A Convergence of Storms

Summary – Someone from Castle's past is murdered and that gives Kate a look into his unconventional childhood and time spent shadowing the CIA, something that hasn't really been discussed on the show (yet). AU of course, with some grounding in canon.

Author's Notes – Thanks for the reviews, favs, and follows. And here's the final chapter – it's been a lot of fun, even the angsty parts.

Disclaimer – Don't own Castle – Marlowe, ABC, and Disney do. The OCs came out of my imagination.

Chapter 26 – Putting All the Pieces Together

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(Present Day)

"So, Bogdan dropped me off at the hotel and we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers," Castle finished.

He sat back in his chair. "And that's the story of how I know about the treasure and have a combination to the vault."

The people sitting around the table nodded, captivated by his story.

"Castle, why the hell didn't you come tell me immediately what had happened?" demanded Anders, finally breaking the spell.

Castle paused for a moment, deciding what to say. "I did come by your room, but you were busy at the time," he said.

Anders shook his head and tapped his finger on the table several times for emphasis. "That's no excuse. You should have interrupted me."

Castle shrugged. "I would have but apparently Mia was giving you a wake-up call and you were discussing deities fairly loudly at that time."

"Oh," said Anders, sitting back in his seat.

Espo and Ryan managed not to smirk themselves as Althea shot Anders the look.

"Men!" exclaimed Althea rhetorically. "Why can't you just keep it in your pants?"

"Oh, I did," Castle said suddenly, raising his hand. "Or I would have if I had been wearing pants."

Althea looked at him askance and then shook her head in almost disbelief. "And your government thanks you for that and for not causing an international incident." She let out a huff.

Beckett smiled at Castle and then frowned slightly. "So when did you realize that what was in the vault was the same thing you read about in the reports that Turner had given you?"

Castle swirled the now cold coffee in his cup and sat it down without taking a sip. "That morning – before we left. I was going over everything that had happened and was about to tell you when you got a phone call—" he said, looking at Anders.

"That would have been Turner," Anders replied, going over the day in his head. "Calling to see if we were on schedule." He sat back in the chair. "They must have been watching, waiting to make their move."

Castle nodded. "And then I was talking to Adelmo on the dock…and you know what happened after that," he said sadly. "I woke in the hospital 2 weeks later and you said there had been a place crash and gave me my walking papers."

Althea frowned slightly. "I'm sorry – that was Turner again. She read us the riot act – said that you should have never been placed in that position. She even demanded to lead the team sent to find you two. We always wondered why we couldn't find any traces after the plane crash."

"Yeah, well, I guess now we know," said Castle. "Better late than never."

Anders looked at his watch. "And speaking of late, let's call it a night and regroup tomorrow morning. I've arranged for the jet to be here tomorrow afternoon."

Espo and Ryan looked at each other. "Oh, Javi and I don't need a ride back," said Ryan. "We have first-class reservations tomorrow evening."

"Man, I totally get why you fly first class," Espo said to Castle, holding up a fist for a fist bump.

"Tell you what," said Beckett as she stood up and held out her hand to Castle. "Castle and I will take those, and you and Ryan can ride back with the Company so that you can come up with a plausible explanation for Gates that doesn't get you busted down to traffic."

Ryan and Espo looked at each other again. "Can she do that?" whispered Ryan.

"I don't know," Espo whispered in a sotto voice. "Is she the boss here too?"

Castle leaned forward as he stood. "Let me let you in on a little secret – she's always the boss."

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Castle sat down wearily on the bed in their room and slumped forward, resting his head in his hands.

Beckett watched him for a minute and then walked over and nudged his knees open so that she could stand between them. "So what's going on in that fertile mind of yours?" she finally asked, bringing his chin up so that their eyes met.

"All this," Castle said as he pulled Beckett down to sit on his lap. He buried his face in her hair for a minute, breathing in the scent, and then rested his forehead against hers.

"We found a lot of puzzle pieces today, but it doesn't feel complete – I've got a million questions – like who saved us, but I don't know who to ask," he finally said. "Or if it's even legal to ask them without being thrown into some Company cell for the rest of my life."

Beckett moved so that she was leaning against him. "Well, I have a question," she said, finally straightening up so they were eye to eye. "One fish, two fish?"

Castle chuckled. "That was Alexis' favorite book when she was little – I read it to her over and over, and then when she learned to read, she read it to me. It is forever burned into my brain." He frowned slightly. "It just seemed appropriate at the time. And Bogdan was pretty sure I'd be able to remember it since it was so simple. We had had a lot of palinca by that time.

Beckett laughed slightly and then leaned in to kiss him. "I'm going to get ready for bed," she said, kissing him again and then getting up. "Care to join me?"

"Of course," said Castle. "And how about I bring that black nightie for you to change into?"

Beckett smiled back over her shoulder at him. "If you can find it," she said mischievously as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Castle sprang off the bed in a flash and quickly opened Beckett's suitcase where he had last seen it. He leafed through it – nope, not there. He thought, frowned slightly, and then smiled – his suitcase? Would she have hidden it there?

He opened his suitcase and then frowned again when he didn't find it. The chest of drawers perhaps? Nope, not there either.

"Castle, what's taking you so long?" Beckett called from the bathroom, her voice pitched seductively low. "I've had you on my mind all…day…long," she said.

Castle thought again – where had her hands been? His jacket perhaps?

He ran his hands over the pockets of his jacket and felt a lump. Aha – found your hiding place, he thought with a grin as he reached inside and pulled out the errant nightie.

"Found it," he called out.

"Then bring it in here," Beckett said. "I'm getting a little cold."

