For notes and disclaimer, please see part one. This was not the original Chapter 40... but it's the new Chapter 40, for those of you who may have been keeping score on LiveJournal.

Dedicated to my dear friend Cindy Ryan, who has had an up and down 2010. Wishing you light and happiness and hope for 2011, Cindy. You deserve it. Much love from Tennessee.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Casey makes it home for Christmas after all. Ellie's gift to Casey is a knife, for what-if moments, so he'll always come home to her. And he finally confesses aloud, in something permanent, that he loves Ellie.

Year in Review

She eased out into the cold night air. Even California could be downright frigid in late December. It was sort of that odd downtime, between Christmas and New Year's, when stores left the Santas and trees up, hoping to lure in a few more customers and sell a few more unnecessary items. It was a holiday that desperately clung to the calendar, killing those final days in the year.

She guessed she should be thinking of resolutions. If not resolutions, at least some kind of new plan for her moderately insane life. It was hard to do at the moment, however. She was in an odd holding pattern as she waited for her divorce to be finalized. It was like she was stuck in limbo, in purgatory.

While there were things about Devon she missed and she guessed, somewhere, somehow, parts of her would always wish him well and hope that he was happy, safe, and "awesomely" healthy, she couldn't' dwell on the alternate realities that liked to creep into her mind when she wasn't paying attention. After all, Casey had already warned her about the dreaded what-ifs.

She fingered the locket at her neck. She hadn't changed the photo within yet. It was silly-Chuck had already lovingly harassed her for carrying the picture of Downy but the calico was like her child. Plus, she didn't actually have a photo of Casey. The Marine managed to stealthily avoid cameras all night at Halloween, and he even dodged the family candids at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The picture she had for his caller-ID on her phone was blurry, and he was wearing that infernal green polo. It wasn't exactly the kind of shot she wanted protected and encased in the gold token of his love and affection.

His love...

She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. Even when he wasn't there physically, wrapping her up in his arms, it certainly felt like he was there, providing warmth and comfort, protection from the night's chill.

When she opened her eyes again, she realized maybe she didn't need a plan. She just needed to go with it. After all, it had brought her this far. It had brought them together.

Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned, seeing a familiar calico face peering out at her through the window. Well, not having a plan and adopting a cat.

Casey sat in the dimly lit Castle, working on his end of year reports. It had seemed to take forever and no time at all, the year 2010. The perils of getting older, he guessed. The year had been tremendous for him, beyond his expectations and more outrageous than even his wildest dreams.

John Casey, consummate bachelor, the ultimate lone wolf... wasn't exactly either of those things anymore. He had a daughter. Sharp, smart. Alex was the spitting image of her mother at that age but she had a unique personality, a sense of humor that was all her own. While he couldn't imagine welcoming a long-thought deceased father into his life, she'd managed to do so with a grace and poise that... well, it reminded him of Ellie.

Ellie, who welcomed her own father in after years of his self-imposed separation. Ellie, who mourned Stephen's death in such a painful way.

He ran a hand over his face. It had hurt him, seeing her suffer like that, in ways he never knew possible. He'd always been so careful, to try to keep his emotions restrained, stored in boxes and buried deep in the dark recesses of his inky soul.

It wasn't working anymore. The locks had been destroyed, the lids lost to time. The feelings he'd long tried to restrain ran free. He was a different man now. He liked to think he was a better man, because of Ellie, because of Alex, because of Downy. He felt more whole because of them.

It may not have been the best path, the path of least resistance. He may not have always made the right decisions-hindsight was always 20/20. But none of that mattered. What he cared about now was his family-his daughter, his cat... and the woman he adored. His life, usually a murky place was filled, for the first time, with light and happiness and hope.

And now, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Stay tuned...