THREE DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Kate Beckett's funeral is held on an overcast day, in the same cemetery where her mother is buried, three days after she takes a bullet to the heart. It's a police funeral, but the presence of uniformed officers is not overwhelming; everyone on the homicide floor at the 12th turns up, along with a few friends from robbery and narcotics. Esposito, Ryan, Lanie, Gates, Jim and Alexis carry her coffin; Castle's hands were shaking so badly that his daughter had to step in for him. He can't help but admire her strength. Only months ago she experienced something so traumatic that even Castle still has nightmares about it, yet today she was the one who dragged her father out of bed, made him eat something for the first time in three days, and told him to put his suit on and get into the car.
He remembers how much Kate loved Alexis too and his heart feels like it is tearing apart with grief.
It is Esposito's eulogy that brings him back into the present. The dark-haired man stands tall in front of the crowd, sorrow reflected in his eyes. "Kate was my sister, part of my family," he begins, his voice soft but clear, "and I loved her. She could find hope in the worse things, and in this job, you see the worst things every day." Javier pauses and closes his eyes for a moment before continuing. "She was selfless and kind and strong, and although she has been taken from us too early, we will never forget her. Goodbye for now, Kate," his voice breaks but he doesn't flinch, "you will be missed."
Castle doesn't remember much else until the end, when people are milling around, talking quietly and starting to leave. He feels a tough on his shoulder and turns to see Esposito, and welcomes the bone-crushing hug. Afterwards Castle looks his friend in the eye and says only one sentence, the only thing he will say all day.
"I'm going to take Bracken down."
ONE WEEK AFTER THE SHOOTING
Beckett thinks she may be going insane.
It's been four days since she woke up and Jordan Shaw told her that the FBI had faked her death as a way to throw the killer off her trail, four days since her friends and family held a funeral for her, four days of pain and being unable to move from the hospital bed. She can tell that this is different from the last time she was shot; this time there is structural damage to her heart, not too major, but enough to give her occasional shooting pains across her chest that leave her gasping for each breath. It will be some time before she'll be able to move without pain, and the healing will take months, but the doctor expects a full recovery.
Appropriate, she thinks, for her to have a broken heart when Castle's heart has been broken too.
She misses him and all of the little things they do for each other; the daily coffee he prepares with such care, the way he smile when she wakes him with a kiss. She hadn't realised just how integrated their lives had become. Perhaps the marriage proposal was the next logical step, Kate thinks ruefully.
She argued with Jordan for what felt like hours, but eventually had to give in. Someone wanted her dead and the odds were that next time they would succeed, or worse, target the people she loves to draw her out. The FBI had been investigating some shadowy dealings that seemed to be linked to a certain Senator Bracken, and when some inconsistencies arose that seemed to link Kate Beckett to Bracken, Jordan Shaw had taken an interest. While Beckett's first shooting had been attributed to old enemies of Roy Montgomery, the second was too much of a coincidence for Shaw. She'd made the call to fake Beckett's death and find out what was happening, with her friend out of harm's way.
Kate could tell that the days between the shooting and her waking up had been tense; the doctors say things like 'cardiac arrest' and 'drug-induced coma'. Jordan hasn't told her anything significant yet, but she knows that soon she will be asked to tell them what she knows about Bracken. She is torn about what to do; Bracken knows about Castle, Ryan and Espo, everyone else that she loves. She may be in protective custody but they aren't, and Kate knows too well that Bracken will not hesitate to order the murder of anyone who stands in his way, or their loved ones.
She spends the next day crying and thinking about her mother. And when Jordan comes, the same determination for justice burning in her eyes that Kate sometimes sees when she looks in the mirror, Kate asks her where she wants to begin. Jordan and her FBI colleagues leave three hours later with a growing case file on Senator William H Bracken and his atrocities, leaving Kate to close her eyes and fall into an exhausted sleep.
ONE MONTH AFTER THE SHOOTING
It's taken time, and Esposito's help. And a lot of money, but that's not an issue when you're Richard Castle, millionaire. He has found someone willing, with the connections to take on a job as one of Bracken's hired goons. The men that the good Senator pays to do his dirty work. However this time, this man will be reporting back to Castle.
At first he wanted nothing more than to kill the man who took her away from him, but that has been replaced by the determination to take Bracken down the proper way – through the justice system. It's what Kate would have wanted, what she was doing when she saved Bracken from the car bomb. Castle had never quite understood how she could do it; now, he decides to do it the right way for her. So he plans it all out, tries to find a way to gather enough evidence to bury Bracken forever.
He never imagines that Kate could be alive, that she is working with the FBI to destroy Bracken with the same fierce determination that he has, and that she thinks of him as much as he thinks of her. Love and revenge are powerful motivators, and Castle has never felt so motivated in his life.
He knows that William Bracken is going to pay. The dragon will be slaughtered. It's only a matter of time.