Chapter XII

It had only been a short few hours since Cas-

No... Rick, had left her.

Well, not left her, more like, he was kicked out after Gates was done toying with him in Interrogation Room 1.

She knew he would never leave, just like she wouldn't, not now, not ever.

Too much ground had been covered to be taken back, too many words spoken and emotions revealed to one another, and that's not even mentioning the electric touches that have somehow managed to become even more amplified than before when they spoke in the comfortable language of innuendo.

But now, sitting at her desk after going through quite the… interrogation? Is that what she could call it?

It felt more like a dressing down for not following proper procedure, even though they had absolutely done so, sure it was just the three of them, but they had conducted themselves that way before, so what was the problem now?

Maybe it was because it was their captain at the heart of it, for not pulling out all the stops when their leader was in danger, or maybe it was just the nature of Internal Affairs to be as hostile as she had been.

Whispers had been passed around on homicide that Gates had a nickname, and it wasn't the fun kind, it was the kind of one you'd automatically assign to a hard-ass like her. And after getting out of interrogation with at least a few scraps of dignity left, Kate understood the name, probably better than anyone.

But she didn't walk out with her tail tucked between her legs, it wasn't her way after all.

She had put up a fight against the brass, providing plenty of cases wherein the three detectives were more than capable of taking care of each other and completing their objectives with minimal collateral damage.

Unfortunately, Internal Affairs saw it as being reckless, which couldn't have been further from the truth, and Kate had even tried to tell them it was a matter of time before something truly awful happened after the gunshot over her phone, but they wouldn't have any of it.

It made her blood boil as she just thought about how indifferent they could be, not willing to see it from their perspective and at least give them the benefit of the doubt, and as if that wasn't bad enough, the trio had been kicked off the case, mostly because it wasn't homicide yet, she amended in her head as she thought of the past couple hours.

So they had been demoted to dealing with paperwork after all three of them had been cleared of any intentional wrongdoing, and it was driving them all up the wall while they watched figures move around the partially opened shades in the conference room.

Shadows of their boss, verbally duking it out with Iron Gates. While it wasn't entirely loud enough to make the glass shake or draw attention, it was loud enough for the team to take notice.

Esposito and Ryan had found themselves playing paper football across their two desks, doing anything but paperwork while she was in there.

"What do you think is gonna happen to 'em?" Ryan nodded to the conference door over his shoulder as he flicked the origami creation across the desk to his partner.

A frown creased the detective's forehead as he mulled over the different possibilities as he marked off five points on a piece of paper for Ryan and established his next shot, "I don't really know bro, but it ain't gonna be pretty."

Ryan had created a field goal with his two hands as he readied himself to continue the tie that the two had been stuck in, "What are we gonna do?"

As the football flew across the two desks, it was quickly thrown off track by Kate swooping her hand in, like a hawk to prey, catching the football as she leaned down to the two detectives, one smug with the sight of victory, while the other scowled at the intrusion of their game.

"We," Kate gestured between them all, "Aren't going to do anything."

She saw Esposito's shoulders rise and eyes light with an argumentative fire, fully ready to argue against her stance on the situation they found themselves in.

"Officially," she shared with a smug grin of her own, before quickly wiping it away at the sound of the conference door swinging open to reveal a livid Victoria Gates as she stepped out into the middle of Homicide.

"May I have all of your attention," her steely gaze washed over all of the officers present, ensuring all eyes were on her, reluctant or not.

"As of right now, I will be assuming the position of Captain at this Precinct until Mister Montgomery has either been cleared, or prosecuted."

It was no warm welcome for her, maybe a few feet shuffling at the new power shift and clearing of throats as they all took in this information. Most of the officers didn't pay much attention, they just soberly agreed and, after being released from her impromptu roll call, carried on about their day.

That, however, was not the reaction between Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan. The three had shown their disdain for this new development in varying ways.

