A/N: Sorry for the wait for this chapter!

CHAPTER 9

Beckett woke slowly, her brain fuzzy, trying to make sense of the commotion around her. Her ears perked up first, almost immediately recognizing the faint crackle of an intercom and the loud and steady beeping near her head. She heard footsteps and felt a hand on her wrist, heard the beeping slightly change.

She managed to crack one eye open, wincing immediately at the bright fluorescent light directly above her. She opened both eyes, more slowly this time, to let it adjust.

"Welcome back, Ms. Beckett," came a kind voice from her right.

Kate shifted her gaze, saw the man who she presumed had touched her wrist a minute before. She slowly took in her surroundings. She was alone; unlike last year after she was shot, she apparently had a private room. She wondered if Castle had insisted on it, and her heart swelled at the thought.

"Where—" Kate tried to speak around her chapped lips, but her throat was raw and it came out as a garble.

The man pulled a chair over and sat next to her. Kate tried to shift, to sit up, but immediately cried out at the sharp pain that shot up both her sides.

"Don't try to move," he said quietly but firmly. He lifted a cup of water, helped Kate tilt her head enough to take a sip from the offered straw. "I'm Dr. Hayes. You're in a private room at Bellevue. You've had some injuries. What do you remember?"

Kate narrowed her eyes in thought, cleared her throat before speaking again. "Who are you really?" she demanded as forcefully as she could, tried to give him her best glare. She was surprised her dad wasn't in the room; then again, if she was in the ICU he wouldn't be allowed…

Kate tried to raise her hand but her wrist was heavy, and a glance down revealed the cast on her left arm. "What the hell happened? Where's my dad? Where's Cas—" She stopped herself, the memories flooding back.

The case.

The fight with Castle.

The hotel. Maddox. The roof.

Shit.

She glared at the man again. "Who do you work for?"

"He works for me."

Kate turned her head towards the door at the new voice. "And who the hell are you?"

"I'm Deputy Marshal Cruz." The woman pushed off the doorframe and gave a curt nod to Dr. Hayes, who left the room.

Kate cocked and eyebrow, one of the only parts of her body that didn't hurt. "Deputy Marshal?" She sized the woman up: short and petite, she didn't look intimidating, but Kate had learned long ago not to judge a book by its cover. "I don't understand."

Cruz stood next to the bed, her arms crossed, a folder under one arm. "I'm with the US Marshals, Detective."

"How do you know—"

"I know a lot," she interrupted. "All that matters right now is that I was a friend of Roy Montgomery's. Before he died, he asked me to keep an eye on you, to keep you safe. As soon as I heard you were here I knew it was time."

"Time for what?"

"You're in danger, Kate."

Beckett froze, and Cruz continued, taking advantage of the silence.

"I can't say a lot right now. But what I can say is, if they know you're alive, they'll keep coming after you until you're dead. They're too powerful for you to take on."

Something Cruz said stuck with Kate. "If they know I'm…alive? What are you saying?"

Cruz took something out of the folder in her hands and gave it to Kate. "You need to trust me. I'm the only way you can get out of this."

Kate watched her walk out before looking at what was in her hand. She immediately felt her breath hitch in her throat; she'd recognize that handwriting anywhere.

Kate,

If you're reading this, I'm dead, and you're in terrible danger. Words cannot express how sorry I am about everything. Everything, Kate.

When we started it, we were trying to do something good. Trying to clean up the streets that we loved. But then Armen got killed and it all went to hell.

I never meant for your mom to get caught up in it. And I sure as hell didn't want you to, either.

You will have been handed this letter by Deputy Marshal Elise Cruz. We were at the Academy together and she has remained one of my closest friends. You can trust her. Please, trust her. She may be the only person who can keep you alive right now.

I know you want me to give you the name. You know why I won't do that. If you go after him alone, you're dead. He's too powerful. Please, just listen to Cruz.

You were, and are, the best cop I have ever seen. Hopefully this shift is temporary and you can go back home soon. Just don't beat yourself up, Kate.

We may have lost this battle. But you will win this war.

Roy

Kate didn't bother trying to stop the tears that flowed as she read the words from her late captain and one-time mentor. He was right; deep down, she knew he was right. Cruz hadn't shared any details, but Kate knew that being held by a Marshal meant only one thing.

She was going to have to leave, maybe forever, and to everyone she loved she would be dead. Lanie, Espo, Ryan, Jenny. Gates. Martha and Alexis. Her dad.

Castle.

Another sob escaped Kate's throat and she raised her good hand to stifle the next one. Oh, Castle. Her one thought while hanging off that roof was of him. She loved him. She wanted him. And now, he would never know. He would never know she loved him back.

Kate woke with a start, her senses taking a few moments to come back to her. She hadn't had that dream in weeks; this time it was so real it felt like she was back in the hospital room, being told she was going under protection. Breathing hard, Kate untangled her legs from Castle's and managed to slip out of bed without waking him. She already loved being held by him, having once thought it would never happen. But not right now.

Right now, she needed some air. She needed space.

