Hey y'all. Here is the final part to this story.

I've got to say, the response to this has been overwhelming. I always doubt my writing abilities, and I had gone back and forth between coming back to the site to start posting again for a while. But the, mostly, positive response to this and my other stories has really made me smile.

In regards to the reviewers that think I've let Kate get off to easy, I am sorry. I hoped to portray that Castle struggles with forgiving her, but knows that he can. If this hasn't been clear I will try better next time.

At the end of the day, I'm a fluff lover through and through. You'll never read something entirely angsty from me! There will be moments, but as a famous fictional author once said, isn't that what all the great love stories are all about?

Disclaimer: I wish.

4 Months Later

Things were better. She knew that. They were better than they had been when he had found her in their kitchen, grasping his wedding ring as she worried it was all over. Things were better, but they still weren't them yet. They hadn't found their balance again, and it scared her. She was starting to worry that he would never fully trust her again.

She saw it in his eyes whenever she was home later than planned. The worry that she had gone again, and taken their child, their son, with her. Kate knew it wouldn't be an instant fix, but she had hoped that they would be further along by now. She wanted her husband to trust her. She wanted to wake up again on the morning she started as Captain and have a do over. She wanted her husband to look at her like she was the sun like he used to.

Kate wanted all of these beautifully mundane things, but she knew she couldn't have them. Not yet.

Kate's train of thought was disturbed by a movement in her stomach. She smiled down at her baby bump and ran a hand gently over it. Regardless of his remaining reservations towards her, he had been amazing with anything baby related. He'd been to all of the appointments, made sure she ate and drank properly and was even working on the nursery single handedly. He was putting almost all of his focus on the baby, and Kate was jealous.

She felt awful for thinking it, and even worse for feeling it, but she couldn't help herself. She was jealous of her son who hadn't even been born yet because he had all of her husbands attention. In the moments when it ate her up the most, when she had to bite back the words begging Castle to stop touching the bump for one moment, she felt like the worst mother in existence.

She loved her son. So much. When they had found out they were having a boy she had been overjoyed, unaware until that exact moment it had been exactly what she wanted. She loved him. But in her darkest moments, the ones that made her want to run back down the rabbit hole head first all over again, she wished things had worked out differently. That the timing had been better. It was these moments she tormented herself with the most on the better days, punishing herself in a way that Castle would never be capable of.

Her son deserved so much better than her, but she would spend the rest of her life trying to be enough.

"Kate?" She looked up to find Lanie stood in front of her looking concerned. They had agreed to have lunch together today, and had decided Lanie could come to Kate's office with something she picked up on the way.

"Hi, sorry. I was just thinking." She offered a smile to her friend, and hoped it looked genuine. As Lanie sat on the couch in the corner of her office and beckoned her over, Kate knew she hadn't been successful in convincing her friend she was ok.

"Come on girl, why don't we feed that Mini-Castle you have inside of you and you can tell me all about it."

Kate lowered herself onto the couch next to her friend. Now she was in her third trimester things were quickly becoming more difficult, and she knew she lacked her usual grace as she sat down.

"It's nothing. Nothing new anyway." Kate sighed as she took the sandwich offered to her.

"So it's to do with Castle then? I thought you two were in therapy?"

The marriage counselling had been his idea. Part of her hadn't wanted to do it, because they knew what their problems were and didn't need to pay a shrink to tell them what had caused this scar on the face of their marriage. He had wanted to go though, and she so desperately wanted to prove to him that she was back in their relationship fully that she had agreed.

"Yeah, we are. It's going ok, although I could do without the pitying stares from the other people in the waiting room."

She was the only noticeably pregnant woman she had seen at the therapists office. This had led to more than one woman in the office sending a pitying look towards her, as if the fact she was pregnant made her marital problems more poignant.

In a way she guessed it did.

"He's just different, Lanie." She admitted softly. "He's everything I always dreamed he'd be with the baby and more. But he still looks at me like he can't bring himself to trust me." She took a small bite of her sandwich, and wondered how on earth Lanie could have guessed her latest obsession with pickles and garlic mayo.

