Hi there,

Here's the epilogue of my story. I wrote it a few weeks after the last chapter. I originally haven't planned an epilogue, and I really thought about the things I could write. I did a time jump in the last chapter since I thought Kate needed time for herself, think about the things she wants and all. After all she had just ended a two-year relationship – her engagement – and letting her jump right into another relationship seemed wrong.

Now I did another time jump in the epilogue. I hope you're not angry because of that, but if I had written about the time right after the last chapter would have just resulted in dozens of further chapters. Their journey wouldn't fit in one chapter and it wouldn't be fair to squeeze it all into it. So I did this time jump to show you guys how far they have gotten and where they're standing in life.

Anyway, enjoy the last words of this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

Epilogue

Three Years Later

Kate parked the car near the restaurant in which a body had been found this morning. She had hoped for a day of paperwork and being home early for once, but her hopes had been crushed by the call she had gotten, telling her that there was a body.

The boys had already driven ahead while she wrote a quick message home stating she'd be late again, probably not being able to make it for dinner. She and Rick had planned the evening out, dinner and a movie and maybe something else, knowing that they'd have the loft for themselves while Martha was at a play and Alexis had a sleepover at one of her friends.

Trust her luck to interfere with their plans.

Getting out of the car, she turned towards the entrance of the restaurant only to come to an abrupt stop when she saw the figure waiting next to the door of the restaurant, leaning against the wall. "Rick?!"

Stepping away from the wall, Castle took his hands out of his pockets. "The murder is at Q3 and you didn't tell me?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was bored, and after I got your text informing me that you got a new case I decided to come along and help." Castle shrugged.

"The boys told you, didn't they?" Kate asked, already knowing the answer. Where on earth could he have gotten the specific address of their crime scene if not from them? After some awkwardness at the beginning, the boys and Rick had hit it off. Sometimes she felt like a kindergarten teacher.

"Yeah." Rick grinned. "But Q3? Really? This place has only been open three months. I tried to get us reservations here."

That caught her off-guard, having not known about his plans. "Really?"

"Yeah. I've been dying to eat here."

"Well, evidently, you're not the only one." Kate replied drily.

Castle opened the door for Kate to enter, following her inside where the boys were already waiting for them. "Where are we?"

"In the kitchen. Victim's name is Balthazar Wolf. He's the head chef here." Esposito exclaimed while leading them towards the kitchen.

"Big Bad Wolf? Winner of Kitchen Wars, Season Six?"

"I know, right?" Esposito jointed into Castle's gushing, though cleared his throat after receiving a death-glare from Kate. "He was found this morning by the pastry chef, Spike Ridenhauer, and one of the dishwashers, Juan Costa."

Discovering the frozen body Castle leaned closer towards the body, being fascinated by the state of the body, however Perlmutter who examined the body glared annoyed at the writer. "Castle, stop! D- Do you not see the little orange cones around the body?"

"Is that actually his hand?" Castle asked disbelievingly.

"That's the effect if LN2, commonly known as liquid nitrogen, a cryogenic refrigerant. It instantly freezes anything it comes in touch with, including Mr. Wolf." Perlmutter uttered annoyed. "Detective Beckett, would you mind taking your husband on his leash?"

"Time of death?" Kate changed the topic, pulling Castle slightly away from the frozen body, but he didn't seem fazed by that. He just continued to stare at the body. Castle had been with her on some of her cases, including a few on which Perlmutter had been the M.E., yet the doctor just didn't seem to get warm with her husband – not that Castle cared about that fact.

"Well, all our normal indicators are contaminated by the LN2. I'll see what I can do once I get to the morgue. But, uh, we're gonna have to let him thaw a bit before we can move him."

"This place looks like there was a struggle."

Kate glanced towards Castle who observed the room closer. She hadn't noticed him moving away from her, showing her that he could be stealthy if he wanted to be. There were times were she thought that he was just plain clumsy, but that could be because he had other things on his mind at those times. She loved him all the more for his flaws.

She thought back to the time they had been in Africa where he had told her about imperfection and flaws. Then he had told her that if one really loved someone, they loved him wholly, including their flaws. Kate hadn't believed him then, couldn't imagine loving the flaws of her fiancé of the time. But now she knew better, knew what he had wanted to tell her.

Some people hated Castle's constant blabbering, his comments and curiosity – which got the better of him at times – and even if it was annoying her sometimes, she couldn't imagine living without it anymore.

It had been hard for them at the beginning, like he had anticipated. The boys and Lanie had been relieved that she hadn't married Josh and after some time they got along with Rick really well. The first meeting of Rick and her dad had been a bit awkward, though after the first two meetings things settled between them. They often met to watch a baseball match or just having a family dinner.

Family.

Kate would have never believed three years ago, that she'd end up with such a family, but she wouldn't want it any other way. Life at the loft was always vivid, boredom was far from their life. She and Martha had hit it off immediately, her mother-in-law laughed at their story of their marriage in Las Vegas. She was always saying that it had been fate that draw them together, bound them to each other for life. Maybe she would think different if she and Martha couldn't stand each other.

Things with Alexis had been more difficult. It wasn't that they didn't like each other, it was rather that they hadn't known how to behave with each other. Legally Kate was Alexis' step-mother, yet she hadn't even met the teen in the years of their marriage. But how could she? After all she hadn't even known that she and Rick had been married all those years. Kate didn't know in which themes she could and should butt in, and in which she should better stay clear off. Should she even interfere with her education? After all Alexis still had both her parents who knew what was good for their daughter, and it wasn't her place to butt in.

Fortunately Beckett and Alexis came quickly to a silent agreement, welcoming each other into their lives. Though their approach had been slow and cautious, they became close friends and Kate had been delighted to see Alexis coming to her more and more in the past one and a half years, asking for advice on some things her dad and her grandmother couldn't help her with.

Until now they had pulled through any troubles they had been encountered with, and finally reached a point where they could call themselves a real family.

Shaking her head, Kate set her focus back to the presence. "Robbery?"

"No. No sign of forced entry, nothing's missing. According to Mr. Ridenhauer and Mr. Costa here, our victim stayed at the restaurant long after everyone else had left." Ryan stated, quickly dismissing the theory of a robbery.

"And what time was that?"

"It was around eleven." Everyone turned to the man that had just entered the kitchen, Spike Ridenhauer. "One of our clients had special ordered a cake, and Wolf stayed behind to finish it up."

Castle stepped closer, staring curiously at Ridenhauer. "Aren't you the pastry chef?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, but I don't do crazy stuff like Wolf does. I just, uh… I made the cushion, and he sculpted the crown, the heart and the jewels. But that's probably why he had the rotary evaporator out and the liquid nitrogen."

"Alright, after Perlmutter gets the body out, I'm gonna want CSU to come in and sweep for fibers and prints." Beckett told Ryan who nodded in turn.

"Yo, Beckett. The owner's here." Esposito exclaimed, leaning his head into the kitchen. While Ryan stayed back in the kitchen, Castle followed his wife out to the dining room. He could see a blond woman speaking to one of the staff, making it apparent that she was probably the owner. Castle heard his wife gasp and almost run into her, having not noticed her sudden stop.

"Madison?" Kate exclaimed with a certain tone of unbelieving in her voice.

"Becks? What are you doing here?" The blond woman – Madison – asked surprised.

After hearing the nickname for his wife, Castle's head whipped back to her, both surprise and amusement visible on his face from this sudden blast from the past. This could get really interesting, he thought.

Kate glanced briefly to Castle, almost daring him to speak up before she looked back at Madison. "I'm a homicide detective."

"Shut the front door."

"I know."

Caught by surprise at the sudden embrace Kate found herself being pulled in, she put her arms around her friend. She felt briefly guilty for not trying to stay in touch with her friend from school. They had been thick as thieves, and Kate really had no idea at which point they had lost their special friendship. No, that wasn't true, Kate reminded herself. She knew exactly when they had parted. She had lost a lot through her mother's death, though most by her own doing.

Madison pulled back to look her friend into the eyes. "What a messed up way for us to reconnect."

"Yeah." Kate agreed, then remembered Castle standing a little apart from them observing the scene rather attentively. They had shared a lot of their pasts with each other, but the topic of Madison hadn't been brought up yet, meaning that Castle will have thousands of questions and when he'll get to know that they were childhood friends he'd surely be fishing for some juicy details from their teenager days. "Madison Queller, this is Richard Castle. He's my husband."

Normally Kate didn't tell anyone she met on a case that she and Castle were married, simply because it was no one's business, but this was Madison. Her friend, and Kate already planned to stay in contact this time.

"Hi." Madison smiled and shook Castle's hand, who returned her smile. "How long have you two been married, if I may ask?"

"A year."

"Nineteen years."

Both spoke at the same time, resulting in them looking surprised at each other. This topic had always been confusing. They had married – again – a year ago. Or better said they renewed their vows to each other. This time at a church with a real minister and with their family and friends at their sides, celebrating with their loved ones. Since they never divorced, Rick stubbornly counted their years of marriage from their first wedding in Vegas, while she usually counted from their second wedding.

Sighing, Kate gave in and corrected herself. He was – somewhat – right, after all, and their answer certainly caused some confusion. "Nineteen years."

However, Castle must have been thinking the same, because she heard him correcting himself at the same time as she did. "A year."

An amused glint was in Madison eyes, the corner of her lips twitching upwards. "You sure you're married to each other?"

"It's complicated." Kate relented. "I'm sure we'll have enough time to discuss this later, but right know there's a dead man lying in your kitchen."

"Of course. Why don't we take a seat?"

Kate was just about to follow Madison to a table when she felt Castle leaning into her, his lips almost touching her right ear. "Old high school friend, huh? I bet she know where all your bodies are buried."

Turning to him, Kate replied, "You can dig all you want, babe. My secrets are safe with her."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because whatever she knows about me, I know worse about her. We used to hang out, big group of us, had a good time."

"And what's a good time?"

A teasing smile formed on her lips, rising to her toes Kate breathed her response into his ear. "Well, if you're a good boy today, I will show you tonight." She bit her lip as she saw the flabbergasted expression of her husband. He was just too easy at times.

This was exactly the expression she'll expect from him tonight when she'll not only show him a good time, but tell him some other news she had gotten from her doctor this morning, and she was sure he'll be ecstatic about them, happy to know that their family will get a little addition.

Keeping her eyes on him for a moment Kate wordlessly turned around and walked over to Madison, fully aware of the ever present presence of her husband following her.

Had she been happy when he had gone behind her back and wormed his way into the precinct? No. At least not in the beginning. Had it been always easy having him following her around? No, there had been many times she worried about him.

Though she wouldn't have it any other way. She knew she could count on him. Both, at home and at work. He had her back as she had his, and she was certain that he'd continue to do so in the future.

He'll be with her.

At her side.

Always.

Well, this is it. The end.

Some of the dialogue is from the episode 22 of season 2. I really liked this episode. It felt right to let their journey end in the one we all like to watch on Mondays :) Castle is just too curious to pass on this opportunity of following Kate and her team.

Last but not least, I want to thank all of you, especially those who followed, favorited and reviewed this story. You are great and I hope you enjoyed reading A Lesson In Life.

Thanks :D