When Castle and Beckett return to the precinct, she goes to her computer terminal and enters a warrant request for the truck box manufacturer to provide buyer information on the serial number they are looking for.
The judge's warrant clerk responds to Kate asking if the warrant is timely critical or not. She responds that it is not time sensitive. To which the clerk responds that they have a large number of warrant requests on a drug lord and they ARE time critical and that her warrant will be processed after the others
"It looks like it will be tomorrow before we have information on the truck box" Kate tells the others. Looking at the clock "I guess we need to pick this up in the morning"
Beckett stands and takes her coat from the back of her chair. Rick takes it from her and helps her put it on
Looking at Ryan and Esposito Kate remarks "See you guys tomorrow"
Both men respond likewise and Kate and Rick turn toward the elevator.
As they are walking Rick looks at his wife "Today was fun"
She smiles "Yeah. It was. I have missed having you here"
The doors open and the couple enter the elevator car. Moments after the doors close her voice can be heard
"CASTLE! Stop that"
Ryan looks at his partner while shaking his head "Some things never change. Do they?"
"Nope"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The day slows down to the evening and the evening slows down to the night.
Castle and Beckett return home to find Martha in the living room with the children on the couch watching a Disney animated movie. When the door opens both the littlest Castle's jump off the couch and go running to their parents screaming 'mommy,-daddy' and wrapping themselves around their legs
Rick leans down and snaps up his daughter as Kate bends down to Jimmy's level to wrap herself around him
"What did you two do today?" mommy asks
"Grams took us to the park and it was fun" Alicia responds
"We saw new elephants" Jimmy adds
Kate looks at her son "ELEPHANTS?"
"They put in a new line of elephants"
"A real elephant?" Kate asks
"No. It was elephants to play on"
Alicia finishes the story "There was four elephants. A mommy, a daddy and two little elephants just like us"
Kate smiles at her daughter's description
"They were walking together with each elephant's trunk holding the tail of the one in front
Kate glances at her husband who is now the one looking off in the distance like he has no idea about this
"Four elephants in a line huh?"
Jimmy finishes the description "There was a plate on the ground that said something about being for a person named KB, whoever that is. The word in front started with extra… but the word was way too big for me"
Kate looks at her husband again but speaking to the kids "Extraordinary?"
"That's it" Jimmy gleefully answers
He did it to her again then, with tears showing in her eyes, Kate trys to move away from this then asks the kids
"Did you see any of your friends?"
Alicia responds "No but we did meet a new friend"
Rick smiles to his daughter "A new friend? What was their name?"
"A girl named "Kira" Jimmy answers
The name causes a funny look from both Rick and Kate toward their daughter "Kira?" Kate asks
"Her mommy knew grams and they talked for a long, long time"
Rick looks at his mother who seems to be looking off in the distance
"Mother?"
"Yes" she responds
"You saw Kira? Kira Blaine?"
"Well, its Kira Murphy now. You two did go to the wedding you know"
"OK Kira Murphy? What was she doing?..." Castle stops cold when he looks at Kate's face. She seems to have lost the gleam in her Eyes
"Um. What was she doing here?"
"She came into town to see her mother"
"OK" Rick comments
"She asked about you" Martha states
"Really?" Castle questions
"Or rather asked if you ever found love"
Kate looks across at Rick
"What did you tell her, mother?" he asks
"I told her the truth…" Martha looks directly at Kate "I told her that you found the love of your life"
"What did she say then?"
"She specifically asked if that person was Katherine"
Rick looks directly at his wife "Yes it is"
The room is silent for a minute before one little boy gets back into the conversation
"I'm hungry. When do we eat+?"
