730. Chapter 730

After Heartbreaker

Episode 8.16

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: It breaks my heart that I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: Better late than never. My ISP had some sort of problem today. Better now.

"What's she doing here?" Alexis stopped so suddenly in the doorway to the loft that Martha ran into her back.

"She's my wife. Remember? At the Hamptons? She wore white? Martha was there. You can ask her."

"Dad, she walked out on you. And now she just walks back in here?"

"Actually, she's been back for several months. She comes home after work, we have dinner, fool around and do things, and then we go to bed."

"You go to bed together?" Alexis asked, disbelievingly.

"Pumpkin, on one level I'm pleased that you don't seem to understand what happens with a man and a woman, who are married, by the way, when…."

"Dad! That's not what I meant and you know it. Now, what the hell is going on here? You owe us an explanation."

Martha peeked around Alexis. "I agree. I'd like to know what's been going on, too."

"I should start at the beginning." Kate began. "Without realizing it, we've been working on different aspects of a very dangerous case. Neither one knew of the other's involvement. I decided, very wrongly, as it turned out, that Rick would be safer if we were apart."

Alexis looked suspicious. "Does this have something to do with what you found in LA?"

"Pumpkin, the less you know, the better for everyone. Including Kate and me. Please, just accept what we tell you and don't ask any more questions. Okay?"

Alexis nodded slowly, but frowned.

Kate continued. "I quickly found out that being without Rick is the worst thing that could happen to me. Eventually, it got to be too much for me and I started coming back, sneaking in after work and sneaking out early in the morning. But we pretended to be separated, just in case someone was watching us."

"That's why you've been so much happier the last several months, Richard?"

"No one in the world makes me as happy as Kate does." Rick put his arm around Kate and pulled her close. "And no one ever will."

Kate walked towards Alexis and Martha. "I know that I hurt Rick by what I did. And I know that I hurt you two as well. If it's any consolation to you, it hurt me as badly as I've ever been hurt, to risk losing my husband, the man I love more than anything."

Seeing tears well up in Kate's eyes, Martha rushed to her and threw her arms around her. "Come here, Katherine. You've been family for a very long time and you're my daughter now as well."

Alexis took a couple of steps towards the two women. "So you never actually broke up with my dad?"

"I never would. I'd rather die. I've loved Rick since we first started working together. "

Alexis joined the group hug and Rick joined a split second later. "Welcome back, Kate."

"So you admit you fell for me at once?" Castle asked.

"Don't push your luck."

"Actually, I think I was born loving you. The Universe, you know."

"Nice save."

The explanation next morning at the precinct was quicker and easier. Coming in with Rick on her arm, Kate called Ryan, Esposito and Lanie into her office.

"Castle and I are back together. Actually, we've been back together for several months, but we were unable to tell you. And that, I'm afraid is all you need to know and all you're going to know. So, everyone back to work."

The three sat there, looking first at Kate, then at Rick. Espo was the first one to speak. "What? You're back together and you've been back together? And that's all we get? What's this all about?"

"We need to know." Ryan added.

"No you don't. And if you ever do need to know, I'll be the one to decide that. That is all."

Espo and Ryan left grumpily, but their glares were nowhere near as intimidating as a Beckett glare.

Lanie stood, glared at Castle and then smiled at Kate. "I'm glad you gave the big lug another chance, sweetie. I just hope he appreciates it." She gave Castle another glare and left.

"Sooner or later we're going to have to tell them what this is all about, and then they're all going to be furious. The boys because they'll think they should have been in on this from day one, and Lanie because she's convinced this is all my fault."

Kate smiled at him. "Let me handle Ryan and Javi. I am the captain, you know. And as for Lanie, I don't see why we should disabuse her."

"You're evil, Mrs. Castle." He said with a smile.

"Don't you ever forget it, Mr. Beckett."

Sat the end of the case, once Linus had turned the lights back up and dinner was done, Rick and Kate sat on the sofa, sipping their wine.

"Penny for your thoughts." Rick said.

"A penny? Not very generous for a millionaire." Kate teased.

"That's how we millionaires stay millionaires. And that's something you'll have to learn as you're a millionaire now, too."

Kate frowned. "I don't think I'll ever feel like a millionaire. But, since you are offering a whole penny, I was thinking about Javi."

Rick nodded. "He's had a bad couple of days. The love of his life screws him over again and he ends up being suspended for a week with no pay."

"That's not what I was thinking of, though. If Sonia had been a little better an actress and hadn't given herself away, Javi might have ended up marrying a criminal. Even if he'd been the one to arrest her, his career would have been wrecked. Everyone would have thought, "How could he not have known what his wife was doing?", no matter what the evidence showed. He'd have been quietly sent off to some little cubicle in the depths of One PP to work in Finance or Personnel for the rest of his career. He'd have hated every minute of it."

"So, he got lucky?"

Kate nodded. "Well, so did I. I ended up with you, but I wish…." She stopped and just shook her head.

"You wish what?"

"I wish a million impossible things. That my mom had lived. That Pulgatti had found some other lawyer to represent him."

"Then some other lawyer gets killed?"

Kate frowned. "Then I wish that Bob Armen had been lightly wounded and not killed. And I wish that McAllister, Raglan and Montgomery had run away."

"And we'd be looking favorably at good old Bill Bracken for President." Castle added.

"So I wish Montgomery had turned his partners in to IA and Bracken stayed a poverty stricken ADA with no money to fund his political dreams. Or nightmares."

"And little Katie Beckett would have stayed at Stanford, gone onto law school and been so busy doing all the things she needed to become Ms. Chief Justice Beckett that she'd have never have had time for some immature writer."

"Remember, these are my wishes. Kate Beckett, Esquire, Attorney-at-Law, would have met a charming writer at some charity event. They might not have hit it off at once, but he would have been inspired to write a series of books about a kick ass attorney who put justice above every consideration. They would have gotten married and lived happily ever after."

Castle chuckled. "Wow! Those are some wishes you have there. Do you think any of that is remotely possible?"

"Why, Rick, if you don't believe in even the possibility of magic, how do you expect to ever find it?"

Castle just laughed.