She padded into the living room, where a French door led to a small, narrow balcony. Ignoring the cool night air, Kate wrapped the robe she'd grabbed tight around her and stepped outside. She would always be a city slicker, but summers spent at the family cabin had instilled a love of the outdoors that she'd never been able to shake. Even the summer after she got shot, she would sometimes sit by the lake for hours on end, just taking it all in.

While she hadn't had any choice about where to go, Kate was glad she'd been taken to Minnesota. Minneapolis was a big city, but not so overwhelming like Manhattan could sometimes be. And they had a baseball team; Kate didn't get to see her beloved Mets, but despite a terrible season, she became a de facto Twins fan and went to several games. She'd even made a couple of friends that she could pretend to be normal around. Besides having to pretend to be someone else, of course.

Upon entry to Witness Protection, Kate had made one thing clear: she refused to stay holed up in an apartment for the rest of her life. So soon after she regained some of her strength, she had started to explore the area. Minneapolis had a lot of things to do outdoors, from numerous parks to a few of the thousands of lakes the state boasted about. Kate took solace in the outdoors in her months there. In the wilderness, she could forget the plain apartment. She could forget about the price on her head. She could forget about home.

Or she could try.

Kate heard the soft click of the door over the sounds of the city moments before Castle's hands landed on her shoulders.

"Hey," he said quietly in her ear, rubbing his hands down her arms to lace his fingers through hers. "Aren't you cold?"

Kate smiled and leaned her head back on his shoulder. "A little, it feels good though. Did I wake you?"

Castle nuzzled his cheek against hers. "Got cold when you left. It's fine," he rushed when she started to apologize. "I'd rather wake up than miss another moment with you."

Kate smiled, but stayed silent. They'd done a lot of talking over the past 36 hours, with their mouths and bodies alike. Right now, she was content just standing here, wrapped in his arms, being warmed by his embrace.

After a few minutes she sighed. "I miss the sky." She felt Castle start at her voice. "I lived in the city, but when the weather was nice I spent a lot of time outdoors. Sometimes I'd go for a drive, or go out camping for a weekend. With a couple agents as bodyguards, of course. But I had to get out of the city sometimes to clear my head. And the stars, God, Castle, the sky. It's so majestic, makes me feel so small. Good for putting things in perspective. It's like that at my dad's cabin, too."

Castle smiled against the collar of her robe. "I'd like to go there with you," he whispered. "The cabin. If it's okay, of course."

"Of course it is."

"I bought the house in the Hamptons for the same reason, to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It's definitely not as isolated as the cabin probably is, but out on the beach, looking over the ocean, there aren't very many places I'd rather be."

Kate turned in Castle's arms to gaze into his eyes. "I'd like to see it."

Castle smiled and touched his forehead to hers. "I'd like that too."

"Kate."

Kate huffed as she woke, but smiled when she felt Castle's lips at her temple. "Hmm?"

Rick stood from the bed, brushed his fingers against her cheek. "I gotta get going. I have to go in today."

Kate stretched and smiled when she noticed his eyes darken at her movement. "Do you have to? I'm sure boring research can wait a couple more days." She reached for his hand, trapping his fingers between hers. "You did say being there is torture."

Castle groaned. "I did and it is. But I don't want to be here any longer than I have to, and I have to fulfill my contract. Besides, they're expecting me." He let Kate pull him closer, though, and didn't protest when she met his lips in a lazy, drawn-out kiss. He forced his eyes open when she pulled away. "God, I love you."

"Hmm, I love you too." Kate caressed his cheek, then lightly pushed him away. "Go. The sooner you leave the sooner you'll be back." She sat up and pulled the sheet around herself, watching Castle as he grabbed his bag and keys. "I'll be here when you get back."

It was still early, so Kate stayed in bed, dozing for a couple hours. She finally pulled herself out of bed when her stomach protested its lack of food and padded into the kitchenette. She scrounged up some food, made herself some eggs and toast, and ate in the silence of the flat. It was early, earlier still in New York, and while she was itching to get back to the life that was, she couldn't deny that she felt a lot of nerves.

For ten months, her friends and family had thought she was dead. It had been permanent to them. She had a gravestone, near her mother. They had all moved on, or were working on it like Rick did, were living their lives without her.

How could she disrupt that?

And over the phone, at that?

Maybe coming here was a mistake, she thought to herself. Coming to Castle, flying almost 4,000 miles to show up at his doorstep, that had felt like the only thing to do. It was a romantic, epic, made-for-the-movies kind of move. But now she could either fly back to New York, and delay everyone knowing that much longer, or call them.

Kate moved slowly and deliberately as she cleaned her dishes. Coming here first was the right thing to do. The healing hole in her heart was proof. She hadn't felt like herself the whole time she was gone. She missed him, their banter, their easy partnership. She even missed the challenge of the last few cases, the heartbreak she felt when she didn't know why he was pulling away.

And she still regretted letting him walk away that night in her apartment. She'd been so blind, so stubborn...but that was past them. They'd cleared the air. They'd laughed, and cried, and they were starting again. They were diving in together, to repeat her words from the previous year. And Kate didn't think she'd ever been happier.

