First Castle fic
Title: She probed you?
Fandom: Castle
Pairing: Ryan/Jenny eventual Esposito/Ryan
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ryan thinks his girlfriend is an alien. Esposito doesn't believe him.
A/N: Written for black_sluggard's prompt on the Castle Kink Meme. Original post can be found there.
“She’s sucking the life out of you, bro.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked, sending his partner a puzzled look before returning to the file he had been looking through.
“Jenny.” Esposito said, shrugging his shoulders. “All the texting and the calls, it’s not normal.”
“She’s a bit intense but so what? She worries with how dangerous the job can be, it’s natural.”
“Dude, there’s nothing ‘natural’ about it.”
“You’re just angry about Friday.”
“Madden nights are permanent calendar fixtures, you can’t just go ditching them because your girlfriend says so. It’s against the bro code.” Esposito told him. “But that’s not it. I-.”
“You’re jealous.” Ryan interrupted him, sounding annoyed.
“What? No! Are you serious?! I’d rather be single than have a girlfriend like her!” Esposito couldn’t stop the words from spilling from his mouth, “She’s not going to be happy until she’s got you locked away in her apartment with no friends left. She’s the worse kind of girl, man.”
“You’re way out of line, Esposito.” Ryan told him, looking angrier than Esposito ever remembered seeing him. But- wait- was there something else there as well? “She’s my girlfriend and I love her. Why can’t you just be happy for me? You’re supposed to be my best friend!”
“I am, I just-.”
“You just what? Want me to break up with her? No way, bro, she’s the one. I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
Esposito opened his mouth but Ryan’s phone ringing stopped him from causing anymore damage.
Instead he asked, “Jenny?”
Ryan glared at him before storming away, answering his phone as he went with a quiet, “Hey, honey.”
Esposito shook his head and cursed under his breath.
That definitely hadn’t gone as he had planned.
~
Beyond what was needed to work on the case, Ryan hadn’t spoken to him in three days.
There had been no pointless texts, no random phone calls that were almost as meaningless as the texts and definitely no late night take-out sessions as they went through everything they had learnt about their case that day.
It was killing him.
The only reason he hadn’t broken down and apologised was that Ryan looked like he was suffering, too.
He was paler than usual with massive black bags under his eyes and he was frowning at something or other nearly second of every day.
Not that Javier kept a close eye on his partner’s face.
Well, not too much of one anyway.
He needed to do recon somehow, didn’t he? He had to see how close Ryan was to breaking and that was what he was going to keep telling himself, no matter how much Castle teased him about the two of them having a ‘lover’s spat’.
What did Castle know?
Or Beckett for that matter?
They both needed to butt out because everything was fine between him and Ryan and it’d be even better once Ryan apologised.
And broke up with Jenny.
That probably wasn’t going to happen but, hey, a guy can dream, right?
He just wanted things to be back to how it had been before Jenny’s arrival in Ryan’s life. She was messing with their routines, distracting Ryan at work and completely destroying the other detective’s rep with the rest of the guys (not that that really mattered but it just made Esposito feel better if he had a list).
Besides, there was something about her that kind of freaked him out...
The more he thought about it...
It became clear to him. She wasn’t girlfriend material, more like a stalker with full visitation rights.
Okay, so maybe he was a little jealous. He could admit that. To himself. That kind of information didn’t leave the safety of his mind where it could successfully be ignored and hidden away from meddling idiots like Castle.
Not that it would matter in the end, anyway.
Ryan loved the girl and Esposito was going to be there for him because they were best friends and that’s what best friends did.
Ryan just needed to apologise first.
~
It was the fifth day since their argument and Ryan had still not said he was sorry.
It didn’t matter, though, not now.
“Hey, bro, come on. Open those baby blues for me.” Esposito was trying to sound calm but worry was bubbling in the pit of his stomach and he felt sick.
There was no response from the fallen man and Esposito tried not to panic.
“Where’s that damn ambulance?” Esposito ground out, briefly looking away from his partner’s face to glare up at Castle.
“Five minutes away, I swear!” The other man looked genuinely worried and Esposito let out a long breath to try and calm himself.
There was no point in getting angry with Castle, he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Nobody had.
One minute they were running down the alley, chasing after their suspect with Beckett and Castle ready at the other end to head the guy off, and the next Ryan was out cold on the floor.
Esposito had made sure that Beckett had the guy before rushing to the younger man’s side, trusting Castle to phone for an ambulance, and tried to rouse him.
“Nyyah.” Ryan mumbled as his eyes flickered open and then closed again. “M’releep, t’rly.”
“Okay, I have no idea what you just said.” Esposito told him. “But you got to wake up, bro, you’ve got us all worrying.”
Ryan’s eyes continued to twitch but he didn’t make a move to open them again.
“They’re going to take you to the hospital if you don’t get up.”
Ryan’s eyes sprung open and he slurred, “’Oshpital?”
Esposito helped him sit up, smiling grimly, “I thought that might work.”
The paramedics arrived then and Esposito was pushed to the side.
“What do you think is wrong with him?” Castle asked him as they watched the paramedics work on the reluctant detective.
Esposito shrugged, “I don’t know.”
Beckett joined them then, suspect cuffed and handed over to uniformed officers to bring him down to the precinct, “He’s been looking pale for the past couple of weeks.”
Esposito raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes, “Alright, paler. Maybe he’s just plain old ill and he’s been pushing himself too hard.”
Esposito frowned but didn’t say anything.
How could Ryan have been sick and he not notice? They were partners and best friends! How could he have let this happen? Why didn’t Ryan tell him he wasn’t feeling well?
One thing was certain, he and Ryan were going to be having a long chat in the very near future, apologies be damned.
~
“Hey, Javi...Can I speak to you?”
“You’re speaking now.” Esposito reminded him, his smile faltering at the deadly serious look on Ryan’s face. He dropped his voice to a soft whisper, “Sure, man, go ahead.”
