Epilogue


Kate stands out on the beach along the shoreline, letting her feet sink into the warm sand made cooler by the ocean waves lapping against her ankles. She closes her eyes, let's the light breeze rustle her hair, taking in all of the sensations around her. She can't remember the last time she felt this happy and at peace.

"You're a natural," she hears his voice in her ear, feels his arms wrap around her torso from behind seconds later.

"A natural at standing? Wow, any chance they'll turn that into an Olympic sport?"

He nudges the side of her head with his own and her eyes flutter open, readjusting to the bright sunlight.

"I meant you look good out here. The beach life suits you."

"Oh it suits me very well," Kate hums. "I may never go back."

"Really?" Castle asks, a little too excitedly.

She laughs, peeling out of his embrace and wading further into the ocean.

"Unfortunately no. Killers to catch and all of that. But every free weekend I have off I will gladly return to the Hamptons with you."

"You know, my pool is actually heated," he tells her as he watches her wade up to her knees in the chilly ocean water. "That water is always cold and it's only May so it must be even worse."

"I don't mind it actually," she tosses over her shoulder. "I won't go any deeper than this. I don't have a suit on."

"Do you have some fascination with ice water?"

She laughs again, turning back to face him with a small yelp as a wave splashes too high on her thighs, spraying the back of her shorts with water.

"It just reminds me of the lake at my parents' cabin. I mean obviously the lake is a lot smaller, but the water temperature is about right. I haven't been out there in a long time. I know my dad stills own it."

She catches him grinning and quirks an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Just picturing a little Beckett way too excited about swimming to care about how cold the water was. It's a pretty adorable image, especially the blue lips."

Kate groans and kicks water at his shins.

"Hey!" Castle exclaims, as the breeze rushes in making the cold water droplets on his leg even worse. "Trust me, I am one person you don't want to start a splashing war with. Just ask my kid."

"Well I don't intend to when we both of have clothes on."

He raises an eyebrow at her, a mischievous grin growing across his lips.

"Not like that," she says, kicking water at him again. "I was referring to swimsuits."

Castle fakes a pout as she wades back to him on the shoreline. "Does this mean skinny dipping is off the table for the weekend?"

She returns his mischievous grin, draping her arms around his neck. "In the ocean? Yes. In the privacy of your heated pool? No."

His pout morphs back into a grin of his own before he places a quick kiss to her lips. "Inviting you here was the best idea I ever had."

"And you're sure Alexis doesn't mind waiting an extra weekend to come up here for the summer?" Kate asks.

"Please, she's one of three who pushed us together. She's more than okay with it."

She hums, slipping out of this arms again and making her way back to the lawn chairs they dragged down to the beach. She sits down on one and attempts to brush the drying sand off of her feet. Castle follows her lead.

"You know I still haven't given you the grand tour of the place," he says, rubbing at the stubborn wet sand still clinging to his heel. "Because someone was a little too eager to see the beach."

"I didn't want to waste anymore daylight," she shrugs with a yawn, sliding her sunglasses back down over her eyes and leaning back against the chair. "It's bad enough that my leftover paperwork took me as long as it did."

"Okay but this tour is really great. It ends in the master bedroom."

She rolls her eyes even though they're hidden beneath the dark lenses of her sunglasses. "We have all weekend for that, Castle. Let me enjoy these last few hours of sunlight. I haven't been able to watch a sunset in years."

"What about a sunrise?" he asks, looking over at her.

"Not really no. It's not like I leave for work when it's still dark and get home after the sun sets every day, but I haven't been able to just...exist and enjoy them in a long time. It's the little things, you know?"

"Kate Beckett likes sunsets and possibly sunrises. Filing that away for later."

She gives him a soft smile.

"You know," Castle starts again. "One of these nights here, we could stay up all night to watch the sunrise. Then you could tell me which you like better."

"And what would we do all night?" Kate asks with a smirk. "Never leave the master bedroom?"

He laughs at that. "Well that is definitely one option. Or we could stay up marathoning movies. Or we could be super cheesy and stay outside all night talking, watching the stars turn to sun."

"Okay NYwriter, your writer side is showing."

"When would I ever write something like that?" he protests.

"You just said it! Your writer brain developed the words."

Castle chucks the towel he brought down with them at her and it lands on her face. He laughs at the way she jumps at the sudden contact. Her eyes must have been closed behind those glasses.

"You're going to pay for that," she grumbles, chucking the towel back into his lap. "You're in for a long weekend, my friend."

"Good, I wouldn't want it any other way."


After the sun sets, she finally lets him take her on that "grand tour." And she does have to admit, the master bedroom was her favorite part. They're sitting under the stars now, nursing glasses of wine, Kate having convinced him that she see needs to see a sunset and sunrise back to back in order to better compare them. He'd happily complied, that smile of his never leaving his face as she told him his staying outside talking all night option sounded the most appealing to her.

