"But I'm here to tell you that you're fired."
Kate gaped. Fired? She thought. That one word echoed in her head as she stared at McCord.
"I truly do have a lot of admiration for what you did," said McCord. "But unfortunately, it's not up to me. The boss wants you out, and I can't convince him to let you stay." McCord shifted her weight back and forth as she studied Kate with concern.
"Thanks, Rachel," Kate choked out as her eyes filled with tears. Keep it together, she told herself. "I really enjoyed working with you as my partner. I learned a lot. You really pushed me to become a better cop."
Rachel stepped into the loft and gave Kate a brief hug. She held Kate at arms length and looked at her.
"You'll be great here, Kate," she said, gripping her shoulders. "Best of luck with your engagement and with wherever you end up."
They shook hands, and McCord turned away to leave the loft.
Castle quickly shut the door and turned towards Kate as she ran to him. She crashed into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her back.
"It'll be ok, Kate," he said as he stroked her back.
"But I've never been fired from anything!" Kate wailed.
"Maybe it will be better this way," Castle started. "You didn't seem like yourself in DC."
Kate wiped the tears from her eyes as she looked up at Castle. "You noticed?" she asked.
Castle looked down at her and smiled. Even with makeup smeared down her cheeks, she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.
"It's my job to notice those things," he said. "Besides, the writer in me wouldn't have missed it."
Kate looked down and pressed her face into his shirt.
"It was just so hard to be away from everyone," Kate said, mumbling into his chest. "I missed the Twelfth, and my dad, and you, obviously. Everything was so grey there. Cases never really got resolved."
"Shh, Kate. You don't have to explain yourself to me," Castle said, hugging her tighter to his chest. "I'm proud of you, even though you got fired. You did what you thought was right, and I truly do love you more for it."
He tilted her face up and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "Good thing I hadn't actually signed the lease on the DC apartment, huh?" he asked, smiling.
Kate's brow furrowed as she looked up at Castle.
"Then how did you get a key?" she asked. "How could you get a key without signing?"
Castle's boyish grin returned as he released her from their embrace.
"Call it a genius idea by yours truly," he joked. "I just bought an old key from an antique store. I wanted to make sure you loved the place before I signed for it," he explained. He shrugged his shoulders. "You can thank me later," he said, smirking down at Kate.
Kate managed to crack a smile as she elbowed his chest. "You can forget that," she said as she kissed Castle's cheek. "But is the offer to move in together still on the table?" she asked. "There's no way in hell I'm staying in DC."
Castle grinned. "Well, Kate Beckett," he started. "Would you like to move into the loft with me….and my mother…and Alexis…and Pi?" he said, scowling more with each added person.
"Oh stop that frowning," Kate said. She looked up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Pretty soon you're going to hate me from all of the time we'll be spending together!" she exclaimed with a grin on her face.
"Never," beamed Castle as he led her off to their bedroom.