FUTURE

Warning: This story contains Mature content. Reader discretion is advised.

I repeat: Reader discretion is advised.

This is a Caskett story in the end. There is no Major character death. However, there are several minor character deaths. (Anyone that is not Rick and Kate is considered minor)

As always with stories in this series, if you don't like the content but read it anyway and ignored the warnings, that is on you. You are at fault.

This is an alternate world story.

One Chapter Only

Kate rode her motorcycle straight to their graves. Her 97 Harley Softail was long gone. One, finding parts for it was nearly impossible. Two, the cost of fuel was prohibitively high. So this one was all electric. She plugged in wherever she could. It helped to have the correct plug to plug into. However, she could plug into any outlet. It just took longer to get a full charge.

Kate put down her kickstand, took off her helmet, and set it on her seat. Next she opened the hard side saddle bags to get out her flowers. She took just a few steps and used her hand to clean away the dirt off the markers.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here lately. My excuse is a little weak but it's all I have." Kate separated her flowers and placed each half on the markers.

"I don't think you would like it here now. As much as I miss you and as sad as it sounds, maybe you're better off dead. This place has gone crazy." Kate knew she was understating that comment. She just didn't want to scare them.

"No, I'm not married. No, I'm not pregnant and no, I don't have any children. Pretty sure I'm sterile, so there aren't going to be any children. As for a husband, who would want to marry me?

"My job is temporary and pays me pennies. You don't want to know where I live now or what I live in. I don't even have the money to get far any longer. Did I tell you this place has gone crazy? Sorry, I don't mean to scare you. But never fear, I'm getting by." Kate went back to her bike, opened up the other saddle bag, and pulled out a book.

Kate sat down cross-legged and began reading. She didn't have anywhere else to be today. This was as good a place as any. Maybe even better since she had family close by.

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Rick was wearing his suit and had his helmet in hand. His father was checking his suit over to make sure it was sealed then signaled for his wings to be attached. Essentially, what he was wearing was a modified hang gliding suit, only he was wearing the wings. It had winglets on either side. Next to those were two small jets. Rick let them be attached to him.

"Remember, son, two things. Your flight time is limited. So go straight there and straight back. If you go sightseeing you'll end up swimming with the sharks. Hold your arms tight to your body and pay attention to your HUD display.

"Make that three things. Watch for trees and power lines. Who knows how many of them are still live. Unless you want to cook yourself, watch what you're doing. Plus, if you're going to question why this thing again I'll remind you once more. Militia with rifles. Your suit and this wing will help blend into the sky.

"So get in and say your peace. Stay as long as you have to and come back. Get out if you see weapons. As a human you aren't that bulletproof. Your suit certainly isn't," Jackson told him.

"I didn't know you cared, Dad," Rick teased him.

"I don't. You have the only suit and the only set of wings." Jackson grinned at him since he was teasing him. "I may not have been the greatest father early in your life but I'm doing what I can now. Say hello to Martha for me." Jackson stepped back and let him put his helmet on. Then Jackson stepped in to make sure he had a good seal and stepped back again.

"Pleasant journey, son." Jackson watched him turn followed by taking a few fast, long steps, pressing the igniter in his hand, and jetting off.

Rick didn't need a lot of elevation. Just enough to gain some height, shut down to conserve fuel, and start gliding. He would reignite only when he had to.

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It wasn't really that long of a flight. He flew over Darker Beach Park to avoid as many buildings as possible along with power lines. Exited out the north side. Followed Interstate 278 till it went left and he went straight and drifted a little to the right.

Ignited his jets again for a brief time to clear buildings and shut down again.

Maimonides Medical Center was his next landmark. Thankfully, down here very few buildings, including this one, weren't all that tall. The second he saw a large park he knew he was close. He needed to be on the far side though.

The Green-Wood Cemetery

He knew exactly where to land thanks to all his research. Sadly, this would actually be his first time here. He had no doubt he would break down and cry once he saw it. It was just his being here… He felt like he owed it to them.

Rick came in for a landing and ran a little till he felt steady and started walking.

Movement caught Kate's eye and she looked up. What she saw was impossible. It looked like a man in a suit, maybe, and he had wings. Not wings like her wings. These were solid wings like an airplane wing. He even landed not all that far away.

Kate kept her book and worked herself that way slowly. She didn't want to scare whoever it was. He had something she had never seen before.

Rick took off his helmet and opened up his suit and carefully took out his four flowers. Flowers where he lived now weren't exactly readily available. He took what he could get his hands on.

