Flashback to six months ago…

Captain Victoria Gates had seen just about every way there was to get on someone's bad side. But in this instance, she was the person who was getting on people's bad sides. After being with Internal Affairs for the last eleven years she was offered a command outside of Internal Affairs. A position that she knows is a setup. Her boss figured that she was on her way to becoming burnt out in her current position and at the rate she was going the NYPD would lose one of their rising stars. She had brought many cops down who were doing questionable things, to put it mildly.

"Victoria, you have done an outstanding job for the NYPD in internal affairs. But I'm worried about you losing sight of your goals. You've been in internal affairs for the last ten-plus years. I think it's time for a change." The deputy chief says.

Victoria Gates is no fool. She knows that she has been here for quite some time and in that time she has put away many dirty cops. But she realizes that she is now being handled by the deputy chief sitting in front of her. Knowing that this could only be the beginning of the end, she sits across from him and waits patiently until the other shoe is dropped. She knows that with her twenty-seven years on the job, it was bound to happen at least once in her career and now she can tell this is what she's looking at.

"As you know Captain Roy Montgomery was murdered in a hangar at an airfield in New Jersey. Due to our current shortage in leadership, we are asking you to step in and take over command of the 12th precinct. Captain Montgomery had made many strides in finding detectives that he could promote from within. His guidance gave two candidates that were promising a fighting chance to become better detectives. He had done so with these detectives to boost morale within the 12th, in particular. The first was detective first grade, Katherine Beckett. And the second was detective second grade, Javier Esposito. He had them working together and after two years he made Beckett a lead detective. Feeling that a third detective was needed to complement the team he transferred a third detective in from Staten Island. His name is detective second grade Kevin Ryan and he rounds out their team."

Victoria decides to speak up and make her opinions known.

"It's not that I don't appreciate the position John, I do, but I'm just wondering about the timing. I'm pretty sure that there are other captains in line for promotion of this measure before I am."

"Victoria as usual you are right. However, there are other factors at play here. Factors I'm not going to discuss these at the present time because there are circumstances beyond both of our control. So with that said you have two choices here. You have achieved retirement age with the department two years ago, and you have the time requirement met to retire on a full pension as well as the age. Or you can take the position at the 12th until further notice. There is no wiggle room here Victoria so choose wisely."

He could see that she was leaning toward taking the position so he decided to drop the second bomb on her.

"I'm just going to give you a little more background on the team that you will be inheriting at the 12th if you decide to take the position. Try not to screw with these people Victoria because they are very good at what they do. Here is a good example."

"When the commissioner noticed that their active cases were being solved at a rate beyond the previous teams assigned to the 12th he decided to throw cases at them that other detectives from different precincts had trouble solving. They became cold cases and the commissioner wanted to see what they could do. He decided to give them cases that were at a dead end. The clues had dried up and as far as the detectives handling the case, well they simply pushed it off."

The deputy chief takes a breath and continues.

"Without complaining they took on the cases that these other detectives could not find a new direction to move forward. Many of them were further along in the investigative process by the detectives working the case but then they hit a brick wall and they simply gave up. Beckett and Esposito grabbed all the paperwork for the cases and started fresh. Most of the cases were solved within the month. So go easy on them and give them a little bit of operating room so they can complete the task at hand." The deputy chief finished and looked expectantly at her.

Victoria Gates had just been given an ultimatum and now realizes that there will be no other offers. She doesn't handle those very well but this time around she decided to play nice.

"Alright John, I will assume command of the 12th Precinct. But I will only give my blessing to these three detectives if they meet my criteria for operational and tactical awareness. I'm a by the book cop and I expect everybody in my command to be the same way. If they follow the rules I have no problem letting them 'roam free' so to speak to get their job done. But if they cut corners to get to a result that causes suspects to be released back onto the street because of their careless investigational skills, then, I will step in."

"Understood." This is the last word that she hears from the Deputy chief as she gets up to leave.

Present day…

From the time she moved into her office, Gates noticed that there is something going on between the writer and her lead detective. She wasn't born yesterday but now there seems to be something between them, something that she just cannot grasp. One of her first objectives, when she arrived at the 12th precinct, was to thoroughly go through the service records of her three detectives. Detective Beckett's service record was exemplary up until she was shot at her Captain's funeral. She realizes that there was something going on prior to her arriving at the 12th but she is not pushing to uncover any more information. If she was going to start an investigation into Montgomery, Castle would be the first one she would go after. To her, it seems that he can't keep a secret to save his life. But maybe with the threat of death hanging over his head, he won't give in so easily. Knowing this she reserves judgment on what he is capable of. She can tell that Beckett is the lead detective in more ways than one. So for now she'll let the subject lie.

