Case 23 - Pizza, Early Morning, Car Chase

LA: <Events before The Rookie S1E12, Modern Family S9E13, SWAT S1E10>

NY: <Events 99 before Brooklyn S5E11, sometime Suits S7E12, 1.5 years after Castle S8 finale>

With more action than he thought he needed in his New York visit, Ben stayed with Captain Holt for two nights. None of his few belongings left in the bombed apartment had survived, so he spent the following day buying necessities like hygiene products, phone charger, underwear and new warm clothes together with Castle, who had volunteered to take him shopping as the rich writer paid for most of it in the luxury stores he lured Ben into.

The day after, the FBI closed the case after arresting the two real estate bosses that were involved. The one who committed fraud and laundered money turned out to have ties to a mob family. The one who ordered the bombings was brought in on domestic terrorism charges, though it looked like the original lawyer of the real estate mogul would take the fall for him if they couldn't find hard evidence that he ordered the hits.

Though, one thing stood out to both Ben and Castle as they discussed the case. The bomber at his apartment was dressed completely differently and had a different bomb as well.

The FBI excused it by saying that all caught bombers were solo operators that were hired to do the same hit, but Castle in his highly paranoid mind was already trying to come up with all kinds of excuses to tie the unidentified bomber to the CIA, the Kraft's, prison gangs... Ben felt like the list didn't end.

His new home for the remaining three weeks was a secondary loft that Castle owned close to his PI office. Usually, it was for him to crash if he didn't want to make it home after a long night out, sometimes it was used by Alexis or their resident ex-MI6 help Hayley Shipton who worked with Castle's eldest daughter to keep the PI firm alive.

Castle had insisted he stay there since it came equipped with plenty of counter espionage tools already and had fully remote-controlled surveillance going for it as well. No bomber or assassin could get away with murder if Ben lived there - or so Castle argued.

-----

After another day in Brooklyn working a few straight forward boring muggings with Jake and Charles while Amy and Rosa worked the Hector-Fisher-weapon-supplier angle with the DEA, Ben got home but found someone he didn't suspect.

"Are you following me, Miss Bennett?" Ben asked as he stood in front of his door.

Katrina Bennett, the junior partner at Pearson Specter Litt he met on Monday, was standing at the door opposite his.

"Detective Weiss?" She asked in wonder. "You live here? I thought that a young redhead lived there? No, don't answer. Good luck on your date."

Ben shook his head and clarified, "Nope, just me. A friend is letting me crash here after my last place... nevermind. The redhead is that friend's daughter - Alexis Castle."

"I see," Bennett mumbled with a thoughtful look.

"Anyway, have a nice night," Ben wished and entered his new home.

"Wait!" Bennett exclaimed before he closed the door.

"Yes?"

"Can... do you have a minute? There's something that's been stuck in my head ever since you left," Bennett unsurely asked.

"Uh, sure. If you don't mind me eating the pizza in front of you? I'm starving," Ben quipped as he held up the pizza box in his hand.

"No, of course not."

The two made themselves comfortable, Ben even poured Katrina - as she'd like to be called in this setting - a glass of wine from Castle's collection.

"Alright, Katrina. What do you wanna know?"

"Before joining PSL, I worked as an assistant district attorney. I've seen all kinds of criminals, all kinds of police officers, all kinds of innocent people," Katrina softly described as her eyes searched Ben's face.

As the silence hung over the room, Ben stopped eating the slice of pizza in his hand and inquired, "I didn't hear a question?"

"How do you do it?"

"Hmm?"

"You... killed these people in cold blood, but that was the first time you didn't look haunted as you talked about your time undercover."

Ben took a deep breath and looked down at his pizza. After a short moment, he took another bite.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"No, it's okay. It's, uh, I know it's not how I should feel. As a police officer, I know I'm not the law. I can't be judge, jury, and executioner. But killing Kobra, Tiger, and Olli was... freeing."

Katrina looked relieved for a moment as Ben continued eating.

"Olli? Is that an animal, too?"

Ben shook his head and clarified, "Nope. He didn't have a codename yet. He was just muscle. Oliver Klepp. Every chance he got, he touched the girls in front of the others, undressed them to embarrass them further. First time I retaliated was me breaking his femur during GJJ practice. But that just made him more cruel. When I ordered the girls to keep me company, they told me what he did to them, how they were hurt, scarred forever..."

Katrina looked at him with an unreadable expression, so Ben added softly between bites, "I did not touch the girls. I ordered them to my room whenever I could to give them rest. A long shower, first aid, good food, soft bed. I'd sleep on the floor or in a chair..."

Ben finished his pizza as Katrina just sat there in silence.

"Not what you wanted to hear?" Ben asked eventually.

