Well here is another chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
I have some bad news, I keep all of my work on a flash drive and there has been an accident. I dropped it in my office and while looking for it I stepped on it. It is amazing what the heel of a boot does to plastic. And all of my notes and partial chapters for all three of my stories have been lost. Needless to say this has totally bummed me out, but I will start again.
I own nothing.
Chapter 11
Castle strolled into the precinct at eleven-thirty with Beckett's usual latte in hand. He made his way to her desk only to find it empty. He looked to Ryan to ask Beckett's location only to be interrupted by Captain Gates.
"Missssterrrr Castle you're here a little early."
"That I am Captain Gates but it's for a very important reason." Castle looked around the bullpen seeing the usual complement of officers and detectives he asked, "Do you have a minute?"
Gates invited him into her office and closed the door. "Now how can I help you Mr. Castle?"
Upon telling Gates his story of the meeting with his new friend Mr. Smith, the captain immediately had Castle follow her to the conference room that Sorenson appropriated. As they reached the door he was stricken by what he witnessed. "Sorenson." It was a whisper that did not go unnoticed by the captain.
Sensing that someone was at the door Beckett looked up from the files that she was currently going over with Sorenson. She could feel her smile stretch her facial muscles, and she didn't care who saw it. She could feel the joy welling up from her soul, the effect that Castle had on her was astounding.
Castle was the first to speak. "Detective Beckett, Agent Sorenson, how are you doing this fine morning."
A chorus of Castle and Writer-monkey came from the two seated the conference table. The latter name drew a head snap and glare from Beckett as well as an, "Agent Sorenson!" from Gates.
Castle spoke up again, never taking his eyes off of Sorenson. "No Captain, don't worry about that. It's just a term of endearment that the FBI has for me." Castle gave Sorenson a Cheshire grin effectively letting the agent know that he wasn't intimidated by him.
"Rick what are you doing here? I thought your meeting wasn't until two," Kate said with the smile still on her face.
"It's not, but I came across something that pertains to this case and I thought I should get it to you as soon as possible."
Beckett quirked her eyebrow and cocked her head to the side but didn't speak waiting for Castle to tell his story. She knew that he couldn't just come out with it, he had to do it his own way. She had worked with him for four years and knew his method, but that's not to say that Sorenson did. "Okay out with it Writer-monkey."
Castle and Gates entered the room then the captain turned to close the door, but not before Ryan and Esposito entered. Castle took a seat across from Beckett just now noticing how close Sorenson had pulled his chair next to Beckett. Gates took the seat beside Castle with the other detectives taking the ends of the table.
Castle inhaled deeply through his nose and blew out his mouth trying to steady his emotions. He knew that this conversation would be difficult when he explained that he'd covertly met with someone directly about this case. "I received a call on Saturday from someone who said he could keep Detective Beckett safe."
"Wait a minute. When you left the loft you said you had to meet Brian about some business with the Haunt."
It did not go unnoticed by the agent that Beckett had been with Castle on Saturday. "The loft?" Sorenson asked.
"Really Will? That's the first question you asked? The loft? Yes, my father and I spent the weekend at Castle's loft." She turned her gaze back to Castle. "We're not done talking about this, but please continue." She made a hurry up motion by rolling her wrist with two fingers extended.
"I met a Mr. Smith at the Haunt and he said he had a file that Montgomery sent him with information on Bracken. He said Montgomery had used the file to keep you safe, Kate. He wanted me to insure you didn't continue to investigate; he said he had the same deal in place that Roy did. One that would keep you safe. But the file didn't make it to him before you were…well, before you were…injured." He couldn't bring himself to say she was shot.
Kate leaned forward and spoke and when she spoke it was with a whisper. "You shouldn't have met with him." No one missed it when she reached across the table for his hand. "You have a family to think about. Think about Alexis, Alex, and even your mother."
That drew a smile from Castle. "And you. We may be moving slowly but you're still very important to me. And there is no way in hell that I will let anything happen to you again."
Sensing that his two friends needed a little time alone Ryan spoke up. "Let's take a break." He started to get out of his chair but was stopped in his tracks when Sorenson spoke. "What? This is all you have? We need this Mr. Smith's information." He motioned for Ryan. "Dump Castle's phone, I want Mr. Smith in here by the end of the day!" He turned back to Castle and sneered. "I want you out of here, NOW! You have interfered with one of my cases for the last time."
Gates popped up from her chair. "Agent Sorenson! This is still my precinct!"
Reaching for Kate's arm Castle continued, "Mr. Smith isn't concerned with your safety or even your health Kate. He owes Montgomery a debt, a pretty big one at that." He paused to let that sink in before continuing. "All he's worried about are Evelyn's and the kids' futures. So this morning I met with him again and assured him that their futures will never be in jeopardy. I handed over a document from my business manager that alleviated his concerns." He reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a file. "Convinced, he turned over the file to me this morning during breakfast at the Haunt." With that he handed over the file. He stood up and said, "I think I would like a cup of coffee now."
