Your support and encouragement for this story continue to amaze, humble, and inspire me. I hope you continue to enjoy this journey as much as I am enjoying writing it. Here's a short update, necessary to what comes next.


Alexis, Martha, and Jim exited Kate and Rick's ICU room, just barely managing to avoid getting caught by Dr. Gallison. Ryan and Esposito went in next. They both stopped and stood in the small space between Beckett's hospital bed and Castle's hospital bed. They stared in silence for a long moment, both disconcerted by the sight of Beckett and Castle in the ICU, unconscious and surrounded by beeping machines. Finally Ryan spoke. "We're gonna make sure you got them all. And there will be armed guards from the 12th outside this room 24/7. Nobody's getting near you two unless they're on an approved list."

"That's right," Esposito added. "We will personally make sure that no more of these LokSat people are around to come after you guys."

"We're a team," Ryan continued. "You taught Espo and me everything we know, Beckett. And Castle... You were the missing piece. You changed Beckett's life the most, obviously, but you changed mine too."

"And mine," Esposito said. It was getting too serious for Esposito, so he lightened the mood by telling the couple, "But don't think that means we're gonna go easy on you at the poker table the next time we have a game. As soon as you're up to it, we're goin' full-out in Texas Hold 'Em."

"Right," Ryan agreed. "And maybe this time, you won't throw your hand so Beckett wins."

"Bro, of course Castle would throw his hand so Beckett won," Esposito pointed out. "He already did it once, shortly after they met."

"She'd figure it out and call him on it and be really mad," Ryan replied. "I wonder if she still twists his ear to get him to shut up?"

"Does she, Castle?" Esposito asked, for just a split second expecting Castle to sit up and answer him.

But there was no answer, from Castle or Beckett. Just the steady beeping of the monitors and machines surrounding both of them as they lay motionless in their respective hospital beds.

The boys fell silent then. It was so strange to be talking to Beckett and Castle and not have them answering. Both Esposito and Ryan half expected Beckett and Castle to sit up and say the same thing at the exact same time, as they had done so many times before. In that moment, both men would have given anything to hear Beckett and Castle say, "I know who the killer is!" in unison.

But they weren't in any condition to speak at the moment, and it was difficult for Ryan and Esposito to see them like this.

"We're gonna go back to the precinct and make sure this case is closed," Ryan said then. "Lanie and Deputy Chief Gates are still waiting to see you, and I'm sure Alexis and your folks aren't going anywhere tonight. We'll be back later."

"Once we're sure everything's taken care of," Esposito added.

Ryan stepped forward then and reached out, covering Beckett's hand with one hand and lingering for a moment. Then he stepped across to cover Castle's hand with one hand. "We'll be here when you come back," he said.

After Ryan stepped aside, Esposito took his place and mirrored his partner's actions, covering first Beckett's hand with his and then Castle's hand with his. "Don't keep us waiting too long, okay?" Esposito asked.

After the boys left Beckett and Castle's room, they explained their plan to the others. Ryan would meet Espo at the 12th after he and Jenny collected Sarah Grace and Nicholas from Jenny's parents, and Kevin had seen his family safely home. Gates agreed with Esposito and Ryan that this needed to stay in-house, meaning only people from the 12th that they knew could be trusted would be involved. After saying their good nights to the others, who promised to let them know if anything changed with Beckett and Castle, Ryan, Jenny, and Esposito left.

After Esposito and the Ryans departed, Lanie and Gates went in to see Beckett and Castle together. Lanie took a deep breath as she took in the numbers on the various machines Kate and Castle were both hooked up to, unconsciously nodding her satisfaction that their conditions were indeed stable, if still critical. "Well, no wine for a while, huh?" she said as she went to stand at Kate's bedside. She gave a watery chuckle as she reached out to smooth a nonexistent wrinkle in the light blanket covering Kate. "But that's okay. I don't need wine, I just need my best friend. Because do I ever have some things to tell you, and to ask you! Me coming to you for relationship advice might be a little backwards, since it took you and Castle four years to get together. I still can't believe the bundle I lost on you two when nothing happened the whole first year you worked together, but then, it wasn't really nothing happening that first year, was it? I still remember that dress he sent you, among other things." A smile briefly played across Lanie's lips. "And you've been doing something right ever since you got together, so it's not so backwards after all, is it?" She picked up Kate's hand then, mindful of the IVs in it, and gently squeezed it. "You're gonna come back from this, Kate. You're too stubborn not to. And this time, you're not gonna shut yourself up at your dad's cabin and do it all by yourself. You've got Castle, and he's gonna need you as much as you're gonna need him, though Lord knows I don't envy you his inevitable whining about physical therapy, since we all know that all men are whiny when they don't feel well.

"But even with Castle's whining, and your ten-mile-wide stubborn streak, you're not doing it alone this time, Kate, you hear me? We are all going to be there to help you, because we all love the two of you. So you'll make it a lot easier on yourself, and Castle, if you just let us help from the start."

Gates regarded Castle while Lanie was talking to Kate. "I have a confession to make, Mr. Castle," she said quietly, so only he could hear her. "I liked having you around the precinct. And do you know why I liked having you around the precinct? Actually, there were two reasons. First, you brought some much-needed levity to a job that is incredibly tough, and at times breaks your heart, or at least puts some serious cracks in it. We all needed that, and appreciated it, Mr. Castle. It just wasn't proper for me to come right out and say so when I was the captain."

She leaned down so that she was close to his ear for the rest of what she had to say. "The other reason I liked having you around the precinct was because I knew that no matter what happened, you and Beckett would always have each other's backs. There is nothing that woman won't do for you, Mr. Castle, as I'm sure you know by now. And I learned that there is nothing you won't do for her when you stayed with her when she was standing on that bomb.

