105. Chapter 105

Chapter 105

Beckett was on call over the weekend. Saturday passed without having to leave home, but Sunday afternoon there was a call; and since Alexis and JD were coming for a visit and dinner, she was disappointed. She spent a few minutes with her guys before she left and apologized to Alexis and JD when they were coming and she was going.

Frank Stokes was the ME on call, and he wasn't any happier about leaving Lanie behind than Beckett was about leaving her family. Sully just hated having to leave the game he was watching. The crime scene was small, just the sidewalk and the area in front of the victim's home and the street where a car had stopped. The cause of death could almost certainly be attributed to the gunshot wound to the head.

It didn't take long to interview the shocked neighbors, most of whom were already in their front yards…or the devastated parents. One of the neighbors said he'd been kneeling, working in his front yard, when he heard a car screech to a stop across the street. He stood to check on it and heard a voice yelling from the car…something about a girl; then there was a shot fired, and the car sped off. He said something didn't look right about the situation, and he got the license number just before the shot was fired. Then he saw his teenage neighbor crumple to the sidewalk.

Beckett was home by ten, and Castle came out of the study to meet her.

"I didn't expect you to be home this soon," he told her, adding a kiss for a welcome.

"It wasn't quite a drive-by but close. A neighbor thought something looked fishy and got the plate number just before the shooting. Officers spotted the car, called for backup since they knew there was a weapon, and pulled them over. The gun was lying on the back seat with visible fingerprints. We interrogated the two who were in the car, both legally adult high school kids; and of course they blamed each other. When we get the fingerprints in tomorrow, we'll see who was lying."

"You didn't get fingerprint matches already?"

"I can't imagine they haven't been in trouble before, but somehow they weren't in the system. We have to wait for the prints from the gun. And honestly, I didn't mind leaving them in custody overnight."

"Do you know why it happened?"

"Looks like the bad guy's girlfriend got tired of the trouble and started seeing a guy with decent grades and a better attitude. I felt so bad for the victim's family."

"What a waste," Castle answered. "I can't imagine anything worse than losing a child, especially like that."

Beckett wrapped her arms around her husband's waist, and he held her, rubbing her back gently in sympathy for a long moment. She sighed and held him a little tighter. Finally she lifted her head, gave him a lingering kiss, and asked, "Did you miss me?"

"Of course I did," he answered. "Our children and I had a very nice afternoon and dinner, but it would have been more fun if you had been here, too."

"You need to have all of them to yourself now and then. Alexis isn't here as much now, and the dynamic is different when she and JD are with Jamie. I know you loved it."

"I did. Doesn't mean I didn't miss you, though." He kissed the tip of her nose and said, "Come on. We saved you some dinner."

"I was hoping you would. It was smelling really good when I had to leave."

xxxxx

Monday morning, Ryan and Esposito asked why they weren't called in, then they realized the case was practically closed already and simply thanked Beckett.

During the morning, while they had nothing pressing to do, Beckett walked around the bullpen visiting and asking her low key questions about cases, leaving it looking more like she was encouraging the others to explain their cases than that she was looking for information about how they work. She offered suggestions where it was appropriate and praised what was being done well, and everyone was left with a smile.

As she walked past one of the two teams of mostly older men…not Egan's…Mason said quietly, "I've been around long enough to see what you did there. You're good."

She flashed him a smile. "Thanks, Mason. I appreciate that. Just doing my job, though." He smiled back, and she returned to her desk.

When the lab report came in, they charged the passenger with murder and the driver as an accessory to murder. Then Beckett and Sully finished their paperwork and left the precinct on time.

Castle met her at the loft door with a kiss, and Jamie looked up from where he was playing with his blocks and ran to meet her, asking for "tisses", and she made a big show about how glad she was to see him.

"Mommy play?" he asked. "In a minute, Baby Boy", she said, nuzzling under his chin to make him giggle. Turning to Castle, she asked "How is the writing going?"

"Good ideas and dialogue floating through my head, but no time to write them down."

"Then I've got Jamie and dinner tonight. Close yourself in and do what you need to do."

