"Baby, I know places we won't be found
And they'll be chasing their tails trying to track us down"
"Oh, Castle," she whispers, feeling the awe spread from her parted lips onto the rest of her face. "It's beautiful."
"Yeah?" he murmurs, coming up behind her with the bags and placing a hand on the small of her back.
The stone house is like a fortress, standing tall and mighty in the brightness of the sun, sheets of ivy consuming the rock wall surrounding the miles of property that took them nearly three hours to reach by car after finally landing at the airport in Marseille. They were taking every precaution possible, but the near 20 hour flight had left her exhausted and the long drive that immediately followed had made her body sick with fatigue, but as Kate stands in awe of their new home, she is filled with the bubbling sensation of real hope for the first time since they left New York.
"Yeah," she echoes, taking his hand from her back to twine their fingers.
"It kinda reminded me of a castle," he muses, offering her a sly grin as he tugs her along the stone path embedded into the freshly cut grass at their feet.
She rolls her eyes but allows the curl of her lips for him, nudges his shoulder while they climb the dark grey steps that lead to the medieval-like wooden door that he has to dig in the dirt to produce a key for.
"All we need is a moat and drawbridge," she murmurs, pressing her smirk to his shoulder while he unlocks the front door.
His body exudes weariness, those three days of rest they accomplished in the Canadian apartment worth nothing now after his first fatal gunfight and the day's worth of travel. He had fallen asleep on the plane five hours into their flight and she had been relieved, so glad to see his face finally slack and at rest, but he had woken with a shout after only a handful of minutes, his eyes wide with horror and his hands scrambling for her.
Her fiancé had killed two men hardly 24 hours ago and it was steadily destroying him.
"There's a lake in the back," he tells her, heaving the front door open once the tumblers click into place. "We can go skinny dipping later if you'd like."
Kate bites her lip, shaking her head at him as he finally ushers her inside. The top row of her teeth pinning her bottom lip is the only thing that keeps her jaw from dropping.
After knowing Castle for so long, she's adjusted well to certain extravagancies – his loft, his home in the Hamptons, the expensive suites and reservations he's gotten for them in the past anytime they required overnight stay anywhere else – but this… this enchanting stone mansion he's bought for them deep in the south of rural France has stolen her breath and maybe her heart as well.
She's nearly died twice in the last week and now she's moving into a small paradise.
"C'mon," he smiles, so pleased with the approval painting her face. "Let's explore."
Kate allows Castle to lead her through the entirety of the three bedroom home, depositing their things in the upstairs master bedroom near the back of the house before taking her through the renovated country style kitchen, the two rustic bathrooms, and even the spacious attic they have no use for.
"We could always use it for a hideout," he shrugs, examining the door the camouflages into the ceiling. For a moment, she believes he's joking, but his face holds no traces of humor.
"C'mon, take me through the rest," she prompts, wanting his smile back so badly it aches.
"If we could play it right, I was thinking your dad could come visit sometime too," he adds when they pass one of the guest bedrooms on the first floor. He's been chattering throughout the tour even though this place is just as new to him as it is to her, and she knows it's the combination of nerves and excitement, of fear and hope, and she squeezes his fingers.
"I'd like that."
Their footsteps echo on the hardwood floors as he leads her to a set of glass doors just off the kitchen, holding it open for her, and following when she steps onto the stone patio, back into the sunlight.
"Wow," she breathes.
An endless stretch of hills and valleys paint the horizon for as far as the eye can see, a riot of green against the brilliant blue of the sky. Their house is atop a small hill that descends into a clearing covered in luscious grass and yellow wildflowers, a maze of trees and boulders littering the yard. The azure pool of the lake he spoke of is mere steps from the bottom of the hill and she's struck with memories of her father's cabin, of the lake access she had been so fond of since she was a child.
"Kate?" She was too busy marveling over the scenery to sense Castle's hesitance at her side and she turns towards him with her bottom lip between her teeth to control her smile, draws him in close by the grip she still has on his hand.
"It's perfect," she whispers, staring up at the man who loves her, loves her so much he was willing to give up his comfortable life in New York to bring her this whole new world to exist in.
He's beautiful in the sunlight, despite the wear of lines and agony carved into the skin of his face, and she lifts on her toes, dusts her lips to his jaw, his cheek, over the stain of purple beneath his eyes. Rick drapes his hands at her waist, eyes fluttering shut under the soft pressure of her lips, and she thinks for the first time in five days, he releases his first sigh of relief.
Castle calls Alexis once they've unpacked their meager bags in the bedroom and she listens to his reassurances of their safety while she roams the room, trailing her fingers along the stone walls, over the thick, white floor length curtains adorning the window, burying her toes in the rug covering the chilly hardwood floors.
She pauses at the sound of Castle's hesitation. "You want… okay, just make it short. I love you too, Pumpkin."
Kate freezes when he holds the phone out to her, but grabs it from his fingers, knowing they can't stay on the line long. They'll be watching Alexis, all of them – the police, Bracken's security, maybe even the Dragon himself.
She curls a fist at her stomach.
"Alexis?"
"Kate," the girl breathes, a surprising amount of relief to her voice. She had expected bitterness. "I know we can't talk, but I just wanted to know you were both okay."
Kate swallows hard and drops her forehead to the cold stone.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, squeezing her eyes shut against tears she's fought back for the last week. "I'm sorry this happened, that I dragged him - all of you - into this."
She senses Castle rise from the bed, but tenses her shoulders against him and listens to Alexis sigh on the other line.
"It's not your fault, Kate," Alexis murmurs, her voice soft, placating. "You didn't choose this, and I - I know that now, okay?"
Castle's hand spanning her waistline has her choking back a sob as she nods even though Alexis can't see her.
"Just be safe, both of you, that's all I'm asking for."
"We'll do our best," Kate promises. "And we'll see you soon. Bye, Alexis."
"Bye, Kate. Love you both."
The call ends and Kate cradles the phone to her chest, curling around it as the whimper crawls past her lips.
"It's okay," Castle murmurs, lacing his arms around her waist, pressing his lips to her nape. "She's okay. We're okay."
She wants to believe him.
Instead, she turns in his embrace and buries her face in his neck, focuses on the smell of his skin and the strength of his arms around her until she can make herself forget, if only for a moment, about the way Alexis's acceptance had shredded her heart.
"Okay," she finally echoes against the hollow of his throat. "We'll be okay."
