My Grandmother was a Witch
Chapter 29
Epilogue
The week of being a captain. She actually had been Captain for that entire week and it had gone off without too much trouble. Just like Roy had warned her she got first hand knowledge of just what being a captain of a precinct really did. Kate learned fast that Roy must know people that she didn't. When something came up that required a phone call for someone she didn't even know about, that was where things got difficult.
She also got to learn all about Robbery, Gangs, Drugs, what each and every group did and how they were doing. She learned about budgets and just how little this precinct actually had. It helped explain why her computer was so old. Why her desk and all the other desks were beyond old. Why when something broke down in the building – and something always did – something else had to get cut to pay for it.
Even Rick was learning as he sat in her office and watched and listened and got to read what she was reading, signing, and filling out. "Now I know why you have the oldest car in the building. Why that spring in my seat is trying to kill me."
Then Roy was back and found that his precinct hadn't collapsed around Kate and Castle since he had learned just stepping inside he had learned Castle was upstairs even today.
"Enjoy your two weeks, Beckett. Evelyn and the girls and I will be there for your wedding." Roy was happy for her. Hopefully she'd actually get married this time.
"Yes, sir. So do I, sir," Kate said.
"Sorry, Castle, till he changes his mind you can't come back." Roy felt bad about that but his hands were tied.
"I understand, sir." He was out unless he could get someone to change their minds.
_/\_
They had all driven out to the Hamptons the next day and sure enough as promised, there was one Mercedes and one Ferrari in perfect condition sitting right out front. Rick checked out the Mercedes since he'd been told it had been burnt. If he so much as smelled a whiff of smoke he was complaining. Kate ran her hands across the Ferrari. It had saved what was about to be her husband soon so it needed to be perfect.
The chairs were all still there from last time. Kate tried not to let it haunt her and destroy attempt number two at getting married.
_/\_
Kate was glowing and felt amazing wearing this dress. It was almost as good as the first time. "How did you fix this, Lanie?" Kate lifted up that section of the dress that she was sure was ruined from last time she wore it.
"I have my uses." Lanie tried to take all the credit. Then she caved in and told her the truth. "I called Castle. He knew someone that could fix it. That man really does love you, Kate."
"Yeah, I know. I love him too. I'm even learning to love Alexis. I mean look at what she's done for me to get this far." Kate spread her arms wide. "There's one problem that I don't remember from last time. It fits a little tight." Kate tried adjusting it.
"You're pregnant. You have a growing baby in there. I had it adjusted a little since you are showing now. I'll get Jim." Lanie left her so Kate looked at herself in the mirror. She had come a long ways. One little comment from Roy had gotten her to this point. That and being a witch. A witch without a wand!
"Ready for attempt number two, Katie?" Jim arrived right behind her. "This time I know Rick's down there waiting along with standing room only. We ran out of chairs. There are a few new faces down there, too." Jim had been told who they were and was shocked. The Director of the CIA and his wife, with armed guards, were here for her wedding. He had questions about that.
Instead of saying yes Kate hugged him. "Thanks, Dad." Kate was going to ruin her makeup soon.
"She's here, Katie. Don't ask me how but she's here. Like you she's too stubborn to miss this," Jim told her.
Kate barely even saw the guests as she walked with her father down an aisle between the white chairs. She could see Rick in his tux standing there waiting with a smile on his face. She was going to do this. She was going to get married.
_/\_
Kate was thanking people that walked past her for attending her wedding with Rick, her husband, not that far away.
"K-Becks!" Kate heard that and saw Madison walk right to her. Smiling and now with tears in her eyes, Kate hugged her tightly. It had been so long since she had last seen her. She hadn't even had a chance to see her last time.
"Hi, Maddie." Kate kept hold of her. "Where are you now?" She knew she provided a second cake but that was all.
"I opened a restaurant here in the city. I called it Q3. Someone named Martha Rodgers called me to have a cake made for Richard Castle and Kate Beckett. Wow, was I surprised. Naturally I jumped at it.
"Look at you! You're married!" Maddie was so happy for her. "We have a lot of catching up to do, K-Becks." She had found her and wanted her back as a friend.
