Chapter 3

Beckett returned to the bullpen pausing long enough at her desk to dump her coat on the back of her chair before she headed for Captain Montgomery's office.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Beckett inquired as she walked into the Captain's office.

Captain Montgomery was seated behind his desk. The normally clean desk was strewn with with files and other paperwork. He had one file open right in front of him which he was running his pen over. Montgomery glanced up and motioned Beckett to sit down in one of the chairs.

"You would think that the bureaucracy would shut down over the holidays." Montgomery muttered as he made a note in the file he was going over. "But oh no."

"Sir?" Beckett said looking a little confused.

"Some bright spark at Head Quarters thought it would be a brilliant idea to have the quarterly report brought forward a week early. So instead of being home in the comfort of my family I'm stuck here compiling the quarterly stats."

Beckett continued to frown at the captain not knowing where this conversation was going.

"Sir...captain do you have a case for me?"

Captain Montgomery signed the report with a flourish, closed the file and set it on the steadily growing pile to his left. He looked across to Beckett as he reached for a file from the stack on his right.

"What?" He said.

"You sent me a message that you wanted to see me?" Beckett reminded him. "Do you have a case?"

"Oh right..." Montgomery suddenly remembered. He fixed his best detective with a stern look.

"Is there a case for me, sir?" Beckett asked hopefully.

A new murder case would be just the excuse she needed for her to decline Castle's invitation. Castle would be disappointed but he would understand she was sure of that. Work always came first.

"No."

"No case?" Beckett looked confused. Why had she been called in to the captain's office, she wondered.

"No case, detective."

"Then why did you want to see me, sir?"

"I was on the phone with Chief of Personnel for fifteen minutes." Montgomery waved his hand in the direction of his desk phone.

Beckett raised a questioning eyebrow in the direction of the captain.

"Do you know what he did for the entire length of the call, Detective?"

"No sir."

Beckett saw the look on the captain's face had darkened a little and his salt and pepper moustache bristled. Obviously the call had not gone well if the look on his face was anything to go by.

"The Chief spent the entire call chewing me out."

Beckett gave a curt nod of understanding but remained silent. There was really nothing she could say to that. Being chewed out by a superior was never a pleasant experience.

"Do you know why he was chewing me out, Detective?"

"I'm sure I have no idea, Captain."

"Well I'll tell you, Detective."

"Yes sir."

"Some one at Head Quarters brought it to the attention of the Chief of Personnel that a number of detectives here at the 12th Precinct have accumulated far too much leave."

Now Beckett understood where this conversation was going. She nodded her head.

"Captain are you asking me to take leave?"

"No, I'm telling you to take leave." Montgomery shot back.

"Sir I can't take any leave at the moment. I'm on rotation in case you have forgotten." Beckett protested.

"Not any more."

"You can't do that."

"Yes I can. Do you think that you're that indispensable? Do you think this place will fall around our ears if you're not around? Do you think your colleagues are not up to handling cases?"

"You can't do that, sir."

"I can and I did."

"But sir!"

Montgomery got to his feet an angry look on his face. He stared at Beckett for a moment regarding he determined look. His face suddenly softened a little.

"You haven't taken leave in well over a year, Detective. I know because I checked."

"What about those times you sent me home?"

"Fat lot of good that did, you still worked cases with Castle."

Beckett allowed a faint smile to flicker across her face as she recalled those occasions. She watched him as he came around his desk to stand in front of her.

"Kate, you're my best detective." Montgomery said, then added: "Bar none."

She looked at the captain but did not say anything.

"You've been working too hard."

"Is that a bad thing, sir?" Beckett offered.

"No, it's not." Montgomery agreed. "But I don't want to see my best detective suffering burn out."

Beckett made to protest but the captain held up a hand.

"Let me finish Detective." he told her. "No one works harder than you, Kate. I wish all my detectives worked as hard as you. They'd have the same clearance rate as yours if they did."

Montgomery smiled at her and she returned the smile briefly.

But you're becoming a prime candidate for burn out."

Beckett stared up at the Captain.

"I don't want to see that happen." Montgomery added gently, almost in a fatherly way. "None of us want to see that happen. You're too good a detective to lose and I'm not about to let that happen."

"Yes sir." Beckett said quietly.

"At end of shift you are officially on leave." Montgomery announced.

Beckett jumped to her feet suddenly angrily.

"But sir..."

"No buts, Detective Beckett. I don't want to see you step foot in the precinct for the next two weeks."

"Two weeks!"

"Two weeks, Detective."

Captain Montgomery returned to his chair and sat down. He turned his attention to the file in front of him.

Beckett stood there fuming silently. She didn't like being told what to do at the best of times but she was angry that she had not been allowed to decided when she would take her leave. She glared at the captain.

"That is all Detective." Montgomery said without looking up from his work.

"But sir..."

"I said that is all."

"Yes sir." Beckett hissed.

Beckett turned and started for the door.

"Oh and Detective Beckett?" Montgomery called out.

Beckett stopped and looked back to the Captain.

"Yes sir?"

"Have a good holiday." Montgomery flashed her a brief smile before looking down at his work.

Beckett glared back at the Captain but did not say anything. She stormed out of his office.

When Beckett was gone Captain Roy Montgomery lifted up his head. There was a satisfied smile on his face. The meeting with his best detective had gone better than he thought.