Epilogue

"Welcome back. It's eight thirty-seven and I'm sitting down with novelist Richard Castle, whose newest work, Naked Heat, hits bookshelves tomorrow. Mr. Castle, it's so nice to have you here."

Castle smiled warmly at the Good Morning America anchor across from him. The blonde woman's eyes sparkled, but they paled in comparison to his wife's. "Thank you; it's nice to be here."

"So this is your second novel, correct?"

"It's actually my fourth, but the second in the Nikki Heat series, yes," he confirmed politely.

The woman picked up his book from the table between them and displayed the cover to the camera opposite them. "Nikki Heat—a savvy, smart NYPD Detective. Is it true she was inspired by your wife?"

"She wasn't my wife at the time, but yes these books were inspired by her and our partnership working homicide cases."

"That's right, you were NYPD, weren't you? For how many years?"

"Eight," he told her. "Before I retired to pursue writing full time."

"Well we're all grateful for that," the woman said with an airy chuckle.

Castle nodded to her, keeping the grin plastered on his face. Some days, his tenure at the NYPD seemed like it had to be at least a decade long, but others made it feel as though it flew by in the blink of an eye. Just as he could hardly believe that he and Kate had been married for over two years and that he had been off the force for almost the same period of time.

"I see the dedication in your book is to Alexis and Thomas—those are your children, correct? Have they read the book?"

Castle chuckled. "Well, my son is only six months old so he can't read quite yet and even if he could I don't imagine my wife would let him read about murders for a few more years yet."

The reporter winked at him. "Probably a good idea."

"But," he continued, "my daughter reads them and she enjoys them—at least, that's what she tells me."

"I'm sure she does," the reporter said. Then, displaying the book to the camera she said, "Naked Heat by Richard Castle is in stores tomorrow—make sure you go out and buy yourself a copy."

"Buy two," Castle added with a laugh.

When the director announced that their segment had cleared, Castle shook the reporter's hand, took off his microphone, and stepped off the set where his wife waited with a patient smile. "See. That was what? Two minutes? I told you that you didn't have to come down here for this."

"Well," she said, snaking her arms around his neck, "it's not every day my husband is on television; I didn't want to miss that."

"So what'd ya think?" he asked with a grin.

She nodded with approval. "Very nice. I'm proud of you, you know that?"

He nodded. "I do, but I can't take all the credit; I couldn't have written any of this without you." He pressed a kiss to her cheek and lowered his lips to her ear. "You're my inspiration for everything."

Kate felt tingles travel down her spine at his words. She had heard him say it before, but knew she would never tire of it. She gave him a quick squeeze before nodding towards the exit. "C'mon. Let's go find your mother and Thomas. He told me he wants to take you out to breakfast to celebrate."

"Really?" Castle laughed. "Is he paying too?"

"Yep. He'll pay you in cuddles," she smiled up at him.

"Well," he grinned, "how can I say no to that?"


A/N: Thank you SO, SO, SO much to everyone who read this story. I really cannot express to you how much I appreciate you taking the time to read (because it was so long!) and review.

Up next is my Castle Rom-Com fic #1 (if you follow Castlefanfics on Tumblr you may have seen Alex's prompt about this a few months ago). I'm actually doing 2 because I can't help myself. The first one is While You Were Sleeping based off the movie of the same title. If you have not seen that movie (its from the early 90's and stars Sandra Bullock) it is lovely and you should watch it immediately. It is absolutely, hands down one of my favorite rom-coms. I'm going to take a week or so off before I post it mostly bc it still needs edited again and I'm in the middle of writing Rom-Com #2 ("Speak Now" based on the movie Made of Honor if anyone is curious)

But definitely look for WYWS before August.

Thanks again!