She is taken away from her musings when her desk phone rings.

"Captain Gates," she says as she answers the phone.

"Victoria it's Ray."

"Good morning commissioner, what can I do for you?"

"Victoria I'm afraid this is not a social call. This is official business. Early this morning the mayor's daughter was found murdered in Chinatown. Her body was found in a dumpster behind a Chinese restaurant after being riddled with over twenty-five bullet wounds. As we speak she is heading toward the morgue for an autopsy and the mayor wants justice. The 12th Precinct has jurisdiction over this case and I want the best detectives on it to solve this expediently. Am I clear on this?"

"Yes sir. I have just a team in mind to get the results you need."

"Thank you, Victoria I knew I could count on you. Oh and one more thing, try and keep this as quiet as possible. Once the press gets a hold of this it will be a circus of epic proportions."

"Yes sir."

The captain hangs up her desk phone, takes a deep breath, and looks out through the window of her office towards the conference room. She knows that detective Beckett has been working nonstop on the trial prep for the case she was called to testify in. She knows that the trial we'll be a long one at best. She really hates to do what she is going to do but these orders are directly from the commissioner. She rises from her office chair, pulls her glasses off of the bridge of her nose, and makes the short walk to the conference room.

Kate had been so busy with the trial prep that she never noticed her captain walk into the conference room. If she was honest with herself her mind was wandering between the actual trial prep and trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with Rick.

"Detective Beckett, a word please."

Kate looks up and sees the retreating form of her captain as she heads back to her office. Knowing that this must be important and she places the file she was reading back on the table and leaves the conference room.

Kate was just about to knock on the door but stopped noticing her captain waving her in. She cautiously walks in not being able to read her Captain's expression.

"Detective, have a seat please." Captain Gates requests.

Kate sits in the chair nearest to the captain's desk.

"Kate, what I'm about to tell you will never leave this room. Due to the nature of this case and the parties involved, there is a gag order in place. Do you understand what I'm saying, Kate? That means no one other than you and your team members will know the details surrounding this case. You will not and I repeat will not divulge any information about this case to anyone, and that includes the press."

"Yes sir." Kate had never heard Captain Gates use anything but her last name and her NYPD title in front of it. This was a first.

"I know that you're heavily involved in the joint trial prep between the FBI and the NYPD. But I'm going to ask if you are somewhere near a stopping point. I have a case I need to assign to you and your team but I'm not too sure how far along you are in the trial prep. I know that the case will be heard next week but this new case is something that hits close to home."

At first, Kate searched her brain trying to figure out what could possibly be so much more important than the case that they had everything riding on. She knew it wasn't Martha or Alexis because they were always protected by Rick's added security team. Ever since the attempt on her life months ago, he had hired a private security team to watch after his daughter and mother. Even when time moved on and the threat had evaporated he had still kept them in place. Then her thoughts went to her father, but she knew that he was out of the country for the indefinite future working on a class action lawsuit in Germany. So it had to be something else, and that scared her even more.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat this detective but the mayor's daughter was found in a dumpster behind a Chinese restaurant with over twenty-five gunshot wounds to her body. Her body was found earlier this morning by a sanitation crew servicing the business. I have just received a telephone call from the commissioner requesting that the best team at 12th be put on this case. That is your team."

Kate looked like she had just lost her best friend. Of course, something like this would hit home the mayor was ultimately their boss and Victoria Gates knew how to read people. And what she saw in front of her made her second-guess her decision to put Beckett's team on the case.

"Kate, tell me I have made the right choice by putting your team in charge of this case. This is going to push you harder than you have ever been pushed in your career."

"No sir, I'm up for the challenge. But I should let you know that right now there seems to be an issue between myself and our consultant. It seems that there has been a falling out of sorts between us. I'm not sure what's going on but if you give me an hour I should be good to go.

"Kate, this is serious. I shouldn't need to explain to you the implications that surround this case. Get Mister Castle in line and report back to me within the hour."

