Because Of You

Chapter 10

Standing alone by the murder board he starts to worry. Beckett is in the box with Mick. The detective can only imagine how hard she must be working to interrogate him. Ryan definitely doesn't want to be a fly on that wall! There's way too much tension already.

"Hey Ryan" a voice timidly calls out.

Ryan turns to see Sherman stood in front of him looking very guilty. On the right side of his head are a row of stitches. A painful sight to say the least.

"Hey Sherman" Kevin responds, tilting his head down to look at the floor then flashing his blue eyes back up at Sherman. For some reason when he does this his eyes seem to stand out even more than they already do. Espo can vouch for that!

"How are you?" Andrew asks awkwardly. The rather arrogant personality he once had seems to have vanished.

"I'm managing. How's your head?" Ryan uses his finger to point to his own head, mirroring the location where the stitches are on the new detective's head.

"It's okay thanks. Look, Ryan, I'm really sorry about what happened. The guy just completely caught me off guard an-" Sherman starts to splutter his apology out.

"-It wasn't your fault. Nobody blames you for what happened" the blue eyed detective reassures him as he puts his hands deep into his pants pockets.

Little does he know that by doing this he brings the material on the back of his pants (which are pretty tight anyway) forwards. The tight material emphasises the shape of his posterior even more. Esposito catches the sight out of the corner of his eye. It drives him crazy. As he talks to Castle he can't help but stare.

Sherman sighs heavily with sadness "Yeah they do. I screwed up on the first day. Everyone here has been shooting me dirty looks since I got back from the hospital"

"Well they shouldn't be. You did exactly what the rest of them would have done in that situation. Even the most experienced cops would probably not have been able to stop the guy knocking them out from behind. Don't blame yourself for this" Ryan tells him with a small smile.

"Hey Kev, you alright?" Javier questions tenderly as he walks over to Kevin and stands close behind him. Ryan can feel the warmth of Esposito's body all over his back. It makes him shudder with delight.

"Yeah I'm okay Javi" the detective replies, glancing between his partner and the one cop his partner clearly despises.

Right now, Espo just wants to wrap his arms around Ryan's waist. Part of it is to give his partner a sense of security. An even bigger part is to warn Andrew to back off.

"Beat it, Sherman. You've caused Kevin enough trouble for one day" Esposito snaps puffing his chest out, although it can't really be seen, because Ryan is covering it. The Irish detective looks at his fellow detective with sorry eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ryan" Sherman says before walking away.

Once Sherman is out of earshot, Ryan spins around to face his partner.

Blue eyes fixing an icy glare on his partner "What the hell, Javi?!"

"What? That guy let you get taken. You were kidnapped by the Irish mob 'cause of him!" Esposito knows he's raising his voice at Kevin, but his mind is racing at a million miles per minute right now, so several questions he's been wanting the answers to just come out in one splurge of a reply "What the hell did they do to you? What did they say to make you defend McConnell? What have they got over you?"

Ryan groans in annoyance "Nothing, okay, they did nothing to me"

"Then why won't you press charges? This is not like you at all. You're not seriously going to let McConnell walk away, are you? You know the things he's been accused of doing, right?" Esposito loudly whispers to his partner. Obviously he doesn't want the whole precinct hearing this heated discussion, but if his partner doesn't tell him soon then it might just end up going that way!

"I just don't want to press charges alright. He didn't hurt me. In fact Mick-" Kev starts to explain.

"-Oh so it's Mick now is it? Since when are you on first name terms with the head of the Irish mob?!" Espo barks at him. All his frustration is mounting up. An explosion is very imminent.

The blue eyed detective sighs as he brings his gaze up to his partner's "Javi, do you trust me?"

"With my life Kevin you know that" Javier gives into his best friend's intense but relaxing gaze. Whenever his partner gives him puppy dog eyes he can't help but melt right into them.

"I need you to trust me now. Please stop asking me why I'm not pressing charges. No good will come of it" Kevin urges as he makes the gap between them smaller. Esposito stares deeply into his partners eyes that are full of longing and urgency.

Esposito shakes his head "Alright Kev. I won't ask you anymore, but I'm not happy about this whole si-"

"-Detective Ryan" the partners turn to see Beckett standing by her office "I'd like a word with you - now"

Annoyance practically irradiates out of her. Detective Ryan gulps down the lump in his throat. This isn't going to end well.