Forty-Three:
The takedown of Simmons' drug ring and the corrupt cops was a major coo for the FBI and the AG's office. The two agencies took credit for the whole thing with the DEA being given credit grudgingly. Deciding to 'share the wealth' both Jordan Shaw and Rachael McCord were introduced to the media as the lead investigators. Both women knew the truth, but went along with the ruse. There was never any mention of Richard Castle, Katherine Beckett, or Mindy King's involvement and there never would be.
William Bracken was formally arraigned on charges of racketeering, extortion and conspiracy to commit fraud before a Federal judge a few days after he resigned from office. He entered a plea of guilty to all charges and his sentencing hearing would be in two weeks. He was to be kept in a Federal detention facility until sentencing. The media had a field day with the video of Bracken being lead from the courthouse in an orange jumpsuit and in shackles.
Jennifer Burton read about the arraignment on the internet. She was crushed when there was no mention whatsoever of his involvement in the killings of her mother or any of the others. She cried for a while cursing Hunter for allowing Bracken to cut a deal to save his own sorry life. After everything that she sacrificed, she would never be satisfied with this outcome.
Richard Castle and Mindy King parted ways soon after the arrests were made. Mindy had seen the way that Rick had looked at Kate after Vaughn was murdered and knew that despite what he said, he would never be over his muse. Castle knew that it wasn't fair to her either. They parted as friends.
Despite repeated requests from both Smith and Hunter, Rick returned to 'civilian' life. For the next few weeks, he made arrangements for the next phase in his life. The house in the Hamptons was sold with a healthy profit for Rick. He finally gave in to the repeated requests from Paula to sign a one book contract to write about a certain British secret agent. He would move to London and work directly with MI6 to make it as authentic as possible.
Vulcan Simmons was enjoying his whiskey in the hotel bar. Caracas was a different world from New York, but at least he was safe from extradition here. He had been in Venezuela for nearly a month now felt pretty comfortable. Vulcan knew that Bracken betrayed him somehow and he had already made arrangements for it to be taken care of. He gave a leering look at the young waitress who brought out his drink. She smiled at him, left his drink on a napkin, and casually waked away towards the bar. Simmons took a large drink from his glass and noticed writing on the napkin. He grinned and finished his drink thinking that the waitress had left him her number. Vulcan opened the napkin and tried to focus on the handwriting. Printed neatly in what looked like lipstick was 'You can run, but you can't hide'. He tries to curse as the poison quickly makes its way through his system. By the time the real waitress comes back to take his drink order, he is dead.
Cameras were banned from the Federal courtroom where William Bracken was sentenced to twenty years without the possibility of parole for his crimes. The judge could have given him life, but felt that twenty was appropriate given the crimes he plead guilty to. The media had a field-day with the story speculating that there were far more serious charges that could have been leveled against the former senator. Some even speculated that he was involved with Vulcan Simmons, who was still missing.
Bracken was just getting settled into life as an inmate in the Federal prison. He still had a little money that his wife and family knew nothing about and was able to secure enough protection through bribery. He was able to secure a relatively safe job working in the library. Vulcan had contracted with a couple of inmates already doing life for murder to 'take care' of Bracken. Unbeknownst to them that Simmons was already dead, they patiently waited for their chance. After all, all you have in prison is time. Bracken was alone in the shower with a guard watching him when there was a fight between two inmates just outside the shower room. As the guard went to break up the fight, the two men struck. Bracken would die the next day in the prison infirmary from the wounds he sustained.
Jennifer read about Bracken's death and felt oddly empty about it. There was no satisfaction knowing that the man who had ordered her mother's murder was dead. She realizes that there were two deaths in that alley on that cold January evening – the physical death of Johanna and the innocence of Katherine. That was the day that the first blocks of the walls she built were laid. The walls that protected her from others while trapping her on the other side.
Robbins had sent her an email the following day saying that he was flying into Sacramento and wanted to meet with her. She could only assume that her days of protection were nearing an end and she was on her own. Jennifer was partially correct. Robbins did tell her that the protection was being lifted, but advised her to not make contact with anyone from her old life until all of the trials were over and she was given the all-clear. Jennifer would not be left to fend for herself. Her benefactor would continue to provide whatever funds she needed to live and return to school. She knew who her benefactor was and that saddened her. Despite everything that had happened between them, he was still looking out for her.
Back in New York the dominos continued to fall as one after another tried to cut deals for lesser charges in exchange for testimony against others involved. Betty Wilson plead guilty to several charges including abuse of power and testified against Robertson, Bartholomew, and several other policemen involved in the coverups, including Tom Deming.
