Here be Dragons!

Chapter 46

Epilogue

It is now 5 years later

"MOMMY!" Kate had been spotted coming home as she walked in the front door, dropped her stuff, and only just managed to put her weapon away in the little gun safe Rick had had installed at the front door. They had little kids running around the loft now so her weapon needed to be put away where little hands couldn't reach it.

"Indoor voice," Rick called after her since she had been trying to help him in the kitchen cooking for when Mom came home.

Lynn, however, ignored him. She ended up in her mom's arms, was lifted up, and got kisses. "So how was your first day of school?" Kate asked her. Her little Gold Dragon was the love of her life. The twins were too young to know still. In three more years they would learn that James was a Mercury Dragon while Coen was a Silver Dragon.

She shrugged. "Okay."

"Just okay? It was supposed to be spectacular. The biggest day of your life." Kate tried again as she walked into the kitchen. "You're sure it was just okay?"

Kate placed her on a stool even if she didn't get a response and moved over to Castle to get her kiss. "Fajitas?" Kate inquired since that was what it looked like.

"Lynn said Mexican so this is what I came up with," Rick said defensively. "I know you don't work on cases much any longer so how was your day?"

Kate had passed her Captain's Examination and true to his word Commissioner Malone offered her the Captain's job for the 12th. Kate had quickly found that she didn't have time to work cases. The best she could do was monitor them along with all the other things the precinct did.

She'd been Captain of the 12th for a little over 4 years now. "Where are the boys?" Kate queried. Deflecting away what she thought of being the captain since they'd already had this conversation.

"Still napping. They should be up soon or they'll be up all night," Rick replied.

"I'll get them, assuming I can still carry both of them down the stairs. They're getting big," Kate commented and kissed Lynn as she passed and went up the stairs.

Moments later her serious twin boys who were now in their terrible twos were hanging onto one of Mom's hands as they walked down the stairs. Once they were down it was a race to see who got to the toys first. Then came the inevitable fight over who got what toy first.

Kate gave each of them her choice of toy and headed for Rick.

"You didn't answer my question." Rick got back to his first topic.

"The same as always," Kate admitted.

"In other words, boring." Rick knew the problem she had with being a captain.

"You're not there anymore." Kate knew what the primary problem was and knew it. She also knew why. Rick could work from home and now he was Mr. Mom while she was at work. "We can talk later," Kate promised and hurried over to the boys again since another fight had erupted.

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The boys needed a little help with Rick's choice of dinner, however, Lynn seemed to be happy. "What did Alexis say?" Kate knew she was in Stanford at the moment.

Rick brightened up instantly. "She was accepted!"

"That's great! An entire year of school in Lyon, France. Who knew she was so good with languages." Kate was envious of her now. Alexis, thanks partly to Kate, was now fluent in Russian and French.

"She sent her most recent class list. International relations, political science, cultural anthropology, sociology, and foreign policy dominate her list," Rick said.

"So she's decided that she really wants to be a career diplomat. At least she sounds happy with her choice." Kate was happy for her. "Maybe she'll finally find someone in Lyon." That was the thing that bothered Kate the most.

Alexis kept going from one potential boyfriend to the next, never liking who she found. "Don't look at me like that, Rick. Alexis deserves to find someone that makes her happy. I found you and I don't want to hear the number 30 again."

Kate returned to helping her sons, James and Coen, who she had found out in a huge surprise, were twins. At first they got along great and were inseparable early on. Though they were still inseparable, it was just at this age they were more confrontational.

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While Rick cleaned up the mess Kate spent most of her time with her sons. They were young and she was at work all day and she wanted to spend time with them before they grew up too fast.

One drawback to having little kids in the city was that when it got dark out they didn't really have anyplace to take them to get them tired. Her days off were all she had to get them outside with her instead of her husband.

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It was late and the kids were finally in bed and Kate saw Rick was in his study with his laptop in his lap. "So what's Nikki up to now?" Kate sat down across from him.

Rick shrugged a shoulder and said, "Eh, nothing at the moment. Mike has all of the chapters. I'm just waiting for his corrections."

That was one other thing that had changed since their wedding. Gina had shot her mouth off one time too many and had been fired. She'd been replaced by Mike Roberts to handle Rick's books.

Rick was all set to bring up why Kate was so bored when their cell phones announced the had a visitor. "I'll get it." Kate looked at her phone along the way and saw a woman with very red hair and lots of baggage just reaching the door.

