112. Chapter 112

Chapter 112

"Yeah, It's good, Rick," she answered.

"So what happened?" He was sure she could hear a smile in his voice, too.

"Your wife is now the acting captain of the fifty-first, but that isn't even the best part."

"How does it get better?"

"Mason put together a petition, and the homicide detectives talked to people in the other divisions and then presented the signatures to Alvarez this morning. Rick, it looks like most of the precinct signed it, uniforms included. They asked for me. They wanted me to take the temporary command. It feels good to know that."

"They want somebody they can trust. That's you."

I 1PP was considering me anyway. Alvarez said he had already talked to Gates, and that he and Chief Dawson had heard good things during the interviews at the twelfth. But it's still nice to know the people at the fifty-first want to support my taking over for Bronson.

"And they should."

"The boys are taking me to lunch to congratulate me. I just had to tell you before we go."

"So it's your turn to be the girl in the relationship today?" he teased.

"Okay, I admit it. Something good happened, and I had to tell my man."

"And your man loves it when you do that. Have fun with the hard time the boys will probably give you along with the congratulatory lunch."

"Yeah, I'm expecting some of that. It's a cop thing."

"I'm thinking those guys would probably do the same thing if they were chefs."

Beckett chuckled. "You're probably right. And they're at the door now. Gotta go. I love you."

"Love you, too. And I'm so proud of you. We'll do something to celebrate tonight."

Lunch was the expected combination of longtime partners being happy for another partner…along with the teasing about high places and forgetting the little people and so on. They enjoyed their time, and the underlying feeling in all of it was the men's pride in their sister and her accomplishments.

After lunch, Beckett went back to the station and observed her new desk. Alvarez had left Beckett's copies of the paperwork required for her temporary command status, along with packets of enough forms and instructions for a wide and thoroughly stress inducing variety of required reports. The desk drawers had been emptied over the weekend, and Bronson's personal effects had been placed in boxes in a corner. The one standing bookshelf and the wall shelves had been emptied of most of their contents, and the papers pertaining to the precinct were stacked neatly on one of the shelves. Alvarez had given her an overview of what would be expected of her, but how some of it was to be accomplished would require her own decisions. The deputy chief said she could feel free to make the office her own; but, considering the short duration of the command assignment, he recommended restraint. IA had been through the office thoroughly and had removed anything of interest from the shelves and file cabinets. The return of the boxes of Bronson's personal items would be taken care of before the end of the day; and by morning, it would hold few visible traces of the man who had occupied it for so long.

The first order of business would be establishing in her mind her necessary contribution to the running of the precinct and the chain of communication she would be required to provide 1PP. Providing necessary equipment and back-up was second nature when working with other teams, and that would transfer well to the precinct. Working with the rest of the staff would be very much like working with other teams, too…planning, taking responsibility, offering credit where it's due, appreciation of good work, encouragement or mentoring where it's needed, etc. Everything would just be moving to a much larger scale…including schedules. "An entire precinct of schedules," she muttered to herself…and groaned. After an hour of working on a list of priorities and some notes on how to make them happen, she was interrupted by a phone call and went back to the bullpen with her partners.

"How's the arm…and desk duty, Esposito?"

"They both suck," he answered unappreciatively."

"I know. You could have stayed home another day, you know. The doctor told you to if I remember correctly."

"We just got a new one," Sully said. "Ryan and I need to go."

"I came out to see if dispatch had already given it to you. Take the camera. It's in my bottom desk drawer."

"Guess you gotta clean out this desk now, huh? You got another one to fill," Esposito teased.

"Enough with that," she answered, but she was still smiling.

"Nah. We've known you long enough we get another day or two out of this. Then we'll start calling you Captain."

"What he said," Ryan answered with a grin, and Sully nodded as they holstered their weapons before leaving.

"You'll keep calling me Beckett. You can call me Captain when I have a command of my own." Turning to the rest of the bullpen, she asked, "Did everybody hear that? I'm still Lieutenant Beckett working a temporary assignment. Beckett is still fine."

"Got it, Captain," Farmer said from a couple of desks away.

