Chapter 30: Forever

Beat inside me, I'll be with you

"Can I help?" Kate asks, watching him working on their dinner. Alexis and Martha were supposed to be arriving soon, and she needs something to keep her occupied so she would quit worrying.

"Nope."

"Please?"

"Kate, stop worrying."

"I can't, Castle. This isn't going to work if they hate me."

He stops what he is doing and approaches her, "How many times do I have to tell you that things will work out? After all, my mother and daughter have been waiting for us to get together since we met practically. If they were mad, it didn't last long."

Before she can comment, they hear the front door to the beach house open. Seconds later Alexis is hugging her dad. "I missed you," she tells him.

Kate tries to step away from them, not really sure what to do, but Martha stops her before she can get far. "Hello, Kate, dear," she greets, pulling the younger woman into a hug.

It takes a moment for the detective to return the embrace. "Martha, I wanted to apologize for my actions. I shouldn't have run away from this. Your son is a wonderful man, and I really don't deserve him."

"Don't be silly, dear," she smiles, pulling back. "And you have nothing to apologize to me for. I understand what you were going through." Lowering her voice to make sure neither of the Castles heard her, she adds, "Alexis, on the other hand, might need that apology. She's being a little stubborn, but I think if you just talk to her, she'll come around."

They separate, as do Alexis and her father, and Martha hugs her son. Kate notices that Alexis is avoiding her gaze and steps closer to her. "Can we talk?" she asks quietly.

Alexis hesitates before nodding and heading out the back door of the house. The detective follows her out onto the deck and down onto the sand of the beach.

"Alexis, you have every right to be mad at me. I completely understand. I would be mad at me too if I was in your position; hell, I am mad at myself for what I did. It wasn't fair to him or to you or your grandmother. But I thought that what I was doing would keep him safe, and to me, that was more important than my happiness or even his. I just wanted him to be alive because I couldn't stand it if he wasn't. And I didn't want you to have to go through what I did with losing a parent. What I did… running away… it was wrong. And I'm sorry that I did it," Kate tries to explain as they stand side-by-side staring out at the water.

"I don't want to be mad at you, Kate. I really don't. I mean… I've never seen Dad so happy and… I really do like you."

"It means a lot to me that you support your father and me being in a relationship."

Alexis turns toward her, "I do want to be supportive of this. But I need some kind of assurance that it's not going to happen again. That you're not going to run off again when things get difficult or when one of you gets hurt. Dad went after you this time. But I don't know if he'd keep doing it; I know he loves you and you care a lot about him, but at some point he's going to tire of chasing you. And I don't want to see that happen. He'd be devastated if you left him; he wouldn't have the motivation to even get out of bed. I don't want to see him like that, Kate. I need you to promise me it won't happen again."

"You know I can't do that, Alexis," Kate says softly, turning her gaze back to the ocean. "I can't guarantee that I'm never going to leave him. With my job, there are no guarantees; I can't promise that I'm going to come home to him every night because there's always a chance that I won't. But I will promise that I will never voluntarily walk away from him… from us again. There will be times when I need to be alone for a bit to think about things and cool down if we have a fight, but I'm always going to come back to him, Alexis. I never intended on letting him in like this when he first started shadowing me, but now that he's made it past all the walls I put up to stop him, I'm not going to let him go. I need him in my life."

The teenager throws her arms around the detective, "Thank you, Kate." She pulls back a few moments later. "Dad… said you wanted him to totally quit following you."

"I did tell him that," she nods.

"I… I understand why you're doing it, Kate. But you have my permission to keep him as a partner, and I'd really like you to take the offer. He's going to go crazy if he has to stay at home all day thinking about you out there in danger. He's not going to be able to write when he's not absolutely sure you're safe and nearby. Even if you just took him back a couple days a week, like in our original agreement, it would be better for all of us. At least promise to think about it?"

"I will think about it for now," the detective promises, looking out at the ocean once more before turning to the red-head. "More than likely he'll bother both of us until I give in and let him shadow me again."

They share a smile before Alexis's phone starts to ring. She reads the new text message, smiling again. "I think we're being watched."

