Hi guys! Couple of quick notes about this chapter: first, it's long. Double length of one of my average chapters, so keep that in mind as you read. And second, I normally try to write this series in a way that each story can stand on its own. Read the disclaimer, get up to speed and jump in. However, that's not the case here. This chapter will make vastly more sense if you've read On the Job Training. It's a crossover with the old TV show "The Sentinel". And that's enough spoilers for you. ;-) Enjoy!

Esposito was the last of the 12th Precinct Guardians to show up to work the next morning...a fact that the other three members of the group weren't going to let him live down easily. "Good morning sleepyhead," teased Ryan. "I'm guessing your visit to the doctor went well yesterday?"

"I'm guessing it went *very* well," chimed in Beckett. "In fact, I think I detect the lingering aroma of...pancakes, I believe?"

"Ha ha," replied Esposito, rolling his eyes. "Have you guys been called to face the firing squad yet?"

"Actually," said Castle, "I think she was waiting for..."

"The four of you, in my office, NOW!"

The four people in question didn't need to be clarified. Beckett, Castle, Ryan and Esposito dutifully got up and filed into their captain's office.

"Esposito, close the door," ordered Gates. Once her detective followed her order, Gates began, "Okay, people, there is something very weird going on with the four of you, and I've had it with being out of the loop." She paced the small space behind her desk as she made her case. "First was the SWAT commander telling me that the three of you took out Newmark and his gang of thugs while a dozen of his best men just stood by and watched..."

Ryan tried to correct his Captain's facts. "We had..."

Gates cut Ryan off immediately, continuing without acknowledging him. "*Then* you solved a *Tibetan* guy's murder in *Chinatown* when he was killed by a *Pakistani* man and you only needed a translator for the father's formal confession. Now I've tried to ignore some of the little stuff, like this whole 'Dark Angel' business, because your conviction rates have become the best in the department. But last night I had a *gun* held to my *head* at *point-blank range*. The guy pulled the trigger. I should be *dead*. Instead the bullet *bounced off me* and caused Mittleman's corpse to look like someone shredded his guts in a blender. I can't ignore that. Now is someone going to tell me the *whole* truth, or do I have to put all of you on suspension?"

Ryan opened the mind-link. Guys, I can't do anything here. She's so angry that it's like I'm hitting a brick wall. I can't even read her beyond how pissed off she is...

Think she'll get off out backs if we tell her everything? asked Beckett.

Think she'll *believe* us? asked Castle.

Do we have a choice anymore? Esposito sounded resigned to their fate even through the mind-link. If we don't at least try the truth, we're going to be under investigation by IAB. And the first thing IA would do is revoke Castle's ride-along papers. I'm willing to take my chances.

Beckett turned around and looked at Esposito. You're sure?

What can I say? I've developed a dislike for Kevlar...Esposito replied with a smirk.

Gates watched the four silent people in front of her. "Okay, first thing's first: what is *that*?"

Now confused, Beckett asked, "What's what, sir?"

"The four of you aren't talking, but those looks you're giving each other...it feels like you're having a whole conversation I can't hear."

"We are, sir," Ryan told her. Gates' fury had subsided just enough to allow Ryan the chance to project into his captain's mind. Over the timeframe that you mentioned I've developed telepathic abilities, sir. When you don't see us talking it's usually because this is the way we're communicating.

Gates shook her head, unwilling to believe the disconnect between what she was seeing and hearing. "I'm sorry," Gates chuckled in disbelief, "I could have sworn you just told me that you've become telepathic..."

I did, sir, Ryan agreed without speaking, I just didn't *say* it.

Gates' eyes widened. "You're serious?" Ryan nodded.

"We've all developed different abilities, sir," chimed in Beckett.

"You too, Detective?" Beckett nodded. Gates sat at her desk and pulled out a plain manilla folder full of notes and other 'evidence'. She forced herself to try to suspend *all* disbelief as she went over a page labeled "Beckett". When she did, Gates spotted the thread connecting all the questions she had about her renegade detective. "Detective, you said that you took the shot at Mittleman because he was pointing his weapon into the crowd of people at Grenholm's party." Beckett nodded again. "But, he was 200 yards away?" Beckett nodded one more time. "You saw him, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir," replied Beckett quietly.