Mayor Bob Weldon had promised complete cooperation with the Federal investigation and immediately ordered his own corruption investigation with the aid of the state attorney general. Victoria Gates was demoted to detective for dereliction of duty as the result of her actions and transferred to the 23rd precinct. Kevin Ryan was named temporary captain until a new one was named. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kevin took his captain's exam and with a little help from Castle and the mayor, was named the permanent replacement.
Everyone was happy was happy for Kevin, especially Jenny who was thrilled to know her husband was in a relatively safe job that would keep him out of harm's way. The extra income to support his new family didn't hurt either.
Martha finished her work on the movie and returned to New York a week after the initial arrests were made. Rick took her out to dinner and explained his involvement in it all. As mad as she was at him for getting involved with the 'agency' again, she couldn't help be be proud of him. He explained that Kate wasn't really dead, but was in witness protection. She was overjoyed to hear that Beckett was still alive and wanted to know why he wasn't going after her. Castle tries to explain to his mother that whatever there was between them was over.
She arched her eyebrow and in a typically overdramatic tone of voice she remarks. "Oh Richard! If only that were true. I can see that you're still in love with Katherine."
"No I'm not. I created a version of Kate that I could love and that loved me in return. The problem is, her name was Nikki Heat, not Kate Beckett."
"Son, you know that's not true. You knew she was damaged from the moment you first met her. That's what drew you to her. You wanted to know her story. The Nikki Heat books were your version of love letters to Kate, everyone who knew either of you saw that."
"It doesn't matter now. It's too late." Rick replies as he takes a sip from his drink.
"Richard, if you thought that was true, you would be sitting here with that pretty blonde right now and not your mother."
"But so much has happened, how can I ever get past that?"
"Because the heart wants what the heart wants. I know it's cliché, but it's true. You have to know, once and for all.. Or you'll never be able to move on.."
X-X-X
He'd been watching her for nearly a week now, waiting for the perfect opportunity. He patted his jacket pocket to make sure that his weapon was where it should be. He didn't know why he was so nervous, he'd done this twice before and the results were as expected. Why should this be any different?
It was a beautiful late May morning and Jennifer Burton was making her morning run through the city park that was part of her new routine. It was going to be a hot one today with the expected high temperature approaching one hundred. That's why she got her run in early.
Her mind drifted off to her former life as a NYPD detective and wondered if she was ever truly happy. Sure, she brought closure to hundreds of families who were victims of murder and there was some sense of satisfaction with that, but was she ever truly happy? She thought about the men in her life, Rogan was a drunken mistake, Royce was infatuation, Sorenson was a safe choice, Deming was a mistake and Davidson was another safe choice, lacking any real feelings.
Castle. Only Rick was as stubborn as she was, willing to do whatever it took to tear down the walls that she built to protect herself from being the girl she was before that cold January evening. How he could make her laugh or drive her crazy with his crazy theories. How he could push her buttons like no man was able to do. How he showed her that he loved her not only with words, but with actions.
She wiped a tear from her cheek as she continued her run and caught a glimpse of a silhouette of a man sitting alone on the swings nearby. Her senses immediately went on alert as the park was usually empty this time of the day with an occasional runner, or mother and child. A single man sitting alone by the swings was cause for alarm in her mind. She slowed, then stopped behind a large tree that would give her a clear line of sight to the man sitting on the swings without being detected.
She stared at the man who sat there occasionally glancing at his phone as if he was expecting a call, or maybe just checking the time. Deciding that she was too far away to get a good look, Jennifer quietly approached using the trees as a cover. She nearly gasped out loud as she realizes who the man was. She calmed herself and walks confidently to where he was sitting, his right hand in his jacket pocket nervously fumbling with something.
"So we meet again. Nice symmetry with the swings Castle." She sarcastically comments, but then smiles to let him know she is teasing. "What brings you all the way out to California?" She knew that there was no point in asking him how he knew where she was. After all, he is a CIA operative, or was.
Rick gives her a small smile and removes his sunglasses. "There was question that I was going to ask you last year before you decided to go all lone-wolf on me and all of your friends.."
Kate couldn't help but bristle a little at the accusation, despite it being true. She sat down in the swing beside him to help ease the tension. She twisted her swing a little so she could face him. "And what would that be?"
Castle reaches into his pocket and pulls out the blue velvet box. "Well you see, I bought this thing over a year ago. I was going to give it to the love of my life, but she decided that she had other priorities..." Rick opens the case revealing the ring. "Seeing as I'll never find anyone else, I thought that maybe you'd like to have it.."
Kate gasps fighting back the tears as Castle drops to his knee in front of her extending the ring with his hand.
"Jennifer Burton, Katherine Beckett, or whatever you want me to call you, will you marry me?"
AN: My Original thought was to end the story here and let the readers decide how they wanted Kate/Jennifer to respond. It became clear that the reviews were pretty much split 50/50 for a Caskett ending, so I've written two epilogues. One you might like and the other you will not depending on how you saw this story ending..