The Night Everything Changed

1. The invitation

Saturday morning, Kate Beckett sat at her desk in the 12th precint with a coffee in her hand, doing the paperwork for the case that they closed the day before. She was happy it was finally over. In her two years of working as a homicide detective, she often had tough cases but this one really reminded her of herself. The victim was 35-year-old woman who was stabbed in the heart. She died immediately. Her 10 year old daughter didn't take it well. When Kate and her team told her she started crying and ran to her room. But she was strong and even helped Kate a bit on the next day. Kate was really impressed by the little girl. At such a young age, she handled her mothers death very well and moved on really quickly. Three years ago when Kate's mother died, she broke down. Just like her father did. He started drinking and didn't stop until Kate told him about her plans to become a detective. Kate's mother, too, was stabbed but she bled to death. The killer was still not found and that's why Kate became a cop. She wanted to bring justice to her and she is sure that one day she will.

Closing the last file, Kate sighed and closed her eyes. The day had just begun and she was already exhausted. Who would have thought that paperwork is so tiring?

"Are you sleeping?" A familiar voice said and Kate opened her eyes to see her friend Lanie standing in front of her with a big grin plastered on her face.

"No, I'm not. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the morgue?" Kate asked her friend and stood up to walk into the break room for another cup of coffee.

Of course Lanie followed her. "No. there is no case right now and I thought that I could come up here to show you.. this!" Lanie almost shouted and took two, what Kate assumed were concert tickets, out of her pocket.

"What is this?" Kate asked as she reached for the tickets.

"These, my friend, are concert tickets for Ed Sheeran tonight. He is having a concert in Central Park and I got us two tickets last minute. Since the case is closed, I thought we could go there together and have a girls night again."

"Lanie, this is really sweet but I don't think-" Kate started but was interrupted by her friend, who was now taking her hand in hers, "Please Kate, you know how much I love Ed and I know you do too. I know this case was really hard for you but I think you need a night out. Please." Lanie begged and Kate rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you go with Espo. I'm really tired and I would rather go home and relax."

"What ?! I don't want to take Espo. I want to spent time with my best friend. It would be so much fun. Besides you can go home and sleep now. As I said the case is over and the concert doesn't start for another 7 hours." Lanie told her friend.

"Alright, but if the concert sucks you will bring me coffee to my desk every morning for the next 3 months." She suggested and Lanie immediately nodded and hugged Kate tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret it. I love you so much.. so here is your ticket and I will be at your place at 5pm so we can get ready for the best day of our lives!" She said happily and before Kate could say another word the medical examiner had left the room.

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"Ugh.. what have I gotten myself into?" Kate muttered to herself as she stood in her bathroom doing her make up, while her best friend was in the other room, looking for an outfit that she can wear.

When Kate came home a few hours earlier she had immediately plopped down on the couch with a cup of coffee and a book in der hand. She just wanted to relax but no,  at 4:30pm Lanie stormed into her apartment to help her getting ready, even though she wouldn't have needed any help with that.  And now she's standing her in a bathrobe doing her make up like she is about to go on a date.

"Oh Kate. I found something and it will look georgeous. You will be the most beautiful woman tonight! Every guy will look at you." Lanie said from the other room and Kate just rolled her eyes at the enthusiasm that her friend showed.

I'm not going to this concert because I want to find a boyfriend." She called back.

I'm just saying.. it could be possible that a guy will ask you out after the concert." Kate didn't answer. She was not in the mood to talk about relationships. She will go to this concert have fun and enjoy the music, nothing else.

Walking out of the bathroom, Kate's eyes widened at the sight in front of her. Her whole bedroom was a mess. Clothes were lying everywhere; on the floor, on her bed, some of them were even hung over her open bedroom door.

"Lanie!! What did you do?!" Kate looked at her friend with raised eyebrows and a rather annoyed gaze.

"What do you mean? I just took some stuff out of your closet to decide what you should wear." Lanie answered simply and shrugged, still not looking at Kate.

"Look at this mess! Everything is laying around. You are going to clean all of this before we go."

"No Kate! We don't have time for that. But the good news is: I found this beautiful and casual dress and think you should wear it. It's perfect." Lanie said and showed Kate the dress, which was laying on her bed.

Kate had to agree, it looked very nice and she couldn't wait to put it on. She hadn't worn that dress in so long. But all her thoughts were pushed aside when Lanie took all of her clothes and threw them into her closet without folding them.

"Lanie, you're going to fold these clothes or else I'm not going to the concert." Kate said and she meant it.

"Okay, okay calm down. We still have 30 minutes. Go put on the dress and I will clean this  up." She said gesturing to the mess.

Kate nodded, grabbed the dress and walked back in the bathroom.
When she closed the door she sighed and leaned against it. She was looking forward to a relaxing evening with a glass of wine, or two and now she had to go to a concert of a singer of whom she doesn't even know every song. Even though she liked him, she wasn't really in the mood for something like that.

When she was finally dressed she walked out of the room to find it surprisingly tidy. Lanie had cleaned everything in less than 5 minutes.

Wow! You look gorgeous, girl!" She heard her friend, who was standing in the doorway, saying.

Thanks. You look awesome too."

Yeah totally.", Lanie rolled her eyes, Let's go or we will have to wait too long in the line." She said and grabbed Kate's hand to drag her out of the room.

They were almost out of the door when Kate realized that she wasn't wearing any shoes.

Lanie, wait.. I forgot my shoes." Kate said and her friend turned around. She looked at her and started laughing hysterically.

What's so funny?"

HAHAHA. You almost forgot you shoes. Imagine you would have noticed when we at the concert." Lanie said and kept laughing.

Even when Kate had put on her shoes and grabbed her back, Lanie was still laughing.

Okay. If you want to stay here all night and laugh at me, that's fine. I'm just going to change into some more comfortable clothes." Kate was kidding, of course. But she started walking into her bedroom.

That's when Lanie stopped laughing and got serious again. Oh god. No Kate, I'm sorry. But please come with me. I'm very sorry." Lanie begged. It almost looked like she was about to start crying.

Kate chuckled. I was kidding. I haven't done my make up to sit here and watch TV."

Thank god.", Lanie said and grabbed Kate's hand again. Let's go and have an awesome evening." Lanie and the grin she had on her face earlier returned.

Kate rolled her eyes, for the what felt like 100th time this day and followed her friend out of the door. This time without forgetting anything.

Oh man. This was going to be an interesting night.

Finished! I hope you liked the first part. I went to an Ed Sheeran concert yesterday and that's why I had the idea to write a fanfic about a concert.
Tell me what you thought of it in the comments!