Hello faithful readers! As a little gift to you for being away (Ariel119 I'm looking at you), I'm giving you a nice big bonus double-chappie of 2329 words! This was a tricky one to write but I think it came out well!
Meredeth was nervous as hell when she walked into Moldavia a few nights later. She'd barely slept the last couple of nights - Saturday being no exception after leaving Castle's to go home and have wild sex with her boyfriend most of the night - due to anxiety of what to expect from these three formidable women in Esposito's life. Their mere presence made Meredeth finally understand the bone-deep terror Tweety felt when Sylvester came in the room looking for a snack.
Still it was important to her that she get along with them; the last thing she'd do is make him chose between being friends off the job with them and her. She knew who would win that fight and she'd be damned if she'd let him get away from her because she couldn't play nice with the other kids.
Her fears were somewhat assuaged when she saw Lanie and Honey-Milk sitting in a booth near the bar, already half-way through a pitcher of some fruity pink drink loaded with alcohol. Lanie caught her eye, waved her over.
'Hey, Mere, glad you could make it. Twisted lemonade?'
'Sure.'
Lanie poured her a glass with a flourish. 'Beckett's not here yet. Guess it's her turn tonight to get tangled up with her man,' she said with a saucy wink at Meredeth, who blushed deeply; Lanie reached over, patted her hand. 'Don't worry, girl, we'll get you all liquored up before we start telling secrets. Easier to grease them out of you that way.'
'Ryan said you were on a couple of late night shows in L.A. last week. I'm sorry I missed them,' Honey-Milk said, hoping she would be able to put Meredeth at ease. She knew all too well what it was like to be the new kid in the room with the tough crowd of the 12th's cops. 'Did Esposito really text you in the middle of your interview?'
'Yeah, he did.' Meredeth remembered the moment with a little smile, the way her pocket had started buzzing when she was taping with Craig Ferguson. 'I don't think it was on purpose, though. I think he thought I still had some time before it started. Could have been much worse, though, could have been something way more personal.'
'Nothing beats Castle when it comes to badly-timed texts.' Beckett appeared at the table, swung into the booth beside Meredeth, effectively trapping her between the cop and the cop's wife. 'We were looking for a suspect down near Canal street, in this huge warehouse, and all of a sudden, his phone starts going off DAD-DAD-DAD.'
'Right, the fake passports,' Honey-Milk added, refilling her own glass. She sipped, watched Meredeth with careful eyes. She looked about as comfortable as underwear made out of hot irons, and she couldn't blame her. She'd gone through something similar when she'd met Ryan's co-workers too. Before she could open her mouth to say something to help put her at ease, Beckett passed Meredeth a glass.
'We're not going to eat you alive, writer girl, we just thought you might like a chance to get to know us away from the boys, and vice versa.'
'Yeah, we know meeting your boyfriend's friends can be a real nightmare,' Lanie added before she could think through her word choice.
Meredeth set her glass down slowly as she felt her face burn, tears of embarrassment springing up suddenly at the corners of her eyes. 'Right.'
'Oh shit, I didn't mean like that.' Ready to kick her own ass to Sunday, Lanie closed a reassuring hand over Meredeth's. 'Mere, really, we don't think you're strange because of what happened.'
'Really, we were most intrigued by how Esposito was your little nursemaid when it did happen,' Beckett added, knowing how much Lanie hated herself for a slip of the tongue like that. 'And besides, we've all got baggage that creeps up and grabs us by the throat. I had nightmares for a year after my mother was murdered, I still get them from time to time, and Honey-Milk here, why don't you tell the story of that little name?'
'My husband, Ryan, he worked in violent crimes before he transferred to homicide and had insomnia for a long time until he started drinking the same honey-milk he makes me before bed. Can you imagine the teasing he got from his colleagues over that?' Honey-Milk added, topping off everyone's drink and emptying the pitcher. 'Big tough murder-cop who uses the old wives' cure of warm milk before bed? The same guy who watches your guy's back out there on the mean NYC streets?'
Meredeth had to laugh a little at the incongruity, which helped put her at ease. 'Knowing my man the way I do, I doubt he'd let it go.'
'Speaking of your man,' Lanie put in, pleased to see Meredeth unwinding a little now, 'you said you'd been single awhile before meeting him. How is it a fabulous lady like you wouldn't have been snapped up?'
Before she could answer, the waiter brought them menus for food. He was a fine specimen of a man, a dead ringer for Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, and he did a double take when he saw Meredeth sitting at the table.
'Mere?'
'Scott.' Meredeth felt the liquor in her stomach slosh uncomfortably. 'I had no idea you were working here.'
'Yeah, just making a little extra cash before we start production on Jay's new musical. It's opening next spring, if we can get into rehearsals by December.'
'I'll book tickets for opening night.'
'Please, girl, for you? I'll make sure my man mails you VIP passes for you and your man. I'll put your order in.'
'Bye.' Meredeth sipped her drink studiously as the other three turned saucer-sized curious eyes to her face. 'Alright, let it out.'
'Who was that?' Honey-Milk sat confused.
'That was Scott, my last boyfriend before Javi.'
'But he's gay isn't he?' Lanie looked after him, intrigued.
'Yep, he sure is.'
'But..oh. Oh! Girl, that is rough.'
