A/N: Okay my lovely, lovely reviewing friends, we are coming to the end of this epic, which I hope you have enjoyed. One last chapter to go after this one, look for it tomorrow.

As it turns out Robert Norris was no stranger to Johanna Beckett. The more Kate digs, the more she finds. He knew her mother personally. They'd met over several cases where Norris was her opposition in the courtroom, Johanna defending a client while Norris prosecuted. It's a matter of court record that they knew each other. A few favors called in, and Kate finds group pictures that show her mother and Norris at a fund raiser for the Justice Initiative.

She's hunched over Ryan's shoulder searching for links to Norris and the three corrupt cops, unaware she's being watched.

Castle has her coffee in his hand when he notices Greg Langley watching the detective. Silently, he moves to observe things from the Prosecutor's angle.

"She's tenacious," Langley says with admiration, sensing the Writer over his shoulder.

"Yeah, she is."

"You're a lucky man."

"Yeah, I am." A brief smile flitters across Castle's face as he continues to watch his tiger, and the prosecutor walks away.

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"Get this, Robert Norris and Bob Armand? Worked together on a case that lasted almost two years. Had to do with prosecuting a mob boss, the same guy who owned Sons of Palermo." Esposito says, "Armand was undercover, but he must have been communicating with Norris. It is completely possible they could have met in the alley where your mom was killed."

"That's how he knew," she glances at Castle, "that's how he knew to bribe Montgomery and the others after they killed Armand in that alley, he probably saw it waiting for Armand to meet him."

"Langley wants to see you in the conference room, " one of the black-suits says gravely.

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Greg Langley stands over the table of NYPD detectives and the Writer, regards them seriously and then a slow smile spreads across his face, "Voice analysis came back positive for Robert Norris. He definitely ordered the hit on Cole Maddox."

"Yeah!" Esposito and Ryan feed the birds.

Castle picks up her hand with both of his, kisses her fingers as she watches him.

"We're going to get him, Kate, between Jordan Norris and Ramon Siris, we at least have enough to charge him with Cole Maddox's death. It's a start, a place to begin to let the dominoes fall with your case, your mom's case. We'll keep digging Kate, but it looks good, I think we'll see some justice done."

She turns and smiles at Castle through the tears in her eyes.

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It's still a long road, but they've come so far, so very far in such a short time. As the second day unravels, the black-suits escort them back to the loft and back into protective custody, at least until an arrest is made.

He breathes a sigh of relief for the first time in months as they enter the loft and he takes her coat.

"I think we still have some pasta . . ."

But she's on him before he can finish the sentence, her arms twining around his neck to pull him into her embrace, she kisses him hard and fast, almost before he can respond she pulls away enough to rub her nose on his.

"Love you," she closes her eyes as she whispers the words, "I love you so much." After a moment she kisses him again as she cradles his face. This time he pulls her back.

He searches her face, expects to see sadness, but instead he sees how so many lines, accumulated over the last few years, are relaxing, how her eyes hold nothing but love, nothing but peace. He silently smoothes the hair out of her face, stroking a thumb just under her eye.

"I see the end, Castle and you're here, with me, at the finish line," she whispers, "without you, I never had a chance. Not a chance," she's shaking her head and tracing the line that frames his mouth with her finger. "I never thought it would get this bad, that I'd spend all this time so broken." He starts to speak but she covers his lips with her finger. "Shh, yes, I have been broken, you know it." She rubs her nose over his cheek, "I know you put me on a pedestal, you overlook my flaws, but you've been here to put me back together, every time." She whispers in his ear, "I know you love me, I could never imagine more than you give me right now, I need you so much more than I ever thought possible. I'm so grateful. So grateful. I don't have anything to give you, I don't have anything more to give you except me." She pulls back enough to look in his eyes, "Marry me?"

"What?" He seems genuinely confused as she continues spilling her heart.

"Marry me. Make us legal, I want to be with you every day. I want to wake up with you." He sways her a little, enough to let her know he's stunned, she holds him up, squeezing his shoulders to her, shoring him up the way he shores her up. "I want to sleep with you." She smiles coyly at him, then raises a seductive eyebrow, "yes, that way too. I want us to go back to the way it was before, us, as partners, in every way," she cups his cheek, "every way. I want to get old with you, fighting for other people's justice the same way we have all this time for my mom. I want to marry my hero, my knight in shining armor. Will you do that for me?"

"Kate, I . . .yes, yes, I want that too, all of it." His voice cracks and he wraps himself around her as she buries her head in his chest. He sobs once, as though whatever demons he fears have been expelled in her words. And then she can't hold him up anymore because he's pulling her to the floor, holding her so tightly she can barely breathe. She rocks him a little bit because no matter what she's said, no matter what he understands, it has always been about the two of them and whatever magic the universe has bestowed on them, and neither of them can adequately express it. But they are both so grateful. So amazed.

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Later, when she's wearing nothing but the bed linens and he brings the Chinese food delivery into their bed, she twists the metal handle from one of the containers into a little circle and presents it to him.

"We cannot tell people that you proposed to me," he says taking it from her outstretched hand and kissing her fingers in the process, "I don't want people to start thinking I'm the girl in this relationship."

"Don't worry, everyone already thinks that."

"Ha," he says humorlessly leaning over the food between them to kiss her, "let me show you off to the world, buy you a ring and a big white dress . . ."

"No. I just want you, I don't care about the rest."

"Vegas?"

Now it's her turn to laugh, "if you want."

"Paris?"

"If you want."

He loves her this plausible, so he takes the risk, "Hot, dirty sex?"

She grins and says, "If you want."

Greg sends over a bottle of champagne with the news that they have a grand jury indictment, although the indictment is sealed for the moment, considering Norris' position. Greg wants to make sure there are no lose ends and that the arrest goes down smoothly.

She feels like she might have just been granted parole.

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It makes the national news in a minor way, but there's Brian Williams talking about how an assistant to the Attorney General was arrested on murder for hire charges. The Attorney General distances himself from his colleague as the reporters charge him. She can't remember the last time she was so riveted by the television.

Alexis and Martha finally come home to celebrate and he takes the time to re-introduce Kate as his fiancé. It's awkward and weird and wonderful all at once. Martha promises to permanently move to the apartment she's really already living in. Alexis congratulates them genuinely. This forced separation has changed them all.

He takes a moment to consider all of them. His women. His life. He thinks maybe this is the happiest he's ever been.