"I don't understand...we broke away from the show...we cut our strings." Beckett stared at the stranger who had suddenly appeared and who had, apparently, been controlling everything.

"You thought you cut your strings because I allowed you to think that." The avatar of the writer summoning a chair and a nice cushy couch, settling in the LazyBoy and steepling his fingers. "And I have to admit, it has been fun. The reviewers certainly enjoyed it."

"Reviewers?" Castle asked, sitting on the couch with a thump.

"Of course. Everyone reading this has said the story was really funny."

Beckett tried to wrap her head around what he was saying. "I don't...I don't understand."

"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle...do you know of the multiverse theory?" Both shook their heads. "To put it bluntly, for every action you or anyone else takes there is the creation of a new universe. Infinite numbers. In some you live almost the exact same life you lead now, to the point it is near impossible to determine just how your life differs. In others it is so great you would not even recognize yourselves. In many you are dead, or your great grandfather married someone else and your family never came to be."

"So...we are only one version of us?" Castle asked. "And that means..."

"There is a version of us still stuck in that show?" Beckett said, guilt and sympathy warring within her at the thought that another her was stuck in that horrible show.

"Yes. And there are other versions that are now happily living all the loves you just said no too. All thanks to the miracle of Fan Fiction."

"Fan fiction?" Castle asked.

"It is a collection of fans that write stories about their favorite shows," Beckett stated, before adding, "Not that I do it myself..."

The avatar ignored that last comment. "The point is, my friends, that there is an entire group of people that, just like you, want you to be broken free from that show and finally have love." The avatar smiled. "The choice is yours, at this moment."

"What do you mean?" Beckett asked.

"This story is on its final chapter. When I send this last word file it will all be done. You will return to the show, forgetting all of this" the couple held each other, terrified at the thought, "...or..."

"Or what?" Castle whispered.

"You use this power to the fullest. You embrace the art of fanfiction and allow yourselves to be be split, to journey through a hundred different love stories. Some will have humor and laughs...others pain and angst. I can't even guarantee if you will live to see the end. But with fan fiction, more than that show, you will have a chance." The avatar held out his hands. "What is your answer?"

Beckett and Castle held each other...and faded from sight.

The avatar smirked. "Hmmm...a thousand lifetimes begin...

~MC~MC~MC~

Castle raced towards Beckett, throwing himself in the path of the sniper bullet. Beckett screamed, cradling him as Esposito and Ryan gave chase after the shooter. She would nurse him back to health, discovering that yes, she still had the will and strength to love...

~MC~MC~MC~

Castle glanced over at Beckett as they led the man that had killed his sister away in handcuffs. "Detective Beckett...would you like to get a bit to eat?"

And despite every reason why she should say no...Beckett said yes. It would be a strange romance, unconventional...filled with passion and fury...

~MC~MC~MC~

A young Kate Beckett walked over to the table in the middle of the bookstore, smiling at the writer who sat there, his 3 year old daugher happily scribbling a picture with crayon beside him. She held out her book and he signed it as she asked him questions about his work. This unjaded writer and this not-yet cold hearted detective had no idea that this would be the start of something more...

~MC~MC~MC~

"Princess Katherine, I give thee Sir Richard of the Dark Castle."

Princess Katherine looked at the knight that was suppose to escort her from her home through the Forest of the White Lights. At the end of their journey lay her new husband, a man she had never met before. She loathed it all and saw this grinning fool as the deliverer of her doom.. Oh, she would go, it was her duty, but she would fight him every step of the way.

She had no idea that they would never be seen again...and that such a fact was the greatest news she could have heard...

~MC~MC~MC~

"Detective, we have the big shot writer waiting for you."

"YOu sure you don't need help in there?" Esposito said, leaning against his partner's desk.

"I'm sure," the detective said, standing up and heading into the interrogation room. "Ms. Beckett? I am Detective Castle...I have some questions for you..."

Beckett held up a finger. "Just a moment...this is so going on my twitter!"

Det. Castle sighed, not realizing that he was staring at the woman that would become his partner, his lover, his wife and the mother of his children...

~MC~MC~MC~

"I...I don't think I am suppose to be here!" Richard Castle said, panic clear in his voice.

"Don't rightly care," the filthy pirate sneered, his grubby hands staining Richard's dressshirt. "The captain 'as an interest in ya and we aim to please 'er."

"Huh?" Castle asked. The pirates laughed and tossed him at the feet of their captain, who grinned at the sight of the scribe who lay before her.

"'ello, Mr. Castle. I am Cap'ain Kate Blackheart...welcome to Gina's Folly!"

