight to him, hugging him tightly.
Beckett smiled as she watched him pick Julia up, and she rubbed his back before going to Martha. "He is okay," she assured her before hugging her dad next.
"Are you gonna stay now?" Julia asked as she was holding Castle around the neck tightly.
"Definitely," he replied, kissing her temple again and letting go of Alexis whom he'd started to embrace so he could hug his mother. "We've got a lot to do now."
"So you're still gonna get married?" Julia then said.
"Come here sweetie," Beckett said, taking her daughter and kissing her on the forehead. "Castle didn't leave because he wanted to; it's why I had to go get him."
"He was missing?" Julia whispered softly. When her mother nodded she sighed in relief and told him, "I thought you didn't want to stay."
"Believe me, I was trying everything I could to get back," Castle said, shaking Jim's hand quickly. "So-"
"Wait! Lemme show you what I made for everyone," Julia said quickly. She had her mother put her down before she ran over to the table where everything was waiting. She pulled out something, and handed it to Castle saying, "I hope you like it."
"I think I will," Castle said, smiling as he looked at the flat rock with seashells he knew Julia had collected from the Hamptons with him and Beckett pressed into it. He leaned down and kissed her saying, "We'll go to the beach house a lot now I've got this reminder I'll keep near me when I write."
Julia hugged him quickly around the neck before she went over to the next item and said, "It's not heavy, but I made it listening to music Mommy, the song you like that George sings."
"There are a lot of his songs I like," Beckett commented, sitting down on the chair.
"The one with hummingbirds," Julia explained, turning over the picture.
"This is beautiful sweetie," Beckett said, seeing the picture had paint in different blue, green and black streaks. "What did you use to paint it?"
"They were ping pongs," Julia said. "You really like it?"
"Mmm-hmm, especially since your counselors helped you sign it here in the corner," Beckett said, pointing to the little girl's name in the bottom right corner before the black cardboard frame around it began.
Julia hugged her mother tightly before taking two bracelets off the table and handing one in greens and blue to Martha and another in aqua blue beads to Alexis. "Will you wear them?" she asked anxiously as she held her gift for her grandfather.
"Of course," Martha assured her first. "This exactly matches my dress, and it is wonderfully made. You are an artist kiddo," she told her as Julia hurried to her and hugged her.
"I'll agree with Gram, this matches my dress, and I'll wear it to more than just at the wedding," Alexis said as she took her sister's hand to hug her. "Thanks Jules."
"Another thing for me honey?" Jim said as the little girl came over to him next, holding out another cardboard black framed picture.
"I made that 'cause you like those fishies," Julia said softly. "And Grandmama too."
Jim picked Julia up after studying the buttons shaped like a fish; the colors making it a koi fish which he and his wife had both loved. He kissed his granddaughter and hugged her tightly telling her, "This I'm taking to my office for a little, and then I'll take it home to keep it there."
"Really?" Julia asked in delight. When Jim nodded she laughed in delight and kissed his cheek before there was a knock at the door.
"That would be dinner," Martha said, going over to it. "Oh, make that dinner and friends," she called to her son and Beckett. "Come in everyone and you too," she told the delivery man. "Set everything in the kitchen."
Beckett was going to go over and greet the others, when Castle was suddenly pulling her to his room. "What…" she began to say when he took her necklace out from under her blouse. She shook her head at him though she was smiling slightly, taking her ring off to hand to him. "Sorry," she said when Lanie peered over at them in the doorway.
"Are you going to keep wearing that on your necklace?" Lanie asked.
"For now," Beckett said. "But I'm glad you came."
"You didn't think I'd miss the chance to see my niece did you?" Lanie replied simply, as Julia was holding her hand.
"Of course," Castle said, sharing a glance with his fiancée. "So-" he started to say when he and Beckett came out into the living room.
"Congratulations, you two," Jenny said, coming up to them and hugging Beckett briefly. She did the same to Castle and said, "Ryan told me."
"Sorry, it sorta slipped," the detective said.
