A/N: As I said, I guess I could have just made this a regular chapter, but I thought it fit better as the epilogue. You know, the last five minutes of the show after the case was solved. Anyway, thanks for following along and for all of those who reviewed! Be on the lookout for my next story! :)

EPILOGUE

"You're kidding..." He exhales as he walks her down another hall, completely stunned.

She just raises a brow, hands clasped behind her back as she falls into a slow step with him. "Nope."

"Wait." He says, raising his hand and tightening his brow, thinking back. "That's why you were so mad at me when I came back?"

Her eyes go from mischievous to holding back a pang of hurt in a flash, her mind going back to that time of seeing him again after he went away last summer. "Well... I had just broken up with Demming so I could say yes to your offer. And a part of me was ready to give it a try."

"You never told me that!" He whines in a high-pitched voice. "Why didn't you say anything?!" He continues to whine.

"I tried, Rick!" She whines back with a small shrug of her shoulders. "What was I supposed to do? Say 'sure, I would love to go to the Hampton's with you knowing full-well we'd probably end up having sex our first night there' all in front of your ex-wife?"

"Of course! That's what I would do!"

She belts out a laugh and doubles over as they slowly pace down the hall. She looks back up and sees that he honestly seems shocked and hurt. "Why is this bugging you so much, Rick? We're here now, aren't we?"

"Kate, I didn't even know you saw me that way. And..." He stops himself and lets out a frustrated sigh through his nose. "Seeing you with Demming hurt more than it should have." He says in a much softer, painful voice, his eyes down to the floor. "I mean, I know who I was back then. But you were always insistent that I not scale that wall you had put up and he just..." He says, sneering as he tosses his hand forward, "comes in slips right passed it and you don't even bat an eye."

Kate can't help but feel a strange, sour taste of guilt stab her in the chest. She can see a look she's seen before but hasn't let herself register before. Hopelessness. His brow seems crestfallen and heavy, his eyes are dull with a very plain sadness, his lips are pulled down into a subtle frown, and he looks as if his dreams have just been crushed and he's holding the shattered pieces in his hands.

She's seen that same look on his face that day after that dirty bomb scare when Josh came out of nowhere. Despite that day being a victory, for him especially after saving an untold amount of lives including her own, he still looked ripe with a depressing, bitter defeat as he walked away from her toward the elevator. "You know, Rick, it was hard for me too." She says, bumping him by the shoulder.

He looks over to her, seeing her smile heavily.

"I mean, last summer, I was ready to give this a shot. You know, just to see where it would take us. And, in all honesty, the only reason Josh and I ever started dating was because I knew you were still with Gina. And since she was your ex-wife, I felt that since you had some sort of foundation that you'd end up remarrying her or something. And... when I overheard you break up with her on the phone, it... lifted me more than it was supposed to."

Castle smiles heavily and looks down. After a few more slow steps, he reaches over and takes her hand with a smile. And as they pace their way into the foyer, he tugs on her arm and pulls her against him, wrapping her arms around his torso. "Well, let's just forget about everyone else." He says in a low, soft voice.

She smiles and she looks down to his lips, biting her tongue. "And we can..." She says in a low, husky voice, running her hands slowly up his chest, "enjoy the peace and quiet up here." She says, slowly snaking her arms around his neck as their breath tangles together.

"Mmm..." He moans, one hand roaming her back, the other sneaking into his pocket, "I love the way you say 'peace and quiet'." She lets out a hollow chuckle as her lips tighten in a smile. "Say it again."

Her fingers weave into his soft hair. "Peace... and qu-" She stops when the lights suddenly go out. She pulls back and looks up, consumed by the sudden darkness of the foyer. After a few seconds, the lights slowly fade back up to full brightness. She looks around, seeing the other lights in the house still on. After another second, the lights suddenly dim to almost complete darkness, then quickly flash to full brightness again, then begin to flicker between light and dark. "What the hell is going on?"

When she feels his shoulders jump and the distinct sound of him biting back a laugh, she looks back up at him and sees him biting the inside of his lip to avoid laughing.

After a few seconds of a challenging glare, he smiles and moves his hand around, showing her a black remote with a quirk in his brow. After a deadpan glare, his shoulders jump in a small laugh and she slaps him on the arm. "Castle!"

He starts laughing hysterically in her arms. "First time I had this installed, I did that to Alexis when she was taking a shower. You should have seen her face." He says, his laughter dying down as he looks down at the remote. "I can control all the lights in the house with this."

Despite being annoyed, his antics are just a reminder of what made her fall for him in the first place. It's been a hell of a long day, and the last time they were with each other was a quick rendezvous before she left for her apartment to get ready just this morning. Which right now, seems like an eternity ago. It's been one of the most stressful, emotionally draining days she's had in her life and he has a way of letting her unwind that will put her into a sleep that will rival that of the dead.

"Well..." She says in another low, husky voice as she runs her hands up his chest again, "why don't you use it to turn the lights in the bedroom out so we can... unwind."

He smiles brightly before leaning down and pressing his lips sweetly to hers, making her body tingle with what she knows is just the beginnings of what he does to her. With another sweet kiss, the lights above them go out and she giggles against his lips, letting him hoist her up by her legs and carry them into the bedroom.

