AN: So sorry for the late update! I saw Lady Gaga Thursday and apparently, I still think I'm 21 and can pull all-nighters and party, but my body reminded me that I cannot and was nursing a fever after not resting the next day. It was worth it though. Anyways, enjoy the update! In the future, you can follow me on Twitter for any unexpected delays (or if you just want to see my fangirl tweets and the occasional dog pictures and "I need a new job" tweets).
CH10
Kate looked in the mirror, examining herself. Did she look okay? It was her first day back and she was, well, nervous. She passed all her tests with flying colors (no surprise), but it had been almost two years since she was back. Her thoughts were cut off when she saw Castle behind her in the mirror. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
"You look great." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Everyone is excited to see you back. Present company included. I can't wait to see you in action."
"Well, I hope I don't disappoint you, but it might be a paperwork kind of day."
"As much as I hate paperwork, I can't wait to see you do it."
"Why is that?" She turned around in his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I see the way you balance the books of Johanna's. You sometimes twirl your hair when you're thinking. You bite your bottom lip when you're trying not to get frustrated. And when you do get frustrated, you have this cute little pout. That and the way you hold a pen."
"The way I hold a pen?"
"Yea, it….I don't know. You would think that holding a pen would be simple, but with you…sometimes one of your fingers glides down it slowly and it makes my mind go to a place where…"
"I got it, Castle."
"You asked." He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I'll meet you at the precinct." She looked at him, a bit confused, since she thought they were going together. "I have to stop at home. Gina is asking for the second draft of Heat Wave."
She nodded. "I'll see you there." She kissed him once more before he left.
—-
She had arrived at the precinct and it felt good, really good. She was back at her desk, her elephants back where they belonged, and a bag of M&M's (a welcome back gift from a few officers). She was just about to go get herself coffee when she saw Castle coming in with two coffee cups. She smiled and took the one that was meant to be for her. "Did Gina need the second draft?"
He smiled. "She did, but that's not what I ended up doing…as you can see."
"You do know that I can't protect you from her."
"Oh my dear detective, you wouldn't let any harm come to me. It's against your oath to not protect and serve."
Her smile was still on her face before she took a sip of coffee. She saw the elevator doors open and to say that she was surprised to see who was walking in was an understatement. Castle looked over in the direction of the elevator as well. "What's Senator Bracken doing here?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." She wasn't sure why, but she always hated that man. He walked into Esposito's office and shut the door behind him. "Hopefully he's not here to rip Esposito apart."
She went back to her desk, Castle following her, and sat down next to her. She had moved his chair, which was next to Ryan's desk, over to hers before he arrived. "Everything okay at Johanna's this morning?"
"When I stopped for coffee, it looked like they were doing well. Your dad was there too, but as a customer and making sure that everything was going well. The people you hired seem to love it there."
She smiled. "I'm glad. As long as things keep going well I may have to hire someone to manage the front. My dad said he'd still help out, but…."
She was interrupted by Esposito. "Beckett." She looked up at him with Senator Bracken standing beside him. "The Senator has informed me that he was almost killed last night. He doesn't trust anyone on his team, so he's come to us. Detective, you're one of my best...and the only one not on a case at the moment. Senator Bracken, meet Detective Beckett and Richard Castle."
She shook the hand that he had extended. "It's nice to meet you, senator."
"I've heard a lot about you, detective."
She wasn't sure why, but she felt like he knew her already and she couldn't shake the feeling. Also, why was he coming to homicide for protection? "Let's head into the break room and you can debrief me on the situation at hand." She got up from her desk and tapped Castle on his shoulder while passing him, letting him know she wanted him to come along. When they got to the break room, she turned her attention to Bracken.
"Senator Bracken, do you have any enemies? Can you think of anyone that would like to kill you?"
He hesitated for a moment. "I get threatening letters and emails all the time."
"Any of them that you would think would be valid threats?"
They're not from you, so no, he thought. "Nothing that comes to mind."
"We're going to have to look through them, emails, letters, etc."
"By all means, but detective, I think you'd be wasting your time."
"Then it's my time to waste."
She went to stand up and head towards the door when he stopped her with her words.
"So, what made you want to come back to homicide? I saw on the news about your shooting a year ago. Not many people would survive that."
There was something in his voice she didn't like. How he said that last sentence. She felt an unexplained chill go through her. She eyed him. What did he know? "Because I realized that when I catch said killer or killers, there's no better feeling." Well, actually she had come to realize that there was one other feeling that was just as good (if not better) as getting justice. However, she was not going to say that to a US Senator nor was she going to stroke Castle's ego.
She left Bracken in the break room, to make his call to provide them with the letters that they needed. She didn't have to look back to know that Castle was following her. She knew it was going to be a long night. As she sat down at her desk, she spoke. "Castle, it's going to be a long night going through all these. You don't have to stick around."
"Two eyes are better than one. Plus, from what Ryan has told me about you in the past it's that you sometimes forget to eat. I will gladly be the one who gets you lunch, dinner, and whatever else you might need."
She gave him a soft smile, glad that he was wanting to stay. It was going to make her job more manageable. She glanced over to the break room, watching the senator. "Am I the only one that doesn't like him?"
"Well, I didn't vote for him."
"That's not what I meant. I feel like he's hiding something."
"He's a politician. He's definitely hiding something."
"I'm not talking about the usual affair or the secret love child. There's something more there."
"What are you thinking? An alien from another planet?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm thinking that whoever is trying to kill him might have a good reason. And I don't like that feeling, siding with a killer."
"Kate, you're not siding with a killer. You'd never go and purposely kill someone."
"I might if they had killed my mother."
"You wouldn't. Not even then. Because you believe in justice. And that's revenge, not justice."
She let her fingers brush against his hand, giving him a silent thank you. They hadn't known each other long, but in moments like these, she felt like he knew her better than anyone…including herself.