His wings were attached to the suit at his shoulders. To balance the weight he had these counter extensions to compensate. They also had to be streamlined for flight and they went down his legs till they ended at his ankles. It meant he couldn't bend down. So he was forced to drop each flower on each grave and read each marker.

Martha Elizabeth Rodgers Beloved Mother

He skipped over the dates. He knew those dates by heart.

Alexis Harper Castle-Holmes Beloved Wife and Daughter

Once again he skipped over the dates. Save for when they were born, he knew when they died by heart.

Daemon William Holmes Beloved Husband and Son.

Micheal Alexander Holmes Beloved Son

Reading his date of birth and date of death caused tears to begin to run down Rick's face. His grandson hadn't even been five years old. He was a little monster, but he was loved.

"I'm so sorry, pumpkin. So very sorry. I should have been there. I really should have been there." Rick placed the blame of losing his family squarely on himself. This was all his fault. He could have done something had he been here.

"Pumpkin?" Kate hadn't meant to say that name that loudly but she apparently had since he turned his head to look but not his body. Then she took two steps back and he turned to face her.

Kate only knew of one pumpkin and she didn't mean a pumpkin for Halloween.

"I'll be damned. If it isn't Detective Beckett, as I live and breathe." She was the very last person he ever expected to see again. In this lifetime or any other.

"Castle!? It really is you!" She hadn't expected to see him ever again. "What are you doing here?" Her parents were buried here. But he was in the wrong place.

"Paying my respects, of course," Rick replied.

"How long has it been, Castle?" Kate found the courage to walk up next to him.

"Nineteen years, nine months, and some odd number of weeks and days and hours. Not that I'm counting. Why are you here?" He wasn't sure he wanted her anywhere near his family. Dead or alive.

"Yeah." She was ready to guess twenty years but that sounded just about right. Kate spun to look. "Alexis Harper Castle-Holmes. …Martha? What happened?" Kate read the other names and was guessing husband and son.

"New York City Riot. Perhaps you were here for that, Detective?" Rick questioned her.

"I was. I lost my dad in that Riot. And I'm not a detective any longer. Haven't been for years. Like a lot of other cities, the city did its best to destroy itself. Whole blocks were burned to the ground," Kate told him if he didn't know.

Rick turned his head to look at the markers again. "I wasn't here. I had a lead on my dad so I went off to find him. While I was gone the country blew itself up. Who needs World War III when you can have a second Civil War?" Rick still couldn't believe it. A lot of people saw it coming though. Including him…sort of. Still, he had gone off looking for his dad when he should have been here for his family.

"I'm sorry, Castle." Kate started to reach out to rub his arm but came up short. "Can we bury the hatchet?" She didn't want to fight.

"As I recall you did. In my head." Rick reinstated the old fight that they had never finished or resolved.

"You try being turned into a Succubus – something I definitely wasn't expecting – and see what that does to your life! Suddenly I'm sucking the life out of men and killing them. I was a homicide detective and then I'm the one that was doing the killing and I wasn't sorry.

"I'm a damn serial killer. What was I supposed to do? Tell you I'm a Demon, that I kill men which meant you were next?" Kate felt all those old emotions surface.

"Succubus!? That was your problem? My god, Kate, you should have said something! I was your damn partner. Out of nowhere you blew up on me and sent me packing. The words you used. Talk about hurtful." Rick couldn't believe it.

"I LOVED YOU! The last thing I wanted to do was kill you. I sent you away to save your life. But being a Succubus didn't save my dad's life." Kate could still remember seeing his dead, broken body.

"You broke my heart because you thought you were saving me? That's really rich, Kate." Rick couldn't believe this shit.

"RICH! I loved you and had to save you from me. I ruined my life because I loved you and you call that rich!?" Kate didn't believe him. Same old Castle. She should have known better. "I'll let you talk to your family." Kate turned to leave.

Rick grabbed her arm. "STOP!"

"LET. GO!" Kate yanked her arm out of his grasp.

"I LOVED YOU!" Rick bellowed. "Now it's twenty years later and I'm finding out it was for no good reason?" He couldn't believe it.

"No good reason? I might have killed you. I would have found a way to kill myself if I did that." Kate came close to yelling herself.

"You didn't stand a chance at killing me. I'm an Incubus. I'm a Demon too, Kate. I just don't happen to be an Evil Demon. Granted, I have my moments." He knew he could have a short temper if someone pressed the right buttons.

"A WHAT!" Kate's mouth fell open. "Since when? Why didn't you tell me? I was your partner? I loved you!"

"I've been an Incubus since puberty. Why do you think I let Gina turn me into a playboy? Alexis didn't like it but it gave me access to women and what do you mean killing people? All you have to do is let them fuck you. Maybe a blow job now and then, but you don't have to kill anyone to live. What idiot told you that?" Rick couldn't believe this shit.

