Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, all of you. This chapter officially marks the beginning of some of the changes. Not that I think they're bad changes (and I hope you won't either), but rest assured, a lengthy chapter of Kate and Rick discussing everything is forthcoming. In the meantime, here's the next chapter, and I hope you stick with this story. I have a lot of plans for everyone, to varying degrees, Kate and Rick the most, obviously.
Ryan and Espo came in next. "It is really good to see the two of you awake," Ryan greeted them. "It was just too strange seeing you both silent and not moving, because that's not who you are."
"We're glad to be awake too," Kate replied. "And really glad to see you guys. To see everyone."
"And we are really glad to be able to tell you that we got 'em all," Esposito reported then. "LokSat is over and done. They won't be coming after you anymore."
"Really?" Kate asked, feeling freer than she had felt since this whole LokSat mess had landed in her lap.
"Really," Ryan replied. "We checked everything out ourselves, and Gates made sure it stayed in-house. The threat is gone. It's over, Beckett, Castle. It's finally completely over."
Castle trained his gaze on the ceiling, trying to hide the tears in his eyes at the fact that the whole LokSat mess was truly over, that no one would be trying to kill Kate anymore, or coming after them, or threatening Alexis or his mother or Kate's father or anyone else they cared about.
"Castle, bro, you all right?" Esposito asked, seeing Castle's rapid blinking.
"Rick?" Kate asked, concerned.
He turned his head to look at her, and she saw the tears and realized what they were: relief that this nightmare was finally and truly over.
"I know," she said softly, feeling tears start to well up in her own eyes.
For the first time in what felt like forever, nothing and no one was out to get her and Rick. They no longer had targets on their heads. Their loved ones were not in mortal danger because of them any longer.
Her mother was right, Kate reflected. This was finally her and Rick's life, their future, with no threats and no shadows hanging over them, and no armed criminals wanting them dead.
Kate didn't know everything she wanted for her and Rick's future yet, but they had the greatest gift of all: the time to talk it all through and figure it all out together.
"Okay, we're used to seeing Mom and Dad fighting, and Mom and Dad looking at each other with goo-goo eyes, but Mom and Dad crying? That's throwing us," Ryan admitted.
"Do we need to get a nurse or a doctor?" Esposito asked, concerned. "Or do you want us to leave for a while and come back?"
"It's fine, Kevin, Javi," Kate said. "Better than fine. These are relieved tears. The targets are off our backs, and you two and everyone else we care about are safe now too."
Ryan and Esposito were even more thrown by the fact that Beckett had just addressed them by their first names than they were by the teary eyes, since tears from Beckett and Castle were rare. "You're sure you're okay?" Ryan asked.
Castle grunted to get everyone's attention, and then made the 'OK' sign, his thumb and forefinger in a circle, and held it up for all to see.
"We are," Kate said, somewhat dazedly, as if she were only just realizing for herself just how okay she and Rick were, how okay they were going to be.
"Jenny wants to say hi," Ryan said.
"And Gates is still waiting to see you," Esposito added.
Kate wiped at her eyes. "Send them in," she said. "We'll talk more later."
Esposito nodded before he and Ryan left the room, letting Jenny and Deputy Chief Gates know that they could go in.
"What do you think?" Ryan asked Esposito quietly after Jenny and Gates had gone in to see Beckett and Castle.
"I think Beckett's had enough," Esposito said. "I think we're not gonna be working with her and Castle much longer."
"That's the impression I got too," Ryan said. He paused. "It's really gonna be weird not having them at the precinct."
"Yeah," Esposito agreed, "but they've gotta do what they've gotta do. And like you said, Beckett taught us everything we know, and we couldn't have learned from anybody better."
Ryan sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "It feels like the whole team is breaking up. First Gates got promoted, now Beckett and Castle are probably leaving, you passed the sergeant's exam and I didn't..."
"So take it again," Esposito replied. "There's another one scheduled in September. I'll help you study this time."
"I can help you study, too." Both men turned to look when Alexis spoke. "I'm only taking two classes this summer, so I have the time, and I'd really like to help, if you'll let me."
"I failed it once," Ryan said.
"Have Kate and Dad taught you nothing?" Alexis asked, surprised. "So you failed the test once. Is there some limit on how many times you can take it?"
"No," Esposito answered for Ryan.
"So take it again." Alexis echoed Esposito's words from just a moment ago. "We'll help you study. We have the whole summer, right?"
Ryan looked from Esposito to Alexis and back again. "Well..." he hedged.
"Bro, I'm just gonna keep asking until you say yes," Esposito said.
"And I'm really good at studying. I know all kinds of memorization tricks and devices to help you retain even the most abstract information," Alexis added.
"All right," Ryan said, raising his hands in surrender. "You talked me into it."
"Good," Esposito said, "because you're my partner, Ryan. And I already decided that I don't move up until you do."
"I'm not sure that's how it works, Javi," Ryan said.
