Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or any of the show's original characters. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 1
Sarah's POV
"Hey, Sarah, you wanna hang out after school?"
The question was matched beautifully with a warm and sincere smile. The girl stood with her arms hugged around her textbooks, waiting patiently, hopefully, for Sarah to answer 'yes.'
Sarah Ryan averted her gaze, tucking her straight, blond hair behind her ear nervously. "Oh. Um, no, sorry. But thank you, for the offer, though."
"Some other time maybe?" the girl asked, persistent.
"Yeah, sure," Sarah said. A lie, of course. But she couldn't stand to be any ruder to a girl so nice, a girl whose name she couldn't even remember.
"Cool," the girl said, her smile never falling from her lips. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, okay." Sarah turned to her locker and pretended to be sorting through the clutter busily. She didn't stop until the nice girl's footsteps had gone down the hallway. Then, she sighed, dropping her chin to her chest. "You're such an idiot," she whispered. "She was trying to be your friend." You can't afford friends…you can't afford casualties.
Sarah slammed her locker door shut. Not angrily. Frustrated, she decided. Everything was going wrong. Every word she said, every decision she made seemed to dig her young grave another shovel full of dirt deeper. And her dad being a cop was like the headstone of all her mistakes. True, it wasn't her fault he was her father. But it was her fault the daughter she'd turned out to be.
Esposito's POV
"How's Sarah doing?" Esposito asked, walking shoulder to shoulder with Ryan as they approached the crime scene, pulling on their gloves. They didn't know much about anything yet, but they did know the shooting victim was young, a white male, in his late teens. This was one of the hardest crime scenes to deal with, and it helped, sometimes, to hear about a kid that was doing well.
Ryan smiled. "She's doing great. Good grades in school, looking at some awesome colleges."
"Haven't seen her around the station much recently," Esposito said.
"Yeah," Ryan agreed, "I think she's going through a phase where it isn't cool to hang out with your dad, you know? Plus, she's planning on getting involved in some extracurricular activities to put on her college application."
Esposito suppressed a chuckle as he inquired, "Any special someone in her life?"
The reaction he received from his partner was priceless, and more than he could have hoped for. Ryan visibly stiffened and squared his shoulders. "Sarah's too young to date," he said uncomfortably.
"Oh, c'mon," Esposito retorted, "Bro! She's sixteen now! She's in high school."
"She can date when she's eighteen," Ryan shot back.
Esposito rolled his eyes. "Let me tell you something, Kevin, as a guy who remembers high school like it was yesterday." Ryan snorted in disbelief, but Esposito ignored him. "High school is a hormonal breeding ground, man! I'll bet you a hundred bucks that Sarah has had at least one boyfriend since her freshman year."
Ryan made a noise in the back of his throat. "If Sarah were dating anyone, I guarantee I would have heard about it. And I haven't."
"Okay, man, if that's what you want to believe."
"I do, 'cause it's the truth. Sarah and I are close. She knows she can tell me anything," Ryan stated.
Before Esposito could make a reply, they had come upon the body of their victim.
"Damn," Ryan breathed, kneeling beside the body. "Just a kid."
Esposito frowned. "Looks to be in his late teens. Wonder what the hell he was into to get himself shot."
"This is always the hardest kind of case to work, ya know?" Ryan asked, looking up at his partner. "I hate this kind of case."
"We all do," Esposito agreed. "But someone's got to catch the SOB who did this."
"Yeah." Ryan's eyes returned to the body, studying the three bullet holes in the kid's chest. "And it might as well be us."
Beckett's POV
Captain Beckett came out of her office and approached the murder board two of her best detectives were setting up. Ryan put up a picture of the victim's face, ashen and speckled with blood. Next to it, he put a blown up picture they had found on the kid's ID, a smiling, roguish face mugged for the camera.
"Eighteen-year-old Jace Owens," Esposito said, opening the file he'd had tucked under his arm. "Foster kid; jumped from home to home; school to school. That's what we got from social services. Other than that, he doesn't have so much as a parking ticket."
Beckett studied the photos. "Cause of death?" she asked.
"Three gunshot wounds to the chest," Ryan replied. "The killer was thorough. They ally was overwhelmed with prints, and there were no prints on the body. The bullets passed straight through, and there was residue on the body, so he was shot at very close range. We looked for the bullets, and found a few holes in the wall behind Owens, but the bullets had been dug out."
