Those Meddling Newbies
Chapter One (Rewritten 20 August, 2013)

The day was just like every other day in the 12th precinct. Detective Kate Beckett was attempting to do her job of filling out reports. Her fellow detectives, Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan, were also trying to focus on their paperwork, but were managing to procrastinate by discussing last night's hockey game. Beckett had hoped that she'd be able to get ahead while Castle was out at a publisher's meeting.

However, her plans were thwarted as the interim captain stuck his head out of his office and in a curt voice ordered, "Detective Beckett, if you don't mind."

Beckett was fairly certain that she was about to get in trouble for going out in the field only a few days prior. It was nearing almost two months since she had been gunned down at Montgomery's funeral. The physical therapist had told her that she was well on her way to recovery. She was only feeling minimal pain from the pulling of the spot where the doctors had hastily stitched her back together. But her psychiatrist was the one holding her back. He kept insisting that was not ready emotionally.

But Kate Beckett was not one to just sit around. Her team had caught an especially gruesome murder and once they had discovered who the culprit was, all three of them had gone racing off. Ryan and Esposito had at first been hesitant, but Beckett had promised to hang back. However, their perp seemed to have similar ideas. And of course, there was no way Beckett could allow him to get away. So she had chased him through 3 city blocks and finally tackled him to the ground.

The man who was temporarily replacing Montgomery was a kind, slightly older man. As an up side, he was also very accepting of Castle, a fairly big pro in Beckett's book. (Of course, she'd never admit it.) His hair was closely trimmed, much in the style of a military hair cut, and his eyes were stern, but surrounded by laugh lines.

"What do you need, Captain?" Beckett asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

The captain was focused on an invoice from one of the other chiefs and took a moment to finish reading it before looking up at the young detective. "Detective Beckett, you do realize that you are still on restricted field work, yes?"

"Yes, but I feel fine, it's just the shrink-"

"I understand that this is a frustrating time for you. Especially for a detective of your caliber," Beckett could feel her cheeks flushing slightly. As often as she heard about her exemplary record, she was never used to it. She did her job for the victims and because, well, it's her job. "And I would hate for you to be wasting your skills on paperwork. Paperwork is for the old and useless," he added with a wink.

"What are you saying, sir? I'm not quite following."

"I want you to train a newbie." Beckett was very aware of the fact that her jaw had hinged open, but did not do anything to correct it.

"Really, sir?" It was a generally known fact that detectives who trained newbies were getting on the older side of things and looking at retirement on a nice sandy beach in Florida. Those thoughts were only in a tiny, isolated corner of Beckett's mind.

"Yes, Beckett, You will be a superb role model for our young newbies. If you have an issue with any of them, I will find you a new one like that," He gave a slightly over exaggerated snap of his fingers. Beckett was neither amused nor impressed. "Also, I will give you temporary field privileges." This caught Beckett's attention, causing the captain to chuckle lightly. "Yes, I thought you'd like that. I mean, you can't train someone if you're stuck behind a desk now can you?"

"No, you can't, sir." Beckett offered a small smirk.

"Your first trainee will arrive around lunch time. Her name is…" He spent a moment digging through some piles of paperwork before coming up with a thin file. "Becca Ruddy. Now, best be getting back to your paperwork, Detective."

Beckett nodded quickly and took her leave. Ryan and Esposito were both watching patiently from their desks, much like two eager puppies. "Did you get in trouble?" crooned Esposito, grinning wickedly up at her as she walked back over to her desk.

"No," Beckett snapped back defensively.

"Then what was it?" joined in Ryan, leaning his elbows on the edge of his desk.

"The captain wants me to train newbies." This statement sent the pair in peals of laughter. Beckett narrowed her eyes in her patented glare. But neither seemed to notice.

"Have fun with that!" Ryan choked out, heaving in breaths of air. Esposito started to come to his senses and was suddenly very aware of the glare Beckett was directing at them.

"Ryan."

"I mean, really? Training newbies? That sucks!"

"Bro, stop digging yourself a hole." Esposito muttered to his partner. Then he turned to Beckett, "So you have to train 'em? That's rough."

Beckett inhaled deeply through her nose and nodded, "Yes, but I do get to have limited field privileges. But, I feel like I've become a glorified babysitter. First Castle, now this."

