Author's Notes:
Thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoy it.
It takes place somewhere in the fourth or fifth season time frame.
No particular reference points needed. No spoilers.
By all means, please leave me feedback/reviews on this or any of the other stories I've posted here.
Disclaimer:
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
"You know I hate these banquets." he said fiddling with his tie.
"Yes, I do but it doesn't seem to be too much of a price to pay for the life you lead." she said reaching up on her tip-toes to give him a light peck on the cheek.
"Yeah, well..."
"Yeah well nothing there big guy. It's all good. The money this helps generate is not insignificant and we know it's for a good cause." she admonished him and wrapped her arm around his. "Let's go mingle some more. I want to show off my handsome man."
"I'd rather take my fiancée home and mingle with just her if you don't mind." He said with a salacious grin on his face.
"Later stud. Right now, let's be good doobees and act like normal adults."
"Yes dear."
"Good boy. Just a little bit longer and then I'll give you your reward." She said as they melted into the crowd of tuxedos and ball-gowns. They mingled and pressed the flesh, meeting with old money and new money. Subtle beauty and gaudy wealth.
"This is a bigger crowd than last time." he notes.
"Well, maybe people are starting to loosen their purse-strings."
"I know what I want to loosen..."
"Cut it out!" she hisses "I can't keep a straight face when you do that to me."
"I know." he says with a smile, amazed at how easy their exchanges are. "Listen do you want to... OOFH!"
"Oh! Excuse me!" the stranger said apologizing for the unfortunate collision.
Then, the two couples focused on each other and gasped saying "Josh!", "Richard!", "Gina!", "Kate!" in almost perfect unison.
"Josh? You know her?" Gina asks.
"Yes, we were together for a while."
"Gina? You know Josh?" Castle asks.
"He's my fiancé." Gina says.
"How do you know Castle?" Josh asks Gina.
"I'm his publisher." Gina explains.
"And Ex-Wife." Kate says completing the sentence.
"Oh damn, I need a drink." Rick and Josh say in unison.
"Me too." the women agree.
Castle's the first one to grouse out loud "Oh this is going to be one long and awkward night. I'm going to kill Paula."
"I got first dibs!" Gina snaps.
Kate speaks up trying to work things out "Look, we're all civilized adults. I'm sure this isn't too difficult."
"Thank you Kate" Gina says trying to be pleasant and sincere but that little bit of venom still leaks out.
"You're welcome Gina."
"Kate, to get things rolling, I'll start." Gina says "I'm here because of Josh's involvement with the charity of course but also because Black-Pawn has a publishing division that specializes in the niche market this group represents."
Kate takes up the task and continues it "Well, we're here for a couple of reasons; firstly because Paula"
"The late Paula" Castle snaps.
Beckett smacks his arm "because Paula said that it was a good cause and good exposure for Richard; and second because the Mayor asked Richard to help write his speech and attend."
"Of course." Josh groans only partially under his breath.
"Cut it out Josh." Kate says slightly cross garnering her a controlled glare from Gina.
"I'm sorry, not my place. I'm sorry Josh, Gina." Kate quickly says in an attempt to sooth the situation.
"It's okay dear." Castle says patting Kate's hand on his arm "We're adults, honest mistake, no harm done."
"Rickey!" they hear from the crowd as the Mayor comes over.
"Hiya Big Cheeze!" Castle says cheerfully shaking the Mayor's hand.
"Thanks for my speech tonight." then turning to and speaking to the others with Rick "My usual speech writer is more than a little under the weather. He broke his leg and an arm while skiing upstate and the pain medication is making his writing hilarious but not fit for public consumption."
"My pleasure Bob, may I introduce..."
"Kate! How have you been? It's been too long, you're looking good, something's obviously agreeing with you." the mayor says giving Castle a gentle elbow and wink.
"Thanks Bob, you're looking well yourself, you look like you got some sun, did you actually take a vacation?" Kate responds obviously comfortable talking to the mayor.
"Rickey, I still don't know how you got this one." he says to Castle then looking at Kate "Not many people are astute enough to notice when I actually develop a bit of a tan. Thank you Kate. Yes, I took a short vacation of sorts. It was a working vacation. I went to Texas to meet with some other Mayors of large cites to see what we can do to spur some economic growth and we had all our meetings outside in the open air and sun. It was a nice break from the winter here."
Sensing a break in the conversation Castle tries again "Bob, this is Doctor Joshua Davidson and his fiancée Ms Gina Cowell."
"Mr Mayor!" Josh says shaking the mayor's hand. "So very nice to meet you." with just a glint of being star-struck.
"Thank you Doctor." the mayor says courteously "Ms Cowell, you look familiar for some reason." he says shaking her hand.
"Bob, I think you've met her before, she's my publisher." Castle says.
Almost imperceptibly Josh adds "and ex-wife."
Not hearing Josh, or choosing to ignore it, the Mayor continues "Yes, that must be it. Very nice to meet you Ms Cowell. I hope you're all enjoying this party."
"Thank you very much your honor." Gina says.
The Mayor is interrupted by one of his minions whispering something to him. "I'm sorry Kate, Rickey, Ms Cowell, Doctor Davidson, I have to go back to work.
"Of course Bob. Nice seeing you again." Kate offers.
"Rickey, we need to get the poker games going again, I need to get some more lunch money from you." The Mayor says as he turns and disappears into the crowd.
"Bob?" Josh asks staring at Kate.
"Poker games?" Gina questions Castle.
"Umm... Yea. We met a while back and had a few interactions, some official, some not." Kate explains unabashedly.
Rick explains "Yes Gina, poker games. He's part of the Gotham City Crowd who comes to my house once a month to play poker. We let the schedule lapse because he was on a municipal spree of some sort and Judge Markaway was being protected."