"On top of that," Esposito said, "the ally has no security cameras, so we've got nothing there either."
"Wow," Beckett said, crossing her arms and offering her subordinates a weary grin, "sounds like you two have your work cut out for you."
Esposito smiled. "The ally might not have had cameras, but a convenience store down the street does, and it happened to catch someone walking down the street at around three thirty this morning toward the ally, and then three minutes later, he's caught running the opposite direction. The morgue puts Owens death between two-thirty and four-thirty."
"Putting your suspect right in the middle," Beckett said. She added, "But how are you going to ID this guy?"
Ryan put up another picture on the board. "The store owner recognized him. Emory Doyle, a homeless drug addict who frequents the area. Owner says that he comes to the store about once every couple weeks with a wad of cash…"
The photo was a mug shot, a man whose face was mostly hidden by unkempt facial hair, but his eyes were a startling pale blue in contrast with his dark hair and weathered tan.
"How're you gonna find him?" Beckett asked.
"Already did," Esposito said. "He was entirely wasted."
"We're letting him sleep it off in holding," Ryan added.
Beckett sighed. "Well, I hope he's the guy you're looking for."
"So do we, Captain," Esposito agreed.
Ryan's POV
The moment Ryan sat down across from their suspect, his hopes of ending the case anytime soon died. This nervous, antsy man was in no way capable of holding a gun to someone's chest and shooting three times for the kill. On top of that, Owens would have been able to overpower Emory effortlessly, without a doubt. Whoever Owens' killer was, it wasn't Emory Doyle.
However, Emory obviously knew something about the victim, because every time Ryan mentioned Owens' name, Emory jumped a little in his seat, or shifted, or changed the subject to something random.
"I don't know what you want from me," Emory whined, slouching in his chair, and picking at the chain of his handcuffs.
Ryan rolled his eyes. "You know exactly what we want from you. Tell us how you knew Jace Owens."
"I need to pee," Emory said.
Ryan gritted his teeth. "Answer the question, Emory."
The drug addict's eyes looked everywhere but at Ryan. "I don't know him! I told you already."
"For some reason, I don't believe you." Ryan pushed back from the table, standing up to deliver the photograph of the gunned-down teen. "How. Do. You. Know. Him."
Emory's eyes averted the photograph, and he stared with unwavering interest at his discolored fingernails. "I didn't really know him," he said finally, "I just worked for him a little, that's all."
"Worked for him how? What did you do for him?"
"I picked stuff up for him, okay?" Emory cried. "He'd give me an address; I'd go get a package from the place he told me to go, and bring it to him in the alley. Then he'd give me some cash, and I'd leave. I never asked any questions."
"Do you have any guesses as to what he was into?" Ryan felt his tension headache ease slightly as the dimwitted witness started to break under the light pressure he'd put the guy under. He didn't suspect Emory of murdering Jace whatsoever.
Emory shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "No! I don't! I just did it for the money. That's it!"
"Do you know of anyone whom might know what Jace was up to?"
Finally, Emory's eyes met his, and he looked almost excited as he said, "Yeah! I do!"
When the man didn't elaborate, Ryan prompted, "Who?"
"I don't know her name," Emory admitted, "but I saw her with him almost every time I brought by a package."
"What did she look like?"
Emory smiled crudely. "She was hot. A blonde girl. Blue eyes. Awesome legs…"
Ryan cut him off, "How old was she?"
That question caused Emory to sober up a bit. "I dunno. Teenager," he said. "I wasn't into her weird or anything, I'm just telling you the facts."
"Could you describe her to a sketch artist?" Ryan asked, trying to ignore the sensation of his skin crawling at the thought of some man ogling a girl probably around his daughter's age.
"Sure," Emory agreed, now on the defensive, "If that'll get me out of here quicker. 'Cause I haven't done anything wrong!"
Ryan smiled irritably. "Thank you for your cooperation, sir. You make my job a lot easier." Sarcasm dripped off every syllable.
Emory squirmed. "Can I go to the bathroom now?"
"Sure," Ryan said, standing and using a hand to indicate the door. "After you."
He followed the idiot witness out the door.
Sarah's POV
Sarah walked into the 12th precinct, homicide division. She saw her dad's empty desk across the bullpen, but his partner, Detective Esposito was at his desk, staring hard at his computer screen. She took a deep breath and walked across the crowded office. "Hey, Uncle Javi," she said when she was close enough to be heard over the bustle.