“Not here.” He said, his eyes darting to Castle who had been looking at them curiously since Ryan had first spoken. “Somewhere a bit more private.”
Esposito nodded and stood, following his partner from their desks and into the break room which was, thankfully, empty.
Ryan locked the door behind them and Esposito felt fear prickling his skin.
This was serious.
“I think you better sit down.” Ryan told him as he took his own seat.
Esposito did as he was told and they sat in silence for a moment or so.
“I don’t know how to say this-.”
“You’re dying, aren’t you?” Esposito cut him off. “Oh, God, Kev, is it cancer? It is, isn’t it? Shit.”
Esposito had been expecting this moment since Ryan had collapsed last week but it didn’t make hearing it any easier, it just meant that he didn’t cry like a girl.
The tears would come later when he was sure he was alone.
But why had it taken Ryan so long to tell him? Didn’t he know that Javier would be there for him whatever happened? ‘‘Til the wheels fall off,’ Ryan had said and it was true for him, too.
“Is that why you haven’t been allowed back on full duty yet?” Esposito asked, his voice soft.
Ryan was looking at him blankly.
“You’re not going to faint again, are you?”
Ryan shook his head, “I’m fine.”
“You don’t have to be strong for me, Kev. Just let it all out, man.”
“No, Espo, I’m fine. You know the kind of fine I mean, the one where I’m not ill and definitely not dying.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Where did you get that idea from? Wait, I can guess- Castle?”
“Beckett, actually.”
“Explains why you guys have been treating me like I’m going to break.”
“Dude, you look sick, like really sick. Can you blame us?”
“I have a blood sugar problem, the Captain wants me on desk duty until the docs can figure out what’s wrong with me.”
“Oh.” Was all Esposito could think to say. “So, you’re not going to die?”
“I don’t think so.” Ryan shrugged. “But who knows what the universe has in store for me? I could choke on the chicken and cream cheese bagel you’re going to get me from the deli across the road.”
“That’s not funny.” Esposito told him, frowning. “I’m not buying you lunch.”
Ryan’s cheeky grin, the one that made Esposito’s stomach feel funny, was replaced by a look of dread as his phone started to ring.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Esposito asked when the younger man made no move to do so.
Ryan shook his head, “It’s Jenny.”
“Wait...You guys haven’t broken up, have you?”
“You don’t have to look so happy about it.” Ryan frowned. “But no, we haven’t. She’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually.”
“I’m not helping you pick out an engagement ring.”
“We’re not getting married. I’ve, I’ve been thinking about what you said about Jenny and you’re right...I need to end it with her.” Ryan rubbed a hand over his eyes and then suddenly words were spilling from his lips almost too quickly for Esposito to understand, “I don’t know how I never saw it before! She needs to know what I’m doing every second of every day and she hates it when I talk to anyone but her. She won’t even let me call my parents from the apartment- I’ve had to call my Mom from work for the last three months- and don’t get me started on you! She hates your guts, Javi. I’ve tried to balance my time between the two of you but she doesn’t want me to see you at all.”
“She can’t stop you coming to work, bro.”
“She trying, believe me. She wants me to quit. She’s texted me about it twice today already.”
“What? That’s crazy! Get rid of the chica already.”
“That’s the thing, I’ve tried. Every day for the last week I’ve gone home with the words ready in my mind, all geared up to do it, and then I leave for work the next morning having no idea what happened.”
“What do you mean?” Esposito asked, though he had his own opinions on the whole matter. Ryan just needed to man the hell up.
“I mean, like, seriously no idea. It’s as if as soon as I see her my mind switches off and doesn’t start up again until I’m half way to the precinct and I can’t remember anything from the night before.”
“So, what, she’s drugging you?” He asked, a smile threatening to break out because this little joke of Ryan’s was actually quite amusing.
Ryan shook his head, frowning, “I don’t think so. I was thinking something more supernatural.”
Javier eyebrows shot up to his hairline, “You’re saying you think your girlfriend’s a witch?”
“No.” Ryan said, sounding serious, “I think she’s an alien.”
Esposito couldn’t take it anymore.
He burst out laughing.
“Okay, bro, you got me. I’ll lay off you and Jenny-.”
“Do you think I’m being funny?” Ryan asked, looking hurt. “This isn’t a joke! You’ve got to help me, Javi, I think she’s doing something alien to me!”
“She’s probed you?” Esposito asked and then quickly said, “Actually I don’t want to know. That’s nasty.”
“I’m being serious.”
Esposito sighed and, as much as killed him to do so, said, “Listen, Kev. You and Jenny are the most disgustingly in love couple I’ve ever met and despite what I said last week, I’m happy for you. You make each other-.”
“She’s not human, Javi.”
“Okay...I’m pretty sure that being delusional is a symptom of low blood sugar, bro.” Javier said, eyeing his partner worriedly and wondering where all this had come from. “Stay here, I’ll go get you some chocolate from the vending machine.”
Ryan looked as if he was going to cry, “You don’t believe me, do you?”
Javier didn’t answer him because, honestly, he thought Ryan had lost it completely.
~
Esposito had kept Ryan well supplied with sugary snacks and coffee for the rest of the day and made sure he kept a close eye on his partner. He had even dragged him to the deli across the road for lunch and had been disappointed when his partner only picked at his bagel. He hadn’t choked, though, and that was, sadly, the best part of Javier’s day.
He had watched as Ryan ignored his phone’s constant ringing and tried to not get annoyed by it.
He didn’t think that his partner could be a bastard, especially not when it came to Jenny, but he was being one now. If he didn’t want to be with her anymore then he should at least have the guts to tell her instead of just avoiding her calls.
The whole alien thing was just sad and kind of lame and Esposito still couldn’t believe that crap had come out of his partner’s mouth. It was obvious that Esposito’s talk with him had led to all of this but why, he had no idea.