She pointed a warning finger at him and said, "That's an order," smiling as she said it but obviously serious.

The others laughed, but he had made his point. They would comply with her demand; but she would still get the respect due a captain, maybe a little extra since she was making it obvious that she didn't feel the need to claim the title.

"You know where to find me," she told the group. Pointing toward the captain's office, she added, "I'll be in there figuring out my paperwork." Quiet chuckles followed that statement, too.

A few minutes after she left, there was a short conference among the remaining members of Egan's team. Then all three of them stood and made their way to what was now Beckett's office. She was still looking through some papers and hadn't even sat down at her desk yet when they all appeared at her door, and she acknowledged each of them. "Stafford, Compton, Bartoluzzi. Come on in. What can I do for you?"

Stafford closed the door and spoke for the group. "Egan made us look pretty bad, Lieutenant Beckett. He wasn't easy to work with from our end, either, but he was the man in charge…and he had an in with the man who was even more in charge. So sometimes we'd feel like we had to follow his lead when we really didn't want to, like this thing with Tandy. He just cut us out of it, no arguments accepted. We figure we probably look suspicious to everybody else because we worked with Egan, so we needed to address that with you. None of us are like Egan, and we don't want to be painted with the same brush. The other thing is that we don't have a clear team leader at the moment. Not that we can't get the job done without it; but when you have a chance to work it out, we'd like an idea what to expect."

"I'm glad you came in because we do need to talk about that." Running her hand through her hair and holding on to it for a moment as she spoke, she said resignedly, "In the copious amount of planning time I've had to jump into this new job, I've only been able to give those two problems fleeting consideration. When we worked with the other teams, I didn't try to work with yours because Egan made it clear that he wasn't interested. I'd like to assign Esposito or Ryan to temporarily replace Egan. Since Esposito is on desk duty right now, he can start working with you. He has a little more time on desk duty, then he can go in the field with you. I trust anybody on my team with my life, and with any case I've encountered. When schedules allow, your team can work with mine…theirs. I'd like to see what you're capable of when you aren't being held back, so you'll have an immediate opportunity to start showing everybody you're nothing like Egan."

Bartoluzzi looked surprised. "For a fleeting consideration of the problem, that was pretty impressive."

"I've had plenty of experience with team decisions. That's the easy part." Waving a hand at the paper spread out on her desk, she smiled ruefully and said, "It's the other stuff I need to organize… However, since the Egan problem only occurred to me after lunch, I haven't even fleetingly talked about it with the rest of my team; so give me a day before you mention it to anybody else," she requested.

"No problem," Compton agreed. "It sounds like a good solution, and we'd appreciate being included in what you've been doing for the others. We didn't get a lot of help from Egan. His motto was, 'The less work I have to do, the better.'"

"Well. With Esposito running the team, you might as well throw that theory out."

"Thanks, Beckett," Stafford said, and all of them were smiling when they left, looking relieved.

Esposito looked up questioningly as the other three returned. "She's gonna be good for this place," Stafford said.

"Not a doubt in my mind," Esposito answered.

Since Egan's team had expressed concerns about their association with one of Bronson's minions, Beckett called in the teams who had been associated with the rest. Expecting a little over a dozen people, she met them in the conference room later that afternoon. She pointed out the fact that all of them had worked with team leaders who had been found to be dirty cops. "I'd like to hear your comments and concerns," she told them. "I'll do my best to attend to them and help in any way I can."

Their concerns were similar to the remainder of Egan's team. There was a small pocket of anger that all the legitimately good work they had done could potentiality be overshadowed and look suspect because of their team leader."

"I'm sure IA knows how to separate those things, and I certainly do," she assured them. "I can promise you a fair accounting of your work.

There were two teams who had liked the men who had been removed and resented that Bronson had brought them down with him. Her answer to that was, "As cold as it sounds, they made the decisions that caused this. Bronson could only ask. To be involved, they had to agree and cooperate. There isn't much I can do about that; but in the next couple of days, I'll work on addressing the rest of the things you've mentioned. If any other concerns arise, let me know. Thanks for your help."

"Thanks for yours," one of the men answered as the group filed out of the room. "Demming's team said you'd be good at this."