Javier looked up and grinned. "Hey, girl. What are you doing here?"
"I came to see my dad. Is he around?"
"He's in an interrogation right now. We just landed a case this morning, and our witness isn't being very cooperative."
"Oh," Sarah said.
"You're welcome to wait for him if you want. He should be out in a few minutes." Javier pointed to the chair by his desk.
"Cool, thanks," Sarah said, sitting down. She dropped her book bag at her feet and let her eyes wander the room, purposely avoiding the murder board. She hated that thing. When she was little, before she learned to resist the temptation of looking at it, it had been the source of many of her nightmares. Her dad had always tried to avert her attention, keep her from looking, turn the board around, but a kid will find a way to do whatever they want if they have the will. Now, at 16, Sarah had finally figured out it was a blessing not to see the mangled bodies of victims, the innocent gazes of potential murderers, and the vast array of available weapons bloodied from violence.
"Is everything okay?" Javier asked.
Sarah looked at him and smiled. "Oh, yeah. Everything's fine."
"You seem quiet," he said.
"Oh." Sarah laughed. "Well, you know. Everything's fine if you don't count cute, disinterested boys; mean girl gossip and a million hours of homework…you know. The usual high schooler's life story."
He didn't believe her; she could see it. How on earth did she think she could lie to a veteran homicide detective who dealt with truth and lies every day? But Sarah kept eye contact and held it until Javier grinned reluctantly. "Oh. If that's all…"
Sarah smiled and glanced away, her eyes coming to the dreaded murder board. That's when she saw him. That's when the last shovel full of dirt came flying out, and she felt herself free-falling into that hole. That's the moment when her whole, fragile world she'd done everything to hold together, shattered.
Ryan's POV
As they walked into the main office area, Ryan saw his daughter sitting at his partner's desk. She looked terrified, her gaze glued to the murder board. Ryan sighed, wondering what therapy she'd need this time. As he and Emory got closer, about to walk in front of the murder board, Emory started to stare at Sarah, his eyes moving up and down her body. Ryan reached up to give creep a good shake and a shove when Emory stopped and pointed straight at Sarah. "That's her. That's the girl!"
Ryan's heart skipped a beat as he grabbed Emory by both arms and pushed him forward roughly. "Shut up, you freak. Keep moving."
But Emory resisted, craning his neck to look back at Sarah, drawing the attention of everyone in the room as he shouted. "I'd know that girl anywhere! That's her, that's Jace's girl!"
Ryan struggled to keep Emory moving, calling for assistance. He saw Esposito pulling Sarah out of her chair and leading her into the break room. But Sarah was looking back, her eyes watching Emory. Ryan didn't want to see what he saw next: recognition, fear, anger, panic.
"Get him down to a cell!" Ryan demanded to the cops that came to his aid.
Once Emory was out of his custody, the first thing Ryan did was run to the bathroom and heave the contents of his stomach into the toilet.
Esposito's POV
Everything happened so fast. One second, Esposito was realizing that Sarah was having a negative reaction to the murder board, the next, their suspect, Emory, was right there, going crazy, pointing and lunging at Sarah and saying, "That's Jace's girl!"
Esposito's first impulse was to take control of the situation; however, he resisted the urge to deck Emory between the eyes, and stood up, grabbed Sarah's arm, pulled her to her feet and led her into the break room. While she didn't resist, her attention was entirely enthralled with Emory.
"Here, sit down," he said, pulling her away from the window and gently pushing her onto the couch. He went back to the window and closed the blinds. The window on the door was still open, but since they couldn't see Emory through it, Esposito left it alone. He sat down next to Sarah on the couch, putting himself between her and the door. "Are you okay, Sarah?" he asked.
Sarah wouldn't look at him. Her gaze was still trained out through the window and into the bullpen.
"Sarah? Look at me, okay? Can you look at me?" Esposito tried to avert her gaze by shifting himself into her line of vision.
Finally, Sarah's gaze met his. "Where's my dad?" she asked.
"I'm sure he'll be right in," Esposito said, "He's taking care of that freak right now."
"His picture was on the board," Sarah said. Her voice broke. "Did he kill…"
"We don't know, probably not," Esposito said. "He's just a witness.
Beckett's POV
Beckett heard the shouting from her office. She immediately stood, reaching instinctively for her holster. Staring through the open blinds, she saw Ryan struggling with their suspect, Emory, shoving him forward while Emory seemed to be resisting Ryan's propelling. The suspect's head was turned as far back as he could under the circumstances, and his eyes were glued to the person sitting in the chair next to Esposito's desk: Sarah Ryan.