"That's okay, she was going to find out once she got here," Beckett reassured him, letting Jenny look at her ring. She smiled as the woman exclaimed over it, and was pulled into discussing the plans for the wedding, not surprised when Ryan's wife was a little skeptical about their getting everything set in just barely over three weeks. "It'll be a small ceremony, really small," she told her and Lanie. "We'll only have thirty guests."
"Including us?" Lanie asked.
"And our parents," Castle said, coming over with two glasses of ginger ale, one of which he handed to her. "We're pretty exhausted," he told the doctor who was looking at them in concern.
"And don't need to pass out in the food," Beckett continued, tapping her glass against her fiancé's.
"So what about Julia, is she going to be your flower girl?" Jenny asked.
"Yeah, and what about a best man?" Esposito then asked.
"Well, don't kill us," Castle said before he trailed off and looked at his fiancée.
"Thank you love," Beckett said, rolling her eyes and missing the surprise on the other's faces at her endearment. "When I said we were going to have a small ceremony, I really meant that, Alexis and Julia are going to be our wedding party, kind of."
"Kind of?" Lanie asked.
"I'm carrying the rings," Julia said, since she was leaning against Castle. "And Alexis helps me if I need it."
"And me too," Beckett said. "We're sorry we're not having a full party with all of you in it but…"
"Really we just want to focus on getting married," Castle said. "Speaking of that, it's on the seventeenth… oh, you told them?" he asked.
"I did," Beckett said. "And it'll be at eight."
"At night?" Ryan asked in surprise.
"The morning," Castle corrected.
"Come and eat everyone," Martha then called from the kitchen, moving to the table. "Or else Jim and I will take everything," she said, directing that to Julia who squealed and then ran to her.
"Wait, I wanna sit with Castle," Julia said as Martha tried to take her to her usual chair.
"That's fine Mother," Castle said. "Just let me get your chopsticks and napkins…"
Since everything was in the kitchen, the food was laid out buffet style and everyone picked up a plate, except for Castle and Beckett who stood back, looking at the place settings and chairs which were a little lopsided in ratio to each other.
"I have some more chairs I keep for this reason," Castle assured his fiancé. "And with Julia sitting with me, we'll need one less."
"I'll help him," Esposito said as Beckett started to follow him. "By the way," he said, grabbing a chair from the front closet. "Why are you having your wedding that early?"
"Ask him," Beckett said since that question had been directed at her. "He wants to leave as soon as possible for our honeymoon."
"Not for that reason," Castle said quickly as he saw Lanie was giving him a look. At her then disbelieving expression he hurriedly added, "Not just that, mainly because I don't want to lose a day going around."
When there was silence for a while, Jenny asked, "Going around where?"
"Don't you know where you're going yet?" Esposito said when neither Castle nor Beckett replied.
"He does, but he's keeping it a secret from me," Beckett commented.
"It's a surprise," Castle said quickly.
"Somewhere tropical?" Ryan asked.
"Oh no, no Twenty Questions guys," Castle said, getting his food with Beckett then as everyone had a chair. "I'm surprising Kate with it; but it's not a wedding gift."
"That's another thing, what are we supposed to get you?" Jenny said.
"Did you say you were moving to a new place?" Esposito said.
"We decided to wait for after the wedding," Castle said, glancing at Beckett since they'd yet to discuss that. "After everything we've gone through lately, I think we both just want to relax and then go on our honeymoon."
"Oh, I'm not sure you're going to be relaxing that much with the wedding," Ryan said.
"It'll be a smaller ceremony," Beckett reminded him. "A lot smaller than yours was."
"You make a good point," Ryan replied. "But yeah, what about invitations, gifts, all of that?"
"Well, invitations we'll mail out Monday," Castle began.
"And we have a tentative list of gifts, but if necessary, you guys can send them after the wedding," Beckett continued. "As for everything else, we'll start working on it on Monday."
"So you have the invitations ready?" Lanie asked.
"All we needed were the date and time," Castle explained. "And since we have that we have two days to put those on and mail them out."
"Do you think you can make it out to the Hamptons?" Beckett said.