She had no idea that she, a woman who had sworn never to let a man control her...would soon find herself tumbling head over heels in love...

~MC~MC~MC~

Castle and Beckett stared at the dark skinned man who stood in the kitchen, calmly eatting a pancake. "Fury...what the hell are you doing here?" Castle asked.

"I've come to talk to you about the Avengers," Nick Fury said, starting a chain of events that would lead the two to come to know the greatest heroes the world had ever known...

~MC~MC~MC~

Katherine Beckett glared at her companion. When her chief had told her there had been a murder on Rychard 3, a strange world filled with mountains and great forests, he had failed to tell her that the king would demand to follow her about.

"I bet it was Olgtian Pirates!" Ca'sell, king of Rychard, said, his long neck stretching down to look over Beckett's shoulder.

"Except they are just myth."

"Exactly what evil pirates would want you to think!" Ca'sell stated, Beckett rolling her eyes. Little did she realize that one day fast approaching she would be forced to make a choice between her home and this world...and the king that would come to long for her to become his queen...

~MC~MC~MC~

"You know," Stamford said, stubbing out his cigar, "you are not the first person I've talk to today who asked about finding a flatmate."

"Is that so?" Castle asked. Stamford grinned and led Castle to St. Barts, where Kate Beckett was currently investigating a fresh body...

~MC~MC~MC~

"It truly is a sad story," the realtor said, leading Beckett through the condo. "The first owner was a writer...Richard something or other. Married, had a little girl...all was going well...and then one day they found him sitting at his desk, gun in his lap and half his head missing..."

Beckett shrugged off the tale. She didn't believe in ghosts and the condo was just too cheap to pass up.

Of course, she had no idea that a restless spirit watched her from the shadows, wondering if she would be the one to avenge his death...

~MC~MC~MC~

Beckett had slipped out of the precinct early, claiming a dental appointment. It had sounded so cheesy but Castle, Ryan and Esposito had bought it hook, line and sinker. Of course she had gone home, but only to grab her guns and slip into her catsuit. She wondered what her friends would think if they knew that she was, in fact, the master assassin that had resulted in so many unsolved deaths around the world.

Swiftly slipping up the fire escape, Beckett smiled under her mask as she pulled out her gun, aiming it at the street below and the newspaper reporter her employer had assigned her to kill.

The man went down but not by Beckett's bullet. She cursed, hurrying down but knowing it was too late. It seemed her rival had decided to steal enough one of her kills.

Away from Beckett's line of sight, Alexis pulled off her mask. "Did I do good, dad?"

"The best," Castle said with a smirk.

Of course, the time would come when Beckett and Alexis would meet and need to work together to save Castle from the grips of a sinister mob boss...

~MC~MC~MC~

Beckett groaned, her head feeling like it had been shoved in a vice. The sun was bright and made her eyes burn and the sand under her head was not as comfy as those Sandels Resort ads would make one believe. She sat up, looking about the tropical island she found herself.

"Castle?" Beckett called out.

"Beckett?"

"Castle!" She shouted, moving towards the burning fuselage of their plane, stepping over the dead bodies of their fellow passangers as she moved to save the only other surviving member of their flight...

~MC~MC~MC~

"You really think he did it?" Ryan asked, watching Castle fidget in the interrogation room. "I mean, sure, the killer based his murders on his books..."

"I don't know if he did or didn't do it," Beckett said, marching away from her partner. "But I intend to find out. Give me some privacy, ok?"

Ryan and Esposito nodded, making themselves scarce. Castle looked up as Beckett entered, a single eyebrow raised. "Hello Det. Beckett."

"Cut the Detective crap, Rick." Beckett leaned over and tenderly kissed him. "I'm sorry, but my partner brought up the idea of you as a suspect and I had to follow through..." she placed her hand over his heart, where his wedding ring hung upon a chain. "We'll get you out of here in a few minutes...just need to make them think I am grilling you."

"Speaking of grilling, you want steaks tonight?"

"Yeah, just let Alexis and RJ know I'll be late."

"You know they both hate it when you miss dinner."

"Just tell them mommy is catching bad guys."

~MC~MC~MC~

Thousands of worlds, thousands of stories. Some I may write myself...more I hope inspire writers like me to take up the challenge. This is the power of what we do, we writers. We are the saviors of the misused characters. We offer them shelter from horrible plotlines and poorly thought out twists. We are the guardians of them all...and as long as we invest ourselves in them we will always be ready to give them their happy ending.

It Never Ends...