She had done it. She finally made it through the first two grueling years of law school at Stanford. Since she had just aced her last exam for the semester and some friends had suggested going out to blow off some steam. She agreed reluctantly but told them that it would have to be in about two hours because she had things she had to take care of. Finding out that she had the next three months off from school she wanted to go back to New York. So, she worked on looking for flights back home to see her parents. Not knowing that so much time had flown by, the knock at the door startled her.

"Come on Kate it's time to go." She knew that voice, it was the voice of her classmate Charlotte.

"I'm coming. Are you guys ready to go?" Kate returned.

"We are. We're all going to take Josh's car. This way we can have a designated driver if necessary."

"No that's okay Charlotte I don't plan on drinking. I'm just glad to be getting out of this stuffy dorm room. Finally, three months of freedom!"

They decided to eat first and went to a diner not far from campus. After that Philip asked what they wanted to do when they were done. Philip was one of Josh's friends and heard of a party that was off campus. Charlotte asked Kate if she wanted to be brought back to the dorm room after dinner instead of going to the party. Kate answered that even though she doesn't drink she will go to the party. Maybe she'll make a new friend or two.

By the time they got to the party, it was in full swing. And people were definitely drinking way too much. Kate and Charlotte walked over to the tub that had ice and Pepsi in it and each grabbed a soda. Knowing that all the action is going on inside and that Josh is there as a designated driver, Charlotte and Philip make their way inside the house to meet friends. Kate, on the other hand, doesn't want to go inside to avoid the temptation of drinking alcohol and she sits down on the porch swing suspended from the ceiling looking out towards the street. By the time three hours goes by Charlotte is complaining about Philip drinking too much and wants to get him back to the dorm room.

"Come on Phillip let's get your ass home because you've had way too much to drink," Charlotte says.

By the time Charlotte walks out onto the porch, Kate can see her holding up Philip and moves to help her.

Charlotte waves off Kate's help and asks her to find Josh who is somewhere inside the house. In the meantime, she leaves towards Josh's car to load Philip in the car, stumbling down the front steps as she tries to keep him upright.

She scans the living area of the house and doesn't see Josh anywhere. She makes her way into the kitchen and that's where she finds him. He sways a little bit as he fills a glass with water for a drink.

"Josh listen, Charlotte and Philip need to be brought back to the dorm. She's loading him in the car now because honestly, the man is inebriated."

"Okay, I'll be out there in a second. Why don't you head out there and help her I'll be right behind you."

Kate knew something was off but wouldn't come forward because it would embarrass him in front of the people that were there. But what she didn't know is that he had been drinking the entire time they've been there.

By the time Josh makes it out to the car he stumbled down the stairs as Charlotte and Philip did earlier, but he gets into the car and looks basically okay to drive. He starts the car and asks if everybody's wearing their seat belts. They all acknowledge that they are. Josh pulls away from the curb and they're off for their fifteen-minute trip back to the dorm rooms. Part of their journey brings them on to US1. US1 is hard to navigate in daylight let alone at midnight. A fog has rolled in off the ocean and obscures the highway in some parts. Josh being as drunk as he is doesn't realize that he is moving too fast to react to the twists and turns that US1 has. It isn't until the last minute when he realizes his car is heading for a guardrail protecting a ravine. Being slow to react due to his alcohol intake he hits the guardrail hard. The guardrail stops the car from going completely over the edge but ejects the passengers in the back seat when the guardrail ends and the car becomes airborne and starts to roll over. Since it was a nice night out, the sunroof was open, and all the windows were down. Charlotte goes through the sunroof after the car makes one full revolution. Kate goes through the passenger window on the second barrel roll. Their seatbelts being ripped from their anchor point due to the violent twisting of the older car. Kate ends up on the embankment lying on an outcropping of stones that stop her from falling down the embankment about thirty feet away from the point of impact. Charlotte wasn't that fortunate. She ended up three hundred feet down the ravine with a tree stopping her fall and snapping her neck. Kate comes to for a brief second and then everything goes black. All she can think about is her mom.

