399. Chapter 399

After Still

Episode 5.22

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: If I were to say I owned Castle, BOOM! Rating: K Time: See above.

Castle walked into the bullpen to the surprise of Ryan and Esposito. "Castle! What are you doing here? You and Beckett should be at home after what you two just went through."

Castle shrugged. "Beckett wanted to come in and make her report so she wouldn't have to do it tomorrow. What can I say? That's the way she is."

"Where is she then?" Ryan looked past Castle to the elevator, but Beckett wasn't there.

"She's with Lanie for a few minutes. I think she wanted to have a nice, quick mental breakdown. One she didn't want me to see."

"How about you?"

"I could use the large, economy size nervous breakdown, thank you. We were seconds away from death. I never want us to get anywhere near that close again." Castle noticed that Ryan was smiling. "What?"

"We?" Ryan said. "Not, I was close to death. It was you and Beckett that were close to death. That says something about you."

Castle nodded and thought for a minute. "Yeah. I really can't imagine me without her anymore."

"You two came as close to being intermingled as you can get." Espo said." I'll tell you one thing, Castle. I've seen some cold blooded bravery in my day, but you win. Hands down. You have great big balls of brass."

"And I need to change my shorts." Castle added with a smile. "And, hey, before I forget, thanks a lot. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you two."

"We'll always be happy to help you defuse a bomb from the safety of the precinct, bro. But, next time, let's not do the whole bomb thing at all."

"Amen to that." Ryan added. "And Gates knows about you two, and it's okay with her? What's with that?" He added in a low voice.

"She's got the best homicide cop in all of New York. Hell, the best homicide cop in the whole world for my money. Gates wants to climb the ladder and end up somewhere in the upper reaches of One PP. Having Beckett here makes her look good. Maybe Gates thinks that if I go, maybe Beckett would find another precinct that was more writer tolerant."

Esposito nodded, looking at Gates' office. "Maybe it's your well known charm finally working on "Iron" Gates."

Castle laughed. "Gentlemen, I very rarely say this, but I don't think my well known charm works at all on Gates. She's Castle charm proof."

Ryan and Espo exchanged a look. "Yeah." Ryan said. "It's a whole more like who Gates is for her to worry about losing her best detective. Although, you're no slouch, Castle."

"Thanks, but no one's as good as Beckett. Never was and never will be." Castle looked back at the elevator. "Where is she, anyway?"

"She'll be here, bro. Let's have some coffee. It'll settle your nerves."

"Here." Lanie said. "This'll settle your nerves."

Kate took the cup of coffee and sipped gratefully. "Lanie! What did you put in this?"

"Just a little something to settle you down. Sweetie, I thought it was all over for you and Castle today. Speaking of whom, did he really stay until the last second with you?"

She nodded. "Yeah. If we'd been wrong, he couldn't have gotten out in time. We almost…" Kate found she couldn't go on.

"Honey, I hope you still aren't worried about that man. He'd rather die than be without you. You understand that, don't you?"

Kate smiled. "I know. I told him that I love him."

"At last! How long have you been waiting to say that?"

"Way too long. I should have said it years ago. I wish I had said it years ago."

"Well, at least it's out in the open." Lanie thought for a second. "What did he say when you said that?"

"He said he loved me, too."

Lanie hugged Kate. "I'm so glad. You two are finally together. And it's not just a fling or a conquest. Kate, the man loves you as much as you love him."

Kate smiled shakily. "Yeah. It's actually kind of scary. I never thought I'd find someone like Rick. I never thought I'd be in the position I'm in now. I never thought I'd be thinking about…always."

"What are you two going to do right now?"

"I have to go upstairs and file a report."

"What! Gates is making you come in and do that after what you went through? I'm going up there and give that woman…"

"No! That's not it. I wanted to come in. I want to get this over with today. I don't want to go home tonight and be laying there in bed with Castle, thinking about today. I don't think I ever want to think about this day ever again. And then we have one more thing to do."

"Hi, Dad." Kate said when the door opened. "Can we come in?"

"Katie! What happened? I got your voicemail. You don't just call me up to say that you love me. I know you. What happened?"

Kate clutched Castle's arm tightly. "Rick saved my life today. In fact he saved both of our lives." Kate explained what had happened, holding tight to Rick and looking into his eyes and smiling as she spoke.

"I think Kate should tell you exactly what happened." Castle said.

"Oh my god!" Jim said when she was done. "That's the worst thing I could imagine. Rick, thank you. I don't know what to say or do. Katie is all I have left. If I lost her…" Jim wouldn't go any further than that.

"Dad, I hate to tell you this and run, but we need to talk to Rick's family, too."

"Of course. Of course. I understand. Say hi to Martha and Alexis for me."

At the loft that night Kate was finishing her third glass of wine while Rick got ready for bed. Martha sat down beside her. "Quite a day, kiddo."

"Martha, I'm sorry. I told Rick to leave but he wouldn't. I never meant to put him in danger."

Martha took her hand. "Katherine, today I could have lost two family members. As it was, I lost none. I'm glad both of you are okay. You have nothing to worry about and nothing to be sorry about. I know how Richard feels about you."

"Thank you."

Martha shook her head, "No, thank you."

When they were in bed, Rick put his arms around Kate and held her close. "Just so you know, what with your walls and all, I fell for you way before you fell for me."

Kate frowned. "You did not! Just because I didn't say or do anything doesn't mean I didn't feel attracted to you."

"Kate, you don't have to..."

"Yes, I do. Castle..." She was cut off by Castle's lips pressing against hers.

He broke the kiss. "We can argue about who fell for who and when later. Much later. Now, we have more important things to occupy us." His hands slid under her shirt.