Hi everyone. I had a burst of inspiration over the weekend and wrote this fan fiction story that I call The Funeral. It's not quite finished yet, but I figured I could start sharing it in parts since it's 11 pages long right now. So here's part 1. Enjoy!

“How did I get here?” Richard Castle thought as he paused after climbing out of the unmarked patrol car that had been sent to pick him, his daughter and mother up. It’s just so unfair. You’re on top of the world one day and the next, everything comes crashing down. As his daughter Alexis and mother Martha Rodgers came around from the other side of the car, he exhaled heavily, took Alexis’ hand, offered Martha his arm, and the three climbed the steps to the large church.

The sea of police, firefighters, emergency personnel, and city officials got thicker as they walked through the large double doors. An officer in his Class A uniform handed each of them a program. Castle could hardly stand to look at the face on the cover, but realized he didn’t have much of a choice. Today would be about her, only her, to honor and celebrate the life of Detective Katherine Beckett.

“I wonder where we should sit,” Alexis asked. “It’d probably be wrong for us to sit with the police, but on the other hand you and Beckett-”

“I know,” Castle interrupted her. “C’mon. I think I see some seats mid-way up.”

“You won’t need them.” A voice from behind the three of them said. It was Captain Roy Montgomery, Beckett’s boss, followed by her former partners Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito. All three were dressed in their best dark suits with their badges attached to their breast pockets. A black band was stretched across each badge, as is customary when the department loses one of its own.

“Jim says Beckett was very fond of all you and thought of you as her extended family. So you’re sitting up front with us. Ryan and Esposito here will show you ladies to your seats. Castle, follow me.”

Ryan took Alexis’ arm and Esposito Martha’s as Captain Montgomery lead Castle towards the back of the church where Castle could see an honor guard was gathering, ready to process in at the appointed time. He also caught a glimpse of the one person he was very apprehensive about seeing.

“Jim wants you to be a part of the processional.” Captain Montgomery said.

Castle was astonished. “Sir, I-” Castle began to protest, but Montgomery stopped him.

“Look, Castle, I know you blame yourself for getting her into all this in the first place. But let me tell you it wasn’t your fault. There’s no way you could know that this would happen when you decided to base Nikki Heat on Beckett. None of us blame you, just like she didn’t blame you when Coonan was killed.”
Castle still looked doubtful, so Montgomery continued.

“You see everyone in this room in a uniform or wearing a badge? They all joined the police or fire department or Hazmat squad or whatever because they accept the risk associated with the job. Each one of them knows that every time they go out on a call, something could happen. Now they do their damndest to make sure everything goes like it’s supposed to, but … sometimes it just doesn’t happen that way. Sometimes things just aren’t what they seem to be. A crime scene that looks to be under control can go nuts in an instant you know that. And so does he.”

Captain Montgomery gestured towards the man Castle was afraid to approach, Kate Beckett’s dad, Jim, who now had no immediate family left. Castle looked back at the Captain, nodded and composed himself.
“Someone from the honor guard will be over in a minute to give you a run through. Until then, just hang tight.” Montgomery said.

“OK,” Castle answered. Montgomery began walking away, but Castle stopped him. “Captain? I just wanted to thank you for everything. For the whole opportunity, for introducing me not just to her, but to yourself, to Ryan, Esposito, to Lanie, even Perlmutter. It’s been an education like no other. And whatever happens with Nikki Heat, I want you to know that I’ll always be grateful.”

Montgomery grinned. “And I want you to know that as far as I’m concerned you and your family will always be family at the 12th.” They both shook hands and Montgomery stepped away to greet some other arrivals.

lacey08 said:

You are brave for killing off beckett.

---

Very, very brave indeed. I refuse to read further.

You killed of Beckett :( were she and castle romanticly involved?

I'm sorry some folks are already put off. But please be patient. That's all I'll say.

So far so good.I'm going to watch this one with interest.I know that Nev827 will throw a couple of twist in.I know she is a fan of the first order and would not kill Kate w/o a real good reason.

Keep it coming,your fans await.

Your welcome Nev827.Shaping up to be a good one! Will look for your post tonight.
You have inspired me to work on my fanfic as well. ' class='wp-smiley' />

Here's Part 2. It's longer, so bear with it.

