"One encouraging thing the Guide does have to say on the subject of parallel universes is that you don't stand the remotest chance of understanding it." – Mostly Harmless, by Douglas Adams

Beckett stood in the middle of the bullpen, not knowing what was going on and scared of figuring it out. Her coworkers didn't recognize her, her deceased boss seemed to have taken over her job, and her cappuccino machine was missing. She now realized what had been wrong with her room this morning- she didn't own that furniture. The headboard on her bed was far too nice-looking, her bedspread was of a richer material than it should have been, and her carpet was much softer than it had been when she'd gone to sleep.

From what she could gather, if this wasn't some elaborate prank Castle was putting on (and, really, she couldn't see how Captain Montgomery factored into that), she had fallen asleep last night in her own universe and woken up in a different one, one in which a living Roy Montgomery was a detective instead of a captain and she herself was an actress instead of a cop.

The entirely more likely possibility was that she had gone insane.

Maybe talking to her best friend would sort some things out. That, or it would just make matters worse. Whichever happened, going down to the morgue had to be a better alternative than standing here and waiting for Ryan to ask for her autograph. Kate was heading to the elevator when Esposito stopped her.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" he said, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from walking away. She sighed and turned around. It never used to be this difficult for a civilian to walk around in the bullpen, she reflected, remembering how that had ruined the time she'd attempted to tell Castle how she felt.

"Leaving."

She tried to walk away but then Ryan caught up to them and said, "Bro, that's Kate Beckett."

"Really?" said Esposito, looking at her carefully. "Oh, wow…" He released her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Kate Beckett, didn't realize… what are you doing here?" In the few minutes she'd had to make up her mind about whatever this was, Kate had decided that the most effective way to progress would be to just play along.

"Research," she said. "For… a role. I'm supposed to be following Lanie Parish, is she in the morgue?"

"How should I know?" shrugged Esposito. She felt uncomfortable watching them ogle her like that, even if she was supposed to be some famous actress. It was just weird.

"Because, you two… 'cause… your girlfriend. She's dating… you're- because she's your girlfriend!" It wasn't so surprising that she was reduced to spluttering and stuttering. What surprised her was how long it had taken for her to get to this place.

"Me and Lanie?" laughed Esposito. "Please."

o-o-o-o-o-o

After the creative ducking and sneaking Beckett had had to do in order to reach the morgue, now that no one recognized her as a detective, the first thing she saw was Lanie leaning over a dead body. It was a familiar sight, and that familiarity gave her some peace of mind. She let that saturate in her brain for a moment before she went into the morgue to shatter it.

"Hi, Lanie," she said, striding across the room as she would were this a normal occasion. Lanie stared at her, confused.

"Hello?" said the ME. "Are you here to identify a victim?"

"No," said Kate. "Just visiting."

"Do I… know you?" said Lanie, still a bit perturbed by the way Kate had greeted her by name.

"Yeah," said Beckett, "but you don't." Lanie still looked confused. Kate sighed and leaned back against the counter. She'd always had a problem with how white and fluorescent this room was, but now she welcomed it because it was familiar. It was exactly the same as it had always been. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I am your best friend."

"That does sound crazy," said Lanie, returning to her autopsy. "I don't really have friends." Kate's mouth popped into an "O", but she let the matter drop.

"Thing is, I'm not really sure what's going on, and I could really use my best friend to help me out." Alright, time to give up. It wasn't like she could sway Lanie into remembering her.

"Well, it's not me," said Lanie. "So if you're not here to identify a victim, I think you should get out of my morgue." Ouch. Beckett deflated, deciding that it really would have been too easy if Lanie had known who she was. On her way out, Sidney Perlmutter entered the room.

"That tox screen's back, Dr. Parish," he said, not even glancing at Kate.

"Hey there, Perlmutter," said Beckett, raising a hand half-heartedly. He glanced up at her, no recognition in his eyes.

"Who are you?" She smiled as she walked out. So that was one relationship that remained exactly the same.

When her phone rang, Beckett at a little trouble answering it. For one thing, she didn't recognize the ringtone. For another, she was fairly sure she didn't recognize the phone. "Beckett" she said instinctively, weaving around a homeless man on the street. She wasn't quite sure where she was headed, but home seemed like a good idea.

"Kate?" said a man on the other end of the line, and she had to remind herself that there was no need to answer with her last name.

"Yeah," she said, hoping she'd be able to determine who the man on the phone was soon.

"Did you ever call Mona back?" said the man. She wondered if there was a way to transmute her expression of utter bewilderment through a telephone call.

"No." It was probably the truth.

"Well get on that, do you want to lose this audition?" said the man. All she wanted was to understand what the hell was going on.

"I'll… I'll call her," said Kate. She hung up and started scrolling through the contacts on her phone, hoping that Mona's number was in there. If it wasn't, she was screwed- or rather, her actress-self was screwed, which at the moment appeared to be who she was… it was all terribly confusing. She scanned down, pausing at the street corner to search through her phone.

And it was there. It was in the contacts list on her phone, right below an entry that said "Mom."