Coming Out or Going In
by Castlefan6
Authors Note: From a fan prompt (Castle was lent out to Robbery temporarily to work cold cases while Demming is on suspension. Lead Detective Joy Park, a woman with a big secret causes friction between our couple. COMPLETELY AU, Some Scenes and events used to enhance the story,
I don't own Castle; I use the characters for amusement purposes only, except the ones I create.
Also, we take MANY liberties with the timeline from Canon and use events from other Canon episodes to make this a more believable fiction, thanks.
Chapter 14
NYPD Police Academy
Queens New York
Two Months from Kate's Departure from 12th Precinct.
/_/
Kate was sitting in her small office marking off the day, one more down, she wasn't going to even count how many she had left, not yet, that would wait until she got closer to the announcement of the upcoming Captain Position vacancy for the 12th Precinct. Her job now was to convince the brass, especially Commissioner Boyle, and Mayor Weldon she had earned the right to command a precinct.
She had approached the new position by asking for a clear all meeting with Deputy Chief Raul Rodriquez, which he happily agreed to. The last time she had seen her new boss was the day she threatened to put a bullet in his skull before the perp did if she was his backup, not a smart move for a new rookie cop.
She approached the meeting with a great deal of apprehension, not knowing what reception she would get, was she forced on Rodriquez just as he was on her? Was he open to working with her? One thing was for sure, the days where Roy overlooked some of her missteps, well downright violations were over.
She needed to regroup and hold the line if she hoped to regain what she had been planning for, what had been almost promised to her before her fall from grace. Perhaps it was wrong to count her accomplishments before they had occurred but it was almost an unwritten promise that she would replace Roy when he finally retired, not Captain Anderson, where the hell had that come from.
FLASHBACK TWO MONTHS PRIOR
She arrived early Monday morning to see Rodriquez just finishing up his morning workout, he had done it the entire time she was at the academy, so old habits. He noticed her as he walked towards the locker rooms,
"Welcome back Beckett, let me get a shower, grab a cup of coffee and I'll join you in my office in a few minutes," he said kindly, so far so good she thought.
"Yes, Sir sounds good Sir." She replied,
"Kate, call me Rodriquez or Raul, and cut the Sir crap, we need to get this place straightened out and we won't be able to do it unless we can be partners in our efforts, see you in a few minutes," as he walked through to the men's locker room.
Wow, that was different from boot camp where you didn't speak unless the first word out of your mouth was Sir, followed by your request, and always ended in the same word, Sir. She looked around the new facility and was impressed with the modern equipment, the new building, the mere spaciousness alone, thinking back to her days, the academy had made huge improvements.
She made her way to Rodriquez's office and was greeted by a young lady, slightly overweight but cute, with an infectious smile.
"Good Morning Ms. Beckett, I'm Rose, Raul's administrative assistant, and I'll be working with you as well. May I get you a cup of coffee?" She asked her smile still showing,
"No, Good Morning Rose, please call me Kate, and you can show me where the coffee is, I know you are overworked and I don't need to add to your burden by fetching my coffee." She returned the smile,
Rose looked shocked, and said, "Of course and thanks Kate, I'm really swamped so I appreciate it, you're so" then she stopped
"What Rose, nicer than the bitch I've been portrayed to be by those who know me best? Well, their description wasn't far off, so I need help in learning people skills. I'm counting on you to help me out, when I screw up, please?" Kate asked, not knowing or seeing her boss standing in the doorway,
He tapped on the door as he walked in, "I see you've met Rose, she's the glue that holds this place together, and I don't know what we would do without her, treat her good Kate."
"I plan on it Raul, and thanks for the warm welcome, I was a bit, hell I was scared stiff that you would remember"
"Remember what Kate? The last words you said to me, that I better hope you were never my backup because you'd put a bullet in my skull before the perp could? Hard to forget words like that Kate" he smiled,
"But, why"
"Come on into the office Kate, we can talk there, Rose"
"Holding your calls and cleared your calendar for three hours Raul, is that enough time?" Rose smiled,
"Plenty, and thanks, Rose. See what I mean Beckett, you'll grow to depend on her as I have. I want you as your first assignment to work with Rose, and advise if we should add another Admin, I know she works through lunch and never leaves on time. I worry about her burning out, I know you know that story all too well Kate."
"I could write a book about it; I'll be happy to help with that" Kate replied, as they entered his office.
Kate took a seat across from his desk, and for the first time, she saw several shelves with awards, including the Presidential Medal of Valor for Public Safety Officers and the Mayor declaring June 4th as Raul Rodriquez day for his valor.
