The Girl I Left Behind Me
By
UCSBDad
Disclaimer: Sir! I do not own Castle, Sir! Rating: T: For language. Time: Three months after the end of season eight.
Meanwhile….
Rick Castle came out of the bathroom and found his wife getting dressed. "Kate, what are you doing?"
"Getting dressed. What's it look like?"
"Dress slacks, a white blouse and a blazer? Are you thinking of going to the precinct?"
"No." She said quickly, then turned away from him.
"Beckett, you were shot just three months ago. You are on medical leave. You're not even cleared for desk duty. You're not going to the precinct. Besides, Captain Fuller is covering for you."
Beckett snorted. "Fuller has been so deep in the bowels of One PP for so long that he wouldn't recognize a crime scene if one kicked him in the ass. Besides, he's fishing in upstate New York and can't be reached. And I'm not going to the precinct."
Castle sighed. "Where are you going?"
"There's been an officer involved shooting. One suspect dead, one officer wounded. I'm going to the crime scene."
"And no one in all of the NYPD can handle it?" Castle asked sarcastically.
"The wounded officer is Ann Hastings."
Castle sighed. Of course, it was Officer Ann Hastings. Castle put on his best smile. "I realize that you two have a history. She became a cop because her dad was murdered."
"And she helped me out with that bastard Bracken."
Castle slowly nodded. "And unlike the love of your life, the love of her life dumped her for a job in LA, but that doesn't mean…"
Kate cut him off. "Yes it does, Castle. I've been her mentor. She's passed her written and oral exams for detective and all she needs now is for a detective spot to open up. Ray Walton is retiring in six weeks and if she's physically incapable…."
"Wouldn't she need a doctor and not a mentor?" Castle asked softly.
"Castle, it'll just take a few minutes for me to drive to the crime scene. To see if there's anything I can do."
Castle dropped to one knee and took Kate's hand. "Mrs. Captain Katherine Houghton Beckett Castle, would you please allow me to drive you to the crime scene? Remembering that you no longer have a police car? Since you're on medical leave."
Kate was almost successful in suppressing her smile. "Are you going just wearing a towel wrapped around your waist?"
"If I have to."
This time she laughed. "Okay. Go get dressed."
He stood, but headed to the kitchen. "First I need to make you some coffee. We can't have you arriving at a crime scene with no caffeine in your system." Suddenly, a thought occurred to Castle. "How did you find out about this shooting?"
"A friend called me." Kate said vaguely.
"A Hispanic friend who should know to keep his mouth closed?"
"I'm not saying."
In less than ten minutes, Castle was leading Kate towards his Mercedes. When he opened the passenger side door for her, Kate came to an abrupt stop. "Castle, what is this?"
"What?" He asked as innocently as he could.
"A blanket and a pillow. I do not need to be coddled. I don't want to be coddled."
"And yet I do my best to coddle you." He said soothingly. "Get in, Beckett. We need to get going."
Kate did her best not to let on that getting into the car was painful and did allow Castle to wrap her in the blanket and put a pillow behind her head. But when he reached for her feet, she glared at him. "You'd better not be planning on putting those pink fuzzy bunny slippers on my feet. If you are, you'll regret it."
Casting an eye to be sure that the pink slippers were hidden in the back seat, Castle smiled. "Nonsense. I'm just making sure your feet aren't cold. You were shot, you know."
"You were shot, too." She grumped.
"Yes, and by good fortune and Caleb Brown being a lousy shot, I wasn't badly wounded. He managed to miss every one of my vital organs. You were not so lucky, however."
Without the lights and siren to clear traffic for them, it took twenty minutes to get to the crime scene.
"This isn't a police car, Castle. Pull up and park here."
Castle ignored her and pulled up right behind Esposito and Ryan's car. "You just don't want anyone to see me helping you out of the car. It's okay. Everyone knows you were shot."
Kate thought about saying something, but decided to let her husband help her out of the car.
Castle quickly took in the crime scene. Hasting's patrol car was in front of Espo and Ryan's car. Hastings was sitting sideways in the front seat with her feet on the ground. An FDNY paramedic was checking her over. Ryan and Esposito were kneeling by a dead body in front of the Beirut Bakery. Lanie was standing up and glaring at Kate. A second uniform, apparently Hasting's partner was standing on the other side of the police cruiser with an African American civilian.
"Why hasn't Officer Hastings been transferred to the ER?" Kate snapped.
The paramedic, a skinny bleached blonde, looked up. "Sorry, Captain. We have a mass casualty in midtown and we're short of ambulances. A car bomb. My ambulance took the old man from the bakery to the ER. He was pistol whipped pretty badly."
"Captain Beckett." Hasting's said. "I've just got a bruise. My Kevlar stopped the round. I don't need to go to the ER. I can…"
"That's for a doctor to decide, Ann. You know the drill. As soon as another ambulance gets here, you're going to the ER."
