A/N: For the sake of details, I am going to deviate from the show's time line and Have Ryan and Jenny's anniversary be in June rather than January.
Tool Time
June 2015
A lot had changed in the last four years of Kevin Ryan's life. Five years ago he was Javi's wingman and partner. Five years ago a typical day consisted of: waking up, working out, going to station, catching murderers, then going out to a bar or club to meet girls he would date casually. Five years ago Kevin was content to live the bachelor's life, but then of course he met Jenny O'Malley.
He had been out to serve a routine warrant that turned into a bit of a scuffle, resulting in a pretty nasty laceration on Ryan's lip. Javi passed off their perp to Officer Halstings and drove Kevin to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was ushered into an ER by the receptionist. Kevin had sagged onto the stretcher bed, knowing the routine of this all too well.
"A nurse will be right back to take your blood pressure, heart rate, and the rest of your vitals. Then we can stitch you back up. But if you could start filling out this paper work for Worker's Compensation, that would be great."
"I'm guessing you can't just copy my paperwork from last month's cracked ribs?" Ryan joked to himself as the receptionist distractedly stepped out of his room with a clipboard full of insurance mumbo-jumbo. So Kevin Ryan went about filling out the pages of paperwork while holding a wad of paper towels to his throbbing lip.
His nurse came striding into his room in her navy scrubs, high pony tail, and a pair of smiling eyes that had his split lip breaking into a grin. She was a petite thing but her presence was captivating, what with her freckled cheeks, sparkling green eyes, dimples, and an arched eyebrow that could rival Beckett's. Simply put, Kevin Ryan was struck stupid by the sight of this nurse. So stupid in fact that he had totally missed her introduction, too caught up in his dazed stare that he didn't snap back into reality until she was grabbing his wrist and gently pressing his hand and paper towels back against his lip.
"Woops, try to keep pressure on that for now. Here let me give you some clean gauze." She had said smirking at him. Yep she caught me gawking at her like an idiot.
"Oh thank you, um what did you say your name was?" Kevin asked hoping he didn't sound as brain damaged as he thought.
"Jenny and I'll be your nurse today, hopefully we will have you stitched up and on your way before too long Mr..."
"Ryan. Uh, actually Detective Ryan, Kevin Ryan." Get a hold of yourself man!
Yep that's all it took. Kevin Ryan was hooked. The rest is an adorable story of nervous first date butterflies, ugly two-week anniversary gifts, romantic dates, honey milk, a Natalie Rhode's induced fight, a beautiful wedding, and countless memories that remade Kevin Ryan's world. Now, five years after they met and three year since they were married, he is now faced with a dilemma that every man faces and typically dreads: What to get his wife for their anniversary?
The three-year anniversary was said to be traditionally leather themed. With that in mind Ryan had bought her a leather bustier, but let's be honest that's more of a gift for him, and a Shinola leather band watch to wear at work. But to Kevin Ryan that wasn't enough. This was his wife, life partner, and mother to their 18-month-old daughter.
So with that mindset Kevin Ryan set about to build Jenny her dream courtyard in the gated yard. With several trips to home depot, plans and specs taken from the Internet and tweaked a bit, and the hesitant help from Esposito and Castle, Ryan would build his wife an oasis. A place for her to escape, to tan in the sun, to read, or to just get away from the chaos of life as a new mother.
"Alright boys, Jenny just texted me and said Sarah Grace has been dropped off at my sister's, the girls made it to the spa, and will be home about 4:30. So that gives us eight hours." Ryan says as he strolls back into his kitchen where a sleepy-eyed Castle and a surly looking Espo are.
"Dude, I cannot believe I'm here at 8:30 on a Saturday morning to do eight hours of manual labor for you. You owe us." Espo grumbled, looking like the counter is the only thing holding him up
"Yep and I already know how to cash in on this!" Castle adds, dancing his eyebrows up and down.
"Castle, no matter what I am not going to let you borrow Sarah Grace for research on how to save a baby from various dangerous scenarios."
"Damn it… I'll talk to Jenny about it," mutters Castle behind his coffee mug.
"Nope, you wont." Ryan and Javi quip back in unison. "Alright c'mon boy's lets get moving."
"You have no idea how much I needed today." Jenny sighs as she plops down into the passenger seat of Lanie's car. Her shoulder muscles relaxed and her mind clear for the first time in months. She loves being a mother, but holy shit is it hard work.