Castle gathered himself, took a breath and began walking over to Jim Beckett, when a member of the honor guard stopped him and ran through the procession with him. Before he could talk to Kate Beckett’s last living family member, he was ushered into his position in line along with Ryan, Esposito, Montgomery, the Police Commissioner, the Mayor of New York City, and Jim Beckett. Behind them were honor guards from all over the city, and the State of the New York, each holding their flags along with a state flag and the U.S. flag. Even some representatives from police departments in neighboring states had come and were lined up behind them.

The congregation fell silent as two bagpipers marched up the center aisle and took up their positions on either side of three easels that displayed blown up images that it pained Castle so much to look at: one of Beckett with her academy class, another of her presumably after she made detective, holding her badge and dressed in those dark suits she wore when they first met, and the third of her as a teenager with her Dad and late mother, Johanna. As they began playing “Amazing Grace”, Jim Beckett, flanked by the Mayor and the Commissioner began walking slowly up the center aisle, with Montgomery, Castle, Ryan, and Esposito following. Since Beckett’s body was never identified, there would be no casket for pall bearers to carry.
As Castle walked up the aisle, he was surprised to catch glimpses of many familiar faces with whom he and Beckett had worked cases. There was Jeremy Preswick with his now-wife Emma, who looked to be very pregnant; Joanne Delgado, the young woman who Beckett had helped after her mother had been murdered and stuffed into the family’s wall safe; Alfred Candela and his daughter; members of the music group Blue Pill; Teodor Hajek, his son and Melissa Talbott; Norman Jessup, the “wordsmith”; Kyra and her husband Greg; Maggie Vega and Lara; and Mickey Carlson. He even thought he saw Brad Dekker, the firefighter whom Beckett almost went on a date with, and her ex-boyfriend, FBI agent Will Sorenson.

As they reached the head of the center aisle, they stopped and waited for the bagpipers to finish the song. When they were done, Jim Beckett stepped into the pew reserved for him at the front. The pew immediately behind was where Alexis, Martha, Lanie Parrish, Beckett’s best friend and a Medical Examiner, and Beckett’s other female detective friend, Roselyn Karpowski, were seated. As Castle settled himself, he noticed that the Commissioner, Captain Montgomery, Ryan and Esposito were lined up in front of the pictures of Beckett and were standing at attention. In unison, they brought their right arms up in a final silent salute to their fallen sister. They next turned on their heels, and joined Jim Beckett and the Mayor in the front pew.
Castle found he could hardly focus on the service being said. Captain Montgomery’s words rang in his ears. The possibility that Kate, this truly extraordinary woman who fascinated him to the point of inspiring a new character for his next successful series of books would be killed when her apartment was bombed by a crazed fan had never ever crossed his mind when he began shadowing her. So, he knew it didn’t make sense to blame himself, but he couldn’t help it. The pangs hit him every time he looked at Jim Beckett. She’d be alive today if it weren’t for me.

When they began working together, he just wanted some good stories to incorporate into a future book or two. Then he figured out that Kate herself was a story, a tragic one that pained her very deeply and drove her to be the tough-skinned, but tremendously empathetic cop that she was. He also learned that the stories weren’t just a series of events that eventually led you to an arrest, but that human emotion drove and was a by-product of those events. It wasn’t just about telling the story or solving the case, it was about helping someone, getting the family answers, calming their fears, drying their tears, and letting the souls of the dead be at peace.

God, was I arrogant, Castle thought as he came to realize how much he had changed, how much they had both changed, and how much she had changed him. She was so serious when they first met that he wondered if Detective Kate Beckett ever smiled. As the weeks went by, he began to see another side of her – the playful side, the real side, the vulnerable side. She delighted in torturing him with her subtle flirtations as much as he enjoyed flirting back at her. They challenged each other – she challenged him because she didn’t fall for his smug charm like so many of the shallow socialites who wanted him to sign their breasts with a sharpie, and he challenged her because he wasn’t a cop, but an intelligent writer who thought differently and who was on the surface a smarmy ladies man, but in reality is a loving father who came to care about the victims of the murders they solved. The two had hit their stride of working together, had even begun finishing each other’s sentences, as Esposito and Ryan once pointed out, when it happened.
Castle had been at home writing and intermittently thinking of just how much he was enjoying this new path his life had taken with Beckett when his cell phone rang. It was Captain Montgomery calling to tell him that the bomb squad was at Beckett’s apartment building trying to diffuse a bomb that was set to go off and destroy her apartment. Ryan and Esposito picked him up in their squad car and they raced over to do what they could.

