Objects in Motion
Epilogue
The scent of paint was strong, twining with the crisp November air that followed her inside when she walked through the front door, her gaze still catching on the vibrant shade of red coating the entryway. Charm, Castle had called it during their first walk through of the modernized brownstone that had become their new home a few short months ago, and she had always been inclined to agree.
Their new place was different, a change from the loft for sure, but ever since they had moved in, it had felt good, healthy and safe. A fresh start for an invigorating new chapter of their lives.
The corners of her mouth twitched upwards, a gentle fluttering that had been accompanying her throughout the day tickling her insides. She flipped the deadbolt into place and punched in the security code for the alarm system with her index finger, locking them in. She was still a little paranoid at times, they both were, but she had steadily lost the overwhelming urge to look over her shoulder at every turn or obsessively check the locks and security system in the middle of the night.
The dreams still haunted her, the words of a dead man still echoing in her mind, jerking her awake with a cry on her lips and a cold sweat staining her skin. But Castle always woke with her, quieting her fears with the soft hum of his voice in her ear, reminding her of the truth, of the fallen threat and their assured safety.
Beckett stepped out of her heels, left them at the doorstep, making a mental note to retrieve the pair later tonight before Castle managed to trip over them. Her toes flexed and popped along the hardwood, the satisfaction of a long day of work – good, fulfilling work that was actually making a difference in this city – settled over her. Under normal circumstances, she would have stayed another hour or two, mulling over the latest theory she came up with her three man team for the current case, but tonight, coming home to him had been far more appealing, would always be more appealing, especially with the news that had been overtaking her mind since this morning.
Kate headed for the nearby stairs just off the foyer that would lead her to the second floor, following the beat of music she could hear floating down from the upper level and the familiar singing accompanying a hit song she recognized from his iPod.
She had to muffle the laughter that bubbled to the surface of her lips after she rounded the corner, detouring from the path that lead straight from the stairs to the bedroom they had recently added the finishing touches to, successful in making it their own. She had always appreciated his room in the loft, had always been comfortable and content in the space he had opened up to her over three years ago. But she had fallen in love with the new master bedroom that they had chosen together and decorated as a team with both of their tastes in mind, a room that was theirs.
Kate allowed him to wrap up his heartfelt chorus of a trendy pop song that she heard far too often on all of the radio stations before she propped her shoulder against the doorway, let her smirk spread wide.
"Hey lover."
Castle jumped, the rhythm of his body coming to an abrupt stop and the paint roller in his hand - that had briefly become a microphone - nearly flying into the fresh coat of sky blue layering the wall in front of him.
"Beckett," he huffed over the music, striding across the plastic covered flooring to silence the speakers his iPod was connected to.
"Nice moves," she grinned, pushing from the doorway to step further inside the nearly finished bedroom, admiring the walls they had started working on earlier in the week. "Nice work too."
"Work you almost ruined with your surprise entrance," Rick grumbled, lowering the paint roller back to the tray of pale blue liquid and wiping his hands on a bright blue hand towel that was once a pristine ivory.
"Shouldn't be blasting your painting playlist so loud," she countered, hooking her thumbs in the pockets of her blazer, the contents buried inside the right pouch of material bumping against the barrier of fabric at the move.
"I had to get in the zone," he defended, shrugging as he closed up the half empty can of paint. "But I think it's all done now, unless you wanted to add something else. Otherwise, the fun part comes next."
"Yeah? That excited for furniture shopping?"
"Despite the amount we've done within the last few months, yes. That's when we really get to give it personality. Or flair, as my mother refers to it," he reminded her with a wink and she could tell by the ripple that passed through the glimmering blues of his eyes that he was already imagining the potential possibilities for this empty little room.
They had chosen the color blue with the idea of a morning sky in mind, a little cliché for her taste, but Castle had promised her that he had vision for it, that the color was the right choice when she had voiced the concern in the paint shop. Either way, she wasn't too worried. Walls could always be painted over; the color there now never permanent.