"Beckett may have cornered the market on stubborn and relentless," Esposito said, "but she's not the only one capable of those things. I don't move up until you do." The look on his face said that particular subject was closed, and Ryan knew better than to argue with Espo when he got like this.
"We can work out a study schedule," Alexis said. "I'll need a few days, but I can tell you right now that evenings and weekends will be best for me. Oh, and Thursday afternoons will work too."
"It can wait at least until your dad and Beckett are out of the hospital," Ryan said. "They and your own classes are your top priority."
"Yes, but I want to help you, Detective Ryan, and I need something else to do besides focusing on my summer courses and helping Dad and Kate. I know we can work this out," Alexis said.
"Yes, we will," Esposito agreed. "And the next time you take that test, you're gonna ace it."
"A passing grade is all I want," Ryan replied.
"You'll get it, Detective Ryan," Alexis said determinedly. She was glad to have this to focus on now, in addition to whatever help her dad and Kate would need from her with their recovery (which, of course, they wouldn't even have to ask for, although she would let them know when she talked to them later that she would do anything they asked of her, whatever they needed her to do, to help them get back on their feet again). Helping Detective Ryan just felt right to her. Her dad and Kate both thought so highly of him, and he was part of their family.
In Beckett and Castle's ICU room, Jenny talked a mile a minute. "We're all so relieved you're okay," she said. "Or, well, I guess I should say that you're gonna be okay. I'll never forget how you waited with me and Lanie when Kevin and Javi were trapped in that building and I had to give birth to Sarah Grace by myself in the back of that ambulance. You're so important to Kevin and me...to all of us. And we want Sarah Grace and Nicholas to grow up and get to know their Aunt Kate and Uncle Rick, how smart and brave and kind and loyal you are."
"We want that, too," Kate said. Castle flashed a thumbs up as a way of agreeing with Kate.
Gates regarded both of them for a long moment before speaking. "Captain Beckett, Mr. Castle, it's good to see you both awake."
"It's good to be awake, sir," Beckett replied, looking over at Castle, who waved his extended thumb as vigorously as he could in agreement..
"I trust that Detectives Esposito and Ryan have told you that you're in the clear, that LokSat is no more," Gates said, stating it as a fact, not a question.
"Yes, sir, they did," Kate said. As hard as she tried, the inscrutable mask she wore as Captain Beckett slipped for just a fraction of a second, and Kate wasn't even completely aware that it had slipped.
But Gates saw that something in Beckett's eyes for just a fraction of a second, and that was when she knew. That was the moment that Gates knew that this time, Kate Beckett wouldn't be returning to the 12th Precinct, or the NYPD, at all. This close call was too close for her.
And maybe, because of just how close this close call had been, Beckett had finally come to see that there was more to her life than her work.
Gates, like Beckett, came from a family where law and justice were of paramount importance. She followed her father and uncles to the police academy. Like Beckett, she was tough and stoic, and driven to get justice for those who deserved it, for those who needed it. And like Beckett, there was another side to Victoria Gates that only her husband and her family saw, a softer side, a side that was able to set the badge aside in her off hours and be simply Victoria, the wife, the daughter, the niece.
Gates had doubted for a long time that Beckett ever set the badge aside. Then, when she saw Beckett with Castle, she knew that if ever anyone would be able to get Beckett to do that, it would be Castle.
Due to her reputation, her ingrained by-the-book practices bred by decades on the force, and with Internal Affairs, Gates rarely got close to those who served under her command. Even now, she knew that Beckett and Castle had no idea how much she truly cared about them, how happy she was for them when they first announced their engagement and then their wedding, and how deeply relieved she was now that they had both survived the attempt on their lives by LokSat.
Gates hadn't been through as many traumas as Beckett had, and she had found her soulmate when she was considerably younger than Beckett. Of course, Gates and her husband didn't spend four years dancing around their attraction and poorly hiding their true feelings for each other before acting on them, either.
But when Victoria Gates looked at Kate Beckett now, she saw that the badge was the last thing on Beckett's mind. And her intuition told her that Beckett wouldn't be wearing that badge for much longer.
It was always a shame to lose a good cop, no matter what the reason, and cops didn't come any better than Kate Beckett.
But there came a time when every officer reached the end of their watch. And although it wouldn't be official for several weeks, Gates instinctively knew that Beckett had reached the end of her watch, that she would walk away from the job to live her life with Castle without the constant presence of threats and dangers, without the constant fear that one or both of them could be shot again, or killed.
And while Gates would be genuinely sorry to accept Beckett's resignation, she would wish her-and Castle-nothing but the best.
And, Gates also knew, this would not be the last that the great city and state of New York heard from Katherine Beckett. The state senate had been interested in her as a candidate not that long ago. Perhaps they still were.
Whatever Beckett chose to do next in her professional life, though, Gates knew two things for sure: Beckett would be a smashing success, and Castle would be right there beside her, like he always was.
Gates looked at Castle now. "Mr. Castle," she said, "are you familiar with the expression 'Silence is golden'?"
