A/N My first Castle story so be gentle!

Brewing

Homicide detective Kate Becket moved through the mostly abandoned office building with her gun drawn. A few steps behind her she heard the attempts of famous author Richard Castle as he tried to be stealthy. She smiled for a brief moment knowing he wouldn't be able to see it. Then she was back to business drawing upon an open doorway. They had been pursuing a suspect in a series of slaying and all their intel said the man was most likely poking around this particular building. It had been a place full of man in ties and woman wearing stockings but with the economy most of the businesses had gone belly-up. This guy used to work in one of the offices, the type of person that turned bitter when he lost his job. Never mind that every one of his colleagues ended up with pink slips as well. For some reason the guy took it personally.

Drawing up to the door she hesitated, gathering her wits and then peered into the opening, gun ever at the ready. Another empty room. Castle hit something with the toy of his shoe and cursed under his breath as it fell to the floor making a lot of noise in the otherwise quiet building. Becket rolled her eyes. She had wanted nothing more than to leave him down in the car but she knew he wouldn't listen. He never listened when she told him to stay. It was easier to just let him tag along like a lost little puppy dog.

She continued on. Somewhere within the bowels of the building on another floor her fellow detectives, Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito, were tracking the same man. Witnesses claimed to have seen the man enter the building an hour ago without any visual of him leaving. She did not want him getting away so that he could run around the city looking for his next victim. Especially since there did not seem to be much rhyme or reason to his killing. Until they met him none of his victims ever crossed paths. To some degree it angered her that Castle figured out that vital piece of information before her. All the years she spent in the force she had learned that the vast majority of killers picked certain victims, each murderer had a type. These random killers truly pissed her simply because there was no way to protect his next victim without catching him.

No sending units out to be pick-up a distant brother and a rival co-worker.

The whole city was his next victim.

Coming to a cross section of hallway she noticed with some comfort that Castle heeded her warning to stay a few feet back. The last thing she needed was for him to end up in the line of fire. She would never forgive herself if he got hurt. Like she had many times before she checked both all the branches of the hallway, gun ready to fire on the supposedly armed suspect. She wanted the guy taken out and hopefully had made the point very clear when she spoke to the others before entering the building. The only business still running had been on the first floor of the ten story building, and fully evacuated. No point in giving him a room or two full of hostages.

Unsure of which direction to head in she turned to Castle to ask his advice. The author had a spooky way of thinking like criminals; which was probably one of the main reasons his books did so well. He was concentrating on something over his shoulder.

"Castle?"

He turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

As if on cue her radio crackled to life. Esposito's voice came over. "Suspect spotted. Shots fired. Shots fired." He sounded panicked, startled. Before the message even finished coming over Castle was on the move toward the door hiding the stairs. Becket had purposely had the elevators disabled to keep the suspect from moving around the floors too easily. She started after Castle when she heard Esposito's voice again. "Suspect is on the move. He's running toward the-" His voice cut-off as she heard the report of gunfire. Two shots in quick succession. She winced at the sound wondering if the man was shooting blindly while he ran or if he was aiming at a specific target. Then a chill ran down her spine, the next set of words prompting her to break into a frenzied run. "Officer down. I repeat, officer down."

Who had been shot?

When she got up to the next floor she found the place crawling with officers. An ambulance crew that had been on stand-by somehow managed to reach the floor before her and Castle. It irked her the slightest bit. She began to search the vaguely familiar faces for the two she cared about the most. Neither of them was in sight. A sickening feeling began to stir in the pit of her stomach. Her radio continued to crackle as more reports came through. There were officers in pursuit of the suspect but since she had not heard Ryan or Esposito she figured they had to be on this floor somewhere.

Out of nowhere she felt a hand grab hers. It startled her. Looking over she saw Castle standing at her side. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. He must have known what she'd been thinking. Unable to go without knowing any longer she let his hand slip from hers and forced her way through the crowd. She managed to keep her cool, not yelling out for either one her friends. She was the cool detective, level headed, never lost her mind. And she was not going to lose it in front of everyone.

Nearing the center of commotion she stopped short when Esposito came into her line of sight. Beside her Castle inhaled sharply. Blood. He had blood on his shirts, his arms and his hands. The look on his face was more confirmation than she needed. The sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach grew worse as she felt a bit dizzy. She didn't trust her voice at that precise moment as he walked up to them. Thankfully Castle sensed her shock and took the initiative.

