I had an idea for this story from a scene early on in season four. It was when Beckett was describing a piece of law to Captain Gates, and she explained her mother had been a lawyer. That comment spurred this story idea.
A plain white envelope with an official seal on the left corner was waiting for her in her mail slot when she came home from a very long day at the 12th precinct. The case had been particularly hard on her, especially when she had to tell a young man, with a three-year-old son, that his wife of five years was never coming home.
Thomas Jones' wife, Mary, had been the victim of a senseless crime. A co-worker believed she was going to tell on him, about embezzling from the company Mary worked at. In truth, Mary knew nothing and was killed for nothing.
The case itself was pretty easy, almost open and shut. The hard part was informing Mr. Jones, watch his crest-fallen, and heart-broken face, crumble at the news. See his mind work, as she could see him wondering how he was going to tell his son Mommy was never coming home.
It was days like this Kate Beckett questioned her choice of profession. It was also days like this that had made her want to have options. Those options finally came to fruition today when she received the very official piece of mail.
The timing could be labeled humorous, considering the other piece of news she received today. Halfway between a whim, and wanting to see if she could do it, Kate took the exam for lieutenant. Today, she was informed, by Captain Gates, that she has passed with flying colors. Another lucky piece of news was that there was an opening coming up for a new lieutenant in the homicide division, and if she wanted it, Kate could enjoy the rise in rank, and pay, in less than two months.
Gates' news has floored Kate. Not that she didn't believe she could do it, pass the exam, no it was the implications. She would be less in the field, taking on even more of supervisory role. What would that mean for her and her team of Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan, but more importantly what would that mean for her and Richard Castle.
Would he still come around if she was stuck in the precinct more? But more importantly what would this new piece of news mean for her unusual, and hard to explain, relationship between herself and Castle.
Kate picked up the pristine envelope and stroked the embossed lettering. She shrugged and sighed deeply. She didn't know why she was stressing so, she didn't even know what the letter said. It could be bad news, it could mean nothing changed.
Only one way to find out, as Kate picked up a silver letter opener, and slit open the envelope. She retrieved the tri-folded letter and unfolded it.
All she read was "Congratulations M. Katherine Beckett" and she knew. She knew what it meant, she just didn't know how it would change her life.