Castle remembered being surprised by his own feelings during the short car ride. All he could think about was protecting Kate from harm, holding her in his arms, sheltering her from the cruelties of the world that she already knew too well. He would have gladly given all the millions he had earned as a writer to have her sitting next to him, safe and sound. He’d even let her tweak his ear or his nose or shove a bear claw in his mouth if it meant he’d still have her in his life. The thought of never seeing her smile or laugh or roll her eyes at him, never seeing her deconstruct a witness’s story in the interrogation room, or sitting at her computer in the precinct was too much. He was sure they would pull up to the scene and find her hard at work helping the bomb squad with the layout of the building or trying to calm her neighbors. She’d be fine, he thought. She’s Beckett. She has to be fine.

But as they pulled to within only a couple blocks, they heard the explosion, a booming sound that shook the windows of their car and broke windows in the buildings all around them. The three of them cursed like sailors and Esposito floored the gas. They got as close to the building as they could and stood in shock as flames poured from the corner of the building where they knew Beckett’s apartment was located. For the first time since he’d known them, Ryan and Esposito looked completely helpless, like lost children in the middle of a shopping mall on Black Friday. For his part, Castle felt like his shoes had turned to cement blocks. He couldn’t move and stood transfixed staring at the burning corner apartment out of which he imagine Beckett was trying to escape. The image of her trapped under rubble barely able to breathe through the smoke got his adrenaline pumping and he suddenly broke into a run, heading straight for the building’s front door. But Esposito and Ryan each caught him by an arm. It took another two uniforms to restrain him, ultimately. When he finally quit fighting, he felt the sweat rolling down his cheeks, or what he thought it was sweat. He realized now it was tears.

They stayed on the scene all night that night, doing whatever was needed. With every gurney that was rolled into an ambulance, Castle’s heart leapt at the thought that it carried Beckett’s injured but still living body. Around every corner he hoped to see her, to run to her, wrap his arms around her, press his lips to hers. He suddenly realized he was in love with her, in love with her like he hadn’t been with either of his wives, but like he was with Kyra. He also realized that now he’d never have the chance to tell her. She was gone.

When the service inside the church and the brief ceremony outside were over, Castle, Martha, Alexis, Lanie, Montgomery, Ryan and Esposito headed out of the church to the limousine that was waiting for all of them. Castle held the door for Alexis and Martha, but stopped Lanie before she got in and gave her a hug. Until this point, Lanie had let silent tears fall down her cheeks throughout the service, but now, as Castle held her, she couldn’t hold back any longer. She wept quietly on his shoulder for almost a full minute. When she had composed herself, she broke the embrace.

“Thanks Castle,” she said, still choked up, then added something unexpectedly. “I have to tell you something. I’ve known Kate since she joined the force and I gotta tell you I’d never seen her so happy as she was when you guys worked together. God knows she needed someone to give her permission to let loose occasionally, and you did that. Besides helping her find her mom’s murderer, that was probably the greatest thing you did for her. And I know it’s gonna be hard for you to hear this, but you two had something really special. I know she denied it, but even the bodies on my table could see it.”

Castle chuckled at the comment and tried to find his voice to thank her. Again, he was surprised to find that he was so moved he could hardly talk. He felt tears welling up in his eyes too.

“Thanks Lanie. It took me until the night that bomb went off to realize it, but I fell for her, completely. I just can’t believe I’ll never see her again, or be with her. I’d give all my money to pick up a phone and hear her voice on the other end…” His voice trailed off.

“I know. Me too,” Lanie responded. She hugged him again, gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and disappeared into the limo. Castle stood outside for a moment and wiped his eyes. As he did, he caught Jim Beckett’s eyes as he stood outside the limo that would ferry him, Captain Montgomery, the Mayor and Police Commissioner to the cemetery where Kate’s headstone was waiting. Jim looked him straight in the eye, gave him what Castle realized was a characteristic Beckett family grin, and nodded respectfully. He then mouthed the words “call me” and “we’ll talk” before getting into his limo.

Castle heaved a sigh of relief. Captain Montgomery was right. Jim Beckett didn’t blame him.
Castle turned and climbed into the limo, sitting himself next to Alexis and across from Ryan, his girlfriend Jenny, who had come for extra support, and Esposito. Lanie sat towards the limo’s rear. Both detectives looked more emotionally drained than he had ever seen them. Alexis took her dad’s hand as Martha, on the other side of Alexis, asked how he was doing.

