This was written as a bit of a joke for a friend who can't stand Josh or Gina. It's completely meant as a snarky cracky fic. There is nothing serious within; it's meant as the biggest piece of cheese I've written to date.
Disclaimer: Nothing Castle is mine. Since I'm pretty sure the creators wouldn't even want to claim this piece, you can safely assume I'm not among their sacred ranks. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made.
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Gina Cowen was fuming as she stormed for the elevator.
Castle was right behind her. "Gina! Gina, wait!"
"What, Rick?" she asked, turning. "You'd better be telling me you suddenly found a completed manuscript hidden in a desk somewhere, because I am running out of patience with you and this newest Nikki Heat novel."
Castle grinned at her and spread his hands. "Sorry, no." He became a little more serious. "I'll have it for you as soon as possible. I promise. It's just this one last plot twist that has me stumped, but I'll be done soon. By next week, for sure."
"You'd better," Gina told him, leveling a glare at him, though she didn't seem quite as mad as before. "I can't keep putting your deadline off."
Nodding, Castle replied, "I understand. Thanks."
Gina just shook her head and turned on her heel. Castle retreated back to Beckett's desk as his publisher pressed the down button and stood tapping her foot as she awaited the car. Just as the doors dinged open, a tall, attractive, dark-haired man rushed up.
"Hold the elevator please!"
She complied and he hurried in beside her.
He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. "Thanks."
"Sure," she replied, shrugging. She pulled out her cell phone and began checking her email as the doors slid shut and the elevator began descending.
Suddenly, the lights in the car flickered. Gina and the man beside her looked up just as the elevator came to a sudden stop. The lights went completely out, plunging the car into darkness before the emergency lights kicked on.
The man jiggled several buttons on the elevator. "Looks like we're stuck."
Gina sighed in frustration. "This is not what I needed right now. I've got meetings to get to and deadlines to check up on …"
"I'll try the phone," he said, reaching for the emergency phone. After listening a moment, he spoke. "Hi, yeah, this is Josh Davidson … Yeah, we're both fine in here … Uh-huh. I see … Okay, thanks. We'll just hang tight." He turned to Gina. "The power went out and even though they've got generators going, the elevator power seems to have been affected somehow. They're working to fix it, but we might be stuck in here awhile."
Gina grimaced.
"Oh it won't be all that bad," he told her, grinning. "We can get to know each other better."
She shrugged and leaned against the wall. "All right then. You first."
"Okay, well … I'm Josh. I'm a doctor, and I was here on a personal visit. Your turn."
"Gina, publisher, chasing down a stray writer."
"You work with Richard Castle?" Josh asked.
She nodded. "I guess he's the only writer here. Yeah, I do. Unfortunately, he doesn't always seem to want to do the working part."
"Hey, he is researching, right? You've got to give him credit for that at least."
"Not at the expense of deadlines," she objected. "I swear, sometimes it's like he wants to be contrary."
Josh grinned and she couldn't help feeling her knees going a little weak. It was just nervousness over being in such a confined space for so long, she told herself. "He'll get it done, don't worry," he told her. "He's a great writer."
"That's what they tell him anyway."
Both fell quiet for a moment, then Gina pulled out her phone. "Might as well tell the office what's going on. I won't be making that meeting after all."
"But think of the adventure you're having instead," Josh suggested. He was trying to relieve the tension in her voice; she would even more beautiful than she already was if she weren't so tightly wound. "And if you were a writer, you could work this into one of your stories."
Gina couldn't help chuckling at that. "I guess I could. I don't write, though."
"No! Really? I think you'd be terrific at it."
"Yeah, you haven't seen my attempts. There's a reason I'm a publisher and not on the other end of the business."
Josh shrugged. "I wouldn't mind seeing your attempts."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're kidding."
"No, no, I'm really not. I'd love to read anything you've written."
"Huh." She smiled back at him. "Well, then. I'll have to scare up something for you."
His eyes met hers. "I can't wait."
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Less than an hour later, the elevator started up again. As it was closer to the ground floor, it descended the rest of the way and its two occupants exited. They may have been walking a little closer together than they would have earlier that afternoon. Waving off the inquiries as to if they were all right, the two pushed through the glass doors at the front of the station and left, their hands brushing slightly.
Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan watched them go and then returned to their various tasks, though they may have shared a fistbump before getting back to work.