Maybe it had made Ryan realise how serious his relationship with Jenny was becoming and now he was frantically looking for any escape route he could find, even if it was some bullshit he had made up. He could be using the blood sugar thing to his advantage, Javier thought, hiding motive behind exaggerated symptoms of illness.
But this was Ryan, all he ever heard from girls (and Castle) was how sweet and cute he was (not words that Javier would use to describe his partner), could he really be so mean?
So perhaps it was something else entirely.
Could it be that Ryan liked someone else? Maybe Ryan had somehow discovered that Esposito had a crush on him? Maybe with this new information Ryan had suddenly realised that he was madly, truly and deeply in love with Esposito and that was why he had to end things with Jenny. He was preparing to make a move on Javier.
Yeah, right. Because that wasn’t wishful thinking.
There was a bigger chance of Jenny being an alien than Ryan suddenly realising he was in love with his partner.
Ryan probably had no idea about the crush (okay, so Esposito could admit to being attracted to his partner). He could be pretty damn oblivious if the months of heavy flirting going on between them in the pre-Jenny era was anything to go by.
Stupid Ryan.
Stupid brain.
Why wouldn’t it just let him move on with his life?
A very familiar, feminine voice brought him out of his thoughts and he caught Ryan’s eye as he looked across the desk and towards the door where a very angry Jenny was stood.
‘Help me.’ Ryan mouthed.
Javier shook his head. If Ryan wanted to break up with the girl then he’d have to man up and do it and stop trying to drag Esposito into the middle of the mess.
“You haven’t been answering my calls, Kevin.” Jenny hissed on her arrival at her boyfriend’s desk. “And when were you planning on coming home? It’s nearly six o’clock! I know you don’t have a case so what’s the excuse?”
“I...I don’t think-.”
“Look at me while you’re speaking to me.” Jenny said to him, as if speaking to a small child.
Esposito watched as he reluctantly did so.
Talk about being whipped.
“That’s better.” She said. “Now what were you saying?”
Ryan’s face had gone blank and he looked like he was struggling to say something.
“Just tell her, bro.” Esposito encouraged.
Jenny rounded on him, “You keep out of this.”
And wait, what the hell was that? Did she just snarl at him?
Jenny let out a huff of breath and straightened her dress before giving Ryan a soft smile, “Did you have something to tell me, sweetie?”
He just gawped at her.
Javier was kind confused about the whole 360 with her mood, too, but that was women for you.
“I didn’t think so.” She patted his shoulder. “Do you need help putting your coat on?”
He shook his head and stood, still with that stupid look on his face.
He didn’t look good, Esposito decided, starting to feel worried, maybe he hadn’t fed Ryan enough sugar? What if he was going to pass out again?
“Are you okay?” Javier asked him, also standing.
Jenny helped her boyfriend thread his arms through the sleeves of his coat, “He’s fine.”
“I wasn’t asking you.” Javier told her, feeling himself start to get annoyed. “Seriously, Kev, you don’t look so hot.”
Ryan turned his wide eyed stare to Esposito and once again tried to speak.
“H-Hel-.”
Jenny cut him off, “Javier’s right, honey, you don’t look very well. How about we get you home and I’ll make us some lovely honeyed milk?”
“N-.”
But before Ryan could manage another syllable Jenny had all but dragged him away, showing remarkable strength for such a little lady.
“W’tcha.” Castle mimicked the sound of a whip as he appeared at Esposito’s elbow.
“Didn’t any of that seem wrong to you?” Esposito asked him.
“As a man thoroughly dominated by the women in my life: no.”
Esposito frowned, “Something just doesn’t feel right to me.”
“Maybe she beats him.” Beckett said, as she walked past on her way to the break room.
“Maybe he likes it.” Castle smiled deviously and followed the female detective, seemingly already distracted from the Ryan-Jenny scene, and sing-songed, “Oh, Beckett, I think I’ve worked out your safe word...”
Esposito shook his head and sat back down at his desk.
He’d talk to Ryan tomorrow and then he’d get to the bottom of the entire situation.
Maybe there was something to the whole Jenny-is-evil thing.
He still refused to accept that she was alien.
~
The plan to talk to Ryan the next day didn’t exactly go off without a hitch.
For a start, Jenny called in sick for him.
And then, at lunch-time when Esposito was about to go make a house call to see how Ryan was getting on (he thought it might have been a bit too much to leave the precinct as soon as he’d arrived), they got a case.
It wasn’t until it was approaching eleven that night that Beckett decided that they should call it a day and go home.
Esposito had been waiting for her to say that since before dinner (because, really, the case was going nowhere at the moment without Esposito’s full attention and Ryan missing) and so he was already halfway to the door before Beckett had even finished her sentence.
“$20 says he’s not going home.” He heard Castle say to Beckett as he left.
“Do I look like an idiot?” Was Beckett’s reply.
Esposito made it to Ryan’s apartment in record time. He knocked a couple of times but nobody answered which wasn’t surprising. It was late and, Javier knew from experience, if Ryan wasn’t well enough to come to work then he’d probably gone to bed just after nine. That’s if he’d even gotten up at all.
So, if Ryan was in bed why was there a light on in the living room? Perhaps Jenny was still awake. But, if she was still awake, why wasn’t she answering the door?
Maybe she knew it was him, he thought, maybe she didn’t want to let him in.
She knew he had a spare key, though, and that if he thought that there was something wrong then he’d just let himself in. Especially if he’d been knocking for longer than ten minutes, which he had. Sort of. He was only eight minutes short of the ten.
Javier frowned (something he’d been doing far too often lately. He blamed Ryan entirely) and unease made him shift on his feet. He let himself into the apartment.
“Hello?” He called, and then a bit louder. “Kev?”
