Esposito and His Chica
"Lanie, calm down! You're going to have a stroke!"
"I don't care Beckett, I'm gonna kill him!"
Kate's eyes widened. For as long as they'd been friends, she couldn't remember if Lanie Parish had EVER called her Beckett before. Even as a trained police officer and homicide detective, Lanie had always scared her, ever so slightly. Trying to keep a grip on an enraged medical examiner was not something she was used to. For such a tiny woman, Lanie was freakishly strong.
"Lanie, I'm not letting you go until you calm down! What happened?"
"Lanie, it wasn't Espo's fault. He did the right thing," Castle piped up, trying desperately to say anything that would calm Lanie down and keep Esposito from ending up as the 12th Precinct's newest murder victim. "He pushed her away…granted after about five seconds but he pushed her away!" Lanie struggled harder. Beckett shot him a murderous glare and he fell silent, realizing he may have done more harm than good by such a poor choice of words. For a best-selling author, sometimes his choice of words was just downright lousy.
"Why didn't he tell me?" Lanie demanded to know as she fought to be free of Kate's grasp. "Did he like it? Is he seeing her on the side? Is he playing me? I'm gonna kill him!"
"Lanie, Espo's crazy about you! She was just some random drunk girl that slobbered all over him. He pushed her away and got away from her. He came back to the bar and swore Ryan and me to secrecy about it. He didn't want to tell you because he knew you would react this way," Castle said. "It seems that, judging by your reaction, he was right."
Beckett rolled her eyes. Lanie began to struggle a little less against Beckett's iron grip as Castle's words slowly began to sink in. She was acting…a tad irrationally.
"He shoved her away?" Lanie whispered.
"Yes chica, I pushed her away." a deep voice rumbled as Castle, Beckett and Lanie's heads spun towards the doors to the morgue. Esposito stood there, his arms crossed and an apologetic look on his face.
"I didn't tell you about it because I didn't want you to ever have any doubt about me," Esposito said, as he walked crossed the room toward Lanie, his hands palm up as if he were a suspect surrendering himself to the police, showing he was unarmed. Beckett released her, Castle and Beckett immediately backing away from her, letting Esposito take his life in his hands. There were still a few sharp knives on the examination table.
"Chica, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It meant less than nothing to me."
"Really? Then why did it take you so long to push her away from you? Did you enjoy it?" Lanie said, bitterly.
Without warning, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, holding her closely against his chest. He couldn't let her think that way. She tried to fight it but her traitorous body relished his warmth and she began to relax before she stiffened, remembering that she was still angry at him. Looking into his brown eyes, against her will, she felt herself starting to melt.
"She meant less than nothing to me. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt you. I knew how much it would bother you, thinking of someone else kissing me…kind of like how I felt when I heard you were dating that stupid firefighter…Mr. June or July or some stupid month," Esposito said darkly. Remembering she was in his arms, he cleared his head. "She was drunk. She could barely stand. She had nothing on you. I swore Castle and Ryan to secrecy because I didn't think it was a big deal…and I also wanted to be able to tell you myself. I didn't want you to find out from anyone else, but apparently someone couldn't keep their big mouth shut," Esposito said, glaring menacingly at Castle, who immediately hid behind Beckett for protection.
Beckett rolled her eyes again but knew she had to confess to Esposito.
"Espo…this is my fault. I saw you guys at the bar last night. I saw her kissing you and I confronted Castle about it this morning," Beckett said, speaking faster as Lanie's eyes widened, realizing her best friend knew about it and didn't tell her. "Lanie, I wasn't going to tell you about this until I had a chance to speak to Castle about it. I didn't want to jump to conclusions and make you crazy if there was no reason. I just didn't know that you overheard me and Castle talking about it until you called us down here and jumped us both about it. I'm so sorry, Lanie."
"Me too Lanie," Castle said, still hiding from Esposito's slowly diminishing wrath.
"Guys, would you give us a few minutes please?" Esposito asked.
Castle and Beckett couldn't leave the morgue fast enough.
Gazing down into Lanie's eyes, he kissed her lips.
"Chica, don't be mad at them. This is my fault. I should've just told you. I was just waiting for the right time…where you weren't surrounded by lots of knives and scalpels. I know I have a reputation…not like Castle's or anything but…"
"Hey!" Castle said on the other side of the door. Beckett shushed him. Espo hid a small smile.
"Lanie, I love you. I only want you. You're the only woman I want and nothing is ever going to change that. I'm not going to sacrifice the best thing that's ever happened to me for some drunken fling. Even if we drive each other crazy…and we will…I don't care what happens, you'll never be rid of me. "
Lanie couldn't help herself. She squeezed him tightly, feeling his chin on the top of her head.
"Javier Esposito, if you ever hide anything like this from me again…no matter how good the reason…I WILL cut you. You know that, right?"
"Whatever you say chica. Whatever you say," Esposito said with a smile slowly breaking across his face.