The two turn around to find Castle standing on the deck watching them. "What?" he asks at their looks. "I can't watch two of my favorite women?"

"Not when it's spying, Dad."

"I thought you were making dinner, Castle."

"I was. But it's ready now. Or whenever you two are done talking."

"Give us a few minutes. And go back inside and don't spy on us," Alexis orders.

"Are you sure you don't want me to join you? I could be the mediator or something."

"We're fine," Kate glares at him, and he reluctantly heads back into the house.

"He's going to watch through the window," the teenager sighs. "Does he really think we wouldn't work things out?"

She ignores the question, "Alexis, I'm sorry about the past week and a half. I didn't mean to take your father away from you, especially after his injury. And I want you to know that I don't ever want to take him from you so if you ever need him or feel he's not spending enough time with you, let me know. I don't want him to have to choose between the two of us, but if he has to, it should be you."

"I appreciate that, Kate. And I don't want to keep Dad from you either. I only have one more year before I graduate, and I'd really like it if we could all spend time together."

"I like that idea too. And I'm sure your father will be thrilled."

Alexis smiles at her again before turning to head up the beach to the house, the detective falling into step beside her. "So Dad's doing okay? Everything's healing right?"

"Yeah. He wouldn't let me help him with dinner earlier so I guess his shoulder isn't causing him much pain anymore. I couldn't get him to wear the sling at all, but until today he hasn't really used his arm much. He was already bragging about the scar he's going to have."

"And you?"

"Fine. The bruising is almost gone, and it only hurts when I apply pressure or move a certain way."

"Are you guys coming back with us?"

"We haven't talked about it really, but I think it's time for us to go back to the city."

"Took you long enough," Castle grumbles when they get inside. Martha is seated at the table, and he is pouring her a glass of wine.

They both glare at him as they sit at the table. He offers the wine bottle to his daughter. "Dad, I'm only seventeen."

"So? I had already had alcohol at that age."

"You'd already done a lot of things you shouldn't have at my age."

"Point taken," he agrees. "But if you want some, I give you permission. You know… just to try it. Before you end up drunk at some crazy party."

"Dad, Kate's a cop."

"She can't arrest you if I give it to you. Besides, she's really not that scary without her gun and handcuffs," Castle whispers loudly.

Kate decides to change the conversation, "What's been going on for the past two weeks?"

"Ashley came up to me the other day to apologize for breaking up with me. He wants to get back together."

"What did you say?" her father asks worriedly.

"I told him I'd have to think about it."

"He doesn't deserve another chance."

Beckett turns to him, "Isn't that a little hypocritical, Castle?"

He freezes with his fork halfway to his mouth. "I… don't know what you're talking about, Beckett. We were never dating when you gave me all those chances."

"So? I've already messed this up, and you've given me another chance."

"That's… different. We were in extenuating circumstances. And we're not teenagers; we know that this is it for us."

"I think that if she can forgive him for what he did and she still likes him, then they should give it another try."

"He's just going to break her heart again."

"And? If she tells him no and gets a new boyfriend, he could break her heart too. He probably will. There's not saying that Ashley's not going to do it again, but there's always a possibility of him being the one and her regretting her decision should she tell him no."

"Have you ever gotten back together with one of your ex-boyfriends?"

"No," she answers honestly. "Other than you."

"I've done that before. Gina. And Meredith and I from time to time end up back together but I know nothing's going to come of that. It was a mistake, Kate. There was a reason it ended the first time."

"Richard, dear, I know you want to protect Alexis, but she's going to get her heart broken. You just have to be there for her when it happens," Martha inputs, hoping they could just leave it all be and that there wouldn't be another fight.

They finish eating while they discuss other things. "Maybe we could all go for a walk after beach?" Alexis suggests as they start to clear the table.

"I'm too tired for that tonight; I think I'm going to turn in early. But you three can go without me," Martha smiles.

"Sounds good, sweetie," Castle says as he starts putting away leftovers.

"Actually, I have like five chapters of my book left, and I really want to finish it before we get back to the city. I'll join you tomorrow. You two should spend some time together without me anyway," Kate says, rinsing off the dishes before placing them in the dishwasher.

