Change of Heart

by Castlefan6

Authors Note: This is my SEQUEL to my AU version to a different outcome from the RISE episode in Canon COURSE CORRECTION and UNEXPECTED DETOUR, you will need to read those first to understand this work. This picks up exactly where we left off, no time jumps longer than a few months. WARNING: ANGST, P.T.S.D. and other injuries will be covered, please ignore this story if this will trigger any ill feelings.

I don't own Castle; I use the characters for amusement purposes only

Chapter 1

Previously from Course Correction

"Richard Alexander Edgar Rogers Castle, I have waited a lifetime to find my one and done, and I know I haven't earned my way back, but I'm asking you today, on this special day, in front of family and friends, if you would be my husband, and take me for your wife. I promise you, nothing will ever come before you, and our family, I love you with all my heart, so please do me the greatest honor and say yes, will you marry me?"

Rick is in shock, tears form in his eyes, then he locks on hers, and simply says, "Yes, Hell Yes, but I get to ask you as well, the ring is in the safe let me get it and I'll be right back"

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Castle's Loft

Wednesday, December 30th

No one wanted to admit it, but the last week had flown by, Alexis and Shane trying to stretch every minute of every day, knowing soon his time to leave would come. Kate secure in her engagement to Rick, had decided to retire from the NYPD, and join Richard Castle Enterprises as a Consultant, partly to prove to him that he was the first priority in her life, and would be till she died.

She could work with him on story lines as well as assist in the Investigation Agency that Rick still owned. The bottom line, she didn't need to chase a phantom killer, he would slip up and when he did, a Policeman, it didn't have to be her, would be there to catch him.

Gates almost fainted when she and Rick appeared unannounced and both submitted formal letters of resignation. Kate had alerted the boys and Lanie it was coming and they held a going away party for everyone but Gates later that evening at the Haunt. Somehow, she found out and showed up at the Old Haunt about an hour into the party. Rick spotted her first, and alerted Kate, so she would be prepared.

"Is there some place I could talk to you two in private, I know what you think about me, and this won't take long but it deserves privacy" Gates started her conversation off.

Rick showed her the stairs leading down to his private office,

"Bryan, we aren't to be disturbed by anyone, have Tiny stand guard at the top of the stairs."

"Sure, thing Boss, Hey Tiny, Rick wants you to barricade the stairs, no one goes down, for any reason, got it?"

"I heard him you Wus, get outta my way," as a large, make that very large woman with tattoos over most of her arms takes her stance at the top of the stairs, no one would dare push past her.

Captain Gates went down the stairs, followed by Kate, and finally Rick, who hit a remote and the door opened. The office had two sections, one for Rick to work in his private office, the other for Team or Conference Call meetings. Rick guided her to the table and chairs setup for his team meetings.

Kate looked at Rick, then took charge, "OK, you found out about the party, so you want to speak, what's on your mind. I'll remind you I don't work for you so don't try the intimidation factor you use so fucking well, it doesn't work with me or Rick."

"Very well Kate, I deserved that, perhaps worse but I didn't want you to leave the force without speaking to you one on one, about WHY? I know I made it tough for you, I threw Mr. Castle out of my precinct, but that was regulations, strictly by the book. It wasn't personal" Gates said pleadingly

"Not Personal? Are you crazy, have you been smoking the high-grade shit from evidence room? Nothing could be more personal than what you did. You closed a Cop Shooting, marked it Cold, with minimum effort and without listening to your officers in command, removed a resource who not only assisted in the highest closure rate in the city, but also advocated for the additional resources we needed, WHY?

Because you could, you pulled the Power Play, the Bitch behind the Desk looked down on by every real cop in the city was going to make it hard for everyone there just to get her piece of redemption. How's that working out for you Captain, I doubt if your promotion to Assistant Deputy Chief will get past the mayor now.

You've taken a well-oiled machine in the 12th precinct, and turned it into a scrap heap. What's your closure rate now Captain, never mind I already know, and I doubt you make it to the end of next quarter before they fire your ass. Of course, it will be marked early retirement, either way the party by the force will be the same, and we'll be there with them, Hell we may even sponsor it."