Castle grabbed her face with both hands and gave her a big kiss, then he gave Jamie a couple of silly kisses before going to the study and closing the door.

Kate sat down on the floor and played blocks and cars with Jamie. She made a road with the blocks and drove her car down it, and Jamie drove his there the same way. When he tired of that, they built towers until they were tall enough to fall down. Eventually they sat down with a couple of books before Kate started dinner. She cut vegetables for the salad as other things were cooking, and when her little boy tugged on her shirt for attention, she decided to let him help. She stood him on the seat of his high chair, stood close behind him, and made a big deal of helping him wash his hands. Then she put pieces of cut veggies in front of him and let him put them in the salad bowls while she held him in place.

When Castle came out of his study for dinner, the unfinished part of his chapter was completed and ready for his edits before he would send it to Gina. Dinner was relaxing for all of them; and Kate told Castle that Jamie had helped with the salads, bringing very Castlesque responses for Jamie's benefit.

When they went to put Jamie to bed, he was sleepy and snuggly, and Castle held him close, kissed his head and handed him to Kate.

"'Night, 'night kiss, Mommy?"

Both parents were obviously surprised at the new pronunciation, but making a fuss over it right then could have wound their baby up again. He got his kiss, and they tucked him in, and went downstairs.

When they reached the first floor, Kate said dolefully, "He said 'kiss'."

"Yeah, he did. I thought he never would," Castle answered, turning to his wife and seeing tears rolling down her cheeks. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"He said 'kiss', she sniffled. "I liked giving him his 'tisses'. Then there was full blown crying.

He held her close and rubbed her back gently. "I thought we both wanted him to correct his words. You're really having trouble with this, aren't you?"

"I do want that. I just wasn't ready for it yet. It was so cute and sweet." There was more sniffling. "I feel like he's about to grow up, and I'm not ready for that, either."

"Honey," he said and kissed her head, holding her for a moment longer. "He's not even two yet. It isn't like we have to pack him up and send him off to college with Alexis and JD next week."

"I'm being stupid. I just didn't know it would feel like this."

"It isn't stupid. I shed a few manly tears when Alexis reached landmarks over the years. Same kind of reasons."

Yeah?"

"Yeah. You're just being a mom. It's okay."

"You're good at making me feel better."

"Part of the job description. Article number seven. Make wife feel better." Hearing a watery little laugh, he held her tighter, trying to do his job to the best of his ability.

xxxxx

The team went for an early lunch together after another morning without a murder to solve.

"If nothing comes in today, we may have to offer to look at some cold cases," Beckett told the others. "I spent yesterday diplomatically mentoring, and it went well; but I don't think I can get away with it again today."

"Probably not, even though you're usually pretty subtle." Ryan agreed.

"I might not have been as subtle as I thought. Mason caught it and said I was good."

"One of the old dudes said you were good?" Sully asked, looking surprised.

"For real?" Esposito echoed. "Did I just hear ice breaking?"

"Yeah. That's what I thought, too," Beckett answered. "Maybe there's hope?"

"From your lips to God's ears," Esposito agreed. "If Bronson or Egan start up again, I don't know how much longer my self-control can hold out."

Sully grinned. "Go back to your army days. Don't say a word. Look at them like you're lining up your next target. Just don't shoot them."

All of them laughed, and Esposito said, "That's not bad, man. It might even be fun." He and Sully bumped fists, then they all took care of their checks and went back to the precinct.

By mid-afternoon, there was a body, but the situation wasn't nearly as easy as the last case. After three weeks of dead ends, going to the loft so they could brainstorm with Castle, and picking up another case when nothing was panning out, they finally found a lead that at least offered hope. The second case was closed in a couple of weeks, but they remained stymied by the other one.

While they were leaving their newest crime scene, Ryan said, "Things have been more bearable since Alvarez made that first visit. You think he knew…maybe said something?"

"I'm pretty sure he said something back at the orientation. The two of them disappeared about the same time. And I'm almost positive he had something to say at the precinct," Beckett answered.

"It probably didn't hurt that Alverez announced he and Chief Dawson would be making some visits. Seems to me they've all probably been unannounced, too. And Alvarez meant it. The chief has been here twice, too. Bronson must be looking over his shoulder all the time."

