"No, Esposito! The other left!" Rick groaned as he stared up at the crooked Welcome Back Beckett! banner he'd purchased. Was the banner a little much? Probably. The banner combined with the balloons, cake, and streamer decorated murder board were definitely too much. The real question was: would she kill him when she saw it? He honestly was not sure but luckily he didn't have to wait long to find out.
"She's coming," Ryan announced with a hiss as he scurried in to the precinct's main room. Esposito finished tying up the banner than hurried to join his colleges next to her desk. She rounded the corner, looked up, and froze. "Surprise!" the three men chorused.
For a moment, her facial expression was frozen. Then, a smile broke out. "You guys…what is this?"
"He did it," Esposito said, pointing towards Rick, ready to pass off any and all blame.
"We all did it," Rick told her.
"You didn't have to," she said as she finished the walk to her desk. She dropped her purse in to the bottom desk drawer. She folded her arms across her chest and felt that now familiar twinge in her right shoulder. Four weeks in that ridiculous brace put her on the road to recovery. She started physical therapy the week before and it was helping, but she knew it would be a while longer until she was back to one hundred percent. "This is great, guys. Thanks."
"Well, we missed you," Ryan told her.
"I missed you guys too," she said looking at him, then Esposito, and finally to Rick.
He gazed back to her, not even bothering to hide the longing in his eyes. He had not seen her since the morning she left his apartment. He hadn't spoken to her either save the text message he received confirming her first day back. She was breathtaking as always, but their time apart magnified her elegance on a level he didn't know was possible.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Better, thanks. Glad to be back."
"Well I'm glad to be back too." As he spoke he could not resist the urge to reach his hand out and run it gently across the upper part of her left arm. "Just think of all the great crime scenes we missed while we were away."
"Oh," she chuckled lightly. "Did Ryan and Esposito fill you in?"
"Yes! We missed one where the body was in two pieces—two pieces!"
"How will I ever recover?" she jested dully.
As soon as Rick inquired about her wellbeing, the second half of their crime solving quartet wisely retired to their half of the office. "Dude," Esposito began in a tone just barely above a whisper. "Look at this."
"Look at what?" Ryan responded.
Esposito nodded towards the conversing duo. "Look how they're acting. Almost as if they've, you know, slept together."
"What? No way. Beckett's been in the hospital."
"Not all this time, Bro. Twenty says they finally did."
Ryan gave him a skeptical look. "How are we gonna find out?"
Esposito shrugged. "We'll ask Castle. If he won't tell I'm sure Lanie will get it out of Beckett."
"But will she tell you? Isn't that some sort of girl code…"
"Oh," Esposito began, rubbing his hands together menacingly, "I have ways of making her talk."
"Dude," Ryan said, mildly disturbed.
"Sorry."
They broke apart their surreptitious conversation when Rick approached. "Hey guys, where did you put the plastic plates and forks for the cake?"
"In the break room," Ryan informed him. "So, uh, is this the first time you've seen Beckett since she was shot?"
"Hmm? Oh, no. No I saw her once," he said absentmindedly as he watched her sit down carefully at her desk and brush away some of the confetti on her keyboard.
"In the hospital? Or did you go visit her at her apartment?" Esposito asked.
"She came to visit me. Why?" he asked with slight suspicion.
"Nothing," Ryan replied while Esposito said, "No reason." This further alerted Rick's suspicion. "We were just wonder if-"
"Oh, good, you're here." A tall, fair-skinned woman with jet black hair pulled in to a tight bun at the nape of her neck entered the room, interrupting the men's mischief. "Detective Beckett I presume," she said as she crossed the room in two strides and landed beside Kate's desk. "I'm Marie Taylor, your new captain."
"O-oh," Kate said, standing and extending her right hand with noticeable delicacy. "It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you as well," the captain said, shaking the younger woman's hand. She rotated on her heel and peered across the squad room. "And you must be Richard Castle."
"I am indeed," he said, extending his hand to introduce himself with a firm handshake.
"I would like to speak with both if you if you wouldn't mind joining me in my office," Taylor told them before leading the way.
Rick followed her, shooting Kate a curious glance behind the new captains back. He paused at the entrance to the captain's office, letting Kate enter first. She took a step over the threshold and hesitated. Rick followed suit. It was strange being in that office for the first time without Montgomery behind the desk.
