So chapter 1 is here (chapter 2 if you want to be technical)... just so you know, the first paragraph is an excerpt from the trial, there will be one at the beginning of every chapter :) enjoy :)
"My name is Agent Seever. I was the lead investigator on this case. After a heated exchange with Detective Beckett, my partner and I received a warrant to search her place. Her personal files were locked up inside a safe, with a combo only known to the Detective. Among the files were handwritten receipts for the services of a hitman, Dick Coonan. We also found paperwork for a wiring account in the Bahamas registered to Detective Beckett, opened one week before the death of Johanna Beckett, Scott Murray, Jennifer Stewert and Diane Cavanaugh. My partner and I were able to trace the money used to pay Coonan back to that wiring account. In the safe there were also typed letters to both hitmen saying who to kill. It explained that a family friend would be seriously hurt if McAlister was proven innocent and let out of jail, so she needed to stop the investigation before it got too far. Detective Beckett denied ever seeing the letters, paperwork and receipts before in her life and CSU techs didn't find any fingerprints on them."
The sun felt good. The summer wind traveled through Kate's hair and she took a deep breath. For eight years she'd been stuck behind bars of a federal prison. At first the other women went after her, they all hated cops and Kate had put away about half of the women there anyway. After a while, people forgot about her. She still got quite a few new scars, though.
Maneuvering through the large group of interviewers all shoving microphones, mini recorders and cameras into her face, Kate walked towards the road of the parking lot in front of her. The birds calls were audible from here, she'd missed that. She slid on a pair of sunglasses, letting the press know just how much she was willing to cooperate with them as she continued through the group.
A small car pulled up in between the news vans and Kate moved towards it, pulling open the door and climbing in before the press could see who she was driving with. Turning, she pulled the African American ME closer to her and into a hug. "Thank you for coming to pick me up."
"Anytime, Kate." Lanie said, refusing to let her friend go. "It's just good to see you out from behind bars."
Kate pulled back, smiling and brushing her bangs behind her ears, "It's good to be out." Things were different now, Kate didn't know what to expect. She was different and she expected her friends to have changed as well, but just by getting into her car, Kate realized that Lanie changed more than she'd thought. It made her wonder about the rest of the people in her life. "Who does that car seat belong to?" Kate asked, smiling and pointing over her shoulder at the tall car seat for a child about 5 years old.
"It's Roshaun's. Oh, I have to pick him up from school soon. Do you mind coming with me?" Lanie asked, turning to the wheel and pulling out of her parking spot. For a second, Kate's mind traveled to her own kids. Carson would be... he'd be about 16 right now and Samara would be 14.
"No, no I don't mind." Kate whispered.
Lanie looked from the road and to Kate for a second then back, "Do you want to stay with Javi and me or do you want me to drop you off at the loft?"
Kate grimaced and looked out the window next to her, "Alexis has the loft. She's not very open with me after what happened. She believed I actually killed those people."
"She feels bad about it, Kate. Alexis doesn't think you're guilty anymore. Give her a second chance," Lanie said, turning the car out of the prison parking lot.
Moving her duffel bag from her lap and setting it at her feet, Kate asked, "How do you know that?"
"Well," Lanie said, in such a way that Kate could tell there was going to be a sarcastic statement, "When you work with the step-daughter of a convicted murderer, who just happens to be your best friend, you sort of learn things about each other."
Kate bit her lip, "I don't know if she's still considered my step-daughter."
An awkward silence enveloped the car and, to change the subject, Lanie said, "Hey, honey, now that you're out of prison, there's got to be something you really want to do now. Hit a strip club, get flat out drunk, go to the beach and flash some people."
"Lanie," Kate said, turning to her friend, "I just got out of prison. I'd rather not go back."
"Fair enough." Lanie nodded, "But there still has to be something you want to do."
Kate licked her lips and looked at the street, "Yeah, there's some things I'd like to do." She could think of one in particular; see her family, Castle Carson, Samara. That wasn't something she could do. "I want a cup of coffee. A good cup, from Starbucks. And I want to go back to work."
Lanie held up one hand, "Let me get this straight, Kate. You get out of jail and all you want is a cup of coffee and to go back to the job that got you sent away in the first place?"
"Being a cop didn't get me arrested, looking into my mother's case and being an idiot about it did." Kate muttered, looking out the window at the street whizzing by. Lanie slowed down the car and turned it into a parking lot. "Wait, where are we going?"
"You want some coffee from Starbucks or not?" Lanie asked, snagging a spot in the shade.
Kate sat up straight, "Ooh, yes. My treat."
Taking the keys from the ignition, Lanie scoffed, "How are you going to pay? You've been in prison for 8 years."
After a playful flick of her eyebrow, Kate reached into her duffel bag and pulled out a wallet, "I got a very generous settlement for losing 8 years of my life. They got me a credit card. I'm buying." Lanie shook her head, getting ready to argue, but Kate quickly added, "They also gave me back my gun."
"What was that thing you said earlier about not wanting to go back to prison?" Lanie asked, climbing out of the car. Kate shot Lanie one of her looks as she exited the car, too. "You know, there's a nice little clothing store next to Starbucks. If I were you I'd want to get some clothes other than the ones I wore to prison 8 years ago."
Kate nodded, "Yeah, okay."
