Not From Around Here - The Postscript
An Au story that answers the question; what happened to Kate and Rick after their little encounter with the Grey alien.
A/N: For some reason many readers didn't embrace the "punchline" nature of the ending of the original story. They wanted to know what happened to Kate Methuselah and her loving husband. This little addition will try to give us all a peak into their future.
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Rick Castle stopped and looked around the loft as he felt an emotion of loss come over him. He and Kate were getting ready to say goodbye to a place that had been their home for the last 50 years, and before that had been where he'd raised his only child.
Alexis had gone on to have a fulfilling life as a doctor focusing on medical research along with her lifelong partner Kari Shipton. He and Kate had missed her when the couple had moved to Silicon Valley to work in labs where highly secret projects were always ongoing. He was a very proud father, but missed seeing his daughter whenever the impulse might strike. He and Kate had just gotten back from a very pleasant visit to see them. But a deep feeling of melancholy washed over him as he realized that it possibly could be the last time he saw Alexis.
Today they would celebrate their lives as Richard and Katherine Castle for the last time. They had decided that it was time for The Castles to disappear. So, of course, Rick felt they needed a private celebration for the sendoff of who they'd been since birth. He had baked a cake.
With Kate in her eighties, and Rick in his nineties, they felt it was necessary to say farewell to the persons they'd been born as. Fifty years ago today, their lives had taken an unimaginable turn. Now they would use the knowledge and the skills that he had accrued over the years during research for his books and the firsthand knowledge that Kate had gained as an NYPD detective and captain for many years to help them disappear.
Richard Edgar Castle and his wife Katherine Houghton Beckett-Castle would have to pass on in order for them to continue living the new lives they had worked very hard to prepare for.
Suddenly Rick was washed in the flood of that fifty year old memory.
Flashback Fifty Years
They had been on their way to the Hampton's for a romantic weekend. Just the two of them, when their lives had been irrevocably changed. A sudden storm blew in off the ocean which was cause for concern, but the real game changer was the bright glowing globe that nearly collided with Castle's car. That action had forced Rick off the highway, over the cliffside and to crash into the ocean. After which, it all went dark for him.
As it turned out, it had been an extraterrestrial craft that inadvertently forced him off the road and now he and Kate had found themselves inside that craft.
After waking up inside the alien craft he was informed that both he and Kate had suffered injuries but the alien knowledge and his craft's capabilities were able to repair any injuries they had suffered.
The problem came when he found out that the alien technology worked too well. Not only had their injuries been repaired, but everything that wasn't in perfect condition was repaired or rebuilt. So in theory, he and Kate would come out as perfect, healthy specimens of a human.
The kink came in the fact that Kate's past injuries had put her body in an advanced state of necessary repair, and the alien tech took her restoration a couple steps further. She came out of the procedure with an expected life span that had now been extended to hundreds of years. Possibly as much as five hundred.
Unsurprisingly that didn't go over very well when she found out the extended possible life span was not nearly as much for Castle because he didn't need as much "repair" as Kate had needed.
So then, Kate proceeded to explain to the Grey alien, at a significantly louder vocal volume, that outcome would not be acceptable. Their host could either reduce her improved repairs to more closely match Castle's, or the alien could enhance Rick's repairs to more closely match hers.
As her reasoning, Kate explained the she and Rick were married, they were mates and meant to be together 'till death do they part'. It seemed the alien understood what Kate was getting at and agreed to do what he could. Rick didn't think it would be a good time to mention that he'd been married twice before.
So, Rick was given an extra jolt of healing and repair which would bring him as close as possible to the condition that the rejuvenated Kate was now in.
Rick's memory shifted to the interesting conversation they had once he'd woken up from his second treatment.
Being the curious person that he was, he couldn't stop himself from asking all kinds of questions about them and how soon would the alien's people really reveal themselves to the world. He'd been very disappointed by the answer he got.
The Grey just shook his head. "I wouldn't think it would be anytime soon. Possibly not even in the extended time that you now have."
"Why not?" Castle had blurted out. Kate just kept her lips pursed.
It was almost like the alien took on lecturer's posture.
"My race, and other galactic species have been visiting this world for thousands of your years. This is a very amazing planet with an almost incomprehensible variety of living creatures. Unfortunately, humanity has come out as the dominant species."