"Not the day of, if you're really going to have it at eight in the morning," Ryan said.
"You can stay at our beach house," Castle said. When he saw the others looked surprised he quickly told them, "Her name will be on the deed pretty soon, probably next week, my lawyer is starting to draw up the papers."
"If that's the case then sure, I'll be there," Lanie said, the boys and Jenny agreeing. "But don't forget to send us the invitations."
'We will," Beckett said, smiling at that. Her phone started to ring, and she glanced at the number before jumping up to take it. "I'm sorry, it's my friend from Stanford's husband, she's pregnant and due next month," she explained worriedly before heading to Castle's office with him behind, Julia in his arms.
"Luke, is everything okay?" Beckett asked to answer the call.
"Everything's great," May said on the other end.
"May? What's going on?" Beckett said, looking at Castle.
"I had my baby," May replied.
"You, he's early though," Beckett said, quickly counting and realizing that she hadn't been due for four more weeks.
"I know, but he's here, and he's beautiful, I'm sending a picture once we hang up, so you can see him," May replied. "And his name is George."
"That's a nice name," Julia said quickly.
Laughing, as Castle and Beckett were doing so, May then said, "Thank you Julia, and my girls say hi."
"Tell them I said it too," Julia replied. "Are you coming?"
"May, I'm sure you're exhausted," Beckett said, cupping the little girl's cheek when she winced at asking that. "But Castle and I have decided on a date for the wedding. The seventeenth."
"Oh, about time," May said. "Well, we can try and come if George's pediatrician says it's okay, but I won't know until we get closer to the date. Would you mind if I brought my girls too?"
"That's fine, Julia won't be the only kid there," Beckett replied. "We'll still send you an invitation."
"Great, I can't wait and I'm hoping we'll be able to go," May said. "I've got to go; I need to make a few more calls."
"Alright, take care May, I'll call you in a few days, see if we can talk more," Beckett told her.
"I'd love that," May said. "Bye everyone."
After saying goodbye, Beckett led the way back to the table saying, "She had her baby."
"I know, Diana just texted me," Alexis said, holding up her phone. "She hasn't seen him yet, but May is doing alright I guess?"
"She is," Beckett said. "And I should probably explain to you who May is," she said to the boys, Lanie and Jenny who looked a little confused. She began to tell them about her friendship with the woman, and then about the trip to San Francisco, which Castle, Julia, Alexis and Martha helped her with.
"Mommy, can I get the book?" Julia asked.
"Go ahead, now you can show them," Beckett said as dinner was over and they were sitting around the living room. "She took a ton of pictures out there," she said as Castle was taking her hand and pulling her up. "I have my ring on already," she teased him as he pulled her into his room.
"I think we can show them this," Castle said once he had the floorboard off his second safe. "And I need to put all these back," he commented as he set out the other pictures he'd hid in there.
"Later," Beckett said, taking his hand and pulling him back out to the others. "Here," she said, giving the photo of her, Castle, Julia, Alexis and Martha to Esposito. "We took that at Fisherman's Wharf the last full day of our trip," she told him.
"How cute," Jenny said, leaning over once Lanie had the picture. "So I'm guessing you had fun over there?"
"Definitely," Castle said as Julia was giving Esposito the book he and Beckett had made of some of their daughter's San Francisco pictures. "And we'll be going back."
"For your honeymoon?" Ryan asked.
"I asked him not to take me there, I wanted to go somewhere I'd never been," Beckett replied.
"Spain?" Jim asked.
"I'd like to make that a family trip," Castle said, helping Julia onto his lap. "So I'll give you that love, it's not Spain."
"I had a feeling," Beckett said. "You'd likely tell me right away if it was."
Looking over at them as she was looking at the book with Esposito, Lanie found herself a little surprised seeing Castle and Beckett and their two families together. She had to guess though, that at some point it had become one family, the way they were so comfortable with one another. Watching Julia talking to her mother and Castle though, the doctor had a pretty good idea of why that was, and she smiled, making a mental note to talk to her friend when she had a chance.