Xx
"Hey," Kate said, startling Castle out of his coffee making. "Hey," he replied. "Um, thanks for the coffee earlier. I found it on my desk." She lifted the to go cup letting him know she received it.
Castle handed her a fresh cup. "Yeah sorry about that, Gates called me into her office just as soon as I arrived." He was nervous when he handed it to her. "So Sorenson."
"Yeah, Sorenson," she said just as nervous as him.
He moved over to the table and took a seat. "Listen Kate, I understand. We got caught up in our little bubble at the loft this weekend and with everything that happened."
She sat down right beside him and put her hand on his thigh. "What do you think you understand?"
"I saw you and Mr. FBI working side by side, his chair closer than normal, and the smile on your face when I came in. I get it."
She threw her head back and laughed, laughed loudly. So loud that it brought Esposito to the door to check on everyone. "Espo, we're fine. Just give us some privacy okay?"
He nodded his head and closed the door just as Sorenson was trying to enter. "Nope, no one enters until Beckett is through." The agent tried to pass and was met by Javi's hand on his chest. "Not until Kate gives me the okay." Sorenson turned around and headed back to the conference room muttering to himself.
While that was taking place outside the breakroom Kate was speaking with Rick. "Rick, in case you missed it, he moved his chair closer to mine. And that smile that you saw? It wasn't on my face until I saw you, you freaking idiot. It was you who put that smile on my face. It's always been you."
Castle dropped his head in shame; when he brought his eyes back up to Kate there was a slight grimace on his face. "You're right, I'm an idiot. But more than that, I just might be the most insecure man you have ever met. Especially when it comes to the fairer sex."
She cocked her eyebrow at that. "Fairer sex?"
"Okay, how about the better sex?" That brought a smile to her face, the same on that he saw when he arrived earlier. "I'm scared Kate."
"It's okay, I am too. But we'll get him, you know that."
"Oh, I know that. With you three and Mr. FBI I know you'll have him in cuffs soon. Really soon. What? I might not care for the guy that much but he didn't get to where he is unless he's good at his job."
"So what are you scared of Rick?" she asked as she took a sip.
"Us. I'm scared of us. Of what we are, of what we could become. That you'll wake up one day and realize that I'm nothing special. That an extraordinary woman like you deserves an extraordinary man. That you'll realize that I'm nothing more than a rebound."
She could see the fear in his eyes. He was scared of her; all this time she thought that he had the power to break her heart and in reality it was she who could break his. And he was so sure that she would. "He was the rebound, not you. If you don't hear a word I say today, hear this. You could never be a rebound, never, Rick." She pulled back from him with tears forming in her eyes. "I called Dr. Burke today, I have an appointment tomorrow morning at seven."
She said she was going to make one and he didn't doubt her, but saying and doing were two different things. He glanced at his watch. "Why don't I order lunch? I know if I don't you'll skip it, and a hungry Beckett is a grumpy Beckett." He smirked at her pout that was in conflict with her smile. "It's the least I can do for the boys."
"Okay Rick, but before you do I have one more thing to say." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I think we need to slow this down. You were right, we were in our weekend bubble and as great as it was, I don't want it to be all we ever have. So I'm going home tonight."
"Not going to happen. You're staying at the loft until this is over, and don't say a word about space. We'll work it out, okay?"
She smiled. "Okay."
Xx
Lunch was delivered and the team took a break and joined Castle in the breakroom. The topic of discussion, surprising to everyone in the room, was the addition of a kitchen to the Old Haunt. Everyone was astonished that Castle and Jim had spent time together working on the walls. They knew that Jim was a handy man but were dumbfounded when Kate let everyone know that her dad said Castle was really good at construction.
After everyone was finished Castle offered to clean up the breakroom allowing everyone else to resume the investigation. He exited the room only to be met by Gates. "Mr. Castle why don't we meet now."
"Captain, can you give me five minutes? I need to check on my younger daughter." That got her to nod in agreement. "I keep forgetting that you're a father of two. Of course, just come in when you are finished." He nodded and reached for his phone.
Five minutes later he was thumbing his phone off as he entered Gates' office. He knocked on the door frame letting her know he was entering. "Sir, may I come in?"
"Absolutely, come in and have a seat." He stopped and motioned to the door asking in silence if she wanted it closed. When she motioned for him to do so, he closed the door and moved to the couch that he had sat in many times in the past. The only thing different was the person he was sitting across from wasn't his friend.
"Rick. May I call you Rick?"
"Of course, Captain."
"Okay, for this meeting how about you call me Vicki?" She smiled. "We met before, did you know that?" A shake of his head let the captain know that he didn't remember meeting her. "A few years ago, when Storm Calling came out, I won a drawing at the book store near my home. It was two tickets to your book's launch party, so naturally my husband and I went. Don't look so surprised, when would my husband and I ever have the chance to hob-nob with the rich and famous again? We jumped at the chance and we met you."