Beckett made her way around her desk, her eyes never leaving the scene as a couple of uniformed officers suddenly appeared, apprehending Emory from Ryan's custody. Esposito had already caught hold of Sarah's arm, hauling her to her feet and leading into the break room, away from the commotion. Sarah was visibly upset, allowing herself to be directed, but her face was always turned toward Emory, watching him with the same intensity as he was trying to watch her.
Beckett opened her door and strode out into the bullpen. She raised her voice to be heard over Emory's shouting. "That's enough out of you," she said forcibly.
"You don't understand," Emory said, his blue eyes piercing her gaze wildly. "That's the girl I was telling that detective about. That's Jace's girl! I'm telling you, I don't need no sketch artist!"
Beckett simply stared at him for a couple confused seconds before she seconded the order Ryan had already given. "Take him down to holding. I'll talk to him later."
As the officers led the suspect away, Beckett glanced into the break room. Esposito was sitting next to Sarah on the couch, leaning forward with his face turned to her. But Sarah didn't look at her honorary uncle. She was looking at Beckett.
Beckett resisted the urge to rush in and assess the situation. She glanced around for Ryan, who doubtlessly should be in comforting his daughter; however, he wasn't in the bullpen anymore, and she knew he hadn't gone down to take Emory to holding.
"Where's Detective Ryan?" She asked one of the other detectives sitting at their desk close by.
The man nodded toward the restrooms. "He went in there. Looked like he was about to be sick, honestly."
Beckett frowned. She couldn't imagine what it must feel like to have your daughter verbally assaulted like that, and having no power to make the idiot stop his ranting. She considered going in and talking to Ryan, letting him know that they had everything under control now and he should really be with his daughter; however, she thought better of it and decided to send Esposito in. They were partners, after all, and she could sit with Sarah.
She went in the break room. "I'm sorry about that, Sarah," she said, closing the door behind her.
"Where's my dad?" Sarah asked.
Esposito looked up at Beckett as well, his eyes silently requesting an answer as well.
Beckett hesitated a moment. "He'll be in in a minute. He had to take care of our suspect. Espo, why don't you go see how he's doing? I'll stay with Sarah."
"Sure," Esposito said, standing.
Beckett leaned in as he approached the door. "Check the restroom," she said under her breath.
Esposito nodded and left.
Beckett took his place on the couch beside Sarah. "That doesn't happen every day," she said, putting a reassuring hand on Sarah's back. "But you seem to be handling it well."
Sarah stared at the floor, clutching her hands together between her knees. "Captain Beckett, can I ask you something?" she asked.
Beckett was startled by the use of her official name coming from the girl she'd known literally since birth. She'd always been known as "Aunt Kate" or "Katie" to Sarah. Never Captain Beckett. "You know you can ask me anything, Sarah," Beckett said softly.
Sarah took a deep breath. "Is Jace really dead?"
Esposito's POV
Confused, Esposito stalked to the bathroom and went to the only stall with its door closed. "What the hell, Kevin!" he demanded, "Your daughter needs you right now. Get out of there, you idiot!"
The stall door unlatched, and Ryan stood there, his eyes red-rimmed, his face ashen. He looked worse off than Sarah. Esposito regarded at him sympathetically. "Dude," he said. "Pull yourself together. Sarah can't see you like this. I know what happened was horrible, but you need to snap out of it."
"I don't think Emory's lying," Ryan said.
Esposito could have sworn he didn't hear Ryan correctly. "Excuse me?"
Ryan's eyes came up to meet Esposito's. "I think Emory's telling the truth. Sarah knew Jace."
"No," Esposito said, "shut up, man. Don't let that perp get in your head. What the hell, man? Are you really going to think that about your little girl?"
Ryan stiffened, his dazed expression solidified fiercely. "You think I want to believe that? You think I want it to be true?" he snapped. "I saw her face, Javi, before you got her into the break room. She knew Emory. And she was scared, not because of what he was doing, but because of what he was saying. He was ratting her out, and that's what scared her!"
"No," Esposito said. "That's not true. You need to come and see Sarah Grace for yourself. She needs you, Kevin. She needs her dad."
Ryan took a deep, shuddering breath, his features softening as he ran his hands over his face. "But what if it is true, Javi?"
