A/N: You all are beyond awesome, you know that? I can't thank you all enough. I'll be replying to all your lovely reviews tomorrow night at some point.

Sorry if the format is weird? My Doc Manager is acting up.

This story is starting to wrap up….

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, ABC, or any of their affiliates.

Enjoy!

The case had all been. It had technically been Narco's collar to begin with, so they were the ones who did the raid, although Beckett had made damn sure she got her spin with Callahan in interrogation.

He hadn't cracked, but once again, Beckett was confident she had enough for a solid conviction.

She finished drawing the final connections from Callahan to the victims on her murder board, and then stood back, going over the case again.

Victor Callahan had been the one to sell to Zachary Grey (and subsequently Rebecca Davidson when she had gotten involved). When Grey had started racking up a bill, Callahan decided it was time for payback. He had offered the kid one of two choices: pay it all back right in the three seconds following that statement, get shot, or start running "errands" for him.

Out of cash and not ready to die, Grey had chosen option C.

It was through that that the second high school boy, Kyle Orton had come into the picture. Orton and Grey had been best friends since pre-school. He had started to notice over the past few months that his friend had become, as he had put it to Beckett in his full confession, "tense, weird, and shaky". According to Orton, Grey was snapping for no reason and coming to school less. Concerned, like any good friend, Orton had asked Grey if he could do anything to relieve him of his obvious burden.

That's when Grey told him everything. The drugs. The girl. The gang. The errands. Everything. Grey begged his friend to help him run just this one errand he didn't have time to get to that day. When Orton heard it was to save his friend's life, he readily agreed.

The address book that Beckett had had Esposito and Ryan running addresses out of had been Grey's. He had had Alexis's address from a group science project a couple of years back where they had all had to meet up at the loft.

Beckett nodded absentmindedly as she thought. It made sense. It all fit. Every last bit of it could be explained; nobody's stories contradicted each other (minus Callahan's "not guilty" plea), but were different in all the right ways. It was neat, but complicated enough that it was real.

The case was finally closed.

Outside, thunder rumbled as rain poured down from the sky with a kind of wicked vengeance and soaked the streets of New York.

Beckett turned her attention outside, watching the drops hit the window. She frowned. The case was done, yes, but it came without the usual feeling of accomplishment that it usually carried. It came without the secret joy of getting one (or a few, in this case) more monster off the streets. It came without the feeling of closure. It came without the pride in having served justice for the victims and their families.

Because it came without Castle.

Numbly, she walked to the window, wrapping her arms protectively around her torso.

So, this was it then? This was life after? Was this how she was always going to feel whenever she didn't have a case to distract herself? So…empty? So cold? Like a huge part of her was missing? She wasn't so sure she could deal with that. She couldn't live the rest of her life without him. No…no…

With renewed confidence (or, more likely, moving off of an internal impulse), she grabbed her coat from her desk and slid into it as she boarded the elevator, then stepped out into the rain, not bothering to duck under awnings, or hail a taxi, or take any of the precautions that she would have, had she been in her right mind.

But that being said, Beckett wasn't in her right mind. She was just moving. Walking. Thoroughly unaware of the rain that coming down on her, hard and fast. She briskly made her way down 82nd street, heading southeast toward Central Park West, planning on taking the 79th street transverse through Central Park to get to the Upper East Side.

To get to Castle.

The walk would have taken her about 30 minutes normally, but through a clipped pace, less people on the streets due the rain, and sheer determination alone, she was standing in front of his door in 20. She raised a shaking hand to it, and rapped quickly, not pausing to think about what she was going to say.

She had had plenty of time to think. It was now or never.

Castle opened the door curiously to his late-night visitor to find Kate Beckett standing in front of him, water dripping off of the ends of her long brown hair, "Beckett?" he asked incredulously.

Beckett gave a little sniff and a quiet, "Hey."

A shadow passed over his face, and he shook his head, beginning to close the door.

"Rick, wait, please! Just hear me out!" Beckett pleaded.

Castle stopped, and cautiously reopened the door, but said nothing else.

"I'm sorry," Beckett croaked, "I'm so, so sorry. Not for what I did, but for what it did to you. I was awful to you, but you have to believe me, I had my reasons. And I know that doesn't change anything, nor should it, but I want you to know that. And I promise, I'll explain everything later if you want me to. What I did was completely shitty, and I know that. And I if you never want to see me again…I understand. I'll respect that. I'll stay away. But first," her voice cracked, "if this is the last time we're ever going to see each other, I want you to know something."

She took a deep breath, "If what you said to me at the precinct is still true…if you used to love me, but don't anymore…I just need you to know that…I love you. Present tense," tears welled up in her green eyes, and her voice wavered even more, "And you know I don't say that lightly at all. And I can't do this without you. I just can't. I've tried. When I did what I did I tried to put you behind me but..." she shrugged, "it didn't work. You were everywhere. And I was miserable without you. I never thought I would become so dependent on another person. In fact, I swore I would never let it happen. But you barging in, with zero consideration for the life I had built, and broke down whatever walls I had built to keep people like you out.

"So that's why I'm here, at 11:30 at night, crying, and soaking wet on your doorstep. To selfishly ask you if you could maybe find it in that heart of yours to give me a second chance? Even if you don't want to be with me, come back to the precinct. Can we at the very least, just go back to the way things were? Because I haven't slept since I kicked you out, Rick, I'll be honest. And I know I don't deserve any forgiveness from anyone, but…please?" tears spilled over Beckett's lids and tumbled down her checks, blending in with the rain.

Castle said nothing, but continued to stare at her.

Beckett swallowed hard, "Say something?"

Castle waited just a moment more, his breathing growing quicker before he muttered, "God, I missed you," and closed the gap between them, grabbing her face and kissing her, wrapping her into his arms.

Beckett melted into him for a moment before he broke away, looking down at her.

"I'm not saying I forgive you," Castle told her seriously, "But I'm saying I'm listening."

Beckett opened her mouth to explain, but Castle put a finger to her lips.

"You're soaked," he told her gently, tucking a dripping lock of hair behind her ear, "It's nothing that can't wait until you're in some dry clothes. Come on in."

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