Katherine Houghton Beckett was no stranger to being in dangerous situations. She was a cop for Christ sake, she put her life on the line every time she clocked in. Hell, she threw herself into these situations with no regards to her own life.
She knew what it felt like to have a bullet burn through her body. She knew what it felt like to have it suck the life away from you. But she wasn't the kind of person to back away.
She didn't even want to be a cop. She had dreams to be the first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. She was on a fast track program at Stanford, studying pre-law. Working for the NYPD fit nowhere in her five year plan.
Her mother being murdered didn't either.
So she left Stanford. Moved back to New York, transferred to NYU, and went into the police academy. Her dreams changed. The first female Chief Justice being long forgotten. The only justice she was interested in was for her mother. She let Johanna Becketts murder define her. She let it drive her. It made her who she was.
She was willing to do whatever it took. Even if that meant dying in the process.
The only thing that mattered in her life was finding her mothers killer.
That was until she met Richard Castle.
He broke down all of her walls. Came barreling out of nowhere, sticking through all of it. He drove her insane. But he changed her.
He saved her life (On multiple occasions).
He pulled her out of the rabbit hole and then dove straight into it with her, never leaving.
He helped solve her mothers murder.
He gave her a life that was filled with more than just recovering alcoholic fathers, broken families, and murdered mothers.
He gave her something to live for.
He gave her everything he had and more.
And she loved him.
Katherine Houghton Beckett-Castle
Her priorities shifted when she married him.
They shifted again when she gave birth to their son, Reese.
She didn't cross the line anymore. She still was no stranger to dangerous situations, but she no longer deliberately put herself there. She was a mother first, detective second.
She wouldn't have it any other way.
Until she had a daughter.