Previously on...
September 28, 2010 - Rick and Kate return from Castle and Beckett's timeline to their own, where they discover Sadie is involved with the TTB and find out their families know about time-traveling. Martha also reveals Hunt is Rick's father.
Rick & Kate
September 28, 2010
"He's, uh…your father."
"What?" Rick and Sadie say in sync.
"He didn't explain his personal connection to the case…my Parallel?" Hunt guesses.
"I think I would've remembered that part," Rick says, eyeing the spy in a new light.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sadie asks.
"It wasn't relevant," Hunt says.
"Wasn't relevant?" Sadie says in disbelief. "I risked everything and you couldn't even—"
Johanna steps in before the investigator can finish.
"Okay, okay. Why doesn't everyone take a seat and I'll make some tea. How does that sound?" Johanna suggests, gently guiding people toward the dining table right off the kitchen. "Alexis, can you grab Fitz's portable crib?"
The young redhead nods, heading upstairs.
Johanna heats water in a teapot on the stove while everyone cautiously selects a spot at the table, peace brokered for the moment. Kate sits at the head with Rick to her left, leaving the spot on her right open for her mother. Alexis returns with the crib, popping it open and placing it between Rick and Kate.
"We fed him on the way over," the young redhead reports. "He should be ready for his nap."
The DA passes Fitz to her husband, who plants a soft kiss on his forehead before rocking him gently.
"Missed you, little man," he murmurs. He hums a lullaby and soon, Fitz's eyes are closing and the 9 month-old is drifting off. "He likes a bit of white noise, but let's not try to wake him, okay?" Rick announces quietly as he lowers the baby into the crib.
Alexis assists Johanna with distributing cups and pouring tea. Once everyone's received their fill, Johanna slips into the empty seat next to Kate and puts a hand on Jim's thigh, who's seated on her other side.
The young redhead plants herself between the writer and her grandmother, while Sade is stationed opposite Kate at the other head of the table, leaving Hunt to the chair on her left and across from Martha.
"Much better," Johanna sighs as she surveys the silent group. "Now. Welcome home, you two," she says, grasping Kate's hand. "We missed you."
Kate squeezes her mother's hand, hard. "Missed you, too," she whispers, tearing up.
"What's today's date?" Rick asks.
"September 28th, 2010," Johanna says.
"So the time we spent there, it passed here as well," the writer puts together.
"Standard," Hunt says.
"You were in their time, right?" Alexis asks, "What was it like?"
Everyone faces the couple expectantly.
Kate glances down at her lap, overwhelmed. "Horrible," she says after a moment.
"At first," Rick corrects, reaching for her other hand.
She throws him a half-hearted smile. "When we first arrived, I…I didn't handle it well," she says. The DA meets her mother's gaze. "I pretty much lost it when I found out you'd been killed."
Johanna brings her hand to Kate's cheek, and the DA closes her eyes for a moment, leaning into the touch. "I'm right here," the older lawyer murmurs.
"Where were you when you Jumped?" Hunt asks.
"District Attorney's office downtown," Rick answers, "We didn't notice anything was off until we happened to run into the Commissioner."
"He laughed when we called him that, thinking we were joking," Kate says. "And suggested we should grab a ride back to the 12th with him."
"So we decided to go along with it," the writer continues. "Kate thought maybe we'd forgotten about a meeting on her calendar."
"But when we got there, they started asking Rick about the Hamptons and someone called Nikki Heat," the DA says.
"Nikki Heat?" Martha asks.
"The character he bases on Kate in their Parallel," Johanna explains.
"The whole thing felt like a waking nightmare," the DA comments, sharing a look with Rick.
"They thought we were playing a prank on them when we said we were married," Rick adds.
"When we asked about Fitz, I think they were ready to have us committed," Kate says, glancing at her son in his crib. "Montgomery ordered me to take some time off. Thought maybe I needed a break to figure some stuff out."
"So we left and started calling family members," Rick says.
"When my calls to Mom didn't go through, we connected with Dad," Kate says, "And he..." she falters.
The writer scoots his chair closer to his wife, placing an arm around her shoulder. Her head falls naturally into him, cushioning on his collarbone.