It was then that Gates remembered the conversation she'd had with the deputy chief. She would let them roam free and do their jobs. But if they screwed up this case it would spell disaster.

Kate got up from the chair and went to search for Rick. She knew he had to be around here somewhere because earlier she had sent him down to what she hoped would be the morgue. But then again he wasn't always too quick on the uptake at times recently so he might have gone to a cemetery for all she knew. Just as she was about to exit the captain's office, she ran smack into none other than the writer himself.

Recovering quickly from almost knocking him over she grabs the lapels of his jacket stopping him from landing on his ass and pulls him along with her telling him,

"We need to talk," Kate says as she drags Rick back toward the elevator after almost knocking him over.

Rick, who had been talking with Laura down in the morgue, came to the conclusion to have a long and meaningful conversation with his Muse. He knew that she was lying to him and he decided to confront her face-to-face. This way she couldn't deny him. He knew that this was the way he needed to do it. He took the elevator back up to the fourth floor and once he left the elevator, he noticed that the boys were not at their desks. As he looks towards the conference room he doesn't see Kate going over everything for the trial preparation. He looks to the break room and sees Ryan making himself a cup of coffee but there is no sight of Esposito anywhere. He walks to Kate's desk with the idea of sitting down and waiting for her until she comes back from wherever it is she is. Before he can even reach her desk he scans the captain's office and sees her sitting in a chair across from her. He can't really tell what's going on inside due to the door being closed but whatever it is it doesn't look like it's good news. Not wanting to wait any longer he decides to change direction and walk to the captain's door. Once he does he regrets it instantly. He sees her as she turns and practically rushes out of the office and directly into his chest. He almost fell over but caught his balance before actually planting his ass on the floor.

When he looked at her the only thing he heard was

"We need to talk."

"You can say that again Kate!" he replied a little clipped.

They looked at each other, not moving. She could tell by the look in his eyes that she would have to explain everything to him. He deserved that much.

Knowing that she needs to do this in total privacy and away from prying eyes, she thinks that the best place to do this is outside of the precinct. The small coffee shop on the corner less than a half block away from the precinct should do nicely.

When they arrive at the coffee shop and take a seat in a booth closest to the door Rick forgoes his usual cup of coffee. Knowing that this is going to be a long and possibly emotional conversation Kate gets herself a bottle of water and sits down back at the table.

She needs the courage in order to tell him what she needs to tell him. She had been through it in her head over and over again but now when it counts she just can't seem to find the right words.

"Kate, I'm waiting. You said you wanted to talk but I don't hear anything." Rick sat there patiently waiting for her to say anything.

It's now or never Kate thinks.

"Rick, I don't remember you telling me anything before I passed out from the sheer pain of a bullet entering my chest. I was not lying when I told you I didn't remember. It wasn't until I was alone in my dad's cabin upstate that I pieced it all together. I couldn't handle what you told me on top of fighting to survive. Hell, I thought I was going to die. I know that it was the wrong thing to do but at the time I thought it was best to protect you."

"Protect me? Kate, I didn't think you were going to live either. Why do you think I told you that I loved you while you were lying there dying in my arms? Do you know that I watched you die on the way to the hospital? That one incident in the back of the ambulance made me realize that I could not lose you and if I did I would be heartbroken forever. You being shot never left my memories of that day, ones that I wish I could erase from my memory. The reason I told you I loved you was that I wanted you to know that there was someone in this world who loved and cared about you other than your father. I know that ever since you broke up with Josh things have been hard for you. But I'm here Kate. I will give you anything you ask for including time if you need it but I'm not going away. For me, I'm in this for good so don't push me away."

"You really love me?" She asks.

"With all of my heart," Rick replies truthfully.

Without her knowing it tears started to fall down her cheeks. This is something she never did when she was with him, ever. Being as invested in their relationship as he was, she finally feels that she can be with him both emotionally and physically. She knows now that he would not do anything to hurt her on both fronts.

But now she needed to get her head straight. They would talk more about what each of them wants in a relationship later. Right now she has to tell him about the mayor and his daughter. It's going to break his heart when he hears about Janelle. Her only hope is that she can be there for him like he was there for her.

A/N: I sincerely apologize for this chapter being posted 5 hours late. My flight home from Orlando and the subsequent Eagles win caused me to sleep in a little later than usual.