"Why, Detective, you wound me." Speak of the devil, the famous writer strolled over to their desks, a tray of coffee in his hand. "Fine, I won't give you your coffee. I'll just go dump it down the sink."

"Castle," hissed Beckett.

"Oh fine, but only," Castle moved the cup away from her teasingly. "if you tell me what 'this' terrible babysitting thing you have to do is."

"I have to train newbies, now gimme that."

"Of course, my dear Beckett," Castle handed her the coffee cup with a flourish. "So what does this training of newbies mean?"

"Newbies are people who are just becoming detectives. And now I will be training them. They'll follow me around, like you, but they're cops. The first one's coming today. Her name is Becca Ruddy."

O-o-O-o-O

Castle had gone out and fetched them an order of Indian food. They were all happily digging into their curries when a young women with badly dyed hair appeared. "Where is Captain Mueller?" Her voice was already grating on all of their nerves, and she had said a mere four words. Beckett was looking forward to this.

"Uh, his office is right over there." Esposito pointed towards the office, barely sparing her a second glance. Becca raked her eyes across his body and a small smirk appeared on her lipstick coated lips.

"Thank you, cutie," she purred. Beckett and Ryan were both biting their lips to prevent laughter from escaping. Esposito glared fiercely at the pair of them before returning to his food.

"Well, she seems fun." Castle commented drily, his eyebrows arching towards the ceiling. Beckett suppressed an eye roll, she had a feeling it was about to become an even commoner experience.

"Detective Beckett?" Captain Mueller strolled out of his office followed by who they could only assume was Becca Ruddy. If Castle had just walked by her on the street, there was no way he'd guess she was a cop. Beckett looked like a cop, she exhumed strength and toughness. Even her clothes made her seem like a cop. This Becca person on the other hand did not. Between her neon pink shirt and her strappy, uncomfortable looking sandals, Becca exhumed not cop like, Castle thought. "Beckett, this is Ms. Becca Ruddy."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Beckett said forcedly, offering a hand to the other woman, "I'm Detective Kate Beckett." Becca stared at her hand for a moment, completely puzzled, until she grasped with her own. Beckett bit back a wince as Becca's ridiculously long fingernails raked across her skin. "Over here we have Richard Castle, the novelist,"

"A pleasure, I'm sure," Castle greeted dramatically. Becca's face showed no signs of recognition, causing the writer's face to fall drastically fast.

"And then, Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito." strappy face lit up as her eyes rested on Esposito.

"It's great to meet you," purred Becca, locking eyes with Esposito, who promptly tore his eyes away.

Beckett raised her eyebrows at the look Becca was pinning Esposito with, but chose to remain silent. "Well, Detective, I must be going, I have a conference call with a few other division heads. Best of luck to you." Mueller quickly turned on his heel and disappeared into his office.

Beckett turned to Becca, "Okay then, we have a desk over here for you. Sorry if its a bit small, its only temporary. Ryan, you and I have paperwork from the Sheen case. Becca, you can help with that. Espo, I think Lanie's coming up in an hour, so you two can practice for your court date next week. The ADA needs you guys to be perfect on this one." Beckett rattled off quickly, then returned to her desk to fetch some paperwork for Becca. "Sorry, Becca, since you haven't worked a case yet, you're just going to be making copies of these, it's pretty self explanatory." Beckett handed the small pile off to the "red head", who scowled at them before returning to the small desk.

"What, nothing for me to do?" Castle whined.

"Yeah, one thing. Sit and be quiet. Let me do my paperwork, for once." Beckett replied with a smirk.

Castle shot her a playful glare, but settled down in his chair, a notepad appearing on his lap.

They were all working as peacefully as possible for about 20 minutes. Becca, however, was getting very little done. Her eyes darted between Castle and Esposito. She stared at Castle, as if she was trying to place his face. But she gazed at Esposito like a school girl with a crush. Beckett suppressed an urge to snap at her and tell her to finish her damn paperwork. But Beckett had to be the mature one, and be friendly to this cop wannabe.

"You're Richard Castle, right?" Becca suddenly asked. Castle's head snapped up from his notebook and he nodded warily. "I know where I saw you! You were in some magazine on the red carpet with some blonde woman, right?"

"Uh, yes. That was Gina, my publisher." Little did he know, Beckett was listening to each word carefully, while pretending to do her paperwork.

"Not your girlfriend? You guys looked pretty close in the pictures."