"I'm still enjoying looking at Bronson and Egan like targets," Esposito said with a chuckle. "I think it makes them nervous. They give me 'the look", and I give them that one right back and then walk away."

As the weeks went by, the younger homicide detectives started turning to Beckett and her team with difficult cases, asking advice or wanting an extra set of eyes, and they generally benefitted from the assistance. Mason's group was showing the people from the twelfth more respect. Egan's snide remarks had toned way down, but he was still a decidedly obnoxious individual and was still running back and forth to Bronson like the class tattletale. They had begun to lose track of what he might be reporting. The rest of his team seemed to be softening a little bit, though.

By early October, Beckett had realized that Mason was almost always in the bullpen rather than in the field. He consistently worked on whatever the case called for and was constantly on the phone, working on computer searches, combing through records, etc. One day when she and his partner, McKinney, were the only ones in the breakroom , she asked about it.

"Hey, McKinney, is Mason on some kind of desk duty? I've noticed he does most of his work here."

He exhaled a deep sigh. "You don't miss much. We figured you'd notice. It's not exactly desk duty, but it's not exactly not."

"What does that mean?"

"It's not official desk duty. It's understood desk duty. Mason's a proud man, Beckett. He doesn't like to talk about it, and he hides it the best he can; but he was shot a couple of years ago…kind of upper hip/lower back area. It wasn't close enough to his spine for paralysis, but it took a while for him to get back to work. At first it looked like he'd be fine, and he requalified for the field; so officially he's on full duty. There were some residual effects that caught up with him, though; and the field activity was taking a toll. We could see he couldn't do what he used to, and he knew that could be dangerous for all of us; so we started leaving him here and taking the field work ourselves."

"So he's always here?"

"You gotta understand, he wants to work…doesn't like the idea of having to go on disability, and he's afraid that would happen. On his good days he goes with us for things that shouldn't be dangerous. That way we can get his name in the field reports now and then. He was good at the crime scenes before…picked up a lot, and we miss having that input. He still works hard, though. He's always been conscientious about that."

"I've seen that. No complaints on that score. "And the Captain knows about this?"

"Yeah. I think they went to the Academy together. He's okay with it."

"He's been working on the computer with Ryan when they have some spare time."

"Yeah. He loves that stuff. He's always telling us what he's learned from Ryan." He paused and sighed again. "Listen, he's got three years left until retirement, and he's gonna need his pension and benefits. Can you just let it go?"

"He's doing his share. I don't have a problem with that." Then Beckett told him about the camera method they used when she was on desk duty. "My husband was working with us then as a consultant, and he recorded the crime scenes so I could see everything they did. I hated feeling left out, and it gave me that input you were talking about. I can show you some of the videos so you can see what we did if you want. Maybe Mason could still be a part of that."

"I'll talk to him, see what he thinks. Thanks. And you won't…"

"While I'm here, I'm your lieutenant. I just wanted to understand, and now I do. No need to fix something that doesn't look broken."

McKinney looked relieved. "Thanks, Beckett." He gave a little salute with a lift of his coffee cup, she filled her own cup, and they both went back to work.

"Hey, Ryan," she said as she sat down at her desk. "You and Mason have been spending a lot of computer time together."

"Yeah," he answered, looking up from his work.

"Is he any good?"

"He's pretty quick. If he'd had the training, I think he might be way ahead of me."

"So you think he might qualify for tech work if he had the right classes?"

"Probably. That and a good mentor to intern with. I never have to tell him anything more than once. Any particular reason?"

"Not now, no. Mostly curiosity."

xxxxx

A few days later, Mason was on her mind again, and Ryan had said how much he enjoyed working with him. She mentioned him to Castle when she got home…told him the whole story.

"Does the department have training available for him?"

"I don't know."

"But you want to check into it, don't you?"

"Yeah. I guess I do. He seems like a good guy, and Ryan says he has a lot of promise."

"If the department doesn't provide what he needs and they can make some time accommodations for him, you don't have to ask. Just offer our help."

She looked down. "Okay."

