Based on 3x20 (Slice of Death)

I haven't written any fanfiction in what seems like forever but I'm updating today. I may have imagined it but when I heard Esposito talking about being a cop and being killed doing the most menial of things, he looked really upset so I decided that regardless, he was upset and Ryan noticed and this is what happened. It's not a slash in anyway, it's just some brotherly love.

Disclaimer: I am a couple bucks away from owning Castle but not just yet.

The case was closed. Castle and Beckett had gone home to their loved ones and Ryan and Esposito had made plans to meet up with their girls after work but Jenny had made plans with her sister and Lanie was quote "up to her nose in cold ones" so the dynamic duo decided to head down to The Old Haunt – after all they did know the owner – and grab a brew before heading home.

So there they sat in comfortable silence as the hum of the tavern grew to a buzz as the clock above the bar read ten twenty-two. Esposito had just finished chugging the last of his first bottle when Ryan twisted his half empty glass of scotch around and lightly placed one edge of it on the table.

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" He continued to stare into his glass as his partner smacked his bottle down and looked him.

"What happened when?"

Ryan lifted the glass to his lips. "To your old partner." He tilted the glass back enough so he could take another sip.

"You met my old partner. Or do you not remember being almost shot by a rogue IA officer?"

"Not him." The Irishman put his glass down completely. "The one that came between him and me." Esposito tightened his jaw but didn't move. "Look I know that you had a partner in Homicide before we got assigned together but you've never talked about him. So who was he? What happened to him?"

"Hey it was a long time ago-" The Hispanic detective shifted back in defense.

"Hey partner." Ryan interrupted him. "I can't totally be your partner unless you trust me."

"I do trust you, man."

"Sure with saving your life but even Beckett's learning to trust Castle with the personal stuff."

"Hey that's different bro; Beckett's in love with Castle." Esposito suddenly eyed his partner. "You don't-"

"Dude." Ryan subtly shook his head. "I'm getting married in a few months."

"I had to ask." The pair smiled at the lightened mood which lasted until Ryan spoke again.

"But you do trust me right? I mean my best man trusts me enough to tell me what's going on, right?" Ryan had confirmed that Esposito was his best man about five minutes after proposing to Jenny so it wasn't a shock to find him using it against his partner.

It was a moment before Esposito liked his teeth and nodded slowly. "Yeah I trust you, bro." Ryan shifted on his bar stool slightly, feeling a very important story coming on.

"His name was Greg Xanders. Seasoned cop; the best on the force. That's why they assigned him a rookie for a partner. I mean this guy was the best of the best. He could crack any suspect. He had the highest closure rating in the precinct; he was probably better than Beckett." Ryan raised his eyebrows at this. It was no secret that tough-as-nails Beckett was as close to super-cop as you could get. "This guy was tough as nails at the precinct – total hard-ass. But at home, this guy was a teddy bear. Three hundred muscled pounds of fluff. His wife, Megan was the sweetest little thing and his two kids were the greatest. This guy was the ultimate. He had the perfect life." Even Ryan could see the light in his partner's eyes dim a little as he continued. "I was only his partner for a few months. In that time, he was my mentor. He should me everything it took to make the switch over to Homicide and come out on top. There was this one time when we had caught on to this street gang who had been killing off prostitutes on the lower east side. It had made it up to the 12th and we had been assigned the case. We were so close to shutting them down. We had their warehouse surrounded, no escape. Greg and I went in first and five seconds later… boom." He used his hands to heighten the situation but Ryan didn't notice. "We were surrounded by eight men all with very big guns and we had no way to signal to the other guys for backup. Greg got me out of that mess in one piece." The detective grew silent for a moment and the rest of the bar seemed to be following suite as if the whole joint were listening. "He got out with a bullet to the shin and that was it. We arrested the thugs and their operation was shut down." He had taken to playing with his hands. Wringing them over and over, squeezing the muscles in his palms. Ryan simply gripped his glass in awe. Suddenly Esposito gave out a laboured laugh which brought Ryan just that little closer to reality. "A week later he was giving a speeding ticket on LIE when he was hit by a driver who had been drinking all afternoon. No one could prove it but a bunch of the guys figured it wasn't as open and shut as everyone thought."

"You thought he was killed because of one of the cases he worked?" Esposito shrugged and suddenly became very interested in the bottom of his bottle.

"No one could prove anything so we moved on." The bar returned to its usual buzz.

"Hey man I'm sorry-" Ryan tried to apologize for bringing it up. If he had known it would be this painful for his partner, he wouldn't have pushed.

"Like I said; it was a long time ago." He lightly nudged his partner. "Now I've got a partner who doesn't walk anywhere."

"Never did trust my own two feet." They both smiled a little but strained but mostly well.

There was a long moment where neither of them really moved, just stared at the bottom of their respective drinks. Nearly a minute later, Esposito spoke.

"Hey man, thanks."

"For what?" They both looked up around the same time.

"For being my partner." Ryan bumped his partner.

"Anytime; partner."