As Castle was hanging his jacket on the back of the chair, he felt a lump in another pocket and quickly pulled out an envelope.

He frowned as he opened it and pulled out a sheet of paper. Flipping it open, he read:

"'Psalms 106:6 KJV – We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.' Be sure to write about the warts also. FB"

His frown deepened as he reached into the envelope and pulled out another envelope – the envelope Bogdan had given him all those years ago.

He stared at it for a moment – maybe he and Beckett would use those tickets after all. He may have just found someone who could answer his questions.

Castle carefully tucked the piece of paper and envelope in the bottom of his suitcase and closed it, setting it back on the floor.

"Caasssttllleee…" came the siren call from the bathroom.

"Coming," said Castle. He paused at the door and then quickly walked back to his suitcase and took out the envelope Bogdan had given him originally and placed it on the top of the chest of drawers. It was official CIA property after all and he was sure they would take a dim view on him not delivering it at all, even though it was several years late.

"You know," he said opening the door to the bathroom. "I remember there being a lot more gold. Or maybe the vault just got bigger…"

"Speaking of things getting bigger," said Beckett as she ambushed him with a kiss.

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(Time Jump – Two Years Later)

Castle woke and smiled as he watched Beckett sleep.

His internal daddy alarm clock was working once again and he quietly climbed out of bed so that he wouldn't disturb her.

He grabbed the monitor from the night stand and pulled on a robe while padding out to the kitchen.

He had just enough time to make a pot of coffee, get the morning paper, and warm a bottle before he heard the snuffling sounds on the monitor.

Castle quickly walked into his office – now a makeshift nursery for the first couple of months so that they didn't have to climb the stairs in the middle of the night – and picked up his awakening son.

"Hey, little man," he said as he quickly changed the diaper and then put his son to his shoulder. "I thought we had decided to let mommy sleep late today because she goes back to work tomorrow."

They walked back into the kitchen where Castle took the bottle out of the warmer, tested it, and gently placed it into the baby's mouth.

He smiled as he watched his son greedily latch on.

"And it's a big day for Daddy too," Castle said, as he expertly maneuvered the baby into one arm so that his other hand was free. He flipped open the paper to the book review section.

"Daddy's new book came out yesterday and Paula said to check the paper this morning."

Castle quickly scanned the pages until he found the article that Paula was referring to. He smiled as he read the title – 'The Tale of My People One of Castle's Bests'.

He looked at the baby and began to read in a sing-song voice, "Richard Castle, master of the macabre and best known for his pulp fiction work, has taken a bold step into the field of historical non-fiction with his new book The Tale of My People."

He continued to read as the baby drank the bottle, staring as only babies do into his father's eyes.

When they had been in Argentina, they had stayed to talk to Father Benedict, who turned out to be Bogdan's older brother and Castle's savior. Bogdan had romanticized what his family had done, but Benedict told a different story – one of hardship and misery brought by the fortune. They had also eventually talked to Melekov and gone with him to Romania to find the village. Castle had then spent a year combining the stories into one to create the best seller that had captured the imagination of the readers in a different way than his other books had. According to the New York Times, he had "arrived".

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Beckett stretched and yawned, and then realized she hadn't heard anything on the monitor for a while and sat up quickly.

She smiled when she saw it missing from the night stand and checked Castle's office before she heard his voice in the kitchen, reading to their son.

She paused at the door for a moment, smiling as she watched the two of them together.

"Morning, Mr. Castle," she said finally, walking up to them.

"Morning, Mrs. Castle," he replied, kissing her. "We decided to have an early morning cup of joe and read the paper."

Beckett kissed her son next and then walked over to the coffee pot to pour herself a cup of coffee. "Anything interesting?" she asked. "I hear there's this new amazing writer that you need to watch out for. He's on everyone's must read list."

"Yeah," said Castle, putting his son up to his shoulder to burp him. "Some hot new best-selling author."

He smiled as the baby let out a loud burp. "That's it," he said, holding the baby up so that they could look eye-to-eye. "A good manly burp," he said as he let one out himself to the baby's delighted surprise.

Beckett laughed at her boys and then walked back over to him and picked up the paper, quickly skimming the article.

"Rick," she said thoughtfully. "Are you ever sorry you didn't get to write this book back then?"

Castle thought for a moment as he put the baby back on his shoulder. "Not even a little bit," he said, smiling. "Because then I would have never written any mysteries. I would have never written Derek Storm and gotten so tired of him that I killed him off – sort of. And I never would have written the book that some whack job copied to kill his sister and never met this smart, intriguing detective."

He leaned forward to kiss her. Beckett kissed him back as the baby squirmed between them.

"I'm so glad," said Beckett. She kissed her son again and gently stroked the top of his head lovingly.

"You know, since you're married to that really hot new writer, you don't have to work," he commented.

Beckett smiled at him. "And we both know that I'm not good at doing nothing."

Castle nodded. Beckett had been put on bed rest for the last two months of her pregnancy and they both quickly discovered she was not definitely not good at doing nothing, no matter what distractions Castle had come up with.

"Now, if you got him for another 10 minutes, I'm going to take a quick shower," Beckett said.

Castle smiled at her. "Why don't you make it 20?"

"Okay," said Beckett, kissing her son and then Castle again before walking back into the bedroom.

Castle waited until she had closed the bathroom door and then picked up his cell phone.

"And that gives us time to get Mommy's surprise ready for tomorrow," Castle said conspiratorially to his son. "Hello, Mother – yeah, it's on for tomorrow. If you could be here about 9 am? Thanks."

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The End