It was a late Tuesday afternoon then they walked him in. Esposito lifted his head from behind the table, looking at a bunch of people that stopped near his desk.

"Esposito, I want you to meet someone." Beckett smiled and turned left a bit. She made space for a young man, shyly standing next to her. "This is your new partner, Kevin Ryan. He just got off the cover at our other station and got send to us with bunch of the best reviews about him."

Detective Ryan lifted his head and glanced over Esposito. He stood up, shook the new guys hand and introduced himself. "Javier Esposito. Nice to meet you."

Ryan couldn't notice that his partner's voice was really cold and that he saw a disappointment in his eyes. Detective sighted. Beckett showed him his place, explained the rules and left him to get use to his work place.

"How long are you in this job?" he heard a question behind him. Kevin lifted his blue eyes at his partner.

"Maybe 8 years, if we will count job undercover."

Esposito nodded and returned to his work. He couldn't understand why he had this child looking man as his partner. He couldn't imagine those baby blues trying to interrogate somebody or saving someone's life by shooting the killer. Ryan just didn't look like a cop to Esposito. He imagined that him being useless at all their operations.

As for Kevin Ryan, he was quite glad with his partner. He was a bit scared of him; he really looked quite frightful with all those muscles, those serious mocha brown eyes and the gun near him. On the way to station Beckett did tell him a lot of stories about Esposito. As far as Ryan understood, he will have to do a lot to gain his trust.

As days went by, Esposito and Ryan didn't connect much. They hadn't done their first interrogation or had their first car ride catching the criminal. Until they got the case of mysterious maniac Mark Tailer.

"Esposito, Ryan, we got the address with him and suspect. I will go with the backup, you two make sure to be there first. If what, break the door. Make sure the vic is safe. This time he got a little girl." Beckett threw a note to Esposito with criminals address on it. He glanced at Ryan, who was already standing near the elevator. Couple moments later, they were in Espo's car.

"I hate to be reminded that this world is so sick." Ryan mumbled under his noise.

"What do you mean?" Esposito asked, speeding over the limit to the given address.

"I mean who the hell turns on innocent children." Kevin checked his gun and looked through the window.

"Yeah, guess you are right. But that's why we have our jobs. To make sure those bastards get what they deserved."

Moments later, Javier stopped his car. Both detectives ran silently towards the house, checking over windows if they see anything. Esposito nodded to Ryan. Ryan loaded his gun and leaned against the wall, waiting for Esposito to break the door.

"NYPD, RAISE YOUR HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD!" Esposito shouted as he broke the door and ran into the room. He noticed a small girl, probably 8 years old, sitting in the corner, all frightened and crying. Mark, the maniac, was holding a gun, smiling mischievously at both detectives.

"Oh, I thought that you are a bit clever than that." He said as Esposito felt a gun's head near his neck. "You see, I also have a partner. Now you, pretty boy..." Mark turned to Ryan, who was still holding his gun, pointed towards him. "You drop your gun or watch him die."

Kevin looked towards Esposito. And that's when he saw it. A childish smile appeared on his face. Those blue eyes became even lighter than ever. "God, do you think I care about him? He was my partner like for three days." Ryan turned his gun towards Esposito and shot him. Couple of things happened really quickly: Mark and his partner jumped aside from the surprisement, giving Ryan a perfect opportunity to tackle one of them down. As for Esposito, Ryan aimed towards his bullet proof west, so he wasn't hurt. As soon as he understood what was happening, Esposito turned around and slammed Mark's partner on the ground. Moments later Beckett and the backup rush into the house and handcuffed the criminals.

Esposito stood up and looked around the room. He found his partner talking to that little girl. Now he really looked like the most harmful thing on Earth: he smiled at the girl, made her laugh, insuring that she was okay and that Mark didn't do anything to her.

As soon as the ambulance arrived and took the girl for check up, Esposito went to talk to Ryan.

"That was pretty amazing act you did back there. For a moment I though you turned against me."

"No, bro. You are my partner. I know we didn't talk much but still. You want it or not, I will be by your side til' the wheels fell off." Ryan smiled.

Esposito tried to hide little smile. Yeah, maybe his partner wasn't that bad. He patted Ryan's shoulder, offering him a drink. As both detectives left the crime scene, they had no clue how important they will become to each other over the years.