A/N : Apologies for the delay in the release of this chapter. Time to find out what Castle is up to.
Disclaimer : Castle is owned by ABC but unfortunately AWM is not involved anymore just like I'm not involved in making it at all.
Beckett shuffles from Castle's study into the living room of the loft in her flowery cream silk robe over a loose tank top and yoga pants and with her eyes still gummy from sleep. The warm and comforting smell of freshly cooked pancakes assails her nostrils as she approaches the kitchen to the well accustomed sight of her husband in a dark t-shit and boxers cooking breakfast.
"Morning babe," she manages as she deposits herself onto one of the stools surrounding the kitchen island. She's just a little tired and pleasantly sore after last night and the natural conclusion of their 'event game'. After returning to the loft from the charity event neither of them got to sleep for quite a few hours and were vigorous in their activities during that time. Yet she is surprised that her husband has still managed to rise before her and already have breakfast so far along.
Castle turns on the spot, spatula in one hand and wash cloth over one shoulder and graces her with his usual warm-hearted smile as he greets her, "Good morning to you my lovely wife or should I say Katya?" he adds as his smile becomes a knowing smirk.
Her eyes regard him brightly as the final vestiges of sleep are banished as she recalls how their night, or make that morning, ended, "Remember Castle what happens in the 'game' stays in the 'game'. I don't want Alexis joining us and hearing Katya and James having breakfast together. Not that isn't something we might try next time we are on vacation alone."
"Oh, and I know the perfect locale. A nice private resort in Jamaica. Not far from where they shot Dr No," he responds eagerly as he turns back to the stove to lift a pancake from the fry pan and place it on a nearby plate, joining a couple of pancake companions that he prepared before she joined him.
He switches off the hob, reaches for a nearby bowl of freshly cut strawberries and distributes the fruit around the plate. With a well-practiced flourish he dusts the small stack of pancakes and strawberries with powdered sugar, picks up the plate, spins back around and places the plate of food in front of her. As she contemplates the delicious treat in front of her she hears the oh so familiar sound of the coffee machine working and moments later a rich foamy latte joins the plate of pancakes and strawberries in front of her. She looks up into his grinning face as he leans forward with both of his hands on the counter top.
"Hmm, this looks delicious. Thank you," and she picks up the fork that he placed there for her and is about to dig in when she pauses. Looking back up she sees him also pause as she does and a slightly worried look crosses his face.
"What's the matter, Kate? Are they not cooked?" asks Castle with a hint of unease.
She contemplates him for a moment as she recalls more from the night before and specifically the discussion they had at the start of their game. He promised to tell her what he is up to and it looks like he feels that he needs to butter her up, almost literally, before he tells her. That or he could just be doing his usual 'thank you for last night'. She shrugs internally and thinks that while she knows what he's doing she's not going to let it stop her from savouring the meal in front of her. He never breaks a promise so she knows he'll tell her and in the mean time she can enjoy her husband's culinary talent.
"No, they look perfect Castle. I was just wondering why you've prepared one of my favourite breakfasts? Not that I'm complaining but you usually reserve the strawberry sugar pancakes for more special occasions," she answers as she finally plunges her fork into her breakfast while giving one of her patented looks. The look that says to him she knows exactly what he is up to.
Castle looks back at her and his smile only falters slightly as in a serious tone he responds to her look, "Well, besides 'thanking you for last night' this morning is significant. For both of us. I wanted you properly fed before I let you in on my plan. So eat up and when you are finished, bring your coffee and join me in the study. All will be revealed, I promise."
"Aren't you going to have breakfast with me?" she asks surprised as she fully expected him to join her as he usually did.
"I've already had mine. Plus I just have to get a couple of things ready to show you. So enjoy your pancakes and by the time you are finished I'll be ready for you," and with that he makes his way around the island to her and presses a kiss to her temple. She hums in appreciation and he leaves her to her food as he heads into the study.
A little while later a replete Kate pads into Castle's study with her refilled latte in one hand and a cappuccino for him in his black Richard Castle promotional mug in the other. She finds him leaning over his desk, with his back to her, studying an open file folder. Upon hearing her bare feet on the wood floor he turns around and with a smile of thanks takes the proffered mug and waves her to take a seat on the couch in front of the plasma screen. He takes a sip of his coffee as he perches himself on the edge of the desk, facing her.
After a contented sigh at the rich caffeine he looks at her earnestly and starts, "So, as you have perceptively deduced I have been researching something. Something that will affect our future and our working partnership. Now while I've had this idea for a few years, since not long after I started shadowing you, I've never truly had the motivation to follow through with it, until now. Until my banishment from the precinct and then what happened with Tyson and Nieman."
"Cas….," starts Kate because she doesn't want him to feel guilty about his banning from the 12th or what happened with Tyson and Nieman but he holds up his hand to stop her.
