**Author's note** never thought I would ever write a Josh-centric fic, but I got the prompt from Louise McDoogle and decided "what the hell" It sounsded like fun. I never really did hate Josh, just thought he was wrong for Beckett. McCord would be perfect for him. Please don't hate me.

One Thing In Common

October 9th 2013

Rachael McCord never stepped over the threshold, Beckett had completely misinterpreted the reason for her appearance at her fiancée's door. Normally she would have been really blunt about it, but she found she actually liked her, more than she had any of the other agents she had trained, and felt she deserved at least an explanation.

"They know it was you that tipped off the press." She began, noting Kate's shocked expression. McCord figured she had likely never been caught breaking the rules before.

"A part of me really admires you for the choice that you made, maybe because I'd like to think there was a time that I would have done it." she said, her voice softening a little, "But the people we answer to don't feel that way."

"Rachel, I – I" Kate was stumbling over her words, as if to find some excuse that would justify her actions.

McCord felt a little bad for her, that she just didn't realize that in the gray world the task force operated in, there just were none for breaking ranks and compromising an operation. The job came first people second and she knew now that Kate would likely never be able so see that. It made the rest of what she had to say that much easier.

"Kate, you're one of the best agents I've ever worked with." she said, feeling the need for a rare moment of complete honesty. Kate nodded at this, a slightly relieved expression on her face, and McCord knew she was misinterpreting what was coming next. That her skill-set had somehow saved her from more than a reprimand.

"But I'm here to tell you you're fired."

Castle's head snapped up at that, then turned and looked at Kate, who's only reaction seemed to be a slight look of astonishment. For a fleeting moment Rachael McCord face softened as she saw the look of sympathy in Castle's face as he regarded the woman he loved. Even as cynical and jaded as she had become because of her job, she could see it, and a small part of herself wished she had someone to come home to who would look at her the way Richard Castle was regarding the now private citizen who had once been Agent Kate Beckett.

She actually began to feel better about firing the woman. Yes, they were losing a fine asset to the team, but a small part of her rejoiced. Though the work she did was important, sometimes she regretted the toll the job had taken on her life. The world didn't need another Rachael McCord.

Ten minutes later, after collecting Kate's service weapon, credentials and any other federally issued gear she had brought with her to Castle's place, she was on the elevator as it opened in the lobby. She almost walked into a rather tall, well chiseled man who seemed vaguely familiar.

It took her a moment, but she recognized him from the file on Kate Beckett when she had done the background check on her prior to granting her provisional security clearance to begin field training.

Dr. Josh Davidson. The one person she hadn't been able to contact as he had been out of the country at the time, doing field work in the Congo, or something like that. If he was away this often, she could see why their relationship had hit the skids, given her now former partner's distraction when her fiancee had been out of her sight for less than a day.

Though McCord was jaded about relationships, even casual ones, to the point that her only regular non work relationship lived in her lingerie drawer and required batteries, she could frankly see what had attracted Beckett to him initially.

He certainly did look yummy in that leather jacket.

Josh Davidson

It was the first time Dr. Josh Davidson had been back in New York since Kate had broken up with him after her shooting. He had taken the first Doctors Without Borders mission he could get his hands on and had left a week later. He knew it was a childish reaction, but he hadn't done anything wrong, all he'd done was offer to take care of her during her convalescence, and objected when she asked him to leave her and Castle alone the one time he came to visit. He had accepted two more in quick succession.

Yes he had likely over-reacted in the waiting room when he'd roughed-up the writer monkey. Which was likely what had provoked her to break up with him, obviously her father had said something about it. He had gotten a small amount of satisfaction out of the fact that Kate had sent HIM packing before that. He still could not see what she saw in that guy. He wasn't even a cop.

It had taken some hard thinking, but he had come to realize that pressuring her when she had been in pain and feeling vulnerable was not such a good idea.

He bought a bouquet of flowers and set off for her building. Maybe now that she's had some time to think about it, she would see him as the better choice he was and take him back. Writer Monkey must have done something by now to screw everything up again. He and Kate had had something good, and now that she'd had some time to think about it she would be in a place now where she could see that.

Josh had come out Kate's building entirely perplexed. She had sublet her apartment and gone to Washington DC. He had often asked Kate about getting away from New York, but she had always rebuffed him. Whatever had happened her landlord had said had occurred not long after an argument she's had with a man in her apartment earlier that spring.