She had used the doorbell before Kate could reach her. Kate opened the door since she didn't look overly threatening.

"Who are you!?" the woman instantly demanded after Kate opened the door.

"I'm Kate, I live here with my family. Who are you?" Kate countered.

"Mommy?" Lynn was rubbing her eyes at the top of the stairs.

"I'll be right there, sweetheart. Go back to bed." It was why Kate had hustled to beat her to the doorbell. "I'm sorry, unless it's really important you'll have to come back later." Kate closed the door and locked it.

"I'll call the police," the woman yelled through the door.

"I am the police. A homicide detective to be precise," Kate yelled back and went upstairs to get her daughter to go back to sleep.

Minutes later she was back with Rick who this time wasn't typing. "What did Meredith want?" Rick had looked to see who it was.

"Who? …You mean the crazy lady at the door? That was Meredith!? As in Alexis's mother? That Meredith? I thought she was just some crazy lady." Kate thought about getting up, going to the door, and apologizing but just sat there in shock instead.

"That was Meredith," Rick assured her. "What did she want?"

"She wanted to know who I was then Lynn woke up at the top of the stairs and I closed the door on her. Then she yelled that she would call the police. That was really Meredith?" Kate tried to picture her again.

"So you didn't enjoy your day again." Rick was willing to discuss this again even if Kate might not be.

"I'm fine, Rick." She knew what her husband was thinking.

"You mean bored out of your mind," Rick pointed out. "Something you once begged me not to let happen to you and yet here you are and you're fighting it"

Kate hated it when he was right. She had begged him once that their life could never get boring. She didn't want to be one of those couples.

"Okay, I'll listen. What have you got in mind, Rick?" Kate gave in since she truly didn't like her job. It was turning her into someone she didn't want to be.

"Come around here. I've found something for you to think about." Rick brought it up on his laptop as Kate moved around behind him to look over his shoulder.

"Teaching job?" This was not what she was expecting him to offer. "Criminal Justice." Kate began to read until Rick zoomed out to show her the entire page.

"It's in Paris, Rick! Have you lost your mind?" Kate stood up and stopped looking.

Rick started sharing his selling points for what he wanted to do. "Do you know how close Paris is to Lyon where Alexis is going to be? You're bored, Kate, and you know it and it's starting to really bother you. I'm just trying to keep my wife happy." Rick kept arguing for his idea.

"And my French sucks," Kate reminded him. Kate had only taught Alexis Russian.

"It's better than mine. You can take classes while you teach. Never be bored," Rick said, his eyes sparkling.

"Castle?" Kate shook her head. This wasn't something she was thinking of, not that she was really thinking of anything. She just hated quitting; she felt like she'd failed when that happened.

"I would suggest the FBI but they could send you anywhere and turn you into another Jordan Shaw." Rick didn't think that was such a bad thing, it was just that that presented her with an issue.

"I'll miss my children growing up. Alexis is already gone." Kate didn't want anything to do with the FBI or anything like it.

"Precisely. Plus if you get the job and we move, Lynn and the boys will grow up in another city. Start learning French right when Lynn should start learning. We can teach them English.

"I can type from anywhere. Paris is perfect. They have bullet trains that can take us to anywhere in Europe in a couple of hours, and Alexis will be close." That was the highlight of Rick's idea.

"I don't know anything about French law, Castle." She was never going to get hired.

"This class isn't about teaching French law, Kate. They want an American to teach their detectives and officers or potential detectives and officers about American methods and law. From what I've read there's also going to be a class about British methods and law."

"Oh." She couldn't believe that anyone would be doing that. The United States certainly wasn't doing anything like this. "Do they say why?"

"Call them and ask. It doesn't begin until their school year starts, so about 4 months from now. If they want to actually see you say yes and take time off work. More likely they'll want to Skype to talk to you after they read about you. Make you being a captain work for you.

"Living in another country will never be boring," Rick said and had used up most of his cards. Save a few. "You said Ryan had gotten his sergeant's credentials and had moved to another precinct. Even Lanie moved to a different job. All that's left of the gang is Esposito." For all intents and purposes her group had already broken up.

Kate let herself back up to what was behind her and tried to think. She really hated to just give up but she also was starting to hate her job. She didn't like living like this. She wasn't that old yet.

