199. Chapter 199

After Setup

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'm just not set up to own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Kate loved the ocean. She loved the tang of the salt air. She loved the sea breeze on her face. She loved the warmth of the sun rising over the blue grey Atlantic rollers. She loved the non-stop sound of the surf crashing onto the beach. She loved being here.

She inhaled the scent of something else she loved. Coffee. "If I'm not mistaken, that's a grande skim latte, two pumps of sugar free vanilla."

The man she loved more than anything kissed her on the cheek and sat beside her, sliding an arm around her. She snuggled next to him. They sat there together enjoying the morning and each other.

Finally, she spoke. "Guess who made the news today?"

"Me?" Castle said.

"Um, afraid not."

"Are you sure?" He asked. "Did you check Page Six carefully? I might have been seen at one of Manhattan's trendier night spots with a gorgeous brunette."

"We were both here for the last week." She said, trying not to laugh.

"So we didn't make the Hamptons Ledger, either?"

"No! Will you be serious?"

"Okay, who was in the news?"

"Mark Fallon, the agent from Homeland Security. He's been promoted. He's in charge of training for DHS."

"Is that good?" Castle asked.

Kate shrugged. "Most cops will tell you they hate assignment to the Police Academy. "I don't want to wet nurse a bunch of damned rookies." Kate mimicked a tough old sergeant. "But most of them love it when they've been there for a while."

"Well, good luck to him."

They sat there for more minutes, sipping their coffees and watching the sunrise.

"Remember when we were in the hazmat shelter, after we found where the bomb had been stored?" Kate asked.

Castle nodded. "Sure."

"I feel so stupid for what I said to you then. All about the problems I was having with Josh. How I was keeping one foot out the door. I'm sure the last thing a man wants to hear is a woman talking about her relationship with another man. "

"It made me feel better that you had one foot out the door. I figured there was a fifty per cent chance that the other foot would go out the door."

"And then I made that dumb comment about just wanting to find someone and just dive into it with him. I'm sure you thought I was talking about Josh, or someone else, but as soon as I said it I realized who I wanted to dive into it with."

Castle hugged her. "Anyone I know?"

She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. He knew that she could hit harder than that. A lot harder. "It was you, dummy."

"I wondered about that, but you never seemed to want any more than what we had. How come that slipped out?"

"Well, once I figured out that you were in love with me, obviously I had to do something."

"Wait!" Castle said, moving back and looking into her eyes. "You knew I was in love with you before I told you?"

"Duh!" Kate said, shaking her head slowly. "Did you think it wasn't that obvious?"

"Point taken."

"I shouldn't have been discussing Josh with you. I know how much it must have hurt you to see me with someone else."

"As badly as seeing me with Ellie Monroe, or Gina, or Jacinda?" Castle said softly.

"Point taken." Kate replied.

"We both hurt each other and I really don't want to talk about anything that has to do with me hurting you. Okay?"

She nodded, and rested her head against his shoulder. "I don't know. I shouldn't have been talking to you about my then boyfriend, Josh. It was a stupid thing to do, but now I wonder if I wasn't trying to give you an opening. Letting you know that all was not right with Josh and me."

"You almost did. If that hazmat team leader hadn't walked in, I was going to suggest that we should try diving into it together. All I wanted was to be with you, but…" Castle stopped for a moment, wondering how to proceed. "But, you had made a choice, Josh and not me. I didn't feel it was my place to tell you to dump Josh and jump into things with me. And, my dear detective, just as you didn't know where you stood with your one foot out the door, I never knew where I stood with you. I was afraid if I pushed you, you'd kick me to the curb and we'd be over. You were rather fond of telling me we were over."

Kate put her arms around him. "Castle, I am so sorry for…"

"No. I don't want to hear it. Whatever happened in the past, is in the past. All I want to hear, is "I love you, Rick."

She hugged him to her. "I love you, Rick. But, oddly enough, I was afraid, too."

"I know. We've talked about this before."

"I still don't think you understand just how much my fears drove me. Most importantly, it was my mom's murder. I was obsessed with it. It drove me. And I was blind to the fact that loving Richard Castle wasn't an obstacle to finding her killer, but that loving Richard Castle brought me to the one man without whom I never could have gotten Bracken." She kissed him. "That's you, in case you needed reminding."

"I do remember that part. It's not like I could let a vast, well-funded conspiracy led by a would be President do any harm to you,"

"Thanks." She relaxed. "Then there was this." She waved vaguely to include the house and all that it symbolized.

"You disapprove of my taste in real estate?" He asked, faking having his feelings hurt.

"You were Richard Castle, world famous author, millionaire, permanent resident of Page Six with an assortment of super models and starlets, and two ex-wives in tow, both of whom you slept with. I had to ask myself, would he ever be happy with some cop? How long would it be before you broke my heart."

"Ah ha!" Castle said. "You were afraid that I'd never discover that you were the remarkable Kate Beckett, the mystery I'd never unravel, and the one woman I'd been looking for all my life to complete me?"

Kate frowned. "That's not exactly the way I remember thinking about it."

"And you assumed that you'd never be, not the third, but the last, Mrs. Castle?"

"That's more like it."

"But yet, here we are Mrs. Castle."

"Yes we are, Mr. Castle. Yes, we are."