"How bad is it? He'll be okay, right?" the worry was heavy in his voice. He cared about Esposito and Ryan just as much as she did.

"He just…one minute he wasn't there and the next…" Esposito seemed to be suffering his own form of shock from the most recent events. "I managed to wound him but not before…"

She finally found her voice. "How many?"

"Two," he winced as he said the word. "One in the shoulder, the other in the thigh. I tried to stop the bleeding…" He looked at the red on his hands. And in that moment Becket did something a bit out of the norm. She took a step forward and hugged her friend. Didn't matter in the least to her that she was getting blood smeared on her clothing.

"He'll be alright. Ryan's a fighter," she assured him.

Nearly a day later Castle walked into the hospital. He had been sent on an important errand. Actually, it was more like he jumped at the chance to pick up Ryan. When the doctor called to clear him Becket and Esposito were busy interrogating their suspect, desperate to get much needed answers. They had been going at it for hours and the captain didn't want them to stop just yet. So instead of having some random uniform pick-up Ryan Castle thought it might make the poor man feel better to see a familiar face. And to be perfectly honest, he was a bit eager to see Ryan. He had been on pins and needles since the shooting. Sure he had been in similar situations before but none of them had ever been hurt. Not seriously. He counted his lucky stars that the shooter hadn't been on their floor. It would have been Becket in the hospital. Or even worse, it could have been him. Then he would have had to deal with not only his daughter but also his mother and who wanted to go through that?

When he walked into the hospital room he found Ryan waiting for him. The detective had had a little help in getting dressed from a nurse so thankfully there was no need to worry about seeing the detective in one of those horrendous hospital robes. The bullet to the shoulder had been a through and through leaving a perfectly neat hole that bled like crazy. A few stitches and it was like new, aside from the pain. The wound in the thigh had been a bit more worrisome. Supposedly the doctors initially thought the femoral artery to have been clipped, a good explanation for all the blood. In actuality the bullet had sliced clean through a vein. Quick surgery to repair the damage and Ryan spent time in one of those spiffy beds under constant observation just incase something had been missed.

As it became clear that he would be find the doctors opted to discharge him on the strict instructions he go straight home and do nothing but rest for the next few days. Otherwise he might pull a stitch or somehow further injure himself. Sounded to Castle like a lot of time spent doing nothing, at least for the detective. If he had been in Ryan's shoes it would have been great fodder for one of his stories and there was no way he would have wasted time not writing.

"Ready to go?"

"You're my ride?" Ryan said when he spotted him, a flicker of disappointment quickly crossing over his features. He must have realized how the tone of his voice sounded. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

Castle chuckled. He understood. Even Becket wouldn't have been able to plead innocence. Mainly because the two of them talked about it when they were alone so he knew she was aware. As best as Ryan might have tried to hide it there was no denying how he truly felt for Esposito. "Your partner is busy with the guy that shot you. I'm pretty sure he'll be paying you a visit later. And if not, I'm sure Becket will push him in your direction."

Ryan stood there, a range of emotions passing over his face.

"Oh come on, everyone knows," Castle smiled, a twinkle in his eye.

He looked horrified, then quickly tried to deny it. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Castle clapped him on the good shoulder. "Nice try. But we've been taking bets."

"There's a pool?" Ryan sounded surprised. "How-"

"The captain has already lost," he explained as Ryan settled into the nearby wheelchair. He began to wheel his injured friend through the halls toward his waiting car. "And at the rate things are going I think our little friend down in the morgue is going to fall next. That leaves me to duke it out with Becket. The sooner you guys…you know, the better for me."

Hours later as most of the city fell into bed for a few hours of sleep Becket and Esposito finally left the interrogation room. It may have been hard work, it may have taken them a long time but they finally got the guy to break. He confessed to everything without a lawyer present. Said he didn't care. He was guilty and he deserved to get whatever was coming to him. Hopefully he had gotten his point across. Becket had rolled her eyes thinking the guy to be a completely loon. That was the only explanation. The guy had fallen off his rocker, lost his mind, go over the deep end. Whatever phrase best suited him. They all sounded right in her head.

The first place she headed was the break room in search of a cup of coffee. She needed the caffeine jolt to help her make it home without incident. She was more than welcome to sleep in the back room but hated spending all her time at the precinct. Especially after the last few days. She just wanted to get home, take a break from reality. If that was even possible.

