636. Chapter 636

After Almost Famous

Episode 3.07

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'm not almost famous for not owning Castle. Wait that was a double negative so…Forget it. Rating: K time: See above.

Kate came out of their bathroom and pirouetted for Castle. "What do you think?"

He frowned. "I don't like it."

"Too tight?"

"Too meter maid. You're an NYPD captain. You shouldn't be going out on the streets disguised as a meter maid."

"Traffic Enforcement Agent." Kate corrected. "And as much as I respected the way Montgomery and Gates ran the precinct, it's not the way I'm going to do things. I'm not going to sit in my office ninety percent of the time. I have to be out in the field as much as I can. It's just the way I am. If One PP has a problem with that, the can make me a detective again. I have an excellent sergeant to handle paperwork and I have no problems with the politics at One PP." Kate took a step forward and kissed him. "Thanks to a guy I know, the people at One PP seem to think I have the mayor on speed dial."

"I have him on speed dial and calling him did me no good." Castle grumped.

"Rick, some whacko is beating up meter maids in my area. He's put three in the hospital already. Someone has to go out on the streets and catch him."

"So send someone out on the streets to catch him."

"Who? We're not just stretched thin, we're about at the breaking point. We have a violent gang taking down jewelry stores, a turf war between two rival motorcycle gangs over meth production, a violent rapist on the loose, someone taking pot shots at buses, some other…."

"Okay. I get it. But can't you have some back up around? Ryan and Esposito?"

"Who are both testifying at the Norton trial. You know how badly we wanted that bastard. I'm not taking a chance like that."

"How about…"

"Me?" She cut him off. "Rick, I love you, more than I ever believed I could love someone. More than I ever believed it was possible to love someone. But, meter maids don't carry weapons and they're not trained in hand to hand combat. I have my back up Glock in my ankle holster and I've been keeping up with my training. I'm going to catch him and if I'm really lucky, I'll break a few of his bones." She leaned in and kissed him again. "I'll see you tonight."

At the precinct, Kate drew a traffic control scooter and headed out. She had briefed all of her officers that she was working undercover and while they were supposed to keep an eye out for her, they were not to approach her unless she was in trouble.

She spent the first hour driving around the area the 12th Precinct covered, looking things over. She issued her first citation to a taxi driver who was triple parked and chatting with other cabbies. She discovered that the cabbies' English was limited to profanity. And they were fluent in it.

Next, she found a flatbed truck blocking a fire hydrant. She stopped her scooter and began writing a ticket.

"Hey, Sweet Cheeks, that's my truck. I just left it there for a minute. Don't write me up."

She whirled around, recognizing the voice at once. "Castle? What are you doing here?"

Castle, dressed in bib overalls with a paint spattered tee shirt, long hair and a shaggy beard, walked over to her." Can't we come to some arrangement, Honey?"

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"I'm working undercover. I'm a licensed PI and a consultant with the NYPD, remember?" He whispered. Then louder, "How about I just pay you direct, Sweetie. You are one hot cop."

"Are you trying to bribe me?" She said angrily, but keeping her voice down.

"Yes. And I'm doing it in character. Pretty good, huh?"

"Your Jersey accent is lousy." She whispered. She wrote out a ticket and handed it to him. "I expect you to take care of that."

"Can you fix it for me, Honey?"

Kate just glared at him.

"I guess not."

"Now go home!"

Kate got back on her scooter and began handing out parking tickets. An hour later, she came across an outlaw biker doing repairs on his chopper in the street. "Excuse me, sir. You're draining oil into the city sewers. That's against the law. I'm going to have to ticket you for that."

The tattooed biker stood up and glared at her. "I don't think so, bitch. Cops should know better than to mess with the HCMC."

Kate glared right back. "Castle!" She strode up to him and got in his face. "I told you to go home. And what's HCMC?"

"I did go home. To change into my Heck's Cherubs Motorcycle Club colors."

Kate grabbed her book of tickets and wrote furiously. She handed him three tickets. "One if for letting your oil go into the sewers. The second is for your rear view mirrors, they're too small."

"They're factory standard." Castle complained.

"The third ticket is because your engine is too loud. It's violating City noise ordinances."

"But you haven't even heard the engine. It's been off the whole time."

"I said it's too loud. Care to resist arrest?"

Castle shrugged and sighed. "Give a woman a little authority and all of a sudden she's a dictator. What's this country coming to?" He said loudly. It being New York, no one paid any attention to him.

"Now go home and stay there. That's an order."

Kate had lunch at a small deli and was hit on constantly by the teenager behind the counter. He seemed think that the best way to attract the "hot MILF cop", as he called her, was to brag about his sexual prowess.

As she left, Kate turned to the young man. "I remember you. You went out with my pal Sandy. She said you couldn't get it up no matter what she did and then you cried and called for your mommy." And walked out the door.

Once more, she found a cab triple parked. The cabbie looked like maybe an Afghan or some other Central Asian. She took out her ticket book and walked up to him. "Sir, you're ….Castle?"

Castle replied with some sort of gibberish.

"You can't speak any language that would go with that outfit you're wearing." She said angrily.

"I know a guy. He wrote that out for me, it's the start of an Afghan fairy tale. It starts…."

Before Castle could say more, there was an explosion half a block away, and a car began to burn. "Dammit." Beckett grabbed her radio and called it in, then headed for the car with Castle right behind her. She stopped and put a hand on his chest. "No, you get to stay in character. A cabbie would move his cab so it didn't get damaged, so move it."

She ran to the scene of the blaze, and saw the car was engulfed in flames. She started moving people away from the fire when she turned and looked back at Castle. He was on his knees with some man punching him repeatedly.

Kate grabbed her Glock from her ankle holster and ran. "NYPD!" she screamed. "Stop right now and put your hands on your head. NOW!"

The man kept hitting Castle. Kate stepped forward and hit him as hard as she could with the butt of her Glock. He dropped like a stone.

Later, she visited Castle in the emergency room. "You were pretty lucky, Castle. No head injury and not that much damage to your arms"

"Of course I'm lucky. I'm married to you, aren't I?"

She smiled at him and gave him a kiss.

"So what was his problem?"

"Six months ago his wife had a heart attack and he called 911. But one of his neighbors was holding a huge party. His street was so jammed with double and triple parkers that the paramedics had to stop a block and a half away and walk the rest of the way. His wife was dead by the time they got there. For some reason he blamed both double parkers and meter maids. He's confessed to beating up double parkers and to the three meter maids. Double parkers get their cars keyed, or worse all the time, so no one connected it. Not until he beat up the meter maids."

"I helped you, didn't I?" Castle said smugly.

Kate nodded. "If he hadn't decided on beating up that scofflaw cabby, he probably would have thrown the Molotov cocktail at me, so yes, you did help."

He grinned happily. "Can we play cops and robbers tonight?"

"And you want to be the cop?"

"You make such a sexy robber in that miniskirt."

"I'll think about it."

"I need some down time, Captain Beckett. " He said, pouting.

"I said I'll think about it."

"I risked my life for to bring justice to those three meter maids and to protect you. I deserve…"

"Okay, okay. But I get to be the cop in the second round."

"Will you wear the miniskirt as the cop? Undercover?"

"Don't push it."