Homework or writing? Ha that's a no brainer.

Warnings: Minor cursing, character death, fluff and I don't supply tissues. I own nothing.

Without further ado, chapter one of The Dance.

"My place tonight, bro?" Javier flipped through bank statements from their victim.

Ryan looked up with a smile, "Sounds good. We'll head out after we wrap this up."

"Chinese or Pizza?"

Ryan laughed turning his chair around, "Seriously, bro, your fridge is filled with leftovers we never finish."

Esposito scanned their victim's papers quickly before looking up to his partner. "So?" He didn't see what the big deal was with getting more food instead of eating that old crap.

Ryan rolled his eyes with a smile, "Hey, I got something." The Irishman proudly handed his finding to Javi.

Esposito looked at what Ryan was holding and read it out loud, "So our vic deposited $10,000 the day before he died." Esposito smiled catching on. "All we have to do is trace where this money came from, then we can figure out what the Hell this guy was into."

Ryan nodded paperclipping it together, "The bank is closed for the night, but we can check there first thing tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me, bro." Esposito said standing up to slip his coat on as Castle and Beckett approached the two.

"Find anything?"

"So, it turns out that Jason put $10,000 in the bank before he died." Ryan smiled buttoning up coat.

Castle's eyebrows scrunched in thought, "But, he could barely pay the bills. Where did he suddenly get 10k from?"

"That's what Ryan and I couldn't understand." Esposito smiled proudly at him and his partner finding this crucial hint to finding the killer.

"But," Ryan continued, "the bank is closed for today, so we have to head there first thing tomorrow."

"So where are we heading now?" Castle smiled as he grabbed his coat when he noticed the boys were doing the same thing. As he was putting his arm through the hole, he eyed Ryan with a playful smirk. "Are you finally taking us leprechaun hunting?"

"Ha ha, Mr. Comedian." Ryan rolled his eyes and laughed sarcastically. Castle patted the youngest detective on the back with his signature 'Castle smile' before Espo smirked,

"Well, I don't know where you're going," the Hispanic detective gestured to Castle and Beckett. "But, we're going to my place for Madden Night." He shrugged his shoulders winking at the writer.

Beckett rolled her eyes with a smile, "Have fun, boys." Ryan nodded with a truly genuine smile that brought a smile to Beckett's face as she watched him follow his partner to the elevator.

Castle turned to Beckett once they were gone, "Why do you think they won't invite me to Madden Night?"

Beckett laughed, but quickly quieted when she saw he was genuinely hurt by the boys's actions. She took her husband's hand in hers and rubbed it with her thumb. "Come on, babe, don't take it to heart."

Castle sighed leaning back in his chair instead of verbally responding. Beckett kissed his cheek, "They don't invite me either."

Castle huffed, "Yeah, but you're a girl. That's different. I mean, sure, we get beers, play poker, you know, but I've never gotten to share a boys's night with Madden in the past 9 years that I've known them."

Beckett took a sip of her coffee trying to decide how to explain it to him, "Listen, Castle, it's probably just you know their thing. They've done the same thing every week for the past 13 years they've been partners. It's not that they don't like you, but this is something that's important to them by, you know, themselves." She tried to put it as nicely as she could.

Castle nodded, "Yeah, I guess." He bit his lip in thought, "Do you think a month with the Ferrari each would help?"

"Castle."

"I just feel like they only hang with me is to get close enough so if I break your heart, it's easier to kill me."

If Beckett didn't know her boys so well she'd think about that actually being true. Many times in the past when she brought a boyfriend to the prescient he was frightened off by the boys's interrogation. At first it was very aggravating, but soon she realized that they only went through this trouble because they cared.

"Rick, that's not true and you know it." She said squeezing his hand.

Castle smiled, "I guess I'm overreacting, huh?" Beckett laughed with a nod and Castle joined with a determined a smile. "Maybe, I'll just start with something small like movie night."

Beckett nudged his shoulder, "There you go. Ry has been bugging for someone to watch that nerdy movie series thing."