"Just... a lot to take in," Katrina offered in explanation. "You're a lot more open about it than I would have thought..."

"It's actually the first time I told anybody. I'm still not sure why I did it... maybe talking to lawyers made me want to spill the beans. Get judged by people who can...?"

"Well, I cannot offer you absolution. But by the way you looked, I can tell you did what you think is right. And you don't strike me as someone with a terrible moral compass," Katrina said with deliberate, purposeful wording.

"I hope so, too. I don't lose sleep over those deaths. I lose them over the girls," Ben affirmed after downing a glass of wine.

"You should really tell someone else," Katrina eventually suggested with a sympathetic smile.

"It's a little too heavy for my girlfriend, but, yeah, I should..."

[Ben Weiss commentary scene change]

"I really should. But Haley is too innocent in this regard. I don't want her to know just how bad the world can be. When we were at that Christmas party and she realised just how often those guys get shot at, she looked so devastated for a small moment... and I don't think it even really fully hit her. I don't think she truly understood what those Dutch hockey girls went through either... and I don't think I could stomach telling her what would have happened to them if Murphy's CI hadn't flagged that shipment," Ben groaned with a heavy voice as he held his head in one hand.

"I didn't tell her about the bomb. I didn't tell her about jumping down stairs into two guys swimming in bullets... and yet I told three lawyers I never met about the time I murdered three White Front members during my time undercover."

Ben sat up straight with a groan and looked visibly uncomfortable.

"It kind of feels like I live a separate life for her where everything is sunshine and rainbow. But is it unfair to her, or is it what I need or tell myself I need? It's definitely something I need to do for Anna. She can never know about the ugliness of the world."

[Commentary ended]

Katrina left - and it turned she lived on the opposite side of Castle's loft. Ben looked at her back for a short moment before getting back inside to do some maintenance on his gun.

First Christoph Kraft, then the bombings where his apartment alone was targeted in a different MO than the others, which could still be a coincidence. It was a lot to process. Not to mention, he was all alone in New York.

His cousin, the one who cared for his dying grandmother when he was undercover and had her moved to New York for the final days, was not in the city.

But then he called Anna with the help of Zofia - and all was better.

-----

Early the next morning, Ben woke up because he heard sounds at the front door. Deep sleep had eluded him for the longest time, especially now after a bomb went off in his apartment.

His hand immediately went under his pillow.

The gun.

Ben gently slipped off of the bed and laid behind it on the floor. His gun was aimed at the door to the living room.

Whoever came into the apartment opened the fridge.

Ben stayed completely still.

They threw something light on the sofa. A coat, maybe?

Shoes were kicked off and haphazardly shot across the living room.

A phone rang.

"Hey girl," greeted a woman with a slight British accent.

"No, I got home safe."

"Nope, Castle's loft. Didn't wanna take a cab all the way to Queens."

"What do you mean?"

"Is that why there's a pizza box on the counter?"

"But I didn't see anything?"

The woman slowly made her way toward the bedroom and peeked through the door.

"The bed's empty but - oh. Hey there? Please lower the gun, I'm a friend of Castle," the woman cheerfully remarked and kept both hands up in the air.

"This is all a misunderstanding. Alexis and I both have keys. I'm Hayley Shipton. I work in Castle's PI agency, and I crash here from time to time."

"Throw over the phone," Ben ordered, and Hayley complied.

"This is Ben," the detective spoke into the phone.

"*Hey, this is Alexis! We met the other day at my dad's? The woman in front of you works with us at the PI firm...*"

"Yeah, I remember you, Alexis. Sorry to both of you. I don't do well with strangers waking me at 5am," Ben apologized to both of them and tossed the phone back as he put down the gun.

"Sorry mate," Hayley apologized right back. "You wanna go back to bed? I'll be quiet."

"I'd love to, but I doubt I'll catch any sleep now," Ben shot back with a sigh and continued in a whisper. "Love the accent. Just like my baby mama..."

Ben stood up and leisurely put on a shirt.

"Nice tattoos."

"Thanks, the other option was definitely uglier..."

"Ah, you're that LA cop from the racist group White Front, right?"

"I'd love it if you added undercover in there somewhere, but that's accurate."

With a pair of jeans on and his weapon holstered, Ben joined Hayley in the kitchen. Just as he wanted to start a conversation, his phone rang.

"Haley?"

"Yes?"

"*Hiiii~ Ben~*"

Ben put a hand over the mic and said looking at Hayley, "Different Haley. Girlfriend in LA."

He uncovered the phone again and greeted, "'Sup girlfriend. What got you so sauced and up that late at night?"

"*Just been out with my girlfriends. I miss you~*"

"Yeah, I miss you too, love. It's too cold to wake up without you next to me."

