Chapter 14

Another noise sounded from outside the weapons room, closer now than it had been before, and Beckett forced herself to stand up straighter. Beside her, Houghton did the same, but before she could turn to the door, ready to make herself act on autopilot, she caught Alexis' eyes.

The girl was pale, and she clutched at the bench with white-blanched hands as though it were a life-line.

Shit.

Beckett nudged Castle, feeling her own body relax as, for the first time since they'd gotten into this mess, she and Castle shared a brief moment of physical contact.

She'd missed him.

She missed him now, and he was standing just inches away.

The idea of retreating upstate to heal seemed pointless suddenly; the truth was staring her in the face.

She needed him.

She swallowed, bringing herself back to the moment. She needed him, but right now, Alexis needed him more, and she tilted her head in his daughter's direction, watching as he took in the situation, the weapon in his hand on the counter before she could say a word.

As he rushed to his daughter's side yet another sound signaled the intruder, and Houghton looked at her, raising her hand and folding her fingers down one at a time to synchronize their timing before she opened the door, leading the way back into the open plan office space.

Someone was coming. Beckett saw the shadows first; her eyes had adjusted, and if she wasn't mistaken, the light from outside was growing.

Sunrise.

She froze, her heart pounding in her chest as the figure made his way onto the homicide floor.

Castle.

She chanced a glance behind her, her pulse still racing as she confirmed that her Castle was tending to his daughter, his strong arms wrapped around her as she sobbed silently on the floor of the weapons room.

Not so long ago she'd been the one prone on the ground as he'd hovered over her, words spilling from his lips.

I love you, Kate.

She hoped it was still true.

And she and Houghton opened fired on the man - the machine - striding toward them.

She'd emptied three weapons, Houghton four, and only now was she starting to get an idea of just what Houghton had meant by unkillable.

Not-Castle - she couldn't remember the ridiculous acronym Houghton kept throwing around in reference to him - lay on the floor, flesh peeled from his face, arms and torso. Beneath the flaps of skin metal gleamed in the early morning light. One eye was shattered, and instead of the blue she loved staring into, a dull red stared back, unseeing.

Beckett wanted to vomit again.

"Find a screwdriver," Houghton instructed, her voice clear and calm, and Beckett stared at her blankly.

"A screwdriver?"

"We only have a minute or two before he reboots-"

"You'd think that would be enough to keep him dead," Castle joked from behind her, producing a Phillip's head and a pocketknife.

"How is it… not?" she asked, her voice low as she swallowed down the urge to crawl over to the weapons room and hole up next to Alexis.

"They reboot. Damage like this is just superficial," he explained, bending down next to his counterpart and bringing the knife to the machine's skull. "Ew. I don't know if I can cut into myself." He shrugged, handing Beckett the knife. "You want to do the honors?"

Their hands brushed as she took it, and she swallowed, closing her eyes for a moment as memories came rushing back. She saw it so clearly now. Every single morning started with a cup of coffee, every day played out as a dance around the coffee machine, little symbols of Castle's love for her made tangible by caffeine, ceramic cups and the touch of their hands each time a steaming mug was exchanged.

She'd missed that.

Weaning herself off coffee up at the cabin had been hellish, but it was only now that she knew why. She hadn't missed the caffeine.

She had missed Castle bringing her her coffee.

"What makes you think I want to do it?" she asked, screwing her face up as she bent down next to Castle, trying to keep the conversation light and hide the pain from the pull of the scar as she did so.

She knew she'd failed as his eyes filled with concern, his hand brushing her knee before he jerked it away like he was burned. "Figured you'd been dying to take to me with some sort of weapon for the last three years," he joked, but the pain was still in his eyes and try as she might she was unable to smile back at him.

"You think this is therapy then?" she managed, gesturing to the body in front of them, and he shrugged.

She sighed, still holding the pocketknife, as she struggled to think of something to say. Anything to take the hurt out of his eyes, lighten his load, just for a second.

"What part of 'we only have a minute before he reboots' did you not get?" Houghton demanded, not fighting to keep her impatience from them.

