Title: The Right Kind of Hangover- Without Beckett
Rating: M
Pairing: Castle/Beckett
Disclaimer: Castle's amazing, and this I know/ I credit creation to the man, Marlowe / Fun and delightful, cherry and bright / When Marlowe makes something, he makes it right.
Author's Note: Yes, second update in a day. I owe you guys at least a few updates to make up for my long absence, and I promise not to leave you hanging.

Castle: *whines* You left me alone with Gina? Are you mad? She's going to kill me for being late with my manuscripts again…
Me: Hey, it makes for a good story.
Beckett: I can't wait to see how this turns out…
Castle: I thought you were on my side!
Beckett: I am on your side. When it comes to you being an adult and not trying to weasel your way out of a conversation with your ex-wife-slash-publisher. Sometimes, you need to put your big boy boxers on and grow up.
Castle: Yeah? Well, sometimes, you need to… grow… down…
Me: You thought you were so smart when you started that sentence, didn't you?

Anyway, the youse muses are calling, and I must answer. Plus, I have to get through this chapter if I want to continue and get to the next few. I will eventually reach a stopping point in this fiction and go directly into the next one I want to do, which will take me a lot longer to write… Hopefully though, I will do another "serial" fiction that I will add to everyday. Something outside my "Hangover" continuity.

I always pictured my "Hangover" story to last about the span of a day. Hangovers aren't supposed to last for more than a day, right? As of "right now", it's about 2PM in the Castle world, so about half a day left to go.

I really, REALLY enjoyed writing Gina's lines last chapter. I never really liked Gina, but she could be a very snappy character. And I always thought that, even though her and Rick weren't in a relationship past Season 3, she might have been a slight bit jealous of Kate… Not too badly, but since Gina's the "ex-wife" and Rick's got a new girl, I bet it hurts.

Kudos to Ferby93, york, Lv2bnsb1 and Dbear for reviewing my last chapter(s)!

Ferby93: I'm happy you liked everything since the beginning, and thank you for the warm fuzzies about my writing! Yeah, I don't think Castle and Beckett would go as quickly as my fiction, but then again, maybe they would. I don't really know. I'm not the great Andrew Marlowe! LOL! But for me, I wrote this out with the idea that these two weren't "just" starting off in the dating realm; they've been dancing around each other for four years. If you want to think about it this way, they're not teenagers, and they're not going to start out like that. And they've been "together" (at least in my mind) for the better part of the series. Now, after "Always", they're free to express the love they've been holding in for a long time. I always figured it was "no holds barred", and all bets were off: they were together, and if it's quick, there's going to be problems with that. If it's slow, there's problems. Either way, something's bound to get in the way of a complete happily ever after. But I looked at everything as a slow, four year build-up to an explosion, and really, these two are pretending that everything is hunky dory (You'll see what I mean in the next fiction I do).

York: You better believe Kate's not going to let Ryan off the hook, not too quickly anyway. That comes next chapter, and I hope you'll be pleased. There's a bit of a "got her cornered" vibe that came out between Ryan and Kate while she was in the slammer, and I'm really eager to play that one off as soon as possible. Thank you! Also, you'll see some interesting play between Castle and Beckett once they are reunited again.

Lv2bnsb1: Thank you, thank you. Castle loves his girls, and taking them shopping, lavishing on Kate, would be really at the top of his list, right up there with saving her life and loving her to death, as a token of appreciation. And yes, she would do that, if Conrad has written more than one book *wink, wink*. And in reference to the speeding ticket/jail time… see below. You'll see why Castle and Beckett are in jail.

Dbear: Thank you for the comment! I appreciate it a lot! And hold on, there's a reason why she was less than nice to Ryan. Please, give me another chapter and I will explain why Beckett's so mad at Ryan (I love Kevin Ryan, and to see Kate be mad at him for whatever reason, is bad, but I promise you, there's a reason. You'll see what I mean). I deliberately didn't write it because I wanted a little bit more meat to the story. And… I didn't know it was going to happen until I wrote the jail chapter.

Anyway, onward bound.

Rick knew once upon a night that Gina was everything to him. Even now, for a brief moment of reflection, he saw the woman she used to be through those bars, the person he married so many years ago. Her hair was styled the way it used to be; she was wearing something in ivory with spaghetti straps, which always flattered her figure and made her seem that much more light, airy than darker colors. At one point, she could dazzle a room full of waiting patrons and celebrities like a supernova on steroids. She still could. That exuberant shade of sunshine never faded away with every move she made, and her infectious charisma made even the sourest of people turn their frowns upside down. He'd put a ring on her finger, and though the relationship hadn't worked out like he thought it would back then, it was something that he never regretted. For the time it lasted, their marriage proved to be something worthwhile.

