The wandering eyes of curious minds linger on Detective Kevin Ryan. Ever since a smug Mick McConnell sauntered out of the precinct with his army of lawyers the detective has received some funny looks. It was a shock to all. Well, all except Kevin, to him it was a relief. Finally, with his father out of the precinct, it gave him some breathing space. However, that too will soon disappear.
Esposito's concern for his partner has been growing at an alarming rate. It's practically unstoppable. Every time he tries to think about something else his mind snaps back to Kevin. The Irishman is not acting like himself. If he can't even confide in his own partner then it must be something serious. As in off the scale kind of serious. There's no other way Espo can wrap his head around all of this. The two of them normally share everything with one another. No secrets between them. Although, technically, Esposito has been keeping a secret from his partner for a very long time. Espo has yet to tell Ryan of his true feelings for him. The thought of confessing his biggest secret makes his stomach twist in knots and his heart race.
Speaking of things to make Javier's heart race - the hand holding on the backseat is something he's keen to discuss with his fellow detective. What happened was all Ryan. The blue eyed detective was the one to grab his hand first and they held hands the whole way back. Espo can't help but wonder why. Is that Kevin's way of reciprocating his feelings towards him?
"Hey Kev" Esposito calls out, as he hurries to join the one who has been on his mind, into the break room "Can we talk?"
"Depends what you want to talk about" Ryan replies as he puts his coffee cup down on the counter.
"I'm not going to ask why you're not pressing charges" the Hispanic detective reassures him as he leans against the counter.
Kevin raises an eyebrow "Really?"
"Alright, I'll be honest with you. More than anything I want to know why, but I know when you've made up your mind" Espo sighs as he locks his worried gaze on to his best friend "I'm just wondering how you're doing. You were kidnapped and that has to have affected you in some way"
"I wasn't kidnapped!" Kevin protests as he pours the remainder of the coffee pot into his mug.
"You were chloroformed and shoved in the back of a van by masked men. Sounds to me like a kidnapping" his partner argues, confusion starting to build once more.
"It's not like I was being held against my will. I was allowed to leave whenever I wanted" Ryan throws back, trying to push Esposito away with his harsh tone.
The Hispanic detective is starting to get a little too close for comfort. It scares Ryan, because if anyone can break him then Javier can.
"In my time I've seen quite a few cases of Stockholm Syndrome, but this has to be the weirdest" Espo says to himself, but his intention is that his partner hears it too.
Kevin scoffs, falling right into his partner's verbal trap "I don't have Stockholm Syndrome. Why would you even think that?!"
"It has to be. Otherwise, why the hell would you want to stick up for a low life like Mick McConnell?! The Kevin I know wouldn't do that. The Kevin I know would be fighting to nail this guy for what he did!" Esposito exclaims, raising his voice to Ryan's level.
There's no way he can back down now (not that he wants to anyway). Espo knows he's only just scratched the surface of his best friend's defences, but at least he's got his foot in the door now. The detective can't let the door slam in his face when he's getting so close to the truth.
"I'm not sticking up for him, okay?!" Ryan snaps, but then takes a moment to gather his thoughts "Just drop it, Javi. It's for your own good"
"For my own good? What's that supposed to mean? Kev, did he threaten you? Did he get to you by threatening to hurt one of us? Just tell me and we can bring this guy-" Espo starts to say.
"-Just stop, Javier! Stop it right now! Mick isn't that bad of a guy! You're taking this the wrong way!" Kevin barks at his best friend. Yet another warning.
The blue eyed detective is no longer calm. In fact, he's getting rather hot under the collar. Kevin's reddening cheeks are proof of just how intense things are becoming.
"Mick's not that bad of a guy? Are you hearing yourself? He's the head of the Irish mob! There are dozens of outstanding cases with this guy as the lead suspect. So tell me, how am I taking this the wrong way?!" Esposito questions pushing Kevin to his limits.
"Quit interrogating me!" Ryan shouts, as he breaths in and out heavily, his chest shaking rigidly with every sharp inhalation of air "Mick is helping me! Not threatening me or manipulating me! Helping! That's all he's doing!"
"Helping you with what?" Espo queries a little more calmly as his heart breaks for his best friend, who is clearly having a hard time getting this out in the open.
After a few calming breaths, his partner's icy blue eyes look back into his own soft brown ones "Javi, I really don't want to tell you more than I have to, but Mick said there's a mole in the precinct"
"A mole? And Mick told you this? He's a mobster, Kev. You can't honestly believe anything he tells you" Espo points out, feeling slightly annoyed. Doubt fills his mind as he questions whether what Ryan has told him is true or not.