"Thanks for inviting us along on your 'anniversary spa day present.' I've got to give it to Honey milk, he knows how to treat his lady!" Lanie jokes, shimmying her shoulders. "But in all seriousness, I have been so tense and stressed with work and Javi-Drama, so thank you."
"Javi-Drama huh? Is that why you were flirting it up with your hot male masseuse?" Kate teases from the back seat.
"Oh please! That was just playful…. conversation." Lanie weakly defends.
"That's what the kids are calling it these days huh?" Jenny asks.
"Hush ladies! Ugh, I don't know what it is but I have been so irritated with Javi lately, so yes maybe I was flirting with my masseuse. Its like every time Javi opens his mouth I just want him to shut it and duck tape that shit."
"Lanie! That's just mean. Hilarious but mean." Jenny chastises.
" Well that's what happens when you haven't been laid for 3 weeks and every time you things start getting hot and heavy he opens his stupid perfect mouth."
"Tell me about it, Kevin and I are constantly interrupted by Sarah Grace lately. Plus, I don't know if it's hormones or what but I do not feel sexy lately. Just tired; really, really tired."
"Ugh I hate interruptions," mutters Kate, leaning against the car window.
"Oh shut it!" Lanie laughs.
"Yeah Mrs. Castle. How many times has Kevin caught you guys with your panties down?" Jenny challenges.
"Oh God, I can't believe he told you about that!" Kate says, mortified as she hides her face in her hands. "That has only happened a few times and he saw nothing!"
"Kate, let's be honest. Your newly wed stage has definitely exposed more than your marital bliss. I have now seen Castle's sweet ass one too many times." Lanie reveals as Jenny busts up laughing.
"Lanie! That is not…wait you've seen Castle's ass twice while he and I were…uh...doing…"
"Doing the horizontal tango? No pants dance? Buttering the biscuit? Getting it on?" Lanie offers
" Shagging? Do the nasty? Fucking?" Jenny adds.
"Wow, points for Mrs. Ryan for going there." Lanie applauds.
"Yes! All right! The point remains that you, Lanie, have seen Castle's ass twice, therefore two times too many."
"No, no seeing that man's delicious derriere once can never be a mistake. That man has got some tight buns," Lanie brags.
"Ah lucky!" groans Jenny.
"Simmer down ladies. Lanie don't even go there- especially after learning about that Halloween party where you kissed Castle and Jenny you're a married woman!" Kate scolds jokingly.
"Two things; Kate I'm married not dead and Lanie, you kissed Castle?!" Jenny asks shocked as Lanie pulls onto Jenny's street, making great time as its just now nearing four o'clock.
"Story for another time Jen…another time."
Lanie, Jenny, and Kate walk up the steps to the stoop of the Ryan's beautiful brownstone home.
"God, I don't even want to get know what the boys got up too today." Kate mentions as they walk through the entryway, Jenny heads towards the kitchen to grab some wine and Lanie and Kate recline back on the seating in the living room.
"Just don't ask too many questions, the less you know the better when they get together" Jenny laughingly replies.
The girls set up in the living, all assuming that Castle, Espo, and Ryan are out running amuck. They sit and chat about work, home life, and their respective sex lives. Jenny and Lanie complain about their current dry spells with their men. Lanie's due to an off work schedule with Esposito and some tension mounting due to his lack of serious commitment; while Jenny's is due to the result of Ryan's ultimate commitment- Sarah Grace. Turns out having an 18-month old can put a bit of damper on things in the bedroom. Kate stays mostly silent, only offering advise until the attention turns back to the "Horney Caskett Honeymoon Phase" as morbidly coined by Lanie.
"Kate, you may as well just admit that you and Castle are trying to make little Castle babies," Lanie insists as she interrogates Kate on her and Castle's family plan. She is just about to threaten to ask Castle himself when she is interrupted.
"Holy shit! Guys you've got to come look at this." Jenny exclaims from the kitchen where she had gone to grab another bottle of wine.
With confusion painted across their face, Kate and Lanie make their way over to the kitchen sink where Jenny is staring out the window above the sink that looks out over their moderately sized yard.
None of them are ready for the sight before them. It's a view steamy enough to be straight from an erotica novel. There, out in the back yard are three of the finest male specimens the city has to offer.