Fifteen minutes later, they were back in the car, both with cups of coffee in hand and Kate with a new bag of clothes. Once Lanie pulled off into the street, Kate unzipped her pants and began to pull them off. "Whoa," Lanie cried, "You're changing here?"
Kate looked up from searching through her bag for one of the pair of pants she'd bought, "Yeah, I've changed in front of you before."
Nodding, Lanie chuckled, "Yeah, but never in a moving car."
"Eh," Kate shrugged, sliding on her new pair of pants. And then she pulled off her blazer and blouse, revealing a gray tank top. She picked a green v-neck t-shirt up off her lap. As she yanked off the tags, the shirt slipped onto the floor of Lanie's car. Kate leaned down to grab it and something on her shoulder caught Lanie's eye.
Lanie's hand came up and covered her mouth in shock. For the first time she really got an idea what life in prison had been like for Kate. Someone had carved a 'C' into Kate's shoulder with an 'X' over it. Lanie had seen the same type of scar on real dirty cops after stints in prison who'd landed themselves a spot on one of her tables. When she looked back, it was covered by Kate's new shirt and the woman was sliding on a pair of black pumps.
"So, are you, uh," Lanie started, trying to push the image of the scar from her mind, "Are you going to go back to work?"
Kate shrugged, pulling her hair into a bun, "Yeah, it was part of the settlement, homicide detective 2 again. Think I'll start again in a couple of days. I don't know, whenever I find a place of my own. Maybe I'll start tomorrow, I would sort of like to get back, you know?"
"How much time did you spend in solitary, Kate?" Lanie asked, trying to stop from laughing at how much she rambled.
Glaring at Lanie, Kate said, "So. How's Ryan?"
"Good. Jenny just had another baby couple months ago, so he just got back from leave. That's their third kid. Dalton is 9 now, Ari is 4 and then there's Regan." Lanie said, turning the car into an elementary school parking lot. "All the kids go to the same school, you'll probably see them here."
Kate looked out the window at the sign over the school's entrance and it was like a punch to the gut. She never thought she'd be back. After a moment's silence, she shook her head and whispered, "This is where Carson and Samara went."
Lanie stopped climbing out of the car, one leg out the door already, "Oh. Maybe you should stay in the car." Kate shook her head, like a little kid and then continued climbing out of the car. Lanie led Kate into the small school, kids were crowding the hallways in their uniforms with their backpacks covering their shoulders. "Roshaun's class is this way."
"Look." Kate said, pointing at someone, a flash of excitement flooding her face, "It's Ryan. I'm going to go say hi."
"K." Lanie smiled, "I'll just go grab Roshaun and meet you over there."
Smiling, Kate nodded and moved towards Ryan. When she got close, she set her hand on Ryan's shoulder. The detective spun around, a smile spreading across his face when he saw his old friend, "Hey, Ryan."
"Beckett," he cried. "You're out!" Ryan wrapped his arms around his former boss. When he stepped back, pulling the waist line of his pants up a little farther, he gestured to the two children by his side. "This is Dalton and Ari."
Setting her hands on her knees, Kate leaned down, "Hey. My name is Kate."
"You're the cop that's been in jail for 8 years, right?" Dalton asked, Ryan looked down like he was about to say something to Dalton.
"That's her." A woman's voice said, a little hostile.
Kate straightened up, sighing, "And Alexis is here, too." Ryan stepped aside, revealing the red head, a teeny look of fear flashing over his face, he knew that Alexis and Kate didn't have the best track record when one had a bone to pick. The girl's arms were crossed and she looked mad. "You've got kids here, too?"
Alexis shrugged, "Maybe. You want to get them killed, as well?" Kate licked her lips and looked away from the girl's eyes, sorrow covering her face for a few seconds before she regained composure.
"Lanie told me you thought I was innocent." Kate answered, taking on a similar look of hostility that Alexis had.
"Of killing those 5 people you were convicted of killing, yeah. You still got my father and my little brother and sister killed." Alexis hissed. "He was trying to get you out of prison."
"I didn't mean to." Kate whispered, averting her gaze to the ground. "I didn't think they'd end up being shot."
Alexis scoffed, "Yeah. Of course not. Because being shot yourself while investigating your mother's death wasn't a big enough warning sign, you had to gamble the rest of your family's lives, too."
Blinking fast, Kate whispered, "No. That's not what-"
"Congratulations, you lost them." Alexis turned around, "Come on, Khaida. Let's go. I'll send your old things to Lanie's place, Kate."
Kate turned around, forcing a smile, one tear falling out of her left eye. She sort of expected someone to act a lot like that, but Alexis was the last person she'd thought it would come from, they had too much in common. Ryan stepped closer, "Don't listen to her. Since Castle, she hasn't really been the same."
"None of us have. I'm going to go." Kate whispered, turning to leave
A man, this time, called out after her, "Hey, Kate. Carson's mother, right?" Kate turned around, brushing the tear from her cheek, and forcing another smile. "He had a little sister, right? How are they?"
Kate paused, her mouth half open, "They're dead," and then she left the school.
Okay... This first chapter is a little weird, I dunno if it was very good, I promise the later ones get better, I wrote this at about 2 in the morning after I had the dream. I tried to go over it and make it better but don't think it was the best rewrite. Review please!
~~XOXO, Becksbiggestfan