A/N: I can't express enough gratitude for the love you've given me over the past two months of posting this. I am thankful for each review, tweet etc. I've gotten and there were even a few people commenting that I should continue writing - bless, that's so kind!

I'm actually considering to do some speculation fics before season six starts, we shall see how that works. I have the whole month of August for my pure entertainment, so I'll watch Firefly, Mistresses and Once and write :-)

Here is your epilogue - fluff ... with a twist. You'll see why ... ;)

Epilogue - And may fortune guide your journey...

"But Kate, is that really what you want? I mean, we've time .."

She snorted in response and he looked at her, eyes wide open in shock.

"I am not THAT old, young lady" he said, his expression slightly hurt.

"No, but are you willing to do a do-over?"

"With you? Always."

Summer had rolled over the city like purgatory. The glistening heat combined with the inevitable smog of the usually very busy New York City streets had made Castle re-think his summer plans. Instead of spending it entirely in the city, he and his fiancée (it still felt surreal to actually call her that way) had decided on some vacation time which Gates had gladly given Kate.

Castle sat in his back yard on one of the wooden sun beds with the striped mats and reflected on the events of the past three months. His life had never been fairly easy to begin with, in fact one could actually call it a roller coaster ride. He just had the feeling that it intensified towards a significant peek in the most unfitting and inappropriate moments only to go downhill again.

Kate and him had done a lot of talking in the meantime and he was glad that both of them did such a good job reflecting on past mistakes and committing to their future together.

"And may fortune guide your journey!"

"CASTLE!"

"What?"

"You cannot be serious? This cannot possibly ever go in our vows. Just ... no!"

"But Kate, this is taken from your favorite TV show, Nebula 9! I was gonna come up with something super creative myself but why not steal it from Captain Max?"

"Just no, Castle. It's personal, but not personal enough. Besides, we haven't even agreed on a date yet, why are we discussing vows?"

"I thought a head-start would be good? You could always change your mind..."

"In Nevergonnahappenland, maybe. Besides, if you are actually planning on using these exact words in your vows, then I might turn around an leave you at the altar!"

"You would not!"

"Well, don't make me!"

"Fine" he snorted and turned around so that she couldn't see the big smile that he wore.

Things had eventually become interesting as Alexis returned from her trip to Costa Rica, a fellow student at her heals. A free spirit that wanted to save the world and listened to the short but resonant name of 'Pi'.

As his parents weren't able to provide financial aid he needed for his studies anymore, Alexis had gone for it and had offered him a place to stay at the loft. In the guest room, naturally, as Castle had only tolerated that.

There was something about this Pi character he liked, though. Not his cooking skills, which were flawless if you were a fructarian and solely ate fruits. But not if you weren't. Then it felt like torture.

How many times had he come home to the loft to find something on the table that he couldn't even identify properly. He sighed at the memory.

He looked at the beautiful scenery in front of him, how the air at the sea always gave him heaps of inspiration of new stories he could write. The small breeze moved some strands of his hair and the slightly salty air did wonders to his city bound headaches he had been getting a lot recently. The lack of sleep and the intense writing sessions had left their marks on him. Now that the first draft of his new book was done and his resurrection of Derek Storm had been taken exceptionally well, he was more busy than ever before.

His personal life kept him busy as well. The addition of Pi to his life had been one thing, Kate moving into the loft had been the other.

The doorbell rang and he was genuinely confused since he didn't expect anyone to show up at ... - he glanced at his watch - 9.30pm on a Thursday night. Beckett had wanted to stay at her apartment to spend some quality time with Lanie and besides, she did have a key, didn't she?

He slowly got up and went towards the hall when the doorbell rang again. He cursed and shouted "I am coming, don't make such a fuss."

When he got to the door and opened it, no one was there and he wanted to close the door with a loud bang when he realized that there was a small box standing on his doormat. He had almost missed it. The box was open and a large post it note was attached to one of the four lids the box had. It read 'Carry me inside and then look and my content."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion but nevertheless did as the box (the box, seriously?) told him and carried it inside.

He placed it on the dining table and carefully folded the lids aside until the content of the - rather heavy - box lay bare before him. He gasped.

Inside of the box were all the books he had ever written, all of his classics, his not so good books and the most recent additions. All of them looked heavily used, loved, needed even and he took out "Flowers for your Grave" and opened it. A sticker on the inside said "From the library of Kate Beckett" and his heart beat increased by ... a lot. These were her books, the ones that must have kept her good company according to the state of them.

