FIXIT No. SIX
A short AU story that wonders how it might have been if Kate had fought for her partner when she came back from her shooting to a 12th precinct run by Iron Gates.
A/N: I will admit that this isn't a rewrite of a particular scene from the show. Instead it's just a different way a situation could have been handled.
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Detective Beckett threw the eraser at her nearly naked murder board. She was frustrated, she was pissed, and she knew exactly why.
"Hey Beckett, take it easy. You'll bust a gasket." Esposito tried to calm down his boss. "What did that poor eraser ever do to you?"
Kate turned on her longtime partner. "Well then don't just sit there, come up with something. Something that will give us a clue as to how to find out who killed this woman."
Ryan walked over and glanced over the murder board. "We just need a lead of some sort."
Kate glared at her other partner. "Yah think? Did you come up with that idea all by yourself Ryan? Are you sure you didn't steal that bit of wisdom from Espo?"
Esposito shook his head. "You just need a cup of coffee, Beckett. Go grab a cup. It'll settle you down. You need some coffee."
She glared at both of them. "No, I need a freakin' lead, I need my partner, I need Castle!"
Ryan just shook his head and Espo repeated the bad news.
"Yeah, that ain't happening anytime soon. You should have heard Iron Gates on that subject. I ain't having no dilettante writer traipsing around in my precinct." Esposito snorted. "Her precinct, like the woman has been here all of five minutes and she's strutting around like a queen."
The boys could almost see the steam coming from Kate's ears. "Well, Ms. I.A. Big Shot, is going to find out that the peasants under her command have a few things to say about how things have been done in the past at the 12th. And we did pretty damn well before she ever showed up. From what I've seen so far, her methods haven't exactly been any more successful than the way we did things before she showed up."
Both Javi, and Kevin rushed over and put their hands on her shoulders.
"Don't go in there and get yourself suspended, Kate." Espo tried to calm her down. "We just got you back, and we can't afford to lose you via a suspension."
Kate had managed to work herself up. "I won't have to worry about any suspension." She gave her boys a nasty smile. "She might fire me, but she won't suspend me." She patted Espo on the cheek. "I can always quit."
Esposito and Ryan stared in horror as Kate marched toward Captain Gates' office.
Kate approached the captain's office and knocked on the door jam.
"Do you have a few minutes, Sir?"
Gates waved Kate into her office. "How can I help you, Detective?"
As she moved into the Captain's office, Kate slyly pulled the door closed.
"Sir, as I understand it, as the lead detective of my team, I have the authority to bring in an expert to consult on a case if I deem it necessary."
Gates nodded. "That is true. Is it for this current case?"
Kate kept her features blank. "Yes Sir."
"Who is this expert that you wish to have consult?"
Kate stiffened her back. "Richard Castle."
A very sour expression came over Gate's face. "Really, you're trying to pull back Mr. Castle by calling him an expert consultant. What exactly is Mr. Castle's expertise detective?"
"People," Kate boldly answered.
Gates brow rose. "People? I didn't know that was a course of study." She sounded mildly sarcastic.
Kate nodded. "For Castle it is. For all the occasional childish innocence he exudes, and the former page 6 stories made up by his publicist to sell books, he's not that man. He has one of the sharpest minds I've ever known. But he's not like us. He's not a cop."
"No, he's not." Gates jumped in, considering it a point for her side of the argument.
Kate chuckled. "And thank god for that." The captain had a surprised look on her face. "I've got myself, and two well NYPD trained detectives on my team. It doesn't do us any good to have someone who would just parrot the same things we learned in the Academy. It helps to have someone who has a different frame of reference. I know a lot of people say that Castle 'thinks out of the box'." Kate shook her head. "That's too simple. Hell, he thinks out of the whole warehouse."
Kate took a deep breath. "He sees things that we miss because we are trained to look for motive, opportunity, and then to find evidence to prove the assumptions we've made based on what our training has prepared us for. And that works most of the time."
Kate shook her head, which caused her hair to slap herself in the cheek. "Castle looks for the story. He sees what's before him and he creates stories that will fit in with what he sees. If he can't find the story that makes sense, then we are missing something."
Kate sees that Gates is about to break in with a comment so she tries to head her off. "Sure, he'll spout some crazy theory about time travel, or aliens. Or make up some nonsense about secret agents or mob hits." Kate grinned. "That's one of his favorites."
Kate composed herself. "But he does that to lessen the stress and the tension we've put ourselves under. It gives us a breather, a chance to roll our eyes at him, go get a cup of coffee, then get back to the grind with a clear head."
Gate fiddled with some papers on her desk. "I seem to recall hearing that in that first year he was shadowing you, he wasn't always this appreciated. You sang a different tune having him following you around."
Kate shrugged. "I admit it. I was a buttoned up, closed off person who had no life outside of my work. I didn't appreciate Rick's belief that I needed to let off some steam sometimes, let my hair down as it were. Of course I didn't appreciate that. But, you know what? He was right, and for all the times I cursed him for disrupting my life in a box, I've since thanked him many times more for helping me become a better cop, and a better person."
Gates frowned. "Are you going to stand there and tell me you want Richard Castle on your team because he's such an asset and not because you have feelings for him?"
Kate stared Gates right in the eyes. "Yes."
Gates frowned deeper. "Really?"