"But we've got time before we need to do any of that," Rick grinned, his hand hovering at her jaw as he leaned forward to smear a kiss to her mouth, but she caught him before he could drift back, cradled his cheek with one of her palms and curled her fingers in the belt loop of his worn out jeans.
"This is a way better greeting than nearly giving me a heart attack," he murmured, lips quirking against hers, his paint stained thumb skimming her chin. "How was work?"
"Slow day, actually. Which I didn't mind for once. The new mayor is leaning pretty heavily on me for 'support' statistics," she snorted, but she wasn't really worried about the mayor or the success of her newfound mission. She was steady; she knew what she wanted. After the hellacious events of the previous fall, she had simply quit ping-ponging between training for Captain of the Twelfth and running for New York Senator. She hadn't quit, she had merely paved a different path instead.
It hadn't been easy and it had taken time to accumulate the political clout necessary to make lasting changes inside the police department. But one of the reasons her mother's murder had gone unsolved for so long were the politics clouding One Police Plaza. The people who ought to have been cleaning up the city were in fact dirtying it with their money and power and greed. Corruption, but more than just corruption - good men staying silent.
She had forgiven Montgomery; she had. But something needed to be done. There were too many instances of police brutality, too many heartbreaking cases that had never gotten their solve because the detectives and officers were hanging on to an antiquated way of doing things. CompStats and Broken Window theory, and while she agreed with pieces, the whole no longer fit this city.
Being a state senator wouldn't give her the authority to change things, but she had thought, one night sleepless with insomnia, staring down at the washed out sidewalk, that if she made changes from the inside...
It'd been the germ of an idea, really, but Castle hadn't let it go. He was her 'outside the box' man, and he had come up with his wild and outlandish theories - what if you assembled a task force, I could ask Weldon to just do it, he's a lame duck anyway. And what had been a roll of her eyes and a joke later, lame duck dynasty, had become an actual thing.
At first, she hadn't been paid for it; charity work as Mrs Castle, he had snickered. And then suddenly she had started gaining the required resources, fundraising, culling her own detectives and contacts to contribute to the work. Castle had written the proposals and new procedural policies and they'd been asked to other houses by friends of Gates to give presentations, and suddenly Weldon had looked like a genius, lame duck mayor though he'd been.
It had been worth fighting for. The re-training sessions, PR work, and intensive labor of human resources and fundraising wore on her at times, but the compensation of developing an entirely new model of police procedure, the thrill of being in the midst of it all, the satisfaction of putting things into action with her own two hands gave her the gratifying purpose she had been searching for all those months ago.
Her mother would be proud. And her mother's death had led to all of this. Just as William Bracken's insane suicide had as well. Beckett had begun to find meaning.
She was no longer drowning in unfounded questions about her stalled-out career, but floating comfortably above the sea of them instead.
She still looked good for captain one day, and the opportunity to run for Senate was even more probable from this vantage point. Not more likely, but Castle had been forced to field calls from the 'concerned citizens for change' group because of the response she'd been getting. The party was all too eager to put her face on something.
If her administrative 'reposition' (as Castle had termed it) in the 'lame duck dynasty' were to fall through now because of this new mayor, perhaps she would find herself eager for the same thing - her face on a poster - but she would work her hardest not to let this risky venture crumble.
Just like her mother, Kate wanted to make a difference, strived for it, and while her career as a homicide detective had allowed her that chance, the potential for a positive and lasting change in her city was more tangible than ever now. She had moved forward in her career, forged her own path.
And now, it was time for something else, for an equal step forward on the path of her personal life.
"Makes me miss Weldon."
"Only because he was your buddy and could get you free passes for everything," Beckett muttered, nudging him with her elbow. "Just be glad Sanders allows you to continue accompanying me in official city business."
"Of course. The Beckett superhero squad needed me and who was I to let you and your team down?" Castle inquired, his brow quirking and the corner of his mouth curling playfully.
