A/N: You're probably getting tired of waiting and hearing my apologies. I may not be able to update for two or three weeks because of major changes in my life (which I will not bore you with). If I can find the time and internet access next week, I will post the next chapter (it is already written). I hate to do this in the middle of this plot twist. So my deepest gratitude goes out to everyone who hasn't bailed on this story in spite of my slooooow updates. But for now, let's get Beckett back to NYC.
The next morning, Beckett's arrival at the office was met with long faces from Richmond and Hendricks.
"Granger wants to see you," Matt said without preamble.
Kate nodded, having already expected as much. The early morning talk show cycle had picked up Lawson's story and was running full force with it. The good thing was that Rick was already fighting back with a press release, trying to set the record straight, even though the morning news hosts pointed out that the author could not be reached for a comment at this time. "He's seen the interview?"
"If he hadn't before, he definitely has by now." Rookie chimed in. "He asked for you the minute he arrived."
"Okay, how mad did he seem?"
"Pissed but not unreasonable. Naturally nobody here puts stock in Lawson's ridiculous allegations. If any of it were even remotely true, you wouldn't be here. I think he just wants to talk to you about handling media inquiries since you were mentioned by name." Richmond explained.
"Don't worry Rach is already in there." Hendricks added.
"Okay, if I'm not back in five minutes, send in an extraction team," Beckett joked and made her way over to the section chief's office.
"This sucks," Richmond sighed, "she doesn't deserve such bullshit coming her way. Lawson is way out of line."
"Don't worry, Rookie, we'll have her back." Suddenly a grin hushed over Matt's face, "Why don't we run a little background check on Jeffrey Lawson? Let's see how well he holds up under the magnifying glass."
Rookie grinned, "Oooh, I like the way you think!"
0~0~0~0~0
"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Beckett knocked on Granger's door, which was slightly ajar, and stuck her head in.
"Yes, Agent Beckett, please come in." Granger rose from his chair and pointed at the empty visitor's seat next to McCord.
"Thank you," Beckett closed the door behind her and took a few steps into the office. Something held her back from sitting down, however, so she came to a stand behind the chair, leaning her hands on the backrest.
"Well, Agent Beckett, I must say this is a first for me. I don't think in my twenty years at the FBI I've encountered a new recruit who has caused quite such a stir in only a few weeks on the job."
"Sir, Jeffrey Lawson is a shoddy journalist whose fraudulent accusations lack any foundation." Beckett defended herself, glad she had chosen to remain standing if she was going to get a dressing down.
"Were you and Richard Castle already in a relationship while he was under investigation?" Granger got straight to the point.
Kate glanced at McCord who gave a quick nod. "Yes, sir."
"Jesus Christ, Beckett! What on earth were you thinking?!" Granger shouted. "Sleeping with a suspect?"
Kate bristled at the crude insinuation. "Sir, my relationship with Castle at no point interfered with the investigation. If I had truly wanted to help him cover up a crime, don't you think I would've made sure to hide all the evidence against him before my colleagues could discover it?"
"It doesn't matter what I think, Beckett. This isn't about what you and I think, this is about what it looks like to the public. You didn't disclose vital information pertaining to a high profile case. Any lawyer will have a field day turning over convictions based on your testimony." Granger heaved a deep sigh.
"It's a good thing then that Jerry Tyson is dead and can't appeal from the bottom of the Hudson." Beckett narrowed her eyes and squared her shoulders.
"I'm afraid I can't have you working cases until these allegations have been put to rest. You're toxic for this department right now. You lied to IA about your relationship status."
"I never lied," Beckett interrupted him. She was quick to clarify, "They never asked. I didn't lie."
Granger rolled his eyes, "Lying by omission then. You really didn't think the fact that you were intimate with the suspect, that you're in love with the man, that it might cloud your judgment would be of interest to IA?"
Kate glanced at Rachel who shook her head slowly no. Beckett frowned and cocked her head, trying to gauge what McCord's role in all this was.
"IA was not interested in Mr Castle as a suspect, by then he had been cleared. IA was only interested in the shooting on the bridge and Castle's statement that Tyson had managed to infiltrate the precinct. They were mildly curious at best with regards to 3XK setting up my partner for murder, breaking into our home, spying on us and stalking us for days, maybe even weeks."
"You're naïve, Beckett, if you don't think this will have consequences." Granger shook his head as he sat down in this chair.