"They're just awards, Kate, I was in the right or wrong place at the right time." He replied as he took his seat,
"I had no idea, Raul, I mean" Kate stammered
"Look, I'm here because, well I'm sure you know of the old saying those that can, DO, those that can't TEACH. Well, I faced down the barrel of guns a few times too many but I can still teach others how to survive out there." He said sadly,
"We never knew, we just thought"
"Thought what? I was a Son of a Bitch? That I took pleasure in making recruits, men and women cry? Kate, if you were going to break, if your partner who had your life in their hands were going to break it had to be here, in a controlled setting where no one paid with their life.
"I took a lot of pride knowing that none of my recruits, ever caused harm or was wounded in a gunfight through their negligence, I hope some of my training I instilled was part of that reason."
"What happened Raul, why didn't you go back after all these awards? I mean that's a personal question and forget I asked if you don't want to answer." Kate said softly,
"Well, they have a medical term for it now, PTSD, back then it was I just froze, when I tried to return to the field. I almost got my partners killed, and that was the day I went in and resigned, well I tried to. Commissioner Boyle asked me to try this position here at the Academy, and well it's all history now." Raul said softly,
"I'm so sorry Raul, none of us ever knew, I mean"
"Kate, I couldn't let you know, how could you believe this badass who was trying to teach you how to defend yourselves and keep those in your group safe, when he went quivering at the sight of a gun drawn down on him.
"I had a job to do, just like you do now, but you need to do it in a different way than I did. You need to find what works, how can you connect to the recruits, we already have one SOB, sorry I have that handle. You've been through the real world and know what a woman faces, plus you've worked Vice and Homicide.
"What I would like to see is our recruits coming out of here more in touch with reality, what to really expect in the real world from day one. I'm sure there are issues you will want to address with the female candidates, we as a Police Force have done a terrible job of job equality, so we need to work to change that."
Kate smiled for the first time in a long time, "We can do that Raul, I know we can"
"Good, now let's get to work, your first class is in 45 minutes, the course work is in the classroom. Sorry I couldn't give you more lead time, but it's all the basics, don't read it word for word, make the course yours, OK?
"I know I can do that, Raul, thanks for not holding my big mouth against me, I have grown a lot, but still have a long way to go."
"No problem Kate, you're off to a great start, keep it up"
XxX
Wallingford Dr,
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Rick had been hard at work, he wanted to end the HEAT series as soon as possible, well his part of it anyway. Gina and Paula had planned out two releases, approximately 5 months apart to receive the greatest return of reader interest in each book. They knew the series finale was going to be a smash, so they teased the precursor to it, as one of the last in the HEAT series, don't miss out.
Rick had to admit, they were both great at what they did and had converted his feeble attempts on paper into a multi-millionaire business. His original success had provided the seed money to dabble in stocks, and who would have thought he would be a billionaire, something he didn't share with anyone but his attorney, and financial planners. Alexis's Grandkids were set for life if he didn't write another word.
He had arranged a generous amount to be deposited in Joy's account, without her knowledge, what she had brought to his life couldn't be measured in dollars and cents. He wanted her to be secure, no matter how long they had together, or if she, or he, chose to move on from their relationship.
Like the old country song, It Wasn't Love, But It's Not Bad, well it was love but not the traditional type and the sex was more than good. Joy was perhaps the most sensuous partner he had ever had, and his life was complete, at least for now.
The next Heat Novel was titled, High Heat, where Rook had gotten himself in trouble with Nikki and an outside terrorist group. She didn't believe the information Rook had given her until after he went missing, captured by the terrorists, and for the first novel was more case centric than their relationship. For the first time in any of the series, Rick had brought in an additional heroic character from the FBI.
Rick had woven a complicated path until it wasn't Heat that rescued him, but her FBI counterpart and often the object of his admiration, Agent Jordan Shaw just moments before he was set to be put to death. The book ended with Heat fuming that Rook was being debriefed by the FBI without her, but he had promised to call when they were completed. The book ended with Heat in her apartment remembering all of the times Rook was forced to wait on her.
Gina was head over heels with the change in writing style, Rick was so detailed with his case, he had her worried he was actually missing until she stopped to remember it was fiction. It also wasn't lost on her the lack of romantic banters, and sex scenes, in fact, the book went completely sexless.
Rick had submitted the first draft of his outline for the finale, Crashing Heat to her, like all things, partnerships end, relationships break up, and new ones are formed. He wasn't quite clear how he was going to end the series but one end that was definitely off the table was a Rook / Heat hookup. After seven novels, Rick had concluded that just as he and Beckett's relationship had gone nowhere, it wouldn't be realistic to give the fictional versions of them a happy ending.
Gina concurred completely and for the first time in a long time, High Heat came back with minimal edits. Gina had even complimented him on the details and how complex the case was, and how he had kept the separate character streams completely authentic. He had really outdone himself.
Joy was across the hall in her office putting the finishing touches on her portion of the presentation that she and Kevin were presenting next week when she heard him call her name.
"Joy, can you spare a few minutes, something here I'd like you to read" Rick called out,
"Be right there", she called out as she saved her presentation on her computer and spritzed herself with a light spray of his favorite perfume.
She walked into his office to see him at his desk reading a letter from Gina, Oh God, this is either going to be good or a fucking train-wreck she thought.
"OK, Rick is it good news, or does she hate the entire book?" She asked, she had been Rick's sounding board, and also had proofread the book to ensure the case was straight on the details. She had even employed the old murder board to track the different characters
She watched his face, it suddenly lit up to a huge smile, "She has 10 edits, all grammatical, and wrote this letter, I really owe you, Joy. I have never gotten anything close to this from her, hell from any editor." She was in his lap and kissed him,
"Well, we make a pretty good team, if I do say so myself. All I really did was track the case, the details weren't hard, just you had multiple streams going on at one time." She said as she stole another kiss, as he opened the letter to read together.
"Rick,
Congratulations Love, this is the best work you have ever done. I loved it, and couldn't put the manuscript down once I started reading. I actually had to go back and edit it, you had me buy-in as a reader, that's never happened to me before so once again, Congratulations.
I'll arrange the release date with Paula, and let me know if you need to make any changes. The edits I made were purely grammatical, so once again, Great Job, tell Joy she's a hell of a proofreader. Looking forward to seeing you both once we arrange the release date,
Love,
Genes,
Joy was shocked that Gina knew Rick so well, but she was right, he had put his heart and soul into this book, it was his best yet.
"Joy, I'm sorry that Gina is assuming you would come with me to New York," Rick said,
"Why wouldn't I Rick, the only reason I wouldn't is that you don't want me to come with you. I mean if you want time to try to see Kate"
"NO, I'm sorry that came out all wrong, of course, I want you with me if you want to be. I mean I don't want to hold you back; you keep bringing up Kate, what about you Joy, is there someone you would like a do-over with? I mean we have a great whatever we have, I love you, you love me, the sex is the best in my life, but I know you may want something or someone different.
"I'm so sorry, it's the elephant in the room that we never talk about. You ask about Kate, I think this is the first time I have asked you, and for that, I'm sorry. I was rude, and cocky thinking I was enough"
She smiled, then kissed him like he loved to be kissed. "Rick, Baby, I promised I would tell you if someone caught my eye, and you promised to do the same. I agree, I love you, and as for the sex part, God, no complaints there either. I want you to listen to this, I was flipping channels the other day and I caught this song and the lyrics made me stop, if this isn't us, it's damn close." She turned her iPad on and out of came a country tune,
Every Now and Then
The Oak Ridge Boys
When we needed help the most, we found each other
And without you, I don't know where I'd have been
We have soothed each other's quiet desperations
And loved each other every now and then
We have made each other laugh like happy children
You have sometimes felt my teardrops on your hand
And when we can't control our lonely feelings
We love each other now and then
We're a little less than lovers but a little more than friends
Clinging to each other until the darkness ends
We have held each other time and time again
And loved each other every now and then
Someday I'll find the one who's meant for me
And I pray that someday you'll find love again
But we'll always have the very special memories
Of the love, we gave each other now and then
We're a little less than lovers but a little more than friends
Clinging to each other until the darkness ends
We have held each other time and time again
And loved each other every now and then
We have held each other time and time again
And loved each other every now and then
When it finished, he saw the tears in her eyes, he kissed her sweetly. "That song was written for us, the lyrics are us, I hope you feel the same way Joy," He said softly,
She looked up at him, her almond eyes sparkling, and a huge smile, "That's what makes this so special Rick, no matter what happens, nothing or no one will ever tear us apart. Well, I can understand if they make us stop the sex part" she laughed as he picked her up and took her to his room.
Yes, they had work to do, but they also knew that the days they would have like this were limited, and both wanted to make the most of the time they had. The song said every now and then, it was NOW time, he needed to feel the love he always did with her.
TBC