Inside of the box he found a card and he opened it. It read:

"Thankfully these didn't get burned when my old apartment blew up. I thought they might be a good thing to start with. You still want me to move in?"

His eyes watered up and he lost focus for a bit. 'Why does she still think she needs to ask?' he thought and when his eyes were able to focus again, he saw that the outside of the box said "Books, Study?" and he genuinely thought he never felt happier in his entire life.

"What are you thinking about?" a female voice asked and he would have recognized in a million. His fiancée, his muse, his everything.

"Everything" he simply said and looked at Kate.

"Well, that's a lot" she smiled and sat down on the second sun bed and placed two cups on the table between them.

"Is that coffee?" he asked hopeful.

"Nope, I went for some tea instead."

"Alright" he said "I hope it's cooled down already, I don't know if I can add more hotness to the sun .. and to you!"

Kate laughed at the comment which still fit the "Most Eligible Bachelor"-list-Rick. And to be quite honest, she still wasn't used to any form of compliment, neither from him, nor from anyone else.

"How far have you gotten with the book draft Gina asked about? she asked, her voice still filled with a little acid. The didn't like Gina and Castle couldn't blame her. His loneliness had driven him into his second failed marriage with a woman he didn't really love and even if he didn't want her to see it that way, Kate was number three, one of the three women he ever proposed to. She compared herself to them. And it never made anything better if any of the other two showed up.

"Richaaaaard!" a female voice bellowed and it echoed through the whole loft. That could only mean another redhead had made her way into his loft again and he sighed in frustration at the thought that it probably was true. The voice sure sounded like his ex-wife #1, Meredith. The question was, why would she show up at his loft at 9am on a Sunday morning.

He already sat in his study to start his draft for "A heated Storm" and Kate was still asleep in the adjacent bedroom. Well, probably not any more now. He got up and tightened his robe around him a little faster than he normally did. His tousled hair gave away that he hadn't been up for a long period of time as did his still puffy eyes and his dreamy expression. Who could blame him for it? His beautiful fiancée just agreed to move in with him and had send an advanced box of books.

Two hours later there were around thirty boxes that piled up in various corners of the loft, brought into the loft by Ryan, Esposito, Lanie, L.T., Karposwki and even the grumpy Pearlmutter carried a few. Jenny had also been there as moral support, her stomach not flat anymore, a small bump forming there.

"Richard?" the voice shouted again and he cursed under his breath and went out of his study. His biggest fears came true as he saw his ex-wife standing in the entrance area of the loft. Martha shot him an apologetic look. Apparently, she had opened the door without thinking twice and there she was, Meredith, another redheaded whirlwind.

"Rick?" another voice called him and he spun around to find his fiancée standing in the door to the study. She looked genuinely confused and he couldn't blame her. He didn't know himself what exactly was going on.

"Hey" he said, walking towards her, wrapping her into his strong arms, both a meaningful gesture and a provocation. Kate sensed it, too, and she stiffened a little bit in his embrace. "Just remain calm, will you? I'll take care of this" he mumbled and she snorted. "Yeah, like last time?" she asked and softly punched into his ribs. "Ouch, I deserved that" he said and turned around to face Meredith again. His fingers entwined with Kate's and they both stepped closer toward the flawless looking Meredith who stood there, an expensive looking handbag in her hand and her Ray Bean sunglasses shoved onto her head. She wore tight fitted jeans that complimented her body and a flowy white dress top. Her brown sandals were decorated with big, shiny, decorative stones.

"Richard!" Meredith said and for a split second Kate thought she wanted to throw herself at him again but she held herself back when she registered the determination on Rick's face. He wouldn't let her stay this time. Meredith couldn't know that the guest room was already occupied by Pi.

"Meredith" he answered, obviously not very happy about her presence and Martha reflected his emotion but showed it more graphically. Her facial expression didn't leave any doubt how unhappy she was with the whole situation. She shot Kate an apologetic look which she responded with a 'It's not your fault that he married that one' look which had Martha almost chuckling. She could barely contain herself and held back a laugh to not provoke anything in the already heated situation.

"What are you doing here, Meredith?" Castle asked.

"Oh I thought I'd drop by and visit" she responded "I wanted to see for myself if it was true."