"Does anyone want some coffee? Ry, Espo?" Beckett asked as she stood up abruptly.

"You guys have a coffee machine here?" Becca perked up quickly, "Like an actual one?"

"Yes, I bought them a extremely nice expresso machine within my first month." Castle explained, clearly proud of it.

"As well and good as that is, I need some caffeine. Nobody else wants some?"

"Oo! I'll come. I wanna see this fancy coffee maker." Becca sprang to her feet, falling into step with Beckett. Beckett's nerves, already on edge, were unlikely to survive this close encounter with Becca.

Beckett yanked two cups down from the shelf and jammed them both under the two spouts. She hastily jabbed at the buttons, really not caring what sort of coffee came out.

"So, Becca, why do you want to be a cop?"

Becca paused for a moment, contemplating her answer. "The guys."

"Wh-wha-what?" Beckett spluttered, her eyes wide in shock.

"I'm in it for the guys. Cops are hot. What about you?" She asked, a simpering smile adorning her face.

Beckett automatically replied, "The victim's families." She was still trying to wrap her head around the answer Becca had given her. Her shock was broken by the insistent beeping of the coffee machine. "Uh, here you go, Becca."

"Thanks, Detective." Becca said cheerily.

Beckett barely even stopped by her desk to drop off her coffee before she barged into the Captain's office. "Beckett?"

"She needs to go now." Beckett said quickly, "I mean, please sir."

Mueller slowly removed his reading glasses, "And why is that, Detective?"

"She's a badge bunny! She's in it, for as she put it, 'the guys'. I will not have her on my team. There's are so many other trainees that would kill for a chance to be on a homicide team at their age, I know I would have."

"Fine, fine," Mueller held his hands up in surrender. "Can you stick it out until tomorrow? I will have you a new one by tomorrow morning."

"Alright, but Cap, you outta screen them a bit more." Beckett shot him a smile and then quickly exited back to her team. Castle looked up with a slight question in his eyes. Beckett shook her head slightly, jerking her head towards Becca. "Later," she mouthed silently.

"Hey girl!" greeted Lanie from her spot by Esposito's desk.

"Hey Lanie, when'd you get here?" Beckett asked, dropping down into her office chair.

"When you were in with the Captain." Lanie explained, "We've got lots of work to do. Talk to you later, girlie." Lanie sent an exaggerated wink her way before turning back to her boyfriend.

The peace had once again been restored to the bullpen.

Until Becca started insistently asking question. More specifically asking Esposito questions.

"Detective," she crooned, "what am I supposed to do here?" Becca pointed to an empty line with one hand, while stroking Esposito's arm with the other.

"Uh, just sign it and write your badge number." Esposito said absentmindedly, his attention still mainly on Lanie, who was alternating between glaring at Becca and trying to focus on the documents on the table.

This process continued for nearly an hour until Becca's flirtations reached their peak. "Hey handsome," she purred in his ear, leaning over his shoulder, "How would you like to get dinner tonight? Or maybe just desert? Eh, cutie?" Becca slowly spun Esposito's chair around to face her. Her sharp fingers began toying with the slightly frayed edge of his collar.

"No, thank you. I've got plans. Kev and I are catching a game, right? Right, Kevin?" The Irishman tore himself away from his paperwork to look at his partner.

"Hmm? What was that?"

"We're watching that game tonight, right?" Esposito gritted out, squirming to get away from Becca.

Ryan nodded, "Oh, yeah."

"Well, maybe we can have a little sampler, right now." Without any warning, Becca forced her lips on to Esposito's.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Lanie's voice reached new pitches and loudness levels. Everyone in the precinct spun around to see the source of the noise. "Get off my man, you bitch."

Beckett jumped to her feet to prevent her friend from committing homicide in front of a bunch of homicide detectives.

"What is going on here?" Mueller stormed out of his office. "Ms Ruddy! This is a police precinct, not some trashy bar. I don't ever want to see you here again. Get out." He thundered, glaring at the woman. "Officers, escort her out."

There was a moment of stunned silence before the captain coolly stated, "Detective, tomorrow morning."

So... What did everyone think? To my old readers, I thank you for your patience. To my new readers, welcome!

This story was previously on my old account mischief-manager-00.

Please leave a review!

Question of the Chapter:

What is your all time favorite episode of Castle? And if you really want, why?

CIH