I just realised this is the second to last chapter for this fic and since I'm having so much fun writing this one, I'm thinking of writing another time travel fic. It wouldn't be in this universe and would have a completely different story line to this one but it would involve time travel but be less serious than this one. Would anyone be interested in that?

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.

Kate and Rick arrived at the precinct not long later, eager to know what Mr Peterson had to say, hopefully he'd know what was going on. Mr Peterson looked confused when he saw them but greeted them nonetheless. Kate then lead them all into the break room where they'd have at least some privacy, not wanting anyone to overhear their conversation. After shutting the blinds and the door, she turned to him.

"Hi, how can we help you?" Kate asked, not wanting to give anything away but waiting to see what he had to say first.

"You two aren't the ones I met yesterday, right?" he asked, surprising both Kate and Rick.

"What do you mean? asked Kate, still wanting him to say what he wanted to first.

"You both look older, this is your time isn't it?" Mr Peterson asked, and when Kate realised he knew what was going on, she didn't bother hiding it any more.

"So, you know that there are two versions of us in this time then?" she questioned.

"I suspected as much. I got odd readings once I arrived here but only after further analysis did I realise what had happened. I'd never travelled with people in the vicinity before since I was using the warehouse. The time field must have expanded since my original tests, meaning that you two must have gotten caught in it and I brought you back to my time with me," he finished, getting confused looks from both the writer and the detective.

"What?" asked Rick and Kate, trying to follow what Mr Peterson was saying. Castle, being the first to recover, continued, "Is there any way to get our other selves back to their right time?"

"I'd have to make some modifications, since I'm not entirely sure how it happened yet but it should be possible, I'll just need some time," replied Mr Peterson and both Rick and Kate breathed a sigh of relief.

"How much time?" asked Kate, getting worried. It was already hard enough keeping the other two a secret and she didn't know how much longer they could.

"Only a day or so, maybe less, but I can't promise anything," answered Mr Peterson, "and you'd prefer I didn't rush something like this."

"No, you're right, take your time," and then Kate paused, thinking before asking the question that had been on her mind, "how come you travelled back in time in the first place?"

Castle was more curious about how he'd done it but that was a question for later.

"To make sure my brother's killer was brought to justice. I couldn't let his wife get away with it," he answered, which confused Kate and Rick, of course the wife had done it, that's where all the evidence had pointed and an arrest had been made. Although all that evidence came from the file that he'd given them so maybe there was more to this story then there seemed to be.

"You mean that file you gave us, that was from the future?" asked Rick, slowly putting the story together.

"It wasn't until a few years after his murder that new evidence came to light that the police realised who the real killer was. His partner had been in jail all that time and by that time his wife was long gone. At that time, the research company I work for had been in the developmental stages of a time travel device. When we finally got it working, I realised that I could go back and make sure she paid for what she did," said Mr Peterson, this was nothing like the story that Rick had come up with.

"You changed the future?" asked Kate.

"Yes, and now she's in jail thanks to you two and the evidence I gave you," he replied, looking relieved to be able to tell someone.

"Did it change anything else?" asked Rick, curious as to what time travel could've done to their future.

"Not really, nothing noticeable. You two are still together though I see," replied Mr Peterson, seeing the ring on the detective's finger.

"So you risked changing the entire future just to make sure she ended up behind bars?" asked Rick, but Kate could understand what he'd done and why.

"He was my brother and I wasn't going to let his murderer get away with it," replied My Peterson, and from the look in his eyes, you could tell he was at peace with what had happened, his brother's murder finally being solved.

Kate knew exactly how he felt and would've been tempted to do the same thing if she'd had the chance.

"And I'm sorry you two, well the past you two, got mixed up in all this, I never meant for that to happen. Do you remember this, I mean do you remember traveling to the future when you were younger?" asked Mr Peterson, wondering how it had affected them, not having their own time travel device when they'd traveled through time.

"No," answered Kate, "Is there a reason for that?"

"I'm not sure, maybe because I was the one wearing the device and you two were caught in the field," said Mr Peterson, pulling up his sleeve to reveal a thick arm band on his arm, opening a flap on part of it revealing a lot of dials, buttons and a small screen.

"That's the time machine?" exclaimed Rick, that was definitely not what he was expecting.

"Yes," answered Mr Peterson, "the original was a lot bigger but we condensed it into this device so we can travel from anywhere."

"How exactly does it work?" asked Rick, very curious about how they actually managed to achieve time travel.

"That's classified."

"Well what do you use it for?"

"That's also classified."

"Come on, can't you give me something?" asked Rick, he really wanted to know something, I mean, it was time travel.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything more about the device or its uses," replied Mr Peterson, he was breaking so many rules just telling them that time travel was possible but this was his mess and he had to clean it up before anyone discovered what he'd done.

"Do they just let you travel wherever you want," asked Rick, he wanted to get at least some answers.

There was a pause before Mr Peterson answered, "no."

"You stole it!" exclaimed Rick, knowing he was right when he saw the look on Mr Peterson's face.

