After Significant Others
Episode 5.10
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I may be a soufflé, but I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.
"I'll get the door." Kate called to Rick who was in his office dealing with business. She opened the door and was very surprised to find Meredith standing there. With two suitcases by her side. "Meredith." She said, trying for a happy medium between disinterest and disgust.
"Kate!" Meredith said dramatically, sweeping into the living room, pulling her suitcases past, but almost running over, Kate. Meredith almost kissed Kate on the cheek, missing by no more than an inch. Kate immediately noticed that Meredith was looking around the loft with a propriety air. "Kate, I am so sorry that I missed your wedding. Both of them, actually. And I have had the very devil of a time finding an appropriate wedding present for you two." Meredith laughed. "After all what can you give to the couple that has everything?"
A few thoughts went through Kate's mind. You could get whatever you thought Rick would pay for, you leech. Or better yet, you could give us the best thing we could ever want: Distance from you. But Kate remained polite. "And what are you doing in New York?"
"Yes, do tell us what you are in New York for?" Said another female voice.
Meredith turned to see Gina come out of Rick's office followed by Rick. "Gina! Whatever are you doing here?" Meredith asked, with little interest.
"Oh, I've been busy working with Rick and Kate on their schedules."
"Their schedules?" Meredith asked, with just a bit of a frown.
"Kate has been such a help to Rick. It's just unbelievable. She's a natural performer. She started out at book signings at first. But she was so good that we had the two of them go to the New York Publisher's Convention last year. She was such a hit. She is just a natural in front of an audience. As opposed to you, who has all of the grace and dignity of a hippopotamus on a pogo stick in front of an audience. Gina thought. But she smiled broadly, knowing how much it would bother Meredith to hear someone else praised for what she considered to be her specialty. Gina decided to twist the knife a bit further. "We've gotten her on a few local talk shows: AM New York, and then another in Philadelphia. Just last month we were able to get the two of them on one of those cable stations out of Atlanta. Quite the little coup for our budding star." Gina smiled, seeing Meredith's discomfort.
"I really hadn't heard. "Meredith replied. "Living in the heart of the entertainment industry, as I do, we never keep track of all of those little provincial programs."
"Oh, we're in negotiations with the three network late night talk shows as well. Soon you'll be seeing Kate, and Rick, of course, on national TV. There's even been talk of getting Kate a small part in the next Nikki Heat movie." There had been no such talk, but Gina decided then and there to suggest it to several entertainment columnists that she knew quite well. The rumor might even come true, which Gina knew would infuriate Meredith to no end. I never liked the amount of money that Rick squanders on her, and once I actually met Meredith, I found a lot I could really dislike about her. However, Gina maintained a cheery smile.
Meredith's smile was frozen on her face. "I wasn't aware they were making another Nikki Heat. The last one was…not well received." Meredith smiled happily at the memory of the straight to DVD disaster that the first Nikki Heat movie had been. Serves Rick right for not getting me a part in the movie. How could he have done that to me? And now they're talking about getting a rank amateur a part in Rick's movie?
Gina nodded. "There were problems with the first one, but I talked to Jerry Farnsworth, the new head of Zenith Studios, just two days ago. He's a huge fan of all of Rick's works, but especially the Nikki Heat books. He's determined to make it into a franchise. You know, like the Bond films, or the Bourne ones or those heist films with George? We're publishing a book by his wife, you know. Such a lovely woman and so talented. And George is such a dear."
Meredith gritted her teeth. "Well, Gina, speaking of lovely, you haven't changed a bit in all of the years I've known you. And that shade of blonde is so becoming on you. You must have a wonderful colorist at your hair salon." Meredith remembered that Gina was quite vain about being a natural blonde.
Gina's eyes blazed, but her smile remained firmly in place. "And speaking of Georges, it was such a shame about your boyfriend, George Tarrant."
Meredith almost choked. "George Tarrant, my boyfriend? Hardly. We knew each other, of course. But that was all. Hollywood is such a small town, really."
Gina showed false confusion. "I'm so glad you told me that. Alexandrina Kincaid, the entertainment editor for the Ledger has been telling everyone that you two were as thick as thieves." Gina put her hand to her mouth. "Oh! That was a poor choice of words, under the circumstances. Do you think they'll extradite him back to the US?"
"I really don't know." Meredith said as calmly as she could manage.
"And that girl he took off with? She was what? Fifteen?"
Meredith just shrugged. I hope that whatever South American hell hole that George is hiding in, with that teenaged bimbo and his ill-gotten gains, they do send him back, hopefully with some incurable, wasting jungle disease. How could he drop me for some flat chested kid?
"Meredith! Whatever are you doing here?" Martha said, coming down the stairs. "I thought I heard you." And recognized the sound of money being sucked out of Rick's wallet.
"I'm just in town for a few days, and I thought, why stay in some hotel when I have family here in New York."
"It will be just a bit crowded, I'm afraid, dear." Martha said with a smile.
"Oh, I can sleep with Alexis in her room. Or the guest room."
"Oh, dear. Alexis is at a seminar in Washington DC for the week. She has the nicest young man staying in her room for the time being. He's sort of a diamond in the rough, so to speak. He comes from some gang infested slum in Spanish Harlem. He likes to joke that all his friends from the old neighborhood are either in jail or dead. I'm reasonably sure that's all behind him. That's only a slight exaggeration. Martha thought. He did mention a cousin in Texas who's in some sort of a gang. I think. Or was it a bowling league?
"I can sleep in the guest room, I suppose." Meredith said bravely.
"Oh, I'm afraid Albert, my boyfriend's brother is there. He's been recovering from some sort of a skin condition, but I'm sure you could sleep on the couch. Albert won't mind and we're quite sure the skin thing isn't contagious. I think. The skin thing keeps him up all hours of the day and night and he loves to watch TV in his native language."
"Perhaps you could call me a cab, Rick?" Meredith asked.
"I'll call the Four Seasons and have them pick you up, Meredith." Rick said gallantly.
When Meredith left, Rick turned to his mother. "I thought that Andy was from Buffalo and his parents were attorneys."
"Dear me." Martha said. "I must have been thinking of someone else entirely. Alexis has so many friends, you know."
"And I hadn't noticed that Albert was staying with us or that he had any skin condition. And isn't English his native language?"
Martha waved her hands dramatically. "I don't know where my mind was. I must be getting old."
"I think you need a drink." Rick said. "The good stuff."
While Rick was pouring his mother a drink, Gina said goodbye to Kate. "You really have been an enormous help to Rick's career. And I'm sure we'll get you on national TV in no time."
"Don't rush. " Kate replied. "I'm a cop and not an actress. I really would rather be at the precinct."
"There's no reason you can't do both."
"I'll always be happy to help out Rick as long as we're together at these affairs."
Gina held out her hand. "I've had a wonderful time here today. And we got so much done."
Kate thought happily about seeing Meredith leaving. "Yes, we did, didn't we?"