Okay ladies and gentlemen, here is the final chapter of my story. Thank you for hanging in there with me. Spelling mistakes and all.

Castle is still not mine

Aftermath chapter 11

Holliday stepped off of the the elevator of the 12th and was walking towards the bullpen. She sees Esposito sitting with a young woman and Ryan on the computer. Esposito nods to the young woman as she leaves with another officers. He looks up and makes eye contact with Holiday.

"I heard you guys had a standoff. Everyone is alright I presume." From what she heard today, she's surprised that the incident didn't make the evening news.

"We got lucky, that's for sure. Listen, Lieutenant I just want to…" Esposito starts, but Holliday interrupts him.

"Don't worry about it. I've been on the other side of the situation. Don't worry about it." She knows the feeling, knows what it's like when someone comes in out of nowhere and start issuing orders. Especially after a tragic event. At least this one had a better outcome at the end of it. Esposito nods his head in understanding. Ryan gets up from his desk and heads over to Esposito.

"Well, Dr. Holloway is going to evaluate our suspect to see if he's even fit to stand trial." Ryan tells them. " And Marlene 's on her way to ID Victor Young's body. His family is meeting her at the morgue."

"I'll let Dr. Morgan know that they are on their way." Holliday states. She see the look on their face and sees the unasked question in their expressions. It's been a long day for all of them, so she decides to give them a break. "In the meantime, why don't you guys go and check on your Captain and her husband. I hear they're both awake."

The two detectives nod and begin to leave. Silently grateful that if they have to have someone else to temporarily take the reins, it is someone who understands. As Ryan and Esposito walk out of the bullpen, Office Janko walks in with her partner. Still seated in front of Esposito's desk, Holliday calls out to her as she stands.

"Officer Janko, can I see you in the Captain's office?" She knew better than to say her office. She's not here to take over, she's here to steer the ship. Janko follows Holliday into the office as she closes the door.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Janko already knew what this was about. She already got a stern talking to by her partner. She wasn't sure if she could really handle being yelled at by the new commander.

Holliday looks at janko and then quickly glances out the window and sees her partner looking back. She already knows that she already got an earful from her partner. He seems like the overly protective type.

"Did you get your batton back?" The question through Janko for a second before she responded.

"Yes, Lieutenant. I did." Still wondering where Holliday was going with this.

"Just making sure." Holliday goes over and sits on the desk. "Between you and me, I would have aimed for his face. Keep up the good work."

Janko nods "Thank you, Lieutenant." Janko really wasn't expecting that. Holliday dismisses her and Janko exits, leaving the door open as Holliday faces the window, staring at the unfamiliar skyline. She wonders what else the city has instore for her when she noticed a familiar presence standing in the doorway.

"Enjoying the view?" Rita asks as she slowing walks into the office. She can still feel Beckett's presence in the room. She knew her mother would show up sooner or later. She was hoping that she would get a bit of a break before though.

"Getting used to it." Holliday started. "It's not LA." It was her home for the longest time, and it wasn't like it was her choice to leave. She was lucky to escape with her life after her last assignment.

"Came back for a debriefing?" Holliday turns around and sits on the corner of the desk, she knew what her mother was here for.

"And to check up on you. Whether you believe it or not, Josephine, I do care about your well being." Rita really does, but it's hard to be a mother when you're trying to keep government secrets safe and foreign governments are constantly after you.

"I know, this is just going to take some getting used to." Holliday hoped that would be the truth. "I know I was born here, but it doesn't feel like home." She had a feeling that she was going to be spending a lot of late night here, keeping her mind occupied with something other than a homesickness that she hope will fade.

"How was your meeting with Mason Wood?" Rita came inside and closed the door. The other reason for her visit, Holliday knew her too well. Back to business as usual and this was no time for prying ears.

"He's not getting out, and I had him put on suicide watch after I told him you and dad said hello. And with the information that we got from the encryption, everyone else involved is now being locked away. How's the Agency dealing with all this?"

"Well, it not like that can hide anything anymore. Wood was one of ours. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, he put money and greed before country." Rita replied.

"He really thought he was going to get away with it, didn't he?" Holliday was still wrapping her head around this whole conspiracy. She looked at the evidence when they decrypted all of Wood's files and realized how many people were involved in this thing. There were over sixty arrests made in the last forty-eight hours, and it was her job at the moment to make sure that every single one of those charges stick and everyone goes away for a very long time.

"He's own arrogance was his own undoing, in the end." Rita knew Wood for a long time. Or at least she thought she did, after updating her husband on everything they were both wondering why and how was Wood able to hide this for so long. The longer she thought about it some of the other pieces started to fit together better. Everyone at the Agency was probably kicking themselves right now for not seeing it sooner, or if at all. And this was too big of a spectacle for them not to acknowledge it.

"Serves him right." Holliday saw the look on her mother's face and realizes that Wood, at one point in time, was a colleague, a friend. And in her business those very hard to come by. "So where are you going next?" Holliday knew her mother really couldn't stay long, she never could. That's been the norm since she was twelve-years-old.

"I'll be heading back to Langley, debriefing the joint chiefs. They might want to have a word with you soon." More debriefings than she wanted to count, the work never ends.

"Well, they know where to find me. I'm not going anywhere." Holliday acknowledged. Rita then slowly crossed the room and hugged her daughter. Something else that doesn't happen it her family. Holliday accepts the hug because she knows these come few and far in between. So she takes them when she can.

