Prompt: Castle is a soldier and after 3 years of being apart he comes home. Of course, Beckett doesn't know about it and he surprises her at the precinct.

I cried

Never gonna hold the hand of another guy

Too young for him they told her

Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier

Our love will never end

Waitin' for the soldier to come back again

Never more to be alone when the letter says

A soldier's coming home

-Travelling Soldier Dixie Chicks

She's come to dread Sundays. The entire weekend, come to think of it, because despite her usually being on call or off duty, it's the only time she can expect definite radio silence. Castle rarely gets the chance to use the phone lines to make a call nor does he often find himself near any area that has an internet connection, let alone Wi-Fi. They've shared the occasional Skype call and the sound of his voice through the speaker had unexpectedly brought her to tears last month, worrying him. It had him making promises that he'd make it back which had her tears coming even faster, telling him he couldn't make those kinds of promises anymore.

She cherishes the moments she gets to hear his voice.

Every two or three days however, since the day he set foot on foreign ground, she can expect a letter, something in the written form that he has sent to her from across the world. But there is no post on Sundays and so she knows for a fact that she won't be receiving any letter from him.

She definitely hates Sundays.

The last three years have been difficult on them. He was called away to serve his country in Afghanistan. Being a cop, Kate always thought he'd be the one who would constantly fear she might not come home. But over the past few years, she has been the one plagued with nightmares of receiving a star-spangled banner flag whenever she hears a knock at the loft's door.

He'd signed up in the military telling her she had been the one to inspire him. He wanted to give back to the world in some way. She'd told him that he was making a difference through his writing but it hadn't been enough for him. She'd supported him through his military training and seeing the joy it brought him to feel like he could be of service was worth it.

That was until they got the three a.m. phone call, the one that tore him away from her and put him directly in the crosshairs of military grade artillery.

Today marks three years.

And God, she misses her husband, wishes more than anything that he could just come home.

The letters he's sent her have brought her such joy, kept her hoping and set her heart alight with the knowledge that he was still out there, still fighting to come home to her. Just like before they even met, his words have been keeping her afloat, carrying on and making it through each day to ensure that on the day that he did make it home, she would be there.

He would make it home. He had to.

It is Sunday and although she happens to be off duty this week, she is at the precinct, working on some extra paperwork given the fact that they don't have any active cases. Gates knows better than to say anything that would even merely suggest she should go home. Kate doesn't want to be home.

Their home is lonely without him, it's silent and she craves loud, she yearns for his booming presence and waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee on her day off. So no, Kate isn't going home.

She sits behind her desk and types away at one of Ryan's forms regarding a case he's been assisting the robbery department with. The Ryan's have invited her to many dinners over the years and Jenny has told her numerous times how much she appreciates how Kate helps Kevin, how she takes some of his workload so that he can be home more often with their children, Sarah-Grace and Nicolas-Javier. He deserves to be home with his family.

Kate is typing the report when she hears the familiar voices of her team behind her. She turns around to find Ryan and Esposito heading towards her, bright smiles adorning their features, like they know something she doesn't.

She doesn't like it. Anything those two are hiding can't be good.

She levels them with a stare that speaks "spill it". Expo's smile only widens and, okay, now she's really worried.

"What are you doing here, Beckett? It's Sunday, shouldn't you be enjoying your day off or something?" He asks smugly.

"You know, I was working on both of your paperwork files but if you'd rather take over I could always hit the gym or something?" She retorts, raising a lone eyebrow suggesting they should be thanking her rather than nagging her about her habits.

Neither one of them answers her. "What?" She asks, almost incredulously and why are they even here on a Sunday?

And suddenly Kate becomes hyper-aware of the hush that has taken over the homicide floor, the lone sounds of the coffee machine and computer engines running. She notices both the guys are looking past her and over her shoulder, their smiles as broad as she thinks she's ever seen them and for some reason her heart lurches in her throat. She's afraid of what she'll see if she turns around, or more precisely, who she might not see now that her mind has been filled with possibility.

Her palms are sweating, her heart beating erratically in her chest, her throat aches and she can feel the hairs at the back of her neck standing on end. Kate closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, it can't-

"You know, I was thinking maybe you could skip the gym and go straight for the long bath instead."

It's him.

Her body whips around and he's there.

He's home.

"Castle."

Her chest burns within her chest and before he can say another word she's running the few steps to him and wrapping her arms around him.

His smell engulfs her, the smell of his clean laundry and aftershave, the smell she would surround herself with on nights she couldn't sleep, craving the warmth of his arms. The thought has her squeezing him even tighter, burying her nose in his collar, her hands at the back of his head, her fingers in the locks of his hair and she can't help the broken sob that wracks through her frame at the relief of holding him in her arms.

She feels him shaking as he inhales within his arms, his arms tight around her as he sweeps his arms up and down the column of her spine. Her ears are buzzing and nothing exists outside of them in this moment. She realizes she hasn't been breathing, not since she took that first intake of breath that smelled like him, smelled like home and now her lungs ache. She lets out a puff of air from her lungs against his throat and she feels him nuzzle her neck, his fingers playing with the loose tendrils of her loose hair.

"I'm home, love," he whispers quietly, for her ears only and it's those words she needed to escape the trance in which she's been. She pulls back but only slightly, only the space that is absolutely necessary for her to see his face.

"Castle," she whispers his name again, not believing that he's really here and he's looking at her as if she holds the universe in her hands. Suddenly she needs to taste him, she's forgotten what it feels like to have his lips against hers and she can't spend another second no longer remembering what it feels like.

She surges forward and catches his lips with hers and God, it has her hips rolling forward, a surge of arousal like she hasn't felt in three years, her skin on fire, everywhere they are touching, connected in some way, a source of white, hot oblivion. Kate whimpers as she feels his hands raise, one lightly framing the angle of her cheek and the other supporting the base of her skull, slipping through the curls of her hair.

His tongue tentatively trails her bottom lip as if he feels like he needs to ask her permission and she needs to remedy that, she needs him to know that there is nothing she wants more than him, than the feel of him as close as humanly possible. It isn't until her lungs are burning once again from the lack of oxygen that Kate registers the claps and wolf whistles that surround them. Castle pulls his lips away from hers on a laugh but just barely, still looking at her with such love in his eyes, still close enough for this moment to be just them. Kate smiles back at him and closes her eyes.

He's home.

She feels his lips on her skin, touching each cheek, her nose, her forehead, as if he needs to stay connected to her too. She exhales and lets herself melt against him, lets her head fall against the wall of his chest, her arms coming to hang on tightly around his torso, her eyes closing on silent tears.

His arms are still around her, one around her waist and the other on her head as if cradling her to him.

He's looking beyond her at the rest of the precinct, everyone still clapping and calling his name, congratulating him, and welcoming him back. Kate opens her eyes and spots Ryan and Esposito in her line of site. They smile at her, and she returns it in full, silently thanking them. She isn't sure why, doesn't know if it's for taking care of her while Rick was gone or for being here in this moment.

Kate feels him kiss the top of her head and she squeezes her arms tighter around him, letting him know she is still here, not certain whether she's reminding him or herself that they are finally together. She isn't going anywhere and she hopes he isn't either. They haven't talked and she doesn't know if he's here to stay, but she doesn't let these thoughts plague her mind. She hasn't been this happy in the last three years.

He's home.

A/N: A big thank you to Nellie for reading over this fic and helping me fix it up! There will be 2 more chapters to this. Also, thank you to CastleFanficPrompts on Tumblr for sharing this lovely idea. I would love to hear what you all think!