Vincit Omnia Veritas, Castle fanfic, Always post-ep
Vincit Omnia Veritas, a Castle post-ep
She stands there, running her fingers over and over the ring, as if it is concealing some answers that have been hiding from her up until now. It has been thirteen years, and still she hasn't gotten used to seeing her mother's name embedded in the stone, still she isn't ready to see JOHANNA BECKETT engraved there. She doesn't know if she'll ever be. And she knows it's stupid, because when she's got her head on straight she can think about it and tell herself there's no one there, not at the gravesite, no one to listen to her, but she still finds herself standing there, sometimes, to tell her mother something. Not often, most of the time she just talks to her mother in her head, but when she has something she really needs to be sure her mother's heard… that's when she's there.
I'm so close, Mom, I haven't been this near to finding the men responsible for taking you away before. I'm going to get there soon.
Your case has been the only thing that's driven me through so many difficult times, through so much… this whole year, recovering from being shot, being back on the scene… it's been finding your answers, delivering some justice that I've been thinking about…
Castle told me he loves me, Mom. And I heard that before, I did, but there's something about it being said in a secluded room, where I'm not being shot, where I've got no excuse not to hear it that makes it so much more real… I wish you could've met him, Mom… you would have liked him, he would have made you laugh.
I've always felt something like that back, Mom, but I've not been ready to tell him… but he's such a part of me now, I guess maybe I've gotten myself ready, but it's too late.
You see, he asked me to let your case go, and I can't do that… he doesn't seem to understand that's it's who I am, Mom, and he's been keeping so much from me for almost a year… I didn't think he'd do that. When everything's been going wrong, I've thought Castle's the one person I can trust. I guess that's something I've been wrong about.
Anyway, he's gone now… he gave me a choice, essentially, between letting him go or letting your case go… I would have thought he would have known me better than to know I can ever let this go, but I guess I was wrong about that, too. I've been wrong about a lot of things.
I'm nearly there, now. I've nearly got the people who took you from me, Mom, and I'm gonna be able to take my first deep breath for thirteen years when I make them pay. It'll never bring you back, and I won't miss you any less… but I think it's going to make things easier.
Hopefully the next time I'm back here, I'll have closed it all… I'll have put all of it away.
Six months later
She's different the next time she stands beside the grave, anyone could see if they were watching, and surprisingly, it's not that they've got any further on the case. It's gone stale again, there aren't any answers surfacing themselves, and everyone involved seems to have simply disappeared. But she's smiling, and it's rare that she's ever done that at her mother's grave, and there's something more confident about even her walk, and for a few seconds, before she starts talking to her, she thinks there is some truth she never quite understood in the words on the tombstone. Vincit Omnia Veritas… truth conquers all things. She smiles slightly wider, thinking of her own examples of that.
You remember that man I talked to you about, Mom, Castle? I love him, and he took me back… I was hanging from the roof, the same man who shot me last summer put me there, and I wasn't frustrated that one of the men responsible for taking you away was getting away, I was thinking about Castle, and everything that I've missed… I was thinking about everything I could have had with him, in a future, and I… I'd never thought like that before, but I wasn't ready to die. I wanted that future.
They pulled me up, and I was safe, and I thought of what you would have done, and I just bit the bullet and went to get him myself… I'd already sent him away, I'd already missed the chance he was giving, and I had to make my own chance.
You would have laughed at me, I turned up at his house and I was soaking wet, but he… he just listened to everything I had to say to him, and he still loved me, and… oh, Mom, it was beautiful. I've never felt about any man the way I feel about him. I think… I think this might be my forever, I don't know, but if you were here, you'd be glad. Like I said, you'd like him.
We've been together six months now, and it's not perfect, we argue ALL THE TIME, we scream and shout at each other, we're total opposites… but even when we scream at each other and slam doors I know that we'll be back with each other in hours, and he'll still love me, and I love him more than I can even explain. I guess… I guess what I'm trying to say is I have faith in him.
We haven't got any further with who's guilty of taking you away from me, but I guess I figured the life you'd be wanting me to have wouldn't be losing myself trying to make people pay for what they did to you, it would be being happy. And, though I didn't even know it myself til I got here… I am happy, now.