A/N: I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter, but it has been a busy week. Thank you so much for all your feedback. I really enjoy reading all your messages and reviews and they just make me want to be a better writer. Really.

Disclaimer: Castle is not mine, otherwise they would be making babies already.

At the end of the tunnel

Chapter 7

"Rick!"

He turned around and smiled when he saw Alex running towards him. He bent down and reached out his arms to pick up the boy before he could crash into his legs. Scooping him up onto his hip, Rick offered his fist for Alex to bump his with. It had been a week since he had last seen the four-year-old (and his mother), but Kate had been busy finalizing the last details on renting the new apartment. It was the following Saturday and she had called him and asked if he was up to do some heavy lifting to help her move in.

"Hey, buddy. What are you doing out here?" He asked, ruffling the boy's hair playfully, eliciting a giggle. "Where's your mom?"

"She's right over there with Uncle Javi. We're moving to a new apartment today." Alex explained and pointed towards a blue van a few feet away. "I'm helping." He added proudly and Rick chuckled.

"Yeah? What are you helping with?" He grinned at the boy and started in the direction Alex had pointed toward. Before he could answer, though, they reached the back of the car and Rick couldn't contain the smile when he saw her.

What could he say, he had missed her a lot these past few days.

"Mommy, look who I found." Alex exclaimed excitedly, making Kate turn around startled.

"Hey." He said softly, aware that the Hispanic guy that was with her was looking at him curiously. She smiled when their eyes met, but frowned when she realized Alex was in his arms.

"Hey." She touched his arm gently and turned to Alex. "What have I told you about wandering off, young man?" She told her son sternly and Rick was suddenly grateful it was him who had found the boy and not someone else. "You can't just run away without asking me, you know that, sweetie." She touched his cheek and brushed his hair away from his eyes.

"Sorry, mommy. I just wanted to say hi to Rick." Alex apologized sheepishly. "I won't do it again, I promise."

"You'd better not." She pinched his nose playfully with a grin and turned back to Rick. "Thanks for coming. And for finding this little guy." She told him with a small smile and Rick had to fight the urge to pull her into his arms.

"My pleasure, Kate." He told her, a smile tugging his lips up.

"Beckett, where should I put this?" His attention was turned to the Hispanic guy next to Kate, who was holding a big box. Kate turned back to him.

"Oh, Espo, this is my friend Rick Castle." She introduced him, smiling when Alex laid his head on Rick's shoulder, his small hand playing with Rick's collar absentmindedly. "Rick, this is my partner, Detective Javier Esposito.

"Nice to meet you, detective." Rick offered his hand for the other man to shake, adjusting Alex more securely to his side.

"You too, man." The detective shook his hand firmly, balancing the box precariously with one arm. "Beckett?"

"My room, Espo." She told him with an amused roll of her eyes. "We'll be right up." She reassured him when he looked back unsure. Once he had entered the building, she turned back to Rick. "Hi." She smiled at him happily, wrapping her hand around his. He pulled on her hand, tugging her to his side.

"Hi." He whispered, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Missed you." He added, nuzzling her ear.

"Missed you too." She smiled up at him, brushing her lips against his cheek. "Ready to do some heavy lifting?"

"Just point me in the right direction." He said, setting Alex on the ground again. "Alex will help me, right, buddy?" He nudged his shoulder and the dark haired boy nodded excitedly.

"Alright, boys, let's get to work." She shook her head at them, amused, and pointed out a box to Rick, while picking one up herself. "Come on."

"So, Becks," Ryan interrupted her thoughts in the kitchen a few hours later.

They had finally finished moving everything into her new apartment, and had ordered pizza in. Rick was in the living room with the kids and Esposito, listening intently to a story the detective was telling. Alex was sprawled against his side, asleep, after the excitement of moving in, and she knew Olivia wouldn't be far behind.

"Yeah?"

"This new friend of yours…" He started, looking back into the living room, making sure Rick was distracted. "What's the deal with him?"

"We met a couple of months ago. He's a good guy." She told him and opened the fridge to get a bottle of water, hoping he would just leave it at that.

"Is he treating you good?" He accepted the bottle she offered him, taking a sip, while she did the same from hers. "Do we need to have that talk with him?" He lifted an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes, capping her bottle.