"If what was true?" Castle asked but Meredith had already venture forward and grabbed Kate's left hand to find her engagement ring there, resting on her ring finger.

"If THAT's true" Meredith retorted "and I am really glad I didn't have to find out from any nosy reporter that rubbed it into my face to see what I had to say about it. Now I am at least prepared for when that actually happens."

She looked around and became aware of the boxes that were standing in some places, two in the entrance hall, some in the dining area and some apparently in the kitchen as well.

"And she is moving in as well... " Meredith snorted and looked around at the mess they had made with the unpacking of some of the boxes.

"So what if I am" Kate said, suddenly dropping Castle's hand and leaping forward towards Meredith, her eyes sparkling with fury and annoyance "... if I am, that clearly means that this is my home as well. For my understanding this also gives me the right to determine who comes into my home and who does not. And right now I'd say, I don't want you here. That should suffice, shouldn't it?"

Meredith looked at Castle's surprised but content face and realized that in fact she wasn't welcome.

"Fine" she said and turned around "but do tell Alexis that she can find me at the Ritz Carlton Central Park."

"Will do" Richard said and Martha gladly waved Meredith goodbye.

As the door closed behind them, Castle let out a sigh of relief but Kate wasn't done.

"And now..." she started and turned around to him "care to explain to me why she can still appear unannounced?"

"I'm good, 'A heated Storm' is practically done. Gina and Paula are currently reading it. I imagine them looking like hyena in the process but yeah, you know them. They challenge me.

"Is that a part of why you married Gina back then?" Kate asked cautiously and Rick looked directly into her eyes. Honesty. That's what this was all about.

"Maybe" he answered "I think it was a combination of challenge and loneliness. When Meredith left me and I had Alexis and mother to take care of, I thought it was nice to have a companion that shared another part of my life. Needless to say, it didn't work. We fought so hard over personal and professional stuff, it was disgusting at one place. I had actually established the rule to not ever date a co-worker of some sort again."

"Oh really?" she asked, clearly amused "Well, that didn't work. You're engaged to one."

"True" he said, taking a sip from his tea.

"When will you finally admit that you fell for me the day that we met?" he asked after he had swallowed and she laughed.

"What, Castle, are we back at this ridiculous topic again?"

"Ridiculous" he snorted.

"Yeah, ridiculous.." she retorted, suddenly thinking of something else that she had dreaded to ask but felt that it was the time to actually do it.

"Castle?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember back then when you asked me to come to the Hamptons with you and you went with Gina instead?"

"Yeah?" Castle said, oblivious of the delicate topic she was about to touch there.

"I wanted to go. I broke things up with Demming and was ready to go. I was planning on telling you when you showed up with Gina and then the two of you were off..."

He looked at her in utter shock. He never even guessed that this could have been the thing she had been up to when she spoke to him in the hall at the precinct.

"I never knew that" he said, still shocked at the possibility that they could have solved things between them way earlier.

"I never told you." she answered and drank some tea herself.

"You should have" he said.

"What good would that have done? I wouldn't have been as ready as I am now. I wouldn't want it any other way. The way it is, it's fine. Don't you think?"

"I'd say, more than fine, to be honest" he responded and she smiled.

"I agree"

"Do you wanna go into the pool later?" she asked him and he nodded.

"I would have loved to have you earlier, Kate."

"Have me?" she raised her eyebrow and her tone became teasing.

"Have you" he said and the atmosphere was suddenly loaded with physical attraction between the two which both realized at once. The air buzzed with anticipation and Kate longed to touch him, run her fingers through his hair and she could tell he did feel the same.

"Then have me" she said, got up and gestured him to follow her into the house. She needn't say that twice. He hurried to get up.

A couple of days after Meredith had left the city, Kate and Castle lay in bed together, both reading their respective novels / magazines. Until Kate put her book down and turned towards her fiancée.

"How far have you come with the dedication?" Kate asked, trying to sound not too curious but of course, he realized that she was.

"I am not sure, yet. I don't think that I can top the dedication of 'Frozen Heat', right?"

"'To all the remarkable, maddening, challenging, frustrating people who inspire us to do great things', yeah, that's pretty straightforward" Kate said.

"Well, you'd know that you were meant, wouldn't you? No one else would. But now that you've agreed to marry me, I really wanna make it even more personal if you don't mind. I haven't come up with the perfect dedication, so I don't screw this up. It means too much to me."