"Let them run another internal investigation. I have nothing to hide. I let my junior detectives take point on the case when the evidence started to pile up against my partner because I didn't want to compromise the investigation or any arrest. The records reflect that. Not once did I give an order to drop the inquiry into Castle. I made one appeal to the ADA to prevent Castle's transfer to the tombs after Tyson put a bounty on his head but that request was turned down. So Rick never once received preferential treatment."
"Except for the fact that you helped him break out of his cell."
"I didn't and if you've read the file, which I'm sure you have by now, then you know I'm saying the truth. Castle never told me how he managed to pull off his escape because he didn't want to put me into the position of having to testify against him. He made that clear in his official statement, it's part of the official records."
"You still aided and abedded a known fugitive. It's bad PR, Beckett." Granger leaned back in his chair. "We can't afford bad PR right now. The task force is the AG's most prestigious project at the moment and we're getting a lot of attention on the Hill."
Kate nodded and took a deep breath. Despite Hendricks and Rookie's words of reassurance, she had the gnawing feeling that she was going to be fired.
"You're a good agent, Beckett, and I don't want to fire you but right now you've got a bull's eye on your back. I can't send you out in the field as long as the media attention is on you, and they will be like hyenas once they figure out you work for us now. And they will, if they haven't already. I recommend you get your own lawyer. Beckett, you're of no use to me if I can't send you out in the field."
"Sir, if I may point out," Rachel spoke up and placed a folder on the chief's desk, "I've already pulled Agent Beckett off all active cases as of this morning."
"What?" Beckett looked shocked at McCord. So much for her new supervisor being in her corner. She'd just hurled her under the bus.
"Yes, as you remember IA recommended disciplinary action at my discretion in the aftermath of the rooftop shooting. The paperwork was a little bit delayed because things got a little bit busy with the Flinn case but I've finally filled out the necessary forms," she nodded at the folder on his desk.
Granger opened it and scanned the documents inside. "I see," he looked at McCord curiously, "is this your final recommendation?"
"Yes, I believe Agent Beckett has shown a past of insubordination and ignorance of command structure. Only a year ago she served out a three-month suspension after disobeying her old captain. I think she could do with a refresher, sir."
"Well, I do know how much you hate it when someone on your team goes rogue." Granger nodded.
"Precisely." Rachel explained with a straight face, glancing occasionally at Beckett. "At first I was going to let it slide since you're new but I warned you that I wouldn't condone such behavior and you went ahead anyway. So I've decided that a five day suspension is the appropriate disciplinary action for the rooftop incidence."
"What? I thought IA cleared me." Kate swallowed hard.
"They did but they also recommended disciplinary action." Rachel turned aounrd and winked at Beckett, who was so upset she missed the signal.
"Given your past and present relationship with Richard Castle and his involvement with the Jessica Flinn case, as well as the nature of this particular investigation, I do not think it's wise to have you anywhere near this case." Granger added. "Agent McCord will escort you out of the building and you will refrain from discussing any case details with the other members of your team."
"Yes, sir." Kate replied defeated. The decision clearly had already been made long before she was called into this meeting. She could tell when she was being dismissed. At least he hadn't fired her.
"You will report to my office and Agent McCord 8am Wednesday morning." Granger picked up his pen and started rifling through the paperwork on his desk. Rachel took it as a sign that they were done and rose from her chair. She nodded at the door, indicating for Kate to follow her.
"Oh and Agent Beckett?" Granger called out just as she was about to close the door behind her.
"Yes, sir?"
"Good work on the Flinn case." He smiled.
"I beg your pardon." Kate whirled around surprised but caught Rachel's encouraging nod.
"The agency's likely going to hijack the case but McCord filled me in on the progress you've made."
"Thank you, sir."
"You may want to use your unexpected free time to take care of some pressing matters in New York." The section chief looked at her long and hard but Beckett didn't know if he wanted her to break up with Castle or just muzzle Lawson.
"Yes, sir." Okay, things had just gotten officially weird.
"Oh and Beckett, I can't wait to hear the story about how your fiancé brought the Flinn case to our attention when you come back." The section chief smirked amused, "Though something tells me that I probably don't want to know how he stumbled across the murder of Jessica Flinn."
"No, sir," Beckett chuckled, "you definitely don't wanna know that."
"Good luck, agent." With that Beckett was dismissed.
0~0~0~0~0
"So?" Rookie and Matt ambushed them the minute they stepped outside the office. "What did he say?"
