I'm in awe of the response the last chapter received. You guys are terrific! As a thank you, by popular demand I present to you Dr. Motorcycle Boy getting chucked. On with the fic!
Disclaimer: Still don't own Castle
As an obsessive workaholic with a job that had an extremely analytical aspect, Kate Beckett had learned long ago how to navigate her vehicle on autopilot when her mind simply refused to back down from dissecting every aspect of her cases. Were she not gifted with this particular talent, she most likely would've been killed on her way to Castle's loft that night. Even as half of her consciousness took note of the cars around her and weaved through them on the road toward her destination, the rest of her couldn't help thinking back on the stop she had just made, and marveling in the lessons to be learned regarding just how clouded her judgment had been by her desire to push down her feelings for Castle.
Beckett strode into the hospital, her manner betraying none of her nervousness about what she had come to do. Despite knowing now that it was the right decision, ending a relationship would never be an easy task.
Kate walked toward the front desk, catching the eye of the receptionist who knew what she was here for from her myriad visits over the past few months. Without even waiting for Kate to reach her desk, she jerked her head toward the middle corridor of the T-shaped intersection behind her. Kate smiled at her warmly in acknowledgement as she passed the desk and kept walking.
As Kate strode down the corridor, examining the various figures wearing doctor's scrubs, her attention was diverted by the sound of high-pitched, girlish laughter. Glancing toward the source, she took in the sight of her boyfriend chatting up two very giggly nurses. Not even sure what to feel just then, Beckett walked forward and clasped Josh's elbow.
"Kate!" exclaimed Josh as he turned at the pressure on his arm, his face going just a bit red. "Ah-I- what are you doing here?"
Choosing to give him the benefit of the doubt, particularly considering why she was here, Kate kept her expression unreadable as she asked Josh for a word in private and accompanied him into an unoccupied room.
"Look, babe I know you felt bad having to tell me to go, but you had to talk to Lanie, I get it. You didn't have to come see me at work. And I'm on shift now, I don't really have time."
Raising an eyebrow at this beginning, Kate replied, "No, Josh I know I had to talk to Lanie. I came here because I needed to talk to you."
"About what?"
Taking a deep breath, Kate began. "Look, Josh you're a great guy, and we've had fun together…" That was as far as she got before being interrupted.
"Yeah, I know we have. Look Kate, I'm on shift now, I don't really have much time for the 'are we serious'/'where are we going' talk, okay? How about we save this for when I get back tomorrow, okay?" Josh moved in for a kiss.
Moving backwards to avoid the kiss and falling back on her considerable willpower to keep from rolling her eyes, Kate started talking again.
"No Josh, that's not what this is. You're great, and we've had fun but I don't think this is going to work."
Josh blinked. "Wait are you- are you breaking up with me? Look Kate if this is about what you saw in the hall it wasn't-"
"No Josh, it's not. This is what I came here for. I chose not to assume anything about what I saw in the hall."
"Look, Kate it was nothing. This happens all the time, I'm pretty popular with the ladies, you know that. Look, let's just forget about this whole thing, how about tomorrow night I take you to that new Italian place over on 73rd, what do you say?"
Starting to lean a little into incredulous territory with where this discussion was going, Kate replied, "No Josh, we're not going out tomorrow night. I'm trying to tell you it's over."
Josh rolled his eyes and took a step toward her. "Come on, Kate. You and I both know that wasn't what you came here to talk about. You're overreacting. I'm telling you, it's a little frustrating that you're still trying to stick with this breaking up thing. You're going to have to get used to the fact that women find me irresistible."
Aaaand the 'leaning' part fell right out the window…
"Josh, I'm not overreacting, I came here to tell you that we're done."
Josh just laughed in her face. "You know Kate, next time you want to play a prank, you might consider finding one that's believable."
Beckett's eyes narrowed. "And what exactly is it that makes this 'unbelievable'?"
Josh grinned. "Come on Kate, it's obvious that women don't break up with me."
Mr. Incredulity, meet Mrs. Anger. "Well then consider me a record breaker." And Kate began to walk around Josh towards the door.
"Wait a minute, what are you talking about? What- wait? Wait just a minute, this isn't about that bumbling sycophant who follows you around, is it?"
Kate turned around, her eyes projecting her patented death glare. "What did you just say?"
Josh glared back. "It is! Are you crazy? You're going to leave me, me, for him? How could you possibly think he's any better than me? For crying out loud, he's more boy than man!"
"There's a heck of a lot to Castle that I'd say is better than you. Even more than I knew of coming into this conversation! For that matter, the same probably goes for most of the men on the planet!" Beckett snapped back, continuing her angry march towards the door and ignoring the frozen look of shock on Josh's face. As she placed her hand on the knob, she heard one more retort from her gladly ex-boyfriend.
"Good riddance! Go off and give the playboy just what he wants! He'll leave you. Once you give in to him, he'll leave you the second things get tough, which knowing you, probably will happen pretty quickly."
Beckett turned around to see the look of triumph on Josh's face, clearly having thought he'd gotten the last word and planted significant doubts in her mind. Kate responded with a smirk.
"If that were true, I'd be dead right now, and so would you." And she flung open the door and walked out.
Kate was startled out of her reverie by the sight of Castle's distinctive building, feeling a pang in her chest just knowing he was up there.
As she parked the cruiser and got out, Kate reflected a little more on the incident with Josh. Why had she never seen that side of him? Why had it never been clear to her that he saw himself as G-d's gift to women? Because she wryly answered her own question, when I met him in the bar that night, I felt like he was G-d's gift to me. She had met Josh while attempting to forget her sorrows from Castle having left with Gina for the summer. From the beginning, he'd been a way to push her feelings of Castle away. She'd never been able to spend too much time with him considering their respective jobs, which was just fine with her, since if she had she might have been forced to acknowledge that it wasn't the same as spending time with Castle. The irony certainly wasn't lost on her that for being her way to forget Castle, Josh ended up being exhibit A of one of her earliest misconceptions about Castle, the idea that his large ego made him insensitive to women.
Kate entered the building, sharing a quick but familiar greeting with Ted, the doorman. Even that said something, Beckett thought as she got on the elevator. She had absolutely no recollection of the doorman at Josh's building. She hadn't been around enough, and she hadn't gotten the same feeling of walking into a place she would definitely be coming back to.
Kate shook her head as the elevator reached Castle's floor, resolving to put Josh out of her mind once and for all. He was the past, and not a past that meant a great deal to her at the end of the day. She was here for her future. She was here for Castle, to help him with the problems she'd unknowingly helped fester with her relationships, and then to possibly see if they could put together one of their own. One that she felt had a better chance of enduring her insecurities and troubles than any she'd ever had.
It was only after she'd knocked on the door, waiting for her partner to open up, that it occurred to her that she didn't have the slightest clue how to do that.
And Josh is gone! I thought about making him for sure cheating, but I thought that it was more ironic this way. Next chapter we get to have Caskett talk! Please tell me what you think!