45 minutes later, I was pulling my shawl around me, wishing I'd had time to put on more clothes than the bra, shorts, and silk kimono/shawl I had on.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the car Castle had gotten into parked outside a nondescript building.

I ran up to it to check the license plate, and when it matched the one I remembered, I ran inside.

I saw Castle first, approaching the bloody and broken form of Billy who sat on the floor against a wall, slumped over like he was already dead.

They both looked up at the clicking of my heels on the floor, and I slowly walked in, giving Castle a small nod hello before approaching Billy, kneeling down in front of him.

"Billy?"

"Celeste."

"I…" I was lost for words, and now seeing him broken like this I couldn't help the tears that came to my eyes, nor the memories of all of the tender moments we had. "I'm sorry. I wanted to forgive you. I just… couldn't."

"Celeste." He reached out to me slowly, and I moved a little closer and took his hand.

"I'm here. You'll be alright."

"Why?" His eyes flicked to Castle before settling back on me.

"You killed innocent people, to try and kill a good man. I'm sorry Billy, I can't forgive that."

"I loved you." He choked a little, and I let out a small sob.

"I loved you too. God, I loved you. I really did."

"One last kiss for the road?" He tried, joking even in his state.

I leaned in and kissed him softly, and he wove his fingers into my hair gently, kissing back with so little energy that I knew he didn't have long. He'd accepted he was probably going to die here.

I finished and sighed softly.

"Go Celeste. Frank and I have unfinished business." He caressed my cheek.

I slowly stood and walked out, pausing by Castle. "If you can, make it painless?" I whispered.

"Go on." He nodded to the door, and I went out to the hallway and collapsed on to a bench, head in my hands.

I jumped when I heard the gunshot, and looked up when the door opened and Castle stepped out.

"He's dead." He confirmed to me calmly, and I stood and hugged him, burying my face in his chest to hide the sob that came to me.

To my surprise, he held me gently. "It's okay. You'll be okay."

I stood there for what felt like an hour, just crying into him, forgetting every word I wanted to say and putting them to my tears.

When I finally finished crying, I sniffed and looked up at him. "Thank you."

He nodded. "You gonna be alright? I don't want to have to put you down later when I find out you picked up where he left off."

I shook my head. "Kind of the opposite. I want to help you."

"You do?"

"You do good work. I… I wish Billy had been good enough to avoid it. You could use someone inside though. I'm a stripper, criminals love strippers. If you're still gonna be the Punisher after this, I can help you. If you want."

"Go home. Rest. See how you feel about it when you've gotten through your grief." I sighed and slowly nodded, pulling my robe around me. "Go on. I'll see you around."

He walked out, leaving me to compose myself before the rest of my walk home.

5 minutes from my place, I heard the sirens of police cars approach and whiz past me, headed for the building where Billy's body was. It finally sank in that this chapter of my life was over. Everything that had happened had just been a crazy few months in the years of life I had behind and ahead of me.

I got home and took a deep breath, looking around my place as if with new eyes. This was going to be an interesting future.