The sensible part of his mind told him that Ryan and Jenny were in bed and that one of them (he blamed Jenny this time) had forgotten to turn the light in the living room off and that he shouldn’t be overreacting like this. But something, a deeper and more primal part of him, said that there was something really, really wrong here.
He just couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Oh, no, wait, yes he could.
The apartment was a mess. Like, not even the nice kind of messy that Esposito associated with Ryan but a full on pigsty. There were dirty plates stacked high around the sink that still had mostly untouched meals (mostly takeout) rotting on them and half-empty mugs and glasses littered nearly every flat surface in sight.
He’d never seen Ryan’s apartment like this. He’d always kept it tidy before Jenny moved in.
And guys were meant to be the messy ones.
The light was still on in the bedroom and the door was ajar. As Javier got closer he could hear choked gasps that sounded way too painful and panicked to be coming from anything pleasurable.
And, okay, he really didn’t want to think about Ryan and Jenny doing that.
Because, really, how could anyone even think about having sex when the apartment looked (and smelled) like it did? The sheets probably hadn’t been changed in weeks. That in itself was enough to make Javier’s stomach turn.
“Not long now...” He heard Jenny say, her voice sounding very un-Jennylike. “It’ll be a shame, Kevin, but I’ve gotten as much out of you as I can. It’s time for me to move on and for you to die.”
Castle would love this. It was so corny and B-movie and- wait, what? Had Jenny said ‘die’?
Esposito looked around the doorway and what he saw made him freeze.
Ryan was in there alright, splayed out across the double bed, completely limp and unmoving apart from the rapid rise and falls of his chest as he struggled to breathe. His shirt, the same one he had been wearing the day before at work (Javier had only noticed because it was butt ugly), had been ripped open and his tie was nowhere in sight.
Not that that really mattered because there was someone- something- stood over the bed, its hand pressed into the skin above his partner’s heart, and it was glowing. Not the happy kind that said I’m-so-in-love-can’t-you-just-tell? No, it was more like I’m-an-alien-from-out-of-space-and-I’m-killing-your-best-friend kind of thing.
And the glow, well, it was blue.
That wasn’t natural. Normal. Possible.
Javier drew his gun from the holster on his hip (having thankfully forgotten to take it off in his rush to get out of work) and kicked the door to the bedroom wide open, shouting, “Get the hell away from him!”
The creature turned to him and...was that a smile?
“I wondered when you’d turn up.” It said in the same voice from before.
It was Jenny. There was no doubt about it. It looked just like her apart from it was a lot taller, hairless and definitely not like anything else from this planet.
Javier owed his partner an apology.
“Step away, I will shoot!”
If it was possible, the alien-Jenny’s grin grew, “You’re too late.”
There was a sudden silence in the room and it took Esposito a moment or two to work out what was missing.
Ryan wasn’t breathing anymore.
“NO!!” Javier screamed and fired his gun but it was too late, the creature had disappeared in a burst of light.
He raced to the bed and checked Ryan for a pulse.
There wasn’t one.
“Shit.” Javier mumbled under his breath as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Shit.”
He put his call to the emergency services on speaker phone and begun CPR, praying and hoping that he wasn’t too late.
Because Ryan was way too pale, his skin a horrible grey and his lips already turning blue, and his eyes were sunken in his head and his ribs protruded from beneath his skin as if he’d been starved for weeks on end. There was no way his partner wouldn’t be spending at least a week in the hospital.
The bitch had literally been sucking the life from him.
That explained the low blood sugar and how ill he had been looking.
But why hadn’t Ryan done anything to stop it?
‘Mind control,’ he heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Castle’s say in head.
He had to agree.
It made sense in the context of this weird, weird situation.
“Come on, bro.” Esposito said, feeling and sounding more scared and desperate than he had ever felt before. “Please, don’t let that bitch win.”
He pressed his mouth against Kevin’s and tried rescue breathing.
He was disappointed when Ryan’s eyes didn’t immediately crack open when their lips touched like they did in the movies but he pushed that from his mind.
Now wasn’t the time to start thinking about how his partner like that.
Besides, there would be plenty of time for Javier to confess his undying love for Kevin once the man was breathing and speaking and well enough to tell Esposito that he loved him too.
And he was getting sidetracked again. He needed to concentrate!
For all of that, when Ryan finally let out a soft gasp Esposito nearly missed it. He could- finally- hear the sound of sirens outside.
Javier had never felt so relieved in his entire life.
“That’s it, Kev, breathe.”
The younger detective did as he was told and his eyes blinked open. He locked scared blue eyes with his partner’s and Javier smiled, “Don’t worry, she’s gone, she’s not going to hurt you anymore.”
“Ja-.”
“You don’t have to say anything, you were right. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, bro.”
“I’m in- I lo...”
Javier’s heart swelled in his chest (because, earlier thoughts be damned, this was the moment, wasn’t it? A near death experience and they were ready to confess to one another, just like on TV!) and he cut Kevin off, “I love you, too.”
Ryan’s face crumpled in confusion and Esposito felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.
“Oh, crap.” He tried to backpedal. “Oh, God. I didn’t mean- that came out wrong, I mean I-.”
“Shut up.” Kevin wheezed between breaths. “Was going to say...I’m looking forward-.” Here he paused for a moment to try and steady his breathing again. “Castle’s face.”
Then his face split into the most beautiful smile that Javier had ever seen, “I love you...works better.”
“What?”
“Going to tell you- then Jenny and...I’m sorry.”
Javier just grinned.
So maybe things hadn’t turned out exactly how he’d planned when he’d left work earlier that night but who cared?
Ryan’s evil, (literally) life-sucking, alien girlfriend was gone and Ryan was alive and had admitted to being in love with Javier.
Could life get any better?
He pressed a kiss to Kevin’s forehead and watched the younger man blink tiredly up at him as the ambulance crew finally arrived.
