AN: This is a fic idea I've had bouncing around in my head ever since the first 3XK episode. I know that the continuation of that story line is airing next week, but this is my interpretation of what I think would happen when the 3XK comes back. This would be considered AU, but everything up to Heroes and Villains is fair game.
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Kevin Ryan shut the door on his locker and paused by the mirror to check his hair and straighten his tie before heading upstairs to his desk. He grabbed the phone off the hook and dialed the well known number. Cradling the receiver between his shoulder and his ear, Ryan looked through the paperwork on his desk. He had painstakingly cleared it off that morning, since he would be gone for the next two weeks on his honeymoon, but through out the day more and more paperwork had made its way there. The phone rang for a third time and then Jenny answered.
"This had better be Javier calling, because Kevin is supposed to be picking me up in five minutes." Jenny's voice was stern, but teasing.
"Jenny, it's me, sorry, I had to grab something from work before I left." Ryan was apologizing. "I promise I'll be there as soon as possible."
"Kev, it's fine." He could hear the grin on her face. "We've got the rest of our lives to spend together; I think I can forgive you for being a few minutes late."
"You think?" Ryan smiled. It was the night of their rehearsal dinner, he was picking up Jenny and then they were going to the church and they would walk through everything and then have dinner with their friends.
"Don't make me break up with you," Jenny threatened him. "Oh, I have to go, there's someone at the door. I bet it's Mr. Simon from down the hall again."
"I wish he would realize that his cat is always in the laundry room and that cats can't open door knobs and escape into the hall." Ryan shook his head and checked his watch. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be there." Ryan promised her. "I love you."
"I'll hold you to that ten minutes. Love you, too." She replied and the hung up.
"Bro, you need to get going." Javier Esposito reminded his partner as Kevin started going through the papers on his desk again. "Whatever you have on your desk, I'll take care of it."
"Are you sure?" Ryan glanced at him.
"I'm sure. What else is a best man for? Now go, you've got that 'til death do you part stuff to memorize."
"Thanks, Javi, I owe you one!" Ryan called over his shoulder and he ran for the elevator.
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Traffic was a nightmare as usual, Ryan almost wished that he had taken his department issue so he could have fired up the gumball and gotten through faster. Not that it would have helped much.
He tapped his fingers against his leg and when the taxi stopped at the third red light, he pulled out his cell phone and called Jenny. The phone rang a half dozen times before going to voice mail. Ryan frowned and dialed again. The phone went to voice mail after six rings for a second time, and when Ryan redialed, a third. He was beginning to get worried. There was no reason why she wouldn't be answering her phone.
He glanced out the window at the street signs. He was only eight blocks from her apartment building.
"Pull over here," Ryan told the cabbie.
"Pull over here? We're a hella long ways from where you said you wanted to go?" The cabbie looked back at him in the rear view mirror.
"Just pull over," Ryan shouted at him and as soon as the car was stopped, Ryan shoved a twenty into the man's hand and started running down the street.
He reached Jenny's apartment and the doorman let him in. Ryan tried calling her phone again, but there was no answer. He sprinted for the stairs, flashing his badge as the doorman yelled after him to slow down.
Jenny's apartment was on the fifth floor. He rounded the last flight of stairs and headed down the hall to apartment 5D. He knocked, calling her name, but there was no answer. He fished on his keyring for the key to her place and shoved it in the lock.
Dozens of worse case scenarios had been playing through Ryan's mind as he had been running, but nothing could have prepared him for this. His Jenny was lying on the floor of her apartment, between the entry way and the living room.
She was wearing the dress she'd gotten for tonight and her purse was clutched in her hand. Her legs were askew and her hair was fanned out underneath her. She looked almost angelic.
Ryan's immediate instinct was to rush to her side, but even before he knelt down next to her, he knew it was too late. Her dress was a soft blue-green color that Ryan had loved so much, but the color was marred by two holes that would have gone through her heart. He felt the tears welling up inside, and unconsciously he grabbed for her hand. It had only been thirty minutes at the most since he had hung up the phone at the station.
A small voice inside him told him to call 911. Ryan called, he knew he was babbling to the operator, but he couldn't pull himself together to make sense at the moment. The operator asked if Ryan wanted her to stay on the line and Ryan said no; he needed to be alone before the apartment was crawling with CSU and uniformed officers.
The first thing Ryan heard was the sound of sirens outside the building, that was followed by the shouting of his partner from the hallway.
Esposito burst through the door, looking extremely tense. He flinched when he saw Jenny and paused for a second. Then he shook himself and focused on Ryan.
