The Set Up
"Detective Beckett!" Captain Montgomery called out into the squad room.
"Coming sir." Beckett pushed away from her desk and headed to the captains office.
"Have a seat." he offered
"What can I do for you, sir?"
"The state police out in Oneida county called this morning. It seems half their force is out
with the flu. They asked if they could borrow a couple of detectives for a few days of
undercover work. And since I pulled you off rotation a week ago to try and force you into
taking your vacation, which didn't seem to work I might add, I might as well let someone
get some use out of you."
"Sir…I can't leave I…,"she started to protest.
He cut her off. "You can't what, follow orders?" "You're off rotation; you have nothing on
your board; Ryan and Esposito are on vacation, like I asked, so that leaves you."
"Yes sir" she acquiesced.
"So," the captain continued. "Here's the situation. The supply of drugs in and around Oneida
county has increased by twenty percent over the last year. The states investigation has led
to a possible distribution point for said drugs. The planned undercover op is to get inside
and do a little snooping, nothing dangerous, just look, listen, and gather enough intel for a
probable cause warrant."
"Sounds simple enough," she said. "What's the place?"
Shuffling through papers strewn across his desk, the captain pulled out a smal folded pamphlet
and handed it to Beckett. "It's called Fairfield Mountain Center. It's up near Utica."
"Sounds like some kind of rehab center." She said as she gave the pamphlet a quick glance.
"It is…of sorts."
"What do you mean...of sorts?" she asked
"It's a rehab center for couples with marital problems."
"With what?" she asked.
"Marital problems. You know the main reason people get divorced," he explained.
"I know what marital problems are, sir. I just didn't know they had rehab for that."
"Well now you do."
"Sir, if this retreat is for couples that means…"
"You're going to have a partner." he finished.
"Great."
"What?" he asked
"Nothing, sir. Who do you have in mind?"
"You have your choice of Baker, Spagnolo or Rodriguez."
"Not much of a choice." she mumbled quietly.
"What's that, detective?"
"I said, I'll have to make a choice."
"That's right. So go tell whoever you pick to be here with you at eight o'clock tomorrow morning.
The two of you can spend the day going over the states file, reviewing your undercover profiles
and having your I'd's made."
"Now get outta of here, I don't want to see you till tomorrow morning."
"Yes sir," she said slowly rising from the chair.
The captain watched her leave his office and walk back towards her desk. She sat down heavily in her
chair, exhaling a deep sigh of resignation as she looked across the room, glaring first at Rodriguez,
then at Baker, then over to Spagnolo.
In his office the captain laughed. It looked liked like she was watching a tennis match as her head
pivoted back and forth from man to man to man.
After a while, she stopped, put her elbows on her desk and let her head drop into her hands.
Moments passed before she raised her head and leaned back in her chair. She stood up, grabbed
her coat and purse and headed across the office.
Captain Montgomery, still watching, muttered aloud. "It looks like she made her choice."
With her back ramrod straight and her gait never faltering, he watched as Detective Beckett walked
down the aisle…and straight into the elevator.
As it's doors closed on her scowling face, the captain opened his desk drawer and pulled out a disposable
cell phone. He flipped it open and hit speed dial. Seconds later, he spoke.
"Phase one is a success, she's on her way, time for phase two." The whoop of joy coming from the phone
was all the reply he needed to hear.
xx...xx
Castle sat moping in his office. He hated deadlines. They always gave him writers block. One week and nearly
a hundred pages to go and he wasn't getting anywhere. Snow was predicted later in the week. Maybe he could
get lucky. A freak blizzard could hit the east coast, knocking out the power for days. Two or three days down
would put his publisher weeks behind. A reprieve. As if he could be so lucky. He kicked back in his chair. His
mind was beginning to formulate another possible disaster /reprieve scenario when he heard a yell come from
somewhere in the apartment. He jumped up and pulled open the door of his inner sanctum just in time to see
his mother dancing with glee in the living room.
"What's going on? He asked as he headed into the room.
"Good news darling, you have a reprieve!"
"A reprieve? What happened?"
"Your publisher just called sweetie, it seems that James Patterson finished his book a month early so he's been
bumped to the front of the line. So you have a reprieve!"
She threw her arm around him, dancing as he stood rock still, scowling. When he didn't return her embrace she
stopped dancing and looked at him.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "I thought this is what you wanted?"
"What I wanted was a blizzard. Not Patterson finishing his book early. What does he think he's doing? You don't
finish early. You never finish early. It's like an unspoken rule. If one of us finishes early, then pretty soon they'll
expect me to finish early. How could he do this?"
Martha threw up her hands, exasperated. "I don't understand you?" "You get what you want and you're still not happy."
"I wanted it, but not like this!" he wined.
"You'd rather it be because of one of your disaster scenarios where hundreds have do die so that you can get your way?"
"No." he pouted
"Well then be happy!" she cried, as she twirled about the living room.