"Granted, the two of you always managed to get into more trouble than any other pair who worked for me, but you also have this uncanny knack for being able to find your way out of it every time, either together or due to the timely intervention of Detectives Ryan and Esposito, or other officers. Either you have some incredibly overworked guardian angels, or those guardian angels of yours sent help for you when you needed it the most."

Although he couldn't see it, Gates gave Castle her infamous "Iron Gates" glare. "I'm expecting the two of you to come out of this situation the same as you have all the others, Mr. Castle, because this world, and the lives of everyone who has been in this room, would be a much worse place without you and Beckett in them."

Lanie had overheard only the last thing Gates said to Castle. "Deputy Chief, may I have a word with Castle? You could talk to Beckett, if you want."

"Certainly, Dr. Parrish," Gates replied. She and Lanie switched places, Lanie going straight to Castle's side as Gates stood at Kate's bedside. Gates looked at Kate. "I have to agree with Mr. Castle, Captain Beckett," she began. "You are extraordinary. Yes, I read Heat Wave, with the infamous page 105, but it's the dedication to that book that really stood out to me. 'To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th.' He's right. You are extraordinary...Kate. I don't know of too many officers, too many human beings, who could have survived everything that you've survived. Of course, that man in that bed across the room has a lot to do with why you survived most of it, because he was right there with you for most of it." She paused for a moment. "It's because you are extraordinary, and because Mr. Castle is in this fight with you, that I know the two of you will make it through everything that's coming your way. It's time for you to apply your tenacity and your persistence and your inability to quit to yours and Mr. Castle's recoveries, Beckett, because you're going to need it. I know that if anyone can do it, it's the two of you. And you will have your entire team behind you, all of us."

While Gates was talking to Kate, Lanie was talking to Castle. "Kate's gonna need you now more than ever," she told him seriously. "Not that I have to tell you that. And you're gonna need her more than ever. You two have got to stop scaring us like this, Writer Boy, because we all know that you would be completely lost without each other. So if you see any bright lights, you run from them as fast as you can in the opposite direction, and if you come across any angels, you tell them to put your harps on layaway, because you two are needed down here. All the times you two have saved each other's lives, Castle, and the real truth is, all along, it wasn't just the danger of the job you were saving each other from. You saved each other, period. You saved Kate from a life of loneliness and being all about her job, and she saved you from becoming some cliched playboy still trying to pick up women more than half his age when he's 80 in some stupid bar.

"I'm not gonna lie. From a medical standpoint, you and Kate have some serious work ahead of you. But you've proved to all of us that you're never better or stronger than you are when you're together, so this is when you two really have to step it up and show everybody how it's done, show those physical therapists and respiratory therapists and nosy reporters and bottom-feeding ex-wives the magic and the power of the Beckett-Castle team. And you're gonna have all of us backing you up, with whatever you want or need."

Castle heard everything everyone had said to him, but deep in the recesses of his brain, one thought burned bright and true, on a constant loop: Kate. I'm here, Kate. They all keep mentioning you. So you've got to be somewhere close. And wherever that somewhere close is, I'll find you. No matter where you are or I am, I will always find you, Kate.


Throughout all the visits from family and friends, Johanna had stood silent guard in the far corner of the room, unseen, unheard, even unfelt by everyone, including Katie and Rick. Now she was alone in the room with them, but suddenly she felt a presence at her side.

"You have twelve hours left," he said without preamble.

She tore her gaze from Katie and Rick to look him in the face. "Just tell me they have more than that," she pleaded. "Tell me that them seeing me didn't mess everything up."

He looked from her to Kate and Rick, the only sound in the room being the machines monitoring their vital signs. "I think this is exactly what she needed," he said.

Johanna snorted indelicately. "No offense, but you're not exactly top man. If it was coming from Gabriel, or even Peter, I'd feel better."

"All I'm saying is that she got everyone who killed you, everyone who had any part in it, intentional or otherwise," he replied unflinchingly, "and she knows that you know, and that you want her to be happy and live her life. I think that in order to truly move on and put it all behind her as best she can, she needed to hear it from you, and she did. And she has the best motivation in the world to fight in Castle. They have one hell-uh, heck of a future ahead of them."

"Then they are going to be all right!" Johanna exclaimed, part relief and part triumph.

He looked around, half expecting the aforementioned Gabriel or Peter to appear suddenly and scold him for what he had just said, but when nothing happened, he relaxed a fraction. "You didn't hear that from me," he said.

Now Johanna was completely relieved. "Well, then," she said, "I'm going to take the twelve hours I have left and wait here. Before I go, I want to know that they're awake. I hope twelve hours will be enough."

"No continuances allowed," he said.

"I know," Johanna replied, gluing her gaze once more to her daughter and son-in-law. "Twelve hours, and not one second longer."

He looked at Beckett and Castle. "They never were ones to do anything the easy way, but I'm glad they figured it out. That they belong together, I mean. And that nothing and no one is going to keep them apart, or keep them down for long."

"Is that why you did this?" she asked him then. "Told me, and made sure I could come down here when Katie and Rick needed me most? You were forgiven by everyone a long time ago, you know, including them." She inclined her head towards Katie and Rick.

"Let's just say I felt I still owed them, and especially you, a big one," he replied. "You aren't the only one who will finally be able to truly rest in peace now, Johanna."

As he disappeared, Johanna whispered, "You're a good man, Roy Montgomery." Once Montgomery was gone, Johanna returned her gaze to Katie and Rick, keeping silent vigil over them as the hours slowly slipped by and the clock moved past midnight.