874. Chapter 874

After Time Will Tell

Episode 6.05

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle in the future. Rating: K Time: See above

"I wish her future self could come back and talk to her present self and let her know what a mistake she's making." Richard Castle.

Rick Castle had spent the whole morning trying to block out the chapter in which Nikki and Rook had their first child. But, no matter how hard he tried, be couldn't capture the magic and the wonder of watching Kate give birth to Lilly. The birth of Alexis had been a life altering moment for him, but, regrettably, not for Meredith. He had tried to get Meredith to see the wonder of child birth, but Meredith had been too zonked out on painkillers to listen to him. He had hoped that Meredith would grow to love the role of mother, but that hadn't happened. Kate, on the other hand had been exhausted, sore and sweaty, and totally in love with being a mother from the moment she'd given birth.

Castle looked back at the eleven chapters he'd tried and none of them captured what he wanted Nikki and Rook to feel. He had typed six words of the twelfth try at the chapter and noticed he'd used the exact same wording in the fifth chapter he'd tried to write.

He shook his head. "I need a rest. A change of scenery." He looked out of his loft and saw that it was a bright and sunny day. Just the kind of day he needed to go out, walk around and clear his head, and then come back to write the chapter properly.

He looked down and checked himself out. The shoes were a pair of comfortable, but stylish moccasins, his jeans were clean and fit nicely. His ratty tee shirt would have to go, though. He went into the bedroom and looked for a nice short sleeved shirt. He remembered one he hadn't worn for a while that was on the top shelf of his closet. In reaching around for it, he also dislodged something that fell onto his head and landed on the floor.

He looked down at it, recognizing it at once. "Simone Doyle's old tracker, or whatever it was." He picked it up and decided to put it in his pocket.

He walked to the park and sat on a bench, trying to recapture the mood that he'd felt at Lillie's birth. As he did so, he absentmindedly played with the device in his pocket. The next thing he knew, a young man with a clipboard was scowling at him.

"Where did you get that? You're not supposed to have that. Give it to me." The man grabbed at Castle's hand. Rick, in self defense, grabbed the man's hand. The man then looked terrified. "No! Don't recall me now!" He yelled, and promptly disappeared. Rick found himself holding the man's clipboard. "What the hell was that?" He asked himself. He looked around, but seemingly no one had noticed the brief altercation or the disappearance of the man. Castle examined the clipboard more closely. It seemed to be some sort of electronic device. The top indicated time and the bottom indicated place.

"Oh my God! Simon was telling the truth. And I have a time machine. Or do I?" Castle decided that there was just one way to find out. He set a time and a place and instantly found himself watching him and Kate sharing their first kiss, while working to free Ryan and Esposito.

"That was amazing!" He heard himself say.

"And what was amazing was how she clocked that thug." He whispered sarcastically.

Castle reset the time and place to return him to where he'd started from, and he was there.

Rick smiled to himself and knew exactly what he was going to do next. His hands set the time and place.

He found himself in his loft, after finishing his first case with Detective Kate Beckett. His younger self came out of his office and stopped dead. "Who the hell are you?"

"Obviously I'm your older self, come from the future. The Detective you just met, you have to treat her nicely. She'll be very important to you."

The younger Castle smiled. "Damned right. She'll be the hottest babe I've gotten in the sack in years. I'll just bet that stiff and starchy Kate Beckett is a real wild woman in bed. And I can't wait to find out. I'm going all out on this one. Thanks for the tip."

Old Castle shook his head. "That's not it. She's the love of your life. She'll be the third Mrs. Castle and the last Mrs. Castle. She completes you."

Young Castle laughed. "The third Mrs. Castle? Be serious. I need a third wife like I need a third head. And I don't need some chick to complete me. Christ, I hope you aren't the future me. How did I become such a boring loser?"

Rick smiled to himself and knew exactly what he was going to do next. His hands set the time and place.

