Beckett began her apology tour with a call to Gates around 10:00AM on Friday. She had been rash - not thinking straight. She needed her job, and her record showed she was damn good at it. Gates told her there was a way to make this all go away, but there would be punishment first and changes after reinstatement. Another priority would be replacing Detective Esposito and integrating that person into the flow of her team. Kate knew this was coming and opted to use the vacancy to advocate for Castle's place on the team indefinitely. Gates was not enthused, but admitted this was not the time to revisit that issue. Gates countered with a caveat of her own. After reinstatement her days of going rogue were over. She was not Montgomery, and all her homicide teams would work by the book or not at all.
After a lunch with Castle, Kate suggested they break their routine and adjourn to her place for the weekend. Castle loved the idea; it was another slice of the Beckett onion he so wanted to unravel. He had been there a few times, but had not really perused the place the way he would have liked. She knew it was a big step, but he was worth it. That was a paradigm change none of her prior lovers brought to the relationship. Instead of having one foot planted out the door; she wanted both feet inside the door.
The first night they stayed in after getting all the essentials for dinner and breakfast the next morning. Before Castle, grocery shopping was a dreaded task. With him every isle offered options for meals or fantastic tales that exposed his vivid imagination in a good way. Preparation was a joint affair, and the dinner conversation centered on the outlines of deal Gates put on the table.
The good news was Gates wanted Kate back and was willing to include Castle as part of the deal. The bad news was loosing Espo, the yet to be determined punishment she must accept, and worst of all, training a new member of the team. They had been such a well oiled machine before. This would bring inevitable hiccups as the new person joined the sandbox. Ryan and Castle could help, but she would have to have a hand in it. The only silver lining was that her team's success record would likely attract a slue of eager candidates who might need just a minimum amount of hand holding.
The night in her bed was much more subdued than usual. They were getting used to each other, and she loved waking to his arm draped somewhere over her naked body. It felt safe; something she used to feel knowing her gun was within easy reach. He made breakfast, and it was a delicious feast. Normally this meal consisted of just coffee and maybe something stale from the frig, but with Castle it was a culinary excursion not to be missed. They would need to talk; her figure could not get used to this.
The rest of the weekend was filled with perfect love haze moments except for the overdue call to Espo. Gates had confirmed exactly what she expected. It was not the outcome she wanted, but Espo deserved her support no matter what. The call itself was cordial and full of nostalgia provided nothing about Kevin was brought up. When she suggested just the two of them getting together, she knew by his silence it was a bridge too far. He had made the mental break and wasn't in the mood to reminisce.
Later wrapped in Castle's arms, she lamented that her mother's murder had claimed yet another innocent. It was the grief that just kept on giving. Castle held her tight and listened as a rare crying jag began over everything she had lost trying to get justice for Johanna. That's when she finally told Castle about Gate's emphatic condition about following procedure. It seemed oddly unnecessary. Her high closure rate was a direct result of her doing just that. Following procedure was never a problem unless it was about her mother's case. How had that come to the fore? A direct order against looking into that would be a hard pill to swallow, but perhaps some good could come of it. A hiatus would allow them time to solidify their relationship and jointly devise a covert strategy to hold Bracken accountable. The first part would be wonderful; the second part would be a wild ride where everything, including them, could fall apart.
The meeting with Gates was not fun. In a surprise to Kate, Ann Hastings had confessed to Gates that Kate, Esposito, and Castle had misrepresented themselves in order to gain access to the Bracken event. The key question was why, and Gates was sure it had to do with with Kate's mother. Nothing else made sense. Even Kate realized it was a huge blunder that she had not considered in her arrogant rush to confront Bracken. Not being straight with a fellow officer was about the worst thing you could do. When Gates confronted her, Kate's unresponsiveness did not go over well. "Kate, your silence is not helping, and the only conclusion I can draw is that somehow this is connected to your mother. I have no idea what fanciful idea you have about the Senator's involvement, but you are not going on any wild goose chases on my watch. From this point on, that case is officially off limits to you or any of your cohorts. Go near it, and your career is over even if I have to fight the Mayor. Got it!" Kate nodded knowing she was in no position to object given her silence and unforgivable treatment of Ann. The former was a mess for later. The latter would be all over the precinct by now and needed some immediate groveling starting with a very public apology to Ann.
Next came her sentence. Kate knew Gates would want to use it as a way to show her coworkers that the new captain, unlike Montgomery, had no favorites. She did not disappoint. For the next twelve weeks she would work for Sergeant Tracy in the bowels of the Twelfth filing and scanning records. Tracy was practically a legend in the building because everyone knew any file under his control would be in perfect order. Interactions with him were purely professionally, and anyone daring to question his files would receive a stern rebuke on arcane NYPD procedure that would give them pause about ever questioning him again. He was not a man to be trifled with. He would demand very strict adherence to the rules, monitor her performance, and very likely get in her face if she dared to question or not follow procedure.
After accepting her fate, she was instructed to see Tracy about a special security clearance. When she got there, he had blank forms for her to have access to both Hera and Zeus. These were massive systems maintained by NYPD central records. Hera was the main system, and Zeus was the backup. When she returned the completed forms, he informed her that uniforms were the expectation here. These records deserved respect; they were the essential backbone of all police work. As such, anyone charged with their care needed to look the part. After finishing with Chief Gates, she knew compliance not defiance was the best course of action.