Everything Changes
(Adopted from Muse of Apollo by permission of author.)
by Castlefan6
Authors Note: Chapters 1-4 are loosely based on works of Courtesy of Muse of Apollo rewritten with permission. End of Season 2 AU, Everything Changes when Beckett leaves with Demming, Castle has had enough, Original concept based on abandoned story by Matt, Muse of Apollo. Rated M
I don't own Castle, I use the characters for amusement purposes only
Chapter 11
Previously
"Like I said the ladies are great cops, Fran spotted her first then Darlene laid it on with the hugs and kisses to get her to reveal herself to confirm, they worked in the same precinct for years and heard the sigh, and watched her patented What the F Eye Roll, Darlene's words, not mine" he laughs
"Rick, I just hate to leave you, I mean they are all so gorgeous and I am just*"
"The woman I love and trying very hard to fall back in love with, I'm sorry Erin, I really am but Trust issue is huge with me, I haven't had the stellar record with partners as you recall."
JFK Airport
Tuesday 6:30 AM International Gates
There is a small crowd at the International Gates at JFK, especially at this hour of the morning. One group is split with emotions, Nicky and Alexis so excited they can't wait for the trip to begin, Erin Boyle so lonesome already missing her Rick, even if he were right beside her holding her hand, kissing her cheek and reassuring her. God she is going to miss him, plus Dunn on the loose trying to kill him, she's not sure she is going to be able to take this.
The Flight is called, and as the girls each hug Rick, Alexis kisses him on the cheek, and Nicky on the other, then they are down the ramp, as Erin tears begin to fall earnestly.
"Hey, if you don't stop that you're going to make me cry," Rick smiles at her, and then takes her into a sweet embrace, and plants a kiss that curled her toes, "that should make you think of me for a little while" he smiles.
"I'll think about you every minute, you know that, Take care of yourself my Love, I'll call you when we land."
"I'll miss you too Baby, but I'll be here to greet you all soon, I love you, now go before you hold up the flight", as he walks her to the door, she stops and kisses him one more time, turns and makes her way down the ramp.
12th Precinct
7:00 AM Tuesday
Roz Karpowski returned to work after being off Sunday and Monday, after the press had published the story, that she was now Rick Castle's new muse and more. As she walked to the elevator she got a mix of greetings from "You Go Girl", to "Man Stealing Bitch" she knew to expect a ton of reactions so she just focused on getting to her floor and reporting to Captain Montgomery.
What seemed forever, in reality 7 seconds and she was on the Homicide Floor walking to her desk, located on the opposite end of the floor as Beckett's, thank God for small favors. She secures her purse and turns on he computer, locks the screen and then makes her way to Captain Montgomery's office. She notices Beckett already in and at her desk, and the course to the Captain's office is taking her right by her desk. As she passes her, she is surprised to hear Kate mumble,
"Hey Roz, welcome back"
"Thanks Beckett, I'm sorry you had to read about what went down, I was going to tell you I swear."
"No Problem Roz, hell I was with someone else till a few weeks ago anyway, you didn't owe me anything. Good Luck with the Captain."
Even though Kate said it, Roz knew she really didn't mean it, and was doing everything she could to keep up a good front, she knew that things were going to be different for a lot of relationships at the precinct, and it was good that she was taking the leave.
"Good Morning Captain, you asked to see me when I got in Sir"
"Come in and close the door" Roy used the gruff tone that the bull pen could hear, then he lowered the blinds and locked the door, with LT stationed outside his office.
"Morning Boss, who's the Captain skewering this morning?" Espo asked as he just arrived.
"Karpowski" Kate replied without looking up.
"Hey, I never would have believed it, till I saw those pictures Castle and Roz, who knew, I mean she always had the hots for him but when did he act on it?"
"Yeah, who knew" Kate replied letting Espo know she didn't want to talk about it.
"Hey What's with you, Demming and you were getting it on pretty good for 4 of those months if I recall, in fact you're in trouble not because of Rick, but because you let Demming take lead and also let your emotions showa*"
"Espo if you don't want to do paperwork the rest of your career or mine just shut your mouth now, I don't need you to remind me of what's on my PIP, or that Demming is looking for a job now."
Ryan walked in just in time to hear Kate go off on his partner and see Espo, motion to the breakroom with his head. Kevin walks over and as soon as they're behind the door, he asked
"What the hell was that? Why is Beckett jumping down your throat, and who is in Montgomery's office?"
Espo looked up and said "the answer to the last question will explain why Beckett is being super bitch, Karpowski is in with Montgomery, and word is they just sent for her Union Rep"
"Why, Espo, I don't understand what does Roz have to do with all of this, what's going on?"
