When I started this story in January, I never thought it would amount to what it has. I went through hell for this story, with all the angst and research I had to do to get it just right. I know a lot of people didn't really like my approach to it, but this is the most proud I've ever been of any one of my stories. Thank you to everyone who has put up with this roller coaster ride of a fanfic. I love you all!

Send me ideas for my next story! (:

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

"This guy is dangerous. We don't know really know what he's doing inside the building, but we do know that he's there. Castle and I will go to the building, you guys go to his apartment and look for any evidence or information that he left here. He's an arsonist, so he has to have something in his apartment. He can't have it all in the building, in case someone found it and he wanted to blow it," Beckett said.

"Got it," Esposito and Ryan said as they grabbed their jackets and headed to the elevator. Castle and Beckett were in tow, shrugging into their jackets as they walked.

Beckett drove with ease but also a bit of apprehension. This was their first arson homicide that they had worked since the incident with Ryan and Castle. Her emotions from that day were still so raw, and she didn't want her husband to work this case, but he insisted. He wanted to be there. Finally, after hours of arguments over it, she gave in.

As they pulled up to the building, Beckett and Castle stepped out of the car and grabbed their vests from the trunk. As Castle started to put his on, Beckett grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Don't come in with me. Stay in the car."

"Kate, I thought we talked about this. It's fine; I'm fine. You can't go in there alone. You need backup."

"Castle, will you just appease me? Just stay in the car, please?" she pleaded with him.

"Alright, fine. But only because you said please," he said with a half-smirk, trying to hide his annoyance and slight anger.

"Thank you. I love you," she said as she clicked the last buckle on her vest.

"I love you, too, Mrs. Castle," he said as he pulled her to him for a quick peck on the lips.

"Castle, it's been a two months since we got married. You'll never stop calling me Mrs. Castle, will you?"

"I won't stop saying it until the day I die," he smiled as he looked at her lovingly.

She smiled back and blushed slightly. This crazy, incredible man kept her on her toes and showed her the true depths of his love every day. He continued to amaze her every second, and she knew that she really was the luckiest woman alive.

Castle got back in the car as Beckett went into the building. He hated not going with her, but he did have to admit that he did feel better being outside rather than inside, considering what happened last time.

Beckett stealthily moved through the building with her gun cocked and her senses on high alert. She was ready for anything that could happen at a moment's notice. She didn't like going in without Castle, but she felt better to know he was outside, out of harm's way.

When she made her way into the room that they had all assumed was the arsonist's office and lair, she yelled, "NYPD, anyone here?"

She was met with her own echo, and then silence.

"Hello?" she yelled.

Again, silence.

She sighed and put her gun down on one of the tables as she looked around at the equipment and notes that covered the several tables in the lair. She found information on different buildings in New York and order forms for equipment and explosives.

On one of the tables, she found at least fifty bricks of C4. This man was a high level arsonist. He really knew how to operate.

Suddenly, she heard a low rumble and felt the ground shake. The rumble became louder and the ground started to move under her. She knew something wasn't right, so she grabbed her gun and sprinted out of the room. She ran down the hallway towards the stairwell door. When she was three steps away from the door, the ground gave way under her feet. Everything happened so quickly that she didn't really have time to process the fact that she fell two stories through smoke and erupting flames.

Castle was sitting in the car, scrolling through twitter, waiting for Beckett. His eyes perked up when he heard a rumbling noise, and he saw smoke coming through several of the windows on the third floor of the building. He got out of the car and started to run toward the building, but was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a few of the windows shatter. He turned around and ran straight toward the car, diving back in and closing the door as the building exploded.

He ducked and covered as he heard the loudest boom he had ever heard, and immediately he felt the heat and heard the rubble and debris hit the side of the squad car.

His only thoughts consisted of Kate and her well-being. She was definitely still inside the building, and immediate worry settled in his stomach. His hands were shaking and his breathing was shallow. He fished his phone out of his pocket and immediately pressed 3 on his speed dial for Esposito.

Was she in the blast point room? Did she know what was happening? Did she get seriously hurt? Was she alive?

