A.N. Yeah, I'm not even going to bother making an excuse. I hope you enjoy! I'll be posting another chapter later tonight. That one is Cops & Robbers.

Disclaimer: If I did own Castle, I'd be on time. But I'm not. So I don't. Please don't sue me.

Worry-Prologue

Whenever they make a bust, or get into trouble, Ryan and Esposito don't take a good breath until the danger is over. It's not because they worry about someone shooting them. No, that would mean they didn't have the right kind of crazy in them to work as a police officer. They worry for each other. Ryan's always scared that Esposito's assault rifle is going to fail one of these days. Esposito worries that yet another dirt bag will think Ryan the weaker of the two and target him. But no matter the consequence, they protect each other. And worry about each other constantly. It was natural, when two friends are in the line of fire as often as they are. It was rare that they didn't end up in a sticky situation. The two men worked together in one of the most dangerous jobs that people could take. They were brothers in arms, in a friendship forged in bullets. They weren't about to let the other man take one without trying to stop the dirt bag with a gun. Worry was a connection that locked their friendship.

It usually ended up being Esposito worrying about Ryan. Ryan had a knack for getting himself into trouble, so Esposito had a built-in Ryan-is-about-to-get-himself-killed radar. It had come in handy on more than one occasion. On others, in almost made his head explode. Esposito tried his best to keep Ryan safe, but sometimes safety isn't an option. Ryan usually worried about Esposito, but rarely had to consider any real threat to the Latino. Esposito was good at keeping himself out of trouble, a skill that Ryan lacked.

But no matter what, they had each other's backs and that was the most important thing on their job. If your partner didn't have your back, then you would not last very long. It took two to be able to do their job to the fullest and if the other half of your team was against you, there would be no team very quickly. Ryan and Esposito's worry for each other made them the strongest team of cops that most criminals would see. They would fight together, stick together, and do anything for each other. The two brothers were going to stick it out to the bitter end, so they could keep worrying about each other.


Demons

Jenny and Ryan had been going strong for several years before Esposito finally got a girlfriend. Ryan had been glad when he figured out the secret "Esplanie" relationship, as Castle was so fond of calling it. He wanted Esposito to have someone. Ryan had commitments now, commitments to Jenny. He couldn't go and spend every evening at Esposito's house like he had before. When the Latino got a girlfriend, Ryan hoped he'd be a little less lonely.

Then it came time for the girlfriends to meet. They'd spoken before, of course, when Ryan first introduced Jenny to the team, but Lanie wasn't Esposito's girlfriend then. They wanted the girls to get along, to like each other. It would make things far easier in the long run, especially with Ryan and Jenny getting married soon.

So, they set the date, made the reservations, and got everything set up. The only thing that worried Ryan was when Esposito said don't mention anything controversial. The split second he had to process that left him stunned and concerned. Maybe things weren't all sunshine and daisies in the land of Esplanie. Ryan wanted Esposito to have a girlfriend, sure, but not one that caused the man undue stress. Their job was hard enough, but to add relationship issues? Plus, even though Ryan was a fully trained officer of the law, he was still a little afraid of the Autopsy queen.


At the dinner, things couldn't have been going better. Jenny and Lanie were getting along perfectly, swapping stories at the detectives' expense. Then, the innocent side of Jenny kicked in. For some people, such as Jenny, it was a logical progression: Meet, date, marry, family, die. In that order. Jenny knew that the couple had been dating for about a year. Logic stated that marriage would be coming up relatively soon. She had no way of knowing that Esposito and Lanie weren't on the same page marriage wise. Ryan hadn't even known. When he saw the look on Lanie's face, it sunk in. This is what Esposito meant by controversial. Why hadn't Esposito told him? Didn't he trust him enough? When Jenny and him had fought, he had mentioned it, Espo had said she'd come around or called him an idiot. Why didn't Esposito think that went both ways?


"Look, I said I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean to jinx the dinner."

"This really is the perfect night." Esposito mocked his partner's girlfriend.

"Jenny got a little caught up in the moment."

"When are you two getting married?" Esposito continued. "That's a question you do not ask!" The Latino was getting more frustrated by the second. Ryan sighed. He was used to having to calm his partner down, and he genuinely felt bad about what had happened. He was worried that there was trouble in paradise and should have warned Jenny. Simple as that. He knew both Lanie and Esposito were more "free-spirited" in their love life. He should have known marriage was a hot topic. At Ryan's obvious discomfort, Esposito tried to calm himself down.

"Alright, you know what, it's not entirely you guy's fault." He conceded. Ryan looked at his partner with concern.

"You guys have a big fight after?"

"Big fight? No. Mega fight, yes." Esposito's anger was still potent. Ryan nodded in understanding. "The point is we, um, we decided we're going cool things off." Ryan turned back to Esposito in concern.

"What, you mean split up?"

"Yeah. Just until we both figure out what we want." A fresh wave of guilt fell over Ryan as he saw the look on Esposito's face.

"Man, I'm so sorry."

"Anyway." Esposito rolled his eyes. Ryan ignored his partner's attempts to brush him off.

"Look, brother, if you need me for anything you know I'm always here. What?" He looked up to see Esposito going for the light dangling from the ceiling. They were back in case mode. Ryan stored up his concern for later. It was no use talking about this again now. But Ryan was sure to bring it up later. He just wasn't sure when he'd get the chance. Esposito was sure to brush him off again when he next tried to talk, and it certainly wasn't something Ryan wanted to discuss. But Ryan knew that he'd have to bring it up sometime. Besides, Espo'd just have to deal with them talking. Ryan was only worried.