Castle, who would later blame the drugs for this, gave Gates a very annoyed look, raised his eyebrows, and gestured to his breathing tube in response. But Kate laughed so hard she gasped in pain, and that was when everything got serious. "I'll get a doctor!" Jenny exclaimed, rushing out of the room.
Castle looked both frantic and worried and started trying to get out of his own bed. "Stay where you are, Mr. Castle," Gates ordered as she rushed forward to Kate's side. "Did you tear any stitches, Kate?" she asked. "Do you need oxygen?"
Kate pressed her hand gingerly to her abdomen. "I-I don't...don't...think so," she said, her breathing harsh.
True to her word, Jenny returned with Dr. Gallison, who had finished with his case in the ER. "Ms. Beckett?" he asked, as Gates dropped back to let him check out Kate for himself.
"I just...laughed too hard," Kate said.
Meanwhile, with the others all focused on Kate, Castle worked himself into a sitting position and then slowly swung his legs over the side of his bed, and once he had his feet planted on the floor, he stood, experiencing the worst head rush of his life from being in bed for so long. The room was spinning, but he focused on Kate, knowing he needed to be at her side. The floor was cold on his bare feet, and he took one step of the three or four he estimated he would need to get to Kate's bedside. So far, so good.
The second step came more easily, but Jenny busted him when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, turned around to look, and exclaimed, "Castle! You're not supposed to be out of bed yet, are you?"
Everyone else's gaze followed Jenny's to Castle, standing a couple of steps away from his bed...so close to Kate, but still too far away.
Which was the moment Castle started coughing uncontrollably. "Rick?" Kate asked fearfully, breathlessly.
Dr. Gallison assisted Castle back to his bed, sitting him down on the edge of the bed with one hand while pushing the call button for the nurse with the other. "It's all right," he said authoritatively. "Everything is all right. He's fighting the tube, and that spontaneous cough right there means that he is ready to extubate."
A nurse came bustling in then. "Yes, Dr. Gallison?" she asked.
"We're ready to remove Mr. Castle's breathing tube," he told her. "Would you do the honors, please?"
"We'll be right outside, Captain Beckett, Mr. Castle," Gates said as she herded the surprised Jenny out the door ahead of her.
When they returned to the hall, Alexis practically pounced on them. "What's happening? What's going on? We saw the doctor go running in there and then a nurse went rushing in and-"
"BREATHE, Miss Castle," Gates ordered, stopping Alexis mid-sentence. Alexis fell silent as if a switch had been thrown. "They're removing your father's breathing tube, that's all. It's a good thing." Everyone exchanged looks and breathed sighs of relief at this update from Gates.
In their ICU room, Kate watched anxiously as the nurse made Rick lie back so she could remove the breathing tube, suctioning down the tube first, then suctioning Rick's mouth, before finally removing the entire apparatus. Rick's entire frame was wracked with coughs by this, but the nurse assured them both that that was supposed to happen. A moment later, Rick was wearing a nasal cannula oxygen mask identical to Kate's, and the coughing subsided enough for him to take a sip of water.
He sat up again, ignoring the nurse's exasperated, "We're still monitoring you closely, Mr. Castle! You need to rest!" to scoot to the edge of his bed and hold out both his hands toward Kate.
Kate, ignoring her own physical pain, copied his actions, and when their hands met, she threaded the fingers of both of her hands through the fingers of both of his hands.
Then Rick smiled wanly, gazed at Kate lovingly, and said very hoarsely, "Hi."
Kate couldn't keep the smile from her face, or the lone, traitorous tear that escaped the corner of one eye, tracking down her cheek, as she replied, "Hi."
"We'll leave you two for now," Dr. Gallison said, not that they paid the least bit of attention to him as they sat there on the edges of their separate hospital beds, holding each other's hands, looking deeply into each other's eyes, and matching each other breath for breath.
"I love you, Kate," Rick said, kissing first the back of one of her hands and then the back of her other hand.
"I love you too, Rick," Kate replied, squeezing his hands as she resolved to say those words to him more often from now on. "And we have a lot to talk about." She was smiling as she said it, though. No more running, no more hiding, no more shutting down. She would never match Castle when it came to loquaciousness, but she had learned, throughout their years together so far, that not talking to him was not good for them or their relationship.
They had a future to plan...both of them, together.
Castle was looking at Kate in awe, knowing, as she did, that their life together was a blank page now, waiting for them to fill it up, with nothing and no one holding them back, no fears for their own lives or those of their loved ones, no fears at all, because with Kate Beckett by his side, fear held no meaning for Richard Castle...and he knew that Kate felt exactly the same way when it came to him.
"Yes," he agreed, smiling back at her, "we do."
From her spot in the corner, unseen, Johanna Beckett watched her daughter and son-in-law, and she smiled. It had taken decades of pain and sacrifice, but Katie was finally where she was meant to be.
And for that, Johanna gave thanks.