"Kate, I know I shouldn't let the recent past affect me but I can't help it. My family is the most important thing in my life and those events put you at risk. Made me break our wedding vows to be partners in crime forever. I will do anything to make sure that never happens again. I never want to be in the position of being forced out as your partner against my will again. So I started thinking about how I could make my position more official," at that he pauses, puts down his mug, picks up the remote from the desk, points it at the plasma and presses a button.
The screen lights up and on it she first sees across the top of the screen, in large print, "Plan: Castle Gets a Badge". Underneath that, in the centre of the screen, there is a picture of an NYPD shoulder patch with the department's crest and from that picture radiate several lines leading off to various pictures and paragraphs of text surrounding the picture. Then Kate notices something different about the patch and then she recognises the difference.
"The NYPD Auxiliary? Castle, you want to join the NYPD Auxiliary Police?" she asks him surprised. She wasn't expecting this.
"Yes, the NYPD Auxiliary Police. That fine group of volunteer citizens that do their own part protecting this great city. As a member of the NYPD, even a volunteer Auxiliary, it should make it harder to remove me as your partner at just some higher ups whim, without proper grounds, a formal hearing or means of appeal," states Castle with a triumphant look.
"But Castle, Auxiliary officers are uniforms that work patrol, transit, housing and traffic amongst other duties but they aren't detectives. How will you joining the NYPD Auxiliary keep you as my partner? If you are out there pounding the beat you're not going to be allowed to assist me with homicide investigations though I admit you would look good in a uniform," she teases him with a wry smile and a quirked eyebrow.
Castle picks up the file that he had been studying when she joined him and passes it over to her. She opens the file, quickly reads the contents and looks back up him.
"You have been busy," she acknowledges.
"Yes, as you can see from the emails there between myself, the Mayor, the NYPD Commissioner and the Auxiliary Deputy Chief I have proposed the creation of Auxiliary Detectives and that I be the test case for that role. It's not that much of a stretch. Auxiliary officers have duties in some specialist positions, the Harbour Unit, Highway Patrol and most relevantly Undercover Vice Ops. As you know Auxiliary officers under the age of 20 years and six months of age go undercover in sting operations with Vice and Narcotics. Appointment as an Undercover Auxiliary Officer is at the authorisation and discretion of the NYPD Commissioner and the Auxiliary Deputy Chief. I contacted Bob and after reminding him of how he failed to stand up for me with the DA about Dino Scarpella he worked with me to propose my idea to the Commissioner and the Deputy Chief."
"And they agreed?" she asks with a touch of incredulity.
"Well, not right away. They baulked at my record at first. You know I'm just now starting to think that taking that police horse for a naked gallop was not such a good idea," he ponders, finger taping his lips as he looks to the ceiling.
"Oh, you're just realising this now huh?" Kate asks him sarcastically.
"Yessss, but fortunately with that and my assault of Tyson no actual charges were laid so officially my record is clean. Then there is the Compstat data of the precinct and how it shows that the 12th's homicide clearance rate rose by fifteen percent after I joined you and is the highest clearance rate in all five boroughs. That record helped to override any doubts they had over some of my past actions," he outlines.
"But Castle, Compstat data is only available to Lieutenants and above how did you get to see it?"
He looks at her sheepishly, "Umm, I might have gifted a couple of spa days to Tory for her to pass the figures onto me."
"Gee, Castle, bribing a civilian employee. Way to go to show them you are of the right ethical character to join the Auxiliary," she points out to him with a wry look.
"I only needed her to get the most recent figures. The older figures are all public record. Anyway, I have been able to sell them on the idea that as your partner I am an asset to the NYPD and as the first Auxiliary Detective I would be even more so. But it's still not a done deal. While the Commissioner and the Auxiliary Deputy Chief can appoint me some changes still need to be made to the New York Penal Law so the position of an Auxiliary Detective becomes a permanent rank. That is going to take some lobbying with the New York State Senate and the City Council. Fortunately Bob will be able to help me with that as well."
"So if all this works you become an Auxiliary Detective, just like that?" she asks disbelievingly.
"Ah, no. I will have to complete the required 18 weeks training that all Auxiliary Officers complete but I should be able to shave some time off that with credit for my time already spent as your partner and the study I did to pass the test for my PI licence. In fact gaining my PI licence helps with this as I've already demonstrated to the State of New York some of the same requirements to be appointed a Peace Officer like an Auxiliary Detective. Also I have asked that I do as much of the training I can at the twelfth on the job and that the exemption they have previously granted us regarding NYPD's regulations and partners not being permitted to be in a relationship remains in place," he adds with some satisfaction.