She reached down and opened the file on her desk. "I've gone over the precinct closure rates for the past five years, and do you know what I found?" Castle pressed his lips into a line then shook his head silently indicating that he didn't. "I found that prior to your 'research' this precinct's homicide unit, including both teams, was the best in the city. They had a closure rate of ninety-one percent. The first year you followed Detective Beckett the closure rate climbed a couple tenths of a percent. Not much but still an increase."
"Wow Vicki, I had no idea."
"Of course you didn't, that's what I'm here for." They both chuckled and she continued. "The first summer that you didn't work with the team it dropped two full percentage points." Castle knew that it was when Kate had kicked him out for looking into Joanna's murder.
"Then you returned and during that time our closure rate climbed a full four points, not only making our homicide unit the best in the city, but we were the best unit whether it be homicide, robbery, vice or whatever. But this summer with both you and Beckett gone we dropped dramatically. Those months we were down to eighty-five percent."
Castle wrung his hands not knowing why she was sharing this with him, making him nervous. The captain resumed speaking. "I'm giving you all of this information for a reason Rick. I would like for you to continue to consult with our homicide unit."
He raised his hands in protest. "Captain I'm flattered to say the least. And I would have jumped at the chance before this past summer but my life has changed. I have my twenty-month-old daughter to think about. I was a stay-at-home dad with Alexis and I intend to do the same with Alexandria."
"I can respect that Rick, but what I am asking for is your help on the 'Beckett Flavored' cases as everyone down at 1PP has taken to calling them. I don't want you here for the standard pop and drop, but the stranger ones."
"Have you spoken to Kate about this?" he queried.
"No. I wanted to run this by you before I broached the subject with her."
Xx
Beckett entered the captain's office after being summoned by Officer Hastings. "Sir, you wanted to see me?"
"Yes detective, have a seat." With that Beckett sat down beside Castle. Gates came around her desk and leaned up against the front of it directly in front of her guests. "You see that young woman out there Kate?" She motioned toward Hastings who was sitting outside Gates' office in a visitor's chair. "She just passed the detective's test and will get her gold shield Monday. She beat my old record by close to a month. And she beat your old record by a couple of days." She looked out the window again with a glint of jealousy in her eyes. "Oh, to be that young again... Anyway she's going to be a detective and your new partner."
Kate looked over to Castle and smiled a tight smile before returning her gaze to Gates. "I already have a partner."
"No Kate, you have a consultant. And if I'm correct he has new daughter to raise unless we can convince him to consult on some of our more unique cases." She began to recite the information that she had shared earlier with Castle. When she was finished she turned to Castle. "Rick, would you be willing to continue your association with the NYDP as an UNPAID consultant? Notice I said unpaid. As I said earlier I don't want you here all the time, just when a case comes up where your insight would be helpful." She moved back to her chair. "You see when I met you at that party all those years ago you said something to me that has stuck with me since then. I asked you why you did so much research and you said..." Before she could finish her sentence Castle continued, "I do research to get the details right. Anyone can go through the motions but I like to think outside the box. I like to get the little tidbit of information that other writers might neglect. Like the sound of spent shell makes when it hits a concrete floor." He looked at Kate. "You see the sound of a nine millimeter's shell sounds completely different than a forty-five's."
"That's exactly what you said to me. I took that nugget of information and applied it to my work in Internal Affairs. You see to catch a bad cop, you have to think outside the box. And that's what you do with Beckett's team."
He looked over to Kate who spoke for what seemed like the first time since she entered the office. "You know I want you here with me, but we have Alex to think about. And we have Alexis also; I don't think either of us did a great job thinking about her wishes in the past." She lowered her voice to just a whisper. "But I do want you by my side."
He looked back to Gates. "I'll do it on a trial basis."
"Okay Rick. When that door opens, no more Rick and Vickie, Mr. Castle. Now why don't you spend whatever time you can helping with this one?"
"No, sir. I don't think I can do that. This one is too important, not that they all aren't important, but I don't want to be the cause of him walking."
Beckett grabbed his arm. "Rick?"
"Listen Kate, if I'm in there, you know it'll become a measuring contest between Sorenson and me. I don't want that. This case is too important to you, too important to me, and he is good. If he wasn't, someone else would have been sent. So as much as I want to be there when you slap the cuffs on the bastard, I think it's best if I sit this one out."
If her next words never came, the tears in her eyes told him all he needed to know. "You really are an extraordinary man Richard Castle. And I am so honored to have you in my life." She kissed him lightly on the cheek not caring that Gates saw her.
Thoughts?
I know that I have written Gates totally out of character, but since this is an AU story I decided to change her up a bit. I have seen many clips of Penny and absolutely love her so I thought I would put some of what I see in her in this little fic.