"You still think of it as my money, don't you? You still don't understand that there's a lot of Nikki Heat money in our accounts because you inspired her. There's a lot of writing fueled by a happy writer because you loved my family and decided to be a part of it, and there's a lot of authenticity in the writing that I would have missed if you hadn't put up with having me follow you around at work. It's ours. One day I'll make you understand."

"I let go sometimes."

"Once in a while for special occasions, maybe. But you still don't let me spoil you too much; and in all this time, you still haven't spent as much as the other two did in just a couple of years.

"I don't need all that. I just need you."

"You have the weekend off, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't we take the family to the Hamptons? I always know you'll let me indulge you that way. We could leave from the precinct on Friday after your shift." He gave her a little smirk. "I don't quite see you asking Bronson to let you leave early so you can go to your beach house in the Hamptons."

"I'd never hear the end of that," she agreed. A wistful look took up residence on her face. "We haven't had a real family weekend since Alexis's wedding. And it's so peaceful there. It sounds perfect. Should I call Dad?"

"Of course. He's family. Maybe we should call John, too."

"Friday is day after tomorrow. Can we start packing now?" she asked mischievously.

"It's October. It won't be warm, but the pool is heated, and we have the overhead heaters out there. We could still enjoy the pool and the peace and quiet."

"I can hardly wait to get there."

"Me, either. Let's make some phone calls and start packing. I don't want you to change your mind."

"Not a chance. You excited about this or something, Castle?"

"I'm thinking a relaxing day with family, baby tucked in, romantic fire in the bedroom fireplace, us dressed for bed in something sexy…" He paused for a moment, imagining. "Yep. I'm excited."

xxxxx

Beckett went to see Bronson and talked to him about Mason. She explained what she'd learned; but before she could ask about whether it would be possible to work out time to provide training for him, Bronson had assumed the worst.

"So for all this time, we've been taking care of our own, like you told me we should, by the way; and you're going to waltz in and tell him he needs to leave on disability?"

"Of course not! The man works hard. Why would I want to deprive the precinct of that? Ryan has been working with him, and he says Mason is a natural for tech work. Mason seems to love it. I was thinking , if the department can work it out, maybe we could get him some training. If Mason wants that, of course. It would be an official desk job that would take him to retirement.

"Funds are in short supply right now, but I'll talk to Mason. If he sounds interested, I'll check around and see if we can do anything."

"If Mason is interested and the department can't fund it…" Beckett looked a little bit uncomfortable. "If they can just work with him on the time to get the work done to qualify for tech…um…my husband is willing to take care of any class fees."

"Mason's not gonna to go for that. He's gonna see it as charity."

"Then we'd just have to call it a scholarship or a grant or something."

"Your husband doesn't even know him. Hell, you barely know him. Why would the two of you want to do this?"

"Mason seems like a good man. As long as no one else is in danger, getting shot shouldn't leave him in a place where he has to worry about his job situation. My people, too, remember? Gotta back them up." She paused a moment and added, "And Richard Castle is another good man."

"I'll see what I can find out."

"Thank you, Captain. I appreciate it."

The responding grunt sounded a little less obnoxious when she left.

xxxxx

Again, Castle came to pick Beckett up at the precinct at shift change. This time, several of the detectives who had spent a few minutes talking to Castle the week before greeted him easily, most of them asking various forms of, "Where's the little guy?"

As Beckett approached her husband, she asked the same thing.

"He's in the car with Mother and Alexis and JD. Don't worry. I didn't forget him," Castle answered playfully. You ready?" She smiled and nodded.

Tran chortled at that exchange. "Castle says you're going out of town, Enjoy your trip. See you Monday."

As they walked out of the bullpen, Castle told her, "Your Dad and Meagan will be there tonight, and John is coming in mid-morning tomorrow."

Bronson was watching again when they left and nodded and said, "Mr. Castle." It was nothing more than an acknowledgment, made with the sound of a man who was obviously not accustomed to random conversation with strangers he doesn't want around; but Castle smiled slightly and answered in like kind before escorting his wife out to their waiting car. Civility wasn't a bad thing.

Then the Castle family drove away to enjoy a weekend of family time and the peace and quiet of their beach house.