Javier didn’t think it could.
Fandom: Castle
Pairing: Ryan/Jenny eventual Esposito/Ryan
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ryan thinks his girlfriend is an alien. Esposito doesn't believe him.
A/N: Written for black_sluggard's prompt on the Castle Kink Meme. Original post can be found there.
“She’s sucking the life out of you, bro.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked, sending his partner a puzzled look before returning to the file he had been looking through.
“Jenny.” Esposito said, shrugging his shoulders. “All the texting and the calls, it’s not normal.”
“She’s a bit intense but so what? She worries with how dangerous the job can be, it’s natural.”
“Dude, there’s nothing ‘natural’ about it.”
“You’re just angry about Friday.”
“Madden nights are permanent calendar fixtures, you can’t just go ditching them because your girlfriend says so. It’s against the bro code.” Esposito told him. “But that’s not it. I-.”
“You’re jealous.” Ryan interrupted him, sounding annoyed.
“What? No! Are you serious?! I’d rather be single than have a girlfriend like her!” Esposito couldn’t stop the words from spilling from his mouth, “She’s not going to be happy until she’s got you locked away in her apartment with no friends left. She’s the worse kind of girl, man.”
“You’re way out of line, Esposito.” Ryan told him, looking angrier than Esposito ever remembered seeing him. But- wait- was there something else there as well? “She’s my girlfriend and I love her. Why can’t you just be happy for me? You’re supposed to be my best friend!”
“I am, I just-.”
“You just what? Want me to break up with her? No way, bro, she’s the one. I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
Esposito opened his mouth but Ryan’s phone ringing stopped him from causing anymore damage.
Instead he asked, “Jenny?”
Ryan glared at him before storming away, answering his phone as he went with a quiet, “Hey, honey.”
Esposito shook his head and cursed under his breath.
That definitely hadn’t gone as he had planned.
~
Beyond what was needed to work on the case, Ryan hadn’t spoken to him in three days.
There had been no pointless texts, no random phone calls that were almost as meaningless as the texts and definitely no late night take-out sessions as they went through everything they had learnt about their case that day.
It was killing him.
The only reason he hadn’t broken down and apologised was that Ryan looked like he was suffering, too.
He was paler than usual with massive black bags under his eyes and he was frowning at something or other nearly second of every day.
Not that Javier kept a close eye on his partner’s face.
Well, not too much of one anyway.
He needed to do recon somehow, didn’t he? He had to see how close Ryan was to breaking and that was what he was going to keep telling himself, no matter how much Castle teased him about the two of them having a ‘lover’s spat’.
What did Castle know?
Or Beckett for that matter?
They both needed to butt out because everything was fine between him and Ryan and it’d be even better once Ryan apologised.
And broke up with Jenny.
That probably wasn’t going to happen but, hey, a guy can dream, right?
He just wanted things to be back to how it had been before Jenny’s arrival in Ryan’s life. She was messing with their routines, distracting Ryan at work and completely destroying the other detective’s rep with the rest of the guys (not that that really mattered but it just made Esposito feel better if he had a list).
Besides, there was something about her that kind of freaked him out...
The more he thought about it...
It became clear to him. She wasn’t girlfriend material, more like a stalker with full visitation rights.
Okay, so maybe he was a little jealous. He could admit that. To himself. That kind of information didn’t leave the safety of his mind where it could successfully be ignored and hidden away from meddling idiots like Castle.
Not that it would matter in the end, anyway.
Ryan loved the girl and Esposito was going to be there for him because they were best friends and that’s what best friends did.
Ryan just needed to apologise first.
~
It was the fifth day since their argument and Ryan had still not said he was sorry.
It didn’t matter, though, not now.
“Hey, bro, come on. Open those baby blues for me.” Esposito was trying to sound calm but worry was bubbling in the pit of his stomach and he felt sick.
There was no response from the fallen man and Esposito tried not to panic.
“Where’s that damn ambulance?” Esposito ground out, briefly looking away from his partner’s face to glare up at Castle.
“Five minutes away, I swear!” The other man looked genuinely worried and Esposito let out a long breath to try and calm himself.
There was no point in getting angry with Castle, he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Nobody had.
One minute they were running down the alley, chasing after their suspect with Beckett and Castle ready at the other end to head the guy off, and the next Ryan was out cold on the floor.
Esposito had made sure that Beckett had the guy before rushing to the younger man’s side, trusting Castle to phone for an ambulance, and tried to rouse him.
“Nyyah.” Ryan mumbled as his eyes flickered open and then closed again. “M’releep, t’rly.”
“Okay, I have no idea what you just said.” Esposito told him. “But you got to wake up, bro, you’ve got us all worrying.”
Ryan’s eyes continued to twitch but he didn’t make a move to open them again.
“They’re going to take you to the hospital if you don’t get up.”
Ryan’s eyes sprung open and he slurred, “’Oshpital?”
Esposito helped him sit up, smiling grimly, “I thought that might work.”
The paramedics arrived then and Esposito was pushed to the side.
“What do you think is wrong with him?” Castle asked him as they watched the paramedics work on the reluctant detective.
Esposito shrugged, “I don’t know.”
Beckett joined them then, suspect cuffed and handed over to uniformed officers to bring him down to the precinct, “He’s been looking pale for the past couple of weeks.”
Esposito raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes, “Alright, paler. Maybe he’s just plain old ill and he’s been pushing himself too hard.”
Esposito frowned but didn’t say anything.
How could Ryan have been sick and he not notice? They were partners and best friends! How could he have let this happen? Why didn’t Ryan tell him he wasn’t feeling well?
One thing was certain, he and Ryan were going to be having a long chat in the very near future, apologies be damned.
~
“Hey, Javi...Can I speak to you?”
“You’re speaking now.” Esposito reminded him, his smile faltering at the deadly serious look on Ryan’s face. He dropped his voice to a soft whisper, “Sure, man, go ahead.”
