So here is a longer chapter to keep you entertained while I continue to let this story grow, here we get a little interaction with Gates and we all know what she thinks about Castle, now don't we?

When Beckett walked back into the precinct, everyone was staring at her, only this time she didn't care. She had a spring in her step and a smile on her face, and everyone around her was completely dumb-founded by this dramatic change. An hour ago, she had been on the brink of depression, closed, quiet, irritable, fighting back tears. But now she was practically glowing, grinning from ear to ear; although she was trying really hard to hide it and, dare they think it, practically skipping through the hall. She hopped in the elevator, surprising them further, since she had avoided it completely since her partner had left, but she merrily stepped in, pressed the button and stepped back. When the doors closed, everyone on the ground floor was sharing bewildered looks and questioning glances. Then a few of them started to smile, either she had completely lost her mind and was off in Wonderland...or a certain famous novelist was back in the fold.

If only this had happened yesterday, because when Beckett reached her floor, she noticed a large pile of manila folders on her desk. But they hadn't even seen the body yet, what files could there possibly be? She walked over and looked at the label on the first folder, and then she looked at the next one and the one after that. They were all profiles on different detectives, and when she noticed Captain Gates looking in her direction, she immediately understood. Oh damn it. The dark-skinned older woman almost had a smile on her face and Beckett felt a chill at the sight. Gates walked over to her and placed her hand on top of the folders, probably to stop Beckett from picking them up and dumping them somewhere else.

"I have spent the week looking for a good selection for you, these are the best the NYPD has to offer, I suggest you look through each one of them before you make your decision." She spoke clearly and firmly, but Beckett wasn't going to have any of it.

"I don't need a new partner, I already have one, sir."

"A partner who knows nothing about being a cop, a flimsy, clumsy novelist who can't use a gun or protect you or apprehend suspects; not to mention he hadn't been around for an entire week so I can only assume he has gotten bored of his games."

"With all due respect, sir, Castle is just as qualified as any other cop here, he is good under pressure, he thinks outside the box, he can use a gun, very well in fact, and he has helped in the solving of three years' worth of cases and three years' worth of suspects and criminals. And as for his absence, he has been taking some time off due to personal reasons, but he will be back by next week." She spoke just as firmly, making it clear that there was only one way this conversation could go.

"I don't care how wonderful you think he is or how powerful his friends may be, he is not a cop and I will not continue to have his unprofessional type in my precinct. Now you will pick out a new partner or I shall do it for you, do I make myself clear?" Damn it, she played the Captain-card.

"Yes, sir." She said through gritted teeth.

Gates nodded firmly and walked back into her office. Beckett dropped into her seat and groaned, looking over the pile of potential partners. How was she going to get through this? She wasn't going to choose any of them, no chance in hell was she replacing Castle, not even if he still refused to come back. Even if he had said he would never set foot in this place again she still wouldn't be able to replace him. Castle was irreplaceable. Esposito and Ryan came over, having noticed the dramatic change in their boss' mood, they decided to try a little small talk.

"So, Gates wants you to get a new partner huh? Already, seems a little rushed don't ya think?" Esposito commented, grabbing one of the files and flicking through it.

"Not fast enough according to her." Beckett grumbled.

Ryan picked up one of the folders and scanned through the contents before closing it quickly and dropping it on the corner of Beckett's desk. "Yeah, a mighty fine selection, I know that guy from when I was in Narcotics. He may get good results and close a few cases, but he is a real jackass."

Esposito tossed the one he was holding on top of the one Ryan had just dropped and he picked up another one. "Now this guy is really fit and good at taking down suspects, but he isn't very bright, plus he is like crazy superstitious."

Beckett allowed herself to smile, this was their way of helping her and showing that they were taking her side.

Esposito picked up another folder, took one look at the photo and then held it over so Ryan could see. "You ever met this guy before?"

"Nope, you?"

"No, never seen him before in my life." Then they both looked at each other and at the same time they both said. "Rookie." With a nod.

"I appreciate the assist guys, but you don't have to sit here and look through all this if you don't want to." She told them with a smile, after all there was a body waiting for them.

"Come on girl, whoever you pick is going to be a part of our team too, we should get a say in this." By the way Esposito had said it, she knew he wasn't being serious, he was just trying to keep the humour light.

"Isn't there a body we are supposed to be checking out?" She reminded them.

"How about I take care of all this and you and Ryan go check out the body?" Esposito suggested.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, she knew he was up to something, but she decided to play dumb and let him have this one. After all, she wanted to know what his master plan was. So she grabbed her badge and gun and stepped into the elevator with Ryan at her heels.

It would have to have been the simplest case they had ever caught. A man had been mugged and killed with a knife, the mugger had taken his wallet, gone into the store right next to the alley with the dead body and blown all the money in one sitting. Once he was out of money, he had returned to the alley to see if the poor guy had anything else he could use, having not noticed that someone had called the cops and the whole street was swarming with the NYPD when his bloody knife fell out of his pocket. He admitted to the crime and was arrested just as Beckett and Ryan showed up to the scene. The first case after two days of paperwork and the criminal was a complete moron.

But of course, they still had to canvass and collect witness reports so that they had proof and it wasn't just some random guy with a mental condition who only thought he had committed the crime. So by the time they got back to the precinct, it was almost night. Ryan rubbed his eyes and groaned as he stepped off the elevator, he wished he had decided to stay behind and do paperwork or something, anything but having to talk to everyone they could find in that very busy street asking if they had seen anything when the guy sitting in the back of the police car over there had killed the victim. Beckett wasn't the type to complain about case, but this one was just really boring. Then her eyes landed on her desk and she frowned with confusion at the pile of folders that was still sitting there, only it looked bigger now.