Alexis can see the disappointment in her father's eyes and wants to leave them alone for a few minutes, "Okay. I'll go grab a jacket from my bag." She follows her grandmother up the stairs.

"Kate, if this is about what I said -"

She shakes her head at him, "Not right now, Castle. Go for a walk with your daughter. We'll talk when you get back."

CB

When they get back, he finds her reading in the window seat of the library. "Kate, I'm sorry," he says softly as he approaches her.

She scoots over so he can sit beside her. "I just don't want her to miss out, Rick. I know what it's like to totally mess a relationship up and wish you had another chance."

"I can understand what you did, Kate. I didn't agree with it, but I can see why you did what you did. And I would have let it go when you realized that you were wrong and asked forgiveness. And I've been on the receiving end of your forgiveness for my stupid mistakes many times, and I'm grateful that you have it in you to forgive me."

"So how is her situation different?"

He sighs, "I guess it's not really. I just… don't want her to get hurt. They're only teenagers; I highly doubt he's really her one, but if she thinks he is, then she can forgive him."

"And I'm sorry too."

"For what?" Rick raps his arms around her and kiss her temple.

"I overstepped. You're her father. And I'm not her mother. I shouldn't have pursued it when you said no."

"No, it's fine, Kate. You're a good roll model for her, and I don't really know what I'm doing. It was easier when she was little, but now that she's a teenager… it's harder. And I value any input you have to give." He leans in and kisses her. She quickly deepens it.

When she feels his hand sneak under her shirt and up higher than it had gone before, she pulls away. "Castle…"

"Sorry," he quickly retracts his hand, placing it tentatively on her hip. "I got a little carried away."

"No, it's fine, Rick. It's just… we've been here for almost two whole weeks. I thought you would have tried that earlier; I expected us to be trying to move our relationship forward since you whisked me away from the city. But nothing happened."

"We were injured. Still are injured and probably shouldn't."

"Right," she smirks. "Like you don't know how to get around that. And you sure haven't been acting injured the past couple days."

"So you're mad because I didn't do this earlier?" he asks, slightly confused.

"Yeah, I guess you could put it that way."

"We have now. And forever."

"Not with your mother and daughter here."

"Right. We probably shouldn't… especially not the first time. They might be scarred for life." Castle kisses her one more time before pulling back to think. "We could go out on the beach."

"It's a little chilly. And I'd really rather not be embarrassed by some stranger finding us."

"Then I might just have to keep you here for another night after they leave."

"We'll never end up going back to the city if you do that, Castle," she smiles, leaning in for another kiss.

"I'd be okay with that," he says between kisses.

"We have murderers to catch," she replies.

He abruptly stops, pulling back to stare at her. "We?"

Kate nods. "When you're all healed and I'm cleared for field work, I want you to come back."

"Kate… thank you," he smiles brightly.

"Just be careful not to get shot again or I might kick you out of the precinct for good."

"Only if you promise not to get shot or I might have to handcuff you somewhere to keep you from going back to work and getting hurt again."

"That would be kidnapping. And it's illegal. And I'd be bored out of my mind if you did that."

"Oh, I'd keep you occupied," Castle grins, stealing another kiss.

"Get those ideas out of your head, Castle, especially when you're not going to be acting on them anytime soon."

"Spoilsport."

A/N: Sorry for not posting this yesterday. I had more virus problems Saturday. Both times this has happened I've been on this site, but it was the ads that pop up. I was trying to avoid another problem, and so far I have. Anyway... hope you enjoyed this story. It's over now. And sadly I don't actually have anything else done or far enough along that I'm ready to start posting. I've got five chapters of one story done, but I'm not really sure where to take it (other than the obvious with Castle and Beckett together) or how to get there. And now I've got another idea in my head but I like to write one story at a time. Plus I've still got a couple ideas started and never finished; I don't think they're going to be happening though, especially since one is about the finale, which has been done a thousand times. Not to say that all those stories are bad because there are some very good ones but I just don't want to copy the idea. Although the story I've started is about the finale, but it takes place more during season four, not right after the shooting. Well... maybe in a couple weeks I will start trying to get that one up. I hope you enjoyed this story. Please give me any final thoughts. Thanks.