Martha Rogers walks down the stairs from her room in the Castle loft. She quickly glances around the living room making sure that she is not going to interrupt some amorous adventure her son is engaged in.

Last night, before retiring for the evening, she heard someone enter the front door then voices emanating from the main floor of the loft. One was the voices was that of her son and one was a female voice she did not recognize. She did not hear the complete conversation, but she knew from a few of the words spoken where it was headed.

In the last few years he was dedicated to one woman and one woman only but now he is without her company. It appears that he has returned to his prior actions. In years past it was not uncommon for him to bring a new lady friend home from time to time for a new adventure. It appears from what her ears told her, he must have returned to his old ways.

She enters the kitchen to discover that he had already been up and made the coffee. She pours herself a cup and sits down at the counter. She notices that the morning paper has already been picked up and sat on the counter. Picking it up, she sees the photograph from the night before. Smiling at the great picture of all of Richard's friends she quickly notices that there is a new woman in the midst of the other more familiar faces.

She smiles and thinks to herself "Well Richard, you have finally moved on" Then she hears her son's voice coming from his room

"Good morning mother"

"Good morning Richard. You seem happy this morning"

"I slept very well last night, mother, thank you"

"Are you sure it is from sleeping or what you did instead of sleeping?"

"What are you talking about?"

Picking up the paper, Martha continues using all the stage flair she can muster "I see by the picture in the paper that a new woman is in your life"

Castle takes the paper from her and glances at the photo again "No, mother. They took this picture last night with all the guys from the station. Crystal is Beckett's replacement. We were all just getting together to visit. The reporter took it upon himself to jump to conclusions"

"Richard, last night I heard you and a woman downstairs and so I assumed that you two were…well you know?"

"Yes mother I know what you were thinking. But nothing happened. In fact she was a little too pushy. I mean. After all, I just met her yesterday and she wanted to…"

Castle's eyes drift toward his room and he stops talking. All his mind can handle was thinking about the last time that he and Kate were alone in that room and wishing she were here right now. He turns back and looks back at his mother

"It's just too soon, mother Right now I am not interested in having another girlfriend just so I could loose her too"

"Dear boy, I know you're hurting, but you can not just keep moping over her. It has been 6 months. Son, she is GONE. She left you for a job. And based upon those actions I would say that she never did belong to you. She was never yours to loose. She was only using you to satisfy some animal need of hers until something better came along. And in this case, the something better was in Washington and not here with you"

"But mother…"

"Richard! Please son. Stop thinking about her! She is gone now. Move on dear boy before you sink any deeper into depression"

"All right mother. I get it. You're right. I do need to move on. It's just a little too soon. But I promise that I will. Crystal is a pretty lady, but last night just seemed a little too soon for where she wanted to take us."

So, are you going to make her your next muse?"

"I was going to end Nikki, but I think I might just substitute Crystal for Beckett and keep it going"

"You never know where things will go son. Who knows, maybe she will be the replacement that you really need for Kate…in more ways than just one"

When the lady behind the counter calls Kate's number, she takes her breakfast order and instead of eating it here she decides to return to her apartment. She can eat it alone in her apartment as easy as she could eat alone in the café.

She steps thru the door to her apartment and drops her meal on the counter. She has actually lost her appetite since seeing the photograph in the paper this morning.

Sitting on the bar stool she looks around again at the empty room. The room where she and the love of her life had their final argument. Oh if there were something she could have done to make it different, she would. But she had no choice. She was not given a choice. HE gave her no choice.

HE said, either she leaves New York or everyone she 'cared about' would pay the price.

She stands up and walks around the living room then drops down on her couch. She looks at all the boxes of her clothes that Castle had returned to her place.

Looking a these boxes reminds her how far she and Rick had gone in the relationship. She had virtually moved in with Castle without either one discussing the move. She accepted that he opened his place for her to call home. She knew that he had no doubts about her feelings about them and the relationship.

And why did I even doubt his commitment to me she thought? He was willing to die with me instead of letting me be blown up alone on that bomb.

Neither one of us ever said out loud about what we felt. We only communicated in code and secret handshakes. She smiles thinking about the handshakes they once used as subtext for a secret kiss

She looks down at her hand then up to her wrist where she wears the gold bracelet he bought her. She rarely takes it off now. It is the only ounce of reality tying her back to his love for her. It is a beautiful bracelet that he finally presented to her after he let two special occasions go ungifted. Christmas and a failed Valentine's Day surprise.

Valentine's Day for her was so important. Her gift to him was a drawer in her dresser. Oh yeah. That first major step on her part to bring them to the next level in the relationship. That night he put his things in that drawer. The first man to have that honor

She walks into her bedroom and stops and stares at the dresser. That drawer is closed. She is positive that he has cleaned it out. Taken all of his things from there and left it empty. Empty as her heart is about the love from him that she has lost forever.

Slowly she steps up and places her fingers on the handle. Fear prevails and she cannot will her hand to pull open the drawer. She believes that by finding it empty it will be the absolute last evidence that he is gone and their relationship is totally over.

She closes her eyes and pulls. The sound of wood dragging on wood is all she hears as the rails pull against one another. When she feels the drawer stop moving she opens her eyes.

She looks down expecting to see nothing but the bottom of an empty wooden box.

But it is not empty. There are no clothes there. There is no comb or hair brush. There is no toothbrush or cologne.

There is a note lying in the bottom of the drawer.

On top of the note is one other small item

The handwritten note says

"This belongs to you"

ALWAYS

Katherine Beckett falls on the floor

She must make this right. Somehow she has to fix this