She lounged around for a few hours, something she rarely did, but as much as she wanted to explore the city, she wanted to do it with Castle. So she spent the morning tidying up the bedroom and bathroom, and lying on the couch watching TV, until it was afternoon and she couldn't stop herself from reaching for the phone.

She dialed her dad first; certain things she would never forget, and his phone number was one of them. She'd almost called him or Castle numerous times when she was away, to reassure them that she was okay, but had always come back to reality just in time. But this time she dialed the U.S. country code, followed by the familiar numbers of her dad's phone, and held her breath while it rang.

"Jim Beckett."

Kate's breath stopped at the sound of her dad's voice. Oh God this was a mistake, I should have had Castle call him first, warn him...

"Hello? Is someone there?"

She finally managed to clear her throat. "Hi, Dad." The words felt foreign, having not said them together in 10 months, and she almost started to cry when she heard the sharp inhale on the other end of the line.

"Katie?" Jim asked quietly, his voice laced with disbelief. "Is that really you?"

Kate choked out a sob, her face breaking into a grin. "Yeah, Dad, it's me. It's really me."

On the other end of the call, Jim stumbled to his couch and sat down, hard, his brain working overtime to make sense of it. "I don't...how?"

"The short version is, Witness Protection."

"God," Jim breathed. "Witness Protection. Katie. What happened?"

Kate explained it all, from Montgomery's file to her time in Minneapolis, her dad staying mostly silent except to ask the occasional question. It wasn't until she was done that he brought up her decision to go straight to London.

"So...how's Rick handling it?"

Kate could hear the slight tease in her dad's voice and couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face. "He's good," she said slowly. "He was definitely surprised; he pretty much fell on his butt when he saw me."

"I did not!" Castle called out, having just walked in the door.

Kate looked up at him. Was it really that late? "Yeah you did," she shot back. She turned her attention back to her dad. "Anyway, he's fine. We're fine. We've done a lot of talking, a lot of catching up and getting to know each other again. I'm glad I came here."

"Good. Listen, Katie, I want to see you. Why don't I fly out there, I can be there this time tomorrow." Jim was itching to see his daughter again, to hug her, proof that she wasn't a figment of his imagination.

Kate glanced at Castle again. "Um, actually, I'll come your way. Come home."

Castle's head shot up at her words. They'd talked briefly about her going back to New York to see everyone, since she'd come straight to London, but they hadn't talked timing. He motioned towards his office as he headed that way.

Kate nodded at him in acknowledgement. "I'll call you when I know my flight, okay? I miss you. I miss home."

"Okay. I love you, Katie."

"I love you too." Kate sighed after she hung up; her cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling during her conversation, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. She looked around for Castle and spotted him at his desk, in front of his laptop, and she walked over to stand next to him. "Hey."

Castle glanced up with a smile. "Hey. How's your dad?" He rolled his chair back so Kate could slide onto his lap.

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck. "He sounded pretty shocked. I don't think he really knew what was happening for the first few minutes. But we talked for, gosh, hours. I called him right after I ate lunch." She looked at his computer screen then and saw that he was on a travel website. "What are you doing?"

"Getting your ticket for New York." Castle reached around her and selected a departure for the next afternoon. "What about this one? Do you want a one-way, or I can get you a round trip with an open return flight? I don't want to limit your time there right now, you don't even have to come back, you can just stay there, I'll be home in a few months—"

"Castle." Kate turned his head towards her. "You're rambling."

"I know you want to go home. But I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you away."

"What? Rick, that thought hadn't even crossed my mind." She shifted so she was straddling him, her thighs bracketing his hips. "I miss New York. But I don't consider it home anymore."

"Because of Minneapolis?"

"No. Because of you." Kate leaned in and captured his mouth in a slow kiss. "You're home, Castle. The whole time I was gone, I wanted to be able to come home to you. Every day I scoured the news, hoping for anything. Just a mention of you, or everyone else, anything. I bought Frozen Heat the day it came out and read it that night." She sighed and rested her forehead on his. "I don't ever want to be apart from you again. That's why, when Bracken was killed and they released me, I came straight here."

"Kate." Castle let her name out on a moan when her hips rolled against him. "Um, maybe stick around here a few more days first?"

Kate smiled against his mouth. "Come with me, Castle. You told me yourself you hate it here. Come back to New York with me. Come home."

"God, I wish I could, but it's in my contract to be here for at least six months." He gripped her thighs and stood, carrying her to the bed. "It's boring as hell, but it's still my job. I'll tell you what, though," he continued as he worked at removing her clothes, "I'll take a long weekend, come back for a couple days."

Kate grasped at Castle's shirt. "Sounds like a plan."

A/N 2: Thank you for reading! This is the last chapter I have completely ready; I have the beginnings of the next one but between one-shot plot bunnies that snuck up on me, plus work and school, I haven't been able to sit down and work on this one. Hopefully it'll be up in the next week or two! Thank you again; the favorites/follows/retweets/reblogs/likes/reviews all make me grateful!