I almost cried when I wrote the last sentence of this chapter, because it's the last sentence of Spiral Bound I'll ever write. There is, however, an (already written) epilogue still to come.

I'd also like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing, for your support and encouragement, and for sticking with me through 99 chapters. It means more to me than you'll ever know.

Watershed

Castle covered Kate's hand with his on his chest, held it in place, the contact reassuring, soothing after a long, cold day. The warmth of her touch infused his veins, reminding him that no matter what, he had her to come home to, her to curl up with in bed, a cocoon of warmth in which they could block out the day, descend into their own world.

He slowly released her hand, his touch traveling up her arm, over her shoulder, across her back, holding her to him. Kate came willingly, both hands and the journal trapped between them, and it was awkward and uncomfortable, but it was Castle, and he was warm and comforting, and she needed that.

"Rough day?" he asked softly, words traveling rapidly through the infinitely small space between them.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Anything in particular?"

Kate shrugged, shook her head uncertainly. She could tell he'd noticed this morning. She could tell by the way he'd been glancing over at her almost incessantly, the constant supply of coffee, the way his theories were more toned down than normal. He could tell something was bothering her, but he hadn't pressed, and for that she was thankful.

To be honest, she wasn't sure exactly what was bothering her. It wasn't the most frustrating case ever, not even the most obscene hour at which they'd been called in. It certainly wasn't the worst weather she'd experienced, though the fact that it was winter in April wasn't making her overly cheerful.

But the culmination of all of it, mixed with the stress of wedding planning and the upcoming performance reviews and the added pressure from Gates in light of said reviews, was catching up with her. It was exhausting.

"Not really," she offered finally, a far from perfect answer, but the best she could manage at this point. "Just everything lately, I think."

"It adds up," Castle agreed gently.

She hummed in response.

"Sleep?" he asked a moment later.

Kate shook her head. Despite the sluggishness of her thoughts, her movements, the day was still weighing heavily on her mind. She needed the distraction of his words, the memories and hope and promise contained within the confines of the notebook.

She needed him.

"Read more, then?" he probed, eager to help but not wanting to upset her further.

To his relief, she smiled, disentangled herself slightly to release her grip on the journal. Castle propped himself on one elbow next to her as she flipped through to the right page, and together, they spiraled back down into the beauty of their story.

Dear Kate,

I don't even know what to say.

Just over a year ago, you came to me having quit your job and walked away from your mother's case, the words "I just want you" spilling from your lips. Suddenly it's like that's not enough anymore, like we're not enough, and I don't know how to feel.

The selfish part of me wants to ask you to turn down the job offer and stay here in New York with me. I love you, and I love being with you. The good, the bad, all of it. I've enjoyed every minute and I don't want to give that up.

But I won't stop you, Kate. If this job is what you truly want, I won't get in your way. All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy, and if you truly feel that your happiness lies in DC with this new job, then you should accept the offer. But I can't lie and say it doesn't hurt.

I thought you loved me. You said the words yourself. Unless you just said them because you thought they'd be the last words you ever spoke to me. Either way, this entire ordeal breaks my heart, because when you said those words to me, I thought it meant you were serious. I thought you were in this. I never in a million years dreamed we'd be facing something like this.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that they offered you a job. You're amazing, and I'm sure you'd be successful there. It's a fantastic opportunity. But that doesn't mean you should have kept it from me. Even if it was just an interview, the fact remains that you flew to another city without telling me, for a job that, should you take it, would have enormous implications for our relationship. That's not love, in my book. To me, loving someone means including them in your decisions and considering how the outcome will affect them. It means we're an "us," not a "me." It should be "our life" now.

I guess I was wrong.

I want to be angry at you, Kate. I am. I'm furious. I don't know how the hell we're supposed to handle this, and I have no idea how I'm supposed to trust you again after this, because you lied. Multiple times. I guess it shouldn't surprise me. It's been a battle since the beginning to get you to open up to me. But I thought you understood that being in a relationship meant honesty. I may not be the best at relationships, but I sure as hell wouldn't have lied to you like you did to me. I'd have been truthful from the start. I'd have talked to you.