"How many of your senses are...heightened, Detective?"

"All six, sir."

Gates raised an eyebrow at the number. "Six?" The captain dove back into her notes. "At the end of the Schoenweiss case, I went to look for you in the observation room and noticed you talking to yourself in the box. You weren't talking to *yourself*, were you?"

"No, sir," Beckett agreed.

"Dare I ask who you were talking to?"

Beckett hesitated only slightly before answering. "Mark Schoenweiss, sir."

"The *victim*?" Gates' eyes widened only briefly at Beckett's response. "So your sixth sense is the ability to speak to the dead, Detective?"

When Beckett nodded, Gates shifted her focus to Esposito. "What about you, Detective Esposito?"

"I...collect memories, sir," Esposito replied.

Gates pulled a paper out of her folder labeled "Esposito". "I take it those aren't just your own memories, Detective?"

"No, sir," Esposito replied.

Gates went over her notes. "The McMasters case. That's how you knew about the affair, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir. When I shake someone's hand I...download all their memories in their life to that point. Including any learned abilities and skills, such as language."

"That's why you didn't need translators during the Chinatown case?" As Esposito nodded, Gates pressed further. "When you...download someone's memories, how far back can you go?"

"Birth, sir."

Gates shook her head in near-disbelief. "Anything else I should know about you three?"

"Just one thing, sir," Beckett told her, "Mittleman and his guys weren't the Dark Angels. They were copycats."

Gates caught on immediately. "And you know this because the real Dark Angels are...?"

Beckett, Ryan and Esposito all raised their hands. Shaking her head, Gates then turned her attention to the one non-cop in the room. "The thing I least understand is where you fit into all of this, Mr. Castle."

Knowing how little Gates respected Castle, Ryan took the initiative in speaking for his friend. "Castle is the reason you're still alive, sir."

*That* threw Gates for a loop. "Mr. Castle is the reason that that bullet didn't kill me?"

"Yes, sir." All three of her detectives were in complete agreement.

"How?"

Castle took the initiative to speak for himself. "I'm a wizard, captain."

Gates shifted fully into denial. "Detectives, I am ordering all of you to undergo drug testing and full psychological eval..."

"I'm sorry, Captain, but no," Castle interrupted her. "This is something that's far too important for you not to believe."

Gates jumped as all of the blinds in her office shuttered closed at the same time, then gasped as the lights went out...even though not a soul in her office had physically moved. Her attention was drawn to a gentle light coming from a point across the desk.

The light source was a single orange and yellow flame, roughly eight inches high, that was dancing just above Castle's outstretched open palm. She found herself strangely attracted to the light, drawn in by her own curiosity. I'm hallucinating, thought Gates, that has to be it. They were making some sort of drug in that warehouse, and I inhaled too many of those fumes, and I'm hallucinating...

Gates drew in a sharp breath through clenched teeth as she discovered, painfully, that the flame was, indeed, very real. Castle killed the flame and turned the lights back on as Gates cradled her injured hand.

Ryan sent a quick warning through the mind-link. Lanie, we need your help. Gates is injured.

In the morgue, Lanie pulled the gloves off her hands and turned off the tape recorder. As she went to lock the door to her lab, Lanie sent back, What's Castle's ETA?

En route, replied Ryan. Castle disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Castle then reappeared in the spot he had left...but he did not return alone. Gates simply stared open-mouthed at the new person in the room.

Lanie took in the scene surrounding her. As she knelt down to Gates' level, Lanie asked the group, "Does she know?"

"We were trying to tell her," replied Esposito.

Lanie glared up at the man next to her. "Then this was Castle's doing, I take it?" Lanie shook her head as Castle looked away, blushing; she then returned her attention to her patient, taking note of the blisters forming on the captain's palm. "These are some impressive burns, captain. But don't worry, this will only take a minute."

Gates watched, awestruck, as the blisters on her hands shrank, then disappeared, and then finally as the burns themselves faded away to nothing. She rubbed her hands together, flexing her fingers and confirming that everything had, indeed, healed. The captain then looked into the eyes of the woman who had healed her. "Doctor Parrish? You're a part of this, as well?" Lanie nodded. Gates then turned to one of her detectives, connecting another two dots together. "Detective Esposito, when you said you were heading to a doctor after that fight in the box, you were going to see Doctor Parrish, weren't you? That's why you walked into that warehouse last fully healed and ready to fight? And why you don't have a mark on you this morning?" Esposito nodded.

