Once Broken, Considered Sold-10 FINAL CHAPTER

A/N: HELLO MY DEAR READERS! Welcome to the last chapter of Once Broken, Considered Sold. It's been a great ride with all of you, and I thank all of you for your amazing support which has helped me improve my skills as an author, and as a person. I hope you enjoy this chapter:)

WARNING: FLUFF AND A HEAVY AMOUNT OF CHEESINESS AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION! ( I'm just kidding, have fun reading this one! )

Disclaimer: Consider this one disclaimed. I'm just having fun poking around with the characters in different situations:D However, if there's an offer to give Castle to me, I would gladly accept;)

Chapter 10 New Beginnings

###

The sound of knocks on the door jerked Adrianna to her senses. After sending in that article, she had felt a strong sense of guilt for invading Rick's privacy, in a way. Although she really liked the guy, it was wrong of her to treat him like one of her flings. He was a good guy, but she knew that he still had a thing for his ex. She didn't want to get in the way of that. The girl owned a gun, after all.

She got up to unlock the door, and found Rick looking at the floor, panting. "Wow. You were THAT eager to see me, huh?" She said, putting on a smile.

He caught his breath and then looked at her in the eye. "Do you love me?" He asked. She was taken aback at his question. "I'm sorry?"

"You know what I meant, Adrianna." Rick said impatiently. He had just ran out on Kate, who had poured out her heart to him. He didn't want to commit himself if he was technically with somebody else. She had probably mistook his intentions, and left by then, but he had to set things straight before running after her again.

"Rick, you're a really great guy. One of the best I've ever met, actually." She started. This was karma, she thought. Life intended to make her pay for stringing along all those men before, and now she had to drop the guy she genuinely liked.

"I'm sensing a but." He interjected, and she put a hand on his mouth to stop any further interruptions.

"I've always known that your heart was not mine to keep." She stated, as if that was the only way she knew how to say it. "So, I think it's best if we...stop seeing each other, while it's still early in our relationship."

She finally released his mouth from her grip, and he gasped for air dramatically, making her laugh. "Are you sure that this is what you want?" He asked.

"I know that this is what you want too, and I want you to be happy with the choices you made." She said, seeing his internal happiness before he could show it.

"Okay. It was nice meeting you, Adrianna. I am glad that we can part as friends." Rick said. He was more relaxed now that she had responded like that. He thought it would have been much harder to break up with her.

"No problem, Rick. If you anything work related, feel free to call me." She gave him a professional smile as they shook hands amicably.

"I must say, you're taking this much better than my ex wives did." He joked, trying to lighten up the situation. She gave him an answering smile in return. "I'll take that as a compliment, then."

"Well, I guess I'd better be going." Rick said. "I bet you're pretty busy."

"I think you're the one in a hurry, but I'll let you pass this time." She was still just as sharp as ever, Rick thought, as he left her apartment. Like it or not, he was going to miss her in some way. He just hoped that he didn't miss the one girl that had been his target all along.

###

Kate cried until she had no more tears left to cry. She had many flashbacks to the last time he left her, and so the tears came naturally. Emotionally and mentally drained, she continued to lie on Rick's couch. She never thought that she would end up devastated again.

She noticed the two coffee cups that were still sitting on the table. Rick's mug was full, but it had turned cold because he hadn't drank it yet. Hers was still warm, but it was half empty.

She found herself staring at his cup, studying the minute details of it. Like when Rick told her that the small chip on the handle happened because Alexis dropped it while making attempting to make a cup of coffee for her dad when she was seven. She could easily imagine a distraught Alexis, terrified that she had disappointed her father, scrambling to clean up her mess. She was going to miss Alexis. After knowing the family for so long, it was hard to suddenly break away.

Rick saw a soulless Kate, sitting on his couch, and for a second, he thought he was dreaming. She was still there, at his house, sitting on his couch. Of course, she was probably pissed at him and heartbroken, but still, she was there, so he had another chance to make things right with her. It didn't take long for her to notice that he had returned though.

"Oh, you're back." She said flatly, getting up. "I'm sorry, I'll leave now."

He was quick to stop her and blocked her way out. She frowned at him, when he tried to collect his thoughts and refused to let her pass. He knew that he had to say something, and fast, because she could very easily knock him out right then and there.

"What do you want, Rick? Can't we just leave it here? You don't have to say anything more, we already did this once, remember? So, please don't make this harder than it already is." Kate sighed. She could feel her eyes watering up and she didn't want to cry in front of him. She had already acted weak enough in front of him before.