"He told us about Johanna," Rick fills in.
"I went into shock," Kate croaks.
"And I was emphatic that I'd seen Johanna just yesterday," Rick mentions, "But he said that was impossible. That she'd been gone for eleven years."
"I knew he was wrong," the DA says, her voice small. "I said it was all wrong."
"I explained we were in an elevator one moment and practically a different universe, the next," the writer describes.
"When he heard that...everything spilled out. He showed us mugshots of ourselves from 1977, er, our Parallels, and told us how they tried to stop Mom's mur..." Kate blinks, "Uh, death." She sucks in a breath. "He explained how they traveled through time in an elevator. How he saw them leave, how it felt like an earthquake."
The writer presses his lips softly to the top of her head, his fingers soothingly stroking her shoulder bone.
"I figured we must've taken a wrong turn, ended up in another timeline by accident. I told him Johanna was alive in our world. That we had a kid," Rick says. "He couldn't believe it," he adds, "Until we got out our wallet photos."
The table falls quiet for a moment, absorbing their tale.
"What did you do next?" Alexis asks in a gentle, encouraging tone.
The writer's gaze flicks over to the peacefully sleeping Fitz as if reassuring himself. "Jim offered the cabin so we could get away. Process everything." Kate folds the fabric of Rick's collar between her fingertips, lost in thought. "And then you," Rick says, pointedly nodding at Hunt. "Your Parallel. He tracked us down after about a week. Informed us about the TTB and explained that we had most likely switched places. Said that our primary timeline was a new branch that was created because of what our Parallels did when they traveled to '77. We asked him how to travel back but he said we had to wait until the equinox. And even then, it would take some luck and happenstance."
"He told us the best thing we could do was re-integrate. Keep up appearances until it was time to leave," she says.
"Alexis figured me out pretty quick. Didn't realize she went by—"
"Pumpkin," the young redhead chimes in.
"Good to know I wasn't the only one slipping up," Rick says with a melancholy smirk.
"In the meantime, we tried our best to cover our lies and pretend to be a crime-solving duo," Kate says.
"Not unlike what we already were," Rick says with a slight lift of his lips.
Kate catches his look, her mouth forming into something of a smile. "This one was a little more high stakes."
"I did almost get shot once," he recalls.
Sadie gasps, remembering.
Everyone pops their eyes toward her.
"Castle got shot," she says. "You Parallel," she clarifies, "Raglan came to the precinct and shot him."
"Who's Raglan?" asks Johanna.
"How bad was it?" Hunt asks.
"Bad," Sadie says, thinking about Beckett's painful cries and the rapidly expanding pool of blood on the elevator floor.
"He's okay," Hunt says, jolting her out of the grim memory.
A white-faced Martha stares at him. "How do you know?"
"I had a case once with a Rider who was running from a mugging. He'd just been stabbed and was looking for shelter. He coincidentally trips into a service elevator in an old work building of his, presses 'Up', and the next thing he knows, he's completely healed. And also ten years in the past."
"You're saying time-travel literally heals?" Alexis asks.
"That's our running theory. It ties into the intentions. His Beckett would want him to be alive. I know it," Hunt presses.
"So he likely survived?" Kate asks, relief washing over her face.
"Very likely."
"Talk about time healing all wounds," Rick says.
"Why'd he get shot? What happened at the precinct?" Johanna asks.
Hunt gestures to Sadie. "Brooks?"
The blonde investigator takes a sip of lukewarm tea before launching into her own tale, starting from when she approached Beckett with her new lead.
"But I could tell she knew something that I didn't."
Kate lifts her head from Rick's chest. "My Parallel...she had a murder board for Mom's case in her apartment. Your sister was on there as one of the victims."
Sadie snaps her eyes to Hunt. "You knew they were connected, didn't you? That's why I was assigned to them."
The spy shifts in his seat.
"We had intel from '77...a picture of a chalkboard."
"You were following us?" Jim asks.
Hunt ignores him. "Your sister's name was on there. And when everyone else on it lived, we knew she must've gotten tangled up in it another way."