"There's no reason to do that. I told you, he's a good guy."

"It's just that…" He took a deep breath before continuing. "We don't want to see you hurt again, Becks. That's all. I know it's none of our business." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and she gave him a small smile.

"Really, you guys have nothing to worry about." She touched his arm reassuringly and he nodded. "But thanks." She said just as the doorbell rang. She offered him another smile, before grabbing her wallet from the counter and making her way to the door. She stopped when she saw Rick was already closing it, pizza boxes in hand.

"It's on me." He told her with a small smile, apparently knowing she was about to complain. "You can pay next time." He nudged her side and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Come on, everyone is waiting."

A couple of hours later, Kate and Rick sat on the floor, backs against the wall, staring at the still mostly empty living room. She would have to buy new furniture since almost everything she had at the old apartment was Jake's and she had gotten rid of the furniture of her other apartment years ago. For now, she had a TV for the kids and a few chairs. Alex and Olivia were sleeping in the same room tonight in the one bed she had brought from Jake's and she had an air mattress to sleep on. She knew it was going to be hard for a while, but it was better than staying in that place where she no longer called it a home. She would have to tap into her trust fund once again to do some basic decorating in her new apartment, but that could wait until her next day off.

For now, she was happy to be finally away from that godforsaken place, and, most importantly, away from Jake. Things had been getting increasingly worse and strained between them ever since he found out about Rick's existence. She never told him what kind of relationship she had with Rick, only said he was a friend and that it was none of his business. Even though it was really hypocritical of him to even accuse her of having an affair, she hoped he wouldn't make a big deal out of it when they finalized the details of their divorce.

"You're quiet." Rick commented, his arm pressed against hers. She turned her head to look at him and smiled when he took her hand in his, entwining their fingers.

"I'm just glad I'm finally here with the kids." She told him, resting her head on his shoulder, allowing her body to lean more fully against his side. Now that she was starting to relax, exhaustion was making its presence known. "Thanks for coming today." She rubbed her cheek sleepily against his shoulder and felt his arm moving to settle around her.

"You're welcome." He kissed her hair, lingering for a moment. "Your partners gave me a hard time earlier, you know?" He chuckled when she looked up at him, surprised.

"You're kidding." She hoped, but he shook his head. She let her head fall to his shoulder again, covering her face with her hands. "I told them not to do it, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Kate. They're just looking out for you. I get it." He kissed her hair again, pulling her closer to his side. "It's good that you have friends like them who care about you."

"They tend to get a little overprotective sometimes. Since I'm the only girl on the team and all." Her hands traced circles on his jean clad thigh distractedly. "Especially with everything that's been going on with Jake."

"I know. They were nice about it, though. Didn't ask anything specific. Just told me to treat you right and take good care of you." He assured her, wrapping her small hand in his and bringing it to his lips. "And I told them I will. Cause I care too much about you not to." He added after a moment. She smiled and squeezed his hand.

"Right back at you."

She leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth. They had been trying their hardest to keep their relationship platonic, but there were times that physical contact was impossible to avoid, such as now. He cradled her cheek, his hand pushing her hair behind her ear, before pressing his lips to hers a little more firmly. She allowed herself to revel in it for a couple of minutes, keeping it chaste for the most part, and sighed contentedly, before pulling away. Resting her forehead against his cheek, Kate smiled when she felt his lips touch her temple.

"We're supposed to settle the divorce this week. Did I tell you that?" She broke the silence after a few minutes.

"No, you didn't. When?" He asked, running his fingers lightly up and down her arm, making her sigh happily. She was always like this around him these days.

He made her happy.

"Thursday morning." She settled against his side more comfortably. "Then it'll all be over. Hopefully."

"How's he been at home? He didn't hurt you anymore, right?" He questioned and she shook her head.

"He still thinks I'm cheating on him with you, which makes both me and him hypocrites, I guess. I saw him with his bimbo the other day near the courthouse. I don't feel right doing this, but…" She let out a breath and bit her lip.

"But…?" He prompted and she gave him a small smile.

"I can't help it. This?" She gestured between them. "It's stronger than me. Than us, I guess." She shrugged and he kissed her temple again.