The captain's mind was rapidly being overwhelmed as she tried to process everything she had seen and heard. One last puzzle piece, though, was fighting to click itself into place. "I have a couple of friends at OEM," Gates began. "About a month before the Schoenweiss case, they were telling me about this day they called Ash Friday. Apparently 911 crashed five times as the system overloaded. A third of the calls were about zombies taking over 34th Street...but the rest were describing a cataclysmic series of events that had just about destroyed much of midtown. A few crackpots even went so far as to say that three dragons were chewing up the city. Anyway, when the fire trucks got there, there was *nothing*. The place was pretty much deserted, but there was *zero* damage. No fires, nothing. To this day Ash Friday is on record as the day of the most recorded false alarm calls in the history of 911. But those people weren't lying, were they? That was you guys?"

The five people in the room nodded. Beckett told her captain, "Castle restored everything back to what it had been before the battle started. He's been protecting us and protecting the city like that ever since. That...protection is what stopped that bullet today. The bullet ricocheted off of one of Castle's energy shields and hit your shooter in the gut. That's why he's dead and you're not, sir."

Gates' mind finally succumbed to mental and emotional overload. Getting up from the desk, she slowly walked over to her coat rack. As she put on her coat, she announced to the group without looking at any of them, "I'm going to take the rest of the day off. I suggest the rest of you do the same. If anyone but me can remember this conversation tomorrow, then we'll discuss our options at that time."

The captain walked out of her office and out of the precinct, leaving a stunned group in her wake. Beckett was the first to find her voice again. "Well, that didn't go well."

"Suggestions?" Castle asked the group.

Ryan's reply was quiet and enigmatic. "I think I have an idea..."

In Cascade, Washington, Detective Jim Ellison picked up the phone on his desk without looking at the called ID. "Ellison."

"Jim? It's Kevin Ryan from New York."

Ellison recognized the voice even before he identified himself. "Ryan!" Jim greeted the fellow cop with a smile. "How are things at the 12th?"

Ryan hesitated, trying to decide how to word what he was going to say next. "Actually...we could use your help with something out here. Captain Gates found out about us."

Ellison winced, remembering the absolutely no-nonsense boss that his Guardian friends had to deal with every day. "I take it she's not handling it well?"

"How'd you guess?"

"She didn't seem like the type who would," replied Ellison with a small chuckle. "What do you need from me?"

"Does your boss...know about you?"

"He does," replied Ellison. "I was forced to tell him early on."

Ryan asked, "How'd he take it?"

"Better than I thought he would. He may be the main reason Sandburg's still able to work as my partner."

"Do you think he'd mind talking to our captain? You guys can tell him all about us if it'll help.

Ellison hesitated. "Simon's not the type to believe without evidence. I think I might have an idea, though. Can you have Castle call me in a couple of hours?"

"Sure," Ryan replied. "Thanks for your help."

Jim hung up the phone and looked up into the curious face of his partner. "What was that all about, Jim?" asked Blair.

"They need help with something in New York," Jim replied casually.

"So Castle's coming to," Blair asked in a whisper, finding no other way to euphemize it, "pick us up?"

Jim shook his head as he got up from his desk. "Not us. Simon."

Blair's eyes widened as he realized the only reason the Guardians would be asking for help from their captain. "You mean Captain Gates...?"

"Yep. C'mon chief, we need to invite Simon to lunch."

Simon watched his troublesome top team carefully as they finished up their meal. "Okay you two, what's going on?"

Jim and Blair looked at each other for what must have been the thirtieth time since Simon had arrived. "What do you mean, Simon?" asked Blair.

"Oh please, you've been using your eyes to point fingers at each other all throughout lunch. It's like you have something you need to tell me but you can't figure out who's going to do the talking. You're not getting married, are you?"

Both men shuddered at the thought. "Ugh, no," exclaimed Jim.

"Then what the hell is it?"

Blair finally seemed to decide that he needed to be the one to do the talking. "Do you remember that case we helped out on in New York?"

Simon nodded, understanding immediately why they were so hesitant. "You said it was a Sentinel thing, I remember that much."

