IT'S BEST IF WE BOTH STAY
EPILOGUE

Kate drops her bag with a sigh one night in early December, and she takes a moment to collect her thoughts before stripping off her coat. She gives Castle a smile when he appears at her side with a glass of wine. "Thanks, babe." She takes the drink and his accompanying kiss, grateful for her boyfriend's intuition.

He'd left the precinct after the case had wrapped, but Kate had stayed behind, asked by the federal agent they'd worked with for a minute alone. Castle had retreated to get a head start on dinner and draw her a hot bath.

"Everything okay?" he asks, following her into the kitchen.

Kate pauses, wine glass at her lips, before taking a long sip. "I think so." She reaches for Castle, and when he takes her outstretched hand, she leads him to the bathroom, where he had indeed filled the tub with hot water. After undressing she dips a toe in the water; finding it perfect, she sinks in with a satisfied hum. "You're joining me, right?" she asks, giving Castle a look. Castle strips and settles in behind her, his arms banding around her stomach to hold her to him. "Dinner will be ready soon," he husks in her ear, "but I can't say no to you in the bath."

Kate chuckles and leans back into him, her head at his shoulder. "Thank you for doing this."

"Of course." Castle presses a kiss to her hair, nuzzles her temple. "What did Stack want?" he asks after a long silence.

"Hmm." Kate lets out a grunt, forces her eyes back open. "He, uh, offered me a job."

"What?"

"Yeah. Well, kind of." She leans forward so she can turn to face Rick. "He wants me to apply for an opening with his team."

"In the AG's office?"

"Mm-hmm."

Castle follows her out of the tub and wraps a towel around his waist before handing her one. "Wouldn't it be in DC?"

Kate nods as she knots the towel between her breasts. "Yep." She slips into leggings and one of Castle's sweaters, gripping the ends of the sleeves to stop herself from reaching for him as he puts clothes on. Normally they'd migrate from the tub to bed, but she can hear the oven beeping, and she doesn't want their dinner to burn. As hungry as she is for her boyfriend, she hasn't eaten since the small lunch she'd scarfed down hours before.

When she sees what he pulls out of the oven, she groans. "Oh, Castle, lasagna? I love you."

Castle chuckles as he dishes out servings. "It's like I know you or something," he teases. They settle on the couch and start eating, an unspoken agreement to pause the conversation for the dinner they both desperately need. He finishes first, sets his plate on the coffee table and waits for her to finish. "You're applying for it, right?"

Kate swallows her last bite and shifts to face him, tucks her toes under his thigh. "You think it's worth it? I probably wouldn't even get it."

"Oh, please," Castle scoffs, his hand landing on her shin. "You totally would. But yeah, I think it's worth exploring, for sure."

Kate nods and finishes her glass of wine. "Okay. I'll call first thing in the morning."

Castle wakes to an empty bed a week later, an indent in the pillow next to him but the sheets cold. A quick glance around Kate's room confirms that it's empty, save for him. He grabs his robe when he slides out of bed; they hadn't turned the heat on when they'd stumbled through the door hours before, too busy grabbing at each other after an evening of teasing at the precinct Christmas party.

A glance at his phone tells him it's only been a few hours since he'd collapsed at her side. He steps into his slippers before padding out of the bedroom; the living room is dark, but he sees a light coming from the spare room, the room that doubles as an office. It used to house a murder board, but since he'd helped take it down five months before, she'd converted the room to more of a guest space.

"Kate?" he calls out when he spots her, sitting on the bed, her head down. He notices her hands in her lap, sees the chain reflect in the light. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

The look in her eyes when she meets his is so sad, so child-like, that he rushes to sit next to her. His hand covers hers, stilling the work of her fingers against her mother's ring.

"I'm sorry," Kate whispers, but he shakes his head, almost cuts her off with his reply.

"No, Kate." He drapes his arm around her shoulders and pulls her into his side, feels her exhale and eventually relax against him. "Why are you apologizing?"

"I thought I was okay." She presses her cheek against his chest, and he has to bend down to hear her muffled words. "Mom died in January, and our Christmas stuff was still up. So, this time of year, it's hard. Everything reminds me of her. And then this DC thing..."

He squeezes her shoulders and presses a kiss to the top of her head. "Oh, Kate…"

"Usually I'm okay, I can push through it. And I have been, but tonight...I had a dream about her. The first one in a long time." She clutches him even tighter. "I miss her, Rick," she admits after a long silence, her voice small. "I wish she was here, I wish I could ask her advice. She'd ask the right questions, lead me to the right decision."

"There is no right decision," Castle counters. "But there's no wrong decision either. It's a great job offer, Kate. Would it be hard? An adjustment? Of course. But we would make it work." He leans back and releases her so he can see her face. "I will support whatever decision you make, you know that, right?"

"I don't want to lose you."

"You won't." Castle rubs his thumb across the back of her hand. "You couldn't even if you tried."

That earns him a smile, and Kate leans back into him, knocks her temple against his shoulder. "I'll never try." She stands after a long moment and lays the necklace back in the box that houses mementos of her mom. "I'm gonna get some water, I'll meet you back in bed."

He follows her to the kitchen, ignoring her suggestion. He's not leaving her side, not now, not ever.

When they'd been at the Hamptons in the summer, they'd agreed to shelve any discussion of their long-term future. They wanted to enjoy their relationship as it happened, enjoy being together without the pressure of fitting inside a label. He knows what he wants, though: he wants to be with Kate for the rest of his life.

They have a little over a month left in their six-month timeline, and he has no idea if she still remembers it, but he has the date marked in his calendar. And whether they're in New York, or whether Kate accepts the offer at the Attorney General's office and they're together in DC, he plans on being with her every step of the way.