He gave her a sardonic smile and headed back to his study. He closed the door and leaned back against it. Massaging
his eyes with his hands, he exhaled.
"Great, lets just extend the torture a little longer shall we." He trudged to his desk and plopped into his chair.
Needing a distraction he grabbed his mp3 player out of his desk drawer, popped in the ear buds and began scrolling
his playlist. "Ooh…the Killers." he murmured, and hit play. Reaching behind he pulled a few sheets of paper out of his
printer. He cleaned off a spot on his desk and began folding and carefully tearing the paper into narrow strips.
"Are you ready for some football!" he yelled to the room, his head bopping to the music.
Minutes later he had a arsenal of folded paper footballs scattered about his desk. He then took a roll of masking tape
and layed out an Australian Rules Football goal on the back of his office door. It offered more scoring options than
American football. Returning to his desk he made a simple score card, a C on the left side of the page, a B on the right
side with a quick line down the middle. Castle's team won the first round of play. 'Best of three' he thought as he picked
the footballs from off the floor.
"Time for round two" he said aloud, as he settled back into his chair.
Oblivious to all in his inner sanctum, Castle never heard the doorbell ring. Martha had been anxiously awaiting the ring
and almost tripped over herself as she hurried to answer the door. She stopped and steadied herself. Reaching for the
handle she opened the door with a flourish.
"Detective Beckett! What a surprise! Come in!" she ushered Kate into the living room.
"What brings you around?" she asked "Not a murder I suppose?"
"No ma'am." Kate stated. "I just need to run something by Castle, that's all."
"Too bad." Martha sighed "He really likes a good murder. Not that any murder is good, it's just that the mystery part
of it really jump starts his engine, if you know what I mean."
"Yes ma'am, I know what you mean." She gave Martha a knowing smile.
"Well, he's in his office…working." She made parenthesis with her hands when she said working. "Go on in dear. I'm sure
he won't mind."
Kate thanked her and headed to his office. As she approached the door she thought she heard voices inside. As she
drew closer she realized what she was hearing was Castle singing. The singing wasn't bad but the choice of song was
something else.
"…..you had a boyfriend, that looked like a girlfriend, that I had in February of last year. It's not confidential, I've got
potential, rushing and rushing around…."
She laughed, pushed open the door and was pelted in the face by a paper football.
"What the…" her hand flew up defensively and then made a grab for the football as it slid down inside her shirt.
"Beckett!" "What are you doing…?" Popping out his ear buds, he jumped up and headed around his desk.
"I could ask you the same question." She interrupted while looking down her blouse for the missing football.
"I was just…" he started to say as he reached his hand up to help.
She quickly swatted it away. "I got this Castle." She said, pulling the football from her shirt and tossing it at him.
"I was just taking a break." he finished. "What are you doing here?"
She eyed the plethora of paper footballs on the floor. "A break, huh?" She stepped into the office and turned to
close the door.
"I see you play the Australian version of the game," she commented when she spotted the tape job on the back of the door.
"You like Australian Rules Football?" Every new tidbit he found out about her fascinated him.
"What girl wouldn't. A bunch of hot looking guys running around in skimpy shorts, no pads, tackling each other and
rolling around on the ground. Its like watching 'Guys gone Wild', only without all the nudity."
"Woah." Castle was taken aback. "I'll never be able to watch that anymore."
Shaking the imagery from his head, he offered Beckett a seat and returned to his desk.
Sitting down he inquired again, "So...what brings you here, is there a new case?"
"I need a favor." she reluctantly asked. "If you decline I'll understand. I know you have a deadline to meet."
Castle eased back in his chair. "Lucky for you, I received a reprieve from my deadline." Leaning further back,
he locked his hands behind his head and smiled. "Now what can I do for one of New York's finest?"
I need your assistance on an undercover assignment."
"Ooh…I get to be a spy?"
"No Castle." she rebuked. "I just need window dressing."
"Window dressing." he said dejectedly.
"Window dressing." she repeated. "So are you in, or are you out?"
"Lets see….Window dressing or football…window dressing or football?"
"Well, since I can never play Australian football again, window dressing it is. When do we start.?"
"I'll pick you up Thursday morning around nine. We'll have about a 3 hour road trip to make towards Utica.
The assignment should only take a couple of days but pack for the week just in case." Beckett stood up to leave.
"That's it…Utica…no more details?" he pried.
"You're window dressing, Castle. If there is anything you need to know, I'll fill you in during the drive Thursday."
She headed for the door. Pulling it open, she hesitated a moment then looked back.
"Thanks Castle." She said sincerely.
"Any time Detective." He flashed a charming smile that remained with her the rest of the day.
The following morning Captain Montgomery feigned a show of admonishing Beckett for her choice of partner.
He made her plead her case before agreeing to let her take Castle. Phase two was ending. Phase three was primed to begin.