Chapter 20

July 2011

"Are we… back?" Alexis asked, and Castle groaned, his head spinning as the time travel took its effect. Cabin. Alexis. Beckett. Naked. Right.

He nodded, grabbing a cushion and holding it in front of himself as he took stock of the situation. Beckett was wrapping a throw around her body, and she tossed a second blanket over to his daughter, who covered herself before edging out from behind the cover of the sofa.

"We're back," Beckett said. "Just… us."

"Just us," Castle echoed, his heart heavy at the idea he might never see Houghton again. In front of him, Beckett's eyes glistened with tears, and he stepped forward, his hand reaching out to wrap around her. "We're safe."

"How are we getting back to the city?" Alexis asked, as she peered out the front window. "Your car is all shot up."

"Uh- Houghton and I camped out. We have - we had a car there."

"Where?" Beckett asked.

"There's a clearing right by the house," he said. "You didn't know that?"

She rolled her eyes, and he managed a smile. Some things didn't change. "Of course I knew there was a clearing. It's my house. I didn't know where you camped out, there are a few places that are good for camping."

"Maybe one day you can show me all the best spots," he suggested, and was rewarded with a soft smile.

"One day," she agreed. "But for now… let's go home to the city."

September 2011

The range of emotions flooding Beckett were overwhelming.

Walking into the precinct had pushed wave after wave of emotion through her. A couple of officers had spotted her right away, leading the floor in a burst of applause, and from that moment, Beckett had been holding back tears.

The worst moments had been the hushed conversation with Ryan and Esposito. They'd whispered their updates and she'd had to force her brain back to the present; the dragon was her only concern now. But being pulled into a hug by Esposito had choked her up - how were he and Houghton doing in 2016? - and embracing Ryan had nearly undone her.

Encountering Gates for the first time had almost brought tears to her eyes for a myriad of other reasons, number one being that the woman wasn't Montgomery. Walking into the office had been a reminder of the night spent in the precinct in Castle's arms, a reminder of everything that had changed.

She stalked out of Gates' office, furious.

"I want my gun," she spat at Esposito. It wasn't like she hadn't had any target practice over the summer. Hell, no. In fact, not three feet away, she and Houghton had gunned down Not-Castle.

"So you gotta re-qualify. It's no big deal. It's a little insulting, but…"

Esposito couldn't understand; she and Castle - and Alexis - were bound by secrecy. Who would believe them, anyway? She hoped Ryan and Esposito would never have to. Beckett sighed, forcing herself to change the subject.

"Where are the files on the money trail?"

"Castle's got them," Ryan said, and she nodded. "You, uh- you didn't know that?"

"No." How could she explain that she and Castle had spoken every day for the last two months, not once touching on the investigation that had separated them in the first place?

"You gotta go see him," Esposito urged. "Last time he was in here," he exchanged a look with Ryan, "he wasn't okay."

"He was out of control," Ryan confirmed. "Demanding that Gates tell him where you were, that kind of thing."

"Yeah," Esposito hedged. "Hey, you're not mad that I gave little Castle the address of your dad's cabin, are you?"

Beckett shook her head. She and Castle had filled in the blanks around the story Alexis had provided them; the girl - with Espo's help - had led Not-Castle straight to them, but there was nothing for it now.

"It's fine," she promised, pangs of guilt that the rest of her summer had been spent analyzing Castle's every move, wondering why he didn't push or take things any further, as they'd shared meals and movie nights - amongst other things, Castle had insisted on a Harry Potter marathon complete with his own version of Butterbeer - but too few kisses.

They were edging along a precipice, neither diving in the way she had always thought - once the dam broke - they would.

"Go see him," Esposito said again.

Ryan nodded. "If he's mad… he'll get over it, really." He placed his hand over hers, and she smiled wryly, unable to break the truth that while she'd stayed away from the precinct, the boys, and Lanie, she and Castle had been in close quarters.

She released a sigh. It would have been so easy to hole up the rest of the summer in the cabin, and if fate hadn't intervened, she had no doubt she would have. And where would she and Castle be? Then again, where were they now?

Nothing was certain.

Gates stormed out of her office as Beckett stood there, forcing her hand. She didn't want another confrontation with her new captain just yet. Esposito made a face, backing away, toward his desk, and she rolled her eyes. Fine. Beckett waved over her shoulder at the boys as she made her way to the elevator; she'd had just about enough of this place for now, anyway. The walls were too enclosing, claustrophobia getting to her.

"You can make it out to Kate," she said, and he looked up, his face breaking into a beaming smile as he took her in.

"Are you seriously playing hooky from work on your first day back?" he asked, taking her book from her and poising his pen above the title page.

"Felt like a mistake, going back without you," she admitted, and he nodded.

"Tomorrow," he promised, scrawling something on the page and pressing the cover closed before she could read it. "I have the paperwork from the mayor and everything." He grinned. "Can you wait a bit?" He looked at the line in front of him, appraising it before estimating, "another twenty minutes?"