"So he's awake," Ryan was saying as he stood in the hall with Esposito, Castle and Beckett. They'd said goodnight and were leaving, but he and his partner had pulled the two out to talk about the case. "But he's not talking, so we're not sure exactly how he figured out about your closet or how he was able to do everything else too, but we've got a pretty good idea."
"Is there any reason you can figure out why Reynolds helped him?" Beckett asked, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Looked at some e-mails on his computer that he'd tried deleting but wasn't very thorough about it," Esposito replied. "Apparently Reynolds had a thing for you since the Academy too, and he hated you," he told Castle.
"Yeah, that I picked up on," he replied, rolling his eyes. "Have you looked at the other men with her at the Academy, since this seems to be a recurring thing," Castle told the boys. "Well, barring her friend Darnley."
"Yeah, we managed to get some time to do that, called the guys who graduated in your class, they're all married or engaged," Ryan said. "And they didn't really have much to say about you; said you'd been a clique with Darnley."
"Well, that space in the closet is filled in," Beckett said, since they'd boarded the ceiling tile that had been where Rizzio had dropped down into a blind spot. "And now we're safe. So I guess we'll need to see tomorrow after we talk to the mayor what you might have. Night guys."
"Night," Castle said before he opened the door. "Jenny?"
"Thank you so much for dinner," Ryan's wife replied, hugging Beckett and Castle. "We'll have you over next weekend for dinner, bring Julia and Alexis."
Nodding, Beckett watched as Lanie came out but then stopped next to her. "I… you need to talk?" she asked.
"Go Javi, I'll get home alright," Lanie told him, since Esposito was waiting for her. She then looked at Castle before he mumbled something about going inside and left them alone, turning to her friend.
"Are you going to hurt me?" Beckett asked as she didn't say anything.
"No," Lanie replied simply. "I wanted to tell you, my anger's going away faster than I thought."
"That's not the reason why we invited-" Beckett quickly started to say.
"I know," Lanie said. "But I also wanted to ask, how long have you been this close as a family?"
"Since around the end of August, when we took Julia to the Hamptons for the first time," Beckett said. "That's when I had Castle acting more as a father to our daughter."
"You mean your love?" Lanie teased, not surprised when Beckett's cheeks grew flushed. "And that reminds me of something else I needed to tell you, I am happy to see you so different with him from your past boyfriends. You're not holding back are you?"
"Not in the slightest," Beckett replied, though she was reminded of something she wanted to tell Castle later on. "So you'll be there?"
"I'm hoping in the front row at least," Lanie said seriously.
"You'll be sitting next to my dad," Beckett promised her.
"Okay, since you're looking at your watch, Julia needs to go to bed?" Lanie asked.
"She does. But we'll go out for lunch next weekend if we can okay? Just me and you," Beckett said as she hugged her friend.
"Just let me know when," Lanie replied. "Night Kate, I'm glad Castle's alright for your sake."
"So am I, night," Beckett said, watching her leave. Once Lanie had turned the corner she went back inside and said, "Okay, so we need to put her to bed Dad."
"I know, I was just saying goodnight to everyone," Jim said, walking over to her with Julia in his arms. "Was Lanie mad still?"
"She's calming down," Beckett said, glancing at Castle and shaking her head when he gave her two thumbs up. "Sweetie," she told Julia, taking her and putting her down. "Go up with them and wait for me okay?" When the others were gone; calling a final goodnight to her dad she said, "Did he tell you all?"
"Yeah, Julia went into his office to put the things she made for you two on his desk, and he told us in the kitchen," Jim said softly though they were alone. "What are you going to do?"
"There's nothing much I can do," Beckett replied. "The Commissioner is not a fan of his either, and there's no one else he can appeal to. Believe me, we've thought about that for a long time." She sighed and said, "I'm just… I tried not to think about this day coming but, here we are."
"There is one consolation," Jim said carefully, watching his daughter.
"I know, we'll be married," Beckett replied, smiling slightly. "That will be a consolation, and I've told him I'll tell him about cases when I come home to him," she said though the smile had left her face. "It's not going to be the same, but, we'll have each other."