Kate was barely slowing down to breath and Gates was standing with her head down, a position Rick would never have thought he would see the cocky, call me Sir, Captain in. She did flinch with surprise that Kate knew of the upcoming promotion for her.

"If you were in over your head, which clearly you are, all you had to do was ASK for help. I tried to get you to understand, instead, I got the first suspension of my career by you. Rick wanted to call Mayor Weldon, but I wouldn't let him, hoping that when I came back, things would be better, what a joke. You're so fucking lost if it's not in the manual you have no idea of what to do.

My suggestion to you, not as a friend, because we're not, is to start your retirement process when you get back, that will block them from firing you, or go kiss the ass that got you the Captain's job at the 12th to get you back to IA, that's where you belong. I have no idea of what you felt the need to meet with us to know WHY, I knew you were hard headed, now I'm convinced you're just as stupid as well."

The moment of silence was almost deafening, finally, Gates looked up,

"Mr. Castle, is there anything you want to say? I'm sure you have some of the same feelings as Detectiv, eh Kate has."

"I do have many of the same feelings, but the only question I have for you is who is pulling your strings? It's apparent that even the Mayor's office isn't aware of just how incapable of managing a team, much less a precinct you are, so who is it Gates, Commissioner Boyle? No, not him he can't stand you either, so it goes further up the line, someone above the Mayor and Commissioner, who holds your puppet strings?

When we bring them down, and we will, you'll be going down with them as part of the conspiracy to close Kate's case, to hush the entire incident up. Montgomery wasn't perfect, but he owned his mistakes, he paid for them, every last one of them.

This is a celebration, you have two choices, tell us who the corrupt bastards are that you are protecting, stay and enjoy the party or stay silent, and I will personally escort your handcuffed ass to prison when we nail the Bastard, your choice?" Rick hissed

"Well, your connections run deep Mr. Castle, I received a phone call, from someone, telling me to get out now, it was about to go down, so what I say must stay in this room. You both bought the line, I was inept, even stupid as Kate said, being led by someone in power, and to your credit Mr. Castle once again, you have arrived at the correct answer.

One flaw in your theories, I went undercover for this role, Roy Montgomery was a very dear friend of mine and it was the US Attorney General's office that decided we had a mole within our ranks of New York politicians. By the time this party is over, Senator William Bracken, along with 4 of the 5 Deputy Commissioners, and the Chief of Police himself will be behind bars. The combined task force is executing the raids as we speak."

Her phone buzzed, and she quickly opened a text to read "All Chickens are in the Hen House, including the Rooster". She handed the phone to Kate to read,

"It's over, Bracken is in custody, and we have corroborating testimony that he ordered your Mothers and several other contract murders Kate. Roy left enough evidence for a task force to be formed to investigate, the only sad part now is Evelyn will lose her benefits now that Roy will be named as an unnamed conspirator in Court records." Gates said in such a human tone, new to both Kate and Rick

"No, she won't Captain," the first time Rick had used her title, "Evelyn will receive every penny that Roy worked for, and don't ask how, please, it's legal" Rick said, still in a state of shock,

"Is it really over Captain, I mean for real" Kate got out through tears,

Captain Gates pulled her into a hug, "It's over Kate, we got the bastard, just like Roy promised you. I'm sorry I had to go undercover, but it was the only way Bracken would trust me enough to open up with enough facts to nail him.

Rick, having you there, no way could I have fooled you that long without slipping, so I'm sorry, so sorry I couldn't tell you both what was going on." She said with sincerity he had never heard before.

"Well, I think it's we who owe you a huge apology, my God, why didn't you stop us, if you knew this was going down?" Rick asked

"Well, for one, I knew Kate wanted to deck me from Day one, I just hoped she could voice all her hostilities today, and we part as friends. I never had anyone work for me that left hating me as much as she does, totally justified, but now that the truth is out, I hope that's enough for her to forgive me." She almost whispered

"Captain, I didn't hate you, I tried, honestly I did, but Rick taught me to hate the things people do, not the person, so yeah I was miffed at you but how could I stay mad. It opened my eyes to let me know the only thing I needed was right before me, and it wasn't a solved case, it was my fiancé" Kate pulled him in and kissed him deeply.