"Sure." She smiled back at him, wishing she were brave enough to kiss him here and now. Slow and steady, she reminded herself as she stepped outside to wait.

In every apocalypse, Castle had written, every time.

Beckett pressed her lips together as she read the inscription scrawled on the title page. The five words felt unfinished, but maybe this was what it was; she and Castle were still incomplete, still denying their feelings. Hesitant touches and stolen glances surmounted her fears step by step, but it was slow going, and they were still talking around the truth of what had happened in the cemetery that day.

"Hey," he greeted her as he came out of the bookstore, pointing across the road at a park before slipping his hand into hers. "Want to sit for a bit?"

She followed him wordlessly toward the swings, settling down on one, the book in her lap.

"In every apocalypse?" she asked, and he nodded.

I love you, Kate.

She stared down at the book in her hands, fighting to find the next words. "I'm sorry I shut you out," she started. "At the beginning of the summer."

His head jerked up, and he nodded, once, sharply.

"I have, I don't know, a wall. And I want-" she hesitated. How could she explain that after her mom died everything had changed. "I want to be more."

He shrugged as he met her eyes. "I know you remember, Kate," he said at last. "I know you're not ready to talk about it. I can wait. And hey, we spent the last two months together, taking this slowly. It's not like we didn't have enough to think about."

"I don't know if I'm ready," she admitted. "But I can't- I want you. Just you. Us. And I can't keep waiting to put my mom's case to bed, or expecting the sound of machines around every corner, before we begin."

She lifted a shoulder as she struggled to explain, wrapping a hand around the chain on the swing and rocking herself back and forth. Her other hand fell into her lap, brushing against her stomach. Still, her scar pulled, and when she'd gone to see her specialist he'd chastised her for pushing too hard. Nevertheless, she'd worked up the courage to ask whether she'd really be able to get pregnant one day.

"Of course," he'd said. "But not yet. Let your body heal."

One day.

She stood up; a baby could wait, but life couldn't, and she leaned down into Castle, pressing her mouth into his, letting him deepen the kiss, set the pace for what was their first foray into affection outside the chaste goodnight kisses they'd shared over the summer.

"You think we made a difference?" she asked, as she pulled away, breathless. "Do you think we did enough?"

Castle was silent a moment, his eyes wide as he stared up at her. He rocked back and forth on his swing before speaking at last. "Maybe the apocalypse comes, maybe it doesn't. Maybe we altered history and maybe we barely scratched the surface. Maybe one day humankind will be ruled by machines, but we'll know we did our part in helping the resistance."

"And if they come - the robots, I mean - we'll know," she agreed.

"Know?"

"That they're not all bad. That they can be reprogrammed." She sighed, the memory of Houghton's words were still bitter in her ears; they were supposed to be her words, not a machine's.

That didn't make them less true, and one day she would say them herself, to Castle, and he would hear her.

"We'll know that they can love."

For all the thought Castle had put into the apocalypse, he had never expected what had happened.

Today had started well, great even, and he'd leaped out of bed with a smile on his face, his energy renewed after last night's… progress. An entire summer with tears and laughter had been both heart-breaking and joyful, all at once, and after she'd come to see him at the book store yesterday, to take her home with him had been everything.

He'd had no idea.

He didn't expect he would truly understand Beckett - Kate's - motivation for ensconcing herself away anytime soon, but things were back on track. They were back on track.

Now their biggest hurdle was going to be his return to the precinct and getting Gates onside. Beckett had a wall, no doubt about it, but they'd done their darnedest to knock a few bricks out last night. He smirked. Three times.

If he'd expected an apocalypse, robots would never have crossed his mind. He would have anticipated something else entirely.

Something big, that was for sure. The idea of the undead roaming the streets of Manhattan, their faces clawed off, their skin rotting, held a little appeal. If he was completely honest with himself, he would have expected a little vampire action too. Maybe werewolves as well, the complete supernatural host breaking into the city's mainstream.

But it hadn't been zombies, so he could never have predicted it, any more than he could have predicted the way a few twists in the rhythm of time had meant Katherine Beckett had been in his bed - finally - last night.

And Richard Castle, making his way from the subway exit along the wide, exposed streets to the Twelfth Precinct for the first time since the beginning of summer, stopping to get Beckett's coffee before joining her at the precinct, was brimming with hope for the future.

A/N: Well. Here we are. Holy moly, I swear I didn't mean to fall in love with a robot.

Kylie and Jamie: thank you. Your beta-y-ness and general awesome and cheerleading makes my day on a regular basis.

Everyone who read it... thank you. I know it's really freaking left-field and so the fact that there were those of you who were team Houghton is spectacular.

Big Kahuna... I've so enjoyed our PMs and I... am so sorry, actually sorry, that I didn't have robo-babies in this fic for you.

Until next time... thank you all. x