'Yeah, so after that went up in flames,' Meredeth sighed, eliciting giggles from her three cohorts, 'I swore off men for awhile, until I found the right one. Now, I mean it's only been a month but I can't imagine what it'd be like without Javi. I was such a suck, I missed him so much when I was in L.A..'
Beckett studied Meredeth's face as she spoke of her co-worker, noted the slightly dreamy softness and pure happiness that lit her face when she talked about him. It was the same expression she'd seen on Esposito's face when Meredeth had mentioned him on The Late Late Show interview from the week before. She wondered how long it would take them to say the big L-word to each other, since it was so painfully obvious that was how they felt.
'Well, I can safely say you've chosen well,' she told Meredeth; Honey-Milk added, 'you really did, he's a great guy.'
'Hear, hear.' Lanie raised her glass, clinked it against the others. 'Should we get another round?'
Somewhere in the middle of the second pitcher, Meredeth knew she was on her way to being right smashed. The vodka of the first pitcher had sneaked up and kicked her in the side of the head when she wasn't watching. Even more delightful than the feeling of being just comfortably tipsy was the fact that these three women had taken a shine to her and made her realize she'd missed the fun of a foolish girls' night out like she'd had in college. The sober part of her studied them with a writer's eye - Beckett, gorgeous and streamlined, those big Bambi eyes her greatest asset along with her rich humming laugh, Honey-Milk's warmth and her soothing voice that coupled with her giddy bubbling laugh, and Lanie, the dainty stature a perfect match to her sassy don't-mess-with-me attitude. They made quite the ensemble, and Meredeth brought a creative, poetic side to the group, the dreamer with a razor's wit that people paid money for in a paperback.
The drunk side, which was taking over the sober side quite rapidly, just enjoyed being included in the group, as one of the gang.
Things became a little more interesting when Scott brought over a complimentary round of Poison-Apples - green-apple vodka, Jagermeister and green Sour-Puss shooters. They were all a little daffy by now and Meredeth had sense enough to know that doing shooters would send them over the edge. Before anyone could take a drink, Lanie said with a bit of a slur in her voice, 'This is all well and good, Meredeth but you haven't gotten to any of the good stuff yet.'
'What good stuff?' she asked innocently.
'You know, the good stuff.' Lanie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, making Meredeth swallow deeply and Beckett groan.
'Oh, Lanie come on, we work with the guy.'
'Fine, leave. Then she'll have privacy to fill in the single girl on some little details and one hopefully huge one.' Lanie gestured grandly with her hands, making Meredeth blush red as a candy-apple.
'Seriously, Lanie, do you even-'
'I have an idea.' Having gathered her wits, Honey-Milk propped her elbows on the table. 'We all have shots to do, right? We pick three stories, who ever has the best one of each round does their shot. That way we all share and we all shoot.'
'Sounds excellence. Excellent,' Lanie said, correcting herself. 'I'll be the judge. What do we start with?'
'Something easy, like first time with your man. Beckett yours is pretty good, you go first.'
'Night of the wedding reception for Ryan and Honey-Milk here. We had one last dance after everyone had left. I was brushing cake crumbs off his shirt and felt his heart racing away, and then he kissed me, and things just went from there.'
'Nice, but we still have two more to go. Honey-Milk?'
'Fourth date. We were watching a movie at my place and we'd talked about waiting, but once those lips hit mine-' Honey-Milk slapped her palms together to prove her point '-like thunderbolts, baby. Kev's a really good kisser so I had a hard time saying no.'
'Oh saucy. Think you can top that, newbie?'
'Oh, of course.' Relieved they weren't going too Sex and the City on her, Meredeth drummed fingers on the table. 'The night of the poker game. I was finishing cleaning in my apartment when he came in. He just started kissing me in the middle of my kitchen and then we were up against my apartment door tearing at each others' clothes until we finished the deed right there on my freshly waxed kitchen floor.'
They all stared at her a moment before Lanie cleared her throat. 'Clearly that's no contest, Mere, you gotta drink. And also? Have to say I'm a little jealous.'
Meredeth felt pride swell inside her. Or maybe it was just the Poison Apple. Either way, she knew the trio was looking at her in a whole new light now. 'Okay, what's next on the docket?'
By the time she was in a cab to go home, Meredeth knew she was one hundred percent bashed but fortunately made it to her apartment in one piece. Propped against the door, she fumbled with her keys and nearly went face first into the ground when the door opened and she saw Esposito standing there in pyjama bottoms and a black NYPD t-shirt.
'Hello muffin-cakes!'
'Hello yourself.'
Meredeth looked around comically, peaked inside the door. 'Am I at my home, or your home?'
'Your home. You gave me to a key last week for while you were out of town. I still had it, so thought I'd wait to see how your night went with the girls.' When Meredeth toddled in on legs not quite steady, he only shook his head. Leave it to the three ladies of the 12th to get his girlfriend loopy the first night they met her. 'I take it things went well.'
'They loved me,' Meredeth declared proudly as she began stripping in the kitchen, all the way back to her room so she was in her underwear and face down on the bed in a matter of minutes. 'They thought I was wonderful.'
'Well who wouldn't?'
Meredeth grinned the bleary grin of a happy drunk. 'You're so pretty, Javi. And as much fun as it'd be to have sex, I need some sleep,' she told him in a stage whisper.
'I agree,' he replied in the same tone. As she snuggled under her blankets, he stretched out in his sweats beside her. 'Sweet dreams, my little lush.'
R&R&Enjoy.