"Keep your voice down," he replied, worried they'd be overheard.

"I could have you arrested for that," said Kate, switching back to cop-mode.

"If you were to do that, you'd never get home," replied Mr Peterson, and Kate knew he was right, although she probably wouldn't have been able to arrest him anyway. There was no evidence that he'd stolen anything since the project was so classified they wouldn't even be able to find proof it existed. The device on his hand would be called a prop and they'd probably just say he was a crazy man who thought he could travel in time.

"Are we going to be killed because we know about it?" asked Rick, now thinking the government was going to kill him because he knew too much.

"Not as long as you keep your mouths shut about it," answered Mr Peterson, not being able to hold back his laughter at the writer's face but he was worried himself about what his company would do if they found out what he'd done.

"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone, no one will believe us anyway," replied Kate, reassuring Mr Peterson that his secret was safe with them.

"You said that because we were caught in the time field could be the reason we don't remember?" asked Rick, thinking back to what Mr Peterson had said earlier, "But how come we remembered when we first arrived in this time?" Rick was thinking now, killer government forgotten, he realised things didn't add up.

"Okay, so that may have been a bit of a lie," answered Mr Peterson, at least looking guilty that he'd lied "I was considering making some modifications to the device so you two don't remember."

Kate was about to protest to that idea but Mr Peterson continued before she could.

"Would you really want your younger selves walking around with any knowledge they've gained while in the future?" he asked.

Kate thought about it and realised that it was probably for the best if they didn't know what the future had in store for them.

"No," answered Kate, thinking about how knowing she was going to marry Rick may change her actions and she didn't want anything to jeopardise her future with Rick, "but we have to get them home or we may not even have a future so you better get to work."

Mr Peterson left then, after saying goodbye, and promising to call with updates. Now Kate and Rick just had to wait for him to get the device ready so their younger selves could go home.

Esposito came into the room then, informing them that they'd got a new lead on their case. That's the reason he'd been at the precinct when Mr Peterson had arrived. He hadn't wanted to interrupt their dinner earlier with it but since they were already here, dinner plans cancelled, he thought they may be able to help. It looked like Kate and Rick weren't going to be home any time soon, she just hoped that Beckett and Castle were doing okay alone together.

XXX

It had been over an hour since Rick and Kate had left and neither Castle nor Beckett had spoken. Castle didn't want to say anything in case he spooked Beckett and Beckett was caught up in her own thoughts. She didn't know what to say anyway, what were you supposed to say to your future husband in a situation like this. The silence was broken when Beckett received a text from Kate and had to tell Castle what it said.

"It looks like they've found a way to get us home," said Beckett, finally relaxing a bit, this could all be over soon although the second part of the text put a bit of a damper on her momentary good mood, "and they're going to be late, they've got a lead on their case so they don't know what time they're going to be back."

Even if Kate and Rick had returned after talking to Mr Peterson, they still wouldn't have been able to leave until their parents left but at least it wouldn't just be the two of them.

"Do we need to talk about this?" asked Castle after another half hour of silence. Beckett had been wandering around the room, looking at all her stuff that was there. She'd also noticed the photo of him, Alexis and herself that Castle had noticed earlier and she couldn't stop looking at it either. That's what she was doing when Castle had interrupted her thoughts.

After a few minutes had passed, she replied, "Do you?"

"Only if you do Kate," he replied. The use of her first name startled her. She'd been hearing future him call future her Kate but to hear her name, said in that tone, coming from Castle was something different completely.

"I think so," she replied. She was going to try this, at least try to have a proper conversation with him.

"Nothing has to change between us, not until you're ready. It sounds like we don't even remember this anyway so once we go back to our time, you can go back to hating me," said Castle, although he wasn't really looking forward to that because they seemed to be making progress in their relationship.

"I don't hate you Castle, I never have," she paused. "I could never hate my favourite author," she said and the smile that accompanied that sentence was enough to get Castle smiling too. Even though she'd been joking about it, she wanted to tell him, she never did hate him. Yes, he annoyed her and she didn't like being followed around and watched like he did to her but it wasn't because she hated him. It was partly that he was annoying but it was also because she didn't think she deserved it, didn't see why someone would want to follow her around and write about her. She wasn't fascinating, she wasn't extraordinary, she was broken.

"Seriously though Castle, I never hated you. You may be childish sometimes and annoy me but since you won't remember this anyway, I might as well tell you that you make things more fun, you make things lighter." She would never have told him any of this but since they won't remember anyway she might as well and seeing the answering smile made her glad that she'd told him.

"I'm glad to hear it. If you really didn't want me to follow you, if you asked me to leave, I would. I wouldn't be very happy about it but I would stop," answered Castle, going for honesty too.

Beckett was starting to see a side of Castle that she hadn't seen before and she found she liked it, a lot. She was beginning to see how she could fall in love with this man.

While before Beckett had been walking around the room, she'd ended up sitting next to Castle on the bed during their conversation. Realising how close they'd gotten, she shifted sideways, wanting to put distance between them.