"Please, sit," she gestured towards the two chairs opposite her desk. They sat and she continued. "I've heard many good things about you—both of you."
"Thank you," Kate said with a soft smile.
"You have an impressive case-closure rate, Detective Beckett. Your reputation as well as the good words of your colleagues has given me more than enough information to be glad you're on my team. And Mr. Castle," Taylor turned her gaze to him and he plastered on a smile, "you're a writer, correct?"
"Yes and I'm very grateful to the 12th Precinct for allowing me to do my research here. It really has been invaluable." With this comment, he looked over to Kate, who met his eye briefly.
"Captain, Castle is my partner."
"No," Taylor corrected, "he is not." She let a beat go by before continuing. "Mr. Castle is not a law enforcement officer and therefore he cannot be your partner. He's a consultant of the department."
"I would hardly call him just a 'consultant,'" Kate said, sounding offended by the term and lighting a proud flame in Rick's heart.
Taylor offered a very small smile. "I am well aware of Mr. Castle's history with the department. Detectives Ryan and Esposito gave him a glowing review. I'm intrigued to see how this partnership, as you say, works and, if you don't mind, I'll be observing you two over the next few weeks."
"Of course," they said together. "Absolutely, Captain, it would be our pleasure," Kate added.
"Very good," she said, clasping her hands together on the desk. "Now, Detective Beckett, how are you feeling?"
"Great! I've been cleared for active duty once more," she said firmly.
"Yes, well, do try to take it easy. I'd feel much better if you'd let Ryan or Esposito tackle any criminals that need tackling in the next few weeks."
Kate offered a small smile. "I'll do my best, ma'am."
After thanking them for their time, the captain dismissed the crime solving duo from her office. Rick only waited until he thought they were out of earshot before whispering to Kate, "What was that about?"
"I'm not sure," she responded.
"What do you know about her?"
"About as much as you do at this point," she told him. "I've never heard of her before."
"Perhaps Ryan and Esposito can fill us in," he suggested. She nodded in agreement and they walked off in the direction of the rest of their team.
In Kate's opinion, neither Ryan nor Esposito were any help. Their opinion was simply that, thus far, they had no reason to think negatively about Captain Taylor and that she was—quote—Okay. At this, Kate grumbled a comment about men being unhelpful, which, naturally, Rick did not understand.
After a few brief moments of catching up and sharing cake, the quartette was called to their first crime scene. A man had been found stabbed at a New York City recycling facility. Upon arrival, they discovered the man was a recycling plant employee who had gone missing after his morning break. Other than the fact that he had been stabbed, not much else was discernable from the body, so Kate waited a few hours until Lanie could give her a full report.
"Forget this guy, he's already dead," Lanie began factually. "I want to hear about you."
"Lanie I'm fine," Kate insisted.
Lanie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Only her friend could describe a near death experience with such casualty. "Okay, what about you and Castle? I noticed he's not following you around like a little puppy dog today."
"Castle is helping Ryan and Esposito go through the recycling plant employee list for potential suspects," she said matter-of-factly.
"I see, but that doesn't answer my question. What's going on between you and Castle? Have you slept with him yet? Because you say no, I'm going to ask you why the hell not."
Kate cleared her throat and tucked some hair behind her ear. "I don't see how that's relevant."
"Relevant my ass. Kate, the man loves you."
"Castle doesn't love me. He-he might think he does, but he doesn't."
"Uh huh. Well the way I see it he's straight, he's single, and he's not a felon. Do you know how hard that is to find these days? That would be reason enough, but the fact of the manner is that the man does love you. How else would you explain all the crazy, irritating things he does?"
"Well…I…ugh!" she grunted with frustration and slammed her hands down on to the stainless steel table before her. "Can we just talk about the body?"
"Fine. He was stabbed three times in the chest. The fatal blow punctured his aorta. He would have bled out in minutes. There are no defensive wounds or bruises on his arms."
"He didn't put up a fight? Why would that be?" she asked somewhat rhetorically.
"I have no idea; that's your job," Lanie told her. "Why don't you go ask your shadow if he has any interesting theories?"