She closed the door, returned to her desk, and called Captain Gates.

"Lieutenant Beckett, I presume."

"You presume correctly, Sir."

"Please tell me I'm speaking to the interim captain of the fifty-first precinct."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm glad you accepted. This and your excellent score on the exam will be good for your advancement to your own command. Deputy Chief Alvarez asked me if I thought you were ready for the challenge you're facing, and I assured him you were. Bronson left all of you with quite a mess to clean up."

"I've already dealt with a few problems today."

"Personnel problems?"

"One group came in to speak to me, I called the others in to be proactive." She gave Gates a brief description of the meetings that afternoon.

"I'd say that was a good beginning."

"And I'm trying to work out the newer aspects of the job. I've never been more grateful for good mentoring, and I wanted to thank you for that. Without it, this would be even more overwhelming."

"I'm happy to have helped."

"If I have questions I may make an SOS call. Thought I should warn you."

"Just try to do that during daylight hours, and I'll have no complaints." Gates paused for a short moment before saying, "Don't doubt yourself, Kate. You're going to be an outstanding captain."

"Thanks for the confidence in me. I just wanted to let you know that your efforts have helped. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it."

"Well, keep in touch. And don't hesitate to call if I you need anything...even if it's just to vent."

"Thank you. I'll let you get back to work."

"Congratulations, Lieutenant." Captain said before disconnecting the call.

After another hour of familiarizing herself with the most demanding tasks and deadlines, Beckett allowed herself the luxury of going home to her family.

xxxxx

Kate opened the door of the loft to the appetizing smell of one of her favorite Castle food treats. "Did you make those rolls we haven't had in ages?" she asked as she picked up her eager little boy and kissed his happy face.

"Yes, I did. And I just put the steaks on the grill. I had Eduardo spying for me so I'd know when you were home. Only the best tonight. Baked potatoes are done, your favorite wine is chilled, and the salad is in the fridge, and Jamie and I went out this afternoon and bought your favorite ice cream for dessert. We're celebrating your first steps into the world of police command."

Kate walked over to the kitchen and planted a kiss on his lips.

"You and Jamie enjoy a few minutes together. I'll have this on the table in no time. Mother called from the taxi. She should be here any minute."

Sure enough, as Kate was walking toward the sofa about to enjoy time with her son, Martha made her entrance as if they had just provided her cue. Jamie squirmed in Kate's arms and reached for his grandmother. He hadn't seen much of her in the last few days.

"Martha, shame on you. I think that's called upstaging," Kate said as she handed over her wiggly armful of little boy.

"It's been known to happen on rare occasions," Martha answered with a mischievous wink. "And how is my favorite little boy?" she asked Jamie, giving him a big hug. "Did you have fun with Daddy today?"

"Play blocks. Letters."

"You played letters with your alphabet blocks?"

When he nodded, she said, "Go get some of them and show Grams." She put her grandson on the floor and watched him take off for the study.

"Do you have to go back to rehearsals after dinner?" Kate asked.

"Theaters are traditionally dark on Mondays, and we decided to go with the idea of that tradition. Rehearsals are going unusually well, and all of us needed a break, so I'm in for the evening…a good meal, a little celebrating, and probably a long bath and an early bedtime."

At that point Castle appeared at her side with a glass of wine and a kiss on the cheek. "Bless you, my child," Martha said appreciatively as he went back to the kitchen, and she took her first sip.

Jamie came back then with a slightly overambitious armload of blocks, a few falling as he walked.

"Which letters did you find?" she asked, and he held one up.

"I's "B," he told her.

"Yes, it is, Darling. Show me another one." He piled all the blocks on the sofa, Martha put her glass of wine on a table, out of danger, and Jamie climbed into her lap. He proudly picked up blocks, pointing at letters, and telling her what they were, with plenty of enthusiastic encouragement from his grandmother. She had to remind him of a few of them, so she put those aside to ask again later.

Kate watched for a moment, then smiled and wandered back to the kitchen to snag another kiss from her husband before asking how she could help. They had dinner on the table about the time Jamie had exhausted his supply of blocks, and Martha brought him in and sat him in his high chair.

