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So, without further delay...on with the whumpage...i...er...mean...show...

Javier fired again as the man in the truck attempted to take out Kevin through the windshield. His friend was stuck, he himself was pinned down and to say he was pissed off was an understatement. He'd been in some hairy situations in his time, but nothing quite like this. If he moved, he died, if he stayed, Kevin died.

He fired again and caught a glimpse through the back windshield as Kevin threw himself against the door.

"What the?" Javier risked another look. "Jesus, Kev." He fired again, providing his partner with as much cover as he could, the man in the truck ducked as the bullets smashed through the glass of the windshield, sending glass fragments hurtling toward his face. He disappeared from view and Esposito took that as his cue to move.

Kevin lay on the hard concrete as awareness came back to him, he felt hands on his neck, then his face. Two strong hands gripped under his arms and he was pulled back to the relative safety behind the car. He felt himself being carefully sat up against the bumper. Hands checking his ribs. Whisperings and curses finding his ears. A moan of pain from his friend was enough to push Kevin the last few steps toward consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked directly into the very worried eyes of his partner.

"Hey." He managed by way of greeting. Although he was pretty sure what he'd actually said barely resembled the word by the way Esposito was frowning at him. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hey."

"Hey yourself."

"You ok?" Kevin asked, now worried that Esposito was hurt worst than he'd first thought.

"I'm fine."

Kevin brought a clumsy hand up to touch the blood on the other man's face.

"You're bleeding."

"Oh really." Javier said angrily.

Ok, now Kevin was really confused. "Did I do something wrong?" He questioned.

"You're an idiot."

"Ok." He could accept that. He was damned if he knew why though. "Why?"

"Because , just, well, because you are, ok?" Javier felt like a father who had screamed at his little boy for running into the road. Fear could often melt into anger. And he was angry as hell for the damage he could now see in his partner's leg. And yeah, he knew he was misdirecting it, but at that point in time he didn't care.

"You're a mess." He said as he risked a look over Kevin's head to check on the movement from the truck.

"You ok?" Kevin asked. Javier looked down into the pain filled blue depths and gave up his anger.

"You scared the crap outta me. I thought you'd been hit, you were just lying there not moving."

"Sorry." Whispered Kevin.

"Shut up." Laughed Javier as the fear finally subsided. "Your leg is really messed up."

If he was honest, Kevin would admit that through the shock he'd completely forgotten about the damage to his thigh. He looked down and frowned. His right thigh was covered in blood, a large rip in his black jeans revealed the source, a deep, long ravine where skin used to be. His leg had practically been opened up. He stared at it, mesmerised, then looked up at Javi.

"Huh."

"Huh? That's all you've got to say?"

"Sums it all up in one word."

Javier pulled some of the denim aside and studied the wound closer. He risked another look over Kevin's head, then sat back on his haunches.

"It's bleeding bad, but not bad enough to suggest a torn artery."

"We gotta get out of here. You can play doctor later." Kevin said as the fog in his brain began to clear. They were injured, out in the open, and without back up. He was sure Beckett would come looking for them soon, but he had no idea when 'soon' would be.

"How far is the warehouse?" Asked the injured Detective.

"About forty foot. But I don't know if that guy is dead yet."

"I can be a decoy, draw his fire and you take him out." Kevin said sincerely.

Javier stared at his partner with an equal measure of wonder and love.

"You can't even sit up without help, and you wanna play decoy."

"Got any other ideas?"

"Yeah. I'm the decoy, you take him out."

Kevin gaped at his partner open mouthed. "You got hit in the head harder than I thought."

"I trust you. You're a great shot."

"How the hell am I going to get any angle to shoot?"

Javier frowned as that part of his plan eluded him. He looked up, just as the light bulb went off above Kevin's head.

"What?" Questioned the older Detective.

Kevin raised his eyebrows as he smiled back through the pain.

CASTLECASTLECASTLECASTLE

Javier Esposito had never run track at school, never thought it a sport worth bothering with. A man should only run if being chased, or giving chase. Or, if the occasion demands it, run to draw the fire of a mad gunman intent on killing you and your partner. In the forces they taught you the art of the zigzag. Never keep to a strict pattern or easily discernable beat. Give your marksman an impossible target to hit.

