I hope this ending lives up to expectations. I did my best.

Thank you everyone for reading, following, favoring, and commenting. It's very encouraging to see all those little emails come in. I'm glad people like what I write.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, much to my eternal sorrow.

Over the next 45 minutes the bullpen began to fill. Everyone was very interested to see who the new captain was going to be. Normally the grapevine would have already had the information. The ability of cops to spread department gossip was almost a super power. Kate knew that first hand. The grapevine had been gossiping and betting on her and Castle for years.

Kate hadn't been nervous all morning. Being back in the precinct, the banter with the boys, and having Castle by her side had kept her distracted. She was excited and knew it was a big day, but she was doing well. That all changed when the elevator door opened and the Chief of Detectives stepped out. Kate's stomach felt like it had just dropped off the roof of the Empire State building. This was really happening. She was about to become Captain at the 12th. As she turned around from the elevator her eyes caught Castle's. She could see the sparkle of his excitement there. She had to look away quickly so as not to completely loose the mask of professionalism she had managed to create. She noticed as everyone slowly stopped whatever work they were doing as Chief MacCarthy made his way across the floor. Kate flinched a little when Espo's voice came from just to her right. She hadn't heard him come back from the break room.

"Here it comes." He whispered.

"Nobody is with him though." Kevin added.

"Just as long as it's not another vicious old battle axe." Javi continued.

Kate cut her eyes to Castle who had somehow managed to choke on nothing but air and enter into a coughing fit. She had to consciously not growl at Espo.

Chief MacCarthy walked over to group of detectives and one writer. "Ready to make this official, Captain?" Kate made sure she watched the expressions of Esposito and Ryan. Both of them looked like they were going to hit the floor. Castle laughed quietly from his chair.

MacCarthy spoke up. "I would like to have everyone's attention." The bullpen got as quiet as Kate had ever heard it. "Most everyone here knows that Captain Gates has been reassigned to Narcotics. As such, it is my pleasure to introduce the new Captain for Homicide, Captain Kate Beckett. I understand that this move is unusual but is not with precedent. She is the best candidate for the job and has the full faith and support of both myself and the Commissioner. Congratulations Captain Beckett."

There was the surprised intake of breath that she expected to hear, but it was the applause the followed that really surprised her. After a minute or two everything quieted back down but now before she heard Esposito whisper to Ryan "Oh crap. Did I refer to the new Captain as a battle axe?"

"You are so on traffic duty for the rest of your life."

"Thank you. Thank you very much. Most everyone here knows me. I'm not looking to make changes. We have a good thing going here and it is my intention to keep it up. One change that will happen is that Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan are being moved to Detective First Class and will be given their own team in the following days. Other than that things will stay most the same. The door is open and you know where the office is, so everyone back to what you were doing."

Javi and Kevin were the first to approach Beckett.

"Way to go Captain." Javi made a point to stress her new position. "Sorry about the battle axe thing."

"Yes, Captain, congratulations, and thanks for the promotion." Ryan added. "So, was being a Castle fan was required."

"Keep it up you to and I'll bust you back to traffic." She smiled at them "Seriously, you guys deserve it. You do good work and I expect you to make me look good. So, it's win-win."

"Absolutely. We've still got your back." Javi said. Ryan nodded his head in agreement.

Kate turned and thanked the COD and he made his way out of the precinct. It took another ten minutes of congratulations around the bull pen before making it to her new office. Castle followed her through the door.

"So, do I get the same drawer?" He asked as he started going through the empty desk.

She gave him a wicked stare, "No, no you don't."

"Beck-ett. Please?"

"No. I talked to the COD and Commissioner and you can have my old desk. You put in enough work and enough time that you deserve your own place. So congratulations, you can now sit in my previous chair."

Castle didn't know what to say so he simply walked over and kissed her.

"Castle!" she stepped back and pushed against his chest. "Stop that, I'm at work. Be professional."

"What? The new captain going to throw me out?"

"No, but she might punish you in other ways?"

"Oohh, you finally going to spank me Cap-tain? How about right here on the Captain's desk? She's a stickler for rules, but I think I can call in a favor."

"No, but I can always stay the night at my apartment."

"That's just mean."

Kate grabbed his hands. "Look Babe. It's going to be a lot of catch up for me today. I have to get up to speed on all the cases that I currently don't know anything about. I'm going to go grab Karpowski and bring her in here for an update." Kate leaned forward and gave Castle a kiss. "I'll see you at home tonight. I'll leave by six."

Rick looked at her skeptically "Promise?"

"I promise."

"Fine, I will go home and write. You will stay here, in the station, and do paper work? No leaving, no undercover work."

Kate sighed. "Deal babe. Paper work only. No undercover work ever and I call when I leave."

"Love you."

"Love you too." Kate walked out the door to go find Karpowski. Castle sat down at her desk and messed with the computer for a few minutes and then left.

Kate came back to the office and bumped the desk as she sat down. Karpowski followed her in and began giving an update on the homicide her team had been working. It was a park dump of a mid-level drug trafficker. Half the city wanted him dead. Ten minutes into the update Kate barked out a laugh and clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Captain? Kate?" Karpowski asked.

"I'm sorry. Very sorry. Nothing do with your report. My apologizes."

Kate's screen saver had come on. As she sat there and watched her screen go blank she didn't think anything of it. It was when the letters started their march across that she laughed. Marching across the screen in bright green letters was a message from her fiancé.

It said "You should be communicating."

There it is. Chapter eight of what was going to be a one shot. Not only eight chapters but it also spawned it's own one shot. I swear, one of these days I'm going to sit down and plan out a story from beginning to end before posting. That way I know where I'm going from sentence to sentence. Although I do finally understand it when people say "The characters wanted to do that."