"Call me crazy, but I believe him. Now I know that it's hard to believe and I have absolutely no evidence to back it up, but I don't expect you to believe him Javi-" Ryan starts.
"-Yeah you're damn right I don't believe him" Espo retorts.
"I'd like to think you'd believe your partner though? After all these years, I thought you'd trust me enough to just go with me on this one?" Kevin gives him the biggest puppy dog eyes in the history of the world.
Javi uses all his strength to resist just melting right into them. A small part of him is screaming at him to trust his partner. Ryan's never let him down before so why should this time be any different?
"I-I can't Ryan. I don't understand. Why would you believe this criminal over your fellow cops? What would McConnell have to gain from telling you that the NYPD has a mole?" Esposito queries as he furrows his eyebrows.
More than anything he wants to understand what's going on. Normally the pair are so in sync and they just seem know what the other is thinking, but at the moment they're on two separate wavelengths.
"Just trust me, Javi" Ryan pleads "Please"
A momentary silence falls over them. Javier looks deep in thought as he considers his options. Meanwhile his partner watches him with deep seated anxiety. Outside he might look relatively cool, calm and collected, but inside he feels nauseous. The very thought of his partner, best friend, the person he loves more than anyone else, turning his back on him is frightening.
Finally, Esposito glances up at him. Ryan can feel his lungs holding on to his breath. Suddenly the door to the break room swings open. In walks Sherman and Malone. Both glance very awkwardly at the two men already inside the room. Ryan looks defeated and Esposito looks seriously pissed off.
"Sorry are we interrupting something?" Sherman asks looking back at his new partner Malone for support.
The two men haven't really had much of a chance to speak, but they seem to be getting along - unlike Ryan and Esposito.
"No, you're not" Kevin quickly replies before a very angry looking Espo does.
"Are you sure, Ryan? Are you okay?" Andrew asks sounding quite concerned for the Irish detective. This only makes Esposito even more mad as he clenches his fists.
"It's none of your damn business, Sherman" the Hispanic detective growls.
Sherman matches the senior detective's glare "I wasn't asking you, Detective Esposito. I was asking Ryan"
"He's fine" Javi replies through gritted teeth.
"You're not really getting this concept, are you? I was asking Ryan, not you, so why don't you just back off?!" Sherman argues taking a step toward Esposito who does the exact same.
"This has nothing to do with you! Get out of here!" Espo growls getting right up in Sherman's face.
Ryan's eyes grow wider with fear as he realises what's happening. Hands fling out. Clenched fists grasp at shirt material. Kevin immediately attempts to get in between the both of them. After some violent tugging he succeeds. Evidently neither man, no matter how full of rage he is right now, wants to hurt Ryan.
"Stop it! Both of you!" Kev yells as the two men try to continue their fight.
"Break it up! Right now!" the loud roar of an authoritative female voice dominates all other sounds within the room.
The detectives turn to see their captain stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. She has a fire in her eyes. Sherman and Esposito release each other and go to stand on opposite sides of the room. Ryan is left stuck in the middle. Malone stands behind Beckett in the doorway just watching the scene unfold.
"He started it" both Esposito and Sherman say in sync. The two detectives glare at each other in anger and disgust.
"I don't care who started it. I'm ending it. The two of you have been at odds all day and I'm not gonna let it continue. The two of you are not leaving this break room until you've both worked this out" Beckett barks her orders out leaving no room for any of them dare to question her "Malone, do you have a problem with Detective Ryan?"
"Ryan? N-no of course not" Malone stutters as he gets caught off guard. It looks like he didn't even know she'd seen him in the room - not a lot of people do.
"Good" Kate turns to her troubled friend "And Ryan, do you have a problem with Detective Malone?"
"No, I do not, Captain" he answers glancing from Esposito to Sherman.
"Great, well considering you're the only two detectives in this room willing to work together, I'd like you to go down to this storage unit and collect some files on Mick McConnell. Over the years the NYPD has collected many tapes and records of McConnell and his business partners. I'd like you to bring them up to the bullpen so we can take a look through them. There might be something someone has missed that we can use against him" she tells them, but directs the majority of the speech at Ryan "I'm going to get McConnell whether you are willing to press charges or not, Ryan"
"Fine. Come on Malone, lets go get these files" Kevin sighs as he brushes past Beckett's shoulder on his way out of the room. Malone swiftly follows behind him.
"Now let's sort this feud out before it gets way out of hand shall we?" Beckett says, glaring at the two remaining detectives.