"No one. I. HAD. NO. ONE. I really didn't have to kill anyone?" Kate couldn't believe this shit. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Risk US by telling you that I wanted to fuck you and eat your pussy so I could get your Cum so I could live because I'm an Incubus?" Rick rolled his eyes. "Like that would have gone over real well."

"It would have gone over pretty good with me. Are you trying to tell me that I've been all alone for twenty or so years because we didn't talk? MY GOD, RICK!" Kate didn't understand it at all.

"So are you going to kiss me or what?" Rick watched her launch herself at him and she kissed him as hard as she could.

Kate kept herself pressed against him and her arms wrapped around his neck. "What are you wearing anyway?" Kate was smiling wide. She just needed to find a way to keep him this time.

"This old thing?" Rick had one hand holding his helmet while the other was wrapped around Kate. "It's a flight suit. The wings are powered. It doesn't have a lot of range but we don't have a helicopter." Rick bent his head down to kiss her again.

Kate played with the little hairs on the back of his neck. Kate looked down at the markers. "Who are the other two?"

"Alexis's husband and their son. I wasn't here for them. I should have been but we thought I had time. Turned out we were all wrong. I don't know exactly what happened. I can only hope they didn't suffer." Rick turned and looked and felt new tears welling up.

"I'm sorry, Rick. I know how much she meant to you. I didn't even know she got married or had a child. I couldn't even save my own father and I was here for it." Kate was mostly out of tears but the pain still lingered.

"Was it bad?" Rick only knew some of the basics and not much else.

Kate's eyes closed for a moment and she gave a single nod. "It was bad. The riots were only half of it. They burned down entire city blocks all across the city. You name it, it happened."

"What about Lanie and the others?" Rick inquired though he could guess.

"All dead. Lanie, Kevin, Javi, and even Gates. Half the Precinct was killed in the Riot. It was ugly. Food riots, clothing riots, hatred for minorities and immigrants. They got the worst of it. Lanie was just doing her job when she was shot. Javi chased the shooter down and killed him. And he was killed the next day.

"Even Jenny and Sarah Grace. Somehow the Police became the enemy. TV stations, radio stations, and particularly the papers were all looted and most were burned to the ground. And that was just the start." Kate knew life after that had been hell for everyone in the city. If you could get out, you did.

"Have you got transportation?" Rick queried.

"I have an electric powered motorcycle. It doesn't have a lot of range, but it doesn't make any noise. I just need to find a place to plug it in that still has power. It's over there." Kate pointed at it.

"I don't have the capacity to take you with me," Rick said. "Do you think you can make it to Coney Island Beach or maybe People's Beach?"

Kate looked doubtful. "Coney Island is closed. No one goes there. I'm not sure the bridge to People's Beach still exists."

"All right." Rick needed to think. "What about Calvert Vaux Park? As far out as you can get. Right up to Gravesend Bay?"

"There won't be any exit for me if I'm chased down," Kate told him. "People want everything they can get their hands on. Like my motorcycle."

"That's all right," Rick told her. "When you get there I want you to shift into your Succubus form and fly out to us. We have a Trimaran Superyacht. Can't miss us. It's hydrogen-powered and we make our own hydrogen. The roof is all solar panels. Desalination to create drinking water and water for hydroponics. Hope you like eating vegan. We only have meat when we get lucky."

"So long as you'll be there." She still loved him. Loved him even more now that she knew he was an Incubus and wasn't scared that she was a Succubus.

"Oh, I'll be there. Then I'm going to fuck your brains out," Rick promised.

"Good!" Kate kissed him. "Um, who is we?" He said superyacht and those things could be fucking huge.

"Me, my dad, his Succubus that he makes love to. Three other couples and fourteen crew. Only two of us are human. You'll be surrounded by Incubi and Succubi," Rick told her.

"As long as I'm surrounded by you." Kate kissed him again.

Rick became serious. "You threw me away once, Kate. I'll not let you do that again. You're literally all I have left."

Kate watched him put his helmet on and adjust his suit around his neck. He ran a little, lit his jets, and lifted off. She watched him going south till she could no longer see him. That had her running for her motorcycle so she could reach Calvert Vaux Park and see if she could see that yacht. It had better be there or she was going to be in trouble.

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Kate could see it. The damn thing was fucking huge! After taking off all her clothes, she carried what she could in her hands – like her clothes and ID. Then she backed up and ran, stepped on a guard rail and jumped, and pumped her wings as hard as she could.