Before he could answer, Castle felt his cell phone in the inside pocket of his top coat buzz. Who on earth could that be, he thought. He had little to no desire to actually answer the call, but his curiosity about who was on the other end got the better of him. He pulled the phone out to check the LED screen that usually flashed the name and number of the caller. When he saw the display, his heart practically stopped and he felt his face drain of all color.

“What’s up, Castle?” Esposito asked, noticing his reaction.
“Yeah, you OK?” Ryan added.
“I don’t know.” Castle answered.
“Who is it?” Martha was the first to ask.

“It’s Beckett,” Castle said as he stared at the image on the screen of the cover of his first Nikki Heat novel that featured the silhouette of a woman holding a gun upright in front of her chest and the words above it that read “Beckett cell.”

WOW,We have a winner. I have been waiting for you to post for 2 hours and fourty five minutes. It was worth the wait. I love it.You obviously have a great talent and it humbles me to read your work. Please keep it coming.

Wow, thanks Moby Dick. Sorry I kept you waiting. I better get working on the ending – looks like I'm gonna have to post it much sooner than I thought.

It keeps getting better. Can't wait to see what comes next!

OK everyone, I finished the story last night and can't wait to share it with you all. Thanks so much for all your feedback. This is the longest piece of fiction I've written in a long time and am glad you're enjoying it. So here's part 3. Enjoy!

“Her cell phone that is,” Castle finished.

A collective inhale sounded through the car. Alexis and Jenny both clapped hands to their mouths in shock. Lanie looked like she would pass out.

“She didn’t leave her phone at the precinct or anywhere else did she?” Castle asked Ryan and Esposito.
“No.” They answered together.

“We looked around her dad’s place for clues to who may have…you know…but we didn’t find anything and Captain Montgomery cleaned out her desk and gave all her stuff to her Dad. He didn’t say anything about finding her phone,” Esposito explained.

Ryan added “And the bomb squad said it was never recovered from her apartment. Just like-”
“Just like her body,” Castle finished.

He looked at everyone in the limo with a combination of trepidation and hope. The looks on their faces told him what he had to do. He slowly raised his right hand to his ear and pressed the send button.

“Hello?”

Castle’s jaw dropped as the voice on the other end registered in his brain. It was her. Detective Kate Beckett was alive. No question about it. Unless…

“Kate?! What the…? Hold on, how do I know you’re actually Detective Beckett … My God it is you! Are…are you Ok? Wait, no, put her back on the phone! KATE!” The line went dead.

“Oh my God,” Martha muttered.

Without thinking another thought, Castle climbed out of the limo and screamed “Captain Montgomery!”

“Geez, Castle what is it?” Montgomery asked as he came over.

“Castle are you positive that was her?” Ryan said, having jumped out of the limo himself. “Remember the case you two worked where the murderer used a recording of the victim’s voice to get his fiancée to withdraw her entire family’s fortune?”

“Wait a minute, what the hell is going on?” Montgomery pushed. Castle showed him the list of received calls on his cell phone, with the call from Beckett’s cell listed at the top. The Captain’s face changed dramatically as he figured out what Castle was thinking.

“You’re not serious? You think she called you?” he asked.
“I don’t think, I know it was her,” Castle insisted. “She was whispering, but I know it was her.”
“How do you know? I mean Ryan’s right. The call could have been faked.” He asked.

“It’s not a fake, sir.” Esposito broke in. He was also standing outside the limo holding his own cell phone. His expression had changed dramatically. “She called me too.”

“She did what?!” Montgomery responded.

“Listen,” Esposito said and he activated the speaker phone on his cell to play a voice mail left for him about hour earlier. The men all stood with mouths agape as Beckett’s voice issued from the cell.

“Esposito, it’s Control Freak. Really. I have a message for you and Castle. Find me at the place out west where the dead rest. Good luck.”

“Control freak? Place out west where the dead rest?” Montgomery asked.

“When she and Castle here first started working together I told her that watching her, the control freak, work with someone she couldn’t control would be more fun than Shark Week,” Esposito answered, grinning sentimentally to himself. “The rest must be some kind of riddle.”

“Castle, what did she say to you?” Montgomery pressed.

