Back at the precinct, Ryan receives a warm welcome. Fellow detectives and NYPD officers greet him like a returning hero. None of them know yet that Ryan isn't pressing charges against Mick McConnell, but they'll find out sooner or later. Word spreads quickly in this place. When this particular gossip spreads, Ryan doubts he'll be welcomed as warmly as before by his co-workers.
Esposito leans against his desk with his arms folded. Eyes trained on his partner like a hawk. Ryan stands a distance away from them and is patted on the back by their co-workers. Castle joins the worried detective by his desk.
"It's so out of character for Ryan to not tell us why he's not pressing charges, don't you think?" Castle casually asks watching his blue eyed friend. The amount of fascination he has for Kevin has grown exponentially over the past few hours.
"What's odd is that he didn't want to press charges in the first place" Espo adds turning to face the writer.
Castle isn't usually his go to confidant for these sorts of things, but desperate times call for desperate measures and Espo is desperate to know what's going on with his partner.
"So, when you two were getting all touchy feely in the back seat, he didn't tell you why he wasn't pressing charges?" the crime novelist gives Esposito a knowing look.
The detective's cheeks burn a deep fiery red. Neither he nor Ryan thought anyone had seen them holding hands. Big mistake. Castle may act very foolishly at times, but one of the biggest mistakes people make is taking for a fool. The writer is certainly not dim. The hand holding was spotted almost immediately. Watching them through the rear view mirror had made him smile. First of all, because Esposito was blushing like an idiot and Ryan, for the first time today, looked at peace with the world. It also excitingly confirms Kevin's feelings for his partner. Rick knew it would take him some time to work things out for himself, but he's sure glad he did. Considering everything that's happened already, he'll need his partner as close to him as possible.
"What?! Castle, there was no... no hand holding" the Hispanic detective stammers as he struggles to hide his embarrassment.
Castle smirks, fixing his friend with a calm stare "Esposito, you're a terrible liar. I saw you and Ryan on the back seat. I take it from that, he's admitted his feelings for you?"
Excitement bubbles inside of him. It has been torture for him just watching the both of them. There have been so many times when he wanted to just whack both of their heads together to try and knock some sense into them, but his wife has always insisted that he should leave them to work it out for themselves. The thought that they might finally admit the obvious is almost too much for him to handle.
"Kev has feelings for me? Did he tell you that?" Esposito queries with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"I think it's pretty obvious from the fact that he held your hand and the way you look at each other" Castle replies with a soft smile.
This is probably the closest him and the former soldier have ever gotten in terms of a deep conversation. Normally when it comes to having those kind of talks, Rick will either talk to his wife or his mini-Castle, but not Espo.
On the other side of the room, Kevin smiles fondly when he spots Esposito and Castle talking to each other. There's an odd aura about them that even Ryan isn't used to. Normally they're locked in a nonstop battle of sarcasm. As Ryan stares at them, he notices an easiness in their body language. Whatever the pair are talking about, there's certainly a level of understanding there.
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.