Authors Note: Strangely, this was the easiest chapter to write, though the ending came out the opposite of what I set out to do. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, a story guides you a different direction. I wrote it as was originally intended (and will post that later), but this spoke as a truer end. Initially this was intended to to be the alternate ending, a 'what if' scenario that has two accompanying chapters.
I'll still post those, though they are now canon in the basis of this little AU-verse. As I've posted for every chapter thus far, spoilers for episode 6X09 'Disciple' as determined from the promo video, the first sneak peek, and interviews with Tamala Jones and Andrew Marlowe. As a final WARNING: This chapter includes the death of a major character. Read at your own risk.
The chain snapped with a sharp tinkle of metal, the sound followed by a low sob and a grunt of pain as Kate's hands lost their purchase on the links and her body crashed towards the floor - the jolt rattling her skull just before her feet would have touched the ground as the momentum sent her body swinging wildly like a pendulum on a clock.
The pain was all encompassing, spreading from her bound wrists and down her arms to the tips of her toes, her body straining and protesting as it hung. The pain had made breathing even harder, aided by the continued cold creeping across her skin that left her teeth chattering and her muscles shivering.
And she was tired. She was so tired - of hanging suspended, of the pain, of pulling herself up for relief, of gasping and panting for any decent amount of air to enter her lungs. The concept of time was muddled, but she knew it had been hours. Her thread on reality was slipping, the drug in her system continuing to dull her senses and leaving her with an urge to sleep that was more than even the tiredness of her body and the weakness from too little food and not enough sleep.
It was the gathering wetness against her t-shirt that alerted her to the fact she was crying, the knowledge doing nothing to stop it but instead pushing the tears out that much faster. And soon it was more than silent tears, as Kate let it go, unleashing a throaty sob and a moan that sounded like she was a dying animal.
It hurt. For all her acceptance earlier in the night that this could be her end, every inch of her body, her heart, and her soul hurt. The knowledge that she would be leaving behind a life with Castle. A life full of so much potential, so much happiness. And she didn't want to leave him. She wanted to die curled up in a warm bed, surrounded by children and grandchildren. She wanted more time, more laughs. She needed more time to roll her eyes at his ridiculous theories, to watch him write, to see Alexis graduate from college, for Martha's inevitable return to Broadway, to see her dad's face as he gave her away at her wedding, or the first time he held his grandchild.
Kate Beckett wanted so much. She had fought so hard for her happy ending, but she could feel it slipping through her fingers. Her life, her essence was leaking through the cracks like it was no more than water.
"Oh God," she whispered, her chest heaving with the effort to breath around the suffocating feeling of gravity pulling her down and the tightness in her throat and chest from her continued tears, "I'm so sorry Castle, I'm so sorry….." Kate whispered, hanging her head as her eyes slipped closed, "I didn't want it to end like this…" she slurred, feeling the dull pull of the drug and her exhaustion.
It was whispering to her, a calm urging to simply let go and give up. It was such a horrible concept but one that she was steadily losing the ability to fight. with each second it grew harder to breath, the lack of oxygen setting her lungs on fire, leaving the organs struggling as they demanded more air. Her body left screaming in a different sort of protest as its basic needs slowly ceased to be met.
Kate was drowning, the sensation in her body slowly falling numb as her vision swam and her brain became fuzzy. But she gave one last attempt, her hands curling around the chain in a final effort to pull herself upright, to find a few more breaths, to buy a little more time. To hold on in the faint hope that someone would find her before it was too late.
It wasn't meant to be, her hands slipping as her muscles gave out, the last of her breath leaving in a rush as Kate's head bowed and her eyes closed.
It'd taken three hours after Tyson's arrest for something to pop, the final cell phone in the bunch pinging on a cluster of towers near the West Side docks along with hits to Castle's loft, and the apartments of both victims.
No matter how many other phones had been used, GPS had tagged Tyson at all the locations. It had been enough, even without the bodgea manager's ID of Pam Hodges as the purchaser of the phones.
They hadn't even waited for the warrant, a task force piling into a van as a handful of uniforms, Captain Gates, and the trio of Ryan, Castle and himself racing across the city.
Still, searches took time, a sweep of all the buildings in a four block radius eating into valuable minutes. And that was without searching any boats that were docked at the harbor.
He was praying it didn't come to that.
It was the fourth building.
Castle had been following quietly behind Ryan, Esposito and a section of task force members, his fear growing with each building they passed which turned up no clues.
They had busted in with the usual formation, Esposito and another task member covering Ryan as he took the point. None of them had expected a stuttered gasp or the horror in his voice as he said Beckett's name.
But Castle had charged forward, bypassing all of the others waiting outside the door, shoving Esposito as he tried to block him from entering. He didn't care if he was walking into a shootout, if there was another madman waiting to gun him down, or blow him up. Dangers be damned, Kate was inside and he had to see her.
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight, of her body slicing a straight line across the warehouse as she hung in the air. He could see she was wet, the cuts and swollen patches of her skin bringing tears to his eyes as he shouted her name and took off at a run, not caring that he was now openly crying, unable to tell if his reaction was from finally finding her or the realization that she hadn't responded to his shout.
'Kate, Kate, please….." Castle was sobbing now, his arms wrapping around her legs as someone yelled for bolt cutters and a ladder, "Wake up, honey, please. You've got to wake up. We are here, you're going to be fine….'
She was freezing, her body like ice against the skin of his arms and Castle found himself wishing he were wearing a jacket, something that he could place around her to warm her up. But the paramedics were coming, they'd have blankets and warm fluids and she'd be fine. As soon as she woke up, she'd be find. They'd treat her cuts and he'd find her the best physical therapist in the city to help with the soreness in her arms and shoulders.
She'd be fine.
He stayed latched onto that mantra, gently rubbing her feet and legs to restore circulation as the team worked to cut through the chain. And no one stopped him, everyone keeping their distance from the two of them. Later he'd hate himself, question how he could have been so stupid. Have missed something so obvious but, in that moment, he still had hope.
The snap of the chain link breaking apart and the dead weight of Kate's body as she fell from the pipe released him from the notion, a different sort of sob coming out of him in a howl.
Her lips were blue, her chest still as he cradled her in his arms, her name a chant on his lips as he rocked back and forth on the concrete. "Open your eyes, Kate, come on. Just open them and smile at me, tell me to stop staring….just something…anything," Castle sobbed, his voice ending on a whimper as he lowered his head to rest against hers, tears dripping freely down his face, "Please don't leave me," he added at last, ready to beg and bargain with the devil himself if it'd bring her back.
But she remained silent, his maddening, beautiful, playful and extraordinary Katherine Beckett wouldn't again open her eyes to tell him that he was being creepy by watching her sleep. He'd never again toss out a theory just to see her fight a smile and roll her eyes. There would be no more lazy Sunday mornings in bed, no wedding or seeing her body grow to accommodate their child.
Their story had ended as soon as her heart had stopped beating in her chest.
Kate was gone.
Authors Note (Part 2): And that's all she wrote. I'm sure you all hate me right now (and that's fine), but I followed what the characters led me too. There's more to come from this story - I'm finishing up the alternate version of Chapter 7 now. And we will have four more chapters of one-shots as an epilogue of sorts, two for this ending and two for the other. Hopefully you'll stick around for those.
Thanks for reading/reviewing!