Esposito hurried to the morgue upon leaving the precinct, he just needed to talk to someone, someone who wasn't apart of anything that had happened that day. Lanie. Of course it would be Lanie, no matter what was going on between them, he could always turn to her, and right now, he needed her. Suspended, he'd been suspended, by the actions of his own partner, god he felt betrayed and pleased all in one. He knew there was no-way Beckett would have survived if Ryan hadn't gone to the Captain, but he was still pissed. And then Beckett resigned, his team had fallen apart in less than an hour. Castle, detective or not, hadn't been seen all day, Beckett had said he was done. One day and look at where they were.
"Javier what are you doing here?" Lanie questioned as he walked through the doors to the morgue
"I...erm...just needed someone to talk to" Javier whispered. Lanie hadn't looked up at him, she just knew who it was. He didn't want her to see him like this.
"Well I'm busy, go talk to Ryan" Lanie shot back, keeping her focus on the body in front of her.
"Lanie" Javier whispered again, since when did he whisper?
"Javier, what is..." Lanie started as she spun round, finally noticing Javier's face, "What happened? God no, please tell me she's alive?"
"She's alive Lanie, but she resigned" Javier informed her, he needed to get it all out
"SHE WHAT?" Lanie shouted
"Lanie, calm down, I'm sure it's just her way of annoying the Captain, not following orders and everything. Thought she'd resign rather than get suspended." Javier tried to stay calm, his hands clenching into fists as he spoke.
"Suspended? Why would she be suspended?" Lanie questioned, stripping the gloves off her hands and stepping closer to Javier
"We, erm, sort of went off the grid, almost got killed, you know the usual" Javier tried for nonchalant, clearly it wasn't working.
"ALMOST GOT KILLED?" Lanie shouted again, what the hell had these two been doing.
"Almost Lanie, almost not actually, we found out where he lived, went after him, Ryan stayed behind to hold down the fort. He was ready, knocked me out and ran, I guess she followed him. Next thing I know Ryan is standing over me, pulling me and telling me that the Captain was with Beckett, Ryan caught her before she fell off the edge of a building." Javier told her what he knew, if she wanted more, she needed to ask Beckett.
"THE EDGE OF A BUILDING? WHERE WAS CASTLE?" Lanie continued to shout she couldn't believe this, a year later and look where they were.
"He's done, according to Beckett." Javier informed her, he saw the hurt look in Lanie's eyes, knew she was thinking the same thing. What the hell happened between those two?
"Where's Kate now?" Lanie spoke once she calmed
"No idea, she packed her desk up and left before me. I'm guessing her apartment since the thunderstorm out there isn't pretty." Javier told her, he reached a hand out to her arm, hoping she wouldn't pull back, "I'm sure they will work it out, its Beckett and Castle."
"Depends on what he did, she doesn't forgive easily Javier, and she was already pissed at him" Lanie informed him, no-one but her knew that she had finally admitted to herself that she loved him. "Will you come see her with me?"
"Of course chica, I'm so sorry I wasn't there with her" Javier told her as he forced the tears to stay back.
"What and both of you end up dead or hanging off the building, and don't be pissed at Ryan, I can tell you are so don't deny it, both you and I know that she wouldn't be alive right now if he hadn't gone to the Captain." Lanie accused, she'd stepped closer to him, placed her other hand on his free arm
"I know, but I don't think Beckett is going to want to see Ryan any time soon, saved her life or not" Javier responded "Come on, let's go see our girl."
Lanie removed her hand from his arm first, before pulling her arm out of his grasp to head towards her office and strip of her bloodstained scrubs. Grabbing her coat on the way out she stopped at the side of Javier and leaned up to press a soft kiss to his cheek.
"Thank you for being there for her"
"Come on, I think you need to see her for yourself don't you?" Javier questioned, receiving a simple nod from Lanie.
No-one had said another word since she'd pulled him towards his bedroom; they didn't need the words, just each other. She kept her eyes on him as she manoeuvred around his loft, trying to remember where everything was, to avoid bumping into anything and causing more embarrassment. She led the way to his office easily knowing that his bedroom was through the adjacent door her hand on the door handle was stopped when Rick spun her to face him, crashing her lips to his once again.
He held her lower back, keeping her pressed against him, his other hand finding the back of her neck, angling her just the way he wants. She moans into his mouth, taking advantage to slide his tongue over her lips and find hers. The sensation of this new feeling has him gripping her tighter, while her hand moves over his shoulder to her back, the other finding its way into his hair. Their bodies now flushed against each other, frustratingly separated by the clothes between them. She needs more, they need more, she can tell. She reluctantly breaks the kiss, pressing her forehead against his as she catches her breath.
"Rick..." Her hot breath whispers across his face
"God Kate..." Rick breathes back, his hands still securely holding her in place.
"I don't want to waste any more time" Kate smiles as she replies, moves back slightly, his grip loosens on her as she grabs his hands again, placing her free hand on the door handle and stepping over the threshold to his bedroom.