"Tell me about your promotion, Katherine," Martha insisted as she cut into her steak. "How did it come about?"

"It isn't actually a promotion, Martha. It's only a temporary thing…probably only a couple of months or so."

"It sounds like a promotion to me. They're letting you run an entire precinct on your own. So what brought that on?"

Kate briefly explained about recent events with the FBI case correlating with the case at the precinct, then she recounted her conversation with Alvarez and the subsequent interactions within the precinct that day. Martha and Castle commented and asked questions at appropriate times. Then they laughed at some of the lunchtime teasing from her partners and commiserated over the prospect of the additional paperwork, etc.

"It's definitely going to be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it."

"You're already proving they made the right decision in choosing you," Castle responded.

Rick, you're not exactly unbiased," she answered with a smile.

"But we're both bright enough to recognize good, responsible decisions when we hear them," Martha told her. "And it sounds like you made some of those today…with the support of the people you'll be commanding, however temporary. That's a very good start."

"I did feel good about it when I left. Time will tell."

Castle could see that his wife was tired and probably needed to leave the precinct behind her for the day, so he changed the topic of conversation.

"You missed a good adventure this weekend, Mother," he said.

"We brought you an adventure souvenir," Kate told her, and the subject was successfully changed. "I'll get it for you as soon as I clean up this messy little boy's face and hands." She took Jamie out of his high chair, careful to keep those body parts away from her as long as possible, and sat him on the counter next to the sink. "Your dinner is all over your face," she said, unable to contain a smile at the big one Jamie gave her. Using a damp paper towel, she cleaned his hands first then used another one on his face.

"He takes after his father there, too," Martha said, looking at them affectionately. "Now where is my souvenir? I'll take my boy."

"Be right back." Kate went to the study and came back quickly with a small wrapped box. "We found a craft fair, and some of the artists had beautiful things."

Martha sat Jamie on the counter of the breakfast bar with her arms around him and opened the package behind his back as he turned to see what she was doing. She lifted the bracelet from the box and exclaimed, "Excellent taste, children. I love it." After draping it over her wrist and admiring it, she said, "I'll wear it tomorrow and show it off."

"This is what he bought for me," Kate said and showed her own bracelet to Martha.

"Oh, I love that, too."

"Then you can borrow it any time you'd like"

"Now tell me about this adventure," Martha insisted. "What did you see besides the craft show? Did you find things for Jamie?"

"Of course we did," Castle answered, coming from the kitchen where he had just put the dishes in the dishwasher. "Do you remember the playground, Jamie?"

"Boat!" Jamie said animatedly, looking at his grandmother.

That started a running commentary from Kate and Castle taking turns in the background. They both encouraged Jamie to say what he remembered by reminding him of things and then tried to interpret quietly for Martha as she listened to their boy. ("Jungle gym shaped like a boat,") Castle explained quietly. ("We all played pirates.")

"Pirate. Ahoy Matey," Jamie added.

"Remember the parade?" Kate asked. "What did you see?"

"Real horsies, Grams." (People riding horses.) Jamie followed that with his best imitation of a whinny.

He could say the sounds of all the letters, but when he was tired or too excited, he still slurred some of them, and the "R" in Grams was one of them, so Castle corrected him, emphasizing the "R".

"Grams has an "R" and you can say "R". It's Grams. Grrrrrams.

"Leave him alone, Richard. Let him tell me," Martha answered. "What else was in the parade, Darling?"

"Cow. P'tend cow." (Parade float) "'Mongous cow," he continued, throwing his arms out to show her how big. (Humongous. JD taught him that.)

"What about the apples?"

"Tree. Apples up high." (Picked his own apples.)

"Did Daddy hold you up high to pick them?" Martha asked, and Jamie nodded happily. "What else did you see?"

"Pumpkins?"

The little boy looked at a loss for words, then pointed to the kitchen counter.

"Jack-o-lanterns?" Martha guessed, and got vigorous nods and a big smile again in response. (Amazing jack-o-lanterns)

"Big pun'kins." He was bouncing then. "'Mongous pun'kins." He threw his arms wide again, barely missing Martha's face. (New favorite word. Can you tell? Pumpkin growers' contest.)

