275. Chapter 275

After The Greater Good

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: It would be a great good, if I owned Castle. But, I don't. Rating: K Time: See above.

Ryan and Esposito watched Gates and Elizabeth Weston hug and then leave together. "She is hot, though." Espo said.

"Gates?" Ryan asked. "Your man card is in danger of being pulled."

"Not Gates. Be real, bro." Espo smiled slightly. "And, she's a US Attorney. Not as hot as being a bad ass bodyguard like Scarlett Jones, but hot none the less."

"Yeah. And, even if Lanie didn't exist, do you really think that dating Gates' sister looks anything like a good idea?"

"Lanie has decided she wants to take a break and go slowly. If that's what she wants, that's what she gets. That's the way I see it. Besides, imagine me strolling in one day and sticking my head into Gates' office and saying, "Hey, Vickie, baby? Liz wants to know if you can drop by tonight and get together."

"Your head would be stuck in Gates' office. She'd have it mounted on her wall."

"Okay, there may be a downside to that, but a man can dream, can't he, bro?"

"That's more like a nightmare."

Gates and Elizabeth sat together in a bar, catching up. "You've definitely changed, though, Vick. In one way at least."

"How?"

"Richard Castle, the novelist, works in your office? And he dates one of your detectives? Isn't there some sort of NYPD rules against all of that?"

Gates shrugged. "Mr. Castle is not my favorite person by any means, but he is surprisingly useful. In addition, he comes to me with the mayor's blessing."

"You have absolutely got to tell me that story."

Gates thought for a second, then nodded. "Okay, but this story is just between us, okay?" Elizabeth nodded. "I took over the Twelfth after the previous precinct captain was killed in a gunfight with an escaped killer. Usually when you take over a precinct, you meet with the outgoing captain, and he or she helps you get settled in. But with a dead captain, I got shoved right into things."

"Must have been tough." Elizabeth said.

"It was. But, one of the things I noticed was one of my new homicide detectives. He was there before anyone else and he stayed long after everyone had left. He just worked, and worked, and worked. But, oddly, I couldn't match his face to any of the personnel files I had. So I asked one of the other detectives who he was and was told he was Rick Castle. I called One PP and asked why I didn't have a personnel file on Detective Castle as he appeared to be one of my best detectives. I was told he was the author Richard Castle and he was in my precinct doing research for a series of novels he was writing. Well. I was not having some dilettante writer hanging around my precinct, taking up space and interfering with my cases. I kicked him to the curb."

"But how did he get back?" Elizabeth asked, now very curious.

"Detective Beckett was shot during Roy Montgomery's funeral. She was out for three months, and no sooner does she come back than Mr. Castle shows up. I was about to have him thrown out of the precinct and then discipline Detective Beckett when I got a call from the mayor. He told me in no uncertain terms that Mr. Castle was there at the mayor's invitation and he was going to stay there as long as he wanted. And did I understand that?"

"You must have been furious."

Gates nodded. "I determined right then and there that one way or another, I'd get rid of Mr. Castle."

"That apparently didn't work."

"No. Castle has turned out to be a surprisingly effective, if bizarre, member of the homicide team. And it was obvious from the start that he was in love with Detective Beckett. Beckett was much harder to read. Although she didn't seem to want Mr. Castle to leave, she didn't seem to reciprocate his love. For a while anyway. Then all of a sudden, after she screwed up a case badly, it was obvious she was as much in love with him as he was with her."

"Isn't there a rule against colleagues dating?" Elizabeth asked.

"Mr. Castle is technically just a civilian helping out the NYPD, not a colleague of Beckett's. And I was sure the mayor would see it that way."

"So he's really here because he's a good, if unofficial detective? And you haven't had any problems with him?"

Gates laughed. "I've had nothing but problems. One time Mr. Castle bought the contents of a storage unit. He thought, correctly, that something in the contents was the key to the murder of the owner. One of the things in the storage unit was a Gemini doll, you know the ones I have been collecting for years? It was the last one I need for a complete set. Mr. Castle gave it to me."

"You must have been thrilled."

"Oh, I was. But then Mr. Castle decided that there was something inside the dolls head. But he managed to break open the head of one of my other dolls that I'd brought in. Then he broke the head of the doll he gave me."

"He's lucky to still be alive." Elizabeth teased her sister.

"I thought about killing him, believe me. But, several weeks later he brought me in both of those dolls. Mr. Castle said he knew guy who was into antique dolls and had bought replacements for me. I'm sure they cost Mr. Castle a fortune, but he's rich and I did stop thinking about killing him."

"I think it was sweet of him."

Gates raised an eyebrow. "Breaking them in the first place was not sweet."

Elizabeth nodded. "True. But if that's the only problem you've had with…"

"Oh, it wasn't. There was the Valentine's Day fiasco. He bought a gorgeous pair of earrings for Detective Beckett for Valentine's Day. Somehow they ended up in my coat pocket with a very romantic note. I was afraid for a minute that I'd have to officially take notice of their relationship. But, luckily Mr. Castle hadn't put Beckett's name on the card. I thought for a minute about just taking the earrings and seeing what he'd do, but I've learned you never want to see what Mr. Castle will do. So, I accused him of trying to curry favor with me, chewed him out and gave him the earrings back."

Elizabeth laughed. "Did Beckett ever get her earrings?"

Gates shook her head. "No, if they had shown up on her ears, I would have officially known who they came from. Beckett is too smart to let that happen. But I'm sure Mr. Castle made it up to her in some way."

"I hope he does love her, Vickie. I know a little bit about him. He has quite a reputation as a playboy. I'd hate to see Beckett get hurt."

"I don't worry about that. About a year ago Beckett stepped on the pressure plate of an explosive device with a timer on it. Castle stayed with her the whole time trying to figure out how to defuse the bomb. Which he did with about five seconds to spare. If he'd been wrong, he'd have died with her. I don't know of anyone but Mr. Castle who would do that. I decided that I should take notice of the relationship between them. It was getting hard for me to ignore it, anyway. I told them that as long as they behaved professionally, everything would be okay."

"Well, good for you, then."

Gates laughed. "Mr. Castle can still rile me with little trouble, though."

"Speaking of riling you, Vickie, how are you getting along with your mother-in-law?"

Gates shuddered dramatically. "There's someone that makes me appreciate Mr. Castle. Let me tell you about Christmas…"

And the two sisters talked on into the night.