Esposito hesitated, considering. "If it is true — which is isn't! — then you're going to be a dad, not a cop."
"Yeah," Ryan said, nodding, "Yeah." He went to the sink and rinsed his face, drying it with the paper towels Esposito handed to him. He didn't look good, but he looked better.
Sarah's POV
"Did you know Jace Owens?" Kate asked.
Sarah couldn't look at her…wouldn't, she supposed. She knew what Kate would see when she answered, when she finally allowed the light to touch the edges of her darkness. The darkness she had worked for months—years even—to hide from her parents. "He is, I mean, he was my…boyfriend."
When Kate didn't immediately explode, Sarah dared to cast a sideways glance, catching the look of utter shock on her dad's boss's face. Kate was simply staring at her, her mouth slightly agape.
"My dad doesn't know. Neither does my mom," Sarah continued. "I couldn't let them know."
"I'm sorry, Sarah, that you had to find out like this," Kate said, her voice unsure and halting.
Sarah offered a bitter smile. "Yeah, well, I sure didn't want my dad to find out like—that." She gestured toward the door. Her breathing hitched as the impact of what was happening started to actually register. Tears threatened, but Sarah brushed them away bitterly. "I don't…I mean…Jace was fine last night, when I talked to him on the phone." Sarah sniffed, touched her nose against the cuff of her pullover, and then turned her face full-on to Kate. "Are they sure it's him? I mean, it could be like, his cousin or something. He's been a foster kid since he was little, doesn't know any of his real family. Maybe I can call him?"
But Kate shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sarah. It's him."
Sarah tried to hold her breath, tried to keep the panic, the pain, from bubbling up and overflowing into everything. But breath after breath escaped, and suddenly, she was leaning against Kate her entire body being wracked by sobs.
Ryan's POV
Ryan followed Esposito into the break room, and when he saw his daughter in anguished tears, he regretted ever believing she might have been involved with Jace. Had he allowed his life as a homicide detective to make him so cynical that he even allowed his own daughter to be scrutinized through the lenses of his work-life?
"Sarah, honey, I'm so sorry," Ryan said though Sarah would never know that the words had a double meaning. He knelt down in front of her and tried to bring her attention to him. "Sweetie, that never should have happened."
Beckett shifted, gently pushing Sarah away from her and towards Ryan. "I'll leave you two alone for a few minutes." She stood up, and then added, "Espo, can I have a word in my office, please?"
"Sure, captain," Esposito agreed. He gave Ryan's shoulder a gentle clap before following Beckett out of the room.
Ryan got up on the couch, an arm wrapped around Sarah while the other reached for the box of tissues on the coffee table beside him. "Here, sweetheart, here's a tissue."
Sarah took one and blew her nose, folded it, and attempted to remove some of her smearing mascara from under her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Dad," she said, taking a deep breath. "I never meant for any of this to happen."
"Of course not," Ryan said, "And it shouldn't have happened. It was my fault, really…I should have brought the witness through the bullpen another way."
"No, Dad," Sarah said, pulling away from him and moving to the far end of the couch. "That's not what I mean. That guy, your witness, he wasn't lying. I do know Jace, and Emory has seen me with him before…a few times."
Ryan felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. The air abandoned his lungs, and he struggled to breathe.
"Dad, are you okay?" Sarah reached out and clutched his arm. "Dad?"
Ryan's tongue clung to the roof of his mouth, but he tried to shove words past the painful lump forming in his throat. "You," he began, but his voice failed him and he had to start again, "You knew Jace?"
"Dad, I think I should talk to Kate," Sarah said. "You look sick." Fear was evident on her face.
"But," Ryan continued, "you can't've known him…he was, he was into some bad stuff, Sarah, and you aren't that kind of girl."
Tears began to fall anew as Sarah whispered. "I didn't want to be, Dad. I'm so sorry."
Esposito's POV
Something was up, Esposito could tell.
When he'd left the break room to get Ryan, it was like Sarah had been in denial, as though the situation with Emory had stunned her and she couldn't react. When he and Ryan got back, she was a wreck, as though her entire world had fallen apart. He didn't doubt it had been a terrifying experience, or that Sarah shouldn't feel emotional, even if it was delayed; however, he'd never seen any girl go from point A to point B so fast in his life. Maybe he didn't remember what high school girls were like after all. Then again, maybe Beckett had made her feel safe to unleash her emotions while he had made her feel awkward and uncomfortable.