"Kev," he said softly. His partner was sitting on his knees, holding Jenny's hand and staring downwards. "Kevin," his voice was louder this time. It seemed to bring Ryan out of his haze.
"Esposito?" He sounded confused.
"I heard Jenny's address on the scanner and I got here as soon as I could." Javier wasn't touching anything, but set about memorizing every detail of the apartment.
"Ryan, Esposito?" Beckett's worried voice came through the cracked door.
"In here, Beckett," Esposito responded, still looking around the apartment carefully.
Beckett came in followed by a uniformed officer and two CSU techs. "Oh, Ryan," the detective murmured softly. She exchanged a look with Esposito and then the two of them were all business. They would need to bag Ryan's clothes, take his statement and get the M.E. down as soon as possible.
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They had to wait until CSU had cleared the living room before Beckett could sit down with Ryan and get a statement. He was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt that Esposito had brought from Ryan's locker at the station.
It had only been an hour since the police had arrived, but the detective looked like he had aged ten years. He was staring at his hands as Beckett pulled out her notebook.
"Kevin," Beckett felt a little odd saying the detective's first name, but it seemed to be the only thing that got his attention. "I need you to tell me what happened."
Ryan let out a slow breath, steadying himself. "I was coming over to pick up Jenny before the rehearsal dinner and-" his eyes widened. "Oh, god, the dinner, everyone is there." He looked up in panic.
Beckett held up her hands to calm him down. "We have that under control." She told him. "You came over to pick up Jenny." She prompted him to continue.
He nodded, "I called on my way, because I was running late and she didn't answer. I got worried, I don't know why, but I just had this gut feeling. I got out of the cab eight blocks from here and started running. I went up the stairs and when I let myself in..." He glanced behind him, where Perlmutter was examining Jenny's body and gave an involuntary shudder.
"Did you see anyone else in the apartment?"
Ryan shook his head. "No, no one was here. I called 911 and then I don't remember anything until you guys got here."
Castle quietly came over and sat down beside Beckett. He had been the one who had called the rehearsal dinner attendees. They were all Jenny and Ryan's friends and family and it had been the hardest thing Castle had done while shadowing Beckett.
"Ryan, can you think of anyone who would have wanted to hurt Jenny?" Beckett asked.
Ryan shook his head. "Jenny's just so sweet and nice and funny and no one hated her." His voice caught in his throat and he blinked furiously to keep the tears from falling.
"Do you have a place to stay for the night?"
Ryan looked around the apartment and slowly shook his head.
"I don't want you to be alone," Beckett told him. "Not as a cop, but as your friend." She added softly, putting a hand on his knee.
"I'll stay with him." Esposito said, from where he was leaning against the door frame.
"You can both stay at my apartment. The guest room is empty." Castle told them.
Ryan nodded numbly and stood, looking down at the socks on his feet and wondering briefly where the hell his shoes were.
Lanie came up to them. She gave Ryan a small hug and briefly held on when she felt him almost collapse on her. "It'll be okay," she whispered and squeezed his shoulder as she helped him sit back down.
"So, you're both coming with me," Castle looked between Ryan and Esposito.
"Hang on a minute, Castle." Lanie looked sick to her stomach. "Prelim on the bullets has them coming from a 9mil."
"So? Most of the country carries a 9mil." Esposito frowned.
"I carry a 9mil," Ryan murmured.
The rest of them exchanged worried glances over Ryan's head.
Beckett pulled Esposito aside. "He'll have to go down to the station," she whispered to him. "Internal Affairs is going to have a field day with this."
"Don't you think he's been through enough?" Esposito asked her. "IA can stuff it and wait until tomorrow morning."
Beckett shook her head. "It'll be better for everyone if we get this done now. They can run a GSR test and check ballistics on his gun. We'll put a rush on things."
"Beckett, the man just lost a woman who was basically his wife." Esposito scowled.
"You know and I know that he didn't do it," Beckett whispered fiercely. "But IA is going to crawl all over this and if everyone cooperates they'll have nothing to complain about."
Esposito was still scowling, but nodded. "I'll take him over."
Beckett gave a nod and motioned for Castle to come over as Esposito left to take Ryan to the station.
"Esposito will take care of Ryan." Beckett told the writer. "You should just go home. IA won't be done until the morning and until then it'll be best if Ryan stays at the precinct."
"I'm coming to the station," Castle insisted.
"Castle," Beckett used her cop voice. "at least one of us needs to get sleep tonight. If there's anything you can do to help I'll let you know."
"Beckett," Castle started to argue.
Beckett held up her hand to keep him from continuing. "We're doing this by the book."
Castle opened his mouth to object and then sighed and nodded. He watched Beckett head out the door with Esposito and Ryan.
