For everyone that read Into the Fold, here's the long awaited sequel. Please enjoy. For anyone that may be new to this story, I would suggest reading Into the Fold first or you may find yourself rather confused. I also want to warn anyone, whether they've read Into the Fold or not, this story is rated M for a reason and will contain sexual material later on. If you this is not something that appeals to you, please, do not even begin this story. Thank you.
Detective Kate Beckett worked to hide her ever growing annoyance from the woman seated opposite her. The dark-haired woman, whom Beckett had dubbed 'The Cosmo Lady' as she'd forgotten her name, it's not like it really mattered anyways, was still asking her questions. Questions that she should probably be listening to so she doesn't answer with anything to personal that the reporter could use in her article.
Stick to the script Kate.
Despite her best efforts to not even look at the goings on in the rest of the precinct, she couldn't completely keep her focus off the man in the middle of a photo shoot at the other end of the bullpen. Richard Castle. She scoffed at the name. What a pain in the ass. She couldn't believe that she ever actually trusted him. That she had told him many of her deepest secrets. Truth be told, she'd done a lot more than just talk to him as well.
Over the preceding months, she'd let him take her in nearly every position imaginable; along with the boys of course.
Beckett couldn't help but curse herself when she thought of the exact moment that she had decided to let the writer into her inner circle. When she had let the boys and her own feelings convince her that he really wasn't always the person who showed up on page 6. That he was capable of being an actual human being too. Well, he had certainly destroyed that by going behind her back to dig into her mother's case. An act which she had been perfectly clear would cause the end of their partnership both in and outside the precinct.
She should have known his sense of morbid curiosity would always overcome any sense of belonging that her team could possibly have instilled in him. It would overcome any responsibility he had to her and to her boys.
He was a selfish jackass and that's all there was to it. She had made a mistake by letting him in. One she never intended to make again.
And now, just watching him with the bachelor party twins hanging all over him with that smug smile on his face; she wished she didn't have to set her eyes on him ever again.
But wait, the reporter was still asking her questions. What was that she had just said?
"Really?" she asked. Ms. Cosmo hadn't really just said that had she. Oh, she had!
"By who?" As if she didn't already know. She needed confirmation though. Something she could use to kick Castle out of the precinct and her life permanently.
"By Castle." Ms. Cosmo replied, grinning as if she had hit the jackpot. And she'd hit the jackpot alright. She'd found the most egotistical, thick-headed writer of the bunch.
Ah and perfect timing. Here comes Montgomery. Now just to put her plan of giving Castle the boot into action.
"Would you excuse me for a moment?" she stated more than asked, not even giving the other woman a chance to argue before she was escaping the incessant questions, the answers to which she had mostly learned by rote and could just give the woman her study sheet of appropriate answers, and made a beeline for the captain.
"Sir, could I talk to you in private for a moment?" She asked as she stood from her desk and approached her mentor who was already headed in the direction of his office, "Please." She tacked onto the end of her request. He was, after all, her captain.
"Now" she added in a loaded tone, negating any sense of this being a request as she cut off his attempts to brush her off with some meeting or other he just had to attend to immediately.
"We had a deal Beckett," he began as he proceeded her into the office, having apparently decided that he wasn't going to be able to avoid her.
"The deal is off" she stated clutching her coffee cup tightly in her right hand, trying to keep herself under control. Really of all the arrogant-
She was brought back to the situation at hand by her boss asking what the problem was and she knew without a doubt that this was her one chance to get Castle and the interruption that was his presence out of her precinct once and for all.
"Not only does he have the bachelor party cop twins out there using him as a stripper pole," Beckett began, deciding to begin strong even knowing herself that this was laying it on a little thick, "while I make nicey-nice with the press, but do you know what he said?"
"No" Montgomery answered with an infuriating little smirk as if he knew exactly what was going on and he found it amusing to no end.
"He said he has been instrumental in helping us solve crimes" she stated contemptuously, the expression on her face akin to that worn by a lawyer who knew they had just delivered the winning argument in a case.
Unfortunately for Beckett, she had never gone on to become a lawyer, and her victory was short lived.
"Well hasn't he?" Montgomery argued back with a little shrug.
After a short pause in which she realized that her argument wasn't going to work as she had anticipated it to she came back weakly, "That isn't the point."
Beckett knew she had been beaten when he once again emphasized that NYPD's need for good press and that this order came directly from the mayor himself. As stubborn and strong willed as the female detective was, she knew that she wasn't going to win this one without a valid complaint against the writer and that she was better off putting up with his presence for a short time longer and saving the fight with Montgomery for another time.
"Ok, fine" she conceded, her jaw clenched. Just because she had accepted defeat against her captain, it didn't mean she had to like it.