"Um...it wasn't *just* a Sentinel thing, Simon," added Blair.

Great. Simon could already feel the beginnings of a headache behind his eyes. He hated it when things got weird. It's starting to annoy me how often that happens..."Whatever *it* is, is it coming here, or are you guys going to have to go back to New York?"

"Actually Simon, *we* may not be going anywhere," Jim replied, "but I have a feeling you may need to be the one to go to New York."

"*Me*? Why me?"

Jim didn't answer his boss' question. Instead, he picked up his cell phone and dialed the number he was keeping on hand for this purpose. "Rick? It's Jim. We're ready when you are."

Castle and Ryan arrived in the loft before Jim had a chance to put his phone back down on the table. Simon recognized Castle immediately, staring at the man in disbelief. He then turned back to his friends. "Okay, one of you want to tell me how the hell a world-famous crime novelist just mysteriously appeared in your living room?"

Victoria Gates was wallowing. And she knew it. For the first time since she had signed up for the police academy, she was *dreading* having to go into work the next day. Normally, Gates knew that there wasn't a thing that could happen within the walls of a precinct that she wasn't fully prepared to handle.

Until today.

When she found out her senior detective and top two junior detectives were now superheroes.

The bottle of scotch stood patiently on her end table, waiting for her to open it up and pour herself a drink. Or two. Or as many as it took to mute her thoughts in a haze of alcohol. Gates reached for the bottle, but was stopped by a knock on her apartment door. Who the hell would be coming to talk to me at this...

Of course. The last men in the world she could possibly want to talk to. "Detective Ryan, Mister Castle," Gates spat out angrily, "what the hell are you two doing outside my apartment?"

Ryan replied, "I...I couldn't help but notice that you were having a hard time dealing with our last conversation, sir." Gates started to close the door on him, but Ryan held the door closed to stop her from doing so. "I figured you might want to talk to someone about it."

"You, Detective? Not hardly."

Gates started to push harder to get the door closed, but Ryan had wedged himself firmly against the doorframe in a position where it would be next to impossible for her to forcibly remove him. "No, sir. Not me."

It was then that Gates realized that there was a third man in the hallway, one that she didn't recognize. He was tall, half a head taller than even Castle, but was in great shape for his age and exuded the confidence that came from being in a position of leadership for a long time. However, Gates was so annoyed at the events of the day and the interruption to her evening that she was in no mood to be polite, no matter how attractive the man in front of her might be. "And who might you be?"

"Captain Gates? I don't know if you remember me. I'm..."

Gates cut Simon off, recognizing his voice immediately. Her demeanor softened only slightly as she replied, "Captain Banks? You're Jim Ellison's CO in Cascade." Simon nodded, and Gates continued, "What are you doing here? In New York? With *these two*?"

"We brought him here to talk with you, Captain," replied Ryan. "I figured it might be helpful if you had the chance to talk to someone who is in a situation...similar to yours."

Gates rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Exactly *how* are Captain Banks and I in a similar situation, Detective?"

Simon decided he should be the one to get the ball rolling so the other two men could just get the hell out of his way. "Captain Gates, Jim has similar...sensitivities, so I was told, to your Detective Beckett."

Gates turned in surprise to the other captain, finally starting to understand *why* her people had called in the out-of-town help. "You're familiar with our...situation?"

Simon nodded, completely understanding the need for euphemisms...and respecting the fact that Gates still cared enough about her people to be using them. "They told me this afternoon...or at least, this afternoon Cascade time. And on that front, you apparently have me outnumbered 5 to 1. I don't envy you in the slightest, Captain."

Gates turned to her detective, who was continuing to block her doorframe. "Will you two be joining us, detective?"

Ryan shook his head. "I figured you'd be more comfortable talking in private. Captain Banks will call us when he's ready to leave."

Gates eyed Ryan and Castle suspiciously. "Do I even want to know?"

It was only then that Castle spoke up. "I'm Captain Banks' 'ride', Captain."

Gates pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep the stress headache that had been building most of the day from getting worse. "I'll take that as a no, Mr. Castle." She then cleared the door to allow the man she actually *wanted* to talk to to have access to her apartment, "Come in, Captain Banks. Detective, Mr. Castle, I will see you when we've finished."