They sat in silence for a bit longer before Beckett voiced something she'd been wondering since Castle started following her.

"Why me?" she whispered, voice coming out weaker than she would've liked.

"Why you, what?" asked Castle, wondering what she was talking about.

"Why are you following me? Why are you writing a book about me?" She genuinely didn't know why he would want to follow her.

Castle thought about his words carefully before replying, "because you're a mystery. Because you're fascinating and extraordinary. And the more I find out about you, the more interested I get. And I may be basing a character on you but I wouldn't use anything personal or anything you didn't want me to." He'd decided to add the last bit, wanting to reassure her that she could trust him.

Beckett took a minute to digest what he'd just said and she could tell he was serious, that was really how he felt.

"Okay," she said, smiling and reaching over, squeezing his hand for just a second before getting up and moving to the other side of the room. She didn't like admitting this to herself but it was comforting having him here with her.

Beckett looked around the room a bit longer before noticing one of his books sitting beside the bed. Unfortunately though, it was a Derrick Storm book and not one he'd written about her. She was glad for a distraction and before long, she was engrossed in a Richard Castle story.

XXX

A few hours later and her eyes were starting to drop. She'd been sitting on the floor, her back against the bed while reading the book so she got up and stretched. Castle was now lying on the bed and he looked like he was deep in thought.

"How's it going?" she asked tentatively, wondering what he was thinking about. She suddenly felt nervous and didn't know why. She could feel things had changed between them and it was confusing her.

"Good," he said smiling, as her talking brought him out of his thoughts, he'd been thinking about her of course.

"Good," she replied, smiling in return.

"You feeling tired?" he asked as she tried to conceal a yawn.

"Yeah," Beckett admitted. She really wanted to crawl into bed and sleep after such a long day but that wasn't possible since they couldn't leave the room yet. They could still hear Martha and Jim in the living room and she was surprised that he'd stayed so long, she hadn't realised they were such good friends.

"Why don't you get some rest?" he asked, gesturing to the bed beside him.

"I.." Beckett hesitated, as appealing as the idea of sleep was she wasn't sure about sleeping next to Castle.

"I promise, I'll keep my hands to myself," he said, holding his hands up and moving further away, to the far side of the bed.

She thought about it for a minute and realised that she really did want sleep, even if it meant sleeping next to him.

"Okay," Beckett agreed and then she went into the wardrobe to find some of Kate's clothes to wear, wanting something a bit more comfortable to sleep in and she knew Kate wouldn't mind.

When she returned she was nervous again, wondering what Castle would think of her in such casual clothes, she wasn't used to being dressed like this in front of Castle yet as Kate obviously was.

But the look in Castle's eyes said he thought she looked just as beautiful dressed in track pants and a sweat shirt as she did all dressed up and she blushed under his gaze. When he realised he'd been caught staring he looked away quickly, not wanting to scare her off.

Beckett stepped up to the end of the bed, first looking at the side Castle was on then at the empty side. She found herself wondering what side Kate slept on as she stepped around the bed and climbed in. She thought about just lying on top of the blankets but it was a bit cold and the warm blankets looked appealing. She slid under the blankets of the left side of the bed and initially she felt awkward, lying there next to him. She felt him shift, getting under the blankets as well but by that point she was too tired to care and soon she was fast asleep.

XXX

While Beckett had been reading Castle had been thinking. He was seeing a different side of Beckett here and he liked it, a lot. But he didn't want to rush her. He now knew that they would end up together and he didn't want to do anything to ruin that, as long as they got home that is, or this future wouldn't exist. He was glad to hear that Kate and Rick seemed to have found a way to get them back home.

Beckett interrupted his thoughts and seeing how tired she was, he suggested she should get some rest. He was even going to suggest she have the whole bed, that he would get up but him saying he'd keep his hands to himself was apparently enough to get her to sleep next to him, for which he was glad for. He was incredibly happy that she was letting him see this side of her.

His brain almost stopped working when she walked out in sweat pants and top and he thought she'd never looked more beautiful, with her hair falling messily around her face. He couldn't help but stare and when he noticed that she was watching him too, he quickly looked away.

She paused at the foot of the bed and she thought she may have changed her mind but then get went over to the other side and climbed in. He watched as she pulled the blankets around herself and rolled on her side, facing away from him.

He watched her for a while before realising how tired he was himself. He considered just lying on top of the blankets, giving her some space, and going to sleep but the blankets did look comfy so he climbed under them as well. He did keep his distance, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. He lay on his side, facing her. All night he'd been imagining what life with her would be like. Making dinner with her had given him a glimpse of his life to come and now, lying next to her in bed, it was more that he could've hoped for this early in their relationship.

He knew nothing was going to happen between just yet but he could wait, he would wait as long as she needed. He thinks he's falling in love with her already and can definitely tell why his future self loves her and knows that it'll be worth the wait.

Thanks to everyone who favourited/followed/reviewed! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought :)