Her punishment would start the following Monday which meant she could keep her usual brunch date with her dad that Sunday. Castle wanted to come, but she felt the change in their relationship needed a little prep work first. Johanna's murder, his drinking, and her working in such a dangerous profession kept them bonded in a rather peculiar way. Adding to that mix would take some getting used to. In addition, she needed to update him on her work situation. She would blame it all on her terrible interaction with Ann. Bracken would not be mentioned because there was no proof - atleast not yet. Confessing to a thoughtless act would not please him, and Castle didn't need to hear the rather stern admonishment she knew would follow.
After refills of their coffee, she began, "I need to tell you something. Castle and I are together." His face offered no hint of a response. She continued, "He is a good man, and for the first time in perhaps forever, I want this to work. He loves his mother and daughter in just the way I want to be loved."
"He doesn't have that reputation in the tabloids from what I read. Are you just a diversion until some new shiny thing comes along?"
"Dad, he hasn't been that guy for months - maybe years. He is showing me his tabloid image is just that. He knows all about Mom and has understood our need for closure. As you once said, dad, half the battle is just showing up, and he has done that even when I ridiculed him. It took me along time to realize it, but I am better with him in my life. I have never really contemplated a future with anyone else. But with him, I want to try."
"Katie, this is a big change from your past boyfriends who you rarely mentioned or introduced. Both of us are not exactly extroverts, and well, he's that in spades. Are you sure you are ready to keep up with the drama he will undoubtedly bring?"
"Dad, we have both been in a sorrowful haze for years now. It is familiar, but is it right? Would Mom want us like this so many years after? I think she would be the first to say we deserve better. I know jumping into this with him will bring some public scrutiny neither of us care for, but I think his days of fawning to the press are over. I think he will respect our boundaries and hope you can be receptive to him, his family, and his intentions."
Put like that, I don't see how any father can refuse. How do you want to proceed?"
"I think dinner with Castle would be a good start. He will be nervous, but that should dissipate quickly. If that goes well, then perhaps a dinner at the loft with Martha and Alexis would be next. Martha can be brash so you need to prepare for that. Alexis, on the other, is the sanest of the bunch. I know you will like her immediately."
He nodded, and now Kate felt emboldened to broach her second bit of news. "At work things are also changing. I kind of fibbed to a fellow officer, and the new Captain is rightly pissed about it. Javi and I were on a case and got carried away. He has chosen to resign. I am going to take my lumps. The punishment is twelve weeks off homicide doing something far more tedious. It is a very public rebuke, and I have a lot of apologies to make to my peers."
Jim responded, "Your greatest weakness is your overzealousness. Does Castle help you with that?"
"He didn't know, and we are going to talk about it, I'm sure. If anything, that should tell you he is not like all the rest." Jim nodded approvingly, and the conversation meandered on to other topics.
As she returned to the loft, she found Castle preoccupied with a menu. When she had told him about the next twelve weeks, he had immediately begun scheming how to make it better. One plus would be a standard schedule including lunches. Castle seized on that and found a restaurant close by with a lush courtyard full of greenery. He cajoled the owner into having a standing reservation overlooking the greenery where lunches would be on the table within five minutes after their arrival. Kate was sure some exorbitant amount of money had changed hands and tried to be cross about it. The problem was it was loosing out to her internal glee. This sweet, sweet man; how lucky can I get? They kissed, and as Castle would soon appreciate that a gleeful Beckett is a horny Beckett.
On her first day back, she chose to arrive early in order to catch Ann before the start of her shift. As Ann was finishing her equipment check, Kate approached and said, "Ann I hope we can talk for a few minutes?" Ann stopped her check and turned to face her without saying a word. "First and foremost, I am very sorry for putting you in that position the other day. It was wrong and terribly disrespectful of you as a fellow officer. I have been on this job long enough to know better, and I utterly disregarded a basic tenet of our profession."
Ann responded angrily, "Kate you put me in an awful position. I am barely out of rookie status, and I have to go tell the Captain about the big error I made. I hoped to make a career of this, and that little discussion sure didn't help. Since she is from IA, I'm not sure what she will do. I am in purgatory, and my partner and sergeant seem to have lost faith in me."
"The only good news is everybody is aware you are the root cause of all this. I know you are headed to records, and I hope Tracy makes your life miserable. Cops here once held you in high esteem Kate - not anymore. There is already a pool about when you and Tracy will come to blows. You have a lot to atone for, and everyone is primed to pile on if they can. I see you are wearing a uniform today. That means something to your coworkers - try to live up to it." Kate watched as Ann shuffled away along with couple of other officers who were standing well within earshot. The strident anger in Ann's voice was way more than she expected.
Heading to the stairway, Kate ran into Ann's patrol supervisor., Tom Cato. He frowned and said, "WTF, Beckett? How could you do this to someone? We all know about your mother, but you have no right to tarnish others because of it. I am trying to get Gates to overlook this as a rookie mistake, but she is not very forthcoming. Ann had a promising start and now this. She is becoming tentative, and that's when mistakes happen. She may need a remedial TO, and that stigma sticks."
Kate understood his disdain and responded, "I know what I did was wrong, and I have just come from publicly apologizing to Ann. If I get an opportune moment with Gates, I will make the case that this is all on me as someone who should have known better. If she focuses on me, perhaps she will forget about Ann." Tom nodded and walked away encouraged. Gates clearly wanted this discipline to build her rapport with the rank-and file, and perhaps deferring on Ann while unloading on Beckett was the option he hoped she would settle on.