"Star Wars?" Castle asked.

Beckett smiled, she knew exactly what movie Ryan has been babbling about, and she bit back another smile; Castle had remembered as well.

"He would love that." Beckett whispered, "and you know if Kevin goes so will Javi."

Castle smiled, "I'll plan the best movie night in history!" He said a little too loud drawing the unwanted attention of some other officers. And Gates.

"Mr. Castle, I suggest you save all your yelling for the outside, please." She crossed her arms as she stuck her head out of her office.

Castle was already almost to the elevator mumbling under his breath, "I gotta get the popcorn, soda, candy and other junk to eat."

Gates eyed him suspiciously before turning to Beckett who just shrugged in response. "He's Castle."

"Can you set up the game while I call Jenny and remind her it's Madden Night?" Ryan said once they were both inside Javi's apartment. The Irishman already had his cellphone in hand.

"Sure, bro." Espo said as he started up the X-Box 360 console. "Just grab the beers and the take-out menu." He gestured blindly behind his back towards the kitchen as he turned the t.v. to video one.

Kevin nodded with his cellphone in between his ear and shoulder as he carefully grabbed a six pack from the fridge and a random menu from the top cabinet. He looked at his pick and was pleased to see the logo of the familiar Chinese place that him and Javi considered their favorite.

He clicked his tongue and Espo turned around and smiled at the menu he was waving to him. Espo gave a thumb up before continuing the process of setting up a game with both of the custom teams that the Latino had created.

Ryan walked over to the living room and placed both items on the worn out coffee table that had seen better days, but held too many memories that the duo didn't want to let go of so easily.

"Hey, Jenny." Ryan smiled as the ringing stopped indicating that his wife had picked up. Javier plucked up a beer from the pack and opened it with a fizz. He took a sip and silently watched his partner waiting for him to be ready to play.

"Hey, Kev, are you on your way home? Because I could really use your help." Jenny said with exhaustion lacing her voice. Sarah-Grace was pouting on the floor beside her. "Our little girl doesn't think she needs to head to bed right now."

"Actually, sweetie, I uhh, I'm at Javi's." He bit his lip nervously and took a deep breath before he chose his carefully selected words. "It's Madden Night, remember?"

Jenny groaned covering her face with her free hand, "Again?" Her frustration was evident from her husband all always being with his partner and leaving her to deal with their daughter alone.

"Come on, Beautiful. It's not like that." He sighed as he took his seat next to Javi. Espo had to shift a bit to the side so he didn't become a human cushion because of his distracted partner taking a seat. "We're not attached to the hip." He defended himself from his accusing wife who was not happy at all. "Because Fridays are with him and the rest with you."

Esposito rolled his eyes drinking more of his almost half empty beer. Reason number 207 why he knew getting hitched was a horrible idea. He told his partner so, but did his partner listen? Nope. And now it was all coming back to bite him in the ass. Espo chuckled at the thought only to earn a kick and a side of death glare from his partner.

He mouthed what Espo read as, "Not funny." Javi shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.

"Don't give me that because if it's not Madden Night, it's beers after a bad case or a baseball game or just you two making excuses to hang out!" She calmed down when she noticed hurt in her daughter's eyes. She didn't want her to hear them fighting. "We'll talk about this later. Can you at least say goodnight to Sarah?"

"Of course, put her on." Ryan pinched his nose before perking up at the sound of his baby girl's voice.

"Hi, Daddy." The five year old giggled into the phone.

Javier noticed his partner's eyes light up when he said, "Hello, Princess." Espo didn't like the feeling of warmness when he listened to his partner try and convince his little girl to get to bed. He was a man, for crying out loud! He caught killers, tackled much bigger suspects on the run. He wasn't some softie no matter how cute his niece was. Nope, he was a grown ass man who didn't fall to his knees whenever she did something cute. Just to prove his point to nobody but himself, he took a large swig of his beer finishing the rest with a emotionless glare on his face.