His little sister chimes in "Me too"
The kids are told to go get their baths and clean up and mommy and daddy will order pizza. The two excited little ones rush upstairs to prepare for their favorite meal
Kate turns to Rick "I think i will grab a quick shower" she heads toward the bedroom
"Can I join you?" Castle asks with glee
"Maybe next time. The kids will be down too soon. And anyway, you need to wait for the pizza delivery"
This leaves Castle in the living room alone with his mother "did you have to mention it was Kira?" he says
"The children told you I was talking to her mother and I couldn't lie" Martha approaches the door, grabs her jacket and gloves "I will leave you to talk to your wife" and she woman quickly exits the loft
In a very few minutes, the meal has arrived and the children have returned to the dining room. Their mother arrives just moments later "That smells so good" she chimes in
Seated around the table the two adults and two children talk and giggle and fight over the last piece of cinnamon puffs dessert
After diner is finished, Kate tells the two that they have had a long day and need to get on to bed. The two try to argue and fuss with their mother but daddy steps in "You heard your mother. Now come here and give me a kiss and head off to bed"
The two do as they are told and head for the stairs.
Kate turns back to Rick "Go get your shower. I will put the dishes into the dishwasher and should be finished by the time you get done"
Castle is looking at his wife trying to determine if she is or is not upset by the earlier conversation from his mother. As Kate disappears up the steps he disappears into the bathroom
After a warm and refreshing shower, Castle re-enters the living room to find the kitchen and dining room lights both are off. In fact the only light currently on are the night lights located several places around the loft
When he comes closer to the couch, he can see his wife sitting quietly with her legs along the back of the seat and her body about a third of the way from the armrest. She seems to be looking out the large windows at the night sky
Castle steps up to the space behind Kate and sits down behind her
"Is everything alright?"
He feels relief as her body pushes back against him and she sinks into his chest, her head against the collar bone below his chin and a soft response come from her "Yeah babe. Everything is wonderful"
The two sit quietly for several minutes before Rick decides to break the ice "Are you sure you are OK?"
She reaches back to his arms and pulls both of them around her and folds her hands around his, pushing his fingers against her torso. She then places her palms against the back of his hands and links her fingers into his Rick cannot see it, but she slowly closes her eyes in joy
Her voice is soft when she speaks "Babe, have you ever thought about what it took for us to get here?
Rick is not sure what she means in her question
"I mean all the chess pieces that had to be in the exact right place at the exact right time for this to happen?"
He leans his head so his cheek touches her hair "You mean like Tisdale killing his sister mocking my book?"
"More than just that. Like Kira leaving you and…"
"And Mike Royce leaving you?"
"Yeah. And Meredith sleeping with her director, leaving you with a daughter to raise?"
"And Sorenson leaving you and moving to Boston?"
"And you and Gina not working out"
"Or you breaking up with Josh?
"All of those things brought us here…but one thing that really brought us together was a murder that happened before either one of us were even born"
She turns her head to kiss her husband "Any one of those dominoes not falling into the right place and the right time and US would not be US"
Castle pulls her in tighter "I like US"
"Me too"
There is a moment of pause "Every night, when we make love I think, how wonderful this life is"
She stops again "How easy it would have been for the smallest bump in the road to derail this?"
Squeezing her fingers "I am glad we were never derailed"
She stands and pulls him off the couch "Then maybe we need to go and celebrate the smooth ride"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The couple arrive at the station at 9:00 am to find her two partners sitting at their desks just looking at the arriving couple
Beckett speaks first "What's going on guys? Did you get the warrant"
Ryan answers "Yeah we did"
Esposito continues "We contacted the manufacturer and gave him the serial number"
"Well, did you find out where it was sold?"
Kevin answers that question "Oh Yeah. It was sold to a dealer in Virginia"
Beckett looks across the desk "This truck is a cobbled together truck of mixed parts?"
A voice comes from the direction of the elevator. A voice they recognize. Mark Fallon "Yes and parts from different states comes under the authority of the federal government"
"Agent Fallon" Beckett remarks with a little disdain in her voice
"Captain Beckett. Good to see you again"
This crime happened in our jurisdiction"
"Captain. I understand the deceased died from natural causes, so no murder. But he probably was a foreign national and the cobbles together vehicle crossed several state lines to get here and being a large truck and one that no one pays any attention to, we believe this may be a ruse for terrorists to place a bomb…a very large bomb, in a city somewhere"