It was clearly a Trimaran and it was huge. It sort of resembled a Star Destroyer to her. As she got closer she saw the solar panels all over the upper roof. There was a heck of a lot of them. That was when she saw someone way out front standing in the middle of this big H symbol in the middle of a round circle. The closer she got she could finally make out that it was Rick doing all the waving.

Kate landed pretty close and in a heartbeat found herself swept into his arms and being kissed again. God, but she missed his kisses. Now she could hardly wait to finally make love to him. She didn't need to kill anyone to live. She just needed him.

Kate saw some of the crew and a Succubus on her way to the Bridge or at least that was what Rick told her. After that he was showing her to his bedroom.

"Dad, meet Kate Beckett. Kate, this is Jackson Hunt, my father."

"Sounds made up," Kate commented.

Jackson smiled his usual half smile. "It is. But I've used it for so long I don't see any reason to use my real name. My son tells me you're a Succubus." Kate was human again and dressed in her clothes. All the clothes she had.

Kate saw a handsome older man. A lot of silver hair and beard, but she thought she saw Rick in his features.

"Yes, it's been a real voyage. Speaking of which, I've never seen a ship like this one." Kate looked around the Bridge. Counting her and Rick there were five of them on the Bridge and it was full of monitors and lots of windows.

"Welcome aboard the Estrella. The name is Spanish and means star. It was designed and built in South Korea. Yeojin Jung is one of us so getting our hands on it wasn't that difficult. You'll meet him eventually. He and his mate occupy the Owner's Cabin which is their right," Jackson told her.

"Do you know exactly what happened?" Kate asked him. "News in the city is really hard to get or if it's even accurate."

Jackson looked grim. "We know enough. Long story short, thanks in part to various political changes the West Coast tried to secede from the union. When they did that the President of the then United States tried to stop them. The result was a Civil War. While the West Coast National Guard fought other Guard members from mostly Northern States, the South decided to secede from the Union.

"That action brought an end to the Second American Civil War. It's likely a little combat still took place but for the most part it was over. How many lives were lost? I'm not sure anyone knows.

"Now, the then United States was broken up into three independent nations. Each had to create trade deals, create their own money. We've heard various mass moves took place. North to South, or North to West, or West to North.

"The West hates the North. The North hates the West and the South. The West has the Pacific Fleet and all those large naval bases. They have all the computers.

"The North has all the manufacturing. The South has all the wood and most of the produce. The North has all the meat. Each has new deals with the rest of the world. If you want something from China you have to talk to the West. The largest shipping docks are on the west coast. Other than that we don't know much locally like New York City, or even DC, or really any city."

"Wow!" Kate knew it was bad but not really that bad. What little she knew was that people hated everyone it seemed. "I know deliveries of just about everything are limited. Even I only had one meal a day."

"We can fix that." Jackson looked at Rick. "Get her settled in, son. We still have work to do."

"May I ask where we're going?" Kate inquired.

"We're three hundred forty-two feet long with a widest beam of forty-six feet and several floors. We can carry twenty passengers with eighteen crew. We're not full yet. We have a lead for a couple of Demons in the Hawaiian Islands. After that is a trip to Japan for another lead. Then down to Australia and/or New Zealand. Once we're full we'll decide where we want to go and maybe stay. America isn't the only nation with trouble. We want to find a neutral place to stay, assuming that exists."

Kate had Rick's hand in hers while they walked. "Just how big is this ship?"

"Big enough that you can get lost if you're not careful. Most of the bedrooms and adjoining bathrooms are in the two pods. All the main rooms like kitchen, movie theater room, exercise room, numerous sitting rooms, pool, hot tub, hydroponics, and a lot of other rooms are all in the main section of the ship," Rick explained.

Kate looked down at the floor. "Um, I hate to bring this up but all I have is what I'm wearing."

"We can fix that. Tomorrow. I've waited over twenty years for this and I'm not taking no for an answer." Rick grinned at her which had her grinning back. She knew just what he was thinking and she wanted him just as badly.

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Kate didn't care if half the ship could hear her. She had waited a long time for this. She got to see what Rick looked like as an Incubus.

"FUCK MY PUSSY!"

Much later...

Kate looked at him like he was insane. "Say that again?"

"You. Can. Get. Pregnant. It's not automatic much like being human. Instead of using the seed I give you to live with, you select to let some of it try and find one of your eggs. You're not sterile. I'm not sterile. If you're ready for children all you have to do is not absorb it all," Rick repeated.

"What are you standing there for? Make love to me!" Kate pushed him down on their bed located in one of the pods. She had screwed up and wasted enough time already. Plus, she knew what kind of father he was because of Alexis, God rest her blessed soul.