There was the look she dreaded most. A chagrined Castle cut through all her physical prowess and mental bravado like a hot knife through butter. She tried to glance away but couldn't. This was her real penance. Her selfishness and overwhelming need for revenge made this moment inevitable. She considered exiting the pool, calling a cab, and heading back to the city. The actions would keep her mind preoccupied from the emotional bombshell that just landed between them.

The plan had been to profusely apologize for leaving and then offer a rationale for offing LOKSAT that had many parallels to his own experience. It involved resurrecting his trip to Paris. It was a subject he refused to discuss with her, but Alexis was quite willing to share. Their time at the coffee shop recovering from their weekly 'hour-from-hell' provided the perfect private venue to dish without interruption.

On the plane ride home, her dad had at first refused to explain any part of what happened. Alexis was in no mood for that kind of brushoff. She had been a victim; she had every right to know. She was abducted, flown to Paris, and put in a glass cage without any explanation. Her increasingly vocal tirade on the plane was causing a scene. Her dad tried to change the subject. Her rant only got louder, and he finally relented.

Her first words were about her grandfather, Jackson Hunt. She respected him, but did not admire him. That would come later. He was hardly at all like her dad. He was laser focused on the task at hand and had little empathy for those he sent into the trenches. Kate found her assessment probably quite accurate for most who dealt with him. Except for a brief moment at their final parting, he was all business with her as well. She guessed that his gruff demeanor with those he sent into danger was a way to minimize the natural remorse you might expect if one of his operatives met with a terrible result.

The whole kidnapping was just a devious ruse to flush him out by one of his more resourceful adversaries. Alexis was just bait, and her dad's efforts were just a sideshow nuisance until Jackson saw how he could be useful. The plan was for Jackson to go in and takeout all the captors, while her dad rescued Alexis. The plan had one problem. What if Jackson wasn't able to complete his part of the bargain? That was where Castle came in. Jackson made sure he was armed and committed to take up the fight if he could not. Alexis questioned that last part because it seemed so out-of-character, but her dad said there was no choice. This was about family. Yes, those words just might be the trick she needed to nudge Castle off his rather sanctimonious judgement about her offing LOKSAT.

Kate knew this was her moment and deliberately let the pause linger as her next words would be critical. "Yes Rick; I got him. The last thing he saw on this earth was my face and a picture of my mother as he bled out. I had to do it. Perhaps you forgot that he attacked us just to show he could. He could go after anyone I cared for. None of you signed up for that. I had to separate myself and finish it."

"I know what I did shocks you, but it really shouldn't. When it comes to family, you may have to do things you normally consider unthinkable. You should know. Alexis had told me all about Paris. The plan Jackson devised had you as his willing understudy. You were primed to take Alexis's captors out regardless of your moral qualms. You would have done exactly what I did if Jackson faltered. This was Alexis; this was family. You seem to have a blatant double standard on that score. It seems my actions for my mother are abhorrent while yours are the righteous actions of a father protecting his daughter. The only difference was you had a willing skilled accomplice, while I did not."

"Kate, that was about Alexis, my daughter. What do you expect?"

"Mine was about my mother. What do you expect? Shall we discuss the relative values of parents versus children? If you want to go there, be my guest."

"Your trauma was years ago. You had time to think rationally. You could have investigated more and used the courts to exact your revenge. I was caught up in the moment."

"If you had to wait to find Alexis's captors would you have been any less willing to be Jackson's backup? We both know no amount of time would have softened your resolve that day or any other."

"As for my bringing this guy to justice, I tried and learned he was just too good to get caught for anything accountable. Meanwhile you threw in with your father knowing full well he would never let the niceties of the law interfere with his objective. I was one of his operatives; he is not a patient man. He wanted to be done with that guy just like I did with LOKSAT. Alexis told me you were right there beside him in all this. Where was your respect for the legal process then, Castle?"

Kate was waiting for a bitter retort, but none came. Instead an eerie silence fell over the lapping waves between them. Castle, at a loss for words, never happened. He was clearly flummoxed by what she had said. It was now abundantly clear that his disdain for her ending LOCKSAT was the nut she needed to crack.

As for Castle, he was in an awful place. His perfunctory dismissal of Kate's heinous act was suddenly blown to smithereens by a comparison to himself that was both truthful and troubling. He was prepared to kill, and only the participation and skill of another had spared him from doing just that.

Yes, family was different. Kate had been quite right about that - no matter how much it might upend his rather righteous sensibilities. That type of paradigm shift needed time to sink in. He wanted to respond. He needed to respond, but the words just wouldn't come. He made his living with words, but this time, they failed him as Kate submerged and swam to the side of the pool from whence she came. Without making further eye contact, she exited the pool, grabbed her robe, and announced she would dress and leave as soon as the local car service could fetch her.

Her cold exit hit him like what he imagined one of her more vicious punches felt like. Her direct attack on his rather pompous dismissal of her actions left him wondering who had the walls now. The juxtaposition of being the defender rather than the aggressor was startling and hardly flattering for one so used to being on the other side. What had started out as her moment of truth was now his. If she took the car service, he knew their last chance would disappear with the taillights down the driveway.

A decision was needed. His brain was overloaded; his heart was certain. In the end, it was really no contest. Without really conjuring a plan, he exited the pool, haphazardly toweled off, and headed into the house. At the foray, he had a choice - wait outside or take the stairs; he chose the latter. He knocked on the door with no particular prose in mind. If words failed him, his lips would not. The sound of the bed releasing its burden alerted him that the moment of truth was upon him.

The knob turned, and the door opened slowly. When her sheepish face was finally revealed, he pushed the door open until his lips were on hers with an accompanying embrace that would not be denied. The good news was that she was offering no resistance. In fact she deepened the kiss like it was a refreshing drink on a very parched palette. Surprisingly, that night there was no sex. Instead, the was lots of truth telling, some cuddling, and many more kisses with a few shouts and tears thrown in for good measure.

The car service driver drove down the driveway a happy man. His wallet held the largest tip he had ever received for the shortest run he had ever made. It was a good day for him, and he was pretty sure for his clients as well.

THE END - HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS LITTLE DIVERSION - PROBABLY MY LAST.