"Did you and Jenny spend the whole weekend in bed? It was in the Times Saturday, Roz and Castle have been a thing for about 5 months, pictures got published and everything."
"You're shitting me, Roz, Castle?" "You got a copy of the paper?"
Espo pulled out a folded paper and handed it to Ryan, "Better take this to the Men's reading room, Beckett will kill us both if she knows there is a copy here"
Ryan comes back to his desk, paper shoved down his shirt, till he got to his desk then hid it in a desk drawer. He ducks his head as he feels the glare from Beckett, she knows people are talking and she is pissed about it.
The meeting in Captain Montgomery's office is breaking up, and out come the players. Chief of Detectives Chad Murphy, Union Rep, Sylvia Tartowitcz, Commissioner Frank Boyle, then finally Roz Karpowski, looking like she had been through the mill. She walks briskly past Kate's desk, to her own, shuts down her computer, gathers her personal belongings and out to the elevator she goes.
"Hey Bro, you hear what happened?" Espo asked Ryan,
"Not a word, Did you?"
"Three-week suspension, written note in her file, requalification on soft skills, and Castle has to make a choice, precinct or her, on the call he told them he took Roz which pissed off Commissioner Boyle"
"Are you sure you got all that right? How the hell do you find this stuff out anyway Javi?"
"He got it all correct, Kevin, and you were undercover, never ask anyone to narc on their Confidential Informants (CI's)" Kate spewed at him.
"Castle actually chose Roz over us, I never saw that coming, I mean you think you know someone for two years, and"
"Javi, shut you pie hole, it's none of our business why Rick chose Roz over the precinct, I mean this hasn't been the most friendly work environment to him lately, and don't look at me like I was the only one.
You got some low blows off as well as I did, you got away Scott free because Rick told Montgomery to go easy on you" Kate turns her head but not before a tear falls on the reports she's holding visible to the boys.
Hampton's Beach House
1:30 PM Same Day
Roz pulls up in the limo bus along with Fran and Darlene, and when they stepped out to view the property, all three were in shock. "Are you sure we're at the right address" Roz asked the driver,
"Well that depends on who you're looking for" comes Rick's booming voice as the three ladies swarm him.
The paparazzi in the trees are snapping away as Fran pops out of her bathing suit top and doesn't bother to fix herself before grabbing Rick into a deep kiss. The paparazzi weren't the only ones snapping away, a few yards away, blending in with the other photographers was one Scott Dunn, gathering intel on how to end the life of that Bastard who cost him 2 years of his life.
His demented thought process was that if Castle had never created Nikki Heat, he would never would have had to kill, so therefore it was Castle's fault, and now he was going to pay with his life.
300 yards away, Mike Singletary, a friend of Rick's for a long time and head of his security was hurrying the ladies into a secure garage area, away from open line of fire. His drones had picked up presence of Paps in the trees, and he was fully expecting Dunn to try to fit into one of the established roles to gain access to Rick.
Once inside the house, the charade went away, and all three ladies were in full blown cop mode, along with Mike, and his first assistant, Ben Wilkerson. Mike and Ben had been together since Kuwait, and you didn't want to mess with either in hand to hand combat, but Ben was also a computer genius figuring out ways to track, model and forecast the enemies movements based on historical data.
Mike had a list of security protocols already spelled out, but as they had a catered lunch, each of the team was invited to speak up about how they could improve or what more could be done to reach objective, code name Dodgeball. Fran suggested a better vetting of anyone entering the Beach House, and also the gate only ran along the front, the back could fence was not powered or monitored but could easily be retrofitted to insure greater security.
Fran and Darlene pretended to be Shell hunting as Mike and Ben wired the fence, and when the ladies returned the closing of the gate made the connection to insure complete camera coverage, as well as optional electric current that could be sent through the wire intertwined so tightly it was virtually invisible, especially when trying to see on a sunny day.
Another concern was 24/7 monitoring, Darlene made the observation, "Guys you did a great job in setting this all up, but if we don't have it monitored around the clock it would be like buying the best birth control pills but not taking them for lack of water and wonder how you got pregnant.
They didn't want anyone else beside the 3 couples to appear to anyone outside the house, so it was decided to bring in two assistants of Mikes, but they would arrive in crates like Air Conditioners would. Rick had already purchased the two units to replace the ones in use, but since they outlived the repair estimate had not gotten around to swapping them out.
Later that afternoon a van marked with a New York HVAC firm pulled up, backed into the garage, and closed the doors, about a half hour later, Chris and Jerry were already monitoring the cameras, and setting up shifts of 4 hour on, 4 hours off, to keep them alert. The garage door opened, and the A/C Units could be spotted by the crates, to anyone observing, the home was being prepared to have some work done.