It wasn't the same, having an entirely new team to lead, one that didn't include Ryan or Esposito, but Castle had been allowed to take this new step in her career with her, allowed to remain standing by her side, having her back, still her partner, and for that she had been grateful. Besides, it wasn't as if they saw the boys any less. One, if not both, of the pair were often dropping in for a 'guy's night' with Castle or meeting them for dinner when their shifts coincided. Even Nikki Heat had done some professional evolving, her literary counterpart coincidentally becoming head of a task force with a similar city-wide goal, with Rook tagging along for every second of it, of course.
So much change had occurred within the last year and part of her had feared that with major change came the loss of all that was familiar, but instead, everything and everyone that mattered in her life had managed to fall onto the page of this new chapter with her. A constant, wonderful evolution.
"Henderson is eventually going to lose it if you keep calling him the Hulk," she chuckled, but Rick waved her off.
"Oh c'mon, it makes him feel special, like when I referred to Ryan as Honeymilk. Everyone loves a nickname," he pointed out. "He should be thanking me for making his first year on the force so welcoming." Castle skirted past her towards their bedroom and Kate rolled her eyes, but followed him down the hall with the anticipation building in her gut, thoughts of work fading away, quieting down for the night, replaced by the weight of her pending announcement. "So, since the place is going to reek of paint for the next couple of hours, I was thinking we could go out for dinner if you wanted, bump date night up a few days. Ooh, unless you wanted to have two this week." Beckett watched her husband strip the paint-spattered shirt from his torso, rubbing his fingers together in an attempt to rid them of the dried blue blotches clinging to his fingertips. "Though, a quick shower may be in order first." His eyes flickered up to her, mischief a dancing spark that ignited a slow, delicious burn in her abdomen. "Care to join me?"
"I'd love to," she chuckled, grazing her fingertips over her pocket once more, the reminders growing heavier.
"We also need to plan what you want to do for your birthday," Castle stated, snapping his fingers together, indication that the reminder had just popped into his head. "I know we've had a lot going on with work and finishing up that last bedroom but-"
"Rick."
He paused, his gaze snapping back to her in question.
"There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about first."
The happy, upwards curve of his lips faded away too quickly and she hated that, hated that even now, serious conversations had him mentally bracing for a battle, but she didn't blame him. Not at all.
She did plan to break him of the habit though.
"Don't look so panicked," she teased, pleaded, submerging her hands in her pockets now, closing her fist around the first item she had hastily shoved into her blazer minutes before climbing the front porch steps and caressing her thumb along the soft plush of the palm-sized present inside.
"Not panicked," he assured her, but the smile attempting to form along his mouth was guilty and laced with silent apology. "We agreed on no more big, life-changing decisions for a while anyway, right?"
She nodded, because yes, after the draining struggle between the choice of pursuing the profession of NYPD Captain or New York Senator had finally come to an end, after the crippling trauma Bracken's suicide and her viewing of it had imposed upon them, the months of joint appointments with Burke that had followed and the choices to move forward with starting a family and also into a new place had been made, their major decision-making for the time being was done.
They had finally found a solid ground where they could stand together in peace, had fought so hard for it, but already, the ground was threatening to shake by a single, tentative declaration.
"Right, it's nothing about decisions," Beckett murmured, noticing the subtle sag of his shoulders, the relief that eliminated the tension running up his spine. "It's about a choice we've already made."
"Okay," he hedged, the retreating anxiety in his eyes flaring back up again. "I'm really hoping this doesn't have to do with the paint color of that room, because I-"
"No, babe," she chuckled, withdrawing the stuffed little elephant from her pocket. "I love the room, even picked out a decoration for it today."
Delight flushed any trace of wariness from his face, a soft smile blooming along his lips and extending up to curve at his eyes as he reached forward and accepted the baby elephant from her fingers.
"Already determined to instill an immense love of elephants in our future child?" he mused, his thumb skating along the tiny trunk with a reverence she knew well, one she could picture him adoring their child with so easily.
