Once Lost But Now Found

Chapter 12 - Assignments

As the Top Person in her class, Beckett had choice of duty station assignments. She chose the 12th precinct as that was the station in the jurisdiction in her neighborhood of Manhattan. She was also assigned as a Uniform to the Homicide Division which was her target goal where she wanted eventually to be as a detective. She was pleased when they gave her Alpha Squad, the highest rated Homicide Team in the NYPD.

Head Detective for Alpha was one Detective Lieutenant Roy Montgomery who was the second highest ranking officer at the 12th next to the Captain. In fact, Montgomery served as second in command when the Captain was on leave or gone from the station. Rumors were that Montgomery was slated to be the next Captain when the present one retired. The next senior detective on Alpha was Detective Sergeant 1st Grade Mike Reese, who had the dubious distinction of having more years in at the 12th than any other man including Montgomery and the Captain. The other members of Alpha were Detective 2nd Grade, Jordan Shaw, a transfer from the Chicago PD when her husband's job had him moving to NYC. The junior member of Alpha was Detective 3rd grade, Colin Hunt.

Kate was surprised when she was introduced to Hunt as she heard a definite English accent. When she asked him about it many weeks later, he told her he was actually born and grew up in the London till middle school. His mom is American, a native New Yorker, who met and married his father in London when she finished college at Oxford. The family moved to Manhattan when his father's import-export business expanded and the NYC office changed to the HQ of his father's business. Colin had finished high school in one of NYC's private schools and then went on to Boston College. He wanted to become a cop when his best childhood friend was killed and the case went unsolved. Colin had closed the case as the first cold case that he had ever taken on. Kate realized then from Colin's story, that he would be a great mentor for her on solving her mother's cold case.

Demming and Espo had gotten assigned to the 54th Precinct. Ryan had gotten some hush hush undercover assignment with the Drug Enforcement Division of the NYPD. Rumors were Ryan was specially chosen for a deep cover assignment on the Irish mob. Ryan's Irish blood and finishing in the upper third of the class were major reasons for his selection. Karpowski and Hastings went to the 21st as uniforms. Lanie of course wound up in the ME office along with Perlmutter. Quite surprisingly, Edwards wound up with her at the 12th as a uniform. Initially he was to be a patrol officer with a regular beat, but when Homicide needed a new uniform as the incumbent had transferred to the 29th for family reasons, a uniform opening had become available.

The request for replacement was for a rookie who could be trained and eventually move to detective giving Alpha some potential long lasting members. It was unusual to have two rookie uniforms together. Normally a senior uniform was paired with a rookie. But the 12th was known for home growing their detectives. And with very senior detectives on the Alpha squad, they could take care of training their uniforms as potential detectives. Kate suspected that is one reason why she had been given an assignment to Homicide.

Kate realized that if Montgomery moved up to Captain, and Reese was close to retirement, Shaw and Hunt would move up also and there would be two junior vacancies for detectives on Alpha. This was a good development for her if it should come about. Uniforms assigned to Homicide were essentially gophers (go for). They did the dirty work, such as dumpster diving to retrieve evidence, crowd control at murder scenes, tagging and bagging evidence with the necessary paperwork (chain of custody, inventory, etc.), and any gopher duties as directed by homicide detectives. Despite this, it was a good mentoring ground for becoming a homicide detective. So there they were, Beckett and Edwards, reporting as new uniforms to the 12th Precinct Homicide Division.

Brent Edwards was extremely pleased with his assignment. He and Kate were the new uniforms for Alpha squad in homicide. How had he lucked out?! To be with Beckett, the women he was actively pursuing once again so they might become a couple. They had been an item in high school. Beckett had been his first, and he had been Her's. Sometimes you don't know what you have until you lose it. He had foolishly let her go. He had done that to Kate Beckett, when he had cheated on her with her BFF, Maddy Queller. Now years later and after several broken relationships; he had come to realize what he had with her when he let her get away. He wanted her back and what better way then to be her work partner. He could concentrate on making her see that he was a changed man and the one who should be with her.

Still, he had obstacles to overcome. He had to regain Kate's trust in him, something he had lost when he cheated on her. Then there was the situation with Rick Castle, her baby daddy. He knew that both had mutually decided to be together to test out whether they could become a serious couple. They were exploring if their unusual relationship could lead to them becoming man and wife. Brent knew that Castle was a serious contender for Kate's heart. Castle had the advantage. They were living together raising their child. So when Kate was not with him on the job, she was with Castle at his loft. HIs mind experienced a sense of jealousy on Kate's arrangement with Castle, thinking how every night she slept in his bed. He did not know about their agreement to abstain from physical intercourse.

Still, the two had an 'open' relationship that allowed them to date others. Neither of them were dating others. So Brent would pursue Kate even when knew his odds for capturing her heart once again were slim. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. He would give Castle a tough challenge and Brent counted on the fact that he and Kate had a history together.

Reporting To The 12th.

They both were standing in front of Lt. Roy Montgomery's desk getting a welcome aboard speech from their new C.O.

"Both of you come highly qualified. Beckett, top of your class out of the academy. Edwards, in the upper one third of the same class. You both have good potential for gaining your gold badge from here. This is a crack team, observe and learn. As uniforms, you will be doing all the grunt work but if you learn, and learn well, you can get that gold shield of a detective here. So welcome to Alpha."

"Thank you sir", they both say in unison to their C.O.

"Okay then, Detective Hunt will show you to your desks. Also, one thing, when it is slow in Alpha and you have no duties assigned, you will have your own patrol beat, back with the other uniform squads. You will normally be paired with a senior uniform when this happens."

They report to Detective Hunt.

