Disclaimer: The wording is mine but the characters aren't

OOOOOOOOO

"Okay," Kate agreed not looking up. "Hey, Rick take a look at this," she slid him a page.

It was completely mundane. Nothing at all interesting but Lanie bristled further as they both ignored her. He didn't look but he felt her glare get hotter. And Kate called him Rick. At work. It didn't feel normal but he could almost hear Lanie's teeth grind at the details she was being denied.

He grinned "Nice find partner."

"Anytime partner."

"Oh no you don't" Lanie protested.

"What Lanie?" Kate actually managed to choke her laughter down and sound exasperated. "Do you have something for us or not?"

"I've got something for you two alright," she muttered and stalked away.

OOOOOOOOO

She couldn't bring herself to believe that their luck had lasted so long. They had made it over 21 hours without being called into their Captain's office.

She was unsure as to when she had started to hope that they could make it the full time limit without being summoned. But when she heard "Beckett" from the office on her left she had to reconsider. When did they ever do things the easy way?

"Are we dead?" Castle asked as they got up.

"Think so."

She was glad that it had taken Gates this long.

Wait what?

She was glad? Gates would have been her ticket out of the situation. There was no way Gates would stand for two of her team to be handcuffed together for so long and for no reason. If Gates had seen this yesterday, she would have had a normal night.

So why was she glad that it had taken Gates so long to act?

To avoid a horribly awkward talk with her ambiguous boss? Sure, she would have loved to delay this little interview, after all it wasn't like it was her fault. The most Gates could do was tell her the undercover idea was reckless, forbid them from doing it and then find a spare set of keys before sending her back to work.

Right?

The whole situation was messing with her head.

"Sir?"

Gates sat at her desk. Well what could be seen of the desk; most of it was covered by the neat but alarmingly tall mounds of paperwork. She still had her reading glasses on her nose so Kate hoped this was going to be brief meeting. She couldn't a clear read on her Captain though. Her gaze was largely ambivalent.

"Should I ask?"

Kate blinked. The last thing she had expected was for her Captain to already sound resigned to the situation. She felt cheated of the minute she had spent worrying and planning out possible arguments to each of her Captain's possible reactions.

"Probably not, Sir."

The response had taken entirely too long and Gate's eyes never left them. Castle shifted uncomfortably at her side.

"So what do you have?"

Okay. This? She could do this.

"We found another member, Stevens, who joined the gang at the same time as both our suspect, Daniels and our Victim. We have reason to believe there may be a relationship between Daniels' girlfriend and Stevens. If so, he would have been following Daniels and may be able to break his alibi."

"Which was?"
"Daniels claims he was alone with his girlfriend at the time of the murder."

"Did she confirm that?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you think they're lying because?"

Kate shrugged. "No one saw the two of them that night. No neighbors can confirm them being home, but according to Ryan and Esposito, the staff at the bar and the gang members they talked to confirmed they weren't at the bar."

"So we don't know where they were."
"No sir. But we're running financials to see if there were any charges made to their cards that night so we can track their movements."

Gates just nodded.

"When were the two of you planning on going in?"

Kate flicked Castle a quick look and he shrugged.

"My bike should be ready in a few hours. I just need to get my gear."

"So tonight?" Gates asked.

"Yes, sir. I'll get tech to set up the wires."

Gates nodded in apparent satisfaction.

"Good. Take a long lunch and get your gear ready. I'll want to see if you're sufficient before you leave."

Kate nodded and tried not to grit her teeth. She couldn't help but miss Montgomery at times like these. She was warming up to Gates and vice versa, but she found herself longing for the same level of trust and confidence Montgomery had always shown in her.

And if the only way to earn that that was to pass Gates' tests, she would.

For the first time all day the boys looked serious. They stood up and made a bee-line for them as they exited the office.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Ryan can you get the guys down in tec to set up the wires for tonight?"

"Sure."

"So you're going tonight." Esposito nodded. Then a thoughtful look flitted across his face. "Have you told Lanie?"

"No."

Her short reply convinced him he would be was wise to leave it at that. They were all still adjusting to the new power relationships in the bull-pen. No one as much as her. This was a fact her colleagues were well aware enough and tried to smooth. A part of that was being careful and giving Beckett her space after she had been in a room with Gates.

She snatched up her bag.

"You going somewhere boss?"

"Lunch. Tell Lanie we'll be at the morgue at two sharp so she's better have the key ready."