"Girl, can you really blame him?" Lanie implored her, "He's still hurting."

"I know, I do know that. I just," She stopped half way through her sentence. These pregnancy hormones were really kicking her ass, and she knew that she probably would have been an emotional wreck if this had all been as she had wanted. With the added stress of all the problems she had caused it was no wonder she was all over the place.

"You just what, Kate?"

"I just want him to love me again. Like he used to." The tears started then, and she knew it was futile to stop them.

"Oh Kate, he does. He still loves you like that." Lanie put down her own food and pulled her friend into a hug. "I promise you he still does. You should see how he looks at you and you aren't looking. That's never changed."

Kate hugged her friend back, and she desperately wanted it to be true.

"Have you ever asked him what it was like for him after you left?" Lanie asked.

"What do you mean?" Kate sniffed.

"Well, did you know he spent most of his time sleeping in his office?" Kate pulled away from her friend and looked at her in confusion.

"What? No. How did you know that?"

"Alexis told me. Only in passing, mind you, but she mentioned that she had found him sleeping there more than once."

"Oh God. I really screwed up." She put her face in her hands and sighed to herself. He hadn't mentioned it. Not to her, not to their therapist. She wondered what else he was holding back.

"Is that only just occurring to you?" Lanie joked.

"Hey, you're my best friend." She protested, but she couldn't hold back a small chuckle. "Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"Oh honey. I'm not your best friend. Castle is. He has been for a long time."

Before they had finished their lunch Lanie had said something else that had caught her attention. Something she hadn't even considered.

"I think you sometimes forget that he's not just yours, but the publics too."

Castle had been famous long before she had come along, she had always known that. It hadn't crossed her mind at any point that her leaving him might end up in the press. Not once. After Lanie had left, with the promise of another catch up soon, Kate found herself sat at her computer daring herself to press enter, with her own name, along with his, typed into the Google search bar.

He had told her at the beginning of their romantic relationship to never do this. That it was not a can of worms that needed opening. She did it before she could think too much about it. She clicked on the "news section," the latest articles about his potential book tour in the fall. She even noticed the odd one had mentioned her pregnancy.

She crinkled her nose at those, uncomfortable with the fact there were pictures of her quite clearly looking pregnant in a couple low key gossip magazines. Not only did it irritate that part of her which would always be incredibly private, but she couldn't help but wonder who else would have seen this. People who could be after her. She moved one hand to her belly, stroking over where her son was kicking her from the inside and she continued scrolling through until she got to her destination. Then she saw them, the articles Lanie had hinted at.

Divorce number 3 for Eligible Bachelor number 6?

Castle's Shortest Marriage Yet

Real Life Nicki Heat Walks Out on Castle

There were dozens of them, but Kate couldn't read a single one. The articles enough to break her heart. She wondered how it had got out, how the press had found out he had another supposed unsuccessful marriage. But she knew she hadn't been subtle in the beginning, trying to keep him as far away as possible without succeeding. Not everyone in the precinct was as loyal to them as Ryan and Esposito. Some of the newer officers could be turned by money.

"Shit." She whispered to herself, locking the screen on her computer before she could look at anymore. "What am I going to do, baby?" She addressed her stomach, hand still tracing random patterns across her shirt. "How can I fix this?"

She wasn't sure she could, but she could certainly try.

Kate made a point of being home as soon as she could, and was happy to see him sat in the living room as she arrived. He was literally surrounded by baby clothes and other paraphernalia, and she wondered when on earth he had bought it all.

"At this rate he'll have more clothes than me before he's even born." She piped up, alerting him of her presence.

"I don't know if anything could ever top your impressive coat and shoe collection, but if thats a challenge I am willing to accept." He quipped back. He was smiling at her, and she hoped tonight would be easy. Things were when they spoke about the baby. "How was work?"

"Long. Full of paperwork." She said as she took off her coat, and settled herself onto the one space on the sofa that wasn't covered in her babies belongings. It was definitely over the top. If things were easier between them, if the banter was as natural as it used to be she would tell him that. But she didn't want to disrupt the tentative peace between them, so she kept quiet.

