Well, that's that. Sorry it's not as long as the other chapters, but the house is in chaos, and I still haven't finished packing. See how much I love you guys! To make up for it, you'll get an epilogue when I'm back home. Lots of love from me, to all of you who reviewed, favourited and followed, I never expected this to get so much attention. So glad you enjoyed it.

Until next time.

KT

xo

"Mollie, there is no way all of this is going to make it home. There's too much stuff, and not enough space." Her daughter is sat surrounded by a pile of clothes, looking mournfully from one item to another and trying to decide what she wants to keep and what she wants to leave here. "Why did you have to buy so much stuff, Mollie?"

"I needed clothes!"

"Two or three outfits. That's all you needed. There's this magical invention called a washing machine, you remember that?" The petulant jut of Mollie's bottom lip comes into force, her brow dropping into the trademarked Castle puppy dog look. "It's no good looking at me like that! There is physically no room for this stuff in these bags, I am not a Time Lord."

"The Doctor could probably fit it all in." Mollie grumbles in return, folding her arms over her chest. So melodramatic, Martha really would be proud.

"Yes, I'm sure he could. If you're not going to be of any help up here, then go and talk to your father. He needs some cheering up. And you cannot complain when I have to leave half of… this behind."

"I bet you won't leave your shoes behind."

"You can either go downstairs or you can sit in the corner for five minutes, your choice." The furrowed brow turns from sulking to angry in a matter of seconds, Castle to Beckett, just like that. "Five seconds to be out of that door… five, four, three-"

Mollie jumps from the bed, landing on the floor with a louder thud than was necessary and Kate's tempted to put her in the corner anyway. But she's too stressed, too tired and worn out to deal with it afterwards and she lets Mollie storm out of the room making just as much noise. The loud stomps follow her downstairs. She can hear the indignant yelling from here.

"Got everything?"

"No." Mollie immediately interjects, still shooting glares at her mother, who glares back just as hard. Castle tugs hard on his daughters hand, draws her into his other side.

"We have the important stuff, don't we Mollie?" He gets a grunt in reply, the girl too busy talking in a low voice to the stuffed dragon in her free arm. "Don't be rude, Mollie."

"I'm not. I'm having a conversation with Dragon, and you're interrupting. That's being rude."

"The moment we're getting home, you're going in the corner." Kate snaps. "And we are going. Thank you, for looking after her. And for looking after us, and accepting this… mostly."

Castle grins back at her, trying not to be amused by his future daughters antics, but he can't help it. She's the worst mix of both of them, and he loves it. "Anytime. And you know, if you want to pop back for a visit… doors always open."

"Thank you, but no thank you. I think one visit was enough for all of us. Besides, we'll be back soon enough, I suppose."

"Are you going to… time travel here? Or somewhere private?"

"No, we could do it here. But you'll need to step back, two metres at least."

Castle is already fiddling with a small silver box, pressing something that doesn't seem to be there, but then he's placing it at his feet. It must have worked because he can suddenly feel the energy coming off of it. He can't explain how it makes him feel, like he's standing in the middle of a thundercloud, and Kate's pulling him backwards away from it until the feeling leaves him entirely. Castle – future Castle – stands Mollie a few feet in front of him and Castle is slightly concerned that the girl will step out of the circle and she'll be stuck here again. But, she's too focused on her one sided conversation to notice, or to care. And then – it looks like they just fold in on themselves – they're gone.

He turns to Kate who is just blinking at the previously occupied space. "That, is my new favourite thing."

Mollie lands on her butt. The ground is hard, and it jolts her, and it doesn't take long for the tears to fall and the screams to start. Kate takes the two steps to her daughter and scoops her up, arms banded across her body, whispering comforting words into her ear. Suddenly the room is swarming with people, the sergeant, all of his men, running around with them scanners and machines and lord knows what else. But it's just procedure, they all know to keep still until it's over.

"She's safe? She's okay?"

"Yeah, just had a rough landing." Kate replies with a smile, brushing Mollie's tears away with a thumb. "I think the whole thing shook her up more than she was letting on. But she's okay. Wasn't hurt in the slightest."

"Didn't take you long to find her?"

"No, we had a decent idea of where she would be. We just took a few hours to get our bearings before we came back."

"Nothing went wrong?"

"Smooth as clockwork." She replies, shooting Castle a knowing smile. He winks back, already locked in an engaging conversation with one of the officers whose waving what looks like a TV aerial at him.

"Momma?"

"Yeah, little monkey?"

"I'm sorry I was rude." Mollie is curled up in her lap in the car, knees pressed into her ribcage, head under her chin. Technically illegal, but she couldn't give a damn right now. She's just glad to be back in the city she knows, back together with her family, on their way home.

"Then you're forgiven."

Mollie is quiet again, her breathing even against Kate's hand, but then she speaks up again. "Do I still have to go in the corner?"

Castle laughs from the seat next to them, and Kate gives him a not so subtle nudge with her elbow. It's not funny. Except, maybe it is. Just a little bit. "Maybe just for two minutes. Okay?"

"Okay."

"It feels too quiet now."

He's looking around his loft, mostly amused by the destruction left behind by the world wind that was Mollie. There's crayons and paper on the table, books strewn across the coffee table, some stuffed toys that didn't make the cut taking up residence on the sofa. He fancies keeping them there forever. Might raise questions from his mother and Alexis, but he could probably come up with some plausible story.

"You miss her?"

"Yeah. Kind of. I got so used to having her around."

"It was like… three days."

"I get attached very quickly. I had a goldfish from the fair once. It barely survived the night, and I mourned for a week."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

"What do you mean? I'm constantly full of surprises!"

"Yeah, I bet you are." There's a telling twinkle in her eyes, a subtle flick of her eyes to no-where north of his waist before they return to his eyes.

Well, if that's the way she wants to do it .Two can play at that game."And what's that supposed to mean, Beckett?"

"It means…" she begins, only to be interrupted by her phone. She digs it out of her pocket, and then grimaces at the caller ID. "Beckett… yeah… yeah we'll be right there." She hangs up, and then returns the cell to her pocket. She looks like she's about to turn, to head towards the door, but she stops halfway and turns back. And then she's grabbing him by the lapels, and pushing herself up onto her tiptoes so she can reach his mouth. She's so tantalising, and right there, and then he remembers that kissing her is a thing he can actually do now. He hopes. She didn't seem to mind the last time. He cups the back of her neck with his hand, lowers his mouth onto hers, and it makes his stomach knot when he feels her smiling against his skin. Even more so when she presses her whole body against him, all lithe and strong and so hot, and damn it he just wants to stay like this forever. All too soon she's pulling away from him, stroking his shirt into something resembling acceptable.

"Come on, Castle. We've got a murder."

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