Life Taking Place Elsewhere

By NickyM96

CHAPTER 13

"Why me?" Beckett asks after a long silence. "Why am I such a threat to you?"

"You know why," the Senator says.

But Beckett wants him to say it. She needs him to admit it. She has to hear it all.

"If you're going to kill me anyway, I may as well know it all."

He considers her for a moment before giving her what he believes his is charming smile.

"I suppose that's only fair," he nods. "You're here because I want the file."

"The file with all the evidence of murder and extortion," she elaborates.

"Murder and extortion are such ugly words," the Senator chuckles. "Let's just say I had some problems and paid a guy to get rid of them. Who in politics has never done that?"

"I need to hear it all," she repeats. "Please. I need to hear to say it so I can die in peace."

"Your mother," he says. "She was a problem. She got in the way. I paid Dick Coonan to kill her. You have all the banking information as proof."

"Hal Lockwood?"

"I hired him to take care of those three cops."

"Maddox?"

"He was supposed to clean up all the rest of it. Funny how you kept slipping through my fingers. Once I destroy that last file, I'll take care of you myself," the Senator says with some glee. "I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Killing me won't be so easy," she warns him. "How will you explain it away?"

"It's perfect, really. Now that you're a full fledged FBI agent, it will come out that you've been assigned to protect me, since you did such a good job at it before. Unfortunately, tragedy will befall you when an attempt is made on my life. I'll pull the trigger myself if I have to."

Beckett has to admit it's a good plan. She's about to tell him so when the cell phone in his pocket rings.

"Is it done?" he asks upon answering it.

"It's done," Sorenson says, rubbing his jaw where Castle clocked him. "But you might want to get out of there. They figured out I was lying to them and had me arrested. I used my one phone call to warn you they're on the way."

Bracken frowns and hangs up the phone.

"Change in plans," he says to Beckett, pulling out a gun. He points it at her. "Not a word out of you."

He takes off his tie and ties it around her eyes to blindfold her. He finds some zip ties in the corner and binds her hands so he can uncuff her from the chair without any trouble.

"Stand up and start walking straight ahead," he orders, the gun pointing into her back.

"Where are you taking me?" she asks.

"I said no talking," he orders. "I need to think."

She can't see him, but she can feel the draft that hits her face when he opens the door in front of her.

"Keep moving," he says.

She walks, waiting to feel the warmth of the sun on her face. She considers making a run for it once she gets outside, but she knows she wouldn't get far blindfolded the way she is. Truth is, she wouldn't be able to do anything without her sense of sight. She'd literally be a sitting duck. He could shoot her and she'd never even see it coming.

The more steps she takes away from the building, the more she realizes how hopeless her situation is. Staying near her discarded cell phone was her only hope in Castle finding her through the GPS. If she leaves, there's no way he'll know where she is.

"I'm not taking another step until you tell me where we're going," she says, stopping suddenly in her tracks. She has no other course of action. "At least take off the blindfold so I can see. It will look less suspicious if other people see us."

"No funny business," he says after a moment. "Or you and your precious little boy are both dead."

"I promise," she says meekly, but fully intending to break that promise.

He has to put down the gun in order to take off her blindfold. She squints, pretending the bright sun is blinding her. She has one shot to get this right. Taking aim, she brings up her knee into his groin. When he bends over in pain, she slams her bound hands into his face, knocking him backwards. Then she runs.

The sound of a gunshot stops her. Expecting to feel pain, she takes a quick inventory before realizing she hasn't been shot. She turns around and sees the Senator writhing in pain on the ground, Ryan and Esposito standing over him with their guns.

"Kate!" she hears from the distance. She looks to her left to see Castle running up to her, having just jumped out of the back of a police car that has just barely stopped.

"Castle!" she calls back, moving towards him. She lifts her hands over his head to hug him just as his arms go around her waist. "You found me."

"Always," he says. They separate and he works on releasing her bonds.

"Tyler?"

"He's safe. He's with my mother and a couple of DC's finest standing guard," he assures her. "We got him back."

"Will?"

"He's been arrested," Ryan answers as he walks up dragging a bound Bracken between him and Esposito. "This dirtbag is about to join him."

"Let go of me this instant," the Senator orders. "These charges won't stick and I'll have your badges."

"I have your confession," Beckett tells him, watching his angry scowl turn into a mocking grin.

"Confession? Ha!" he laughs. "I don't know what you're talking about. In fact, by the time I'm done, you're the one who's going to be arrested for kidnapping me. Your life is over, Ms. Beckett."

"No, Senator. Your life is over," she says, leaning closer to him to he won't miss any of her words. "I enabled the sound recorder on the laptop when I first was locked in that room. I have every word of your confession recorded, right from your own mouth."

She grins at the way his face loses every ounce of color.

"Don't think this is over," he warns her before the police take him away. "This goes higher than me."

Epilogue

"I quit my job … again," she says to her husband of two months with a kiss hello. "That's twice in as many years. I hope I don't make a habit of it."

"The Fed thing just wasn't working out for you, huh?" he jokes, knowing exactly what happened to cause her severe distrust of the FBI.

On the one hand, her Bracken situation has finally been dealt with once and for all. She won't have to worry about looking over her shoulder for him to come gunning for her. The recording from the computer with his confession was more than enough to put him in jail for life. Sorenson got five years in minimum security in exchange for his testimony against the Senator. She doubts he'll be coming around again ever. She warned him she'd kill him if she ever saw him again. She was mostly kidding.

The Attorney General's office tried their hardest to keep her, but she just couldn't. They even offered her a plum assignment in the New York office so she could be back home. But she turned that down as well. She didn't blame them for Tyler's kidnapping, but she also didn't want anything else to do with them. So here she is, back in New York with the man she loves surrounded by the people she loves.

"I don't think the Fed thing was ever going to work out for me," she confesses. "It may have been what I wanted at one time, but not anymore. I have everything I want and need right here with you, Castle."

"No regrets?"

"None whatsoever," she smiles, leaning in to kiss him again.

The door opens and Alexis comes in with Tyler. They had just gotten back from the park. Tyler runs to Beckett and jumps into her arms.

"Mama!" he says with his characteristic enthusiastic greeting for her.

She holds him close, her heart bursting with love for him. No, she has no regrets, she thinks, holding this little boy in her arms. She's finally right where she's supposed to be living the life she never knew she wanted.

The end.

x.x.x.x.x

A/N … So this didn't really turn out how I thought. But it was still really fun to write. Thanks for sticking with me to the end. I appreciate everyone reading and commenting.