"Are we still talking 'A heated Storm?" she asked but knew the answer.

"Nope"

"There are just a few ways how you could possibly screw this up. You could cheat on me, or stick your face into someone else's boobs again. That was not okay" she scolded him, internally chuckling at his expression.

"Fair enough, but it's no rich entrepreneur for you again, either" he retorted, making her cringe but she knew that she deserved it.

"Okay, that seems fair" she said.

"Sorry" he said.

"Nothing to say sorry for, Castle. It's me who screwed up. But your slip up with an all too eager Christina Coterra wasn't cool as well."

"I know" he said, remembering the all to fast-forward reporter.

"Let's just agree on putting this behind us" she suggested and he was more than willing to say 'yes' to her idea.

A few days later Kate stood in the master bedroom of the Hamptons house which she shared with Castle and sighed. She didn't want to pack up her things and go back to the city but it looked like she needed to.

"Sad to leave?" she heard him say and turned around to find him standing in the door, leaning against the doorframe.

"Yeah" she said.

"You know, I was thinking..."

"When are you not thinking?" she retorted.

"Ha, funny, Ms Beckett, very funny" he came closer and wrapped his right arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"I was thinking that this place could be a good location for our wedding."

"Oh, well, Jerry Tyson thought the same" she answered, her voice coated with sarcasm.

"Ugh, you're right" he cringed "so maybe not?"

"Maybe not"

"You still wanna do it?"

"I still wanna do it!"

"Good, I'm glad" he answered and offered help with the packing. A small box caught his eye and naturally, he needed to know what was in there. He grabbed the box and held it up.

'He touches things' Kate thought and smiled. Just as I planned he would.

"What is that, Kate? Did you go to this exquisite lingerie shop that I showed you? I knew you'd buy something there but why don't I get to see it?" he whined and tried to open the yellow ribbon around the box.

"Go ahead, open it" she said and sat down on the bed, observing him carefully. She saw him nestling with the ribbon until he opened the bow and removed it from the box. He shot her an expectant look and she just nodded, signaling him to open the small black box.

He took a good look at the contents of the box and swallowed. Hard.

When he looked back to her, the pride, love and joy she could see on his face took her breath away.

"Are you sure?" he asked and balanced the little pacifier on his pinkie.

"Sure as I can be. Did make an appointment for next week to be entirely sure but so far, yeah, looks like it, Dad..."

Dad.

Really?

There was a lump in his throat all of the sudden and it took him a few swallows to get it down.

"You take my breath away, Katherine Houghton Beckett" he stated matter of factly and she beamed.

"It's my full name once again? How about 'Katherine Houghton Castle'?"

"Mhhh, sounds appealing" he said and rounded the bed to pull her into his arms.

"You wanna change it before or after?" she said, referring to little Castle.

"Before or after we have it, him, her, ... it?" he stammered."

"Yeah, that" she clarified and snuggled closer.

"What about today?"

"TODAY?"

Tori Ellis was transported to state prison two months after she went into a New York City hospital after her suicide attempt. It had been a difficult journey to clear her for prison as she still refused to cooperate with anyone. Captain Gates and the experienced Agent Shaw from the FBI didn't have a shot with her, neither did her psychiatrist.

She refused to talk to anyone about her relationship with Tyson. After all, it was sacred to her. No one was allowed to violate it. Even if it didn't do her any good. And she was sentenced to prison anyways, the evidence had piled up against her. Her co-workers incriminated her, her phone showed that she had contact to a serial killer.

Others did the math. It equaled that she should be sent to prison which she was at this very moment.

She didn't care.

She leaned against the window of the police cruiser that transported her into prison and let out a sigh of acceptance. She would just accept her sentence and go through with it.

A gigantic blow caught the car and the power of it overturned the vehicle a couple of times until it came to a standstill at the side of the road. The driver and the other two officers were unconscious and severely injured, dislocated bones and several cuts marked the severity of their injuries. Tori Ellis was on the edge of unconsciousness, she had a deep cut on her cheek, the back of her head was covered in blood and she felt a sudden pain in her left leg. Still, she was alive.

Confused, she tried to locate the source of the blow but couldn't see far enough as her vision was clouded.

Then she heard a male voice: "Sorry for the injuries, Detective. Let's get you out of here."

A/N: That screams "sequel", right? ;-)