Kate held back a smirk. "My personal feelings toward Richard Castle are irrelevant to this discussion. Let's check the facts, shall we? I believe that my team, which has been together for over five years now, has had an exemplary closure rate."
Gates nodded. "Number one at the 12th, and in the top five amongst all precincts. You should be proud."
Kate smiled. "I am. But did you know that the first year that Castle joined us, we had an uptick in our closure rate of two percent, in the second year it was up five percent, and last year it was up nearly ten percent."
"Impressive," Gates reluctantly acknowledged. "How do you know those numbers?"
Kate smirked just a little. "I looked them up."
"So are you saying that you think that Mr. Castle is largely responsible for that?"
Kate shook her head again. "Not entirely. But his presence on the team definitely was."
"I'm not following you." Gates had a frown on her face.
Kate spread her hands out. "He not only helped us find clues and leads that we wouldn't have found if he hadn't been there. But he also, in a real sense, taught us how to be better cops too. We had the proper training, but he helped us see beyond 'the book' and we benefitted by it. He also helped us prevent burnout by defusing high stressful situations. It's hard to lose your cool if you are laughing at a silly joke."
Gate just shook her head. She was being hard headed about this. "Having a civilian along on any police matter is asking for trouble."
Kate nodded. "Which is why I presented him as an expert consultant. And one of the best kind. He doesn't charge the NYPD anything."
Gates pursed her lips. "I'm not stupid, detective, but there are still catches involved with all this. It bothers me that he was allowed into the precinct because of favoritism. Coming from Internal Affairs, that's always a touchy subject with me."
"I won't deny that's how this all started." Kate chuckled again. "Because he sure as hell would never gotten in that first week if I had had anything to say about it. But now I'm very glad that it was pushed through for the 'good publicity' that it brought to the NYPD."
Gates still frowned. "I still don't like it."
Kate nodded. "I can understand that, but let me fill you in on a few things about Richard Castle. First, as you know, he's friends with the mayor. They play cards together. Part of his Gotham poker group." Kate chuckled. "Roy Montgomery was also one, which is why he was able to get his nose in close enough to ask for the 'ride a long'.
Kate raised her brows. "But he also has a couple other poker buddies that you might know. One is Judge Markaway, and that has come in handy more than once when we needed a judge to sign off on a warrant quickly. I'm not really sure whether the Commissioner plays poker or not, but I know they are friends also." Kate laughed. "Castle didn't go into this blind. He had it planned out pretty well, and I for one am very glad that he did. And you have to admit the positive publicity he brings doesn't hurt." Kate was on a roll.
"It also doesn't hurt that he generously donates to various NYPD charities. He's especially generous to the widows and orphans fund." Kate smiled.
Gates paced back and forth her frown still on her face. "I know he signed all the paperwork that absolved the NYPD of any liability for anything that might happen to him while working alongside any member of the NYPD. But it bothers me that he also puts you and your team in greater danger in having to protect him along with yourselves."
Kate shrugged. "He did sign it. He bought his own protective vest. Which happens to be better than our standard issue vests, but I am a little annoyed that he can't get a carry permit for a handgun. He's actually one of the best marksmen I've ever seen."
"Which doesn't do him any good if he doesn't have a gun with him out in the field." Gates grumped. "I know you considered him as your partner, but he can't protect you when you go to make an arrest. And I'm sure you constantly worried about him in those dangerous situations. That's a scenario that makes me very uncomfortable."
"I understand that." Kate shrugged again. "You know he'd tried to jump in front of the sniper's bullet at Captain Montgomery's funeral. He was willing to take the bullet to save me. And that does bother me. He has a mother and a daughter that depend on him. I do have nightmares that he did take that bullet for me, and his daughter hates me for the rest of her life."
"So why don't you ban him from going along on take downs, or dangerous suspect visits?"
Kate shook her head again. "He knows he's my partner and as such, he feels he should always be there to protect me if needed. "
"He does know that you worry about him in those situations?" Gates added. "And that makes it more dangerous because you have to worry about him also?"
Kate had a sad smile on her face. "He's my partner. He's going to go where I go."
Gate stared at Beckett for several minutes.
"How about we do this Kate. I will allow Mr. Castle back into the precinct to work alongside your team again, but I put some conditions on it."
Kate began to smile. "Like no going along into possibly dangerous situations?"
Gates nodded. "Do you think he'll go for that to get back into the precinct with you, Esposito and Ryan"
Kate was smiling. "Oh, he'll hate it, but to get back in he'll agree." Kate cocked her head. "He'll probably complain and call his buddy the mayor, but if I call the mayor first and explain it to him. I think that will work just fine."
Gates nodded. "Okay Kate, I'm glad we had this talk. I'm pleasantly surprised how hard you fought for Mr. Castle to stay on you team. And I appreciate you working with me to come up with a solution that we both can live with."
Kate nodded. "Thank you, Sir."
Kate turned the left the captain's office.
"Hey," Espo hailed her as soon as she was back. "You were in there a long time. What's the verdict?" Ryan came over to hear what she had to say also.
"Yeah, did Gates fire you?" Kevin smirked.
Kate gave them both big smiles, and a fist pump. "Castle is back!"
(Of course Castle consistently found ways to ignore the restrictions he was supposed to follow)
FIN
A/N: I always wondered why Kate never made a pitch to get Castle back in the precinct, other than just letting Castle use the Mayor to force Gates and thus extend her dislike of him.
All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish.