A thought has lingered on her mind ever since he gave her the tour, a comment about how rehearsed the whole thing felt. But she's been too afraid, or perhaps even insecure, to ask until now. They do have all night though, she might as well dive right in.

"Castle, can I ask you something?"

"That phrasing has the potential for trouble," he jokes with a smile. But when he looks over at her and sees what must be coming across as uneasiness on her face, his smile fades. "What's wrong?"

"It's stupid really," she says with shake of her head and a lift of her wine glass to her lips.

"Do I need to use the cliché 'there are no stupid questions' on you?" he asks, attempting to bring some humor back.

She does smile a little at that, reaching to set her wine glass down on the table. She pulls the blanket on her lap tighter around her, the cool breeze from earlier turning cold without the warmth of the sun.

"Do you bring women up here a lot? Like is this your big gesture to try and impress them? Because I - I don't need impressing. You already have me."

Castle lets out a puff of breath that may either be a sigh or a small laugh. She's not entirely sure at this point. He reaches out for her hand tucked her under her blanket, and replaces the warmth of the soft fabric with the heat of his skin.

"There probably have been more women than I'm willing to admit," he confesses. "But none of them were you. And I didn't bring you here to show off or to try and impress you. I know you, Kate. You don't need all of this to be awestruck. You're good with a simple sunset. Or a sunrise. Or some leafy creamer design in your cup of coffee."

That gets her to laugh and she squeezes his hand.

"Like I told you online when were still kind of sort of anonymous, they were one night stands that didn't mean anything. But you and I? We mean something."

"The partners who could fall in love?"

He nods as she hums, pulling him out of his chair and leading him over to the grass in front of the deck. She spreads the blanket she had been wrapped in out on the lawn and sits down on it, motioning for him to join her. He does and they both lay back, taking in the mass expanse of stars.

"I shouldn't be jealous of them then, huh?" Kate asks.

"I don't know, you're kind of cute when you're jealous. Like with Kyra and Agent Shaw."

She smacks his chest before curling into his side. "Two years ago, I never would have thought we'd end up here. I didn't want to."

"Was I really that repulsive to you?"

She shakes her head against his chest. "No. And that's what scared me. I've never told you this, well I sort of did online, but your books...they really helped me get through my mother's death. She loved them. And in an effort to be closer to her once she was gone, I read them all trying to see what she saw in them. And I did. They became this anchor or tether, keeping me close to her. And without that, things would have been a lot harder than they already were. So thank you for writing them. Thank you for helping me keep at least part of my sanity when everything else was falling apart."

Castle pulls her in even closer, brushing a kiss to the top of her head. "Don't cry, Coffeelover19."

Kate presses her nose against his neck, the view of the stars above them temporarily forgotten. His books used to be her safe place, but now he, as a person, has become her comfort zone. She's still not entirely sure how it happened, but she's thankful that it did.

"Beckett?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm honored."


The sunrise is just as brilliant as the sunset. The colors dancing across the sky above the ocean almost too breathtaking for her to make a decision on which she likes better. But she settles on sunrises as her answer, just because they mark the dawn of a new day, a fresh start.

They finally make their way to bed and sleep in until noon. Castle insists that he could sleep longer, but Kate doesn't want to waste the sunlight again and entices him out of bed with coffee. She could definitely get use to a life like this. Being out here with him is so much less stressful than her usual day to day.

"If you want to watch the sunrise again," Castle starts with a yawn as he shuffles into the kitchen, "we should probably go to bed around like...7:00."

She laughs, passing him the promised cup of coffee. "It's gonna have to be later if you still want that skinny dipping to be a thing. I'm not doing that in broad daylight."

"I have sunscreen you know."

Kate rolls her eyes. "That's not why and you know it."

"What? Afraid of people watching us? And here I thought you were in to kink."

"Being watched is not the same thing as using handcuffs."

"Fine," Castle huffs. "I might be able to hold out for bed until 8:00."

"Aww did I keep you up too late?" she smirks.

"It didn't help that you wanted another 'tour' after the sun came up."

"I got my second wind," Kate laughs, bumping her hip into his as she moves around the kitchen counter. "And don't deny it. You enjoyed every bit of that tour."

"I did, yes," he says, nodding vigorously. "Very much so."

"Good. And you better enjoy the daily tours while you can. When I go back to work, we'll have to resort back to our e-mails."

Castle grins around the rim of his coffee cup, before setting it down on the counter. "Oh don't you worry, Coffelover19. NYwriter is excellent at writing sex scenes."


AN: One more huge thank you to all of my readers and reviewers of this story. You guys mean the world to me! Keep an eye out later for the 8tracks playlist by the lovely alwayswiththecoffee that we came up with together as a companion for this story. I'll be posting the link on my Twitter (oliviet35) and Tumblr (tvfanatic) as soon as she has the chance to upload it. :)