"Ponies?"

"Grrrrrams, Jamie on li'l horsies." (Pony rides)(Ohmygod, Castle. He said Grrrrrams, exactly the way you did" That was said with an barely hidden squeak of laughter.)

"You rode a pony? Was it fun?" More nodding and excited squirming.

Without prompting, the little boy remembered something else and grabbed Martha's face with his hands, pulling it back toward him when she looked at Kate and Castle. "Patted aminals." (Petting zoo.)

"What kinds of aminals?" Martha asked, obviously fighting herself to keep a straight face in the conversation…and keeping to his pronunciation.

"Real cow…baby cow. Piggy. Bunnies. Gentle." He stroked her arm softly to demonstrate. (He heard that word a lot. He was really anxious to get to the animals.)

Martha wrapped her arms around Jamie where he still sat on the counter in front of her and hugged him, looking at his highly amused parents over his recently kissed little head. "Please tell me there are pictures."

"Videos even," Castle promised. "You're gonna love it."

Seeing that his mother might explode into either laughter or tears any second, and not quite sure which one to expect, Castle went and picked Jamie up, saying, "Bath time, Buddy. Want to ride Daddy's shoulders?" He swung Jamie up to his shoulders and headed upstairs, stopping to put him down at the top so they wouldn't accidentally bump his head on the doorway.

Martha herself didn't seem to be able to decide whether to laugh or cry. She started with an explosive laugh, doubling over with it. "That was so adorable. I couldn't laugh. He was so serious and excited." Then she suddenly seemed on the verge of tears and reached to pull Kate into a big hug, saying, "I can never thank you enough for that, Katherine."

"For what?" Kate asked, returning the hug.

"For letting me have my twenty month old son back in my arms for a moment. Jamie is so much like him. He's the spitting image of his father at this age, and his personality and expressions are the same, even that little twist of his hands when he told me about the 'mongous cow. And they're both so bright. When Richard was that age, there was so much going on inside that little brain, and he wanted so badly to tell me about it; but he didn't have enough words yet. He would be thrilled when I could voice what he was trying to tell me. He'd bounce and nod and smile and look triumphant. For a little while tonight it felt like I was holding my little boy again. Thank you for giving me that moment."

"Seems to me that has more to do with Castle's genes than with me."

"Darling, we both know all the boy genes in existence would go nowhere without us to bring them into the world."

Both women laughed and then talked about the weekend adventure and the roles Alexis, JD, and John had played. After they straightened up in the kitchen, Kate went to get her phone and started with the playground video. By the time Castle came to call down to Kate that Jamie was ready for his bedtime book, Martha was entranced with the videos, laughing or "aaawing" or commenting every minute or two.

"Hey, wait until we're back downstairs so we can watch the rest along with you," he told his mother.

Once Jamie was tucked in, the adults enjoyed the adventure recorded on the phones, sent Martha the files she wanted, and all of them went to their rooms relaxed and in a good mood.

"How did it feel to take over the captain's office today?" Castle asked after they had closed the door and were undressing.

"Oddly sad in spite of the amazing feeling of being trusted with the job."

"What was sad?"

"While we were off having an adventure, IA went through files and records in Bronson's office and emptied his desk and shelves. By the end of today, someone had taken away the boxes of his personal things; and after all those years, it was almost like he had never been there."

"And it made you think of Roy?"

"Yeah," she answered, leaning into him for a hug. "I wasn't there to see that transition, but seeing someone else's things in his office when I came back… It was hard. I don't want to…"

"This is different. The situation is different. Bronson was different, You said Mason started the petition, and Mason was Bronson's friend. He knows there were problems. It's going to be fine. You'll see."

"Thank you. I needed to hear that." They were down to their underwear by then, and Kate gave him an appreciative kiss…and lingered with it."

"Mmmmmm…." Castle responded. "Shower?" he asked hopefully. "Wash the day away?

"Yeah," she answered, popping the waistband on his boxers. "Maybe more?"

The following morning, Kate went back to work to dig deeper into the demands of her new assignment.