“Not here.” He said, his eyes darting to Castle who had been looking at them curiously since Ryan had first spoken. “Somewhere a bit more private.”
Esposito nodded and stood, following his partner from their desks and into the break room which was, thankfully, empty.
Ryan locked the door behind them and Esposito felt fear prickling his skin.
This was serious.
“I think you better sit down.” Ryan told him as he took his own seat.
Esposito did as he was told and they sat in silence for a moment or so.
“I don’t know how to say this-.”
“You’re dying, aren’t you?” Esposito cut him off. “Oh, God, Kev, is it cancer? It is, isn’t it? Shit.”
Esposito had been expecting this moment since Ryan had collapsed last week but it didn’t make hearing it any easier, it just meant that he didn’t cry like a girl.
The tears would come later when he was sure he was alone.
But why had it taken Ryan so long to tell him? Didn’t he know that Javier would be there for him whatever happened? ‘‘Til the wheels fall off,’ Ryan had said and it was true for him, too.
“Is that why you haven’t been allowed back on full duty yet?” Esposito asked, his voice soft.
Ryan was looking at him blankly.
“You’re not going to faint again, are you?”
Ryan shook his head, “I’m fine.”
“You don’t have to be strong for me, Kev. Just let it all out, man.”
“No, Espo, I’m fine. You know the kind of fine I mean, the one where I’m not ill and definitely not dying.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Where did you get that idea from? Wait, I can guess- Castle?”
“Beckett, actually.”
“Explains why you guys have been treating me like I’m going to break.”
“Dude, you look sick, like really sick. Can you blame us?”
“I have a blood sugar problem, the Captain wants me on desk duty until the docs can figure out what’s wrong with me.”
“Oh.” Was all Esposito could think to say. “So, you’re not going to die?”
“I don’t think so.” Ryan shrugged. “But who knows what the universe has in store for me? I could choke on the chicken and cream cheese bagel you’re going to get me from the deli across the road.”
“That’s not funny.” Esposito told him, frowning. “I’m not buying you lunch.”
Ryan’s cheeky grin, the one that made Esposito’s stomach feel funny, was replaced by a look of dread as his phone started to ring.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Esposito asked when the younger man made no move to do so.
Ryan shook his head, “It’s Jenny.”
“Wait...You guys haven’t broken up, have you?”
“You don’t have to look so happy about it.” Ryan frowned. “But no, we haven’t. She’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually.”
“I’m not helping you pick out an engagement ring.”
“We’re not getting married. I’ve, I’ve been thinking about what you said about Jenny and you’re right...I need to end it with her.” Ryan rubbed a hand over his eyes and then suddenly words were spilling from his lips almost too quickly for Esposito to understand, “I don’t know how I never saw it before! She needs to know what I’m doing every second of every day and she hates it when I talk to anyone but her. She won’t even let me call my parents from the apartment- I’ve had to call my Mom from work for the last three months- and don’t get me started on you! She hates your guts, Javi. I’ve tried to balance my time between the two of you but she doesn’t want me to see you at all.”
“She can’t stop you coming to work, bro.”
“She trying, believe me. She wants me to quit. She’s texted me about it twice today already.”
“What? That’s crazy! Get rid of the chica already.”
“That’s the thing, I’ve tried. Every day for the last week I’ve gone home with the words ready in my mind, all geared up to do it, and then I leave for work the next morning having no idea what happened.”
“What do you mean?” Esposito asked, though he had his own opinions on the whole matter. Ryan just needed to man the hell up.
“I mean, like, seriously no idea. It’s as if as soon as I see her my mind switches off and doesn’t start up again until I’m half way to the precinct and I can’t remember anything from the night before.”
“So, what, she’s drugging you?” He asked, a smile threatening to break out because this little joke of Ryan’s was actually quite amusing.
Ryan shook his head, frowning, “I don’t think so. I was thinking something more supernatural.”
Javier eyebrows shot up to his hairline, “You’re saying you think your girlfriend’s a witch?”
“No.” Ryan said, sounding serious, “I think she’s an alien.”
Esposito couldn’t take it anymore.
He burst out laughing.
“Okay, bro, you got me. I’ll lay off you and Jenny-.”
“Do you think I’m being funny?” Ryan asked, looking hurt. “This isn’t a joke! You’ve got to help me, Javi, I think she’s doing something alien to me!”
“She’s probed you?” Esposito asked and then quickly said, “Actually I don’t want to know. That’s nasty.”
“I’m being serious.”
Esposito sighed and, as much as killed him to do so, said, “Listen, Kev. You and Jenny are the most disgustingly in love couple I’ve ever met and despite what I said last week, I’m happy for you. You make each other-.”
“She’s not human, Javi.”
“Okay...I’m pretty sure that being delusional is a symptom of low blood sugar, bro.” Javier said, eyeing his partner worriedly and wondering where all this had come from. “Stay here, I’ll go get you some chocolate from the vending machine.”
Ryan looked as if he was going to cry, “You don’t believe me, do you?”
Javier didn’t answer him because, honestly, he thought Ryan had lost it completely.
~
Esposito had kept Ryan well supplied with sugary snacks and coffee for the rest of the day and made sure he kept a close eye on his partner. He had even dragged him to the deli across the road for lunch and had been disappointed when his partner only picked at his bagel. He hadn’t choked, though, and that was, sadly, the best part of Javier’s day.
He had watched as Ryan ignored his phone’s constant ringing and tried to not get annoyed by it.
He didn’t think that his partner could be a bastard, especially not when it came to Jenny, but he was being one now. If he didn’t want to be with her anymore then he should at least have the guts to tell her instead of just avoiding her calls.
The whole alien thing was just sad and kind of lame and Esposito still couldn’t believe that crap had come out of his partner’s mouth. It was obvious that Esposito’s talk with him had led to all of this but why, he had no idea.