Not for the first time in her week-long tenure as a federal agent, Kate wishes she had never accepted the job. She misses her precinct, her city, her boyfriend. She and Rick had decided that he'd return to New York after helping her move, to let her settle into the new job and apartment.

He's going to be there to visit in a few days, and she can't wait. She's always been proud of her independence; she'd become the youngest female NYPD detective thanks to her own determination, and the tutelage of Roy Montgomery. But here, she doesn't have a mentor. She fits in with her team, but she doesn't know any of them well enough to confide in them her doubts and insecurities. What she needs is Castle's optimism, his encouragement, his warmth at her back at night.

It's hard for him too, she knows. They talk every night, and just last night he'd admitted that he didn't realize he'd miss her so much. But he'd been by her side almost every day for the better part of four years, and while their brief separations aren't quite as painful as those first summers apart, she aches for him now.

Maybe taking the job wasn't the right move. Maybe it's too hard, too much to take on. Maybe Castle should have stayed more than a couple days, helped her adjust more to her new surroundings.

She's so lost in thought as she walks through the door that it takes her several steps to realize that something's different. When she'd left that morning all the lights had been off, but now, one beckons from her bedroom. She glances into the kitchen; there's food on the counter, food she definitely didn't have before. Her mind races with possibilities. The only person who has a key, besides her, is Rick. Dare she hope?

Her hand rests on her gun anyway, muscles tense, ready to draw if whoever's here really is unwelcome. As soon as she sees the familiar back of her boyfriend, though, she relaxes and clears her throat, sets her gun on the dresser.

The surprise on Castle's face morphs into joy when his eyes meet hers, and she laughs when he sweeps her into a hug.

"Hi," she laughs, arms circling around his shoulders, burying her face in his shoulder when he lifts her from the ground. "This is a surprise."

Castle drops a kiss to her neck before setting her back down. "I couldn't wait until Friday," he admits, arms banded around her waist. "You seemed so sad last night, I booked a flight as soon as we got off the phone."

Kate cups his cheeks and tugs his face to hers, surges into him. Their kiss is rough and desperate, tongues insistent, and they paw at each other even as they stumble to the bed.

"God, I missed you," she gasps after Castle collapses at her side, her hand finding his.

Castle lifts their hands to brush a kiss against her knuckles before pushing himself off the bed. "Me too," he agrees. He leans down to kiss her when she tries to pull him back. "I wanted to surprise you with dinner but you were earlier than I thought you'd be."

Kate whimpers at the loss of contact when he pulls his hand from her grasp. "It's almost eight." She stares as he rearranges his clothes; they'd only half-undressed in their need for each other. "Hang on, I'll help."

"No," Castle protests, nudging her back down to the bed. "You get changed into something comfortable, relax. I got this."

She joins him in the kitchen after changing into leggings and a sweatshirt, ignores his insistence that she retreat to the couch with her wine. He'd picked up her favorite wine, and as she sips it, she can already feel her blood hum again, sing with desire. She needs to eat, though, so she cuts vegetables while he puts the meat in the oven.

He pins her against the counter while the food is cooking, and as soon as his hands slip beneath her sweatshirt, she's a goner.

"Good wine choice?" he pants against her cheek after they still, Kate's legs locked around his waist, hanging half off the counter.

Kate chuckles, a low, hoarse sound in her throat. "Good everything choice." She gazes at Rick when he swipes his hand across her forehead, brushing back the hair that's escaped from her ponytail during their two frantic rounds. His face is so soft, so tender, and her heart swells with love for this man who seems to know exactly what she wanted. Who was so willing to drop everything and fly to another city for her.

They haven't talked about it in specific terms, but she assumes that at some point he'll move in with her, after she's settled a bit. But as his fingers dance across her forehead, his own forehead creased with worry, she knows that she doesn't want to wait for that conversation. She'll settle into her new life much easier if he's here too.

"Rick?"

Castle's fingers continue their exploration of her skin. "Yeah?"

She reaches up and covers his hand with hers. "Will you marry me?"

He stills and his eyes meet hers, bright and shocked. "I...are you serious?"

"Yes." Kate pushes him back so she can tug her pants back on and scoot back to sit on the counter. She takes his hand again and holds it to her chest. "I'm serious. Richard Castle, will you marry me?"

"Hang on." He disappears into the bedroom, and Kate can hear some rustling, a quiet "a-ha!" before he reappears. His hand is behind his back, and Kate eyes him, an eyebrow raised, a hunch in her gut but words caught in her throat.

Castle pulls her off the counter so she's standing, and it isn't until he kneels that he brings his hand back in front of him. Between his fingers is a ring, an impressive one based on the way it sparkles in the dim light, and he takes her left hand in his. "I was going to plan something nice," he admits, the worry in his eyes betrayed by the smile on his lips. "But you beat me to it."

Kate's laugh is contagious, and she joins him on the floor, molds her body to his. "So," she gasps between kisses, "is that a yes?"

Castle sits up, bringing her body with his as he stands and walks them to the bedroom. "That's a hell yes."

Neither of them care that dinner burns and they end up ordering take out; they're getting married, and for the next several hours, that's all that matters.

A/N: As always, my eternal gratitude goes out to two parties: to Callie for being with this fic every step of the way, from inception to completion, for providing words and ideas when they failed me. And to you, the fans, for your dedication, for following and favoriting and reviewing. As much as I have fallen in love with this little universe, it makes it a whole hell of a lot easier to write when I know people will actually read. Thank you!