“Whoever’s got her cut her message off, but when I asked how do I know it’s actually her, she said ‘Because I smell like cherries and you pull my pigtails.’” Castle said, his eyes getting emotional.

Montgomery, Ryan and Esposito all looked back at him like he’d just sprung an extra head, so Castle explained that he had once complimented Beckett on how she smelled like cherries, causing her to turn her head and the both of them to get dangerously close to a kiss, and how after her mother’s murderer was killed, she used the pigtails metaphor to express how she liked having him around.

“On each occasion we were both totally alone. No one else could have known what we said to each other – no one. It has to be her!” Castle made his point.

“What’s going on guys?” Jim Beckett now joined the group, apparently aware that something out of the ordinary was up. They all looked at each other, at a loss for how to explain what had just unfolded in the last few minutes. Captain Montgomery finally broke the silence.

“She’s alive, Mr. Beckett. She left a message for Esposito during the funeral and Castle actually spoke to her.”

“Really? You s-spoke to her?” Jim said, his voice catching briefly in his throat. It struck Castle that Jim wasn’t quite as happy or surprised as he would have expected, given that Kate was the only family he had left.

“Yes I did. And I’m convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was her.”
“So was I when I got her message.” Jim said.

“You got a voicemail from her too!?” Montgomery said, trying to keep up with all the people his supposedly-dead protégé had called during her own funeral. “What did she say?”

“That I should speak to Castle and Esposito before I did anything else and go wherever Castle goes.”

“Ok, that’s enough chatter guys,” Montgomery concluded. “Let’s get moving back to the precinct to try to figure out what the hell’s going on. Castle, Esposito, and Ryan you work on that riddle while I drive. Jim, you’re coming too.”

“Dad, what’s going on?” Alexis had poked her head outside the limo door. She, Martha, Lanie and Jenny had been trying to process the possibilities associated with what Castle had told them.

“It’ll take too long to explain, honey, and we need to go right now. But cross your fingers and toes that luck is on our side.” Castle quickly said and he kissed Alexis on her forehead, ran to Captain Montgomery’s waiting patrol car and hopped in.

In the driver’s seat, Captain Montgomery already had the engine running. Once Castle was safely in the back seat alongside Esposito and Ryan, and Jim Beckett was buckled in the front passenger seat next to Montgomery, he gunned the car out of the church parking lot and in the direction of the precinct.

“Alright, Castle what did she mean by ‘where the dead rest’?” Ryan began the riddle-solving.
“Could be a cemetery … or the M.E.’s office?” Esposito thought.
“You don’t suppose he’s got her on Lanie’s table?” Castle asked horrified. “Lanie would die.”
“Sorry. Bad pun.” Castle apologized after realizing why the guys were giving him the dirtiest of dirty looks.
“You could say that.” Ryan responded.
“Excuse me, but could we please focus on finding where my daughter is?” Jim implored.
“Right. So we have a cemetery, the M.E. … what about a funeral home?” Esposito thought.
“They all make sense, but how does that relate to the other half of the message – ‘the place out west’?” Ryan said.
“Something characteristic of the west…” Castle muttered to himself. “Could be anything – horses, cowboys, a stagecoach, West Virginia.”
“Or the sun” Jim put in.
“The sun?” Castle, Ryan, and Esposito said together.
“Yeah. I just noticed from the dashboard display that we turned west, straight into the sun – or the sunset, to be exact.” Jim explained.
“Of course!” Esposito said. “The sun sets in the west.”
“Castle, you got internet access on that gizmo you call a phone?” Montgomery asked.
“Are you kidding? I can practically adjust the rotation of the earth’s axis with this thing.”
“Well search for cemeteries or nursing homes named something like sunset in the New York area.”
“Got it.” Castle replied and his fingers flew over the tiny keys on his phone. The other guys waited with baited breath for the results.
“Yes! We got a match!” He exclaimed, practically jumping out of his seat. “Sunset Funeral Services. 164 West 136th Street.”
“Hang on everyone,” Montgomery commanded as he blared the siren, and made a sharp u-turn to head north from Manhattan.
“Ryan, Esposito – call in the big dogs on this. If this guy is sick enough to blow up Beckett’s apartment, and kidnap her and possibly an FBI agent, I want all the firepower in our corner. I swear if he harms a single hair on either woman’s head, he’s going down.” Castle had never seen such fire in Captain Montgomery’s eyes, nor heard such conviction in his voice.