"It's expensive in Paris, Rick. In some ways worse than New York City. I don't even have a license to drive in France." Kate tried what she knew was in vain to get him to drop this idea.

"License, poof. Incredibly simple. As for where to live that's close to your job." Rick changed screens since he had already researched this.

Kate looked over his shoulder to see just to appease him. "ROYAL MONCEAU, PARIS VIII, PARIS, ILE-DE-FRANCE."

Kate looked at the pictures and saw a massive living room with a barrel ceiling two floors tall that had 11 skylights. There was a glass walkway on one side that had a sizable library filled with books.

One wall was all windows though an end wall was gold in color. She saw five rather modern looking chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

The dining room was black! Black floors, black walls, black glass table, black chairs. However, the chandelier above the table was amazing.

The kitchen was also black and it had a huge chandelier over the island. Kate wrinkled her nose at the sight of a large nude painting of a woman in the kitchen.

The master bedroom was huge. Twice the size of what they had now. Even the sitting area had a chandelier.

"Stop!" Rick was on the master bathroom now and she moved in closer to get a better look. It had a tub in the center of the room that was to die for. "Okay, move on."

"Stop! …Is that the closet?" Kate counted doors in the hallway and saw the bathroom in the back ground. "Ten doors on one side and eight on the other!?" The doors looked like silver glass or something. Or frosted doors. "Okay, move on."

The next picture was a bedroom that had an enormous British flag for a rug and was clearly a boy's room. "The boys would love that room."

The next bedroom was clearly a girl's room and smaller. However it, like the boy's room, had two windows and a skylight.

The roof patio was really nice and large. Then she saw the view and this place was clearly a penthouse view as it looked down on the street with Pairs buildings all the way down the street. It was a lovely view. "No Eiffel Tower?" Kate teased him.

"There is if you want one," Rick answered.

"How much, Rick?" She knew Paris wasn't cheap.

"Do you like it? I have others," Rick deflected.

"Not a fan of the black but the rest was really nice. How much?" This was going to either make her think about it or kill it.

Rick coughed when he said the number.

"TWENTY-TWO MILLION!? Euros or dollars? Never mind, keep looking." Kate killed it.

"Kate, the loft alone is half that number. The three book deal for Nikki Heat that I've already finished is the other half." Rick fought back. "The question is do we sell the house in the Hamptons? We could buy something else instead. Something in Switzerland, for example. The cars have to go, of course."

Kate knew they were rich because of her husband but it was all his money. What she made was still never even going to buy her the loft let alone this.

"What else is there, babe?" Kate asked him and Rick was ready.

This one had a patio filled with plants, a living room with one wall of books and a loft with more books and a table with chairs to sit and read. The dining room was smaller than what they had now. The kitchen was about the same size as now. There was an outdoor atrium in the middle that was two floors tall. The bedrooms were basically nothing.

"It has an indoor pool!?" It looked like it was inside a castle or something. There were rock walls on all sides. Even the weight room, which had a barrel roof, was all rock.

"Fifteen million is better." She liked the price better but not the look of the place and she didn't need her children going down to the pool on their own and drowning.

"There's one more but you're not going to like it." Rick began showing it to her.

She didn't see why he would think she wouldn't like it. It was drop dead gorgeous. Lots of windows, a real grass yard, a lap pool, the kitchen was massive.

"FORTY MILLION DOLLARS!? …Not a chance, Castle. I don't care how rich you think we are." Kate killed that one.

"We can always remodel the dining room and kitchen and get rid of the black. I did it with the house in the Hamptons," Rick suggested since she had at least liked that one and he was willing to admit except for the black he'd liked it best.

Kate shoved her fingers through her hair in frustration. "Let me think about it." This was big, like career changing big. Even if she had changed careers once already going from pre-law to being a cop.

"I'll tell Alexis." Rick was happy and Kate groaned since now she knew her daughter was going to call her and try and talk her into it.

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It is three months later

Kate was watching as the last of the boxes were being removed and taken down to a truck that in turn was going to take it to an overseas transporter to ship to Paris.

With her dad's help she had looked after the kids while Rick was in Paris purchasing the place. Then he'd found a contractor to get rid of the black dining room and black kitchen. He had come back a week later after they had started.

The place had come furnished and Kate was still amazed that she had gotten the job. They had actually sounded excited over having her. It turned out that Gates had been right after all. People did keep track of things like being the fastest female to make detective and the fastest to make captain.

