This is going to be a multi chapter story; it's based on kill shot.

Not too sure if this was done before but I don't think I've got the patience to crawl through every fan fiction ever made LOL! Hope you enjoy it.

-GHOSTS OF BECKETTS PAST-

Just when Kate thought she couldn't take it anymore, sitting in her apartment at 3am, in the dark, alone, and in pieces. She was one more gulp of vodka and a handful of pills away from ending it all, and then she saw it. A silhouette stood in the doorway of her living room, she couldn't make out who the figure was from the faint glimmer of the street lamp that peered through the window but, he or she were tall, medium build and didn't attain a lot of hair.

"Hey kid." The silhouette said, breaking the silence. She could hear the smile in their voice. They were leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, one foot resting over the heel of the other. After a moment, the figure drew its self-closer, taking small strides; they squatted down in front of her until they were at eye level with Kate, trying to take in the sight before them. Kate who sat in the middle of her living room floor, mascara and stale tears smudged all over face, arms wrapped around her knees, she leaned back against her mahogany coffee table and held the posture of a brittle old woman.

Kate now had confirmation it was a male, because there was only one person who addressed her as kid, and only one person who possessed such a masculine husky voice, revealing how many cigarettes he had smoked in his life time.

Royce.

"Royce?" She said, his face coming into view of her blurry vision. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Is this real? She thought to herself. Kate was convinced the pills were causing this bizarre hallucination. "Boy do you look rough." he smirked.

"I'm either really drunk or there's a dead guy standing in my living room." She said aloud, framing her face with her hands, mocking herself. Royce is dead and has been for almost a year, he's six feet under the ground, and he can't be here, right in front of her being the smart ass that he was notorious for.

"Well I can I assure you, you are definitely wasted," he said, glancing to the left of Kate's head at the half empty bottle of vodka perched on the coffee table. "And I can assure you, I'm definitely dead." he said, and then looked himself up and down, reminding himself of his misfortune.

"Oh my god, it's just the pills talking Kate, it's just the pills talking." She assured herself, eyes pressed shut while she clamped her hands over her ears.

"Relax kid I'm not here to hurt you, in fact if you're not going to finish that fifth of vodka…."

Royce released himself from the squat, and joined Kate on the floor, he sat opposite her, he stretched his legs out in front of him, snatched Kate's glass off the floor, which lay beside her right thigh, and he leaned his head back against the arm of Kate's couch.

"It's all in your head Kate, it's all in your head." She repeated to herself, hands framing her face again, as she looked up from under her eyelashes in disbelief, taking in the ghostly form of her once former police partner whom was sitting in front of her now , knocking back a fifth of vodka six ways to Sunday.

"Sure, keep talking to yourself," he threw back another gulp of vodka. "That's much saner than talking to a dead guy." He said, Using his free hand to mimic air quotes and quoting her from earlier.

He was grinning to himself, finding the situation hilarious.

"What's your purpose of being here, you're supposed to be up in heaven," she threw her hands up to the ceiling gesturing towards the sky. "Being a bounty hunter for the lord himself, sending bad guys down to hell." She said, demonstrating a beckett eye roll.

"Well, my good buddy, john Wayne said he'd cover my shift. So I thought I'd come down here and check up on my girl."

Kate half smiled and gave him another eye roll.

Definitely still a smart ass. Some things never change, she thought.

"I'm fine." She lied.

"Yeah, you look great." Royce gave her the once over with his eyes and took another gulp of the vodka.

Kate heard the sarcasm in his voice.

She didn't answer; instead she just focused on the ground in front of her. Things must be really bad if she's at a stage where she only communicates in the company of dead people. Yep she has definitely hit rock bottom, she thought.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you kid, you know the…" Royce pointed to her chest with his free hand.

"Yeah well that's not going to good right now" she said running her hands through her hair, and staring into the far window of her living room.

"I know." He said, Concern evident in his tone.

"Oh, so spying is legal up in heaven is it?" she said, bearing half a smile.

Royce scoffed.

"Hey, just because I wasn't around when I was living doesn't mean I can't be when I'm dead."

"Well thanks I guess…so what are you doing here?" she instantly regretted asking him.

"Oh my god did I just ask a dead guy a question." Kate said, as she covered her face with her hands, embarrassed at the thought. "And what's worse, is I know he's going to answer it." She said, peering between her fingers.

Royce laughed, Again finding the situation hilarious.

"Well I know you're going through a rough time right now," he said, not making eye contact while circling the rim of his empty glass with his thumb. He was stalling, Royce was always better at explaining his feelings on paper rather than verbally. Just like that letter he wrote to Kate all them months ago. That letter, she thought.

"and I'm going to level with you kid, if I didn't show up tonight I don't think I'd be thrilled to see Kate Beckett at the golden gates tomorrow morning, you've still got so much to live for." He grew serious.

Kate disagreed. Royce saw her brow furrow instantaneously.

"Yeah, like what? I'm a mess, I try to wear a mask and act like everything is fine , but it's not, I'm lying to someone who I really care about, I find it really hard to talk about my feelings to people because…," Kate's eyes began to fill with tears. "It's not like you can walk up to just anybody and be like hey you know when you got shot in the chest by a sniper, how did that go for you?" she did a great impression of a dramatic teenage girls voice. "Nobody understands me, nobody understands the mental and physical strength it takes for me to get out of bed every morning since, since… it happened," Kate broke eye contact with him and dragged her thumb across her face to wipe the river of tears heading south of her face, and then she made eye contact with Royce again. "I'm just… damaged goods." She let out a sigh.

"Give people a chance kid, some people really care about you," only one person came to Kate's mind in that moment. Castle. "You know that right?, myself included," he urged.

Kate remained silent.

"I've got to admit, you were always a stubborn girl," he softly laughed and rubbed the side of his face with his free hand. "Even on the force, when I tried to train you on a pistol, you were so adamant on training yourself; day and night you spent in that shooting range to prove a point to me, I had to break so many rules to get you that permit, you weren't even fully qualified yet!." He smiled remembering the good times.

"But I'm not here to play catch up kid or fill in for doctor what's his name," he threw a hand behind him. Kate admired Royce for so many reasons, but one of her favourites was that he never gave you the puppy dog treatment. His attitude was that, life's a bitch; we all have our own problems, and the only person who can diminish them, is yourself.

"Now, Take my hand." he slammed his empty glass back on the coffee table and pulled himself up, holding out a hand for Kate. "I've got to take you somewhere; I've got to show you something."

Kate hesitated, unsure of what he might have up his sleeve.

"Hey, if you really think you've got a shitty life kid, take my hand and ill prove you wrong." he wore a pissed off expression on his face. He beckoned her to reach out, by arching his eye brow.

"Where are we going?" She asked in concern, after all she was on deaths door only twenty minutes ago. But she latched onto his hand anyway and then he pulled her onto her feet.

He trailed in front, dragging her to her front door tugging on her hand, he turned the door handle, and as they walked over the threshold together, Kate became blinded by a white light. What was once her buildings hallway was now transformed into a colossal square ice rink, it was glowing, filled with, young children and their parents scattered all around the perimeter. He let go of her hand and leaned against the barrier and watched two females ice skating in the far corner of the square.

It then dawned on her where she was and who they were watching. They were watching A 19 year old Kate Beckett and her mother linking each other, laughing and chatting among themselves as they glided along the ice.

He turned back to Kate. "Tonight, we're going into Beckett's past".

So what's the significance of this nostalgic memory of Kate and her mother and what is Royce trying to tell her? Chapter 2 coming soon! And we still have 2 ghosts to go, 2 people to visit , and I'm saving the best for last ;)