Disclaimer: I do not own Castle

Summary: Post finale. A scene explaining how they were saved.

"Always"

"I got it," he said wincing and she winced with him as she saw him struggle to lift the box to the car.

"Babe, I can help."

"No, you got precious cargo," he insisted.

"But Babe. Your shoulder," she tried to argue as he tried to maneuver the box into the trunk mostly with his left arm so that he didn't have to move or put weight on his right arm much.

"Don't worry," he smiled at her. "I'm fine." She knew he wasn't. She knew his shoulder still bothered him but he was determined to get things back to normal so she just watched him giving him pointers here and there and trying not to wince every time he didn't manage to contain a wince.

She had honestly thought they would die. And at the time, after he closed his eyes and she thought she had lost him, she was ashamed to confess she had let go too, because she couldn't fathom her life without him. When she had woken up at the Hospital, with Martha and Alexis by her bedside she had panicked. Where was he? Why wasn't he there?

"He's still in surgery dear, but the doctors are confident that neither your wounds would be fatal. But you both lost a lot of blood and were exhausted from everything that had happened, so the injuries took you out," Martha had explained.

She could only stare as Alexis lifted her hospital gown to show the bandage on her side. In exactly the same place she had been shot when Vikram had first called her all those months before. Alexis explained that the wound was also exactly the same. She had just been grazed. Only needed stiches, no surgery. But she shook her head. No, she hadn't fainted that time.

"You had just come from home. From a night of rest and well fed. Today you and dad had been running on fumes and well…"

"Well what?" she asked.

"You're also not expending energy for only one person if you get what I mean," Martha said with a brilliant smile.

"Wha'?" she asked stupidly.

"Don't worry. The doctor said that everything is okay with my little sister, or brother, but I'll go with sister. Just to drive dad crazy," she wiggled her eyebrows playfully but Kate couldn't smile despite the news. They hadn't been trying, not with LokSat, but they had talked about kids once the threat was over. But he wasn't there. He should have been there.

"You said the injuries weren't life threatening so why isn't he here? Where is he?" she insisted upset. How could they be so calm?

"Kate, darling. He was shot on the shoulder. The doctor's, assured me that barring any complication in the surgery - but you know they have to say that - he should be fine. But the surgery will take a little while. They need to get the bullet out and repair any damage so he won't lose movement on that arm," Martha explained. "The doctor promised to wheel him here once they are done."

"Okay," she nodded. She needed to see him to be believe he'd be okay. He had closed his eyes and she had closed her eyes and, wait, how were they there?

"How did we get here? What happened to Caleb?"

"He's dead," Alexis said simply with a hard expression. "You got him good. He, on the other hand wasn't a good shot. Thankfully!"

"The neighbors heard the shots," Martha explained. "I guess yours, because that man's gun had a silencer. Anyway, they called Eduardo and Eduardo called the police, and - Don't fight with him when you see him Kate. Eduardo is very fond of all of us. We've helped him throughout the years-"

"Martha," she pressed.

"He didn't wait for the police. He broke down the door and found you two and proceeded to stop the bleeding while the paramedics came."

"Which was good," Alexis said. "Because if you had lost more blood the baby could have been in danger. And dad too. He is better off because of what Eduardo did."

"I'm not going to fight with him," she said breathlessly though she knew she should. He could have been walking into a very dangerous situation. But he had saved them. The love of her life and their child she hadn't even known she was carrying.

Not long after she woke up Rick had been brought back from the post-op room. He was high as a kite smiling at her while making completely inappropriate suggestions despite the doctor's and nurses' presence. But he was awake and alive and that's all she could think as the orthopedic surgeon explained that they had both been very lucky. That their injuries were not serious and that, while she would be fine in a few days, Rick would need to stay with his arm immobilized for a while and would need physical therapy. But there was no reason why he couldn't recover his full range of movements.

That had been two month ago. He was off the sling but he was still doing the PT and had yet to regain full range. Not to mention that she knew the injury was still hurting. But he tried hard not to complain. Just too happy that they were alive and about the baby.

They had gone to the Hamptons to recover. Stayed there while the loft was still considered a crime scene. While proceedings to prove she had acted in self-defense were ongoing. That had taken a while because of how complex this case was, but once the loft had been released and they had gone back home he had taken one look at the living room and declared.

"This all has to go."

"Babe, what?"

"We need new furniture. We need to paint. We need to get rid of the negative energy before the baby comes."

She had smiled, "Negative energy."

"I'm serious Kate," he had turned to her earnestly. "This last year, I'm almost afraid to turn on the burner. First I'm making smorletts and you tell me you're leaving and now, I turn on the burner and I get shot! I love this place. I raised Alexis here, I want to raise our children here. But we need an overhaul. Of course, there are things that need to stay, like the piano. Can't just switch the piano. But everything else Kate. Everything else in this room needs to change, and we need to do this together. Because this will be our family room."

"Okay," she hugged him and kissed him caressing his face. She could do this. Redecorate. And that's what they'd been doing. They had spent a few days with Martha, while the painters repainted all the walls and had donated almost all the furniture from the living room and eating area and had gone and chosen new furniture. Granted, considering their taste, the furniture ended up being very similar to what they had before but she understood him. And today they were here picking up the crib. And she was struggling to let him handle the box alone, wincing every time he did. But she knew this was important to him. To be able to do this. And he had come a long way from those first days where he could barely more his arm. And she knew that before the baby came he'd be fully recovered. That was his goal and he was being very diligent about his physical therapy. So, when the baby came, there would be nothing left of this dark chapter of their life hindering them. So that Bracken, LokSat and all the grief they brought were left behind and they could have their always.

"Aha! See, told you!" he cried excitedly as the box was finally inside the trunk.

"Yes, you did," she smiled closing the trunk. "Like I knew you would." She kissed him tenderly and he kissed her back.

The end

A/N: Okay. I just needed to explain how they survived and that freaking empty loft frame that had me thinking the worst. Plus, I couldn't help but notice that she had been shot in the same general area as in the beginning of the season. I couldn't let him get away with nothing - which I wanted to, really did - because he was shot in the shoulder and there was no way that could just be nothing. I don't know how long he would take to recover but I went by what I experienced when I had surgery on my ankle. Once I was out of the cast and started PT, I took about two months to be able to walk normally and almost a year for everything to stop hurting and reminding me I had operated my ankle. Hope you enjoyed!