A/N: We get to meet a familiar character in this chapter. Still not mine.
He was just starting to contemplate what she had revealed to him when she had to totally distract him. It wasn't until she was driving them to the precinct the next morning that he began to consider the possibilities again. He didn't see a down side to this; if she could become more like him it would just make things even better. Maybe he wouldn't have to worry so much about her after all.
This probably also explained his feeling it was wrong to have unprotected sex. It would have given him away, what if this started happening with Kyra? He had already admitted he was different and she had accepted it so there was nothing at risk anymore. One of the remaining mysteries was where was this feeling coming from? How had he known?
His good feeling immediately vanished as they entered the bullpen. Not everyone was in yet but there was an immediate feeling of intensity and their eyes simultaneously sought out the Captain's office and there was definitely activity there. They exchanged a look and tried to brace for the worst. In the meantime, they'd try to act as normal as possible.
At exactly the start of shift, she was out and everyone gathered in the bullpen as she scanned the assembly. She stood stoically although she seemed to radiate disapproval of the stragglers. She started speaking abruptly.
"I am Captain Victoria Gates and all of you report to me now. You may address me as Captain or Sir. Ma'am is my mother so you can save that for her if she ever comes here."
Rick almost felt a chill in the air and nobody reacted to what may have been an attempt at humor from her. She had the beginning of a scowl on her face and he began to wonder just how bad this might get.
"I mean no disrespect to the dead but I will be running a tight ship here. I will have no freelancing…" Rick saw her looking at Kate as she said this and he felt her stiffen near him as he tried to keep a scowl off of his own face.
"… I will allow no one to disgrace this precinct and I will not allow any distractions." She looked right at Rick for this last part and he tried to be stoic but he was pretty sure he had at least a hint of a scowl on his own face. To his surprise, she paused a moment as if she were a little startled and then she looked elsewhere to continue.
"I expect to be obeyed without question and I expect to be kept up to date on all investigations as developments occur. For my part, I will have your backs and if you follow proper procedures you don't have to expect any censure from me. I may be tough but I will be fair. I will try to meet with everyone for a brief one on one meeting today. First up will be…." She paused to look at a paper she had been holding at her side and she looked up again to continue. "Detective Karpowski".
Someone cleared her throat off to his side and he heard Karpowski say, "Yes, Captain."
She followed her Captain, who had simply turned and started back to her office. Karpowski seemed a bit ill at ease and Rick didn't blame her. Gates was blunt to a fault and didn't seem the least bit friendly.
There was no doubt in Rick's mind that the ambiance here was going to be very different from the way it was under Montgomery.
He turned towards Kate as they settled into their respective chairs and she rolled her eyes at him but it wasn't playful as when she rolled her eyes at something he had done. She got right back to her paperwork but he didn't feel snubbed. He wished he had something to dive into himself. He glanced around her desk but there was no sign of a cold case or anything else for him to look at. He sighed and looked around and saw Esposito copying Kate but Ryan was casting concerned glances towards the Captain's office. Other detectives were either doing their best to look busy or casting furtive glances like Ryan was. It was starting to look like being the precinct would really suck now but he wouldn't even consider abandoning Kate here. He'd be here for his partner no matter what.
After what seemed like an hour but was probably much less, she called another name and a somewhat shaken Karpowski returned to her desk. Most detectives continued to try to look busy but a few, which included Ryan, approached Karpowski. She gave a few short answers to questions but didn't seem inclined to talk so the visitors soon dispersed. Ryan answered Rick's curious look with just a shrug. Apparently there wasn't much news to be had.
The next name she called was someone out on a case and Rick couldn't help thinking he was lucky. However, there might be something to be said for getting it out of the way quickly, a situation like ripping off a band aid. She had her next victim quickly and they had to follow after her quickly once again. The new Captain wasn't someone who waited around.
After lunch it began to seem like Kate's team was being left for last and it was midafternoon when she called out, "Esposito". He left stoically for his meeting and although Kate kept busy, he could tell she was a little nervous. When Javier came back his jaw was clenched but he did not look overly stressed or angry. He did whisper something to Ryan in passing and Rick only caught the last part since he had not expected it. He'd said something about Raglan and McCallister. Ryan tried to seem unaffected but Rick hoped that Gates was far enough away not to notice. Her abrupt call of "Ryan" had the next detective headed out for his fate. It was quickly obvious that Esposito was not in a sharing mood as he dealt with paperwork rather abruptly.
Rick exchanged a glance with Kate and she gave him a rather unconvincing smile. Rick sighed and pretended to peruse his phone when Kate again returned to her paperwork. He had to hope that Javier would tell Kate if there was something she needed to know as the partial whisper didn't give him much to tell Kate. He tried not to worry about Kate, he knew she was a good cop and he wished he could be in there for her but he certainly didn't expect that. He might get a meeting himself though. He'd certainly gotten the impression she wouldn't mind if he was gone.
Rick was not surprised when Javier slipped a note to Kate on his way elsewhere. She unobtrusively looked at it and then wrote something on it before slipping it to him. The part written by Esposito said:
She knows about the text I sent you about the third cop. I had to tell her about Yanavich and passed it off as just trying to find out who might know more about Raglan and McCallister, nothing else.
Below that was something added by familiar handwriting.
Be ready and destroy this.
He had a bad feeling about this but he followed Ryan's lead and tried to be nonchalant. Since he could crush it into an unreadable mass in his hand, he did just that and threw it away. Time seemed to slow even more while they waited.
Suddenly Ryan was headed for his desk and although he seemed to walk with a little more purpose than usual and had a slight scowl, he did not seem as affected as Rick would have thought. He had no chance to contemplate that though as he suddenly heard the announcement "Beckett and Castle".
He couldn't help it, his eyes grew wide and when he looked at Kate, she seemed just as startled. He didn't even get a chance to wonder if this was a good or bad thing as they had to hurry to catch up with the elusive Captain. He tried not to walk too close to Kate and allowed her to precede him into the office before he followed and closed the door. He wasn't sure if his slight chivalry of letting her go first was a good thing for her in this case or not.
Then a possible reason for her calling them together occurred to him. She had no direct threat over him; she must know that he had some powerful friends who were fine with him shadowing Kate. However, there was plenty she could do to make life difficult for Kate. By calling them together, she would be able to use her power over Kate to manipulate him. He tried not to show it but he was getting ready for a fight.
They'd know soon enough. They took the two chairs in front of her desk and she said nothing as she glanced through one file and then another, much thinner file. If he had ever had any sort of police record, he'd be nervous but he wondered what sort of file they might have on him. There'd been paperwork when he'd started following Kate, maybe that was it.