"Wow, you've thought of everything….Wait, Auxiliary Officers are only permitted to carry a straight wooden baton for protection and not a side arm. I'm not sure I like the idea of you trying to take down a suspect armed only with a wooden stick," she raises what she thinks will be only the first of many concerns she will have with this whole idea.
"Ah, yes because Auxiliary Officers are mainly tasked to observe and report and don't actively pursue criminals, unless at the direction of a regular officer, my position will, by its nature, be different. I will be actively assisting you to investigate murders and enforce the law and so will be more likely to be exposed to life threatening situations. Just like I already am as your partner. Ironically while your volunteer consultant partner I was unable to get a carry permit. Now that I'm going to be a sworn officer, even an Auxiliary, then the Commissioner has decided that I should be armed. So that I can properly protect myself, the public and the other members of my team. Again that will take some re-writing of the statues governing the NYPD Auxiliary and so Bob is going to get it included as a part of the new Auxiliary Detective rank. Plus the standard training for Auxiliary Officers also includes both firearm safety and unarmed self-defence training which I know you've wanted me to undertake for some time to help protect myself in the field."
Kate pauses and contemplates all that he has told her while studying the serious and earnest expression on his face. She can tell that this is not some passing, fanciful idea but that he is fully committed to becoming an Auxiliary cop as a way to ensure he stays as her partner. She can get why he thinks he needs to do this. She knows that loyalty to his family and therefore her, is one of main tenants of his life. Like he, she sorely missed him the entire time he was banned from the precinct. After having him as her partner for so long she wasn't happy to go back to how her working life was before he barged his way into her life.
While she'll worry about the danger this new position might put him in she has always worried about him. Worried about what could happen to him from the very first time he refused to stay in the car. At least this way, as he said, he'll get some of the same training that she herself has had to protect himself. Yet she also knows she is not the only one that worries about the danger he is in working with her.
"What about Martha and Alexis? Have you told them? How do you think they will react to this?" she asks concerned.
"Not yet. Besides my initial approaches to Bob, the Commissioner and the Auxiliary Deputy Chief you are the first person I care about that I have told. As I said last night I'll need your help to bring this to fruition. They will be the next ones I'll tell and I'm sure they'll understand why I need to do this," he responds.
"And what about your writing? This will take up a lot of your time. Will Paula, Gina and Black Pawn accept this?" she asks also slightly fearful that this might mean the end of Nikki Heat. For all her bluff and snark in the past she loves her literary alter ego and would be truly sorry if this idea of his means the end that part of his life that she loved about him even before they ever met.
"That's the beauty of this idea. As an Auxiliary Officer I am still a volunteer that doesn't necessarily have to work the same number of shifts as a regular officer. I'll still have enough time to write and keep Gina and Black Pawn happy and fulfil my contract. Not to mention I'm sure to get some great story ideas from this. As for Paula, she'll just see this as a publicity opportunity. That's another benefit that helped me sell it to the Commissioner, by the way. Renowned author volunteers to help protect the citizens of New York by joining the NYPD Auxiliary. He sees it as an opportunity to up the Auxiliary's profile and help with recruitment," he says as he gets up from where he is perched on the desk and makes his way over to her.
Castle sits on the couch, next to her, places a hand on her forearm and asks, "So what do you think Kate?"
Again Kate pauses and considers what she has heard. She feels him give her arm a gentle squeeze in reassurance and she knows that he is doing this for her, for the both of them and for their life and partnership together. Knowing this there is only one possible response for her.
"Ok, babe. I'm in. So what's the next step and what do you need me to do?" she responds placing her free hand over his while nodding at the plasma and the steps of his plan outlined there.
"Well, there is someone that we really need to get on board if this is going to work because if this person objects then there is no way it will get off the ground," Castle answers and then asks her ruefully. "So, tomorrow will help me sell this to Captain Gates?"
A/N : So there it is. A lot of information in this chapter and not much action for which I apologise but there was no choice. I've only come across a couple of other fanfics that have Castle join the NYPD Auxiliary and I did have the idea for this even before I read those and this story does not bear any relation to those stories. Of course the whole idea of him being able to create and become an Auxiliary Detective and that he be armed is totally AU.
As much as I enjoyed "Hollander's Woods" it has screwed me slightly. My plan for this story is to include some of the episodes of season 7 after "Reckoning" with the AU twist of Castle either having a badge or in the process of getting one and then go into some original cases after that. The whole premise of how Castle confronts the killer in the season finale would result in him loosing his badge just as he gets it. As a result I'm going to go really AU and rearrange the order in which we encounter the episodes and so "Hollander's Woods" will happen much sooner. I hope you can all still enjoy the story.
With the season over and us all looking forward to season eight here are my favourite episodes for season seven : 3, 6, 7, 14, 15(number one), 21 and 23. Not all of them are necessarily the best but they appealed to me.