EPILOGUE
8 MONTHS LATER
Kate Beckett was walking at the beach along the sandy shoreline, waiting for her husband to arrive. It was an early evening, the sun was slowly setting down, broad streaks of pink and purple were adorning the early night sky.
Strolling on a beach like this she had always admired as the weak, fading rays of the setting sun bathed the entire landscape in a golden light, painting the sky with colorful ribbons of light.
She could never get tired of this amazing view, watching the colorful lights of sunset dancing at the surging surface of water, listening to the loud, yet peaceful sound of the ocean, as the salty water mingled with dampened sand beneath the clear surface was something indescribable.
A warm, gentle breeze whipped across her face as she lifted her gaze up to examine the crystal blue sky. Birds were flying overhead on the cloudless sky, and the sun was shining bright, too bright, momentarily blinding her vision. Too bad she forgot her sunglasses in the beach house, she grumbled to herself, squinting hard against the strong sunlight.
Lowering her gaze back down she spotted a tiny stone hiding in the dampened sand, only a few feet away from where she stood. She grabbed it without hesitation, and threw it into the lapping waves.
Kate Beckett had always enjoyed being out in the nature, the quiet whisper of trees and the peaceful sound of chirping birds was everything she needed to calm herself down, to refresh her mind.
The last few months were really hectic, so they decided to go down to the Hamptons for a few weeks. It was Castle's idea of course, but she gladly agreed, and couldn't wait to finally get out of the city and enjoy some private time with his husband.
It's been eight months since she got poisoned, since she almost died. She had fully recovered since then yeah, but the following weeks after she had been discharged from the hospital were pure hell.
There were times when she had woken up from a vivid nightmare, crying at the middle of the night, and there were other times, when she was in no mood to even eat or anything. There were lots of ups and downs, laughs and cries, but Castle stood by her side each time, holding her close, hugging her tight, whispering reassuring words into the shell of her ears and together, they eventually made it through.
She had fully recovered, got her strenght back, and solved the case with Jerry Tyson. Yes, they finally got him and his accomplice on a cold and frigid February day nearly five months ago. Apparently, they were about to kidnap her and make her suffer, but their plan got ruined when her team, Ryan and Espo were finally able to track them down and lure them out of the shadows. They both fell into the trap easily, so after all these years of chasing them, Kate finally had the pleasure to cuff them both and put them away for good.
Pursing her lips into a thin smile, she remembered how much fun they had in bed that night, after arresting Jerry Tyson. It was months ago already, but she remembered every second of it. How tenderly he caressed every inch of her skin, how carefully he pressed himself against her slender body, how gently he stained every inch of her skin with soft kisses, with unspoken promises, with so much love, just like he did on that other night, almost a year ago on their wedding anniversary.
Still smiling at the memory she inhaled deeply once and twice, enjoying the calming scent of the salty water, bringing her reeling mind back to the present.
It was now a beautiful, but extremely hot mid-summer day, the sun was scorching, the heat sweltering, almost unbearable, especially out here on the beach, where there were no trees to shield her from the blazing sun above.
Her hair fluttered harder in the strenghtening sea breeze, but the heat was still relentless, sweat poured off of her entire body all day, drenching the upper part of her green, sleeveless summer dress.
Blowing out a breath and running her hand through her wind-tousled, sweaty hair she couldn't help thinking how great it would be to cool herself down in the lap of waves.
Without thinking any further, she took a few, cautios steps toward the ocean, dipping her toes into the ice-cold water. In a second her bare foot came in contact with the freezing water she instictively withdrew her leg, wincing and gritting her teeth at the sudden feel of cold on her exposed skin.
Kate was about to try and risk another step, deeper into the ice-cold, deep blue ocean, when her husband had finally appeared in her sight.
"Hey, you should get rid of that dress and join me in the swimming pool instead, Beckett!" Castle quipped from afar. Hearing his distant, but audible voice she took a few steps back, her toes sinking into the damp sand as she turned to face his husband with a smile on her face.
"Don't even try to get into that ice-cold water, " he warned her teasingly, his voice growing louder as he had slowly approached. "I'm worried about you and the..." He quickly trailed himself off, standing in front of her, gently brushing his fingertips along her slightly growing belly. It wasn't visible that much yet, but according to the latest test results, she was carrying a little girl in there. A mini Beckett. Or is this little one going to be more like Castle is? She couldn't tell, but she couldn't wait to find it out.
"It's okay Castle, I can take care of myself, you know that." She smirked at him, her angelic voice quickly turning into her usual teasing mode.
Kate was five months pregnant now, at the middle of the second trimester. She was strongly nauseous, feeling sick every single day, especially on early mornings, but it was bearable, especially with Castle by her side. She had slowly gotten used to it, to the worsening feel of nausea, to the lack of sleep, to the growing pain around her abdomen, and she tried to ignore it all, by focusing on the fact, that she is carrying a child. Their child. It was her first pregnancy, and she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.
It was shortly after arresting Jerry Tyson, that she got pregnant. When she was poisoned last year and the sickness had started the first thing crossing her mind was pregnancy, and much to her own surprise, she had enjoyed that thought a lot.
