Dec 19, 2048

"So," Castle began. "Last day."

"Last day," Kate echoed.

"Is it bad that I'm ready to go home?"

"Not at all," she assured her husband. "It's been nine incredible days but I'm ready to be back in our own bed with our normal routine."

"You mean, our routine of being retired and having absolutely no commitments?" Castle joked.

Kate chucked. "Yes, that."

"In the meantime," Castle reached down with some difficulty, extracted a brown, spiral-bound notebook from his luggage, "care to do some reading?"

She sank down next to her husband, settling into the soft, fluffy cushions of the sofa in the living area of their luxury Croatian suite. "Don't mind if I do."

September 8, 2048

Dear Kate,

I'm not sure who I am anymore. Is it possible to have a midlife crisis at the age of 79? Because I feel like that's what's happening. I've officially announced my retirement from writing. We just returned home from the book release.

It's over.

The book is written, and there isn't another one in the works. I don't have a contract. I don't have plans to write another novel. I've been writing novels for sixty years.

I feel so empty. As though I'm missing a part of myself. What do I do now? I imagine it's going to take some time for me to figure that out.

But even though I'm no longer writing novels, I'll never stop writing for you. I used to worry that one day I'd run out of words for you. I worried what that would mean for us. But I know now that my concern was completely unfounded. You still inspire me after all these years. I always write well when I'm writing for you.

Thank you for crashing my book party forty years ago. Thank you for putting up with me as your shadow. Thank you for putting up with all the flack you received over Nikki Heat.

If I hadn't met you, my writing career very well might have ended with the death of Derrick Storm. I hadn't written in so long and, though I never told anyone, I was afraid at the time that I'd never write again. It was the worst case of writer's block I've ever had.

But you brought me out of it. You helped me find the words. You lifted me up from the lowest point of my career. Writing Nikki reminded me of all the things I loved about being an author. And writing Nikki was the catalyst for me falling in love with you.

I know it's been years since the series ended and I don't regret my decision to end things when I did, but I still miss her.

But in the end, I have you. We have a family. We've had successful careers. We live very comfortably and we've been able to travel the world and share so many wonderful experiences. All thanks to Nikki. But really, thanks to you.

I should thank your mother, too, since she's the real reason we're together. If she hadn't read my books, you likely wouldn't have read my books, and we never would've met. Everything we are, everything we have… we owe it all to her. I like to think she's been up there cheering for us this entire time.

"Me too," Kate agreed.

I guess we technically owe our meeting to the murderer who was staging his crime scenes like my books, too, but I like to ignore that little fact.

"Castle," she groaned, swatting him in the shoulder. "You always have to ruin it."

"And you'd be disappointed if I didn't," he replied with a lopsided grin.

Kate rolled her eyes, but they both knew her exasperation was feigned. It was the same familiar back and forth they'd shared almost since the moment they met, and in all those years very little had changed.

Regardless of how it happened, I'm glad it did. Our life together has been beyond my wildest dreams – and you know how wild my imagination can be – and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Even now that I'm moving on to the next phase and leaving a very important chapter behind, I know everything will be okay because I have you. I'll always have you. And as long as I do, I'll have everything I could ever want.

I love you.

Rick

"Okay, you salvaged it," Kate conceded as she reached the end of the page. "I withdraw my eye roll."

"Withdraw?" Castle exclaimed with a mock gasp. "It's been forty years and you've never once withdrawn an eye roll."

"I can un-withdraw it."

"No, no, keep it," he assured her. "But I'm happy to know you're still capable of surprising me after all these years."

"Gotta keep you on your toes, Castle."

He set their journal aside, leaned in and captured her smiling lips with his own. "No place I'd rather be."

Thoughts?