"Well, we need to have the room done within the next eight months, so I figured I might as well get us started," Kate replied, biting down on her bottom lip while she watched his brow knit, his eyes squinting in confusion for a moment before clarity broke through, causing them to widen and fly up to meet hers.
"Wait," he gasped, but she was already withdrawing the second surprise from her pocket, holding the pregnancy test out to him.
"I started feeling some of the signs Kowalewski had talked about. I didn't think much of it, but I picked up a test from the pharmacy down the street this morning on my way to work," she explained, trying not to knot her fingers in front of her, the beat of her heart accelerating and rattling the bones of her ribs as he examined the thin stick with the two lines proudly on display. "I squeezed in a visit with her after work too, just to be sure. Six weeks."
"Pregnant?" he rasped, clearing his throat. "But I thought she said at our last follow up that – that it would take more time since your body was still regulating and trying to readjust after all the stress?"
"I thought so too," she admitted, losing the battle with her fidgeting fingers as unwelcome nerves began to rise from the pit of her stomach, squashing some of the butterflies in their wake. "You still… you still want this, right? A family, with m-"
Castle was surging forward before that last syllable could leave her lips, crushing her doubts with the seal of his mouth and the embrace of his arms around her.
"Are you kidding me?" he breathed between the flurries of kisses he was smudging to her mouth. "Of course I still want it. I want everything with you. Always. Everything, Kate-"
She pressed her smile back to his then, relishing in the firm wall of his body against hers, the secure band of his arms enveloping her frame, the vigor in his kiss.
"Does this mean we should go furniture shopping tonight?" he mumbled and a laugh spilled through her lips onto his mouth, sending his smile stretching wider.
"Eight months, Castle. We've got time to prepare the nursery."
His eyes shone even brighter, sparkling at the sound of a word they had yet to speak of until now.
"For now," she murmured, gliding her hands up his back, her fingertips trekking up the ladder of his spine, her nails grazing the muscles and turning the vibrant shade of blue coloring his irises into a gorgeous, glittering cobalt. "We're going to take a long, hot shower before we head out to dinner to celebrate."
"Sounds perfect to me," he grinned, placing the elephant and the pregnancy test down on the bed behind him. He eased the blazer from her shoulders, trailing his broad palms down the sides of her blouse, the fabric of the slacks covering her thighs, and coiling his fingers at the muscles of her hamstrings, the signature warning to untangle her arms from his waist and lace them at his neck instead as he hoisted her up. "It's all perfect, Kate."
Her forehead fell to rest against his, their lashes twining as her eyes drifted closed and her chest expanded with a kind of solitude she had once feared had been lost for good.
Castle nuzzled her cheek in response, his nose glancing a kiss along the high bone while he carried her to their adjoining bathroom, his heartbeat so strong, so steady, she could feel it thriving against the cage of his ribs to meet hers.
And in that moment, all she could think was how easy it felt, how beautifully right and certain it had all become.
"Rick," she hummed, abrading her lips on the field of stubble peppering his jaw, scraping the area with her teeth to feel his chest rumble with a growl as he stumbled a little through the bathroom doorway. "My birthday. Don't shave until after my birthday."
He grunted at her, but her lips only spread against his cheek, her legs tightening around his waist. "Only for you would I agree to this," he grumbled. "Again."
"Better be only for me," she muttered, smirking as he set her down on the bathroom sink and went to work at the buttons of her blouse.
You can have it all, Gates had told her over a year ago from a hospital bed, and though the outcome of her choices had played out far differently than she ever could have imagined, she believed that her former captain had been right. She had everything she wanted. More than she could have hoped for.
"Always for you," Castle tossed back, but the smile illuminating his eyes was soft, adoring, and his hands came to a pause at her abdomen, the edges of her shirt parting to allow his palm to span her still flat stomach. "Always with you."
The battles may never end, new dragons would still rise, needing to be slain, and another war of indecision could always cloud their next horizon. But this… this felt like a victory that could conquer them all.
The End