Kate frowned. "Unfortunately?"
"Yes, unfortunately." The alien Grey continued. "You see, humanity is the definition of chaos. They are a single species but act like any minor cosmetic deviation is cause for fear and distrust. Humans squabble like unruly children who've yet to understand concepts like sharing, and cooperation to achieve a goal."
Rick dropped his head and Kate chewed her lip.
"They are fragmented by the concept of individual land areas that exist only as lines on a map, and a local leadership that spews dogma that is more about the consolidation of political power than the advancement of the humans under their rule."
The Grey consulted his pad before turning his attention back to his guests.
"None of the galactic species will make cooperative associations with the humans on this planet until they can show to us and others that they understand that they are one species themselves and can put forth a common face to the rest of the universe."
Rick and Kate were shamed into silence. All that the Grey alien said was true, but it was more damning coming from a visitor from another world.
End of Flashback
The front door to the loft opened and Kate Beckett-Castle came walking through. Anyone who knew Kate back in her detective days would say that she had aged well, very well. Not only had the alien tech rejuvenated her so extremely in regards to her expected life span, but the ageing process of her body had slowed to keep pace with her extended life expectancy. As was true for Rick also.
Only a few extra lines on her forehead, and under her eyes were noticeable compared to her look fifty years ago. And because of that slowed ageing, both she and Rick had taken some lessons from makeup people that Martha had known.
They learned how to, through makeup and hair coloring, reproduce a look of gradual aging as the years flew by. But soon she would rinse out the grey highlights she'd been using that last couple decades in her short hair.
She was looking forward to growing out her hair again.
"Hey, you're home." Rick called out as he came out of the bedroom. "Did you get what we needed?"
She nodded. "Yeah I did. And I got another lesson from Freddy after I collected our new ids, and passports."
Rick smiled. "That's good. It doesn't hurt to review what he taught us about making perfect identifications. Freddy the Forger always was one of the best."
"And it was smart to keep our old ids from all those years ago so we could keep the pictures." Rick smiled as he came up and kissed his wife. "Perhaps we could start a new career as forgers if needed."
Kate rolled her eyes. "I think having placed millions of dollars into multiple safe deposit boxes in multiple cities over that last several years has us covered for a while yet. We just might have to cut back on our standard of living a bit." She winked.
"I've got us packed with what we'll need for about a week. We can purchase whatever else we'll need with the cash I'm bringing after we settle in." He noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong, Kate?"
She ambled over to the couch and plopped down on it. "I know we talked about it, and I know it's necessary for us to do this." She sighed. "But I'm going to miss being us."
Rick sat down beside her. "We can't continue being Mr. and Mrs. Castle much longer. People already find our excellent health somewhat unusual. We can't really push it much longer."
She frowned and laid her head on his shoulder. "I know. And I'm aware that many of our friends are already gone, or not in the best health. Alexis and Kari are not young women anymore and they live on the west coast."
He put his arm around her shoulders. "At least Alexis knows the whole plan and if we wish we should be able to still make contact with her on occasion, and we could even visit them as Richard and Katherine Johnson."
Kate leaned back to look at him. "Why did you pick such a common name?"
Rick grinned. "It's the second most common name in the United States. It would make it that much harder for anyone to track us down. Think of all the Johnsons someone would have to search through if they were looking."
"What's the most common?"
He smirked. "Smith."
Kate nodded. "Yeah, that's a no. Smith automatically sounds phony."
He kissed her and stood up. "Let's get finished with our packing. We meet Doug at the boat rental in a couple of hours. And I made a cake to celebrate Richard and Kate Castle one last time."
She smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Is everything set for our exit strategy?"
Rick grinned. "It does look like it."
They made it to the boat rental place in plenty of time. Rick went in to rental office to secure their boat for their evening of a starlight cruise. Kate stayed in the car with the two suitcases they were bringing with them. They didn't want the guy at the rental desk to see them.
Normally, tourists going out for a pleasant boat cruse were required to have a licensed boat captain driving the boat. But Castle had secured his official licensing a couple of years ago in case he would need it for just such a reason.
Castle had known the owner of the boat rental so he had no problem getting a boat for a starlight cruse for just him and Kate.
He walked down to the dock whistling until he came upon his beautiful wife who was 'guarding' the two pieces of luggage she had with her.