Beckett was clenching her jaw and aggressively tapping her foot as the high and mighty IA officer waltzed off into her Captain's office.

Ryan kept his narrowed eyes forward, rapping his knuckles against the edge of the desk, burning a hole into a distant poster.

Their fellow detective did something different though, he was still angry about the situation, that much they could tell, but once the news had been delivered, he had broken away from the group and made his way to the stairs.

When the chair had made aggressive contact with the desk when he stood up and launched himself in that direction, both Kate and Ryan turned to watch his figure slowly shrink away with each step he took before turning to face each other with a knowing look.

"Firing range," they both replied, laughing lightly at the small moment of levity and synchronicity that usually occurred between her and Castle.

The two sat reluctantly, staring at the complete paperwork, both thinking on what their next move would be, all the while working through the new change of authority.

Ryan ran his hand up the back of his neck, clearly tired of sitting down for so long, "I'm gonna go follow his lead," he shrugged, "I could use some range time."

As he grabbed his jacket from off of the back of the office chair, Beckett followed suit and the two made their way downstairs, passing by a few officers and making the usual greetings as their paths crossed.

As soon as they reached the door to the range, they could already hear Esposito's gun firing off in more rapid shots than what was typical of a New York City Homicide Detective.

The pair just rolled their eyes as they barged through the first set of doors, greeting Sergeant Masterson and acquiring the necessary gear to enter the range from him.

When they had entered the range, Esposito was the only one firing rounds downrange, most of the usual crowd had cleared out either because of the current temper of the detective or just because it wasn't a busy time of the day for it.

Each step they took was accentuated by a corresponding gunshot that rung out across the concrete floor and walls until they reached their goal.

When the detective didn't react to either of their presence next to him, Ryan turned to Beckett and shrugged before he decided to break his partner's reverie with a shout.

"Yo!"

With a reaction that would've rivaled the leariest of cats at the sight of an unknown object, Esposito was back on earth, or at least, back in the right state of mind. However, the same couldn't be said for his heart, which was now pounding against his chest at the sudden outburst by his partner.

"Sheesh Ryan, you should know not to scare anyone on the range man."

Ryan raised an eyebrow before lightly gesturing to the pistol that now loosely dangled against his partner's thigh.

"Slide's locked, no rounds in the magazine... or the chamber," he said with a smile, being all sure of himself and rubbing his partner's face in it.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

As Esposito turned back to the table in front of him to lay down the pistol, the two behind him carried on in their previously, and vaguely mentioned, plan.

"You were saying earlier, Beckett?" Ryan had turned to face her as he asked the question, clearly interested as to what the team leader had in mind for them.

"Right, like I was saying, we can't do anything officially," she spoke carefully, trying not to speak too loudly for fear of a wet behind-the-ears officer wanting to get a commendation trophy for turning in some delinquent detectives for not following orders.

"But unofficially?" Esposito queried, now equally curious as to what she was thinking.

Kate smiled, grateful that she had both of her teammates on the same page and willing to bend the rules a little to solve this case. Before she spoke again, she looked around to ensure that no one else was in the range before carrying on.

After checking each booth, and seeing that they were all empty, Beckett continued in her previous quiet tone.

"We need to get copies of the case files so far, Espo, you still owed a favor from Thorne?"

His eyes went wide at her inquiry, clearly surprised by her knowledge of his actions when they weren't working cases together.

Beckett shared a sharp grin at her ability to get under her friend's skin but for a moment, "What Espo? Do you think you can keep secrets with the gossip kings and queens here? Word spreads fast."

Obviously unsettled by her candor, Esposito turned his back on the group once again, focusing on his service pistol that lay disassembled in front of him as they discussed, which warranted an eye roll that he didn't get to see.

"You going to answer my question Javi?"

"Yeah," he replied tersely as he cleaned the barrel of his pistol, "Yeah he does."

"Good, that'll make this whole thing go a lot easier."