Her brown eyes bore into him, like he was used to back in the old days: completely unable to take his crap for another missed manuscript turn-in, another ditched book signing, another botched charity event. The same glare made him fidget and squirm. "So?"

"So what?"

"Don't play dumb, Rick. You know what."

"How does any of that have anything to do with why you're here?" He asked, nonchalant. "You're my book editor. You make sure that I cross my t's and dot my i's accordingly, not to mention make sure that I stay on track with my manuscripts. I sure can't write them in jail, so I'm guessing you want me out of here."

"The apostle Paul wrote in jail. So did Cervantes."

"And they are better men than me," he replied, smirking. "Come on, Gina."

Gina grabbed two of the bars and stuck her nose in between them, trying to lessen distance as much as possible while making her point. "What's going on, Rick? Really? Is this more of your research, or more of your 'screwing around'?"

"It's not screwing around. It's not research either. It's something new."

"You seeing her?"

He nodded. "She's my girlfriend, Gina. Something that I wish you would remain discreet about. That took her aback a second, and he could see something new in her expression. Really? Was she… "Are you jealous?"

"Of what, Rick?" Which was worse, that fact that she was slightly upset about the situation, or the fact that she was stone cold serious and wasn't letting anything show behind her mask?

But she couldn't hide things from him so easily, not the stuff close to the heart. "You're jealous, hurt, or both, I can see it." He rose from his perch and silently walked toward her, arms folded, and sighed. "Look, Gina—"

"Save it," she said curtly, taking a step back. "I already… already kind of knew. Ever since you started working with her, you've been different. Especially within this past year. Even when you were with me, I wondered if you were thinking of me, or thinking of her." She scoffed absently, defeated. "Now I know how Meredith feels."

He sighed again, exasperated and pained. "Gina, come on. It's not like that. I mean, we had fun. And we loved each other at one point or another. Things just… just didn't work out."

"Yeah, I know. It just…hurts every once in awhile. When I have a moment or two to think about it, it just hurts." She shook her head, adamant, but surprised him. "Do you love her, Rick?"

"Yes. I do, very much."

"You going to marry her too?"

He hesitated. "It's too soon to tell, but I'd like to. I'd… really like to. One day, someday."

Gina caught his gaze, wistful and uneasy. "…Make sure… you're ready for that. Try to make this one stick, ok? Don't… don't let her end up like Meredith and me. Make sure this last Castle still stands. But that's a bridge you'll have to cross later." She took a deep breath, plastered a smile on her face and fiddled with her purse again. "And at least now, we know where we stand, and we can keep working together. Anyway, you're still stuck in jail, and I still need to get you out of it. The mayor might be able to pull some strings…"

"Gates is not going to like that."

"Gates doesn't have to like it. She has to shut up and take it if it comes from the higher ups. There's nothing she can do about it if the mayor's willing to fix this 'minor infraction'."

"Yeah, a 'minor infraction' that resulted in jail time. I mean, why was that, anyway? Why didn't they just give Kate a ticket and be done with it? Wait, couldn't she get out of it?"

She shot him one of those 'are you stupid' looks. "She's not a cop anymore. She can't get out of it. And besides, Rick, he jailed you because of a speeding ticket you got over three months ago. Apparently, you didn't pay it and missed the court date. When the police pulled over Beckett, they took you both in."

"You're telling me I kind of Al Capone'd myself?"

"Apparently. What did you do with it, stick it in that bill drawer you have in your desk? You know the one I'm talking about."

"…I got busy. And I don't like looking at those until I have to," he sputtered. "If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it…"

"Shut up, Castle. Where did you put it?"

He stared at her, incredulous. "I swear, I took care of it. At least, I thought I asked Ryan to take care of that. He said he knew someone in traffic… Wait, that was also around his wedding-slash-honeymoon…" He blinked. "Ah, that kind of makes sense now…"

Gina rolled her eyes. "Now I'm glad I married you… and divorced you." She laughed a little at that, and shook her head again. "I think you were too busy chasing after your muse and you didn't get around to it." She turned toward the door and walked away. "Looks like you still won't get to drive until that suspension's cleared up… I'll see what I can do. Oh, and Rick?" she batted her eyes at him, specifically in that way that made him sick to his stomach. "I think we should discuss raising my cut for the next Nikki Heat book, since I'm doing this little 'favor' for you. Think of it as an incentive for my 'services rendered'."

"Ah, there's the Gina I know and love. We'll… talk about it later."

"And maybe a few more Nikki Heats."

"Now you're pushing it," he grinned. "Now, get me out of here."