About 7:00 PM Mike got a call, from another spotter, Dunn had returned to his hotel room, and the bugs and cameras placed inside were paying off. Mike brought him up on a screen and turned up the volume, Dunn was planning on hitting Rick with a long-range rifle as he wrote, he had a vantage point from a few hundred yards away, where he had bribed some kids into building a tree house for him. The team answered with installing Bullet Proof Glass in the entire house.
Dunn returned to his manuscript, writing the story of how he killed the Master of the Macabre, the Master of Mystery, as he typed on and on till, he drank himself asleep. Mike switched the camera feed to Chris and Jerry's watch until he awakened.
7:45 PM Rick's phone rang, he stepped into his office and closed the door to answer it, anticipating it to be Erin.
"Hi Erin, how was the flight?"
"Rick, oh sweetie are you OK, it was all over the airline news that Roz had been suspended and rumored to be holed up with her boyfriend in the Hamptons. God, I want this to be over and I miss you so much."
"I know Erin, Paula had that sound clip leaked to a friend of hers, just in case Dunn wasn't operating alone, it would spread the news that this activity here was just a way of relaxing so Dunn would think we had let our guard down."
"Well how many are there now Rick, no don't tell me, I don't want to compromise our plan, I know the girls are doing their jobs, but I just wish Fran would have put her tit back in before tackling you with her greeting"
"Wow that got leaked quicker than I thought, I do hope you saw where my hands were, and I miss you too."
"I know, but damn that made me so mad, the only boobs stuffed in your face are going to be mine, just let her know."
"She already told me to tell you she was sorry, she wasn't even aware of it till she saw the playback here, guess her boyfriend is going to be about as happy about this as you are."
"Love, I have to go, I'll call you tomorrow from the hotel, and please remember, I love you, always have and always will,"
"I love you too, now enjoy your trip we are fine here. Talk to you tomorrow, and Erin, I love your too, give the girls a kiss for me, I miss you, Good night Sweetheart"
Rick steps back into the dining room, and Darlene asks,
"Rick, can you do us a favor, I know you want your privacy but please let us know which direction you are headed too, this sick bastard is capable of too many things and you are under our watch, please darling, can you do it for the two babes you never looked at twice at the 12th?" the room erupts with laughter.
The next 4 days are carbon copy of the first, watch listen and wait, with nothing happening. Rick talks to Erin, Alexis and Nicky, they are having a great time, and all seems like Dunn is content to spy on them from afar.
Hamptons Beach House
5 Days Later, 8:00 AM
The supplies that Rick had ordered in had been depleted faster now that more people were in the house, so a supply run was needed. Rick was going a bit stir crazy, so he decided to take part of the security force, Mike and Ben to town for a quick trip. He had two vehicles an old truck and a Chevy Blazer sitting parked in the secure parking area, on the side of the beach house.
Roz, and the girls had made the list, and just as Mike, Rick and Ben were headed toward the Blazer, Roz remember she had forgotten a personal item she would need, she ran out to whisper to Rick, when she saw it, a bomb, a fucking bomb under the car. She yelled to Mike and Ben who hit the dirt, just as she tackled Rick.
The explosion could be heard for miles, and it was a few minutes before Rick could hear anything, all he could feel was something warm and soft in his arms, then he realized it was Roz, and she was bleeding. Call 9-1-1 Rick yelled, and luckily the ambulance was already in route,
She woke in his arms, and smiled, "Hey, I got to you in time"
"Roz, don't talk right now, save your strength, how bad are you hurting and where?"
"Well don't get any bigger ego than you have darlin, but I see two of the most handsome men I would love to have with me,"
"Roz, where do you hurt," as Rick puts pressure on the gash on her side, under her breast,
"Is this what it took to get you to cop a feel, hell I would have done it a year ago, seriously Rick, it hurts on that side, and I'm scared, I hate hospitals, and I'll be alone."
"No, you won't I'm riding with you in the ambulance, and all the way, I won't leave you I promise"
Mike, see what you can piece together Rick shouts as they load Roz in the ambulance, and take off.
Mike is directing the security gathering of all the tapes, and checks when he receives a call, "Mike, Looks like I fucked up, the dude I have been reporting as Dunn is checking out and it's not him, his features are close, but I was duped"
"Yeah, first attempt was just made, One eagle on the way to the nest, Main Objective was not successful, repeat not successful everyone goes code 4 till further orders", a moment later all the clicks have stopped and all radios go off.
On the way to the hospital, Rick calls Roy on a secure line, explaining what happened, and promising to get back to him as soon as there is more information on Roz's condition.
Roz has drifted in and out of consciousness, each time finding Rick's blue eyes looking directly at her, and his hand in hers,
"Rick, I just want you to know that" as she drifts back out,
TBC