But to her disappointment, she had woken up at the hospital two days later then, finding out from Castle that she wasn't even close to being pregnant. It deeply disappointed her, more than she thought it would be, so after she had been released from the hospital a week later, they were talking a lot about pregnancy, about starting a family, about having a child of their own.
Their biggest enemies, Bracken and Tyson were now both in prison for life, so they both agreed that after all these years of being together, after almost four years of marriage, it was really time to move forward, to start a new chapter of life, to build a family.
When she had found out about the life changing news all those months ago she had even considered quitting at the 12th, not wanting to risk her life anymore since there was someone else she had to think about first. Desk duty was not her thing at all, so Kate was seriously thinking about resigning for good. She should have taken that senator offer all those years ago, she grumbled to herself back then.
But again, being a cop was everything to her, it was her mission, her calling, her life. Walking away from her profession would mean giving up on everything she had fought so hard for. And Kate Beckett never gives up. So for now, she decided to go for a maternity leave, to find her new rhythm, to find her new routine, and once they will be settled with the baby, she will decide whether to go back to work or quit it all together.
"You okay?" Castle asked in concern, snapping her out of her spiraling thoughts.
"Yeah, I was just... thinking." Kate shrugged. She didn't have to finish that sentence, Castle knew excatly how worried she was about everything.
"Don't worry Kate, we will make it work, we will be amazing." He grinned widely, wrapping his arms around her waist, tugging her close, shaking her gently.
"Yeah, I know." She sighed out with a smile.
Her beautiful, beaming smile outshone even the bright sun above, and he couldn't help admiring her beautiful frame, every curve of her perfectly shaped body, as her loose, light green floral dress had billowed in the gentle summer breeze, as the soft curls of her shoulder-lenght hair were dancing in the wind, as its loose strands were shimmering gold in the setting sun, whipping around her beautiful cheeks.
Her entire face was lit up with happiness, with pure delight, and he couldn't be happier to share this moment with her.
Still lost in the moment, he raised his free hand to cup her jaw, slowly tracing his fingertips along her chin, gently brushing the line of her lower lip.
"Oh, God Kate! You are beautiful." He breathed out silently, interrupting the peaceful sound of nature surrounding them. His voice was low, barely hearable, muffled by the sound of waves crushing hard against the rocky shore.
"But I'm getting fat," she chuckled in response, lowering her gaze, chewing hard on her lower lip. They were standing close, too close, he could even feel the huff of her laughter caressing his bare skin.
"You are pregnant Kate, it's different." He said cheerfully, unable to supress a smile. He then slowly reached out to brush a few, sweat-dampened strand of hair off of her beautiful, sun-kissed forehead.
Goosebumps erupted on her skin at his touch and she lifted her gaze up, her gorgeous hazel greens meeting his beautiful, sparkling blues.
For a moment too long she was juat staring at him, lost in the moment, observing the colorful lights of sunset dancing in the pool of his deep, ocean blue eyes.
"And besides," he went on, interrupting her musing. "I will always love you Kate, no matter how you gonna look like."
Images of their future suddenly popped into her head, kids, grandchildren, grey hair, and her lips involuntarily stretched into a wide smile. She will always love him too.
"Really Castle, you think so?" She tossed back with a knowing smirk instead, always enjoying to push his buttons.
"Why Katherine Beckett, you don't believe me?" Castle shot back teasingly, waggling an eyebrow at her.
"Well, I have my doubts." She chuckled, the sound of her laughter caressing his ears like a soft melody.
"Well, then let me prove it," he had whispered, leaning an inch closer to her. "Let me show you how much I love you, Kate." He breathed into her skin, and her cheeks suddenly felt warm. Ducking her head down she bit her lower lip, trying to supress a smile as the use of her first name made her entire body shiver of warm pleasure.
"Okay," she let out on a soft exhale, still blushing, her lips curving up into a shy smile.
He laced his fingers with hers in response then, leading her toward the large beach house they were staying in. And just like that, hand in hand, they slowly walked along the shoreline with a bright smile, the weak rays of the setting sun bathing them both in a soft, golden light.
Once they got into the building he showed her how much he loves her, how much he cares. He was gently rubbing up and down the lenght of her belly, murmuring soft promises, pressing gentle kisses on every inch of her bare skin, on every curve of her body.
They made love until the setting sun had dropped below, until the night had slowly worn on into the early morning.
They had to avoid certain activities in bed due to her pregnancy, but there were millions of other ways to show her his love, and she had enjoyed every single one of it, every single second of it.
After all, he was her one and done, her beginning and her ending, her today, her tomorow, her forever and her always.
A/N: So this is the end, thank you all for reading it! I had never written long stories before, so it was challenging for me to write this fic, I was thinking in this Caskett universe for almost half a year. :)) But I enjoyed it a lot, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
I'm sorry there wasn't about the case and the investigation, but this was my very first multi-chapter, and I wanted to focus it on Caskett's relationship/Beckett's recovery instead.
Thanks for all the likes, reviews, follows, etc. Means a lot to me.
I joined this page a year ago, and wow... can't believe it's already been a year since I'm posting on here. I know my writings aren't that good, and there is still a lot to learn, but without your support and encouragement I wouldn't make it this far, so thank you once again. :))
P.S. I don't own the show, neither its characters.