"*Awww, that's so sweet~!*"

"Had a good time?"

"*I'm getting too old to party without my hubby next to me~*"

"Hubby?"

"*Yeah, it's my new pet name for you. Ain't it sweet?*"

"Beats Benny-boo-boo," Ben joked with a small laugh.

"*Wait, my dad wants to talk to you?*"

"*Ben,*" Phil said in a very quiet voice.

"Good morning, Phil. What are you doing up so late at night?"

"*Haley just wandered into our bedroom while talking to you. I love you, B-man, but I gotta catch some Z's. I'll call you later and have Haley call you again when she's sober.*"

"Alright, tell her to get some good sleep. And you have nice dreams, Phil," Ben crooned with a small smile.

Back in LA, Phil gained the sweetest smile, hung up the phone, and herded Haley down to the basement where she had her room as the two, father and daughter giggled over how sweet Ben was.

In NY, Hayley looked at Ben with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that. My girlfriend's dad is a human golden retriever. Nicest guy in town."

"If you say so," Hayley argued with a laugh.

-----

"Holy hell. Is crime solving easier in New York?" Ben asked with an incredulous look as he sat back in the driver's seat of his car.

"What makes you say so?"

"Amy, we just solved our third mugging, a second grand larceny yesterday, a grand theft auto, arrested and charged three people for assault, we helped that fire marshal solve an arson case, and all that Hector Fisher nonsense. I've been here a week. My chief advised me that you and Jake had these amazing solving rates, but this is getting ridiculous," Ben pondered out loud before mumbling, "Helped the FBI with those bombings, too, and are still helping them with that weapon delivery..."

"I mean, we've been on a bit of streak," Amy admitted with a proud yet bashful grin.

"Yeah, now all gotta get is the murder weapon for those 9 corpses, pin 'em on Fisher or his men and have another 9 homicide solves added to that case load," Ben quipped cheerfully.

"Just magic it out of a hat or something," Amy shot back with an amused look, but just then, a car next to them ran a red light going well over 80mp/h.

Ben lifted an eyebrow and looked at Amy, who immediately urged him on, "Go go go! What are you waiting for?"

He immediately stepped on the gas and turned on the siren after seeing nobody else crossing the road.

After another intersection that the sportscar ran a red light on, Ben's phone started ringing.

"You got a text saying 911, caller and sender is Haley," Amy said from the passenger seat as one of her hands tightly gripped the handle near the roof.

"Put it on, I'm great at multi-tasking," Ben quipped while his eyes were glued to the traffic.

"Hey hey hey! I read a study that says men can't actually multi-task!" The suspect they had just arrested for armed robbery yelled from the backseats in a high-pitched voice.

<Modern Family S9E12>

"*Ben!!!*"

"Haley, talk to me."

"*It's horrible! My dad's in the hospital!*"

"Take a deep breath, honey. Why is he in the hospital? Accident? Medical emergency?"

"*I don't know! Gloria drove him there! I'm freaking out here!*"

"If Gloria drove him, that means it's acute, maybe urgent but not life threatening," Ben argued with a soft voice as he drifted a corner to follow the sportscar into a warehouse district in Brooklyn. "She would have called an ambulance if blood or something messy was involved."

"*Grandpa just said he had bad stomach pains. It was really, really bad,*" Haley supplied with a distressed sounding voice.

They ran a stop sign and a bunch of cars in oncoming traffic started honking wildly.

"That's a good sign, Haley. Pretty much all stomach pains that are super, super bad all of a sudden are treatable. Maybe it's kidney stones, his gallblader, or a really bad blockage. But those can all get fixed with treatment or a small standard issue surgery that any resident surgeon has done a hundred times," Ben argued calmly. "And say hello to Grandpa Jay for me if you're with him."

The sportscar Ben had been following almost ran over a homeless dude crossing the road with his shopping cart, and Ben very narrowly missed the guy who jumped out of the way at the weirdest angle.

"*Thank you so much for being so calm,*" Haley eventually talked again after she muted the phone to talk to her grandpa. "*And grandpa says hi. Luke does, too. We're driving to the hospital in a golf cart of all things.*"

"Ah, you've been working on the golf course again today?"

"*Yep~. Say, what's that sound in the background?*"

"You mean the siren? I'm in a car chase right now."

Another corner was drifted. But this time, the suspect car hit a parked van, and Ben closed the distance some more.

"*No, those two women screaming in the background?*"

"Those are-"

"*Wait! Car chase??? Ben, hang up the freaking phone!!!*"

"It's all good. And those two women screaming are my partner for the day, Amy, and a suspect we arrested who mugged two people at knifepoint."

More honking traffic as Ben cut off a taxi as he passed into oncoming traffic. Following that, the streets were more or less empty.

