425. Chapter 425

After Veritas

Episode 6.22

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Truly, I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

He was in his element. People, important people, were listening to him. And he knew exactly what to say. Exactly how to say it to let all of those millions outside this city know that he was the one who would be their leader. Their savior. Their idol. They were his people and he was their man. He would change everything. For them.

Then a dead woman walked into the room.

Suddenly he had no words. He had no plan. He had no ideas. He had no backup. She could not be here.

She approached him. Even if she wasn't dead, she should have been in hiding. Somewhere that she could never be a threat to him until he was finally able to have her tracked down and silenced for once and for all. Why did she come here?

He could see other police officers behind her. Local DC police, obvious Federal Agents, the two NYPD detectives that worked with her. What were they doing here? Why were they ruining this moment? This very important moment. His moment.

She approached him.

"You can't be here." He told her. But she was.

He heard the words. The tape. Conspiracy, fraud, murder. She had him turn around and she put handcuffs on him. In front of the cameras and the reporters. How could this be happening? How would he explain it?

He saw more reporters and more cameras outside. Questions were yelled at him. And at her. He had no answers for them. And she said nothing.

"This has been a long time coming, bro." One of them said to the other. The Hispanic one. What was his name? He didn't need to know his name. He wasn't important!

He saw her standing with the writer. Castle. Yes, that was his name. Some hack writer and a completely unimportant group of detectives. They couldn't do this to him! They couldn't.

He had been too soft. He should have made sure that they were all killed. Every one of them! Every last one of them.

He leaned back in the seat of the police car. He began to think. Yes, he'd have them all killed. Not just them, but their friends, their families, even their acquaintances. He'd kill the people who delivered their damned newspapers.

Senator William H. Bracken settled into a comforting, if futile, series of revenge fantasies.

"I never could have done this without you." She said to him.

They held each other for long moments.

"Reporters are headed this way. Bracken's gone." He said.

"I don't want to talk to them. Back to the car."

The car was on loan from the FBI and was parked in a Federal garage, inaccessible to the reporters. Once inside, she rested her head on his shoulder as he stroked her hair.

"I was wrong." She said suddenly.

"About what?" He asked, suddenly concerned.

"That day at the swings. I was wrong. I told you that I couldn't be the kind of person I wanted to be. I couldn't have the kind of relationships I wanted to have until I found my mom's murderer. I told you the walls would come down then. I had it backwards. I needed to let you past the walls and into my heart so that I could be the person I wanted to be, so that we could solve her murder. I should have followed my heart. I should have let you in years ago. I'm sorry, Castle."

"It's okay. We're here now, together. Bracken is done and you're happy. That's all I ever wanted for you, Kate, to be happy. I told you that you deserved to be happy and you are. And I intend to keep you that way."

"And I plan on keeping you happy." She ran her hand along his thigh. "Do you think anyone has made out in an FBI car before?"

Ryan and Esposito sat in an FBI office while the various law enforcement agencies decided who had jurisdiction over which of Bracken's many crimes.

"To tell the truth, bro, I never thought this day would come. There were times I thought we'd all end up on the run, or buried in a shallow grave someplace."

Ryan nodded. "You look at Bracken, a US Senator, with tons and tons of drug money behind him, thugs like Vulcan Simmons, plus stone cold killers like Lockwood, plus dirty cops, and on the other side is Kate Beckett."

Espo smiled. "Yeah. Bracken had no idea who he was dealing with, did he?"

"Beckett, you, me and Castle? How could we have lost?"

They both looked at each other. "Really, really easily, Ryan. We should never forget that."

"I wonder what Beckett will do now?"

"What do you mean?" Espo frowned.

"Her whole life has been about finding the guy who killed her mom. Now Coonan is long dead and Bracken is going down, what's she going to do now?"

"Well, she does have Castle."

"That'll keep her busy."

Espo laughed. "That'll keep all of us busy."

"Still, I wonder."

"Don't worry about it, bro."

Once back in New York, Rick and Kate headed for her dad's place.

He opened the door before she could knock. "Katie! I saw on the news…About Bracken. He's the one? He had her…killed?"

Kate nodded as her tears began to fall. "Yes. He had her killed. And he'll be in jail for the rest of his life."

Her father put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I never thought this day would come. I never really thought it would come. I am so proud of you, Katie.

Kate reached behind her and brought Castle into the hug. "Be proud of us, Dad. Rick and me. He's as responsible as I am for bringing Bracken down."

"Thank you, Rick. Thank you, son."

All three cried, then Jim pulled back. "This is a day for celebration. Your mother would want it that way. Come in, both of you. We'll have a drink and then we can think about dinner."

Much later, they got back to the loft to find Martha and Alexis there. "We saw you one TV. It's all over the news. You're famous." Alexis announced.

Rick leaned over and kissed Kate. "No, she's famous. I'm just her plucky sidekick."