Once they were safely closed in Beckett's office, Beckett didn't waste any time. "Sarah and Jace Owens were in a relationship."
"What?" Esposito's mind was reeling. After all the assurances he'd given to Ryan…and then that episode with Ryan in the alley where they found the body, about Sarah having a secret boyfriend. He gripped one of the chairs in front of Beckett's desk for support, though he tried to do it almost casually. "Are you sure?"
"She told me herself," Beckett said. "The last time she spoke to him was last night, and she said that everything seemed fine."
"So we're gonna have to interview her," Esposito said.
Beckett pressed her lips together. "Yeah."
"Is Sarah going to tell Kevin?" Esposito asked.
Beckett glanced out her office door. "She has to. I wanted to give them a little time to talk about it on their own before we had to do anything, but I think we should go in there now. Sarah might have some idea as to what Jace was into."
"When Emory pulled his little stunt in the bullpen, he said something about Sarah being Jace's girl, which means Sarah wasn't just in a relationship with Jace, she was there when Emory met Jace."
"Did you find out what Emory was meeting Jace about?" Beckett asked.
Esposito shook his head. "Ryan had just gotten out of the interview with him when Emory started shooting off his mouth. We didn't get time to discuss anything."
Beckett's frown deepened. "We'd better get back to Ryan and Sarah. She may have the key to solving Jace's murder."
Sarah's POV
Was her dad old enough to have a heart attack? He wasn't elderly, but he certainly wasn't a young man anymore. The creases in his face, the silvery strands beginning to infiltrate his otherwise brown hair was evidence of that. But her dad had always seemed invincible, and even on his worst days, he always had a smile to spare for his family, to let them know everything was fine…or that it was going to be.
But with her words, it was as though he shattered. Everything he had ever withstood could not compare to the disappointment of his daughter turning criminal. This was exactly why she had hidden everything from him and her mom. It was to protect them. To save them the pain of a failure of a daughter.
Or maybe it was to protect myself, a voice inside her whispered.
"Dad," Sarah said, her fingers still gripped around his arm, "please, say something."
He was staring at the floor, but her voice drew his gaze up to meet hers again. "What was Jace into, Sarah?" he asked faintly.
Sarah hesitated. "I don't know," she said at last. "I just know he would get money, a lot of money, in packages. But he never told me why he was getting it, where it was from."
"Drugs?" her dad asked.
Sarah closed her eyes. "No. I don't think so."
"You need to tell us everything you know, Sarah, no holding back," her dad said. He was transforming again, from father to broken to cop.
"I know," Sarah said, "but, Dad, don't make me tell you. I want to talk to Uncle Javi or Kate. Please, Dad."
"Sarah, I just want to help you."
Sarah nodded. "I know."
Before her dad could say anything else, the break room door opened, and Kate and Javier came into the room. "Sarah, can we talk to you about Jace?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah," Sarah said. She stood up and looked once more at her father before following Kate out the door.
Ryan's POV
Ryan watched Sarah follow Beckett out of the room; however, Esposito didn't immediately follow. Instead, he came over to the couch and sat down where Sarah had been.
"Dude," Esposito said in a low voice, "I'm sorry about this, man."
Ryan inhaled a deep, shuddering breath. "Where did I go wrong, Javi? Where did I lose her?"
"Hey, you haven't lost her yet. Sure, she fell off the path, but we're here to get her back on track, right?" Esposito put a hand on Ryan's shoulder and squeezed. "Beckett and I are here for you, man. You and Sarah and Jenny."
"Jenny!" Ryan cried. "What am I going to tell Jenny?"
"The truth," Esposito replied gently. "You've gotta get through this as a family, right?"
Ryan nodded and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Sarah won't talk to me, Javi. She said she wanted to talk to you and Beckett."
"That might be best for now," Esposito said. "Let Beckett and I get the facts straight. But she'll talk to you, Kevin, when she's ready. You're her father, she just doesn't want you to be disappointed in her."
"But I'm not!" Ryan cried. "I mean, yes, I'm disappointed in her decisions, but not in her. I'm disappointed in myself. I let her down. I didn't protect her; I wasn't involved enough!"
"You've been a great father, Kevin, don't self yourself short."
Ryan closed his eyes. He needed to call Jenny.
TBC
A/N: I will reply to reviews that have questions or answerable comments in my profile!