She was summarily dismissed and in looking at her coffee cup, she realized that it was depressingly empty. And with a day like today, she was definitely going to need a double shot of espresso to make it through without shooting someone, namely Castle.
Beckett didn't even try to hide her smirk when she saw her boys hitting on one of the 'bachelor party cop twins' in the break room.
Having noticed her arrival, they both took their turns at making a jab at her. "Hey Beckett, how come you don't wear a uniform like that?" Esposito asked, looking her up and down with a knowing look.
"Because I don't want to get paid in singles, especially by you two" she snarked back with barely concealed amusement. Maybe she would surprise them the next time they were all together in a very different capacity outside of the precinct she decided. Filling the thought away for a later time, along with the one which wondered how Lanie would look in a naught nurse outfit beside her.
She noticed them both take a step back away from her and turned in time to see Castle poke his head around the doorframe. Great, just the man she had hoped to avoid for today. Well, forever if she were really being honest with herself.
"Oh, hey, don't we have that thing?" she heard Ryan remark behind her and knew that they were paying her back for her comment by leaving her alone with the writer. Maybe she wouldn't by buying that outfit after all. They didn't really deserve it anyways.
"No" Esposito replied, and she would have felt warmth at his apparent stand of solidarity if he hadn't still been wearing that smirk that always meant he had something up his sleeve.
"Yeah you know, that thing with the guy." Ryan just wouldn't give up, and now his expression matched that of his partner.
She turned to level them with a look, but couldn't completely manage to hide her earlier amusement at their antics.
"Oh yeah! That thing, with the guy." Esposito exclaimed as if having forgotten about it all along before they both ran from the room like dogs with their tails between their legs.
She had almost managed to forget that Castle was still in the doorway behind her, that is, until he opened his mouth.
"I just wanted you to know I had nothing to do with this." He began, and at her eyebrow raised in skepticism he continued trying to dig himself out of the hole he had created, "I mean, it was the magazine, I- well uh, the mayor, thought it would be good press."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me Castle" she answered, shrugging her shoulders as if she didn't have a care in the world.
"Really?" he asked hopefully. Oh, Castle, how naïve can you be? She wondered to herself if he really believed that blatant lie.
Regardless, she let him continue on in his fantasy world, "Really", until it all came crashing down around him.
"See. I don't care anymore." Beckett continued in that same light tone, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an interview to get back to." And with that she walked past him and out the door back in the direction of her desk.
But of course, he wouldn't be Castle if he just let it go and got out of her life for good. "What did I do that was so wrong?" he continued to argue as he turned and quickly caught up with her.
"The one thing I asked you not to do." Her tone decidedly tense now but she continued to maintain her façade, not willing to allow her coworkers, not to mention the press, see her as anything other than her calm, confident, and always in control self.
"Ok, so you asked me not to look into your mother's murder, but look at what I found!" he exclaimed as if he were a little boys showing his mother something he'd found out in the yard and was desperately looking for approval. She repressed the urge to scoff. As if getting results excused his actions. As if breaking her trust were worth it.
She had put the case behind her a long time ago for her own good and she didn't hesitate to let him know that.
"We can get back to that interview now." She directed her next comment to the Cosmo lady who was still seated beside her desk, plastering a fake smile to her face once again, and summarily dismissing the man who had been following her.
She once more found herself reconsidering the cop uniform when Esposito interrupted, informing her of a murder and saving her from having to speak to the infuriating woman, or even more infuriating man any longer that day.
That is, until Ms. Cosmo piped in about how much her readers would just love to see Castle in action and of course, Montgomery had to hear the woman's comment and intercept any attempt to be rid of the woman.
"Well we wouldn't want to disappoint your readers now would we Detective?" he asked, and even though he was technically speaking to the other woman, everyone else in the room knew his comment was directed towards Beckett. The fact that this was a command was made even more clear by the glare that he leveled on his best detective, telling her in no uncertain terms to agree and to play nice.
She saw Castle turn to her, his face lit up in excitement, out of the corner of her eye and had to bite the inside of her lips hard to bite back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue, and instead answering with a polite, "Of course not sir."
With that Montgomery turned his back on the group and shut the door to his office behind them.
All three boys were grinning excitedly, though for very different reasons. Esposito's look kind of reminded her of when he compared watching her with Castle to shark week on television.
The only thought running through Beckett's mind; Why me?
A/N cont: Hey everyone, I want to start out by apologizing for how long it took to get this sequel started. I got side tracked by the kink meme and then school, but I'm back to writing now and here's the result. I've got the first few chapters as well as some random one's here and there already written so with any luck I won't have any trouble updating on a regular basis. If I do, you all have permission to yell at me, deal? Until then, let me know what you think so far, and if you've got any ideas of things you'd like to see in this story. I've got a working outline but as it isn't completely written there is some wiggle room for me to change things around here and there if I get inspired by something. Thanks for reading!