"Yes, we do. Phone?" Kate held out her hand and waited for her to put her unlocked phone in it. "There, now you can reach me." Kate handed it back.
Since seemingly everyone else knew. "I'm also pregnant," Kate whispered to her.
"BECKS!" Kate found herself being crushed in a new hug.
_/\_
"Detective Beckett." He finally caught up to her.
"Director." Kate wasn't sure just what to call the Director of the CIA.
"My wife, Angela."
"I'm very happy for you, dear." Angela gave Kate a quick hug. "I don't know much thanks to my husband's work but I know you must be one brave woman. I'm told he offered you a job. You might want to think about that with your husband."
"He wasn't invited but I brought a friend with me. Meet Jackson Hunt." The Director of the CIA introduced him to Kate and walked away with his wife.
"It's a pleasure, Detective." Jackson shook her hand. "I'm told you had a very interesting meeting with a Section Chief."
"Something like that," Kate said cautiously.
"I especially found the sparks very interesting." Jackson saw a momentary look of panic on her face. "Not to worry. I'm particularly good at keeping secrets and making sure secrets are kept. Please give my regards to your husband. I have somewhere to be. Perhaps we'll meet again. OH! You really should think about accepting his offer. You two would make great additions to the Agency." Jackson hurried away leaving a shocked Kate Castle behind him.
She was even more shocked when suddenly Martha hugged him and then walked away with him holding onto his arm tightly.
He was older, handsome, silver-haired and blue-eyed. There was something about him. And how did he know about what her wand looked like when used? He hadn't been there.
"Rick." Kate pulled him aside. "Do you know a man that has silver hair, silver beard, and has your blue eyes? He just walked away with Martha hanging onto him."
"No." He also didn't see either of them. "Maybe Mother has a new beau." It was all he had.
"KATE!" Suddenly Kate found Alexis hugging her. "It worked this time! …DAD!" Now Rick was being hugged and Martha slipped their minds.
_/\_
Some of what Kate owned was now in storage and everything else was in the loft. Between Rick, Alexis, and Martha talking her into it she had let Rick pay off her penalty for breaking her lease and had moved into the loft.
One week later and she was all packed and waiting in the security line for her honeymoon flight. Next they got to sit and wait for boarding. Thanks to Rick's money they were flying first class so they would get on the plane early.
Rick kissed her cheek. "Happy, wife?"
Kate smiled. "Very happy, husband." She quickly kissed him on the lips.
"One week in Italy followed by one week in Switzerland. Even I haven't been where we're going," Rick reminded her. It meant this would be their honeymoon. They were going to do something neither of them had done before.
They just had to survive the long flight to reach Milan, Italy, for their first stop.
Kate soon learned what it was like to fly first class with her long legs and the service they got flying first class. They were pampered instead of being treated like cattle.
_/\_
Milan, Venice, Florence, and then Rome, all via train. Then a high speed train to Geneva, Bern, Zurich, and then St. Moritz, all via train and then home.
"Where are they, Grams? Their plane landed almost an hour ago," Alexis moaned as she and Martha stood just outside the white security line for arriving passengers.
Martha patted Alexis's hand. "Knowing your father he found something in there that he just had look at." Martha had her there and she knew it. But if they didn't show up soon her dad was going to get a piece of her mind. A big piece. "There!" Alexis pointed and tried to wait patiently as each of them dragged their carry-on behind them.
Rick didn't take offense when Alexis hugged Kate first and his compensation was greeting his mother. "You two didn't have to meet us here," Rick said.
"Yes, we did and I want to hear everything," Alexis insisted. She walked with Kate to baggage claim and listened to Kate begin telling her everything starting with Milan.
_/\_
"So which place was the best out of them all?" Alexis asked as they walked into the loft.
"Oh, well..." Kate had to think about that. "I guess it's a tie between Rome and Venice. I mean how can you not like boat rides in the canals of Venice? As for Switzerland, I guess St. Moritz. The other cities just felt like any other city. It was different and pretty," Kate replied.