"Please believe us Captain, if we had known, no that would never have worked and you played it perfectly so thank you for taking the hate, the grief and the name calling, all the while working to end a nightmare for Kate, We won't forget you for all you did." Rick surprised Gates when he kissed her cheek, and hugged her

"Get used to it Captain, the Castles are huggers, when you come over expect it, on every visit" Kate smiled,

"I will Kate, and I look forward to those visits, thank you both" She replied,

Her phone chirped again, after a few moments she turned to Kate,

"There's a press conference in an hour, you two may want to get to your family and brief them ahead of time so it's not such a shock, I've got to go finalize the transfer of one Bastard to Federal Custody," she smiled and exited out the bottom door.

Kate called her Dad, while Rick briefed the boys and Lanie, then they left to pick up Jim with Tiny still standing guard. Once they were all in the Loft, Rick called Paula and Gina and asked them to be sure to catch the newscast live, coming on in a few minutes.

Many different emotions were felt when it was announced that the ring, headed by Bracken was in custody, but none so poignant as that of Jim Beckett, who quietly slipped to a window, looked heavenly, and said softly as if in prayer,

"It's over Jo, you know that already but Babe I still miss you every day, so bad it aches, good news Katie got her one and done, he loves her, you and me so we got lucky," he closed his eyes, touched the wedding ring around his neck he had carried since her death, and then smiled, "You'd like him he was your favorite author so you did good, talk to you soon Hun" closed his eyes and blew a kiss towards heaven.

There wasn't a dry eye in the loft, male or female, but they were truly happy tears, Kate had left the force, but her mother's case had been closed, the weight was gone, now she was free to devote her entire self to her family.

Mandy held Kate for quite a while as she cried for joy, realizing it was truly over, even if she wasn't the cop to solve it, it didn't matter. Rick was now her number one and only one priority.

"Kate, it's OK, go on and cry Sweetie, we're all right here, everyone of us has been praying for this day, now you're free, truly free, go and love your family" Mandy whispered as Kate struggled to gain control, finally she did, kissed Mandy on the cheek, and headed directly for her Dad.

"Katie, you did good, Mom's at piece, and I don't have to worry every time I hear a siren, if it's you and are you OK, I know you are in the best arms you could be. I'm fine Baby, we made it, both of us, and your Mom is up there probably saying "I told you so," they both echoed at the same time. Jim took Kate by the hand and led her to Rick, and said, "Katie, I told you once, don't be the damn fool, kiss your fiancé without none of this would have happened. Thank You Rick, now let's party."

Alexis and Shane were right by Grandpa Jim as they shared a bottle of sparkling Grape Soda while the champagne was flowing.

"Shane don't you want some of the good stuff, don't hold back on my account" Jim said,

"No Sir, I don't drink, what could possibly give me a high like my future wife, her Dad and of course my Mom and soon to be Step Dad." Shane smiled then realized he had an oops moment.

"WHAT did we hear that right, Mandy you got some explaining to do" Kate was over and hugging her in a flash,

"Well we didn't want to dampen anyone's joy with our news, Gary actually asked Shane permission the night after he proposed to Alexis, and I said yes, I'm not about to lose him again and our family just gained two members, well a whole lot of members" she laughed as she looked around.

Kate sought out Alexis, who was staying and making the rounds,

"Alexis, I think it's sweet you're staying but Baby, get your man and get out of here, go somewhere and make memories, just be careful and text or call if you need anything,"

Alexis wrapped her in a hug, "Thanks Kate, I'm running out of time, and I well I'm outa here" as she grabbed Shane and headed for the door.

Gina walked over, "Thanks Kate, it's going to be nice being co-Moms to our wonderful daughter" and hugged her,

Kate just smiled through her tears, a Mom, soon to be a wife, and her Mom now resting in peace, it couldn't get better than this. Finally, the Universe was smiling on the Castle household.