They fell into an easy silence, him continuing to go through all the things he had bought, whilst she looked intently at a onesie with an elephant on it that was next to her. She smiled to herself. There was so much she wanted to say to him, but she was so unsure how to say it.

She felt like she had in the third year of their partnership. When he had Gina, and she had Josh and they were ignoring their feelings towards each other. Sure, the light hearted banter was there, the longing looks and poorly covered flirtation. Things were different now though. They were married, they shared a bed. They were having sex again. They had a baby on the way. She had all of these things that she didn't have all those years ago, but she didn't know how to talk to her husband anymore, and she could only blame herself.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He asked. She looked up to him from the onesie she had clasped in her hands. He was looking at her, his face a mix of confusion and concern.

"A penny? Surely you could afford more than that." She joked lamely as a chuckle died on her tongue.

"Kate." He said firmly, clearly no longer in the mood to joke.

"Sorry," She whispered. She straightened in her place on the sofa as well as she could. "I've just been all over the place today. Thinking about us. The baby. Therapy." She hated herself for the tears she could feel forcing their way out of her eyes. A sob tore from her throat and she covered her mouth with her hand.

She always managed to make everything about herself.

"Oh Kate. Sweetheart." He moved from his place on the other side of the sofa and perched himself on his knees in front of her. He grabbed the hand that was over her mouth and held it between his own. "What's brought this on?" She shook her head slightly, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"Stuff Lanie said. Thing's I've been thinking for a while. I'm just so worried we'll never get back to where we were. It's been four months and you still look at me like I'm going to leave."

Kate knew she was being ridiculous, and selfish. Hypocritical even, if she considered that she still didn't let him drive if they went to the Hampton's. She struggled to let him drive anywhere alone, the thought that he could just disappear still too overpowering to ignore.

She'd had over 18 months and get over that, but she couldn't given him 6. The thought made her cry harder. They had been through so much together. Surely this couldn't be the thing to break them? Not when there was so much more on the line now.

"We'll get there, Kate. I know I've been distant, maybe a little too distant." He soothed, moving his hands to her cheeks. "But it will take time."

"How much time?"

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "We may never be exactly like we were before this happened. We might never get back to how we were when I gave you that bracelet that morning." She sobbed again, and tried to move away from his grasp, but he held her face a little firmer, made her look at him. "But, Kate. Maybe we'll be better. Okay? We'll find our feet again. We've done it before."

She couldn't talk, not wanting to hear how torn up her voice would be. So she simply nodded. She leant as far forward as her belly would allow, and leant her forehead on his.

"We'll be better." She whispered after a moment. Basking in one of the more intimate, honest moments they had had since she had come home. He nodded slightly against her head and pulled away, she missed him as soon as he moved away. As he stood she heard his knee click, and she giggled slightly as he groaned. He walked to the kitchen to make dinner, and left her to collect herself slightly.

Kate took a deep breath and unclenched her fist around the onesie she still had clasped there. She smiled as she smoothed it out, taking in the goofy smile on the cartoon elephants face once more.

Things were far from perfect, but then again they had never been perfect in the first place. She was sure she'd have doubts again, and there would be days when he would struggle to hold back his anger at her. But right now, in this second, she felt sure things would be okay.

When their son is born just short of three months later, she knew she had made the right choice.

He was worth everything.

The first time she finds herself alone with her little boy, whilst Castle is out in the hallway calling just about everybody they know, she whispers promises to him she hopes she'll have the strength to keep.

There you have it!

I seriously hope you enjoyed it. I definitely enjoyed writing it. Kind of stress relieving really.

I do have an idea for a potential sequel to this. It would be longer, and would focus on the dreaded 'case' as well as them continuing to re-build their relationship. Don't worry, that doesn't mean she'd leave him again or anything. It would possibly be 5 or so chapters. If that is something you would be interested in...let me know :)

Please review!

P.S. Find me on tumblr at! Username: maythedanceneverstop