God, is this how she felt when he was in the building with Ryan? Every worst case scenario came to his mind as he waited for Esposito to answer.

"Yo Castle, what's up?" Esposito answered.

"Esposito! The building exploded! Beckett's inside, she, god I don't know if she's alive but she needs to be helped! Call the fire department!" Castle yelled, rambling quickly.

"What?" Esposito yelled. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm in the car. Beckett didn't want me to go in. Please Sito, help!" Castle yelled frantically.

"Sit tight, bro. Ryan just called the fire department. We'll be there ASAP."

Castle hung up with Esposito and sat there numbly. He didn't know what to do. He desperately wanted to go in there after her, but he couldn't put both of their lives at risk, especially because he didn't know where she was in the building.

It felt like an eternity before the fire department and Ryan and Esposito showed up. When they ran up to the car, they found Castle sitting there with his eyes wide, staring off into the distance. He looked like a statue.

"Castle!" Ryan said as he shook the writer's shoulder.

"Huh?" he said as he broke out of his smoke-filled, death-filled reverie.

"Let's go!" Ryan said as they pulled him out of the car.

The fire rescue team talked to Castle about what he knew as far as Beckett's location and what caused the explosion. Unfortunately, Castle didn't know much, and he couldn't get ahold of Beckett, so the fire rescue team started to develop a plan of going in to rescue her.

Her eyes opened slowly and she immediately felt the intense heat around her. She blinked rapidly as she tried to focus. Once she did, her heart pounded in her chest. She was in one of the basement rooms. It was engulfed in flames, but she could see the stairwell out of the corner of her eye. There were flames around it, but it was a straight, clear shot through the door from where she was.

She sat up and was surprised that she had a few aches, pains, cuts, and scrapes, but nothing too severe. She stood and ran right to the stairwell. She opened the door quickly and made her way up the stairs as quickly as possible. When she reached the next floor, she opened the door and saw that she was still on one of the lower levels. She made her way up the stairs again to the next floor, and when she opened the door, she was met with flames right in front of her. She could see the door she came in from the outside through the flames, so she knew she was on the main floor. She stood and thought for a second. She ran up the stairs to the second floor of the building and stepped out on the floor. There was a huge hole in the floor, so she could see the first floor below. There was an area where there were no flames that connected right to the door that led outside. She stood there thinking once again.

Then, she jumped. She jumped right for the area.

She landed painfully and rolled, but she couldn't stand. She gripped her leg as she screamed in pain. She had fallen right on it and shattered it.

She looked up to see that the door was only three feet away. She mustered all of the strength she could, and she crawled the rest of the way to the door, yelping as her injured leg dragged with her.

When she reached the door after what felt like an eternity, she pushed the door and opened it far enough for her to shimmy her body through. When she breathed in the fresh air and felt the concrete of the sidewalk under her, she stopped.

"We need to make sure that we enter at this door, because otherwise we'll be blocked by the fire," the fire chief said.

Castle was half-listening to the plan, but the other half of his mind was thinking about Kate. He was so scared for her; he just wanted her to be okay.

The opening of the front door of the building caught his eye, and then he saw her.

Kate.

He saw her crawl and then stop as soon as she came out of the building. He immediately ran to her.

Ryan, Esposito, and the rest of the squad saw what was happening, so they followed after him. Castle scooped her up in his arms and her eyes opened slowly.

"Castle?" she choked out.

"I'm here, Kate. It's okay. You're okay," he said as a tear slipped down his cheek.

"Castle, I'm sorry. I never should've gone in alone," she rasped as she wiped his tear.

"I know, Kate, I know. We're here now, together. It's okay."

"Together," she repeated with a smile.

"From now on, we do everything together. Deal?" he said as he held her.

"Deal," she smiled.

He kissed her with all the love he could muster and she responded in kind. She cupped his cheek and they stood there, kissing like new lovers, letting the world know that no matter what happens in their lives, they will do everything together.

Together.

Always.

Thank you to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and supported this story. It is now finished.

Review?(: