Hello friends! I hope your summer is going well! Just a little over a month left until we get our Castle Mondays back, and I for one am excited.

Anyway, as you can see I've written something again, and I hope you enjoy it. This one has been bouncing around in my head for a while now, but finally decided to take form. It wouldn't be here at all though if my friend Teelduo hadn't been willing to step in as BETA, research assistant and cheerleader, so Teelduo, thank you so much! :)

This story takes place early in season 4 and does contain some very very minor SPOILERS, but nothing most of you who are spoiler free haven't heard. If you're on the fence about what it might spoil, drop me a PM and I can let you know if you have anything to worry about.

Also you should be aware that the rough draft of this entire story is complete, and just waiting for final edits and posting (time permitting) and many of these chapters unintentionally ended up being VERY short. I tried to pad them a bit but I felt it was just that, padding, and took out the extras almost right away. It didn't add anything to the story but words, and I don't roll like that. Much of this story wrote itself so if a chapter said I'm done after only a page or two, I listened and I think that's OK.

Another note about this story is that every chapter is a different character's point of view, I hope that doesn't bring anyone confusion. I thought it was kind of fun!

OK, so now it's time to get to the real reason you're here, to read the fic. If all goes well the entire story should be up in a few days, a week tops, so if you enjoy it I promise you won't have to wait long for the next installment!

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the laptop this story was written on. Castle characters and locations will never be mine.

"Three"

Chapter 1

Special Delivery

At five thirty in the morning, the alarm on Kate's night stand began to buzz. Normally she would hit the snooze at least twice before getting up, especially on a Monday, but today was different. Today Detective Kate Beckett was back. Sure, she'd technically been back to work for all of September, but only on restricted duty since she was still recovering from being shot in May.

Now, after three months of recovery and more than a month of limited activity at the precinct, nothing would hold her back. Today she'd get back her piece and the keys to her Crown Vic, and would also get to go out and question suspects, follow leads and actually leave her desk without having half a dozen sets of eyes on her wondering if she was going to disobey orders, again.

As Kate stepped into the steamy shower, she thought back to the day several weeks ago when she took matters into her own hands and went out to follow a lead, despite knowing that she was not yet cleared for field work. In retrospect it was indeed a bad idea, but at the time it seemed the right thing to do. The guys had returned to the crime scene they were working, and Captain Gates was in a meeting. Even Rick was gone that morning, doing a meet and greet at a writing seminar at NYU. So when a time sensitive tip came in, she figured she could handle the interview without rocking the boat. She was wrong. Rico Sanchez turned out to be a strung out, frightened ex con with a quick temper and quicker reflexes. Had Kate not left the note on Ryan's desk, telling him where she was going, there was no way the boys would have made it to the scene before someone was seriously injured. As is, when Esposito busted down the door to the dingy office, Rico already had Kate pinned to the wall.

That incident cost her her weapon, her vehicle, two extra weeks of physical therapy and a lot of pride. Rick who had barely left her side before then, now made it a point to be at her desk before she was every morning and saw her home every night. Ryan and Esposito worked hard to keep a stack of "very important" busy work on her desk in an attempt to help her feel useful. And even Lanie took to calling her through the work day just to say hi, but Kate knew it was to check in with her. But maybe one of the worst parts was that their new boss, Captain Victoria Gates, who barely knew Beckett, no longer trusted her. The new chief was already openly against having Castle there for a multitude of reasons, and was essentially breathing down their necks,waiting to find a good reason to kick him out, but now she watched Kate's every move as well, because in less than four days back at work, Kate showed herself to be impetuous and defiant.

Just thinking about the new captain made Beckett tense up, which inevitably brought a dull ache to her recently mended muscles. She stepped back farther into the hot stream of water to relieve the tension but didn't try to change her thoughts. Captain Gates, or "Iron Gates" as she was called behind her back, was not a bad chief but neither was she God's gift to the 12th.

Understandably it would be an awkward and difficult situation no matter who stepped into Montgomery's place, and according to Esposito and Ryan, at least in the beginning, Gates tried to make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved, but it was still an incredibly difficult time, especially for Kate .

Captain Gates, while not unkind, showed very little sympathy for the department personnel who still felt the loss of Roy. She also had very little patience for anybody who worked outside of her preconceived box. Iron Gates was organized, by the book, and motivated to quickly accomplish both her agenda and reach the departmental goals whether they be to solve a specific case, to cut spending, or to improve the percentage of closed cases. So by the time that Beckett returned, with Castle in tow, there was very little wiggle room left in what Kate had previously and comfortably thought of as her territory.

Fortunately they were slowly learning to work together, for better or worse, with only minimal chafing. It was silently understood that everyone hoped that with Beckett's return to full duty, maybe more of the tension would ease.

After her shower, Kate went back to her bedroom and draped her towel across her bed as she headed to her dresser for clothes. The mirror above the large piece of furniture reflected her image back to her and she couldn't help but see the long inverted Y shaped scar that ran from one side to the other, across her upper belly. Kate ran her finger along the raised mark and sighed. It was a daily reminder of so much; her mom, Roy, almost losing her own life, and Castle.

Tearing her eyes away from the mirror, Kate opened her drawer and quickly grabbed a bra and pair of underwear. She dressed in her underthings and then grabbed her robe and headed to the kitchen. She never used to eat breakfast before work, but now that she was on daily immunosuppressive medication for the rest of her life, eating each morning was another new addition to her routine.

XXXX

That fateful day in May, as Kate gave the eulogy for her dear friend and mentor, a sniper targeted her. If the bullet hadn't nicked the microphone, altering its trajectory, she wouldn't be here right now. Snipers often aim for the head, and they rarely miss. But someone was watching over her that day and the bullet did miss its mark and found her liver instead. She almost died right there on the grass and again in surgery, but somehow she came through both, needing a new liver, but otherwise stable.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, there were no livers available, even for one of New York's finest, and with an injury like hers, time wasn't a commodity that she had to spare. Her doctors told her dad that her only option might be for a living donor to give her part of their liver. Jim immediately volunteered but due to age and his past with alcoholism, was not an acceptable candidate. In desperation, he turned to her other family, the ones not related by blood. Of course there was no shortage on willing donors, only on viable candidates. Only one person was a match, but that was enough. Castle wanted more than anything to save Kate's life no matter the cost or risk, and within hours was under the knife.

When she woke up the next day to find Rick in a hospital bed on the other side of the room, she was more than mildly surprised.

"What are you doing here?" she'd asked weakly.

But he only smiled and in a pain medicated haze told her that if she showed him her scar, he would show her, his.

Over the next weeks, they recovered side by side; first, at the hospital and then at Rick's loft. It was August before Kate was finally strong enough to move back home. Castle of course begged her not to go, but Kate needed to go, especially now with their relationship slowly starting to move forward. They needed space and normalcy, and living under the same roof would not allow for that.

XXXX

Beckett swallowed a handful of pills, which was another part of her new normal, put her bowl in the sink and then headed back to her room to dress. It was well after six already and if she wanted to be at the station by seven thirty, she needed to keep moving.

Before starting on her hair and make up, Kate typed out a quick text to Lanie.

R we still on for lunch? Remy's or Golden Dragon?

After the message was sent, she tossed the phone on the bed and began her makeup while she waited. By the time Kate was completely dressed and ready to go, which took longer than usual since she wanted to look her best so as to illustrate how healthy she actually was, she still hadn't received a reply. Maybe the ME was called in for a body, and if that was the case, no doubt, she'd be getting called in soon as well.

Beckett looked at her watch. Ten past seven. If she was going to stop and grab pastries for the boys she needed to leave now. She grabbed her purse and then remembered that her phone was still on the bed.

Before she went back to grab it, there was a knock on the door.

Quietly Kate went to the door and looked out the peep hole. She couldn't see anything but flowers. She grinned despite herself. Evidently Castle had remembered today was her big day back too and was celebrating. She knew he missed the field work as much as she did.

Carefully, without unlocking the chain, she opened the door a crack. "Hello?"

The man hidden behind the extravagant bouquet replied, "Flowers for Detective Kate Beckett!"

"That's me. Hold on, let me unlock the door." Kate shut the door just long enough to remove the chain and then opened it all the way.

The man took a half step forward to pass the flowers to her but the vase and bouquet was absolutely huge.

"Ma'am, it might be easier if you just told me where you want this."

"Sure," she replied. "The coffee table is right here."

He followed her in and put the flowers down. "I just need you to sign the delivery receipt for me."

As the man in the green florist's cap searched his pocket for his receipt tablet, Kate looked at the card. It simply said "Surprise". She bent over to smell a large pink lily and was a bit taken back by the smell. It was stronger than she thought it should be, almost like perfume.

When she stood up to sign the notebook she noticed that she swayed a little. Weird she thought.

Hank, as his tag read, also noticed. "You OK Ma'am?"

"Yeah, just stood up too quickly I guess."

Kate handed him the pad and pen and followed him back to the door.

"Well you have a great day then," he replied as he started to walk away.

But before she could even close the door everything in Kate's world went black.