For Fembot.
Sleepless in Manhattan
Epilogue
She's a phoenix reborn from the ashes of a devastating past.
The good people of the twelfth precinct welcomed Detective Kate Beckett, back from her three month hiatus, with applause.
She's a fighter. A warrior. A tigress.
She's in love, and she's more beautiful for it.
The pink hues dusting her cheeks, hidden beneath the long wavy tresses – lighter from their time in the sun, couldn't hide from the adoring gaze of one Richard Castle. He watched as Kate walked to her desk, silently and gracefully accepting the greetings of her comrades with subtle nods. She needn't speak. Her eyes did that for her. She was grateful to be back among them, back home, amongst her family.
He stood leaning against the wall of the break-room, grateful himself for the chance to return – even if he did have to fight for it. He was glad that he gave her some space to readjust – reacclimatize – to her space.
With what seemed like the softest touch, her hand glided over the arm of his chair, over the edge of her desk, before it came to a stop on her chair. A brief pause – maybe a short prayer – she turned, and sat and looked up. It didn't take long for her to hone in to his location by the door. Their mysterious magnetic pull was well alive. She cocked her head, motioning him to his chair, a small close-lipped smile gracing her face.
The boys did well in guarding his place at the precinct. It may have been insubordination to their new Captain, or maybe she didn't even care. But it certainly was their subtle way of proving their loyalty, of their approval of him as part of their family. It may be a small gesture, but it wasn't. It wasn't small at all.
Their team reformed. The broken wings healed.
And just like that, they were back.
Castle and Beckett, and their boys.
What comes easy isn't worth it and what's worth it doesn't come easy.
Nothing about them was easy.
As far as Castle went, the complication, aptly dubbed 'Iron Gates', was definitely difficult. She was part of the rare species that made him doubt the potency of his charm, but he wasn't anything if not persistent. If he could scale Beckett's walls, he could climb over some high-rising Gates.
He didn't have much time to think about Gates, though. Things were back to usual, with Beckett getting the weird cases.
There was the real-life vigilante – who by the end of their investigation ended up being another budding cop with a troubled past. Kate could identify with her. Empathize and advice. Castle could empathize with the writer who had fallen in love.
"A writer and his muse, fighting crime, just like us," he said, standing next to her as they watched the young couple leave.
The younger writer and his muse locked lips, just as the elevator doors started to close.
He felt the heat creep up his cheek. Convenient timing. He turned his head to hers, unable to ignore the feeling of her gaze on his, and did a double-take, a little bit surprised to see the teasing purse of her lips, and the ever poignant raise of her eyebrow. Just like us?
He cleared his throat, proudly managing a fairly even, "So, tomorrow?"
"Mhmm," she hummed, casting him one last amused glance, before she turned to walk away.
He was glad. He was a patient man, but it took all his will power not to drag her to the nearest empty stairwell. Or supply closet. Or several other places that made it to his mental catalogue.
They had a case straight out of a sci-fi show that had Castle excited.
Over the years, Kate had come to love a lot of things about Castle. His childlike enthusiasm was one of his most endearing qualities. It was brought to the fore while investigating the case that involved decapitated heads being frozen for the future.
Another one of his endearing qualities was his fatherly concern and love for his daughter. Alexis had applied to Stanford. And even though the decision was hers to make, she came to Kate for advice. Advice that Kate was happy to give. That Castle trusted her to give, though it was not always what he wanted to hear. Kate was glad she could be there for the father-daughter duo in what was obviously an important and difficult time for them.
It was around this time that Kate also realized that his hope – the optimism that was so inherent to him, that came off him in waves – had spread and found their way to her.
"Wouldn't it be something if they reunited a hundred or even a thousand years from now?" Castle had asked her, the thought both whimsical and romantic to his writer mind.
"Well, anything's possible," Kate had replied. It was a far cry from what her reaction would have been back in the day - an eye-roll of exasperation, a glare of annoyance, or even a plain dismissal.
"You really believe that?" he asked, slightly surprised.
She realized that she did. "That's what the great love stories are about, right?" she said, taking his hand in hers, stroking her thumb over his. "Beating the odds?"
"I hope they make it," he said, managing to sound both light, and intense.
"Me too."
I hope we make it too.
Subtext. They shared an unspoken language that was just theirs.
As the weeks passed by quickly, Castle and Beckett learned even more about each other. Without pretenses and prejudices. Without needing to hold back.
Kate learned that Castle really considered the boys as part of his family, when he showed as much concern as she did, over the tough times that had befallen Ryan.
Castle learned that the scars Kate got, though healing, were not all gone. Though she would hesitate from time to time – as though she couldn't help it – she would ultimately be honest with him. She'd whisper it into his ear like a secret. Not a dirty little secret. Like a cherished one. I love you. She'd reaffirm, holding him close to her, breathing him in. And on his return, and reaffirmation, she'd smile a secret smile. I know.
Kate learned that Castle could sometimes be a bumbling idiot. She herself was a little bit jealous and a whole lot possessive. She subtly let Serena Kaye know what was hers. Fortunately the boys were oblivious to the fact that Kate had taken to standing a little too close to Castle, or glaring at Serena if she directed anything at Castle; or that Castle had maintained at least a six foot radius distance from Serena at all times. And then the realization struck her, that it didn't seem that out of norm. She'd just not paid attention to what it had seemed like to everyone. The boys weren't oblivious. Castle and Beckett were obvious.