She hears rather than sees the door close once Rick is over the threshold with her pretty sure he kicked in since his hands are back in her hair and at the hem of her shirt. Their eyes still locked as he backs her towards the edge of his bed.
"KATE, ANSWER THE DAMN DOOR!" Lanie shouted as she continued to bang on her best friends door.
"Lanie, I don't think she's in" Javier responded
"REALLY SHERLOCK, I'M SO GLAD I BROUGHT A DETECTIVE WITH ME!" Lanie shouted back, she knew it wasn't his fault, but damn him, he wasn't helping.
"I'll try calling her, just stop banging and shouted." Javier shot back.
He pressed speed dial #4, before putting the phone on loud speaker for both him and Lanie to listen. He knew she always picked up after the second ring at the most, but she didn't, so he let it go to voicemail. Kate Beckett, can't take your call right now, please leave a message. He rarely got that result, only when she turned her phone of, which usually meant something bad had happened.
"Javier, she always answers her phone" Lanie replied, "Let me try her, she might just be screening. No offence"
"None taken chica, please, try" Javier offered
Lanie grabbed her phone out of her pocket, not even a text from Kate to tell her what had happened. She quickly speed dials #3 before putting the phone on loud speaker. Still no-one answers after the second ring letting it go to voicemail yet again.
"Damn it girl." Lanie curses as she pockets her phone.
"Come on, let's go back to the precinct and see Ryan, think I need to apologise for storming out on him anyway. Give her some time; we'll try again once we get there." Javier told Lanie as he wrapped his hand around hers and pulled her towards the elevator.
Kevin Ryan didn't usually hurt his team, but he had to, they would be dead if he hadn't gone to the Captain, they should be thanking him for saving them, but he knew that wasn't going to happen any time soon, they were hurt and suspended. He sat at his desk, scanning the bull pen, everyone carrying on as normal, none of the other detectives knowing what had gone on, that Beckett had resigned and that Esposito was suspended. The sound of the elevator arriving on the floor made Ryan spin around in his chair, in time to see one Javier Esposito and Lanie Parish walking towards him, holding hands. Lanie didn't look happen, dare he say she looked worried, god no, what had happened.
"What's wrong? Why do you look so worried Lanie?" Ryan questioned once they'd stopped in front of his desk.
"Kate's not answering her phone, we both tried" Lanie told him
"I'm pretty sure she won't want to talk to me right now, so I doubt she'd answer the phone to me" Ryan interjected, his eyes catching Esposito's before falling back to his desk.
Lanie pulled her phone out again, they hadn't tried in about five minutes, no traffic in this weather apparently. She pressed speed dial #3 again, loud speaker, waiting for the second ring, no answer, a few more rings and the phone clicked to voicemail again.
"Beckett always picks up after the second ring at the most" Ryan inputs, his eyes flitting between Lanie and Esposito.
"I know." Esposito replies.
"Detective Esposito, did I not make myself clear earlier?" Captain Gates shouts to him as she walks towards the group
"Sir, Beckett isn't answering her phone" Ryan tells the Captain.
"Beckett resigned, she's not my problem anymore" Captain Gates replies, looking around the group, finally noticing Lanie
"You know she's just pissed, its Beckett, she over reacts when it involves her mother's murder, not to mention her own shooting." Lanie inputs
"Castle, did you try Castle?" Ryan asks, both Lanie and Esposito shaking their heads.
Esposito quickly pulls his phone out of his pocket, pressing speed dial #6, he put it on loud speaker, waiting for an answer, but it went to voicemail, just like Beckett's.
"Damn it" Esposito mutters, "Do those two ever answer their phones?"
"You think there together?" Gates questions
"Hard to say, Beckett said Castle was done today, she's been a bit pissed with him the past couple of weeks, not going to go into the details, but she's not at home, and there's not many places she would go, but Castle's is one of them." Lanie informs the group
"Where else would she go? I'd rather not have to barge into Mr Castle's house unannounced if she isn't there" Gates informed the group
"Can't we just track her phone sir, be easier" Ryan asked
"And waste valuable money, I don't think so, were already budgeting as it is, she's not missing as of yet" Gates informs the team, she knows they would do it if she wasn't there, without asking her.
"The cemetery, but in this weather I doubt she'd go there, her dads, but that's quite far out, or Castle's, there the only places I know she goes in these kind of situations" Lanie told the group.
"Call her dad, find out if she's there, I'll send two uniforms down to the cemetery to check there, if not, we go to Castle's" Gates informed the small team.
I wanted to create an Always fic with a difference, so here it is. I hope you enjoy it. It switches from two different scenes but keeping within the same time-line, if that makes sense, since it doesn't even make sense to me and I just wrote that. Anyway, I have the second chapter already written since I was going to do this as a one-shot, but that has so far turned into an 11 page word document, and I'm no where near done yet.
Hope you like, review with praises and ideas, either is welcome. Praises just help me write faster. :)
Amy.