The two Guardians blinked out of the hallway, which left Simon and Gates alone to talk. As Simon entered the apartment, Gates closed the door with a weary sigh. "Can I get you a drink, Captain?"

Simon noticed the bottle and clean glass sitting on the end table. "Got another glass for that scotch, Captain?"

"Might as well call me Victoria at this point," Gates replied, "Would you like ice?"

"Straight's fine. And you can call me Simon."

Gates went to her small kitchen and returned with a second glass. Bringing the first glass and the bottle over to her dining table, she poured two glasses and offered one to Simon, taking the seat across from him. "So, Simon...how long have you known about Mr. Ellison's abilities?"

Having been given permission by his men to talk to Gates freely, Simon replied, "Going on three years, now."

"So you *have* been around this block a few times. And Mr. Sandburg? Is he...?"

Simon shook his head with a chuckle. "No. Mostly his specialty is being a giant pain in my ass."

"I've got one of those, too," Gates added with her own small chuckle.

"Castle?"

Gates nodded. "He's been 'observing' Detective Beckett going on four years now. At first his excuse was to get inspired for his books."

Simon put two and two together quickly. "The Nikki Heat books..."

"Are loosely based on Detective Beckett, yes. I've always figured that he was just using his friendship with the mayor to hang out with his girlfriend."

"Castle and Beckett...?"

Gates nodded. "Although they'll only admit to me that they've been in a relationship since June or so."

Simon was impressed. "They've been awfully quiet about it, apparently."

"That's one of the few things I've respected about him. What about your Mr. Sandburg?"

"Sandburg originally tried to get me to let him 'observe' Jim for his Anthropology doctoral dissertation. At first he tried to tell me his subject was going to be the thin blue line."

"And you bought that? That sounds, well, lame..."

Simon shook his head. "I found out shortly after that that his *real* subject was Jim's abilities."

"How long had they been working together at that point?"

Simon finished off his glass and poured himself another. "A week, I think."

"And now? It's been three years, shouldn't he have finished that dissertation already?"

"He did," replied Simon, with the slightest hint of pride. "It got accepted a couple of months ago. We just hired *Dr.* Sandburg as a department consultant."

*That* surprised Gates. "Does Detective Ellison really need that much help?"

"I don't pretend to understand the dynamic between them," Simon replied, "I just know it works. According to what they once told me, a Sentinel..."

Gates found herself trying to handle yet another unfamiliar concept. "Sentinel?"

"A person with five heightened senses. That's Jim, although it's not Detective Beckett, if I'm remembering what your people told me correctly...anyway, a Sentinel always needs to be paired with a guide who's been trained in how to help his Sentinel maximize the use of his abilities. That's the main thing Blair does for Jim."

"The main thing?"

Simon replied, "When I told you they were my best team, I meant it. Blair even turned around his entire dissertation in *six months* when he realized that keeping the focus on Jim's abilities would risk their safety. The only difference between Blair and the other men in my division is that Blair didn't go through academy training. Well, that and the hair. But other than that he's as much of a cop as any of my men."

Gates swallowed down the rest of her own drink and poured her refill, giving her some time to ponder the other captain's loyalty to someone who wasn't a cop.

"What about Castle?" Simon asked when he realized his talk about Sandburg seemed to have hit a nerve.

"I had heard stories before I came into the command at the 12th: how he was helpful in closing cases even when his theories sounded crazy, how he'd saved the city from that bomber, how he's the best partner Beckett's ever had, how much better a detective he's made *her*..."

Simon caught the thread between her comments. "Sounds like you didn't think much of him *or* Beckett."

"She was recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest when I took over the precinct. The previous captain was someone that apparently everyone seemed to consider a friend...*especially* Richard Castle. My first act as captain was to kick Castle out of my precinct. He pushed his way back in at the mayor's behest when Beckett came back from leave."

"So they were a package deal from the moment you met her..." Simon remembered what Sarah Finkelmann had told him of her initial, highly unflattering impressions of Blair Sandburg...and how Blair had proven her wrong. "Have you been able to evaluate her without Castle hanging around?"

Gates nodded. "I had heard so much hype around her because of the whole Nikki Heat thing. I was sure there was no way she could live up to that hype...but she did."

"What about Castle?"