"Call me tomorrow if you want to talk," Jim told his daughter, hugging her tightly.
"You can come over for dinner tomorrow Jim," Castle was saying, coming down the stairs. "She wants you," he told his fiancée when she looked at him.
"Wait, Alexis and Martha are taking her to the bookstore on 5th Avenue, and then to some other shops, the kids shops," Beckett told him. "They'll likely buy her a book, but the other stores they're just going to look around and see what sundresses she likes for Christmas."
"Will they know what size she'll need?" Jim asked.
"My mother can resize them," Castle said. "But go with them, because they're going to need someone else to distract Julia. And also, keep my mom from going too crazy."
"I agree," Beckett said, nodding to her dad. "Also go out to lunch with them and head to a park if it's not too, too hot."
"We'll figure out what we want to do," Jim said. "What time are they leaving, and would they be okay with me going?"
"At ten, and yes," Beckett said, smiling when her dad had. She hugged him again and said, "We'll see you afterwards Dad, night." She watched him go and when she had closed and locked the door said, "She noticed we were very comfortable as a family, obviously because of-"
"Julia," Castle said at the same time as her. When she nodded he then said, "Did you talk to him about tomorrow?"
Knowing he meant the mayor and not their family's plans, Beckett nodded and said, "I'm feeling like tomorrow is further away than it actually is."
"Me too," Castle said. "But, you know we'll have one another like you were saying, just not as we always did. But love, I don't think we need to work together to stay together," he told her as he took her hand and led her upstairs.
"No," Beckett said, smiling. She saw Castle looking at her out of the corner of her eye and said, "I think that amused Lanie."
"Probably confused Espo; should explain to him about that," Castle murmured. "But we'll be okay Kate."
Squeezing his hand Beckett said with a smile, "I know, I just want you with me, driving me insane most of the time, but helping me solve cases."
"Me too, but I guess we'll do that at home," Castle said, pausing at the top of the stairs. "But hey, better to do that, that way I can make it up to you when I do make you nuts."
Beckett sighed though she was still smiling, and she leaned up to kiss his cheek before they headed into Alexis' room. "So you're all ready sweetie?" she asked as Julia was bouncing on the bed on her knees a little.
"Yeah," the little girl said as she then stood up. She yawned and said, "I'm tired Mommy."
"I know, you were awake very early," Beckett said as Martha went to Julia and hugged her. "Did she sleep at all?"
"No, we were all concerned, so although we were tired, there wasn't much luck in trying," Castle's mother replied. "But darling, sleep tonight please," she urged Julia. "Your father is here and staying here, your mother will make sure of that."
"She's right," Beckett said when Julia looked over Martha's shoulder to her.
"Goodnight Julia," Castle's mother then said. She kissed the little girl's forehead saying, "I'll be heading to my room, since I didn't get much sleep myself. Goodnight."
"Night Martha," Beckett said, the others echoing her.
"I'm going to bed too, too much going on lately," Alexis said as she picked up her sister and hugged her tightly. "But since I'm sure you'll be asleep pretty quickly, I love you Jules, night."
"Night 'lexis," Julia said, hugging her tightly. When her sister handed her to Castle, she was hugging him tightly around the neck, pressing her cheek to his as he went around to her side of the bed. "I'm glad you can say goodnight now, I missed hearing you say that."
"I did too," Castle said, kissing her temple before he pulled back to look at her. Smiling as she touched his cheeks carefully he said seriously, "I love you so much Julia." When she nodded firmly several times, he waited for her to stop before they shared a kiss. "Night and sweet dreams tonight okay?"
"Kay," Julia said, kissing his cheek before she held her arms out to her mother.
"I love you sweetie," Beckett said, kissing her gently. "And sleep tonight okay? Tomorrow we'll have breakfast together before Castle and I need to head out to see about the paperwork okay?"
"Will you have lunch with us?" Julia asked.
"We'll need to see, but we'll definitely have dinner with you, and everyone else," Beckett said. "We invited your grandpapa again."