Maybe it had made Ryan realise how serious his relationship with Jenny was becoming and now he was frantically looking for any escape route he could find, even if it was some bullshit he had made up. He could be using the blood sugar thing to his advantage, Javier thought, hiding motive behind exaggerated symptoms of illness.
But this was Ryan, all he ever heard from girls (and Castle) was how sweet and cute he was (not words that Javier would use to describe his partner), could he really be so mean?
So perhaps it was something else entirely.
Could it be that Ryan liked someone else? Maybe Ryan had somehow discovered that Esposito had a crush on him? Maybe with this new information Ryan had suddenly realised that he was madly, truly and deeply in love with Esposito and that was why he had to end things with Jenny. He was preparing to make a move on Javier.
Yeah, right. Because that wasn’t wishful thinking.
There was a bigger chance of Jenny being an alien than Ryan suddenly realising he was in love with his partner.
Ryan probably had no idea about the crush (okay, so Esposito could admit to being attracted to his partner). He could be pretty damn oblivious if the months of heavy flirting going on between them in the pre-Jenny era was anything to go by.
Stupid Ryan.
Stupid brain.
Why wouldn’t it just let him move on with his life?
A very familiar, feminine voice brought him out of his thoughts and he caught Ryan’s eye as he looked across the desk and towards the door where a very angry Jenny was stood.
‘Help me.’ Ryan mouthed.
Javier shook his head. If Ryan wanted to break up with the girl then he’d have to man up and do it and stop trying to drag Esposito into the middle of the mess.
“You haven’t been answering my calls, Kevin.” Jenny hissed on her arrival at her boyfriend’s desk. “And when were you planning on coming home? It’s nearly six o’clock! I know you don’t have a case so what’s the excuse?”
“I...I don’t think-.”
“Look at me while you’re speaking to me.” Jenny said to him, as if speaking to a small child.
Esposito watched as he reluctantly did so.
Talk about being whipped.
“That’s better.” She said. “Now what were you saying?”
Ryan’s face had gone blank and he looked like he was struggling to say something.
“Just tell her, bro.” Esposito encouraged.
Jenny rounded on him, “You keep out of this.”
And wait, what the hell was that? Did she just snarl at him?
Jenny let out a huff of breath and straightened her dress before giving Ryan a soft smile, “Did you have something to tell me, sweetie?”
He just gawped at her.
Javier was kind confused about the whole 360 with her mood, too, but that was women for you.
“I didn’t think so.” She patted his shoulder. “Do you need help putting your coat on?”
He shook his head and stood, still with that stupid look on his face.
He didn’t look good, Esposito decided, starting to feel worried, maybe he hadn’t fed Ryan enough sugar? What if he was going to pass out again?
“Are you okay?” Javier asked him, also standing.
Jenny helped her boyfriend thread his arms through the sleeves of his coat, “He’s fine.”
“I wasn’t asking you.” Javier told her, feeling himself start to get annoyed. “Seriously, Kev, you don’t look so hot.”
Ryan turned his wide eyed stare to Esposito and once again tried to speak.
“H-Hel-.”
Jenny cut him off, “Javier’s right, honey, you don’t look very well. How about we get you home and I’ll make us some lovely honeyed milk?”
“N-.”
But before Ryan could manage another syllable Jenny had all but dragged him away, showing remarkable strength for such a little lady.
“W’tcha.” Castle mimicked the sound of a whip as he appeared at Esposito’s elbow.
“Didn’t any of that seem wrong to you?” Esposito asked him.
“As a man thoroughly dominated by the women in my life: no.”
Esposito frowned, “Something just doesn’t feel right to me.”
“Maybe she beats him.” Beckett said, as she walked past on her way to the break room.
“Maybe he likes it.” Castle smiled deviously and followed the female detective, seemingly already distracted from the Ryan-Jenny scene, and sing-songed, “Oh, Beckett, I think I’ve worked out your safe word...”
Esposito shook his head and sat back down at his desk.
He’d talk to Ryan tomorrow and then he’d get to the bottom of the entire situation.
Maybe there was something to the whole Jenny-is-evil thing.
He still refused to accept that she was alien.
~
The plan to talk to Ryan the next day didn’t exactly go off without a hitch.
For a start, Jenny called in sick for him.
And then, at lunch-time when Esposito was about to go make a house call to see how Ryan was getting on (he thought it might have been a bit too much to leave the precinct as soon as he’d arrived), they got a case.
It wasn’t until it was approaching eleven that night that Beckett decided that they should call it a day and go home.
Esposito had been waiting for her to say that since before dinner (because, really, the case was going nowhere at the moment without Esposito’s full attention and Ryan missing) and so he was already halfway to the door before Beckett had even finished her sentence.
“$20 says he’s not going home.” He heard Castle say to Beckett as he left.
“Do I look like an idiot?” Was Beckett’s reply.
Esposito made it to Ryan’s apartment in record time. He knocked a couple of times but nobody answered which wasn’t surprising. It was late and, Javier knew from experience, if Ryan wasn’t well enough to come to work then he’d probably gone to bed just after nine. That’s if he’d even gotten up at all.
So, if Ryan was in bed why was there a light on in the living room? Perhaps Jenny was still awake. But, if she was still awake, why wasn’t she answering the door?
Maybe she knew it was him, he thought, maybe she didn’t want to let him in.
She knew he had a spare key, though, and that if he thought that there was something wrong then he’d just let himself in. Especially if he’d been knocking for longer than ten minutes, which he had. Sort of. He was only eight minutes short of the ten.
Javier frowned (something he’d been doing far too often lately. He blamed Ryan entirely) and unease made him shift on his feet. He let himself into the apartment.
“Hello?” He called, and then a bit louder. “Kev?”