"Kate, I don't want you to be uncomfortable. I told you, if you want me to back off, if you want space…"

"I know, Rick. I know. That's exactly the problem." She pulled away slightly, touching his cheek with her hand, her thumb caressing the skin under his eye. "I don't want you to." She told him before touching his lips with hers. "I guess it's that connection you used to talk so much about when we met." She teased and he chuckled, pulling her in for another kiss. "I like you. Too much to back away now, you know?"

"I like you too. A lot, Kate. So much that it scares me sometimes." He confessed and she smiled softly, caressing the shell of his ear. "But I want to do this right. And I know you do too."

"I do." She sighed again, nuzzling his cheek, placing a kiss to his jaw. "Guess we'll just have to settle for this for now. Stolen moments." She burrowed her face into the crook of his neck as he pulled her closer, pulling her legs over his.

"We'll figure it out." He whispered in her ear, running his lips over her cheek, trailing down to her jaw. "We'll be okay."

Thursday morning rolled around before Kate had time to prepare herself for it. She woke up early after a night of rolling around in bed, dozing off a few times only to wake up with a gasp by some twisted dream her subconscious had managed to conjure up. Now she felt exhausted and, as much as she trusted that everything would be okay and that her turmoil would finally end, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

The meeting was scheduled for 10am and Kate was out of bed by six, unable to sleep anymore. She made herself a cup of coffee and took a shower before waking the kids up for school. After dropping Olivia and Alex off, she came back home to get ready for the meeting. She decided to wear black slacks and a fitted white button down shirt with a nice suit jacket over it and her favorite power heels completed the ensemble. She needed to feel good, to feel powerful, in order to get through this morning.

When she got to Garrett Bishop's office, her lawyer was already there waiting for her and they had to wait another twenty minutes until Jake showed up with his own lawyer. They sat down at a conference room, Kate and her lawyer at one side and Jake and his lawyer – who Kate recognized as one of his buddies – on the other. Mr. Bishop exposed the case, presenting the documents for Jake to sign, allowing his lawyer to look them over.

"Are you in agreement with this deal, Mr. Caldwell?" Mr. Bishop asked after a few minutes and Jake shook his head with a humorless laugh.

"Well, I don't even want to get divorced in the first place, so I think we can all agree that this is completely against my will." He informed and Kate had to close her hands in tight fists to keep from punching the smug grin off his face.

"Really, Jake? You really want to keep living like we were, fighting all the time? In front of the kids?" She told him calmly, even if inside she was boiling with anger at his audacity.

"Kate, I've been telling you we can just live in separate places for a while. We already are. There's no need to get divorced. It's just going to damage your reputation and mine." He shrugged and Kate took a deep, calming breath.

"Mr. Caldwell, my client says there are irreconcilable differences between you two." Mr. Bishop countered, but Jake shook his head.

"My client states on record that he's willing to try harder in order to save his marriage." His lawyer, Ethan Davis, chimed in.

"That's a load of crap, Jake. You don't want this. We both know it. Let's just end it and move on with our lives." Kate insisted, running a hand through her hair. "It'll be better for us and for Alex and Olivia. You know that."

"You just want to keep them away from me. You think I don't see what you've been doing? How you already have someone else to replace me in their lives? I know they've hung out with that Rick guy again." He accused and Kate's eyes widened for a second, but she collected herself before she could give him an answer.

"Do you really want to do this, Jake?" She cocked her head to the side, leveling a cold gaze at him. "After everything you've done, do you really want to bring this up?"

"If it's affecting my kids, then hell yes, I want to bring this up. Whatever I've done, I've never taken the kids with me." He retorted and Kate felt like the air had been punched out of her lungs.

No, he wouldn't do this. He couldn't.

"Maybe we should take a breather, guys." Mr. Bishop suggested and they each retreated to opposite sides of the room.

Kate poured herself a glass of water and drank it thirstily, trying to calm her troubled heart at the eminent threat she could sense was coming. Ten minutes later, they adjourned to the conference table and Kate tried to project an aura of calm. Before her lawyer could say anything, however, Mr. Davis spoke up.

"My client agrees to the divorce on one condition."

"Alright, what is that?" Bishop prompted and Kate held her breath apprehensively.

"He wants custody of Olivia and Alexander Caldwell."

No.

Oh, God, no.

A/N: Thoughts?