Castle learned not to poke his hands in places where they aren't meant to be when not in the confines of their bedroom. "Cas-," Kate gasped. The sound so familiar to his ears, that he momentarily forgot what they were doing not-in-their-bed. "I said legs." What? He shook himself out of it. Later. "Oh, legs. Sorry." He wasn't sorry.
Kate learned she couldn't deny her need for him. Not when Trapper John threatened to paint a Jackson Pollock with her boyfriend's insides. Not when she had to go home to her boyfriend after promising him some alone time later if he helped Martha. Not when there was a chance of losing him. Losing her everything and always. Sometimes she felt guilty about selfishly letting him follow her around in her very dangerous job. She learned that he had a tendency of landing in danger anyway. They were better off together. Against everything the books said about negotiating with criminals and terrorists, Kate threatened to hunt Trapper John down and put a bullet through his skull. She would. Because Kate had accepted that she had the perfect partner – even though he didn't like doing paperwork. She did live up to her promise, and they ended up spending yet another night together. Intense moments where they both breathed each other in, exhaling the last of the dust that had almost taken away their future; turned seamlessly into intimate moments where they just held on to each other, held on to their salvaged future.
Castle learned that he couldn't fix all of her problems, no matter how badly he wanted to be the one to do so. He would always be there for her. When she ran away to the bottle – to the very thing that she had needed to save her father from – Castle ran after her. When she got hurt, Castle dressed her wounds with more gentleness than even he knew himself capable of. When she needed to dull the pain from the scar of her bullet, he stepped to the side, and let Esposito be the experienced healer. When she needed to dull the pain from her scars, he drove her to Dr. Burke. When she needed, Castle was there for her. And she recognized it. Said she owed him a hundred coffees. He said he'd settle for kisses. It was a debt she repaid happily.
Kate learned that they worked great as a team. That he was the yang to her yin. She learned that he wouldn't mind being hitched to her – in whichever sense of the term.
The whole team learned that being nauseatingly in love was not too bad. That Esposito loved his donuts. And that Ryan hated that he couldn't love them, out of love.
Castle learned that he could be blinded by his loyalty, and that sometimes that wasn't a good thing. But he also learned that the-job-is-everything-Beckett was loyal to him.
Kate learned to let go of her insecurities. When Sophia tried to insinuate that their romance would fizzle out, she was trying and failing at instigating her. Sophia was in for a rude surprise when Kate and Castle walked in, mouths fused, hand in hand – and kind of hand-on-woman – to his bedroom at the loft. And then she had underestimated them – the simple NYPD–just NY team lead to her downfall.
Castle learned that Kate would humor his mother for his sake. They were a package. He never had a doubt that she saw them as her family.
Kate learned that for all the taunts aimed Castle aimed at Martha, he loved her very much. Enough to read chic-lit.
Castle learned that secrets, like bombs, do explode. He was glad that he came clean to her about Smith. Even more so that she headed his pleas about stepping back. Investing together, but safely, and only once she was fully healed – Scars, PTSD, and all.
Kate learned that while Castle's jealousy over devilishly handsome Colin Hunt was cute, it was unfounded. She had eyes – and heart – just for Castle.
Castle learned that Kate, though half the size of Detective Ethan Slaughter, was ten times the person. She could protect herself. And she could protect him. I'm going to marry her someday.
Kate learned that she was ready. To tear down her walls that for so many years had trapped her soul. She realized that Castle was ready, too. For all his openness, he was as well-guarded as she. But it was time to cross the lines they'd been toeing anyway, and meet where their lifelines had finally united.
And when the case came that could potentially rip them apart, they were at the point that that was impossible. Kate and Castle were in love for a good four years. Who fell for whom first was up for debate. Whether it happened insidiously like the slow trail of an inevitable journey, or whether it happened suddenly like an epiphany; it had happened.
Castle, who had been there for the maddening, challenging, frustrating person that was Kate Beckett, continued to make his stand beside her. He brought her coffee every morning just to see a smile on her face. What was the cost of a coffee to him? Not even that much of an effort. But it was their thing. It always had been. It was a ritual of their love. She never took it for granted.
Kate knew that though it still felt sometimes like she was giving up control over the case that made her what she is today, that wasn't what it really was. She was sharing the burden. It was something that she had to learn to do, with Castle's help. But his unwavering faith in her abilities – in her – removed all doubt from her mind that it was the right thing to do.
A long time ago, she'd confessed to him that she wouldn't have caught the man who killed her mother if it hadn't been for him. She'd told him then that someday she would catch the man who had her mother killed – and that she would want Castle there when she did. Little did she know how big a role he would end up playing.
They didn't quite catch the man responsible for destroying Kate's family. But they learned his name. Senator William Bracken. They got – in a manner of speaking – the man who shot Kate. It was good that he'd been incinerated to ashes before Castle had a chance to do anything that would jeopardize or taint their future because he was angry enough to have tried. Bracken still held an upper hand. He threatened Kate's family – the people she loved. It was a dumb thing to do, and she let him know as much. She left him a scar on his face. The face that he showed to the public – the lies that he spewed and people he fooled. She told him that she was done being afraid. It was his turn now.
Kate knew that it was a dangerous game. Her threat hinging on the scraps of salvaged paper that once carried significance – that Montgomery gave his life to save.
You don't make a deal with the devil and say you were only kidding.
But she wasn't kidding.
And she believed, thanks in no little measure to Richard Castle, that good would triumph over evil.
Castle and Beckett had a future to fight for.
AN: There you have it. Now marked complete. I hope you guys enjoyed that. Thanks for reading. Until next time!