Eight o'clock the following morning found Castle entering the precinct lobby. He wasn't surprised to find his access to the precinct had been revoked. Gates clearly thought he wouldn't be coming back if Beckett wasn't here. Ordinarily, she would have been right.
Nothing about the past 48 hours could count as ordinary.
Castle pulled out his phone to text Ryan.
Hey. Could you sneak me into the bull pen, please? I'm in the lobby. I need to talk to Gates.
Castle started to worry when Ryan didn't reply immediately. Then the elevator dinged and his friend was approaching him with a smile. Castle would have been happier if Ryan's smile didn't look half-terrified.
"Hey, Castle. I didn't expect to hear from you. I thought you'd shut us all out for good."
Castle dropped his eyes to the floor for a moment, feeling the shame starting to color his cheeks.
"Sorry about that. I had a fight with Beckett, but it had nothing to do with you guys. Is Esposito mad about me taking off, too?" Castle felt his guilt give way to alarmed surprise when Ryan looked away with his own expression of embarrassment.
"I wouldn't know. Esposito's not exactly talking to me right now. He and Beckett went after a guy without backup. I tried to call you because you might have been able to talk Beckett out of it and I think Espo would've backed down if she did. Well, probably. You know how angry he was after Beckett got shot?" Ryan continued as Castle nodded. "Well, he's been that mad for the past couple of days. She's like a little sister to him and you just don't mess with Esposito's family, you know?"
"Beckett told me Esposito got suspended."
Ryan gave a broken laugh. "Yeah. I saw the two of them storm out. I tried to apologize, but neither of them would talk to me. Beckett cleaned out her desk and Espo..." Ryan's eyes were distant with the memory for a moment before he gave a weak smile. "Well, I'd pay money to not have anyone look at me like that again. I've never seen him so mad. And Beckett's probably never going to speak to me again."
Castle gripped his friend's shoulder, meeting his eyes with a stare as if he could will the younger man to believe him. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. Kate told me that if you and Gates had been even just a minute slower at saving her from herself, we would be attending her funeral. I will always be grateful to you for that. I'm even grateful to Gates. That's part of why I'm here. I want to thank her for saving Kate's life."
Ryan took a breath and nodded, shoulders loosening. He looked up at Castle as he caught the implied statement.
"You talked to Beckett since yesterday afternoon?"
Now it was Castle's turn to look guilty.
"Yeah. She showed up at my door last night. She's asleep on the couch in my living room right now. She's probably going to throttle me for being here when she wakes up, but I need to talk to Gates."
"About that... Gates isn't in a great mood today. She doesn't look as homicidal as she was yesterday, but you aren't her favorite person. You might want to wait for her to cool off before she catches sight of you in her precinct again."
"I wish I could. But it really must be today. I might already be too late to save Kate's job, but I have to try."
Ryan's eyes widened slightly at the audacity of Castle's plan. "That might be suicidal, Castle. She is absolutely not in a forgiving mood right now."
Castle shrugged and nodded. He tried to make it look cool and unconcerned, but Ryan's expression told him he'd probably only managed anxious and uncomfortable. Ryan turned to walk him to the elevator.
"Come on, Castle. I'll keep you company to the bull pen, but you're on your own in her office."