"Make what a lot easier?" The deep voice caused the trio to freeze in place at the sudden intrusion into the private conversation, fear striking deep in their hearts with each hair as it rose on the backs of their necks as they motioned to turn around, ready to face the music that was undoubtedly headed their way.

Each step that reverberated across the floor of the range led with a resounding click of dress shoes. The kind of shoes you'd expect someone in Internal Affairs to wear, and with the events of today, they all should've known that they would've had ears everywhere.

Kate was silently berating herself for thinking they could get away with this while still in the building, but she wanted to get ahead of the entire situation, she didn't want any information to slip through the cracks, not like it did with her mother's case, so her impatience was going to cost her.

Or so she thought.

Because what awaited her once she turned around to face the baritone voice that had called out just a moment before, was a sight to her sore eyes.

Richard Castle, the very man who had left the walls of this precinct not six hours ago looking worse for wear after being kicked out by the new Captain, had triumphantly… and stylishly returned.

The usual attire he donned in the precinct had been quickly abandoned and in its place was a classic, tailored, single-breasted tuxedo in black wool. The jacket featured a sleek, notched lapel with satin trim, with the traditional two front pockets and single button closure. Black trousers and a crisp white dress shirt that was probably softer than Kate's sheets completed the look, along with a loose hanging bowtie, ready for either himself or a partner to fix up for him.

Esposito whistled and was quickly followed up by, "Looking sharp there Castle," Ryan sounded off with a suggestive eyebrow, "got a date tonight?"

He wasn't entirely sure whether or not he should say yes, because honestly, why would he be the one to put labels on this? If he did, he'd probably overthink it and make matters less than enjoyable for both of them, and he was happy to go at her pace, because if anything, she was definitely going at his kind of pace at this point, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that.

Even though she was happy to see him again, Kate tampered down her smile and narrowed her eyes at the apparel that he chose to wear this afternoon, gears turning in her head as she thought why he would be going out for a night on the town after the major developments that transpired.

Castle's eyes had been drawn to Kate's shortly after hearing Ryan's comment, it went relatively unheard when their eyes locked together. Except her's were… narrowed a bit, which, while it was concerning, wasn't going to be a concern for much longer, because now he knew exactly what to say, but he would still give her an out in front of the boys, just in case she wanted it.

"Kind of, it's a little bit of business," he nodded to Ryan, "and a little bit of pleasure," he finished with a wink to Beckett and a grin, "What do you say?"

"Oh, I don't know Castle, what's the occasion?"

He pursed his lips as he looked up into the corner of his eye as if he was deep in thought, but she knew better than that, he was just putting on a show, and for some reason, that made her briefly smile.

"Celebration," he finally spoke, smiling shyly as he continued, "I think maybe, a… celebration is in order."

He looked at her as if he was silently asking if that was the right thing to say, almost as if his eyes were pleading as the silence drew out before she flashed him that beautiful smile, the one that he rarely got to see, and one that he would happily spend the rest of his life keeping on her face, "Yeah, I think a celebration is in order."

Visible relief washed over him as soon as she had spoken, glad to hear from her mouth directly that a cause for celebration was definitely in order. And as much as he'd love to fully commit to that part, the business was going to have to come first, which is what led to him brandishing a briefcase that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Perfect, because I think you're all gonna love this."

The three detectives quirked their eyebrows at the sight of Castle lugging around a briefcase after he had pulled it out, amused at the sight, but their attention was all on him as he spoke.

"As we all know, things are in motion that we really need to get ahead of, and this," he raised the briefcase, lightly tapping it with his free hand before setting it down on the range table next to him, "should help us do just that."

"That's all good and well Castle, but how's a briefcase supposed to get us the edge we need to catch the guy that sent that squad after Montgomery?" Esposito was a bit more optimistic with this development from Castle, but he still remained on the realistic side, thinking of how this briefcase could do anything for them, much less catch their bad guy.