A soft clap of thunder wakes her up. She lifts her head off his warm chest, her head feeling incredibly heavy as she squints her eyes toward the window. After listening intently and watching closely, she doesn't see any rain falling and doesn't hear any more thunder clapping outside. She looks up to him, wanting to wake him, but... she smiles as she sees his gently sleeping face. After the day they've had, she'd feel bad waking him for something this stupid.

She moves the thick strap of his tight-fitting tank top out of the way and presses her lips to his skin and carefully slips out of bed, her toes curling against the cold hardwood. After stretching out her sex-addled and sleep strained muscles, she stands and starts toward the door. Her hip hits against the bow he left sitting out after dinner on the dresser and she quickly reacts, slinking away and shushing the inanimate object.

She softly pads her way down the hall, her hand scratching and ruffling her hair as she looks around the corners for anything out of place, to see if anything has fallen or the like. As she pads her way into the foyer, she turns and her body immediately tenses as she sees the outline of a dark figure standing in front of her. "Cas-!"

She's stopped by the heavy impact of cold metal going across her skull. She falls to the ground heavily as her head swims. Her vision fuzzes as she looks up and sees Vulcan, leering over her with a gun in his hand. She hears him suck in a long breath and sees his body move before she feels the incredible pain of him kicking her in the stomach.

"Ragh!" He yells.

Castle shoots out of bed at the sound of her scream, quickly looking down and finding the spot next to him empty, then hearing another grunt from down the hall. He quickly makes for the door to the bedroom, but stops when she sees her splayed out on the floor. His heart quickly goes into his throat, pounding and quivering in fear when he sees her. But then he sees a dark figure step up to her, then look at him under the cover of the shadows.

He sees the figure's arm rise and his body reacts, jumping out of the doorway as the sound of a gunshot cracks through the house.

Vulcan looks down at Kate, who's holding her stomach in pain, letting out a cough as she writhes on the floor. He bends over and grabs her by the hair. "Ah!" She grunts as he pulls her up.

"Shakespeare!"

Vulcan's scream echoes through the house, hitting his ears and making his blood boil.

"I got your girl, Shakespeare!"

Kate's body goes numb as her mind drifts off. She can see it. She can see everything. Those flickerings that she used to deny, used to push away, that used to haunt her in times of painful anguish between them are now turning to vivid dreams, clear visions of what they will have in their future, of what they have in store for them.

Castle's fists tighten, his knuckles turning white as he grinds his teeth.

"Get out here and watch her die!" Vulcan screams again.

Castle steels himself. Remember who his character is, Rick. He breathes out a quick breath and starts. "I've gotta say, Vacuum!" He calls out from the bedroom. "You make for one of the most cliche endings I've ever seen!"

Kate can see it all. She can see him proposing, the twinkle and fear his eyes would hold when he kneels down and how she would throw her arms around him when she says yes. She can see their wedding, their first kiss as husband and wife. She can see it all.

Vulcan groans as he looks down the hall, pointing the gun at Kate, who's still being held by the hair.

Castle reaches over and grabs the remote off the dresser. "What's next, huh? You gonna tie her to the railroad tracks?"

"Get out here!" Vulcan screams again.

Closing his eyes, he takes the only thing that can save him off the dresser and holds the remote in his hand. He clicks on the lights in the kitchen and watches from the darkness of the bedroom as Vulcan quickly turns and fires out two shots. Taking his chance, he moves out of the bedroom.

"You ruined my life and now I'm gonna ruin yours! Now, get out here!"

Kate opens her eyes and looks up to Vulcan, warning him in as strong of a voice as she can muster, "He's gonna kill you." She whispers.

Vulcan just sneers as he sees the lights of the bedroom flick on. He reacts quickly and sends two bullets down the hall. But he still doesn't see him.

"Over here." Castle says behind Vulcan.

Vulcan quickly turns and sees him standing under the light of the kitchen, facing him with his bow drawn and aimed at him. Rick doesn't give him a chance and lets the arrow fly. It shoots through the air with a zing and as Vulcan starts lifting his gun, it lands deadcenter in his jugular. Rick freezes when he sees Vulcan reach up with his hand, the arrow sticking out between his fingers as he grasps his neck, chocking and gasping for air as he staggers backward.

With a few steps, Vulcan falls to the floor with a gurgle, leaving Kate splayed out on the floor.

His bow drops to the floor with a clatter as he quickly runs forward, falling to his knees and pulling her into his lap. "Kate?"

She pulls in a struggling breath as she looks up to him. "Rick..." She says, shaking in his arms.

"You're gonna be okay, Kate." He tells her, petting her hair. "I promise. You're gonna be fine."

"I saw it." She says, a tired smile shining onto her face as her eyes close. "I saw our future."

He smiles as he cups her cheek, caressing her cheekbone. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She says, reaching up and putting her hand on his cheek. "I saw what it looks like." Rick sniffles as he holds her in his lap, listening to her breath, then hearing sirens start to wail in the distance. "You wanna know what we have in store?"

He smiles as he pets her cheek with his thumb. "Why don't you let me be surprised, okay?"

"You're gonna love it." She whispers.

"I'm sure I will."

Her eyes shine as she looks up at him from his lap. "I love you, Rick."

He leans down and presses his lips to her forehead. "I love you too, Kate."

END