"One assignment that is expected of you daily is to prepare the office coffee before the detectives come in. That means you come in first in the morning and get the coffee ready. Work it out among yourselves. I know past uniforms had an agreement that whoever came in first, started the coffee. We will expect a cup of coffee readied for when we come in. The lieutenant takes his black, Sergeant Reese likes a little cream in his, an a packet of sweetener, Shaw and I take it black also, but mine will have a teaspoon of sugar. When on a case, in the mornings, you are to check that the murder board is up to date. Any new evidence from the previous day will be on the update report which you will prepare for us and presented first thing. That's it for now, other taskings may come as the ME data comes in for the current murder case."

That first day they were given the task of retrieving phone call data on one suspect. They were to go to court for the warrant and then head to the phone company to retrieve the records. When they got to the court, they had to wait for the judge to sign the warrant, since he was presently presiding in his court. It was a 45 minute wait. As they sat waiting, Edwards goes up to the judge's legal clerk and ask if there is coffee. She gives him the location of the coffee stand and Brent gets two coffee's.

"Here you go Kate, might make the waiting go faster", he says handing her the coffee.

"Thanks, I needed this."

"Not the most glamorous of duties here, I had visions of chasing killers and bringing them down."

"You've seen too many cop movies Brent. Like LT Montgomery said, we do the grunt work!"

They no sooner finish their coffee when the legal clerk says to them, "Here are your signed warrants, officers, please initial the custody sheet for your warrants."

They then head to the telephone company where it is another ninety minutes waiting till the computer data can be retrieved and printed out for them. Again another cup of coffee as they wait. Once done, they head back to give the report to Hunt.

"Okay great work and in record time."

"You mean it normally takes longer than we took", both had said, thinking they had taken too long at their task.

"Such is the nature of gopher work. Now, go over this record for the last two months of calls and see which calls have numerous entries. Give me an analysis of the calls: name of the caller contacted, number of calls made to them, the dates they were made, and duration of the calls. If you concentrate, you might have that done by the end of the day. That data should be on your update sheet for the murder board tomorrow and presented to us first thing before murder board morning review."

That was their first day and they were now getting what it meant to gather data and evidence. It could be slow and tedious work, but both of them were happy to be part of a homicide investigation.

At The Loft

Kate took the subway back to the loft. When she enters she goes straight to the kitchen knowing Rick is cooking dinner. As she enters the kitchen, she sees Alexis in her highchair, and Rick at the stove cooking. Upon seeing her mother, Alexis coo's and starts moving her arms up and down with her legs kicking excitely. After graduating, they got a week off as reward and Alexis had gotten use to being with her mother all day.

Kate sees her daughter and says, "Hi there Lexy, did you miss mommy?", giving her daughter a kiss.

"Mommy's home", responds Rick to seeing Kate giving Alexis a kiss, "how was your first day?"

"Well, the reality of being a uniform out of homicide is eye opening. We do the not so glamorous leg work, which is tedious and time consuming. Still, it is exhilarating knowing I am close to completing yet another of my goals."

"It is what it is Kate, but I know you will do well!:"

"One other thing, Brent Edwards is my partner."

"Oh", replies Rick, "how did that happen?". Rick tries to mask his surprise and concern from her. He had thought once Kate become a rookie on probation the whole matter of other men in her life would fade, particularly as it related to Edwards.

"The senior uniform transferred to the 29th due to personal family reasons, so our C.O. wanted to replace him with another rookie rather than a senior uniform. Appears they want to home grow replacement detectives who will stick around for some time."

"That's a good break for you...and Edwards. It is also good that your partner is a classmate and your ex." His response is measured, and not totally truthful. It was a great opportunity for Kate, even though he had not wanted it for Edwards. Any other men but Edwards would have done well for the job. On rethinking his reaction, Rick also threw Tom Demming into the mix. He clearly had hoped both men would be out of reach for Kate. This was one of those road bumps that the universe put on them in their way to becoming a declared couple, as people around them knew they were not exclusive.

Kate senses the tension in Rick's reply, but before she can respond to ease that tension, they hear someone coming down the loft's stairway. It is Martha Rodgers, dress to the kill in one of her colorful outfits.

"Katherine", she says upon noticing Kate, "how was your first day at work?"

"Eye-opening Martha, the reality is now sinking in about being a homicide uniform."

"You will do well Katherine, I know it."

"So where are we off to now Mother, hot date?"

"Dinner date with a producer friend who has a part in his new play that he says is made just for me."

"That sounds encouraging."

"Well, it also might be they want to advertise that Martha Rodgers, Tony Award winning actress, is part of the cast. It is as much marketing as it is cast selection."

"Well good luck then Mother."

"Well let me hedge the deal but getting a good luck kiss from my granddaughter", she says as she gives Alexis a kiss.

Alexis upon seeing her grandmother starts waving her hands excitedly, much as she had done for her mother. She coo's in delight as Martha gives her a kiss.

"Tu-de-loo, am off to get the part", Martha says as she heads out the door.

Upon Martha's departure, Kate says what she had intended to say before Martha came on the scene, "Rick this thing with Edwards is not going to be a problem with you, is it?"

"Kate, why should it be. I am happy you have a partner you know. Besides, we agreed this would be an open relationship and we can see others. Just let me know if it gets more serious then it is now. We can discuss it."

"Always", she responds squeezing Rick's hand affectionately, "you will be the first to know. We agreed to be honest and transparent with one another."

"Good, let's have dinner", says Rick but deep inside he is trying not to be affected now knowing that Kate is partnered with her old flame. Not just an old flame, but her very first. The universe does have a way of making life's path a twisting and winding road. Rick decided he would just go with the flow for now and see where it leads!