"I let you when I get there, okay." Rita pulls back from the embrace. Holliday nods as she releases her mother from the hold. Holliday watches as her mother begins to exit the room. "I know you'll do good work here, Jo. You're incapable of doing anything else." Rita says with a smile as she leaves.

Holliday nods with a small smile and turns back to the window as soon as her mother is out of her field of view. Thinking back on the last twenty-four hours was enough to make anyone's head spin, but not hers. That's what made her so good at her job, her ability to turn chaos into order in record time was something that few people could do. Now there was one thing left to do now.

It felt like the dead of night when she woke up again, the sounds and smells of the hospital always made it hard to sleep. It was a problem the last time she was here recovering from a gunshot wound. The pain meds that they had her on made it hard to focus and stay awake. She was trying her best earlier to stay awake when the boys and Lanie came by. She was trying her best to smile at Castle to let him and everyone know that she was fine. But, she knew that the recovery time was going to be brutal and now she had Castle's recovery to worry about as well. Part of her almost wanted to isolate herself from everyone like she did the last time, but she knew she couldn't do that again. She couldn't do that to herself, she couldn't do that to Castle.

She turned her head to see him sound asleep in the bed next to her. She wanted to beg for forgiveness for even getting him involved in this whole thing,but she knew he would say that it wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault that people kept breaking in and entering their home, she was trying to focus and think about how to increase their home security when she felt another presence in the room.

"Good, you're awake." Holliday walked in slowly and closed the door. Holliday walked over to the foot Beckett's hospital bed. "I didn't want this to be a wasted trip." Beckett looked at the woman who was currently standing at the foot of her bed. Her brain searching for any indication of who she is, and then a thought came through her clouded mind.

"You must be Holliday." She finally deduced, and a little surprised. "I was expecting someone a little older." The boys had mentioned her during their visit and they never mentioned the Lieutenant's age. But it definitely explained why Esposito was a little hesitate when Ryan brought the subject up. The only thing that she was able to read off of them was the fact that she was very good at her job, and just filling in.

"Funny, so was I." Holliday smirked back. She knew that she was going to get a lot of questions about her rank and age, but she wasn't going to worry about it now.

"How are you feeling, Captain?" Holliday asked as she move around to the side on the bed. She glanced over to the other person in the bed next to Beckett, who was sound asleep. Holliday recognized Castle from his book jacket. There was something else familiar about him, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. Holliday's attention went right back to Beckett.

"Like I've been shot… again." Becket started to feel the pain meds beginning to wear off. She just hoped that she could ignore the pain until the end of this conversation.

"I would have stopped by earlier, but I had to finish up the final report for the DA and the State Attorney's office." Holliday began as she moved a little closer to the chair at side of the bed. That's when Beckett noticed the case file in her hand. Holliday sat down as she handed the file to her. " Forty-seven arrests; that's including Captain Ziering and about ten of his crew members of the RMS Bentley. The Bentley is currently shut down and being searched for more drugs and video surveillance is being recovered. It should take about a week to sweep the entire ship." Holliday handed the file to Beckett.

Beckett gathered all the strength that she had to sit up and look at the file. Holliday managed to find the light over her bed and turn it on. Beckett surprisingly found something of a second wind and began reading through file. All the decrypted file that Vikram found was something of an eye opener for her. All these people, were responsible for nothing be death and destruction of people's lives and families. The only downside was that the man she and Castle knew as Caleb Brown wasn't going to pay for his crimes.

"Looks like everyone here is going away for a long time." Beckett closed the file and handed back to Holliday who was still sitting in the chair next to her. Beckett was finally able to close a huge chapter in her life. Something that she thought was never going to happen. Everyone that she came into contact with in the last eight years, had helped her in ways that she never could imagine. And here was another person to add to that.

"Thank you." It was the only think Beckett could say in the moment.

"Hey, you and your team are the ones who did the heavy lifting on this," Holliday replies. "All I did was help you across the finish line." Beckett nods, winces in pain and Holliday notices. She goes and presses the call button for Beckett as she stands up.

"You should get some rest, Captain. I'll hold down the fort until you get back." Beckett lays back down as Holliday turns the light out and heads towards the door. Beckett quietly calls out to her.

"Holliday… again, thank you." Beckett said slowly as the night nurse entered the room. The nurse gave Holliday a look that said 'you really shouldn't be here right now.

Holliday nods," Anytime. Night, Captain." Beckett mumbles something the nurse looks over her chart as Holliday closes the door.

As Holliday walks towards the elevator, she takes in the day. " Hell of a first day." She says to herself. The doors open and Holliday steps into the elevator. As the doors close, she hopes that everyday at the 12th aren't going to be like this.

The nurse leaves after giving Beckett her meds and she turns to look at the bed next to her. She sees castle wide awake, staring right back at her.

"Hey." It's all she can say at the moment.

"We're still here, Beckett." Castle tells her.

They're still here. Something that she is extremely grateful for. She's been thinking about the last 48 hours, hell, the last eight years. Thinking that she really wouldn't change a single day. She looks at him with a small, sleepy smile.

" I love you, Castle."

"I love you, too, Kate. Always."

THE END

I would like to thank everyone who read and followed this story. I know that people had wondered why there was not a lot of Casket in this story, I wanted to bring in a new character and tell this story through their eyes. The next story which I am still outlining will have more of Castle and Beckett and the rest of the 12th. So, no worries. I'll see you guys soon.