"The ambulance should be here in five or ten minutes, Captain." The paramedic said.
Kate turned to the officer standing in front of the cruiser. "Officer Pelham, what happened."
"We were on patrol and I saw Junior Johnson here standing across the street. Junior's a Jamaican from the Trenchtown Posse. He's way out of his area. So I stopped to see what he's doing here. I left Hastings to stay on the radio. I had just gotten to Junior when I heard a shot from the bakery. Two Hispanics ran out. One had a pistol and shot at Hastings, who had gotten out of our vehicle. She was knocked down and the suspect shot at her again, but missed. She shot him in the head. Must have died instantly. The other one took off down the alley. By the time I got there, he was gone."
"Do you have anything to add, Hastings?"
Before Hastings could reply, Junior Johnson spoke up. "My good friend, Officer Pelham, has made him one mistake. I am not a gangster. Not with Trenchtown Posse. I am a good Christian man. I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior."
"But you agree with everything they say happened?" Kate asked.
"Oh, yes. The beautiful blonde officer was shot by that awful man. Twice he shot at her, hitting her once and only then did she shoot the rascal. Shoot him dead as he deserve."
"Will you sign a statement to that effect?" Kate asked, surprised that a gangster, even one who had found Jesus, would help the police.
"Of course. I am a good Christian. I accept Jesus Christ as my very own personal savior. I will tell the truth. Nasty man shoot nice officer."
Kate and Rick walked around so they could talk to Hastings face to face. Rick suddenly was looking at Hastings' boobs. The paramedic had taken her shirt, Kevlar and bra off to examine her and had just put her shirt over her shoulders.
He turned around at once. "I didn't see a thing."
"Like you didn't see anything that time my apartment blew up?" Kate teased.
"I didn't see a thing." He repeated forcefully.
"Usually men will at least look." Hastings said. "Even if they're happily married. Is there something wrong with my boobs, Castle?"
Kate, Hastings and the paramedic were having trouble not laughing.
"I can't win, can I?" Castle asked rhetorically.
"You certainly can't, Writer Boy." Lanie said, walking towards them. "Especially if you bring your injured wife to a crime scene. What were you thinking?"
"Lanie, I insisted on coming. He's just making sure I'm okay."
"You're not okay, Sweetie. You were badly wounded and you still have problems. And how did you know about this?"
"Yeah. How did she know, Esposito?" Castle demanded.
"Me?" Espo said defensively. "I didn't call her."
"A likely story." Castle grumped.
Ryan raised his hand. "It was me. I knew Beckett would want to know about Hastings. I didn't think she'd come to the crime scene."
A civilian car came to a screeching halt just behind Castle's Mercedes and a tall, painfully thin, grey haired woman go out and headed for Officer Pelham and Junior Johnson.
"Ma'am, this is an active crime scene." Pelham began.
"I can see what it is and I'm not going to let you use that as an excuse to keep me from my client." She put her arm around Johnson. "Are you all right? How badly have they beaten you? Did you see them murder your friend?"
Johnson pulled away. "He's a bad man. He's not my friend. I am a good Christian and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. I was telling the nice po-lice how that bad man shot at the lovely officer."
"You needn't be afraid." The woman said loudly. "I'm your lawyer now. I'll protect you."
"You are not my lawyer. If I need lawyer, I ask my friend Justin Black. Go away, woman."
Kate leaned over to whisper to Castle. "Justin Black represents Trenchtown Posse members. Apparently even the good Christians who have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior."
The woman backed away from Junior Johnson, giving everyone a glare and headed for the dead suspect. "I'll need name of the man the police murdered."
Lanie smiled at her. Somehow it was not a friendly smile. "I'm the Medical Examiner. I haven't made any official ruling yet on the death. We'll have to wait until the next of kin are found and notified before his name is released to the public."
"Of course you'll do exactly what your superiors tell you to do."
"If you have any problems with my work, you should file a complaint."
The woman whirled around and glared at Kate. "Detective Buckley, I'm holding you personally responsible for this."
Kate nodded. "Of course you are, Ms. Bolger."
The woman stomped off to her car and roared off.
"Who was that?" Castle asked.
"Theresa Bolger, attorney at law, who sees everything as a giant plot by the police."
"I'm surprised neither you or Lanie blew up at her."
"Oh, we long ago discovered that the way to really get her angry is to be polite to her." Kate said with a laugh.
Before the conversation went any further, the FDNY ambulance arrived and Hastings was sent off to the ER.
"Were there any witnesses other than Mr. Johnson?" Kate asked.
"The daughter of the owner." Ryan replied. "She was pretty upset, so we wanted her to settle down before we talked to her."
"Then let's go talk to her." Kate headed for the bakery.
"Beckett!" Castle called after her. "You came to check on Hastings. She's headed for the ER. We can go home now."
Kate ignored him and went into the bakery. Castle, the two detectives and Lanie followed her.
