SPOILER ALERT!
Minor spoilers from "Head Case" (4x03) and "Lucky Stiff" (3x14). You've been warned!
Author's Note: This part got a bit squirrelier than I wanted it to be, which delayed it's posting, and means I'm offering apologies in advance if anything seems out of character or not quite what would/should be happening in an actual session.
Also, to those who have reviewed, favorite-ed this story, or added it to their alerts – thank you! It is incredibly encouraging to hear that you love this idea.
Today seems to be a good day for Kate Beckett.
She's not trying to hide from the world. She's not fighting off the urge to take flight from my office. She's sitting, one hand curled around her usual travel mug of coffee (half-full, if I were going to try to judge the actual amount). The beginnings of a smile are teasing the corners of her lips and starting to seep into her pupils.
"Tell me about the case you're working on," I say, notepad in my lap and pen in hand. I think there's going to be a lot I want to get on paper today.
Kate pauses for a second, no doubt mentally replaying the start of last week's session. Can I talk about the case we just wrapped up? She asked.
Sure, I told her. Her work is as much reason for her being here as her shooting is. And her mother's death.
And Castle.
"The one we just wrapped up?" she asks. The smile that has been teasing breaks out – not at full strength yet, but more than enough to identify it for what it is.
"Whatever case you've been working on."
Kate nods, a short chuckle escaping her lips. "It started with a murder scene and no body. The vic had a contract with a cryonics firm, and the second he flat-lined, they sent a team to pick up the body for deep freeze."
Of course. She liked the weird murders when they come her way – which is most of the time, because she's good at solving them. She has to think in order to catch the killer.
Might be a coping mechanism, I wrote down in my notes for the session that came up in. The more time she spends thinking about the freaky murders, the less she spends thinking about her mother's case.
"She came up during the case," Kate says now. "My mother."
A victim whose body was snatched to be preserved for potentially all eternity. Her mother was stabbed to death. I'm not seeing a connection, but she hasn't said much about the case yet. I'll try to follow, because obviously it's connecting in her mind.
"We, ah, had to do a lot of legal wrangling to get most of the body back – the head is the 'most important part' in cryonics, they said," Kate continues, shrugging. "In explaining what happened at their facility, I… started to outline what arguments their lawyers would make for not turning the body over to us. Gates asked me how I knew, and I told her – my mother was a lawyer."
My mother was a lawyer. In the middle of a conversation that has no connection – physical or emotional – to her mother's murder other than being about a murder. I write it down.
"And?" I ask when I've finished and she hasn't started talking again.
"I was waiting for you to catch up," Kate answers. "And – it didn't hurt."
I make note of that alongside my last one. This is progress. It's good progress. More than that – extremely good progress.
"And how does that feel?" I ask.
"Like I won the lottery." Another smile. "Oh, that reminds me…"
I sit and wait as Kate pulls a pen out of her jacket pocket.
"Do you have a piece of paper I can use?"
I tear one out of the back of my notepad and hand it to her. She sets it on her knee, writes a quick note – Castle – fundraiser– then tucks both pen and paper into the pocket she took the pen from.
"Fundraiser?" I can't help asking.
"Yeah-" Kate nods, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly at me. I wasn't supposed to notice what she wrote, obviously. But it doesn't stop her from telling me why she wrote it. "Before the shooting, Castle wanted to set up a fund – in my mother's name. For future law students planning to go into civil rights law, like she practiced."
"And…" Again, I don't understand the connection.
"It was after we solved the murder of a guy who won the lottery. Castle," she laughs a little bit again. "He wouldn't leave me alone about what I'd do with the money if I won during the case, and finally figured out after it was over that I would probably want to use it to honor my mother's legacy."
There we go.
"Hence the question about the fundraiser."
"Hence the question about the fundraiser." Kate repeats. "He's a good man."
Who loves you.
"Better than I would have guessed a few years ago." There that smile is again. "Although jumping into a dumpster after a frozen head and leaving me to tackle the guy who dropped it? So not cool."
And we're back to the case. I pick up the pen again, poised to start writing and asking more questions. I'm about to ask what else about the case she wanted to mention when I see Kate go stiff and pull something out of her pocket.
Her cell phone. It was on vibrate instead of completely off. Used to being able to break the rules with minimal consequence, she is. I have a strict no cell phone policy.
She looks at it with a grimace, then up and over at me. "Esposito. Body dropped. I don't want to cut it short, but…"
The damage is already done. I know the only think Kate's going to be thinking about if I don't let her go is that body… that new case. So I nod. "Next week."
"Thanks." She rises, picking up her cup and starting to dial before she gets to my door.
"Kate?" I say after her.
She turns back around. "Yes?"
"Next time you come in, please turn your phone off. Or leave it with the receptionist."
"Right." She sighs. "I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted." I let her have a small smile. "Next week, then."
Her back is turned and she's back to dialing the second I finish speaking, striding out the door with purpose and determination. Another murder to solve, another murderer to put behind bars. One of New York's finest heading back out into the line of duty.
When the door closes, I walk over to my desk, sit down, and start writing down notes – things that are occurring to me with her out of the room.
Kate's good attitude wasn't a front today. It's been a good day – a good week, from the sound of it. A case was solved. Gates didn't get rid of Castle. She's optimistic, feels like it might happen sooner than she thought. Diving into a relationship with the man she loves but has no words to tell him as of yet as a whole and healthy human being.
It will come.
I'm just not sure how soon. Or how soon will be best for her.
