I walked into my new work place, the 12th Precinct. I had a huge box of junk in my arms and I was trying to find Detective Beckett. Needless to say I needed help. And help came in the form of a homicide detective named Ryan. There was a little drama involved first with klutzy me running straight into him, but he was cool with it. He found my plain metal desk that was two over from his. He also pointed out Detective Beckett's and Detective Esposito's and said that I would meet them later once they got out of interrogating a suspect. He added that they had sent him out here to wait for me because they figured that Riley, the head of the other team I was working for, wouldn't think of it. That's when I figured out that I was going to be doing the boring stuff for him and his team and he would probably never speak to me again except to ask me for a list of registered sex-offenders or to take something down to the mail-room for him.
Bummer.
After my meeting with Captain Montgomery, I walked outside to find a pile of work already on my desk. I didn't care. It's what I was here for. To make sure nothing and no one fell through the cracks. So, I got started right away. Ryan came over to my desk accompanied by a pretty woman, a muscley Hispanic man, and a guy who I could tell right away wasn't a cop. Ryan introduced them as Kate Beckett, Javier Esposito, and the tag-along writer Richard Castle. Castle I had heard about; his weird relationship with Beckett was a topic of interest for everyone on the force, but I tried to hide my laughter. I shook their hands and asked if there was anything I could do for them. "No way!" Beckett protested. "We'll let you get settled in before we put you to work."
"Thanks," I said. "Riley's team's already got me up to my eyeballs in work."
"Idiot," was Esposito's reply. "Probably doesn't even notice Karpowski's gone."
I smiled and waved my hand, which I had previously learned was universal cop language for "I'm fine." Esposito, Beckett, and Castle all left, but Ryan stayed and asked if he could help me get organized. "I remember being the newbie," he said, slightly reminiscently as he took stuff a box of pens out of the larger box that I had carried in. His expression abruptly changed when he followed up with, "it sucked."
"Hasn't been to bad so far," I replied with an eye-roll as I put labels on filing cabinet drawers.
"Trust me, it gets worse," Ryan replied negatively.
I laughed and waved him off. "I'm fine, really," I protested as he tried and failed to lift the heavy box of stuff off of my desk. "Isn't there some paper-work you should be doing?"
Ryan gave a short burst of laughter before he replied, "you caught me! I've been trying to shove it off on Esposito all day."
I laughed too, then Ryan smiled and walked away. "See you later Detective Crail."