At the same time, my mother said something that made me realize I can't blame this all on you. She said it's unfair of me to expect you to make a decision with both of us in mind when neither of us knows where we stand as a couple. I've been operating under the assumption that we're solid, that we love each other and we're really in this. Hell, we've been in this for a year. She seemed to think that wasn't enough. She said I'm giving off the impression that I'm unsure about us and about whether we're going to work out. She said I've been holding back when it comes to you and me.

I hate to admit it, but she might be right.

So I've decided to stop holding back and lay my cards on the table. I don't want there to be any more doubts. Regardless of how this job offer plays out, I want you to know where I stand. Hell, I'd have flown to DC with you if you'd just told me from the start, because I think it's amazing that they think you're cut out for this job. I want to be there to support you in whatever lies ahead.

I love you, Kate. You're tenacious and you're hard-working and you're fabulous at your job, and it wouldn't be reasonable of me to expect you to never want bigger and better things for yourself. That drive and passion and work ethic is part of what made me fall in love with you, and it would be wrong of me to hold that against you, or to expect you to hold back in deference to me. That's who you are, and I don't expect that to change. I don't want it to.

What I do want, though, is to be with you, regardless of everything else. You are who you are and loving someone means accepting them the way they are, faults and all.

I don't exactly know where we went wrong or how we managed to fall apart so badly, but I don't want you to ever doubt my feelings for you. I love you, Kate. No matter what you decide, I want you to know I love you so much.

Rick

It had been nearly two years now. Two years since she'd accepted the job, prompting them to fight and yell and finally talk things out like two mature adults. Two years since the tears and the harsh words and them tearing each other's hearts out in an attempt to piece themselves back together.

How far they'd come since then.

Kate's gaze fell automatically to her left hand, to the finger that would soon be adorned by not one but two diamond rings. For all their stubbornness and poorly timed moments and enormous miscommunications in the past, she knew they were forever. Knew it without a doubt. Even if she'd stayed in DC, there was no way she'd ever have been as happy there as she was here in New York.

"Sometimes I still can't believe this is real," Kate murmured, the words falling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"What do you mean?"

"Here. Living together, about to get married. I mean, when we met..."

Castle chuckled at the memory.

"Even when we started dating," she recollected. "We were nowhere close to being ready for this."

"Mmmm, true," he agreed.

She nodded mildly, more to herself than to him.

"Then again, are any of us ever really ready for anything?" Castle queried. "Look what life's thrown at us. How could we ever have been ready for any of it?"

"You mean freezers?"

"And bombs."

"Rogue federal agents."

"Bank robberies."

"The Hudson River."

"The tiger."

They fell silent simultaneously, eyes searching each other's, before bursting into laughter at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. It was hard to believe, sometimes, that this was their life. That it was real, that they were here together, their hearts twined so inextricably.

"You know what I am ready for?" Castle asked once they calmed, the laughter fading into radiant smiles as they held each other's eyes lovingly.

"Bed?" Kate answered on a yawn.

"Well, that," he conceded, his hand falling from hers to her leg, running along the smooth skin until his fingers could slide beneath the hemline of her shorts, teasing the softness of her inner thigh. "And you."

Kate smirked, her own hand finding its way to his upper thigh, tracing the crease of his hip through the fabric of his boxers, and Castle couldn't help the jerk of his pelvis against the sensual feel of her touch through the softness of the silk. "You're always ready for me."

"You got that right."

"What else, Castle," she murmured, drawing them back to his original question.

"Hmmm?"

She raised her eyebrows, loving that she could still distract him so easily, even after all this time. But they had all night for distractions. First, she wanted to know what was on his mind.

"What were you actually going to say?"

His fingers stilled against her skin, eyes closing tightly as he forced himself to recall their conversation, already pushed from his mind by the feel of Kate's skin beneath his fingertips.

Castle blindly reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips to place a kiss on her knuckle, just above the shimmering symbol of their love, their forever, their always.

"This," he murmured against her skin, and her heart fluttered at the earnestness in his voice, the pure love in his clear blue eyes as he blinked them open, sought her gaze. "Whatever happens, whatever life throws at us, I'm ready to experience it with you."

Thoughts?