Castle silently agreed with the man, seeing where he was coming from before dissolving any doubts about how this would help, but before he continued, he needed to make sure they were all on the same page, "Kate, did you tell them who exactly it is that we're after?"

"Yeah, to say that the two of them were surprised would be an understatement."

"Perfect!" He said, clapping his hands together quietly and rubbing them together as he leaned over to the briefcase to unlatch the clasps and fold it open, revealing a computer screen with a few buttons and more information on the lid of the case, and in the bottom portion was a pair of eyeglasses seated in a felt enclosure, along with a pair of diamond earrings that looked like they cost triple than what one of the detectives made in a year, and completing the ensemble were a few flat electronic devices with adhesive on the back of them.

Castle was definitely excited to show off his treasure trove of toys to them, mostly the boys, because he knew they would appreciate how cool of the stuff was, because even Castle himself was impressed with the equipment.

"Woah Castle, this stuff is straight out of the movies, where'd you get it?"

"I'm glad you asked Ryan," he said with a satisfied smirk, "It was a little parting gift from Gray when he took Alexis and mother to a safe house, said it would help with us, quote, running interference, unquote."

Beckett shifted her eyes from the case back to Castle, quizzical eyes boring into his, "why would we be running interference Castle? Don't we need to be, oh I don't know, figuring out a way to put Bracken behind bars?"

He raised his hands as if to calm her because if that tone was any indication, she wasn't too happy about the direction he was leading them in, "Woah, woah. We are figuring out a way."

"Care to share with the class then?"

"I was getting there," he replied, chuckling under his breath, "Gray has the flash drive that Smith gave me, there's something on it that I couldn't figure out, and since Smith is dead, then its safe to assume that Bracken is going to be after it. So, I gave it to him thinking that he could crack the code, given that he's one of the best cryptanalysts I know, but he needs the heat kept off of him while he goes through it, and we need to figure out what our crooked politician is going to be flinging at us."

Beckett continued to eye him suspiciously before relinquishing her brief frustration, "Fine, that sounds like at least like a half-decent plan."

"Thank you, and speaking of our big bad, he's throwing a lovely gala this evening that would present us with the perfect opportunity to do exactly what we need to do, which is why I brought this nifty briefcase along."

Esposito and Ryan were both still enthralled by the doodads encased in the briefcase, idly listening to the conversation to their left as one was reading through the user manual, while the other had figured out that the eyeglasses transmitted a video and audio feed to the screen on the top portion of the case.

"Yo Castle," Esposito spoke over his shoulder as he brought the glasses to rest on his face, "I can appreciate the 'straight out of Hollywood factor,' but how is video surveillance gonna do us any good?"

Castle smiled at the question, clearly pleased that he had apparently asked the right question, "That's because, my good friend, they aren't just good for audio and video surveillance," He nudged Ryan's shoulder to break him out of his reading reverie, "Ryan, hit that button that looks like a driver's license."

When Ryan had pushed the button, Esposito had already been looking at Castle with the glasses on, and when the briefcase chimed, they all turned to look at it, surprised to see that Castle's information had been pulled up on the screen, his driver's license, social security card, birth certificate, the whole nine yards.

"You've got facial recognition on this?" Ryan exclaimed breathlessly, clearly surprised at the resources Castle had access to.

"How long have you had this bro?"

Castle grimaced at the question from the Hispanic detective, trying, and failing, to hide the fact that he had had this toy for quite some time.

"Not long," he opted for, but nobody bought it, especially not Esposito.

"I'm gonna let it slide this time, but man, what else are you hiding out on us?"

Castle furrowed his eyebrow, clearly surprised that they hadn't mentioned the other major elephant in the room, when he looked at Kate, he raised an eyebrow in question and received an answer in the shaking of her head.

He would've thought by now that the news would've been either sprung on them, or that they would have figured it out themselves that he wasn't exactly the person they thought him to be. And that wasn't even considering the incapacitated hit squad they rolled up on at Montgomery's house!