"Alright, put Mommy on, Angel. Daddy loves you too." Esposito took some dignity back by teasing his partner.

"Does Daddy love Javi too?" He brought the flustered father into a hug that Ryan tried to get out of, but stopped struggling and lifted himself as much as he could when his wife returned to the phone.

"Goodnight, Kevin, I love you." She sighed with a small smile.

"I love you too, my love. I'll see you soon." He said before ending the call so he could get out of his partner's iron grip.

Kevin did his best to get his partner to let go, but only succeeded when he was about to fall off the couch and Javi not wanting to fall too, let go. Kevin pushed himself up with a groan. "We're too old for this." He rolled his back that had slammed into the table during his trip to the ground.

Javier laughed, "Gotta stay in shape to catch down those perps, bro." Ryan rolled his eyes and plopped back down on the couch grabbing a beer as well when his partner took his second.

Javi waited until his partner swallowed his first mouthful before he asked, "Do you hear that?"

Kevin gave his partner a confused glance before he answered, "That's marriage eating away your freedom."

Ryan flicked his partner, "Shut up, you already got me in enough trouble."

Espo rolled his eyes handing over his controller, "Yeah, sure, just blame me, bro."

"Here, bro, try this." Esposito said lifting a fork holding what looked somewhat like their Chinese take-out dinner, but Kevin couldn't be sure. He eyed his partner suspiciously before slowly leaning over a bit.

He opened his mouth hesitantly to allow Javi to slip the fork into his mouth watching to see his reaction with a familar glint in his eyes. Oh no...

The moment that whatever poison that Espo fed him touched his taste buds, it was shot out of his mouth across the room. "What the Hell was that?!"

Esposito laughed as he watched his partner spit any excess pieces into his napkin. "Oh, just about everything here doused in duck and soy sauce."

"That's a cruel and nasty joke, bro." He shook his head taking a look at all of their choices spread across the table. Any empty space was covered by fortunes, wrappers, napkins and beer bottle caps.

"If Jenny doesn't kill me tonight, this surely will." Kevin laughed dryly trying to forget about the trouble he was in.

He cursed under his breath when he saw Espo's player tackle his. Not that he was surprised.

When Javi had made each of their players, he made his own with 100% for all the skills. Not to mention, the advantage he gave himself with his ripped body and towering height as well. 'Espo' was across his back with the number one underneath.

Kevin's player was the exact opposite; Javier made his partner small, thin and the only skill he graced him to have close to 100% were the ones to do with speed. The worst though, was that instead of 'Ryan', Espo dubbed his player as 'Honeymilk'.

Although, Ryan had argued until he was blue in the face, Javi refused to change it because it was his Xbox so therefore what he said went.

"That bad with Jenny, huh?" Esposito brought Ryan back to reality.

Ryan sighed, "Yeah, bro, unfortunately." He took a sip of beer and placed his controller down amongst their garbage when he noticed that their game had come to an end.

"You can stay here tonight, till she cools off." He patted his partner's shoulder with a small lopsided smile.

"Thanks, Javi, but it'd be better if I went. Besides, she's waiting for me. I'll head out after we clean this up." He stood up stretching out his back.

"Nah, I got this tomorrow, bro. It's almost 12 and you still got to talk to Jen so if you want some sleep before waking up for work, get going." He took the empty plastic container from Kevin's hands.

"You sure?"

"Positive. See ya' tomorrow, bro."

Kevin smiled as they did their handshake that looked complicated to another's eyes, but for them they could do it without even thinking or looking.

"Goodnight." Ryan waved as he exited Javier's apartment. Javi smiled, "Night."

Ryan stuck his key into his door and quietly walked through the living room so he didn't wake up Sarah-Grace. "Jenny?" He whispered as he flicked on the living room light. Soon she was standing in their bedroom doorway with her arms wrapped around herself.

"Look, Honey, I'm really sorry." Ryan said walking to his wife to bring her into a hug.

She shook her head, "You always say that, Kevin. I'm tired of doing it all by myself."