He faltered then, and didn't really know how to say it quickly enough to stop her. So, he just reached out and pulled her against him by tugging on her jacket. His arms immediately encircled her waist, effectively stopping her from leaving. She struggled, but it was a half hearted effort that made it easy for Rick to endure.

She stopped slapping his chest after a while, and went silent in his arms. He only realised she was crying when he felt a slight dampness to his t-shirt. He tightened his grip on her, and she suddenly placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away, hard.

"What's wrong with you?" She shouted at him in between tears. "Why can't you just make things easy? Why do you always make things so hard?" He had no response to that, except to look down guiltily at the floor.

"Rick, will you please answer me?" She asked him. Her voice was no longer trembling, and she had regained her usual stance of half professional, and half cold.

"Love is never easy, but people still fall into it, whether they like it or not. You can't choose who you fall in love with." He started, and waited for her rebuttal, and there was no arguement, so he continued.

"Think about this: A person walks into a store and accidentally knocks over an ornament. He goes up to the cashier and asks for a broom and a dustpan. Instead, the cashier tells him that when you break something, you immediately own it. So, the guy pays for the ornament and sticks it back together at home."

"Aaand your point to this story is?" Kate asked.

"You broke my heart, and so, you automatically own the rights to me anyway. I'm yours to keep, if you still want me, that is." He said.

"Wasn't that last part much easier to say?" Kate asked him. Her eyes were no longer filled with tears, and her face now bore a teasing smile.

"Actually, no. I was expecting you to infer from the story, but..." He trailed off as he made a mock disappointed face.

"You're such a writer sometimes." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"But you love me for it." He shot back. He half expected her to draw back and avoid the statement, but instead, she smiled shyly at him. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Well then, I have to say, I love you too, Kate." He said. He was pleasantly surprised at how well those words rolled off his tongue, when they had been too afraid to even admit they even liked each other, a while ago.

Before he could say anything else, her lips were on his, and everything that he was thinking just flew out of his head. The only thing that mattered was holding the woman he loved in his arms. Forever.

~End~

### EPILOGUE ###

"I still can't believe that I'm going to miss everything!" Alexis whined.

"You won't! If we promise we won't have a wedding until you're back, will you be able to go back to college in peace?" Kate asked, laughing as she hugged the girl whom she had always treated like her daughter, goodbye.

"Yes, but a bigger allowance would be more convincing... It is quite far away after all..." Alexis said sweetly, as she turned to her dad.

"Don't push it, Pumpkin." Her father said as he ruffled her hair, and gave her a big bear hug.

"Aww... Alright. But dad, just remember that if I get pregnant..." She trailed off, gazing at him thoughtfully.

"Here's an extra 20 bucks, take it or leave it." He handed out a few notes to her. She took it with a laugh, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Bye dad! I'll miss you! Bye Kate, take care of my dad for me! And also, I hope to find that you'll be well on your way to being my new step mother by the time I get back!" Alexis said, and she leaned down to take her luggage, before the adults could respond. She grinned as she swiped the strands of hair away from her face, and pulled the luggage out the door.

"So, when were you planning on proposing, Rick?" Kate suddenly asked, making him jump.

"What? Don't let Alexis get to you, seriously! She's a Castle, so she's like me in that way." He said as he looked at the door forlornly. He was going to miss his daughter very much.

"I saw the box, Rick." She said, effectively cutting his escape short.

"How do you even know it's a ring?" Rick asked. They both knew it was a weak arguement, so he sighed in defeat when she gave him a look. "Fine, fine. Geez, you take the fun out of everything."

Her smile of victory was evident on her face, and he couldn't resist the teasing urge to kiss it away. The kiss turned heated fast, and he pulled apart just enough to allow him to say "As for the proposing, you'll just have to wait and see."

"Well then, I hope it isn't too long a wait." She whispered in his ear seductively, as she pulled him towards the bedroom.

###

Okay guys, that's it! I'm proud to finally mark this as complete. I'm really glad for everyone who saw this story through. This was my last on-going Castle fanfiction that had yet to be completed, and now that it has, I may have more time to write more Castle fics:)

I really hope you guys can leave me with a nice review for the end of this chapter, since the last one already... Please? It's been a long week, and I could use some cheering up.:) Again, I wanna thank all of those people who reviewed to this story, and everyone who has ever contributed or read this story. This was one of my favourite stories to write:) So thanks guys:)

Till we meet again,

~Lianna