Sadie leans back in her chair, sucker-punched. Eyes pooling with tears, she looks at Hunt. "Why didn't you stop it?"
"It's not our job to—"
"Interfere," the investigator finishes bitterly, wiping at her cheeks angrily. "Right."
Martha, who sits on the investigator's right, places a comforting hand on the young woman's thigh.
Sadie musters up a grateful smile.
Kate speaks, curious. "You said I signed an immunity agreement for the Commissioner. How did he get involved?"
Sadie collects herself and continues her story, informing them about the mob kidnappings, the cop cover-up, and finally, Bracken.
"How long do we have to stay in protective custody?" Rick asks.
"Until Weston files the case with the court...maybe longer," Sadie postulates.
Kate nods, her eyes like steel. "What else did we miss?" she asks, "I want to know everything they did."
Johanna, Jim, Alexis, and Martha take turns telling stories of what is like with their Parallels. Until Fitz wakes up with a cry, interrupting the conversation.
"I think that's our cue to stop," Rick says, scooping up his son. "Where are his ear drops?"
Johanna gets up to retrieve the baby bag from the kitchen counter as Kate stands.
"Would it be weird if I asked everyone to stay here tonight?"
"Not at all," her mother replies easily, brushing a kiss against her daughter's cheek and passing Rick the drops.
The DA glances at the investigator and the spy. "You two can go."
Hunt rises promptly, needing no further instruction. Sadie hesitates.
"Kate, I'm sorry, I—"
"Not now. I need..."
"Time," Sadie answers, her face somber. She walks past the DA with Hunt, pausing by the front door. "Just know, everything I did, I did for Diane."
Hunt lingers as the investigator exits, eyeing Martha.
The elder redhead straightens in her seat and looks away. He takes the hint. "Bye," he says gruffly. "Good to see you, son."
The door closes shut behind him with a sharp finality, a weighted silence blanketing the space.
After a beat, Rick punctures it with, "Is anyone else starving?"
After a dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup, someone puts a movie on in the living room, and the families squish onto the couch and comfy chairs, cocooning themselves in heavy quilts. Fitz's crib is pushed near their circle. In the muted quiet and warm comfort, Rick and Kate survey their dozing parents and kids.
"Is this real?" she whispers in his arms.
The writer squeezes her. "It's real."
"I don't want to fall asleep," she murmurs.
"I'll stay awake with you," he replies softly.
Once the credits roll, the couple starts gently nudging the others awake. Martha heads to her room, while Jim and Johanna are offered Alexis's. The young redhead volunteers to stay on the couch, while Rick and Kate elect to take Fitz with them for the night, not wanting to part from their youngest.
They place him in his infant lounger, a sort of caved-in pillow with foam edges for him to stay secure and act as a shield if they were to accidentally roll toward him.
The lounger sits between them and they watch affectionately as Fitz tries to grab his feet with his hands.
"I was afraid we'd never see him again," Kate confesses, stroking a finger through Fitz's dark mop of hair. "Almost gave up hope that riding elevators this week wouldn't turn into anything."
"Luck and happenstance were in our corner," Rick says, wiggling Fitz's toes.
She glances around their room, noticing their absent wedding photos. "So much has changed."
He threads his fingers through hers, placing their interlocked hands on their son's belly. "We'll get through it. Together. Just like always."
Kate blows a raspberry on Fitz's cheek, and the 9-month old dissolves into giggles.
They both grin, his laughter like a balm.
"I don't know how she decided to go back," Kate says, her eyes misting with sudden tears. "It was awful."
"She did it for him. Isn't that what they said?" Rick says, reaching up to thumb an escaped drop sneaking down her cheek.
"Mom said it wasn't her life. She did it for herself, too," she says, raising her free hand to cup his jawline. "For us and our family."
She leans over Fitz to kiss him, resting her forehead against his after parting.
"I don't know what would've happened if I'd been alone through all of that," she rasps.
He strokes the side of her face.
"Stuck with me, remember?"
"Anytime, anywhere," she says with a smile.
"You were really hot taking down criminals," he says.
"Missing the field action already?"
He looks down at their son and back at her.
"Not as much as this."