"You know, we're going to have the house to ourselves this weekend," Castle hums, as he walks down the alley to find their murder victim with Beckett by his side.

"Oh, I live with you now?" Beckett smirks, pulling on her latex gloves.

"What I meant was, Mother will be gone doing…whatever it is she's doing and Alexis will be away for her graduation retreat…"

"How's her speech coming?"

He shrugs. "She's struggling a bit, but anyway, with everyone gone, I thought you could come over and we could finally have that John Woo marathon we've been talking about as well as another more aerobic type of marathon."

"Castle, I really don't think you're in shape enough to run 27 miles."

He glares at her and she laughs, her whole face lighting up. "Yeah, yeah okay I'll come have sex with you all weekend."

"Offer withdrawn," he huffs, walking in front of her.

She pulls on his shirt to stop him, reaching up to whisper in his ear. "You sure about that?"

"I uh, what? No," Castle stammers.

She laughs again, shaking her head. "So Lanie, what have we got?"

He watches her pace back and forth in the hallway of the precinct with Esposito and Ryan on either side of him. He wants to reach out and comfort her, but their relationship is still a secret. Maybe now would be a good time to tell them…

"They're connected," she mumbles again for like the fifth time.

"We don't know that," Esposito tries to tell her.

"What other important information would Montgomery have that someone would want to steal?" she asks, continuing to pace.

"He got himself involved into some pretty shady stuff," Ryan says. "We don't know that this file is connected to your mother."

"It has to be," Beckett says under her breath. "It has to be."

"Do you really want to get mixed up in all of this again?" Castle asks, cautiously. "Because you got shot the last time –"

"I haven't solved it yet. I still don't know who it is who hired a hit on me or my mother. If Costas is another lead, I have to chase after it."

"Kate, we've talked about this. It's a suicide mission."

The boys exchange a glance at his use of her first name, but Castle ignores them.

"We don't even know what we have here, Castle. There's nothing for me to back down from yet."

"I, uh, I might have something," Ryan interrupts, waving his phone in the air. "The DNA from under Costas' fingernails came back and there was a match to another case in the system."

"Which case?" Beckett asks.

Ryan clears his throat. "Yours."

"What?" she and Castle ask in unison.

"The man who shot Costas is the same man who shot you."

"You have got to back off. Now."

They're sitting in her apartment and she's poring over her mother's case files, refusing to listen to him.

"Kate, are you even listening to me?" he asks again.

"I'm not backing off, Castle. Not when we're this close."

"You promised me that when this case crossed our path again, if I thought you were getting in over your head, you would back off if I asked you to. Well I'm asking."

"No," she says, flipping over a page in the file. "This man tried to kill me. I'm not going to let him get away with it."

"Well the man I told you about? The one who told me to get you to stop digging? He called me again. He's concerned for your safety and so am I. This guy is dangerous, Kate. Back. Off."

"I know what I'm doing, Castle."

"No. You don't."

He just wants to grab her and shake her to get her to listen. Not in a violent way of course, but she's being so damn frustrating. She has a huge blind spot when it comes to this case and she absolutely refuses to turn around and see it.

"Yes, I do. I can handle my own."

"You keep saying that –"

"Because it's true. I can't just sit back and let this guy get away."

"I'm begging you, don't do this. Don't go after him."

"Why are you so against this? I chase down criminals every day, how is this any different?"

"Why?" he starts, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Do you even realize how hard I have fallen in love with you? How much you mean to me? I think you are the most remarkable, maddening, challenging, frustrating person I've ever met. And I love you, Kate, and if that means anything to you, if you care about me at all, just don't do this."

Beckett stands up from her chair and moves over to him, cupping his face in her hands.

"I have to do this. And if you care about me at all, you'll let me."

He brings his hands up to hold her wrists, his eyes slipping closed as she strokes his cheeks with her thumbs.

"I can't just sit back and watch you get killed."

"So then come with me. Have my back, just like you always do."

"No, you need to bring the boys. They can shoot a gun, I'm just dead weight."

She places a kiss to his temple. "Do I need to you remind you about how many times you've saved my life?"

"This is different."

"Babe," she starts, not even realizing she was about to call him by a pet name until it's out of her mouth. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not going to get you to stop, am I?"

Beckett shakes her head, standing back away from him.

"I'm not happy about this," Castle says softly.

"I know."