"It was the damnedest thing." Mr. Peterson, the building superintendent, (who still recognized him) told him, "Not three weeks after that fight with Mr. Castle, she sublet the place packed her stuff and was out the door."

It took everything Josh had not to laugh in the guy's face. He strode out the door with a big shit eating grin on his face. He couldn't help himself, he had to go knock on Castle's door and gloat. By the time he got to the front door of Castle's building on his motorcycle he started to think better about it.

Not just because the man certainly hadn't done anything to him, personally. But because it dawned on him, the guy was wealthy and could make an awful lot of trouble. He recalled how he had felt after Kate had shown up on his operating table. His mother had raised him better than that. Not to mention it wouldn't exactly impress Kate to kick her so-called partner when he was down.

"Hell," Josh thought to himself, "that was probably why she'd broken up with me in the first place."

He had turned to walk out of the lobby after telling the doorman not to bother the man, when he saw a woman step out of the elevator who reminded him a hell of a lot of Kate. She was shoving a holstered pistol and an ID wallet into her bag as she stepped out into the foyer, so he held the door for her.

She looked him up and down, with something akin to recognition on her face.

If you are looking for Richard Castle and his fiancée' I think they are...indisposed."

"Fiancée?" Josh looked at the woman, perplexed, "who might that be?"

"Kate Beckett," the woman replied. "I just gave her some really bad news, so if you came to congratulate them, I might suggest doing it some other time."

Josh was shocked. It took him a few minutes to process what had just come out of the woman's mouth.

'Kate is...marrying...the writer monkey?' he thought to himself, 'the guy who got her obsessed with her mother's case again...who got her shot? SERIOUSLY?'

He honestly couldn't believe it. She had sent the man packing, the last time he'd been in town. He had stood in place for several minutes before he realized that the dark-haired woman was still there.

"Would you like to go get a cup of coffee?" McCord said, "there's a really nice coffee shop near my hotel. I just need to drop some stuff off first and I'll meet you there."

She got out a business card wrote the address on the back of it, and handed it to him, then she was gone. The card read:

Special Agent Rachael McCord
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Eight Hours Later

Josh woke up shortly before dawn. He had always been a light sleeper, the nature of his job had made it a necessity. Some part of him had noticed when McCord had gotten out of bed, he could hear the shower running in the distance so he knew she hadn't left.

It had started out as coffee. Rachael, it turned out, was a really good listener, though she revealed next to nothing about herself, she managed to make Kate seem like an open book, by comparison. She listened as he poured his heart out about the year he had been in a relationship with Kate. How he thought things were going so well, how they might have had a chance if it hadn't been for Writer Boy.

She was clear and direct when, at the end of all that, she gave him her assessment, from having seen Kate and Writer boy together.

"Josh, I'm not going to sugarcoat this, but from my observations of them, you never stood a chance with her. I've only seen them together a few times, but from what I've seen, her heart belongs to Richard Castle. If I had not done the background check I would not have known you exist."

Things moved steadily along after that. They had moved from the coffee shop to the hotel bar, and after half a bottle of Tequila they had ended up in her hotel room fucking like rabbits. First against the door...round two on the couch in the suite...round three against the bedroom wall...eventually they had found their way to the bed for rounds four and five.

'Kate had been good in bed, to be sure,' Josh though to himself as he lay there, 'but damn, Rachel is a machine.'

When Rachael appeared a few minutes later, fully dressed, sliding her sidearm onto her belt, she walked up to him and kissed him hard.

"As much as I would love to have another go with you, duty calls," she said in a no-nonsense manner, "my flight leaves at eight and I have to process Beckett's exit paperwork."

"Will I see you again?" Josh asked. He wasn't averse to the idea of a one-night stand, but he found himself liking this woman.

"If you are ever in Washington DC, look me up." McCord replied with an uncharacteristic wink, "You have my card."

As she walked out the door, she thought to herself, 'I may not be great at relationships, but that man is a really good ride...and I was right...he is yummy.'

From the background check she had done from her car, Dr. Josh Davidson led a very busy life, much like hers, maybe it hadn't worked for Beckett in the long-term, but it worked just as well for her. She found herself wondering if maybe Beckett was right, maybe she did need to get out of the office more.

It certainly couldn't hurt to sample the merchandise. Beckett would never need to know.