Kevin Ryan ignored the pain from his thigh, he ignored the scrape of the ground beneath his elbows. He positioned himself under the car after pulling his aching body from the boot to the bonnet. He used the steady ground beneath to anchor his angle, ensure the shot was true. He took a breath and slowly exhaled as the gunman in the truck came into view. The man was aiming at Javier, but having a hard time locking onto target. As the gunman leaned from the side window, gun aimed and ready to fire, Kevin depressed the trigger on his own weapon. It took barely a second to hit its mark.

The effort of being so still, so concentrated, had taken what little energy he had left. Kevin began to pull himself forward, with each movement the pain sent shards of agony through his thigh to embed themselves in his mind. His vision swam, his breathing hitched. Once again hands found him and carefully pulled him free. Javier gripped his partner and pulled him upright. He ignored the weight as Kevin sagged in his arms.

"Come on, man. Only a little ways to go."

Kevin forced his mind to focus. His arm was across Javier's shoulders, the other man's fingers hooked into his belt as he dragged his partner toward the warehouse. Kevin tried to make his left leg at least help with some of the effort. Javier hoisted the injured man further up as he made slow progress toward the open door to the left of the building. Kevin focused on breathing, focused on not passing out. They just had to get inside, barricade the door and wait for Beckett to figure out there was a problem. A noise in the distance stopped both men dead.

"You hear that?" Asked Esposito.

Ryan nodded, in his mind he said, 'Yes, bro, heard that loud and clear.' when in reality he'd moaned deep within his throat. Javier caught his meaning though.

"Me too. Come on, lets get inside before the anti-cavalry arrive."

Javier practically carried his partner up the stairs to the small office in the warehouse. For his part, Kevin was attempting to help. He grabbed hold of the rusted yellow railing and pulled as hard he could to try to hoist himself up. His left leg was co-operating slightly more than it had before, his half pull, half hop combo giving Javier the pull he needed to get them both to the top. He dropped Kevin as carefully as he could onto the floor of the office and swung round, slamming the metal door closed and bolting it tight. He pulled on it a few times, ensuring it wasn't going to be moving anytime soon. The only vantage point from the office was a small window to the left of the door, away from the platform and railings. Giving them a good view of anyone who came into the warehouse, but preventing those same people from gaining easy access to the room they were locked inside.

Satisfied they were safe, for now, Javier focused his full attention on his wounded partner. Kevin had pulled himself back to rest against the table. His hands were shaking with both exertion and shock as he tried to pull back some of the denim from his right thigh to check his wound. Javier gently pried his hands away, kneeling beside the injured man, he ripped the denim back, revealing the full extent of the wound. It was at least five inches long, and at its deepest point, he could see bone. The metal had done a lot of damage, but thankfully the bleeding had slowed yet not stopped. Javier would take any win he could.

"I need to wrap this. Help stop the bleeding." Javier tried to catch Kevin's eyes, but the other man was fixated on something else.

"It's ruined." Complained Kevin.

"What, bro?"

"My jacket. Blood all over it. Blood and sandwich sauce. Great."

"You'd rather it was just the blood, or just the sauce?" Asked Esposito as he distracted his partner.

"Which one comes out better? Its no good. Its ruined. Great. Just friggin great. ARGH!"

Javier pulled his shirt tight around his partner's thigh. While Kevin had been worrying about his beloved green jacket, Javier had been taking off his over shirt, wrapping it around the damaged limb, and then pulling it as tight as humanly possible.

Kevin fell to his left side in an attempt to get away from the pain that burned through his right side. He panted, his vision, once again, swam. He felt a strong hand find his own. He held on tight, squeezing as hard as he could in an effort to transfer some of his pain. Another hand found his neck and squeezed.

Javier massaged Kevin's neck, helping him to relax and allow the pain to subside. His partner was ghost white, covered in sweat and barely hanging on to awareness.

"Easy, bro. That's it. Nice and easy. Just breathe. The pain's gonna go, just believe it. I'm here. Its ok." He kept up his soothing words and ministrations for a few minutes more, stopping only when he heard voices from the warehouse below.

TBC

Uh oh...