"Sorry, right," Castle said, taking the knife back from Kate. His eyes half closed as he tried not to look, he sliced into III-47RC's skull, lifting the flap of skin to reveal yet more metal; and a ridge.

In spite of herself, Beckett peered over his shoulder.

The rise of the machines indeed.

Was it too late to hope she was still dreaming?

Castle slid the screwdriver along the ridge, its edge making purchase with the tiny screws. "I got these from Ryan's desk," he explained. "You know he has all kinds of stuff in there, right?"

"You'd better not go through my drawers," she warned, and he smirked, the shadow of his old self on his face for a split second before he turned back to the task at hand, retrieving what looked like a memory card from the machine.

"But, Detective," he said, his voice low, and she shivered in spite of herself, almost able to fool her mind into believing that this was a normal day at the precinct. "You know it's not your desk drawers at the precinct I want to go through."

She narrowed her eyes at him, all too relieved to fall back into these old patterns. "You're never going through my underwear drawer, Castle," she hissed, even as images rose in her mind of him doing just that.

"Is he… dead?" The small voice behind them reminded her of Alexis' presence, and she felt her cheeks warm.

Was she really flirting with Castle, having just disabled a robot as they knelt on the dusty floor of the bullpen, his daughter mere feet away?

"Of course I knew Ryan keeps tools in his desk," she continued, fighting for equilibrium. "How do you think we unscrewed your chair while you were cursed when we investigated the mummy case?"

The look he shot her in response was so familiar in its feigned indignation that it felt like victory.

Things were so close to normal that Castle had to remind himself that they were in the middle of a machine driven apocalypse; nothing was normal.

Nothing was even close to normal, not when his daughter - so brave - had collapsed in tears as everything had become too much. He'd held her, helpless to do anything but wrap his arms around her. The days in which a kiss on scraped knees was enough to right Alexis' world were over. Neither had he been of any assistance to Beckett and Houghton, able only to watch as they pounded bullet after bullet into his doppelgänger.

Eventually III-47RC had crumpled, and, Alexis' tears abating, he'd hurtled out of the room pleased to at least provide the tools housed in Ryan's desk.

"Why was he here?" Castle asked now that the danger had passed; beside him, Kate held the tiny memory card, staring at it as if she couldn't quite believe such a tiny chip of metal could be responsible for so much hurt.

Houghton shifted her gaze, looking acutely uncomfortable. "The time travel ring," she mumbled, and Beckett's head jerked up, her eyes flashing.

"What?"

"The circle," Houghton clarified. "It should have only been big enough to take us, but I only had a few seconds head start. He must have been running toward the cabin, got caught up in the buzz."

"Right." Castle shook his head. "Not an exact science, is it?"

"Floo powder's more reliable," Beckett mumbled, and he snorted as he looked at her.

"You're a Harry Potter fan?" he chuckled, and she shook her head, but the look in her eyes was all the confirmation he needed before she looked away. How big a fan, he wondered, because if she was really into the Potterverse he could get the box set for her, in case she wanted to watch the movies while she continued her convalescence-

He bit the idea back as quickly as it occurred to him, sighing. They needed to deal with 2016 before he could dream up cozy movie marathons. Still, the image persisted, his subconscious clinging to the promise of movie nights and popcorn, hot chocolate and blankets.

"We'll take the head off, to be sure," Houghton said, stepping forward and twisting III-47RC's head expertly before he could get too lost in the fantasy, and he cleared his throat pushing away the hot burning that was prickling at his eyes.

Hadn't life been simple, once?

Still holding the head - wires dangling from the neck - Houghton nodded toward the windows. "It's nearly dawn," she said. "We need to lay low until nightfall."

Alexis' stomach growled, and Castle shuddered. Nothing about this wasn't horrible. "Lay low? You mean stay here?"

Houghton nodded, and he pushed on.

"What about food? Obviously there's no power, nothing here-"

"We can check the vending machines, Castle," Beckett said, weariness lacing every word. "And then… rest. God knows I've slept on the break room couch often enough."

"Sleep," Houghton agreed. "When night falls, we have a lot to do."

A/N: Ever helpful J&K caught a bunch of the errors, any mistakes are mine... but gosh I had fun writing this! x