She walked over to Esposito, who was lazing about in his chair playing solitaire on his computer. "I thought you said you were going to take care of that junk mail, so why is the pile bigger than when I left?"

He continued to play the digital card game as he answered. "I started going through them, then I quickly scooted back to my desk when Gates came around the corner and dumped about four more folders on top of the pile. I decided it was too big a risk to go through them while you weren't here and she was watching, so I left them exactly where they were. Sorry, but the look I got from her made it clear that we were to have no part in this at all."

He was strangely ok with this after his determined motivation earlier, but she figured he was right, it was going to be her partner so she was the one who had to choose. Wait! She didn't need another partner because she already had one!

"I suggest you look through them anyway, just to make Gates happy." Esposito suggested.

Once again, she thought he might be up to something, but he didn't look excited or happy or eager or anything that would give away a secret plot. But she guessed he was right anyway, so she sat down at her desk and glared at the pile of folders. She took the first one and looked through it from page to page. After about a half hour of going through endless profiles on all sorts of people, some good , some bad, but none of them were who she wanted them to be, she finally came to the last one. She sighed with relief at this almost being over and she grabbed the last folder and opened it up. And boy was she surprised.

A huge smile crossed her face and she smiled gratefully across the bullpen at her team mate. Inside this particular folder was another profile, only it wasn't a detective that sat in this document. Richard Castle smiled back at her from the same picture that adorned the back of the cover on every one of his books, his navy shirt bringing out the blue in his eyes and helping to show off his cocky smirk. She looked through the rest of the papers, noticing that this folder was a lot thicker than the others. There were three numbers displayed at the top of one of the sheets of paper, counting up the number of cases he had worked on, how many he had helped to solve and how many he hadn't solved; which was only two, 3XK and Johanna Beckett. When comparing the numbers, it was insane to actually see how many cases he had helped to solve. There were a few pages on some of the subjects he was well versed in such as psychopathic criminology, world geography, local history and dozens of others all written in official scientific-like names to make them sound important, and there was a list of his skills, useful personality qualities and his achievements. There was even a page listing just a few of his wide range of contacts that had helped to solve some of the murders he had worked on, contacts involved in such things as the CIA, modelling, acting, publishing, charity functions, the mob, high-class theft, and many others; including his own daughter who was just a black hole of information. Not to mention how his fame and fortune had given his team access to high-class parties inhabited by killers and into the homes of criminals who were fans of his work.

Basically, it was the longest job reference ever made. Some of the parts she liked the most were when it was said how determined, loyal, dedicated, clever and resourceful he was. Beckett continued to read the file and rolled her eyes a million times at how professional and experienced Esposito had made the childish, fun-loving, easily distracted writer sound. It was perfect and it was bound to at least make Gates reconsider her judgment about him.

Beckett rose from her seat with the file in hand and walked with confidence into the Captain's office. Gates looked up at her as the detective dropped the file on her desk and smiled. "This is the partner I choose." And before Gates could open the file and see who was really in it, Beckett turned around, walked out, grabbed her stuff and went home for the day.

Castle was the only partner for her, he had been her only partner and he would always be her only partner. She arrived home sooner than she had predicted and changed out of her work clothes and redressed into something more comfortable. She curled up the couch with one of Castle's books in her lap, but when she dropped down onto the couch she was a little too close to the arm rest. She gritted her teeth as she fought through the pain that had erupted on her left side where the scar from her surgery still lived. She dropped the book on the ground out of instinct to bring her hands to the source of the pain and it landed on the floor with a thud. She continued to breathe through the pain until it had dulled down, and then her hand found its way to her chest, her fingertips brushing across the circle of burnt flesh where the bullet had entered. She was ready to do this, to let the rage over her mother's death go and move on with her life; with Rick.

Her psychiatrist was going to help her work through it and she would be able to be the kind of person she wanted to be. But was it wise to enter into a relationship with Rick before the wall was broken down? They had only just started to work on it after all, was she trying to go too fast? No, she could handle this, after all, it was just a date, their first date; it wasn't like she was trying to decide whether or not to move in with him. This was just the beginning, she had time to work through her issues before the relationship got serious...that was if it wasn't serious already. She blushed when she thought about the heated kiss they had shared in his apartment, actually, that had been a lot more than just a kiss. If it hadn't been for the fact that they were stopped by the need to breathe, Kate was pretty sure that clothes would have started to disappear.

She sighed quietly as the pain in her side subsided almost completely and she leaned forward to pick up the book. She rearranged herself on the couch so that she wasn't in any danger of bumping her scar again and she opened the book. She read until midnight and then she went to bed, her chest swarming with excitement and a great deal of nerves about the date tomorrow. She drifted off to sleep thinking of blue eyes, brown hair and very talented hands.

When Beckett walked into the 12th the next morning, she expected to find the pile of folders having been taken care of and all of Castle's possessions sitting right where they belonged on her desk, waiting for him to come back. But as she got closer, she froze.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed only loud enough for Ryan and Esposito to hear.

Not only was all of Castle's stuff packed into a box and sitting on the floor beside her desk, but there was a tall, muscular, dark-haired man in his late thirties sitting in Castle's chair. She stomped over to the stranger, stood in front of him and placed her hands on her hips. He looked up at her and smiled, his grey eyes giving her no sense of assurance in this situation.

"Detective Beckett I assume? Nice to meet you, my name Joe Brunswick, apparently I am your new partner." He stood up and held out his hand to her, she shook his hand, being too stunned to think to stop herself.

Yeah, I'm mean, but I did warn you guys that it wasn't going to be easy. Now before you guys say anything, I am going to say now that Detective Brunswick is not a throw-away character, he will be sticking around for a while.