"What about him?" asked Gates.

Simon asked, "Have you given Castle the chance to prove to you that he could live up to the hype surrounding *him*?"

Gates took the time to consider her answer carefully. "I guess I haven't."

"What about your men? How do they treat Castle?"

Reluctantly, Gates admitted, "Like he's one of them."

"And now this team of superheroes has popped up right under your nose and this non-cop whose presence you're barely tolerating is a fundamental part of that team," Simon told her. He took a sip of his drink before making his point. "Victoria, I took a chance on Sandburg at first because *Jim* trusted him. And Blair's proven himself a hundred times over. Your team all trusts Castle. If you trust *them*, then maybe you need to give Castle that same chance."

"Thanks for making breakfast, Castle," said Esposito through a mouthful of eggs.

"Yeah, thanks," Ryan agreed, slightly disgusted at his partner's total lack of table manners. "So are you gonna tell us why you called all of us over here for a breakfast meeting?"

Castle took a sip of his coffee before answering. "I didn't call this meeting, guys."

"I did," said the commanding voice behind them.

Beckett, Lanie, Esposito and Ryan all stood up when they recognized the voice, Ryan and Esposito swallowing their mouthfuls of breakfast before acknowledging her with various choruses of "ma'am" and "sir".

"You can all take your seats," Gates told them. She walked around the kitchen island until she could take the cup of coffee that Castle offered her. Taking a sip, Gates put down the cup and began, "I asked for this meeting to be here at Mr. Castle's apartment because after yesterday's...revelations, I figured you all would be more comfortable discussing this...business outside of the precinct."

Gates took a deep breath and let it out slowly, knowing how hard her first order was going to be for the group to hear. "I am revoking Mr. Castle's observer status, effective immediately."

Sure enough, Ryan was the only one not to launch into a flurry of protest. In contrast, *he* was the one who calmed the group down, even handing back to Beckett the badge she was about to give up for a second time. Ryan insisted to the group, "Guys! Let. Her. Finish."

The group was still angry, but went quiet after each person slowly recognized that if Ryan wasn't angry, it had to be because he *knew* something.

Gates handed a yellow envelope to Castle. "These should keep you busy most of the morning, but you'll need to return those papers to me when you're finished."

Castle opened the envelope and tried to start flipping through the papers, clearly confused. "Captain?"

Gates' reply was simple and straightforward. "Mr. Castle, in that envelope is the paperwork to change your status from observer to official, full-time department consultant. One of the main reasons I don't like you, Mr. Castle, is your over-willingness to throw around your relationship with the Mayor in order to get and keep a spot in my precinct. However, as a wise man pointed out to me last night...my people trust you with their lives, Mr. Castle. Because I trust *them*, I want to give you a chance to prove yourself worthy of that spot. However, I have two conditions that you must agree to meet before I'll agree to this new arrangement."

"What are they...sir?" asked Castle.

Gates directed her reply to both Castle and Beckett. "Detective Beckett, while I respect the discretion with which you and Mr. Castle have conducted your romantic relationship so far, I now have to insist on that discretion. You know the department's policies on fraternization, detective. If so much as a word about your relationship is breathed to Page Six, I'm going to be *forced* to fire Mr. Castle, and probably the lot of you along with him. Is that clear?"

"Clear, sir," replied Beckett.

"The second thing," continued Gates, "Mr. Castle, is that I want you to list paranormal investigations as a field of expertise. From what you've all told me you've been extremely discreet about how you've handled your...situation so far. However, even you can't be everywhere at once. If other precincts find themselves in need of a more...unusual level of help, I want to give them a way to find you."

"Yes, sir," agreed Castle.

Gates finished her coffee and handed the mug back to her host. "In that case, detectives, Dr. Parrish, Mr. Castle, I will see all of you at the precinct."

The captain walked out of the loft and closed the door, smiling as she recognized the sounds of amazement and even a little celebration on the other side of the door. Sure that Ryan was still reading her mind, Gates thought,Well, Detective Ryan, how'd I do?

She heard a familiar voice laughing in her mind in response. Captain, I think this is a first. You've rendered Castle completely speechless.

That's all, folks! Hope you guys have enjoyed it. But whether you like it or not, please leave comments! The series will continue soon with Four Winds: Moonrise Kingdom.