She holds his gaze until her phone rings and Esposito tells her they have eyes on the guy: Cole Maddox. "I love you" is the last thing she tells him before she turns to leave. It's the first time she's ever said it to him, and deep down he fears it's going to be her last.

He can't focus on Alexis's graduation speech. Something about finding north stars and solid ground and wow did she really just say "always" or was he hearing things? He's sure it's lovely and he'll ask her to read it again to him later because right now he can only focus on the fact that he hasn't heard back from Beckett since she left to go take down Maddox. He's left her three voicemails and several frantic texts, none of which has returned a response. Castle finds himself checking his phone every other minute. If Maddox got to her –

"Richard, is everything all right?" Martha asks in a hushed tone.

"It's Kate. I think she's in trouble."

He glances over at the empty seat next to him; the one she was supposed to be sitting in.

"Oh she probably just got wrapped up at work," Martha says, trying to brush it off as nothing.

"She went after the man who shot her."

Martha reaches out and grabs her son's hand. She starts to say something else, but realizes she has no idea what to say.

He's a nervous wreck by the time he finally hears a knock at the front door. Martha had offered to stay with him, as had Alexis, but he told them to go ahead and keep their plans. He was going to be fine, and hopefully so would Beckett.

Castle opens the door and she's there staring up at him. She's soaking wet from the storm, but otherwise looks unharmed.

"Thank god," he breathes into her hair as she flings herself into his arms.

She starts crying, her body shaking with the force of her sobs as she clings to him.

"I was so worried," he tells her, his hands fisting at the back of her wet jacket. "I didn't hear from you and I thought the worst. I felt so sick, Kate. Don't ever do anything like that again."

Beckett buries herself deeper into his chest.

"Come on," Castle starts, leading her toward the bedroom. "Let's get you some dry clothes and you can tell me what happened."

She's stolen his clothes enough times by now that she knows exactly where to go to find a pair of his boxers and her favorite sweatshirt of his. Castle goes into the bathroom to get her a towel for her hair while she changes. They crawl into bed together and she clings to him, still shaking from a combination of nerves and the cold rain.

"What happened?" he asks, pulling her against him as tight as he can.

"Ryan wouldn't come with us," she says softly. "He, like you, thought it was too dangerous."

"Smart man."

Beckett coughs and he shifts to get her a blanket. He doesn't want her to catch pneumonia or something.

"Espo and I went after him. Maddox knocked him unconscious and I chased him up to the roof. We fought."

She lifts the hem of the sweatshirt, revealing big purple bruises that are already starting to form. Castle traces a hand over them and she inhales a sharp breath at the contact.

"Please tell me you got that son of a bitch," Castle hisses, hating seeing her hurt like this.

Beckett shakes her head, falling back into his embrace. "He threw me off the edge of the building and he got away."

"He threw you off a building?"

"I caught the edge of it. I don't know how long I was hanging there until Ryan and Gates found me, but I had already lost the grip of one of my hands when they got there."

Castle pulls her hands to his mouth and makes a point to kiss each of her knuckles as she keeps talking.

"Castle, I almost I died. And all I could think about was you. When Ryan got there and I heard his voice calling my name, I thought it was you. He sounded just like you because I couldn't get you out of my head. I couldn't let that 'I love you' be the last thing I ever said to you. I should've listened to you. I'm so sorry."

She starts sobbing again, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

"I'm just glad you're okay," he tells her, tangling his fingers into her wet hair. "I thought I'd lost you again. You've had way too many near death experiences this year. You really need to cut back."

Beckett makes a sound that's a cross between a hiccup and a laugh.

"Espo and I got suspended," she says softly.

"Gates suspended you for almost dying?"

"For not following orders." She tries to snuggle into him more. "It wasn't worth it. Nothing was accomplished by chasing after him. How could I have been so stupid?"

"You're a woman on a mission. You just want answers, and I don't blame for you for that. Your methods of getting these answers however…"

She groans, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders as she starts coughing again.

"But hey if you're suspended, we have plenty of time to train for that marathon."

Beckett looks at him in confusion until she catches onto his innuendo and kisses him.

"I do love you, Castle."

He rests his forehead against hers. "I love you too."

AN: Hey all! Thank you guys for being patient with me and for all of your congratulatory words! Graduation is tomorrow. It's so crazy, I can't believe it. I think the next chapter might be the last, because I have another Castle fic I really want to start. Hope you all stick around for it!