"So are we selling the house in the Hamptons and moving to Europe?" Alexis teased her.
"NO!" Kate answered quickly. "I'm not flying that far just for a quick vacation. That's out." Kate took her suitcases to the master bedroom to unpack and throw just about everything into the clothes hamper or directly into the washing machine.
Kate stopped Rick as he unpacked and slipped her arms around his neck. "Thank you for my honeymoon, husband. There were no beaches but I loved it…and you." Kate kissed him.
"Maybe we can introduce the baby to the beach somewhere," Rick said since she suddenly wanted a beach.
"Perhaps." Kate kissed him again. "I need a drink before bed. That or a Popsicle. I have a craving for something." Actually she was betting it was an addiction but maybe a craving.
Kate found Alexis in the kitchen pinching one of her Popsicles. "Don't tell me you're addicted to those things, too?" Kate walked up, opened the freezer, and saw her huge bag was almost empty leaving her few choices.
"I can't help it. I blame you and the baby." Alexis retreated to her room to suck on her Popsicle in silence.
Kate took hers back to the bedroom and saw Rick flat on his back on the bed. "Are you sleeping already?"
"I have never walked that much in my life and that includes all things Disney," Rick replied but didn't move. He felt Kate climbing up onto the bed and moving pillows to sit up and eat her Popsicle.
"What's your plan for tomorrow while I go into work?" He was still banned from going into the precinct.
"Maybe buy the Commissioner a pony?" Rick said and listened to Kate laugh. She did that so much easier than she used to, he noticed.
Kate shook her head. "Bribing the Commissioner might get you arrested, babe."
"It's not for him. It's for his wife or his daughter if he has either. Does he have either?" Rick didn't actually know.
"Better think of something else, babe." Kate didn't answer his question.
"Start decorating for Christmas. That and start shopping for Christmas presents," Rick said excitedly.
"Christmas." That was something Kate didn't know what to do with. Suddenly she was watching Rick get up. He was on his hands and knees and not far from her face.
"I can help you write your letter to Santa. Tell him how sorry you are that you stopped believing in him," Rick offered.
"Letter to Santa, huh?" Kate wasn't so sure about that.
"Please tell me you aren't planning to burst our baby's bubble at age three. She's a kid! He or she deserves her chance to believe in Santa," Rick pleaded with her.
"This means a lot to you, doesn't it? You realize that Santa doesn't..." Kate had to stop talking when Rick put a finger over her lips. "Fine, I won't burst our baby's bubble." She drew a line in the sand. "But I'm not writing a letter to Santa."
"I'll write one for you," Rick told her and kissed her. Then he licked his lips. "Yum, you taste like a cherry Popsicle." Rick got off the bed and retrieved his own Popsicle. Soon they were sitting side by side in bed eating a Popsicle.
_/\_
Rick was driving Kate to madness. He was still banished from the precinct and he was becoming impossible to live with. As a consequence a very pregnant Kate was upstairs with Alexis helping her decide what her major in college was going to be. She needed to know what she wanted to do so she could select her classes or even what college she wanted to attend.
"Are you still thinking of Oxford?" Kate asked her given that they both knew where it was located.
"I really don't know. Thanks to you I was thinking about pre-law so yes, Oxford or Stanford. But I was also thinking about being a Medical Examiner which means Johns Hopkins or Stanford." Frustrated, Alexis paced across her bedroom.
"So you enjoyed your time working with Lanie while we were gone?" Kate hadn't tried to stop her though Rick had tried a little.
"It was great. Working with Lanie was fun. She's really nice." Alexis had liked it a whole lot. Enough to think of following in her footsteps instead of Kate's.
"Lanie's great. Let me know what you decide and I'll talk your father into it." Kate smiled at her and listened to Alexis laugh. Kate struggled to get up and off Alexis's bed to start to leave.
"Kate!" Alexis stopped her. "Thank you." She was thinking about asking if she could start calling her Mom but didn't think either of them were ready for that.
"You're..." Kate looked down because there was something wet going down one leg.