Looking a gift horse in the mouth wasn't in his repertoire though, so it was a struggle to keep the smile from growing on his face, much less the laughter that threatened to bubble up at the fact that he could surprise the boys at any given opportunity he so chose, and he was going to be capitalizing on it, it was just a matter of when.

Thankfully, the boys had redirected their attention back to the case, Esposito fiddling with different buttons as Ryan read off the instruction manual, so even if he did crack a smile, it would go unnoticed by them, and at the same time, he was grateful they were learning the device, after all, someone had to operate it tonight.

Shifting his attention back to Kate who had now joined him at his side as they both watched the two detectives fiddle with the device, both smiling at how something like this could get them so excited, so they enjoyed the moment until Kate playfully bumped his shoulder with hers, "So what's this big plan of yours Castle?"

Her question caused his usual playful smirk to make its appearance as he looked at her, "I'm glad you asked detective," he replied, raising his right hand up her back before resting it at the small of her back, he leaned in to gently whisper in her ear, "We are going to have a lovely night out on the town, have a few drinks, catch some bad guys, and…" he trailed off, dropping his head to place a gently kiss to her neck which caused a shiver to wrack her body as he did so.

"Do some paperwork?" Kate tried for humor, she really did, because as it was, this situation needed a rapid defusal before both of them wound up with their clothes torn off and scattered in the range, traumatizing Ryan and Esposito in the process.

His lips were still gingerly resting on her neck, but she felt his smile appear at her comment, then as he raised his head, saw the tender smile that she hadn't seen before, well, she had, just not directed at her, it was reserved for Alexis and Alexis alone.

But now that she had received this newest facet of him, she felt like the luckiest woman in the world, getting to see that smile, and his eyes-that ocean blue that she could get lost in-the vastness of Richard Castle contained in those alluring eyes, and the love that she now gets to see.

Even though nothing had changed about how he looked, she could realize that he had been hiding the fact that he loved her probably longer than she had, which made her want to kick herself for not realizing it sooner, but also relieved that they had reached this amazing point in their relationship, and now, he was the one who was going to be standing by her side when she took the son of a bitch down who killed her mother, tried to kill her Captain, and tried to kill him.

She was brought out of her reverie by his left hand coming up to cradle her cheek, causing her gaze to fall again into his eyes, "What?" She asked.

"You looked like you were about nine planets from here," he replied humorously, "and you didn't answer my question."

Whoops

"Ask me again?" She requested shyly, just slightly embarrassed for zoning out during a moment like that.

He smiled brightly at her, almost as if he still hadn't hit the rock bottom of his love for her, because truth be told, he was enjoying getting to see new facets of her just like she was of him, and the more he saw, the more he loved her, the more he never wanted to leave her side, and tonight, both of them were going to make sure that they never had to look over their shoulder ever again.

"I asked if you had a dress to don for this evening's festivities."

She flashed him a seductive smile, the one where the tip of her tongue lightly stuck out between her teeth… the one that could make his knees buckle and make him promptly kiss the ground.

"Well Castle, if you wanted to get me out of my clothes, surely you could think of a better way than that."

As much as he'd love to challenge that position, time was starting to run short on their preparation "phase," so he unfortunately had to rush this along, but not before getting the last word in.

"Oh, believe me, detective," he said with a waggle of his eyebrows, a mischievous glint in his eye, "I have many ways to do just that," punctuating his point with a dropping of his right hand to her buttock, giving it a gently squeeze before dropping it, impressed with his ability to make her eyes go wide in surprise instead of narrow with an intent to kill him as he stepped over the boys to talk to them.

"So, you guys got the basics down?"

Ryan turned to his left to face him, "Yeah, I think we got a pretty good grip on things. You two ready over there?"