"Don't bother." Said another, older Castle. "You're forgetting how damned stupid and immature we were before we met Kate."

Castle looked at the other him. "You're a slightly older me?" He put the time machine down without going back to his loft.

"Of course. Our younger self decided he'd do anything to keep from being a boring loser. He took Beckett to the Hamptons, they had sex for a few months and then he dropped her. Her walls are higher than ever, and Heat Wave was a one hit wonder. That Castle hasn't written a damned thing since Heat Wave. And he ended up the boring loser he wanted to avoid. But I have a plan."

Rick smiled to himself and knew exactly what he was going to do next. His hands set the time and place.

He found himself in his loft, shortly after Kate took up with Tom Demming. His younger self walked out of his office and stopped dead. "Who the hell are you?"

"Obviously I'm your older self, come from the future. I'm here to warn you. You're going to think that Beckett isn't going to the Hamptons with you and you'll talk Gina into going with you. Terrible idea."

The younger Castle shrugged. "Why not? Sure, the marriage was a disaster, but the sex was great."

The older Castle shook his head. "Because she's going to get pregnant. Then she'll have you sing a pre-nup and when you two divorce again, she gets everything."

"That cold hearted bitch!" The younger Castle said, scowling.

"Just remember, no Gina. No matter what." Older Castle smiled. Sure he lied, but it was in a good cause.

Rick smiled to himself and knew exactly what he was going to do next. His hands set the time and place.

The two Castle's found themselves faced with a third Castle. "Don't bother going back in time to tell our younger self to stay away from Gina. It worked too well. He got so mad at Gina over the lies you told, that he told Black Pawn to get rid of her. She may not have been a successful wife, but she's a great editor. The Nikki Heat series wasn't nearly as good without her pushing us all the time. We got mad at the world, and took it out on Kate. She felt you were being unfair and we broke up when she got the job in DC. But I know exactly what to do."

The third Rick smiled to himself and knew exactly what he was going to do next. His hands set the time and place.

"Don't bother." Said three familiar voices.

"Kate? Um, Kates?" The three Rick's said.

All three Kates nodded.

"You showed me the time machine and I went back to try to talk to myself after we'd first met. I told her to give you a chance, that she'd end up happily married to you. I tried to explain that you really were a great guy, but all she could see was that somehow the nine year old on a sugar rush had forced her to get married. She filed a sexual harassment law suit against you, the NYPD and the mayor. You never worked a single case with her. No Nikki Heat novels were ever written. You're both miserable."

The second Kate spoke. "I met the first me when she went back in time and then went back myself. I tried to tell myself not to lie to you after being shot. But she thought I was some hallucination due to the painkillers she was on."

The third Kate spoke. "Kate was so distraught that you walked out on her after you told her you knew she'd lied, that she didn't have the will to live. She fell to her death from that building. Which we have to fix." The three Kates disappeared.

The three Kates saw the man they knew to be Cedric Marks walk away and heard Kate calling for Castle. They ran to the edge of the building and pulled her up.

"Listen, we're three yous from the future. Castle loves you and you love him. Go to him as soon as you can. You'll live happily ever after with him, just like us. And before Kate could say anything, the three other Kates vanished.

She had just finished packing her things from her desk when Rick Castle came in. "Beckett! Ryan called me. He said you almost died! Are you okay?"

She smiled at him and put her arms around him. "I'm fine."

"Kate, I'm so damned sorry. I never should have left you like that. I should have stayed with you, no matter what. I'll never leave you. Never."

"I know. But, I just resigned from the NYPD because I've decided that my future with you is more important than my past. Could I go home with you? We really need to talk." She kissed him again. "And more."

Rick smiled to himself and knew exactly what he was going to do next. His hands set the time and place.

He appeared in his loft the day after he had put the tracker Simon Doyle had used on the top shelf of his closet. He removed the tracker, took it back to his own time and destroyed it.

"All's well that end well." He thought.