Kevin sighed, "I know. I'll help more, I promise." He took her hand instead when she denied him to a hug.

She continued, "Sometimes I wonder who you're married to. Me or Javi." She turned her icy stare to him.

He groaned, "Come on, baby. You know I love you. We're partners and he doesn't have anyone else. I just keep him company sometimes." He hated having this conversation with her. Once in a while, she'd always get excited over their relationship when she was frustrated. Kevin was getting tired of having to explain himself.

"Then why is always him, huh? The day you get off completely with no case or paperwork you turn down date night because Castle invited you and Javier to beers. How is that fair?"

"Sweetie, I apologized for that. We had-"

"A rough case, I know. And I completely understand." She waved her arms in a defensive motion. "But, that's always the excuse."

Ryan slouched in the chair, "I'm sorry. Really and honestly. I'll change my ways and I'll have Madden Night here and come home the other nights." He sighed tiredly.

What Ryan thought would appease his wife only seemed to upset her more, "You don't get it!" She returned to a harsh whisper when she realized another shout may awaken Sarah-Grace. "No Madden Nights! No beers! Can't I have just a month or two Javi free with my husband?"

Ryan looked up at her with slight anger, but didn't show it. "Javi free?"

"I love Javier and you know that. He's amazing and when you can't, he makes sure Sarah-Grace and I are both okay, but I just want my husband. Not half because the other half of him is planning an outing with his partner. Please." She was practically begging.

"I love you, Jenny, but I can't just forget about my partner."

"I'm not asking to you, baby. Just please try to hear me out." Kevin did understand where she was coming from, and knew he was a hundred percent to blame, but a month without hanging with Javi was unheard of. They had never skipped Madden in the 13 years of their partnership (excluding the small period during their fight, but they had definitely made up for lost time.)

"He can come over and you can join. I'll be with you and Javi can spend some time with her uncle." He said still not clearly listening to Jenny.

She was on the verge of tears from frustration now. "No, Kevin. Just you. Just me. And our baby girl. Why do you have such an obsession with him that you can't be apart for that night?"

"What am I supposed to say? I'm sorry, but these next couple months I can only see you in work?"

"Yes!"

"He's been there for me and had had my back for 13 years; longer than anyone I know and I have to stop with an obsession that I so called have?"

"It's only a month or two." Jenny whispered tears falling down her cheeks. Did he really just say that? He was using the excuse that he knew Javier longer than her so naturally their partnership trumped their marriage? "But that doesn't matter, huh? Because he's more important. He's your partner and I'm just your wife. Whatever." She turned to storm out, but Kevin stopped her.

"I didn't mean it like that." Tears started to fall down his cheeks as well. Jenny looked into his eyes for a moment and her tears increased. "Then what did you mean?"

Kevin just stared at her as his tears continued to fall. He didn't know what to say.

"That's what I thought." She said before slamming the door to her bedroom shut.

Ryan fell to the couch and wiped the trail salt off his cheeks and layed down. What had he done? He'd made a mess. A mess that required a lot to fix. He looked at the clock that now read 1:30. He groaned and closed his eyes.

He'd ask Beckett what to do to make her know he truly loved her and it was just exhaustion and aggravation speaking for thw both of them that night.

He loved her too much to let her think he didn't.

"If tomorrow never comes,

will she know how much I loved her?

Did I try in every way to show her everyday

that she's my only one?

If my time on Earth were through

and she must face this world without me,

is the love I gave her in the past

gonna be enough to last?

If tomorrow never comes?"

-If Tomorrow Never Comes by Garth Brooks

So that's chapter 1/8. I really hope that the Ryan's argument didn't seem too ooc. J just think that this is a really big issue in the relationship. The only issue because let's face it, they're perfect together. But for the story they needed a small bump in the road.

Please leave reviews because i love hearing from my readers and it'll encourage me to update quicker.

What you liked. Favorite parts. Not so favorite parts. What you'd like to see more of. Please review:)