After a flurry of phone calls from the two detectives, all was quiet in the car for the duration of the ride to the funeral home where, they all hoped, Beckett and the missing FBI agent were waiting. Ryan and Esposito had checked and re-checked their police-issued handguns and Montgomery had passed his to Castle for his and Jim Beckett’s protection.

Castle still wasn’t convinced the plan was a sound one, but on such short notice it was simple and the best they could do. Castle and Jim Beckett would go in to the funeral home wearing wires and search for Beckett. The rest of the police, plus a SWAT team and an FBI special operations team would watch and listen from vans outside. If either thought they were in over their heads, they’d just give a signal, and all personnel would go in.

When both men were wired up and everyone and everything was else in place, Montgomery pulled them aside. “Listen guys, I don’t have to tell you that this is gonna be tough if she’s in there. Just don’t do anything stupid. Get in, find them, get them out, and don’t get hurt. And don’t forget we’re right outside,” Montgomery cocked his gun, “locked and loaded.”

Both men nodded in agreement, Montgomery wished them luck and they exchanged fist bumps with Ryan and Esposito.

“Let’s do this, Jim.” Castle faced Beckett’s father.

“There’s no one else I’d rather have going in with me. Just wanted you to know.” Jim responded. They turned and entered the funeral parlor.

Even though it was almost completely dark inside, save for a lamp glowing at the foot of the only flight of stairs to a second story, Castle and Jim could see that the furnishings resembled your average Ikea family room featuring functional and comfortable, but sturdy furniture lacking a lot of ornamentation. Wall art with a setting sun hung on almost every wall, a subtle reminder to all visitors of the name of the business they were patronizing.

The front hallway was shaped like a short rectangle, longer lengthwise, with a hallway branching off either side leading to what Castle assumed were rooms where deceased loved one would be laid out. Castle imagined that if one was hovering directly over the building looking down at the layout of the hallways, they’d be reminded of a shape roughly resembling the Chevrolet cross emblem. The staircase sat at the far end of the rectangle.

“You think that lamp was left on for a reason?” Jim asked.
“More than likely. Either this person knew we were coming or they’re here and want to meet us,” Castle responded.
“Or both,” Jim added.

They looked at each other nervously, but knew the only way to end the whole thing was to play along with whoever was the mastermind of these crimes. They headed towards the stairs and began ascending, both with a slow, determined tread. Castle could only imagine what was going through Jim Beckett’s mind. He didn’t have the chance to try to save his wife, Beckett’s mother, and now here he was trying to save his daughter. If she was still alive, at least he’d have the chance to look her in the eye, maybe even say some last words.
Don’t think like that, Castle thought and he shoved those dark thoughts off to the back corners of his mind. She’s gonna be fine. We’re gonna find her, get her out of here, kick the crap out of the perp, and then she and I can be together. No more fooling around, no more games. Once she was safe, he would tell her his true feelings.

At the top of the stairs, there was a large, dark room off the hallway to their left and several rooms in the other direction to their right off a small sitting area. Another lone lamp was lit near the entrance to the closest room on their right.

Castle and Jim exchanged more tense, but meaningful looks, telegraphing to each other what the other already knew – that she had to be in there.

“You’re both thinking correctly,” a smooth voice answered. Now an average looking man with black hair wearing a long black top coat and dark pants stood next to the lamp with his hands in his pockets. “Both ladies are in here. Would you care to say hello?”

Castle and Jim looked at each other, confused. Both ladies?

“I can see your curiosity is piqued. Step right this way,” the man said as he stepped back and opened the double doors to the room with a flourish.

When Castle and Jim entered, they met almost total darkness. Castle could barely make out what looked like two long dressers along the far wall. After a few moments, the man flipped on the lights and after letting his eyes adjust to the brightness, Castle could only stare in horror at what really sat along the far wall of the room. There sat two caskets along the far wall equidistant from each other. One held a woman in a dark suit, with somewhat tanned skin and sandy blonde hair who looked to be asleep. In the other, Castle saw the familiar body, also seemingly asleep, of the beloved NYPD detective who had been his inspiration in so many ways, the woman who had tamed his womanizing tendencies, the woman who had stolen his heart from practically the day they had met – Detective Kate Beckett.

Omg can't wait for the end.

OMG! Really good writing! But Beckett dead? Breaks my heart! Is this the end? no added twist….

anyways I enjoyed it….you're a talented writer;)