214. Chapter 214

AU After Cops and Robbers, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: You can put a bullet in my skull if I said I owned Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"No! I've got 20. Do you hear me? 20. Because if you pull that trigger, I will walk through those doors and personally put a bullet through your skull." Beckett barked into the phone.

"Kate, what did I tell you?" Trapper John said coldly. Then there was the sound of a shot and the phone connection was cut.

Something snapped in Kate Beckett. She stood up from the desk in the command center, grabbed her protective vest and her Glock and left.

Captain Peterson didn't react until she was through the door. "Beckett! Where the hell are you going?" She made no reply.

"Beckett, what happened?" Espo asked as she walked out of the command center.

Kate, her mind filled with rage, barely heard him and made no reply. One small part of her brain was functioning rationally, though. She put on her protective vest on under the paramedic's uniform and then buttoned it back up. Her Glock went into the small of her back under her belt.

"Beckett? What happened? What was the shot?" Ryan asked.

Kate pushed both men aside and walked steadily to the bank.

"What the hell is she doing, Javi?" Ryan asked. "She'll get herself killed."

"It must be Castle." Esposito watched Beckett stride up to the bank, making no attempt to take cover, making herself a perfect target. But, no one fired at her. "Ryan, they're letting her walk right up. They must still think she's a paramedic. If we go after her now, they'll start shooting. As soon as something happens, we go right after her. Okay?"

Ryan drew his sidearm and nodded.

Doctor Howser was watching the door when he saw Kate approaching. "Trapper John!" He called out. "That paramedic's coming back."

"Alone?"

"Yeah. No one's near her."

Trapper John cursed under his breath. Shooting the paramedic could start a gun battle before their exit strategy was in place and ready. "See what she wants. We don't want to start anything until we're ready."

Castle was still shaken by the second round that had whistled by his ear, but he knew that Kate was coming to put a bullet through Trapper John's skull as she had promised. He had to stop her but how? If he called her by her name, they'd know she was a cop. Events prevented Rick from figuring out how to stop her.

"What do you want?" Doctor Howser called to her, opening the door slightly to speak to her.

Kate said nothing, but drew and fired, hitting Howser in the shoulder and spinning him around. She ran through the door and grabbed Howser, using him as a shield. Neither Quinn nor Huxtable wanted to shoot for fear of hitting Howser. Trapper John apparently had no such qualms. He stood up, turning his back to Rick and raised his pistol. Rick grabbed his ankles and pulled sharply backwards, sending Trapper John to the floor. He managed to hold on to his pistol, but his head slammed into the floor, stunning him momentarily. Castle jumped on his back and hit Trapper John as hard as he could in the head, driving the head down to the floor again. Rick kept hitting him and slamming his head into the floor.

Meanwhile, Huxtable had fired at Kate, but hit Howser. Kate let Howser fall and shot Huxtable in the stomach, knocking him down and out of the fight.

Quinn moved to shoot Castle off of Trapper John, but decided she'd have to get right on top of the writer so as to not shoot Trapper John. Coming up close behind Castle, she aimed at his head, but was distracted by a bullet zipping by her head. She switched her aim to Beckett, who no longer had a human shield, but had her legs kicked out from under her by Castle. She landed with her knees on Rick's thighs and swung her weapon down on his head before turning to Kate.

Too late. Kate, afraid to fire for fear of hitting Rick, tackled the woman and knocked her off Rick. Quinn slammed the butt of her weapon into Kate's head. Kate hung on and Quinn couldn't bring her weapon to bear as Kate was right on top of her.

Rick grabbed Trapper John's pistol and rushed to help Kate. He reached past her and pressed the muzzle against Quinn's shoulder and fired. The woman screamed and went limp. Kate disarmed Quinn and then looked at Castle.

"You're alive?" Kate was surprised and very happy.

"Yeah." He said, smiling at her. He wanted to hug her, but the bank suddenly seemed to be full of people, all of whom seemed to be yelling.

"You two okay?" Espo yelled over the noise.

"Do you know you're both bleeding?" Ryan yelled.

"What?" They said together. Each felt their own heads and their fingers came back bloody.

"We're getting you to an ambulance." Espo and Ryan grabbed the two and led them outside.

Over Castle's vehement protests, he was put in an ambulance with the badly wounded Huxtable and not Kate. Once at the ER, he was briefly checked over and found to have no life threatening injuries. As soon as the ER doctor left him, he went looking for Kate, finding her easily, sitting on a bed.

"Hi." He said. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, I guess."

"You scared the hell out of me, Kate. What were you thinking?"

"I thought you were dead. I really did."

"Don't ever do that again, okay? Never."

Kate found that she couldn't answer. If she told the truth, she'd have to tell him that if he ever did get killed, her life wouldn't be worth living and she would do it again.

He walked over and sat down next to her. "When he fired the second time, I really thought I was dead. I remember thinking how much I wanted to tell you something."

"Castle, please…" Kate knew what was coming and dreaded it.

"I love you, Kate."

"I know." She blurted out.

"You do?"

She realized she'd made a big mistake, but was able to cover her mistake. "Of course I know. I'm a detective, Castle. I've known that you love me for as long as I've known that I love you."

"You do?" He said, a goofy grin spreading over his face.

She nodded. "I really have to quit keeping everything inside, you know. I love you Richard Castle." She leaned over and kissed him softly. Oddly, once he'd told her that he loved her, it no longer seemed to be the huge problem she'd envisioned.

Naturally, they were interrupted by a doctor. "Okay. Beckett and Castle? We need to get an MRI and X-ray for you two and some other tests. Make sure you haven't been concussed. Come with me."

Unwillingly, they followed.

They spent several hours sitting together, waiting for the results of their tests, holding hands and talking of many things. Finally, a doctor told them they could leave, just as Esposito and Ryan arrived.

"We've been told to take you two back to the precinct." Espo said, not meeting Beckett's or Castle's eyes.

"Oh, crap." Kate muttered.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked.

"I violated just about every department protocol concerning hostage situations, and probably some laws as well." She took Castle's hand and held it tightly. "I'll probably be lucky if I can stay out of jail."

"I'll break you out." Castle said at once.

She smiled. "No you won't. I don't want you in jail, too."

Castle pulled out his phone. "I'll call my lawyer. He'll know what to do."

She put her hand over his phone. "No. I screwed up. I'll take my punishment. After all, I could have gotten innocent hostages killed."

"But you didn't get anyone killed. And I will not let them throw you under the bus."

By the time Castle contacted his attorney, they were back at the precinct.

They were met at the elevator by Detective Karpowski. "Assistant Chief Horvak, Deputy Chief Moran, Deputy Chief McGuire and some lawyer from the department are in Gates' office waiting for you. Detective Kershaw from the police union just showed up a minute ago." She whispered.

Kate squared her shoulders and headed for Gates' office, followed by Castle. LT put his hand on Castle's arm and stopped him. "Just Beckett, Castle. Sorry."

Kate walked into Gates' office and closed the door behind her. "Detective Beckett, sir." She stood at attention.

A tall, well dressed grey haired man smiled at her and spoke. "I'm Assistant Chief Don Horvak. I'll be running this …informal hearing. Do you feel you need legal counsel at this time, Detective Beckett?"

"Not at this time, sir."

Horvak's smile faded. "You realize that you violated every protocol for hostage negotiation in the book? And probably some laws."

"Yes, sir. I lost it there and I reacted badly. I realize the seriousness of what I've done." Kate wondered how she'd react to not being a cop anymore.

"Please tell me why you did what you did." Horvak said levelly.

Kate took a deep breath. "I thought my partner had been murdered. I just lost it, sir."

Horvak nodded. "Your partner? That would be the writer, Richard Castle? Who is not a police officer?"

"Yes, sir."

"What is your relationship with Mr. Castle, then, Detective?"

Kate decided that she may as well tell the truth. "We're in love, sir."

Horvak shook his head. "Well, love will make you do stupid things." He took out his phone and looked at it. "Do you know what you are, Detective Beckett?"

"Yes, sir. "

He shook his head. "I doubt that you do. What you are, Detective Beckett, is a hero. Every TV station with a news department was there with live coverage and every newspaper in the city had a reporter there as well. According to the Ledger, you're, "The heroic New York cop who took down four armed robbers to save her partner and a bank full of hostages." WHNY says you're "the real life Nikki Heat who stormed a bank to rescue Rick Castle, the real life Jameson Rook." I'd read more, but you'd probably get a swelled head from it."

Horvak put his phone away. "So what are we to do with the heroic Detective Kate Beckett? From a public relations standpoint, bringing charges against a hero isn't in the cards. So, you will say absolutely nothing about this entire affair. In return, we will say nothing and do nothing. However, Beckett, if you ever harbored any ambitions to rise in the NYPD, you can forget them. You will never rise higher than detective."

"Thank you, sir. And I have no desire to be anything other than a detective."

"Don't thank me, Beckett. If I had my way, you'd be out of here on your ass. There is one other thing. The bank robbers are trying to cut a deal and spilling their guts. That Sal Martino, the hostage you brought out? He set the whole thing up. His real name is Ron Brandt and this was all some sort of a bizarre plot to get his son back from his ex-wife. Or something. Somebody will explain the whole thing to you later when we figure it out. Anyway, the Ithica cops picked him up when he showed up at her home."

"I'm glad of that, sir."

"Now get the hell out of here, Beckett."

Kate walked back to Castle and put her arms around him. He knew that everyone in the bullpen was looking at them, but didn't care.

"What's going to happen to you?" He asked.

"Nothing. Apparently the media thinks I'm a hero and the NYPD doesn't punish heroes."

"Thank god."

"Yeah. You won't have to pay my legal bills now. "She teased, then was more serious. "How about I buy you a drink at the Old Haunt, Castle?"

"I'll do you one better. Come on home with me for a home cooked meal."

"I'd love to."