"YOUR WATER BROKE, MOM!" Alexis jumped up and went past a frozen-in-place-Kate and over to the stairs. "DAD! KATE'S WATER BROKE. THE BABY'S COMING!"
They both heard something break followed by Rick cursing loudly.
_/\_
Kate actually thought loving Rick was as good as it got. Sure she had heard him explain what love was like when you had a newborn baby to hold, feel, touch, and smell. Now she was getting it.
Kate knew she loved her baby before it was even born. Now that it was born and resting on her chest and even had her eyes open and not crying, she knew what love really was.
"Name, then we need to take her to weigh her and measure her," the nurse told them.
"Lily Johanna Castle." Kate had briefly considered keeping the Beckett name but she had married Castle so she wanted to be a Castle. That meant the baby was a Castle.
"I think she has your blue eyes, Rick. She has my chin." Kate watched her newborn baby get carried away and missed her terribly. Suddenly going back to work was going to be really hard in about three months.
"Twenty and a quarter inches so she's a little taller than normal. At 5 pounds 5 ounces she's maybe a little small but girls grow faster than boys. You can have her back for a few minutes then we need to move her and you. The doctor will come see you after you're moved."
_/\_
Kate got intercepted the second she walked in the door and her baby was taken out of her arms by Alexis.
"Hi Lily, I'm your big sister. Don't you two have something to do so I can babysit?" Alexis asked them.
Rick burst her bubble. "No."
"What I need is some sleep, so yes." Kate retreated to their bedroom to get some rest. She still had pain and just wanted to rest.
Her rest lasted all of about an hour. She could hear her baby girl crying and a few moments later she saw Alexis at the door with Lilly. "Her diaper's clean so I think she wants to be fed." Alexis handed Lily over and retreated so Kate could take her top off and open her bra so to nurse her baby girl again.
_/\_
Rick and Kate had already stopped three times so Kate could change a diaper and nurse Lily. Now Rick was turning where Kate told him to and started down a dirt road that was full of pot holes till that final turn and Gram's house came into view. It looked pretty much just like she had remembered it. Kate smiled because she loved this place and she really wanted to show her grams her little baby girl.
They were staying a week this time since Kate was still on maternity leave and Rick was trying to keep busy by helping her with Lily.
Kate had only just gotten out of the car. "KATIE!" Kate saw her walk right out through the front door. "YOU HAD A BABY!" Anna was all over this now.
"And I can't touch her." She hadn't minded being dead till now.
"Grams, meet Lily Johanna Castle. You've met my husband, Rick," Kate told her.
"Married and with a baby? You don't mess around, Katie. Well come inside, you really need to see this." Anna had watched all these men make incredible changes to her home.
"GRAMS!?" Kate stopped just inside the door. The ceiling looked nothing like she remembered it. The rest of what she could see looked the same. Even her bed was still here. But there was a slit system on the wall. Then she noticed that the windows looked different somehow.
"These men just suddenly showed up. They ripped up the floor, put pipes in it, and then put the floor back. I don't know what that thing on the wall is. KITCHEN! Follow me." She had a lot to show Katie.
"It's different, Grams." Kate saw new open shelves. Two new refrigerators that were on the narrow side and two new doors.
"Open this one." Anna pointed at one and watched Kate use one hand to open the door.
"Pull a shelf out, any shelf," she told her and Kate could see that it was full of cans and jars and she didn't understand. But she pulled and only that shelf pulled out, leaving the other three right where they were. It came way out into the kitchen and almost hit the bench of the table that was still here.
"Now spin it. You need to see this." Anna was still amazed. She had watched it being installed, saw them test it, and then load it up with what was in the old pantry.
"Spin?" Kate made it spin. It went into the space on one side, out on the other, and rolled across the front.
"There are four behind each door and two doors. I've never seen anything like it before but it's nice." She couldn't use it but Katie could. "There's more, come outside. Out the door." Anna went outside and waited for Katie to join her.
Kate saw it first. "What is that thing?"
"I have no idea but it's tall. I heard them talk and watched them install it. Something about it producing electricity. The wires go to that little building there and then from there into the kitchen where there's something new. A new power panel was installed. And over to the stables. Come see the stables." Anna moved fast and made Kate follow.
