There's something so devastating about this story; I actually cried a little. The sadness and feelings of being lost so palpable. Really great job of fleshing out their AU personas with such depth, so that they're the recognizable Kate and Rick and also their own versions of them. Kate broke my heart, the scene with the baby at the hospital, and in the bathtub, how life had dragged her down... What a devastating thing, too, to have the answer and yet find yourself unable to solve it anyway. At least they now found each other, a port in their personal storms. I loved those last lines.

A beautiful finale, chezchuckles! Especially Rick getting Kate to use her Captain persona to help deal with the personal connection to the case, to get her over the emotional barricades that got in her way when previously looking into the murder.

I do wonder if Rick will have the same idea his counterpart did and get his "Dr. Death" pathology consultant to look over the autopsy records...that was the first step once. Whether it will lead to the case of Jack Coonan's murder, and to his brother Dick...that is up to authors like yourself. Raglan is most likely not around to offer his confession, since he's probably dead from cancer by this point in the timeline (instead of by Cole Maddox's bullet). And of course, there's press-ganging Roy Montgomery.

It truly must be insanely weird for Castle to try and be someone he can be but hasn't due to never meeting Kate until his AU self Quantum Leap'd in and showed her just how well they worked together as work and romantic partners, then disappeared again; to seemingly have had a complete turnaround of personality, then lost it again after being injured saving the life of a complete stranger. He's come to see why he would take such a drastic action, seen why Kate's worth it...but knowing he was on a path that was shifted without explanation must really drive him nuts.

So...how DID Roy afford even a modest estate in the Hamptons? Bracken took the collective earnings of the mob kidnappings from Montgomery, Raglan and McAllister to fund his first Senate run after being New York City's ADA...so did Bracken give the three men (or two, since Raglan or McAllister was dying of terminal cancer when he tried to confess and was gunned down) a reward for keeping quiet? Or was Roy's windfall from getting Kate in a position that she earned by merit but would force her to adapt to playing politics and avoid wave-making? Questions, questions!

;)

Spectacular chapter, chezchuckles!

I am really starting to wonder when Kate's gonna clue in that its the statuary of the elephants that hold the big evidence of Bracken's culpability in Johanna Beckett's murder...but "our" Kate never really thought about said statue in any other way but as a memento of her mother for more than a decade, did she?

Still, Castle told her it had been on her desk and right in front of her for a while, but she keeps assuming it's a casefile...which is indicative of why Castle's influence was so important to who Kate is, since how many wacky theories of his either paid off or sparked a look outside the box to solve a case. Or ensured an innocent party didn't go to jail because of being set up, like what almost happened with the young man Harrison Tisdale framed for his murder of his sister Allison during Caskett's first case.

Wow...it's stuff like this that really makes a fan ponder what would "our" Kate and Castle tell their AU counterparts from the "Time of Our Lives" universe, if they were there to witness the aftershocks of Castle's visit.

This Richard Castle? Only knows of an alternative to his life based on Kate's limited exposure to a supposed AU version who met her earlier and was steered away from some of the excesses and bad decisions...it's like someone trying to build something from a photocopy of a hand-drawn sketch of some complex diagram, where details and nuances and measurements are missing to allow for the whole to function.

Brilliant Caskett scene, if only for illuminating how things could have gone if Kate had been able to see the first Nikki Heat novel earlier than the galley copy she poured over in the women's bathroom! Cuz I doubt our Kate would have been too different in her reactions if certain events hadn't occurred prior to her exposure to Castle's prose about her fictional alter-ego.

I can only imagine what it must be like for AU Castle, Kate, Alexis and Martha in the post-"our" Castle visit...must be like how things were for the people affected by the Leaps done by Dr. Sam Beckett on "Quantum Leap", seeing a whole new side of someone familiar - sometimes drastically different - and then the old self comes back and has zero clue about their missing time.

Funny thought...has any Castle fanfic writer tried crossing Castle and Quantum Leap? If I recall rightly, Sam Beckett has has a younger sister named Katie...maybe Jim Beckett (Kate's father) is a cousin to Sam and his siblings who decided to name his daughter after both his female cousin and Katherine Hepburn. Would be interesting to see a crossover where Sam's trying to stop the murder of his cousin's wife, though that does generate an AU where Kate most likely didn't end up being a NYPD detective and Castle kept on the path "Time of Our Lives" speculates about.

Oh, man. I read both "Change of State" and "World Anew" today and ... wow. Seriously, wow. I just want to crawl into this universe and live there. I want them to have their own TV series or own unending series of stories. They are beautiful together. Not our Kate and Rick, but so compelling, so interesting, in their own right. Watching them both 'wake up', but especially watching Rick start to reclaim his life ... it was breathtaking. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Thanks you so much for this AU. I really enjoyed the tale and the journey the characters took.

Whaaaa? Fin? Now I did NOT expect that, lol. :) Hope they make it.;)

What I especially love about your AU stories is the thickness of the plot, the complexity of a whole new AU world created, blending with the canon world perfectly yet so much different, all the details of this new world reshaped exactly for this worlds needs and accustomed to its rules. Some AU stories are a bit thin, great ideas, but a little less thought behind it, either borrowing too much from the canon world, or not enough, forgetting about the various aspects and needs of the new world.
Not you though, you AU stories read like a very familiar setting and yet something completely fresh and new. And I love it so much about you, truly, you are really one to deserve a literature career, you earned it already.

You are saving my life, Rick. I woke up to you. Don't let me sleep again."

Awwwww, they both woke up and found a reason to keep moving forward! And my head totally has them getting their side by side.
Thanks

Then get it," he says firmly, hands pressing his knees to keep from touching her. "Go get it. We're taking it to my place. Right now. Come on."

She blinks. "Your place?"

Sweet Castle, home is where the heart is, and together they can do anything!
Thanks

You're beautiful," he murmurs. He wants to kiss her but it's - more than that. "You're strong. You can survive this."

Ugh, feels, so many feels with this Kate going down this path!
Thanks

Enough.

Time for life to not be such work

You always know what words hit far too close to home. Sending poor Kate hugs cause damn, I hope this is her turning point!
Thanks