Posted 12 Feb 2019 (Not April 15th)

"Hey Babe. Could you please pass the rolls?" Rick handed the basket to Kate with a smile.

Kate could barely believe it, and she had even lived it. She was at an expensive French restaurant, eating a nice dinner, as if nothing life shattering had happened about an hour ago. Actually, over the last few days.

Everyone was safe.

Technically, Alexis had been closer to the roll basket, but she wasn't equipped to help. She was too preoccupied, getting dinner bites while strongly holding on to, practically hanging on, her dad and staring and smiling at Kate. The normally mature, self-confident woman was not yet ready to let go and return to normal.

Kate's life was tragically turned upside down when she was about the same age as Alexis. This circumstance was less catastrophic but somehow bigger, with the take down of two arms organizations and the emergence of a missing grandfather. The highlight was her safe rescue in the City of Lights, on the other side of the world.

Kate was content with her connection to her man. His hand remained extended on the table, reaching in her direction. She grabbed it often, and he always squeezed three times.

New York had top shelf cuisine from all over the world. Dating Castle, the best was regularly made available to her, even though home cooking, NYC food carts, and her favorite delivery places provided meals that were always welcomed. It didn't hurt knowing Maddie, her high school best friend turned restaurateur. They were in Paris, though. Even regular places were good. Kate only imagined about the place they were having a meal.

After their escape, they were given a reservation when Casey made a call and was paid back by one of his old service teammates for some past favor. Sarah talked to the restaurant manager and handed off to Chuck who explained they had just come from a WW II-era home (that Alexis had been in) that they effectively liberated. The large home was something used by the Germans and was infiltrated by the French Resistance, making it a key tap on an information pipeline and in the manager's mind, a historic landmark. Casey meanwhile called his girlfriend, who sent over a half dozen men from her company who helped get the restaurant cleared out, something the manager and owner had insisted upon. The existing patrons were politely compensated with meals at other fine local establishments.

A few of the men remained, providing an external security presence that Carmichael Industries said was not necessary but was still appreciated. No would disrupt their dinner.

The food… Ok, Kate had not had a decent meal since before this situation started, but the multi-course meal was top notch by any standard. The place had to have been given a lot of stars by reviewers. Chuck had expressed some concern about the recent quality of wine production due to yearly weather conditions in France, to which Sarah snorted and said he wouldn't recognize the difference for anything that didn't come in a box anyway. Castle's experience came to the rescue, and his selection was incredibly good.

As Kate enjoyed more of her third course, she reflected more on how they got here.

First, they all escaped through the dumb waiter. Sarah took point. Alexis was next. Kate provided a secure center. Hartley followed, and Chuck took the rear. Castle was waiting for them in a room connected to the tunnels, from his dad's original plan. The room existed, apparently, for food delivery.

Their biggest delay from that point was Alexis. She wouldn't let go of Castle and Kate so they could start moving.

Back on the surface, outside and a couple blocks away, they looked back to the ornate building that had been Alexis's prison. It was at a huge center of lights and sirens. Apparently, Casey or Hunt or both had made use of the RPG launchers. The building was in flames. Fire response was trying to control the situation. Other cars were from, what she later found out, Interpol. DGSE had apparently brought in reinforcements quickly. Several ambulances went by, likely with unconscious mercenaries. All had escort from regional authorities that could provide tactical reinforcement, if needed. A few other cars drove by with people locked up in the back seats. Kate recognized one captive, through a window, as one of the mercenaries they had take out to rescue Alexis. It looked like everyone Volkov had brought in to help him was being arrested.

Their observation of the law enforcement response chaos was stopped when Casey joined them, carrying disassembled weapons in cases. He simply said, "We're done here. Lets get dinner."

Apparently that was what the ex-spies did after an operation. They sat around a table and ate.

Sarah mumbled something about dinner being a wiser idea than another train across Europe, for now, but they were getting on one later. Chuck said he needed to take apart his dad's watch and look for trackers that Casey might have added because he had found them so quickly.

Casey called in the favor.

Alexis thought of calling Grams, but first Chuck gave her a number and code so she could make a secure call through their satellite network. Espo and Ryan were also informed the good news, and they told Lanie.

They all stopped back at Hunt's to take shifts changing from their mission gear into dinner attire. A Verbanski team showed up early with an appropriate wardrobe. Hunt, who had joined them there, complained that even more people knew the location of his hideout. Casey said he should stop whining.

Changed out of his mission attire, Hartley headed out to catch the first charter, back to his daughter. Apparently, he was officially off the no-fly list, but looking like person who used to be on the FBI's most-wanted list wasn't worth the risk of taking commercial.

Hunt turned down dinner too, heading to one of those jobs that retired spies did well. It sounded like it wasn't much of a retirement. At least his granddaughter met him and he had a solemn goodbye with his son who actually know who he was this time, as opposed to the time a stranger gave him a book when Castle was young.

Honestly, she thought there would be more awkwardness between the remaining New Yorkers and the spies. They were friends, but from very different worlds. Chuck, while a little socially awkward and not used to social facilitator responsibilities, did his best to make them feel at ease. The two groups didn't completely meld, but that wasn't surprising considering Rick's and Kate's need to hover around Alexis to help her through the situation.

Near the end of the meal (How many courses were there?) Chuck startled in his chair with a yelp, almost as if he had been poked. Right after, he excused himself, and Sarah said they had to leave. He talked to the waiter to pay, and Castle started up to help. That's when they found it was all complementary.

Castle offered again to pay for his daughter's rescue. Chuck said it wasn't necessary for a friend. They had an alternative revenue stream anyway. His last minute hacking of the Volkov network had more than covered the costs. Carmichael Industries' expenses were not a problem, even before the rewards for criminal organization takedowns, and they still made a good profit. Also, the NYPD policeman's ball had enough money to cover the next few years, the fallen officer's fund was in the best shape it had been in ever, and the Joanna Beckett scholarship fund had a huge, secure, anonymous donation. That was just scraps from what Chuck said he found. The bulk of the money, all of which remained behind, would now be frozen for the prosecution of Volkov and those he hired.

Sarah told Kate quietly not to worry. She'd let her know if things changed or they needed her help. There was no need to clarify what that was about.

Alexis surprised them all by joining them by the exit before they left. She had to thank Chuck and Sarah with hugs. She started towards Casey for a quick hug, but stopped when she saw his expression and heard his grunt. When she backed off, he smiled and said she was very welcome.

Casey left to catch his flight back to Eastern Europe and his job, girlfriend, or both.

Chuck and Sarah were very gone shortly after, with Sarah possessively dragging Chuck away. Based on his expression, he didn't mind a bit.

Beckett was left with the Castles. Rick might bring her back to Europe someday, but until then there was only one thing left to do.

Return home.