"See the floor? I can't touch it," she told her.
"It's black," Kate said.
"They said it was rubber. It was installed in these big mats. New lights everywhere, new water heater, and they patched the roof. Oh and there's that thing." Anna pointed at something and had Kate turning to look.
"It looks like a boiler, I think." Kate walked over to it and looked it over while still carrying Lily with her.
"They routed these pipes from this thing and into the house after ripping up the floor and putting the floor back in place. I don't know what it is but it's big," Anna told Kate.
Movement had her turning and watching Rick come out back. "RICK! What have you done?" She just knew this had to be him.
"I brought it into the 21st century. New light bulbs. The solar tower which is bigger than I thought it would be, actually, that produces mostly electricity. This boiler is wood fired and it routes hot water under the new floor in the house so the floor will be toasty warm. No more heating the place using that fireplace.
"Changed out the pantry, new energy efficient refrigerators, split systems in all the rooms so there's A/C and heating. The stable has rubber for the horses to walk on. A lot better than walking on cold concrete.
"I didn't change the look any more than was necessary. I just brought it up to the 21st century. Pretty cool, huh?" Rick liked it. It had cost him a pretty penny but Andre had done really good work.
"Why?" Kate liked it the way it was.
"Because I love you. I like the Hamptons and I could tell that you loved this place. It just needed a little..." Rick trailed off. "You don't like it." The look on her face told him she didn't like the changes.
"Tell your husband that you love it, Katie. He did this for you and I like it. That new pantry is amazing and the horses will love that new floor. It has heating and air conditioning and more lighting everywhere. It's for you and your daughter and someday her daughter, the White Witch," Anna told her. "KATIE!" she yelled to get her to say something.
"I just… I just..." Kate was still trying to process it all so instead of saying something she walked up to him and kissed him. She would adapt to the changes.
_/\_
Kate was cooking dinner on the wood stove using the food they'd brought with them in coolers, not knowing the refrigerators had had all of the food that was expired replaced by the team Rick had hired.
Kate went around the table, Rick, and Lily, to open the pantry and started spinning to try and find what she needed from it. She walked back with her spice. "Is that a new dishwasher?" She didn't know how they had fitted that thing in. The dishes had been done by hand before.
"One that's energy efficient," Rick answered her just as Lily started crying. "Looks like we trade places," Rick said.
"You ever cooked on a wood stove, babe?" Kate asked him.
"Nope. So if I burn something don't yell at me." Rick got up and changed places with Kate. He took peeks to watch Kate change Lily's diaper and then nurse her.
"So is your grandmother in here?" He still didn't see her or hear her.
"Standing next to you watching you cook," Kate told him as she looked at Grams watch what Rick was doing.
"I like him, Katie. You did good. What's her name?" Anna suddenly realized she didn't know the baby's name. If Katie had told her she had missed it.
"Lily Johanna Castle."
"You named her after your mother? That's so sweet. Johanna would love that." Anna really liked that.
"So what happens now, Grams?" Kate looked down at her baby girl sucking at her nipple.
"Now? Now you come out here when you can with your daughter or any other children you have. When Lily has a little girl, that little girl will be a witch. You get to teach her to be a White Witch. Then when you die you'll take my place here and keep teaching her all she needs to know and be here for her when she needs you. Just like I'm here for you.
"Maybe someday it will end but this place will be in your family for as long as possible. A place to call home no matter what happens. If you need to retreat here, it will be here. And with what your amazing husband has done to it my home will last a long time. Maybe one of these days it will even have horses again.
"This is home, Katie. Mine, your mother's, Lily's, her children, and maybe beyond.
"A place for White Witches to learn and help and combat Dark Witches whenever the situation calls for it. This is what we White Witches do, Katie," Anna explained.
"White Witch for life. I like it, Grams." It had been a shock but Kate had adjusted.
"I love it! My wife is a witch. Does it get any cooler than that? …Well maybe if you were a Jedi." Rick was over the moon.
"Really, Castle?" Kate glared at him and heard her grandmother start laughing.