The sensible part of his mind told him that Ryan and Jenny were in bed and that one of them (he blamed Jenny this time) had forgotten to turn the light in the living room off and that he shouldn’t be overreacting like this. But something, a deeper and more primal part of him, said that there was something really, really wrong here.
He just couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Oh, no, wait, yes he could.
The apartment was a mess. Like, not even the nice kind of messy that Esposito associated with Ryan but a full on pigsty. There were dirty plates stacked high around the sink that still had mostly untouched meals (mostly takeout) rotting on them and half-empty mugs and glasses littered nearly every flat surface in sight.
He’d never seen Ryan’s apartment like this. He’d always kept it tidy before Jenny moved in.
And guys were meant to be the messy ones.
The light was still on in the bedroom and the door was ajar. As Javier got closer he could hear choked gasps that sounded way too painful and panicked to be coming from anything pleasurable.
And, okay, he really didn’t want to think about Ryan and Jenny doing that.
Because, really, how could anyone even think about having sex when the apartment looked (and smelled) like it did? The sheets probably hadn’t been changed in weeks. That in itself was enough to make Javier’s stomach turn.
“Not long now...” He heard Jenny say, her voice sounding very un-Jennylike. “It’ll be a shame, Kevin, but I’ve gotten as much out of you as I can. It’s time for me to move on and for you to die.”
Castle would love this. It was so corny and B-movie and- wait, what? Had Jenny said ‘die’?
Esposito looked around the doorway and what he saw made him freeze.
Ryan was in there alright, splayed out across the double bed, completely limp and unmoving apart from the rapid rise and falls of his chest as he struggled to breathe. His shirt, the same one he had been wearing the day before at work (Javier had only noticed because it was butt ugly), had been ripped open and his tie was nowhere in sight.
Not that that really mattered because there was someone- something- stood over the bed, its hand pressed into the skin above his partner’s heart, and it was glowing. Not the happy kind that said I’m-so-in-love-can’t-you-just-tell? No, it was more like I’m-an-alien-from-out-of-space-and-I’m-killing-your-best-friend kind of thing.
And the glow, well, it was blue.
That wasn’t natural. Normal. Possible.
Javier drew his gun from the holster on his hip (having thankfully forgotten to take it off in his rush to get out of work) and kicked the door to the bedroom wide open, shouting, “Get the hell away from him!”
The creature turned to him and...was that a smile?
“I wondered when you’d turn up.” It said in the same voice from before.
It was Jenny. There was no doubt about it. It looked just like her apart from it was a lot taller, hairless and definitely not like anything else from this planet.
Javier owed his partner an apology.
“Step away, I will shoot!”
If it was possible, the alien-Jenny’s grin grew, “You’re too late.”
There was a sudden silence in the room and it took Esposito a moment or two to work out what was missing.
Ryan wasn’t breathing anymore.
“NO!!” Javier screamed and fired his gun but it was too late, the creature had disappeared in a burst of light.
He raced to the bed and checked Ryan for a pulse.
There wasn’t one.
“Shit.” Javier mumbled under his breath as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Shit.”
He put his call to the emergency services on speaker phone and begun CPR, praying and hoping that he wasn’t too late.
Because Ryan was way too pale, his skin a horrible grey and his lips already turning blue, and his eyes were sunken in his head and his ribs protruded from beneath his skin as if he’d been starved for weeks on end. There was no way his partner wouldn’t be spending at least a week in the hospital.
The bitch had literally been sucking the life from him.
That explained the low blood sugar and how ill he had been looking.
But why hadn’t Ryan done anything to stop it?
‘Mind control,’ he heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Castle’s say in head.
He had to agree.
It made sense in the context of this weird, weird situation.
“Come on, bro.” Esposito said, feeling and sounding more scared and desperate than he had ever felt before. “Please, don’t let that bitch win.”
He pressed his mouth against Kevin’s and tried rescue breathing.
He was disappointed when Ryan’s eyes didn’t immediately crack open when their lips touched like they did in the movies but he pushed that from his mind.
Now wasn’t the time to start thinking about how his partner like that.
Besides, there would be plenty of time for Javier to confess his undying love for Kevin once the man was breathing and speaking and well enough to tell Esposito that he loved him too.
And he was getting sidetracked again. He needed to concentrate!
For all of that, when Ryan finally let out a soft gasp Esposito nearly missed it. He could- finally- hear the sound of sirens outside.
Javier had never felt so relieved in his entire life.
“That’s it, Kev, breathe.”
The younger detective did as he was told and his eyes blinked open. He locked scared blue eyes with his partner’s and Javier smiled, “Don’t worry, she’s gone, she’s not going to hurt you anymore.”
“Ja-.”
“You don’t have to say anything, you were right. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, bro.”
“I’m in- I lo...”
Javier’s heart swelled in his chest (because, earlier thoughts be damned, this was the moment, wasn’t it? A near death experience and they were ready to confess to one another, just like on TV!) and he cut Kevin off, “I love you, too.”
Ryan’s face crumpled in confusion and Esposito felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.
“Oh, crap.” He tried to backpedal. “Oh, God. I didn’t mean- that came out wrong, I mean I-.”
“Shut up.” Kevin wheezed between breaths. “Was going to say...I’m looking forward-.” Here he paused for a moment to try and steady his breathing again. “Castle’s face.”
Then his face split into the most beautiful smile that Javier had ever seen, “I love you...works better.”
“What?”
“Going to tell you- then Jenny and...I’m sorry.”
Javier just grinned.
So maybe things hadn’t turned out exactly how he’d planned when he’d left work earlier that night but who cared?
Ryan’s evil, (literally) life-sucking, alien girlfriend was gone and Ryan was alive and had admitted to being in love with Javier.
Could life get any better?
He pressed a kiss to Kevin’s forehead and watched the younger man blink tiredly up at him as the ambulance crew finally arrived.
Javier didn’t think it could.