"Judge Markaway, wasn't he the one that was being threatened by the drug-lord?" Josh asks.
"That's the one." Kate says "He was under special protection for about two and a half months and that interfered with the games too."
"So you know Judge Markaway?" Josh asks Kate.
Seeming to be at remarkable ease Kate tells him "I guess you can say that, we've played poker a few times with the Mayor, Rick, myself and a couple of other folks. If it counts, I've seen him do his Homer Simpson imitation, it's freakishly good and hilarious."
"Yeah" Rick says. "If you can get him to let his hair down, so to speak, he's a stitch to be around."
"We've met his wife too. Sweet woman. Turns out they're both big foodies." Kate adds. Making an obvious effort to switch the conversation track, she says "We got interrupted before we could finish our earlier discussion. I believe best-wishes are in order. I'm very happy for the two of you."
"Thank you very much Kate." Gina says looking a good bit surprised.
"He's a good guy Gina, I never said otherwise." Kate says with a gentle nod to Josh. "We didn't work out for a lot of reasons and I'll be the first to say that the majority of them were on my side of the table."
"I um..." Josh starts to say stunned by the lack of animosity.
"It's true Josh." Castle says. "You'll also never hear anything but praise from me for your existence. You helped save the most important person in my life." he says patting Kate's hand.
"I... I guess I should say thank you." Josh offers a bit timidly, obviously caught off-guard.
"No need to. It is I that thank you." Castle says reaching out to shake Josh's hand.
"Well, this went very differently than I first imagined." Gina says with a cautious smile.
"Me too." Castle agrees smiling now.
Josh looks over the crowd suddenly "I think the banquet is getting underway, I'm pretty sure the M.C. is at the podium, why don't we get to our seats?"
"Yes, good idea. Thank you." Kate tells them.
"Maybe we'll chat again." Castle offers as the two couples go in different directions heading for their seats.
"Okay, that was freakin' wierd!" Castle says to Kate once they're out of earshot of the others.
"Awwwkwaaarrrd" Kate offers in a sing-song almost under her breath.
"I never would have thought to ask you who your ex-husband was." Josh states somewhat off-balance.
"Well, that was a long time ago. We tried again a few summers ago but it didn't work out. Now, we're strictly business. I guess I should have asked who your ex was? I mean Nikki Heat?"
"I see your point. You did tell me he was a writer, I just never would have made the connection." Josh says evening out his demeanor. "As for the Nikki Heat thing, I never thought of it as a big deal, it's so not her."
"It seems like you're not quite over the anger with how things ended for you two." Gina states in an effort to ease the conversation. "I'm sorry about that."
"It was... long and drawn out and it had moments of being unpleasant. We never really connected." Josh explains. "Luckily, that's all behind us and I've got a rosy future awaiting us."
"I'm glad honey. I want to clarify something. The truth is Nikki Heat is a big thing. She's a fictional character but based on a real person and has spawned four best sellers and a second big budget movie. The argument of if Kate is or isn't Nikki is a complicated one because Rick's a good writer and he's woven the real with the fictional in a way that is hard to separate."
Looking down, and a bit self-conscience about it, Josh explains "I was always jealous of their relationship and I had been convinced that it was more than what meets the eye but they've both denied it a bunch of times and assured me it wasn't the case."
"Josh, I can't tell you if you're right or wrong but I can tell you this, if they said it, I believe it. I don't think either of them could lie about that and live with themselves." his fiancee says hugging his arm.
"Okay, that's a pairing I'd have never foreseen." Kate says.
"I'll second the motion." Rick says as they head for their seats. "My mother's going to love this situation when we tell her."
"Oh god, Lanie's going to explode when I tell her this." Kate says with a whimsical air.
"I think their paring might be good. She's strong and independent and can probably deal with his absences easily. Well, good luck to them, I hope it works out the way they want." Rick says calmly.
"Listen to you acting all grown up and adult." Kate teases.
"I am not proud of two failed marriages but I am proud that I handled the ending of both of them in an adult manner without restraining orders." Rick tells her as they find their table. "I don't hate Gina, she's a great businesswoman and has helped make me a lot of money. I don't like her personality and I find that I can't tolerate her for more than an hour or two at any given time but I can be civil. As for Josh, that's complicated but I meant what I said. He saved your life so that erases any faults in my book."
"Hmmm... I never hated Josh but I had trouble with him. I never was able to establish an open communications with him. I do believe that a lot of it was my own fault but he did help the problem along. I didn't trust him enough to bare my soul to him."
"I guess Kate was always too unwilling to share with me. Most of our fights were about things unsaid and how she never let me in." Josh explains "It always seemed that I was being compared, unfavorably, to him. I figured the breakup was coming but it still sucks."
"Don't complain dear." Gina says.
"Why not?"
"When you and Kate had your last fight, do you think anyone knew about it?"
"Ummm... yeah, one of her neighbors gave us a dirty look the next morning." Josh explains. "Why?"
Gina smiles and says "My last argument with him was covered by the papers on page six. You haven't lived until you're in that sort of spotlight and are trying to deal with a relationship. Everyone in my office knew what our argument was about. Hell, the cab driver who took me across town two days later knew and offered me advice!"
Josh thinks for a moment before conceding the point "Oh. Okay, you win, that sucks a lot more."
Story Notes:
Way back when the episode title "Significant Others" was released, just the title mind you, this is what popped into my head. I'd never written it down because I had other things going on until just recently.
I am not a fan of the way Josh was written but that's not my job. I use them as I find them. It always struck me that the way Josh and Gina were written that they'd make a good couple. This just came of that.
Special thanks and appreciation goes to phnxgrl for offering advice and reality checks in my doing this story.