Esposito stands in a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt with its sleeves cut off, revealing the toasted Latin skin of his arms and obliques. With every rotation of his torso as he grabs new pieces of lumber to cut with the saw to his left, more and more of his tight abs are revealed to Lanie's roaming eyes. His shorts are riding low on his hips and when he steps back from the saw to wipe his sweaty forehead with the tail of his shirt the full extent of his eight pack abs and defined iliac crests are displayed gloriously. Lanie's face is practically pressed up against the window and when Espo starts up the skill saw again she gives out a breathy groan on an exhale.
Mean while Jenny is practically drooling with her eyes glued to Ryan while he works on drilling holes in the lumbar and screwing them down to the framing of what appears to be a walkway. Mostly she is just wishing he could be screwing her at this very moment. Kevin alternates between crouching down to press the drill tightly against the lumbar he is working with and standing up to retrieve the various tools and materials he needs to complete his work and take a few sips of beer here and there. The heat must be sweltering out there because his grey wife beater tank is sticking to his body, subtly teasing Jenny with hints of his lean body underneath, what with his defined abs and pecs. His long arms work the drill expertly and his biceps flex with every screw he drills into the framing. Kevin's forearms move with agility as he manipulates each wooden slate to its correct place. Jenny's skin becomes flushed instantly at the sight of her husband standing up from his crouched position, stretching a bit, his torso elongating and emphasizing his lean waist and washboard stomach. When he takes off the Yankees cap he is wearing and rests both hands atop his head to say some comment to Esposito, Jenny entire body floods with carnal lust.
The three women's eyes shift from their animalistic, lusting admiration of Ryan and Espo when Castle comes into their field of view. Any woman in their right mind would not be able to at least take a peek at Kate's man in his current appearance.
Castle walks into their view from the window carrying about ten 8-foot slabs of lumber resting on his bare shoulder, an arm wrapped around the stack to secure it, and the boards balancing with equal length in front and behind him. His broad sun-kissed shoulders command attention with strong deltoids capping his shoulders, distinct trapezius muscles that taper down into the curve of his spine, and his powerful biceps that are massive and bulging. He walks shirtless with the lumber over to Espo at the saw. His blue jeans are spotted with dirt and grim but ride low on his hips, set below the black elastic strip of his boxer briefs. The jeans hug his tight, pert ass, with a tantalizing view all the way down to his dark brown work boots. Kate looks desirously at the two dimples that punctuate his lower back, remembering how much she loves to dip her tongue in those indentations and how much she loves what lies just a bit south of those marks. Castle sets his load down on the improvised workbench the boys have set up and begins sanding down the wood. This happens to offer the ogling women in the kitchen a clear view of his front side. His hair is a mess; Kate guesses that he has tried to push his bangs out of his face countless times unsuccessfully. Like the other two boys, his skin is glistening with sweat from the heat of the day and is emanating nothing but male testosterone. His wide chest is plated with dominating and defined pecs that would give Superman a run for his money. His biceps look even more enticing from the anterior view as he works the sand paper back and forth across the slat, the muscle contractions ebb and flow with his moments and his strong forearms make way for his large dexterous hands. The light coat of hair on his forearm glistens with sweat and it makes Kate's mouth water. His torso tapers down in that V-Shape that makes every heterosexual woman wet and his abdominals flex and dance as he moves back and forth with the sanding motions. Over the past year since their wedding Castle has trimmed back down with the help of hitting the gym almost daily and their active sex life. This has resulted in nearly a perfectly defined six pack that Kate has become obsessed with tracing each times she sees it. This moment is no different. She cant decide what is the better view, when he stands to his full 6 foot 4 inch height and twists a bit, which highlights his muscular torso and shoulders, to listen to Ryan or when he turns around and bends down to retie his boot, showing off his amazing ass again.
The women gaze hungrily out the window in silence for several moment before Lanie murmurs, "Wow, that is…"
"Fucking hot as hell," Kate finishes leaning in closer to the window to get a better look at what could be mistaken for the New York Fire Department's calendar shoot.
"I'm actually pretty surprised that we got this much done on the courtyard," Ryan says as he works on taking the measurements of slats needed to cover the walkway's framing to the courtyard. Ryan knew they wouldn't finish the entire project today, but he wanted to have a portion of it done so that he could prove to Jenny that he was doing this for her and that it wouldn't just be on his To Do List. So far they had leveled out the courtyard, laid the beautiful earth toned slated tiles, and built the frame for the walkway that went from their French doors out to the tiled sitting area.