"Good," Julia said before she and Beckett exchanged a kiss. They parted and she sighed as her mother laid her down and tucked her in, looking over at Castle and Alexis to see her sister was hugging him tightly. She smiled feeling Beckett kissing her forehead, and she hugged her around the neck before letting go. "Night Mommy I love you and I hope you sleep tonight."
"I will," Beckett assured her. "Sweet dreams Julia, I love you." She said goodnight to Alexis before her fiancé took her hand, and they headed straight to their room. "Go take a shower," she told him when he'd closed the doors behind them. Before Castle could leave though, she kissed him gently, cupping his cheeks before letting him go. She wasn't too surprised when he pressed his forehead to hers, and she smiled before they finally managed to pull apart from one another.
"Whew, I feel a lot better," Castle said as he came out from the bathroom, rubbing his hand over his slightly damp hair. He looked at his fiancée when she didn't say anything in response to him, and saw she was looking at the San Francisco book. "Okay?" he asked, climbing onto the bed to sit next to her, kissing her shoulder through her blue pajama top.
"I was just thinking about everything that's happened recently," Beckett told him. She closed the book and set it aside saying, "A little afraid you're going to be taken from me tomorrow."
"Do you mean that literally or figuratively," Castle asked.
Groaning as she'd already forgotten about the mayor, Beckett shook her head saying, "I guess it's going to be both when we talk to her."
"Well, only in the sense of our partnership," Castle tried to assure her. "Which do you put more value in?" He was a little startled when his fiancée suddenly started to blush, and he asked, "What is it?"
"I, there's something I talked to your mom about yesterday," Beckett said. She then told him her conversation with Martha, tense at the end as she expected him to gloat in what appeared to be her change of opinion.
"You… really?" Castle asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, I really don't know if we're soul mates, not just from this one incident but…" Beckett began to say.
"But it's making you start to think there's something there," Castle stated.
"Pretty much," Beckett replied. She leaned against him and said, "I wondered if it's because of how close we are because of Julia, but it wasn't that. I just knew there was something wrong with you and I can't explain it any better than that."
"I kind of wonder if maybe it's because your fear of me being taken from you," Castle said. "It made you hypersensitive to that."
"More than likely," Beckett nodded. She then wrapped her arms around him and said, "But whatever the reason, I'm just glad I didn't lose you."
"I was trying to do my best to get back to you and Julia… well, to everyone actually," Castle told her, kissing her forehead. "Because I knew what I had to lose. But, we should try and put it behind us, I'm back, and believe me when I say I'll be careful concerning texts from now on."
"Good," Beckett said with a smile. She then straightened up and looked at Castle intently saying, "I love you Rick."
"I love you Kate, so much," he said quickly, taking her face in his hands and kissing her tenderly. It continued as they would part for a brief second before kissing again, but finally they needed more than that second to breathe, and he stroked her back before he murmured, "I think we are soul mates love."
Smiling, Beckett said, "I knew you'd say that. And I'm willing to agree with you if," and there she pulled back to look at him again. "You'll agree there's nothing really supernatural or unexplainable about that. That it's just…"
"Love?" Castle asked. When she nodded slowly he said, "That I can agree with wholeheartedly," before he kissed her again. That was a little deeper, but finally he pulled away and murmured, "We've got the rest of our lives Kate, and we're so close now."
"I know, so what you're trying to say is you want to sleep to get another day down?" Beckett asked. She smiled when he nodded once and she kissed him quickly before they shared another that was less hurried. Finally they stopped, and got under the bed sheet with his arm draped across her.
"Night love," Castle murmured, hearing Beckett say the exact same thing. He smiled, but that soon drifted off his face as he fell asleep quickly that night, the fatigue of that case enveloping him instantly.
Turning over carefully then, Beckett watched her fiancé sleep, frowning a little as she thought over their conversation, and what she'd finally allowed herself to call themselves. She looked up at the ceiling though she couldn't see it as she took a deep breath in and out to try and calm herself, determining in that moment what she had to do. She then pressed close to Castle, feeling his arm around her tighten momentarily before she let herself finally sleep in his comforting embrace.