As if reading her mind Esposito asked, "Heading home?"

"In a few. What about you?"

He shrugged.

She smiled coyly. "You know, Castle picked up Ryan today. Maybe you should pay him a visit. Something tells me that he would greatly appreciate seeing you. Might be the best medicine in the world."

He turned away in an attempt to hide the look on his face but she caught enough to know how he was feeling. Scared. Uncertain. "Maybe tomorrow. I'm beat."

"Go tonight," she instructed, downright ordered.

When he looked at her he was frowning. "Since when did you become my mother?"

"Just go. Trust me; it will be worth the while. It'll be good for both of you."

"I…can't."

"What are you afraid of?" she inquired, softening her tone. When was he going to come clean? When would he finally tell one of them how he truly felt about his partner? Of the two she had to admit he was better at keeping his feelings hidden but she spent so much time with him she soon had him all figured out. She knew full well that if the two of them finally confessed to each other how they felt that she was going to lose the pool but after what happened it didn't seem so important anymore. "You nearly lost him, Javie. Are you going to let it slip through your fingers? If you keep waiting it will eventually be too late."

For a few minutes he didn't say anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit. You love Ryan as much as he loves you."

As she said that he suddenly looked up in her direction, the expression of surprise easy to read on his face. How the hell could he not have noticed the way Ryan felt about him? "I-"

Not wanting to hear him protest anymore she moved away from the counter where she'd been leaning and pushed him in the direction of the door. "Trust me. Don't miss out on your chance for happiness."

He hesitated, probably weighing what she said, then he headed out of the break room. She thought she was going to be able to drink her coffee in peace when he suddenly leaned back through the door. "Maybe you should take your own advice."

Then he was gone.

Esposito pulled up to the curb, shutting off the engine. What the hell was he doing? Did he really want to walk up to that door and see if what Becket had said was true? He ignored the ticking of the engine as it cooled. She must have been mistaken, must have somehow been wrong. The last time he got into a conversation with Ryan about relationships his partner started talking about a girlfriend. Even in that moment he managed to keep his cool, kept from betraying his true emotions. Then again, Becket usually wasn't wrong.

He slipped out of the car, closing the door and leaning back against it, arms crossed over his chest. There were lights glowing behind curtains. As he stood there he thought back to the day of the shooting. The sound of the gunfire in the hallway. Hearing Ryan cry out in pain as the first bullet hit him. The second bullet arrived in quick pursuit and his partner had fallen to the floor. He saw it in his mind happening in slow motion, felt the pain in his heart as in those seconds he thought the object of his affection gone forever. And then the blood. Oh gees, the blood. He had been terrified that Ryan would bleed out before the paramedics arrived to whisk him away to the hospital.

In the end it all looked worse than it actually was.

Still…he had come close to losing someone he cared deeply for.

The words that Becket spoke to him finally spurred him into action. He walked up to the door and scanned the list of names to find the right buzzer. When he spotted his friend's name he hit the button all the while silently hoping there would be no answer. But then he heard Ryan's voice come over the intercom. A minute later he was trudging slowly up the stairs. With each step he grew closer to his destination. With each step his heart began to beat a little faster. What the hell was he going to say when he got there? What the hell was he going to do?

Much to his surprise he found Ryan standing outside his apartment leaning against the hall wall. "Are you supposed to be standing?" He spotted the wheelchair in the open doorway. Tried his best to ignore the sling Ryan wore to hold his arm in place.

"No, not really, but my ass was starting to go numb."

Then tension eased from his body and he laughed. Part of him had been terrified at seeing Ryan again, afraid of reliving those moments of the shooting. And then, without thinking he felt a strong desire to finally confess how he really felt. Something about the way his partner looked leaning there against the wall. Without uttering another word he quickly closed the distance between them. Placing a hand to either side of Ryan's face he did the one thing he had been dying to do for so long. He kissed the other man. His heart threatened to stop beating as a torrent of thoughts raced through his mind. What if Becket had been wrong? What if Ryan didn't feel the same way?

He pulled back the slightest bit, keeping his eyes closed, savoring the moment for what it was worth.

It was Ryan who break the silence first. "Took you long enough."

Esposito smiled, then leaned in for a second kiss.