They boarded the mid-sized cruiser and in just a few minutes they were slowly pulling away from the particular slip the boat had been moored to.
They'd been out in ocean for about a half an hour before Kate stepped up behind the captain of the boat and placed her arms around him.
She kissed him on the back of his neck. "So when do we rendezvous with your buddy Billy?"
Rick glanced at his wristwatch. "About of another half an hour."
She smiled. "Good, that gives me some time before he gets here." She begins to run her hands across his chest and nipping at his ear lobes with her teeth.
To Rick's credit, he only lost his grip on the steering controls twice.
Before for long Kate ministrations of distraction had to cease because they could see the lights of another boat coming toward them from the west. The oncoming boat flicked the lamp twice, then once, then twice again. It was the boat they were waiting for.
Kate quickly opened one of the suitcases and pulled out two glass vials of a deep read liquid. It was blood. It was their blood. Over the last couple of weeks, they both had subjected themselves to a little bloodletting in preparation for this coming moment.
Kate opened the vials and spread the blood along one of the gunwales and allowed it to flow some down the inside of the hull and to pool at the bottom of the boat. There wasn't a lot of blood, but it was enough to allow others to speculate something terrible had happened. There had been incidents of pirating in the waters off of Long Island and further south.
Rick expertly sidled their boat up next to the larger boat which had come out to meet with them.
After tying the two boats together Rick reached over and shook the hand of the big burly fellow who had captained the bigger boat. It was a small house boat. Good for ocean trips of a few days or so.
Down below it had a single bedroom with a double bed, and a small closet. There was a lavatory adjacent to it. Next to that was a small cook top and a small refrigerator like you'd see in a dorm room back in college.
On the main deck, padded benches lined the interior hull, and a central stair led up to the captain's control cabin.
Rick handed the two suitcases over to the big fellow with a smile. "Thanks for this Billy. I really owe you for this favor."
Billy gave Rick a slap on his shoulder that almost knocked him overboard. "Nah, you don't owe me nuttin' else. You've more than paid me with all you'd done to help me out with my little 'problem' a while back. Besides, you paid for this boat so it's yours by rights."
Rick smiled, as he knew he did pay for this boat. It had been a cash purchase, and for some reason there had been no paper exchanged to record the purchase.
Rick noted that a large wave rider was tethered near the back of the boat. He pointed.
"Is that all you've got to get you back?"
Billy waved off Rick's concern. "That's all I need. If you just take me a little closer to the shore before I leave, should be no problem. Got plenty of gas, and it's a nice night." He then laughed.
Once Rick and Kate had transferred their luggage to the boat, and Kate was comfortably seated on one of the padded benches, he and Billy had pushed the smaller rental boat away from them to let it float around aimlessly with no one steering it.
Billy pointed at the boat. "Did you make sure the transponder was working so the Coast Guard can locate it when someone comes looking?"
Rick nodded. "All taken care of."
Rick was given a quick tutorial on the controls on the bigger boat. He didn't feel he would have any real problem.
After piloting the boat closer to the shoreline for about an half an hour he put it on idle and had Kate come up and keep the boat on course.
With Rick's help, Billy was able to unhook his large wave rider from where it was connected to the side of the boat. Once he was seated he fired up the powerful engine and Rick pushed him away from the boat.
With a big smile and a wave of his hand, Billy opened up the throttle and sped away toward the shore.
Rick climbed the stairs to the captains control cabin and put his arm around his wife.
He kissed her, then smiled. "The best I've been able to figure, we should be down around Puerto Rico in a couple of days. Once we get there we can find a place to harbor the boat and we can find a nice tourist cabin we can stay in for while while we decide where we want to settle down."
She grinned and kissed him back. "It's a good thing I remembered to bring some food along."
Rick nodded. "Whose suitcase is it in?"
Her grin got bigger. "Yours's."
His brow raised. "What did you do with my clothes?"
She bite down on her bottom lip. "As far as I'm concerned. You don't need any clothes."
His other brow raised itself. "Who knows, maybe we can buy ourselves a piece of a tropical island and then neither of us would need much in the way of clothing."
Her smile became shark like. "Works for me."
FIN
A/N: Okay, there you have it. Rick and Kate have figured out a way to deal with their extended life spans. When the time comes just rinse and repeat.
All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish.