101 Ways to Put Caskett in a Casket
Alternatively: 101 Ways to Almost Kill Castle and Beckett So That They'll Finally Get It.
#2: Gunpoint
"I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't! I just wanted him to go away. To stop hurting me!"
"I know, I know you didn't."
The detective understands on some level. She does. It's not the first time she's seen a domestic abuse case end so tragically. It happens time and time again over the years. Husband beats wife, repeatedly, for years on end; wife finally gathers up the courage to put an end to the suffering, takes her fate into her own hands, refusing to be a victim any longer.
"Do you have children, Mrs. Thompson? A family?"
The frantic woman nods to Beckett but still keeps her finger on the trigger of the pistol she's holding, the end of the barrel trained on the detective's partner, down on his knees in front of their murder suspect.
They approached her, not realizing she was carrying a weapon until it was too late.
"Then you've got to let me help you," Beckett explains, trying her damnedest to not let her own anxiety and fear cripple her words, her actions. Stay detached, she tells herself, focus on the job. Talk her down.
"Mrs. Thompson, the only way I can get you back to your children, back to your family, is if you cooperate with me and put that gun down."
The woman gives the detective a frenzied look, a wild glint in her eyes as the pistol shakes uncontrollably in her hands, the muzzle tapping frenetically against the side of Castle's head, making him wince and shudder. His eyes go from clamped shut to darting back at his partner, some twenty feet away.
When their eyes meet, ultimately all of the detachment, professionalism leaves her. It's not cool and collected Detective Beckett staring back at him now. It's Kate, scared and in despair, the fear all-too evident in her eyes.
She chews the inside of her cheek, has to will herself to tear her eyes away from him. She can't keep meeting his gaze. Not if she wants to hold it together, get them both, he and their suspect, out of this alive.
"Mrs. Thompson, I want you to listen to me carefully, okay? You have a family at home, right? You have children and people who love you. People who need you. But if you pull that trigger, you'll be taking away your own chance for a happy future," she pauses, chances a look back down at her partner again, his piercing eyes helplessly staring right back at her.
"...and you'll be taking away mine, as well."
Mrs. Thompson swallows hard and shifts her grip on the gun, but she doesn't remove it from Castle's temple. It still quivers against his cool, clammy flesh, but the detective has managed to catch her attention now. Her wild brown eyes have finally focused on the woman standing just a handful of paces away. The woman who she now recognizes is just as scared as she is.
"You see, that man you're holding hostage? He's not just my partner." Beckett continues, finding her voice again. She nods toward Castle and a shy smile overtakes her features.
"He's the love of my life," she admits, "and I haven't been very fair to him recently. I've been holding him at arm's length because I've been too scared to face my feelings for him. But he loves me, and I love him, and I want to be with him."
She turns her eyes back on the man in question and smiles warmly at him. He returns it to her affectionately, the look encompassing his upturned lips, lifted cheeks and crinkled eyes.
"Someday, we might just decide to start a family of our own together," she goes on, holding his steady gaze, "But we can never have a future together if you take him away from me."
The suspect's lips quiver and she shifts her footing uncomfortably, visibly shaken by the young detective's words. She gulps down air and saliva, takes one hand off the gun to wipe a sweaty palm on the pant leg of her denim jeans.
"I'm begging you, Mona. Not as a police officer, but as one woman to another; please put the gun down."
And that's all it takes for the woman's resolve to come crumbling down. Castle feels the muzzle leave his skull as her arm droops to her side. He glances behind him and watches as Mona Thompson crumples to the floor in a fit of sobs, the gun dropping to the floor at his feet.
He and his partner let out equally ragged breaths simultaneously.
"I'm sorry," Mona wails, "I'm so sorry!"
Castle turns and takes the gun from the ground, locking the safety back into place before
standing upright again. He takes a few steps back as Beckett moves in, reholstering her gun and bringing out her cuffs instead.
Once the woman is secured, she turns back to her partner, and it only takes one look between them before they fly to each other with open arms.
"Oh god, Castle—"
"Kate—"
He grips her waist, pulling in her close as her arms fold around his neck, her face burrowing into the space beneath his chin.
"I love you. I love you so much," she murmurs desperately against his skin, causing his arms to tighten even more around her.
He moves his lips to her temple, kissing her gently then urgently.
"I love you, Kate. I love you."
"No more, Rick. I don't want to wait anymore. I can't—"
"Okay," he whispers back, gentling her with his hand through her hair, another rubbing slow circles across her lower back. "Okay, Kate."
"I want you. I want us."
"You have me, Kate. I'm in this. I'm with you."
Hours later, after statements are given and paperwork is filed, they finally take the next steps in starting their future together, adrenaline pumping, bodies sweating and hearts beating in their chests for a whole new reason.