"*You're STILL IN A CAR CHASE!*" Haley yelled anxiously before she calmed down a little and asked, "*And you mean that cute books-y Amy? The latina cop version of Alex?*"

"That's the one," Ben quipped, and just then, the suspect had to do an emergency brake because of a moving garbage truck, and Ben boxed them in. "Gotta call you back, Haley. Got the guy."

"*Yay you,*" Haley celebrated.

Ben jumped out of the door with his gun drawn.

"NYPD! Hands on the wheel!"

When Ben reached the driver side of the car, he was floored.

"A kid?"

Instead of doing the usual gun protection routine of having the suspect open the car door from outside with both hands, Ben opened the door himself, reached through to turn off the ignition, and unbuckled the kid.

"How old are you? What's your name?"

"13, Fred."

"And why is a thirteen year old driving a Porsche through Brooklyn like he's trying out for the Formula 1, Fred?"

"A friend dared me?"

"Oh yeah? Will he share your prison time when you get put in juvie?" Ben asked with a deepening frown the more nonchalant the kid seemed.

"I don't think that'll happen," Amy whispered into his ear after she called the situation in.

"Why?"

"Because my dad owns you all," 'Fred' barked with a laugh.

"His father is on the New York City Council. Ted Municker. He is Theodore junior and actually 15," Amy answered with a frown.

"Well, tough shit Theodore junior. I don't actually work for the NYPD, so your father won't be able to get you out of this one. You blew past four red lights and seven stop signs. You were going 80mp/h in city limits and almost killed three pedestrians. That's not even counting all the property damage that's on you as well," Ben shrugged off with a grin as he took out his phone.

"Let me just download the detective's car dashboard video so it won't get deleted by accident, huh Theodore junior?"

"Can he do that?" Theodore asked Amy incredulously.

"Uh, actually, I think he can," Amy stammered unsurely.

"Captain Holt, hi. I would like to ask for a favor if possible?" Ben asked after his call to the captain connected.

"*Go ahead.*"

"Yes. It seems like one Ted Municker, NYC City Councilman, has been abusing his position to make his son's crime spree go away. I just caught the underage Theodore Municker junior after a car chase where he broke a minimum of five laws and endangered countless civilians. His initial response when I stopped his car was, and I quote, 'Because my dad owns you all'."

Captain Holt was quiet for a moment before saying, "*Did you tell him that you do not actually work for the NYPD and are therefore not actually owned by his father?*"

Ben looked at Amy with wide eyes for a moment before he started laughing, "I did indeed."

"*Good. I will look into incident reports that have vanished from my end.*"

Ben cuffed the kid, put him in the backseat with the other criminals, and parked the car to the side so it could get towed later on.

As he sat back in the car, Ben re-dialed Haley's phone despite Theodore screaming obscenities.

"Hey, you know that I'm recording it all and that you're just increasing your sentencing, right?" Ben idly commented.

"Yeah, well fuck you, bitch," Theodore wagered with a deep frown.

"*Excuse me?*" Haley asked in disbelief.

"Haley, the guy I chased turns out to be a 15 year old little brat who claims to be 13. I can't legally cuss him out, but I was thinking I could enlist your expertise? It might get your mind off of your dad's health?"

"*Awww, that is so sweet!*"

"What your dad do? Eat too much ass?" Theodore scoffed in disdain.

"*Listen here you little shit. I don't even need my boyfriend to tell me where in your life you went wrong. Just by your bitch-ass voice I can tell you're a little mommy's boy but mommy ain't in the picture so you're acting like a little bitch until daddy finally pays attention to your ass,*" Haley snarkily cussed out the young boy as Amy gasped at the foul language.

"Haven't fully looked him up but by the way his mouth hangs open I'm gonna give you a 9/10. I deduct 1 point for your cute little potty mouth. But you can make it up by digging a little deeper. His hair's styled in a mohawk but he ran out of gel this morning and his shirt is bejeweled. Oh, ripped skinny jeans and a woven suede belt. Go."

-----

By the time Ben reached the 99th precinct, Theodore was crying, Amy was completely speechless, and the criminal they had arrested before was laughing nonstop.

"What happened to him?" Jake asked, pointing at the crying kid.

"Jake, listen to me. This is very important. Don't you ever try to instigate a fight with Ben's girlfriend. If you ever meet her, wear something nice and unoffensive," Amy whispered into her husband's ear with a serious expression.

Ben meanwhile kept the call with Haley going and talked with her until her dad got out of surgery. And like Ben had guessed, Phil merely lost his gall bladder - which was a standard procedure just like he had said.

Before Ben could hear Phil waking up, Councilman Munick stormed the 99th precinct cursing just as much as his son.