Castle turned to look over his shoulder at Kate who had pulled out her phone and was probably talking to Lanie about her dress options for the evening based on the hushed talking he could vaguely hear, but he also took notice of the slight blush rising from her jacket that was caused by him, "I think so, Kate seems to be working on her part over there."

Usually, the guys would've noticed him calling Kate instead of Beckett, but they knew better than to do any ribbing right now, that would have to wait until later until they had a psychopath behind bars. So instead, they opted for a conversation about the device they had been toying with for the past 20 minutes.

"Are you gonna get to keep this after we're done Castle?"

He really didn't have to think about the question, Gray had seldom ever let him keep any fancy toys he had used on jobs in the past, and this one was bound to be no different. He'd get to keep the briefcase, but the chip inside that had all the important stuff? Yeah, that wasn't going to stay with him. After all, the device was accessing the CIA's database on known foreign and domestic threats to run facial recognition, alongside governmental databases for certain applications, like the showcase he gave them.

"Probably not Ryan, Gray has a tendency not to leave the toys out of the toy box for a terribly long time," which caused the Irish detective's expression to falter a bit, disappointed that they wouldn't get to use the fancy tech to replace the endless amounts of papercuts produced every time they had to do "facial recognition," at the precinct.

Esposito seemed to have his mind on other things, for example, "How did you know we were down here?"

"Oh!" Castle started, apparently pleased with how he came about discovering their location, "Well, when I got here, I rode up to the fourth floor, and as soon as the doors opened, I saw what I only could describe as a hostile takeover- "

"Yeah, you got that right," Ryan scoffed, still reeling from being kicked off the case, as well as getting a new temporary Captain.

"Anyways," Castle continued, "Karpowski saw me start to walk in, and before I knew it, she was pushing me back in the elevator, eyes darting around like she was engaging in a secret meeting."

"That's because she practically was bro, the new IA boss kicked Montgomery to the curb, laid him up in some Attorney General Safehouse until the case gets solved, and took over as Captain in the process."

Two for two, Castle thought as he could practically see Esposito's blood pressure rise as he explained the current situation and new power head, guess she's bad news, he mentally added.

"They didn't find anything out yet, did they?"

Esposito handed the glasses back to Ryan, shaking his head as he did so, "No, not yet, but Gates is like a bloodhound, and Roy got her angry enough to do this, so she's gonna start barking up the right tree eventually."

A snapping shut of a cell phone broke the conversation to silence, followed by Kate's stern voice as she walked up beside Castle again, "Which is exactly why we need to get ahead of this."

The other three silently nodded their heads in agreement, their intentions clear on what it was they were going to do. By all means, it would be nice to clear Montgomery's name, but that wouldn't happen, the best they could do was maybe get a gentle sentencing for him, after all, he would be the reason that Bracken finally gets taken down, and an added bonus as a key witness to the Senator's more crooked endeavors, that would certainly improve matters on the passing judgment of the jury.

"So… we ready to do this?" Castle asked the group, even though he already knew the answer, he felt it wouldn't be right if he didn't ask, "Because there will be no backup, it's only going to be us, but I believe that's all we need."

"Hell yeah," Esposito answered, full of conviction when he spoke.

"I've always wanted to be a part of a witch hunt," Ryan quipped, picking up the briefcase in the process.

"Let's nail this son of a bitch," Beckett growled, venom laced in each word as they all turned to leave the firing range, intent on their mission to vanquish the darkness that had shadowed her life for years.

A/N: Folks, I am so sorry for being so late with this update, like I said previously, for my next story, I'm going to get it written all the way out so you don't have to wait for updates like you have been. I've been loving this story as I go, it just gets rough sometimes. I'm still learning as I go, and I hope to have the next installment out much sooner than this one was. I hope you enjoyed this installment; the next one will be a transition into the Gala scene, and I'm sure our ragtag team of crime fighters will be finding themselves having quite the blast. Until then, all of you fine people take care and I'll see you then!