"I'm suspended." Kate smiled wanly.
"What?!" Richmond and Hendricks exclaimed outraged. Kate strode towards her desk the two men trailing behind her. Rookie and Matt exchanged confused glances before they leaned in on Rachel.
"But you didn't do anything?" Rookie protested.
"Rach! How could you let this happen?" Hendricks punched McCord in the shoulder.
"It was all her idea actually," Kate snorted. She unclipped her badge and pulled her gun out of her holster and placed them on her desk.
"What?" McCord grinned. "You wanted the weekend off. I got you five days off."
"You got me suspended!" Kate shouted.
"Look at it like unpaid leave," Rachel explained, "it's not like you can't afford it."
"It goes into my permanent file! The last thing I need right now is to give Lawson more ammo against Castle and me."
"I'll misplace the paperwork. It's the best I could do, Granger wanted to fire your ass when he called me to his office this morning!"
"What?" Hendricks and Rookie exclaimed shocked.
"What do you expect? The man is caught between a rock and a hard place. He likes you and knows you're doing hard work but he can't have an active agent who is suspected of being a corrupt cop work for the AG's task force. It took me a while to talk him out of it but I pointed out that the media backlash will be just as bad when it comes out that you were innocent all along. It will look as if we didn't do our homework, or worse, fired someone because of wild speculations by a TV journalist. Since when do we not trust our own background checks? I may have mentioned the possibility of a wrongful termination lawsuit as well."
"Yeah well, thanks a lot. This suspension just feeds into rumors that I am a corrupt law enforcement officer and that the AG's office is looking into my service record."
"No." McCord shook her head. "The reason you got suspended was your insubordination, predating this scandal. Any replies to official media inquiries will reflect that. You went against my orders, Beckett, and that's all on you."
"Oh that's nifty!" Hendricks nodded his head approvingly.
"Yeah, Rachel, that's just awesome." Rookie agreed.
"Yeah, aweseome," Kate aped him sarcastically.
"Hey, snap out of it." McCord scolded her. "You're in a shitty mood, I get that and you have every right to be but I'm just looking out for you. Nobody here is questioning your work ethic. Granger didn't really want to fire you, he had to save his face, though. You did an incredibly stupid thing when you didn't disclose your relationship with a suspect in an ongoing investigation but we all make mistakes. We're not trying to throw you under the bus, Beckett, we're just taking you out of the line of fire for a while. You don't know what NYPD will do. What if they take Rick in for questioning again? What if they arrest him because they want to make a statement that they're not corrupt and his ties to your old precinct mean nothing? What if they investigate you to make the same point? You wouldn't be able to do your job anyway with the media hassling you in the field."
"You think they'd do that?" Rookie looked worried at Kate.
"No!" Beckett simply couldn't fathom Ryan or Esposito doing that. Not even Gates. But they probably wouldn't have any say if they reopened the investigation into the Tessa Horton homicide. Shit, she really had to talk to Rick soon.
"Has he answered any of your calls yet?" Hendricks asked.
"No," Beckett gasped. "You don't think it's because they…" She swallowed hard. Surely Ryan or Esposito would have already called if they had taken Castle in. Now she was really losing it.
"No, no, you would've heard from him or his lawyers at least." Matt nudged her shoulder playfully, "We all know who his only phone call from jail was the last time."
Beckett chuckled weakly.
"Go, see him." Rachel told her. "He needs you right now. He won't admit it cause men are stupid like that."
"Hey!" Hendricks and Rookie protested loudly.
"Make sure he's alright." McCord continued unimpressed. "You've got five days to figure out a way how to fight this together. If things are still out of control by Wednesday, I'll probably have to put you on desk duty. Just a heads up."
Kate nodded.
"Alright, I'll let Rookie do the honors of walking you out." McCord grinned, "I'm sure he can't wait to tell you about all the dirt he and Matt managed to dig up on Lawson while we were in there with Granger."
"Yeah well, he's squeaky clean so far but I find that highly suspicious. Nobody's that squeaky clean unless they're hiding something." Richmond beamed at her.
"Take care, Nikki." Hendricks grinned and waved his fingers playfully.
"I'm gonna miss ya, too, Squirrel." Beckett laughed.
"Hey now, let's not get sentimental. She's suspended, not fired. Y'all get to see her Wednesday bright and early." Rachel rolled her eyes.