Xx

Two years later…

The universe is out to get him! He can't seem to catch a break. First, he gets stuck with a rookie detective assigned to him and he really can't deal with that now because he needs to deal with his ex. She had the bright idea of taking his personal vehicle without his knowledge this afternoon and sideswipe a row of parked cars on Brooklyn street. But the second he brings up the fact that she was three times over the legal limit for consuming alcohol, he gets read the riot act from her. She had used her one phone call to call him to try and get her out of her arrest. He told the cops that responded to the scene to throw her in the tank and let her dry out for twenty-four hours. That's how she became his ex, like ten minutes ago because let's face it a man can only take so much.

"Detective Castle, I have the reports here."

This was his new rookie detective. Fresh out of narcotics. He was the type that thought he could save the world by becoming a homicide detective. The real reason was that he royally messed up in narcotics and no other command wanted him. He really didn't screw up that bad but his Lieutenant had no issue with tossing him from the squad he was in when he made the mistake of blabbing the name of a confidential informant in the presence of the same men they were arresting. He was way too gung-ho.

"Is that so detective Ryan?"

"It is detective Castle, what should I do now?"

Castle was never one to automatically assume that everyone knew what to do while investigating a murder or any crime for that matter. But sometimes the answer can be right in front of you. This is the one thing he hated most about rookie detectives and training them to become better detectives, it was that he had to teach them.

"Well, it's simple detective Ryan. You see, you take the report in your hands, read through the victim's financial report and try to put together a pattern to see if we might be able to come up with a suspect or two. When we do that we might be able to arrest somebody for this crime. Are you with me so far?" Rick said a little too contemptuous.

Ryan knew when he was being chastised and sunk into the seat at his desk pulling the report open to start reading.

"Well look at that, I didn't have to tell you to do what was next, did I? So now that you're all set I'm going to update the captain on what we have so far."

Rick walked away towards the Captain's office.

Roy watched as his detective walked towards the office. Once he was inside and comfortable, then he would rip into him.

"Captain, do you have a minute?" Rick asked at his door.

Roy Montgomery waved him in. Knowing that he needed to finish his review of the last case that the Bravo squad solved yesterday, he motioned Rick to sit while he finished reading.

Roy closed the file and looked up at Rick. He was pissed and he knew that Castle was putting Ryan through the ringer for no reason at all. Little did Castle know but he heard every part of the last conversation they just had out in the bullpen.

"Rick, tell me, how's the new detective working out?" Roy asked.

"He's a basket case Roy. He can't be trusted to do anything. He has to be led around by the nose. I'm not seeing him lasting here that's for sure." Rick told him.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah why Roy?"

"That's Captain Montgomery to you detective. And did you ever think that this might be a problem? Detective, you are not teaching him anything. What you're doing is using him as your personal assistant. That stops now! The man has done everything that you asked him to do. Tell me, detective, what exactly has he learned?"

Rick knew that he was pushing the envelope with Ryan, but come on the kid had no clue about what he wanted to do. Staying silent for too long thinking about it, Rick answered his boss.

"He hasn't learned anything."

"Right. And I know that this will change starting now right detective?"

"Captain, can't you have someone else train him? He's trying to save the world and I for one can tell you that he won't be able to do it."

"You know what detective Castle?"

Rick just looked at Roy wondering what was going through his head. He had a thought but Roy would never do that to him, he hoped.

"No Captain, what?"

"As of this minute, Ryan is now your new partner."

He just stared at his boss. This couldn't be. He always worked alone it was one of his unwritten rules he was never partnered with anyone. Damn now what was he going to do?

"Roy?"

"Rick you need a partner. I'm solving two problems by doing this. You get a partner and he will learn from you as you go.

"Roy, you can't be serious, can you? I haven't had a partner" Rick paused for a second thinking back to when he last had a partner.

"Since I was a rookie on the job. Roy I don't need somebody to work with I worked fine by myself."

"Detective you will be working with a partner or you're going to be shoved way back so far into records that you will never see the light of day, am I clear?"

"Yes, Captain. Crystal."

Rick turned and left the office keeping detective Ryan in his sight as he walked out.

A/N: This might not be every reader's cup of tea. This story idea has been on my hard drive for five years and I think I can finally make it work. Now the question is should I continue this?

If this does move forward updates will be limited due to real life becoming very busy in the following months. Sorry.

P2P