Ryan planned on staining the wood, transplanting some landscaping foliage and flowers, and moving in a four-person table, chairs, and fire pit to the courtyard. Still a long way to go to achieve the dream backyard that Jenny had doodled on some of his paperwork he had lying around, but worth it to make his beautiful wife happy. With that being said, Ryan was pleasantly surprised by how efficient he, Espo, and Castle had been today even under the blazing heat of the afternoon sun. It was 4:30 and he hadn't heard from Jenny since lunchtime so he figured the girls were still at the spa or were grabbing dinner on the way home.
"Are you saying you didn't expect me and Espo to be this handy and manly? Because I will take offense to that Honey Milk," Castle responds as he carries a bundle of 1-foot by 8-foot lumber over to Espo, who has been manning the skill saw.
"Castle, sorry to break it too you, but 'handy' and 'manly' are not exactly adjectives that characterize you, Writer boy." Ryan chuckles, giving a knuckle bump to a snickering Espo.
"Oh? So then do you want to be the one doing all the heavy lifting? Because I wouldn't mind heading on inside to the air conditioned living room, sitting down on the couch with a beer, and playing some Madden," shoots Castle.
"Yeah man, what do you say we call it a day? We're at a good stopping point and I'm starving." Espo adds.
"Sounds fine to me, the girls should be getting back soon anyway."
They straighten up the area a bit; piling the wood, organizing their materials and tools, then they head inside. Castle is sliding back into his white t-shirt at the doorway when he hears the telltale signs of the girls in the kitchen to their left. He sees Kate first and that's as far as he gets in his survey of the room because she has got that heated, carnal look in her eye with her lip caught up in her teeth as her eyes rake down his form. She is leaning back against the counter, legs tightly crossed in front of her as she leans on one foot.
"Hey babe," Castle greets with a big smile breaking across his face and goes over to give Kate a light peck on the cheek. Similar encounters happen between Lanie and Javi, as well as Kevin and Jenny.
"Hey Hun, what are you guys doin' out there?" Jenny asks after greetings have been made and beers have been dispensed out to the men.
"Well, I know you've had ideas floating around your head about renovating the yard out there, so I thought this could be the final part of your anniversary gift," Kevin explains with an eager-to-please grin on his face as he slings and arm around Jenny's waist.
While Ryan explains what exactly he and the guys have been doing all day, the other two couples emerge themselves in their own little worlds.
"So where did you learn how to be a handyman?" Kate asks coyly as she pulls Castle closer to her by a belt loop.
"Grew up with a struggling actress as a single mom Kate, if things broke we weren't hiring people to fix it," Castle explains, pressing his hips in close to Kate's but he pulls his torso back, conscientious of how gross and sweaty he is. But he notices she doesn't seem to mind as Kate scoots closer and traces her finger along the v-neck of his tee.
"So many layers to the Castle onion," she whispers close to his ear, causing Castle's groin to tighten and his mouth to go dry.
Kate can't help herself at the moment, between the sexy scene that she saw going on out in the yard as Castle worked and his current proximity to her body, she is coiled up with sexual tension.
"Well we've got a lifetime so you'll figure me out eventually," he smirks back before he starts rubbing his hands up and down her back to her shoulders. "Didn't you just get a massage? Why are you so tense?" Castle questions with concern in his eyes, and damn it if that doesn't make him even more appealing. Out of the corner of her eye, Kate sees Espo and Lanie scurry off into the dining room with their hands in questionable places and Jenny delicately kissing Ryan.
"Yeah, uh yeah I did but… Mhmm, Cas, what cologne are you wearing?" Kate answers distractingly as she nuzzles a bit into his neck, feeling for the entire world that they are alone in a bubble of sexual chemistry. She drags her lips across his strong neck, down into the hollow at the base of his throat where she allows her tongue to dip out and collect the salty taste of him. Castle gives out a tight and quiet growl in her ear, pushing his leg between hers and hoisting her up on it with a hand at the small of her back.
"Kate? What are you doing?" Castle asks hesitantly, not wanting to cross a line with their friends here.
"Rick," Kate purrs in his ear, "I want you to drag me back home, strip me down, and fu-"
"We are going to head out bro," Espo interrupts Kate's statement.
"See ya later!" Lanie hollers as she drags Espo by the collar of his shirt towards the door, looking completely sexed up with her hair and shirt askew- most likely from Espo's hands.
"Castle, call the car service because your hands are going to be occupied on the way home." Kate whispers to him over her shoulder as she walks away towards the French doors that lead to the newly refurbished yard, but not before sneaking a hand out and pinching his ass.
A/N: didn't have an editor so be gentle. Hope you like it and decide to review.