Right now she felt lonely. Rick and the kids were already gone and in the new place. Rick had called to tell her the contractor was still working on it but would be done in about a week. She just had to go into the precinct one last time for a quick meeting then make her plane to join her husband and family for their new adventure.

She felt a little sad that she was leaving the only city she'd ever lived in. Yet she was also looking forward to the challenge. Rick had somehow been right. She had been bored and didn't like her job any longer. She actually missed being a homicide detective and having her husband follow her around.

They'd already talked about him still not being able to follow her. Rick had fought back. "Who says? I'm a writer who writes murder mysteries. You can bring me in as a guest speaker. We've done a lot of cases together and I have lots of imagination."

"Just leave out the zombies and CIA, Castle." Kate watched him open his mouth. "And the demons or ghosts." She listened to him groan loudly and smiled but kissed him anyway.

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Hours later Kate was walking to Baggage Claim to get her suitcase back when she heard, "MOMMY!" And saw a young girl with really long brown hair ignoring the guard at the line and running to her. Kate dropped her bag, swooped her up, and kissed her since she had missed her little girl. "You ready for school?"

"YEP!" This time Kate saw her smiling wide and nodding her head which was a change with her. Maybe Castle was still right.

"Hi, babe." Kate kissed Rick and put Lynn down. Then she picked up James to carry him to Baggage Claim while Rick carried Coen and Lynn held Kate's hand.

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They were in the 8th district not all that far from the Seine River. It took them 45 minutes once they actually left the airport to reach the house.

They had both already learned the Eiffel Tower was only 10 minutes away by car on the other side of the river. There was also a park really close filled with places to visit.

"Interesting car." Kate got in the front seat after helping to get the twins in their car seats. Lynn was old enough to get in her own sear in the middle.

Kate had let him find them a car, however, she had laid down the law that it had to be able to hold them and the kids at the same time and no, he couldn't tie the boys to the roof.

Rick bought a LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER EVOQUE. It was brand new and had that new car smell.

"You said it had to have room for the kids. Ferrari doesn't make one that holds more than two people. Nor does Lamborghini or Maserati or–" Kate interrupted him.

"You did good, babe." Kate leaned across to kiss him. Not noticing that all the kids were smiling. That their parents were happy made them happy.

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Kate watched him drive through this big ornate opening in a building and into this little atrium for parking cars. There was space for parking 20 cars in total and Rick had talked her into buying a space. It had been a fortune to get it.

"If we don't then we park out on the street which is first come first serve. And you'll be doing it day in and day out," Rick had argued and gotten his way.

Rick parked and they got the kids out. Kate immediately realized that the kids by now knew exactly where they were and what it took to get home since they were already out in front.

Rick unlocked the door and the kids went first but Rick offered to let her go before him.

It was actually a double door and entered under the walkway above and the wall of windows was right in front of her. Being in the middle of it told her that pictures didn't do this place justice. It was beautiful. "This is gorgeous, babe!" They were actually going to live here.

"Mommy, come see!" Lynn grabbed her hand and dragged her to her room. It all looked just like it did in the pictures. Save for personal items, the previous owner had left everything else behind. It was just the kitchen and dining room that were changing.

Kate spent an hour with her daughter as she showed her everything and had her mommy read her one of her favorite books.

The boys were next and it looked like they were going to have more than enough space for both of them for now and lots of room for their toys.

Kate got a tour of the entire place and became aware of something she hadn't really noticed in the pictures. The fireplace was a pass through and on the other side was Castle's precious TV room to watch movies in. Though she knew movie night with the kids would happen as they introduced their kids to the classics.

"Still not sure what we're going to do with a piano." Kate loved every room. Even if the kitchen and dining room weren't done yet.

"Alexis took violin lessons so maybe one of the can learn to play the piano. We can only hope," Rick grinned. "And we effectively have two fireplaces so twice the number of stockings and twice the number of Christmas presents from Santa." Rick was smiling wide.

They'd already had this discussion about Santa and Rick had won…for now. Eventually the kids would grow up and not believe in Santa.

Rick wrapped his arms around her and questioned her, "So, was I right?"

"Yes, you were right, Castle. …This time." He would be wrong later.

"We're going to be amazing, Kate. We can do this again in the next life," Rick declared and Kate beat him to it.

"Even if it takes me 1,000 worlds and 10,000 lifetimes, I will find you."