"Are you sure you don't want us to keep Sarah for the night?" Beckett asks again as Castle and Esposito help move Ryan from his bed to the wheelchair that the hospital policy makes him use.

He thought he'd gotten out of needing one when he successfully completed his second lap. It took longer than the first, but not because they kept stopping for breaks. In fact, they only stopped six times with a minute or so's rest each. The second go around wasn't surrounded by tension and Ryan wasn't begging them to stop every step of the way. He was too busy laughing at all of Esposito's attempts to keep Ryan's mind off of everything.

"No, you've spent enough time worrying about me for the past two days." Ryan shifts in the chair, glad that he only has to use it to get him to the car. "Javi'll stay with me until I'm back 100% and if we need any help, you two will be the first people we call."

"Don't think that means we won't be checking up on you." Beckett grins and runs a hand through Ryan's hair. She's too quick for Ryan's shoo-ing hand, so he sends her a half hearted glare that she isn't intimidated by at all.

"Don't touch my hair, Beckett. I'm trying to grow it back."

Beckett rolls her eyes. "Oh, and me touching it slowed down the process?"

"Yes."

Beckett raises her eyebrows and shares a look with Castle. Beckett's face seems to ask her husband if Ryan's being serious, while he just looks amused. "You're such a girl," she chaffs him.

"Oh, so I'm a girl because I care about my appearance?" Ryan twists in his chair slightly to address Beckett. Esposito tries to hide his grin as he starts to push Ryan out the door and down the hall.

"I think it's more than that, bro," Esposito chimes in above Ryan's head.

"Yeah, yeah. I bet you all feel mighty proud of yourselves, picking on the handicapped." Ryan crosses his arms over his chest. He sees his partner cringe just the slightest, so he drops it. It slipped out, Ryan didn't mean to make Espo uncomfortable. Ryan's injury was life threatening, but he's not going to get over it by tip-toeing around what happened. He wants them to know he's a big and strong detective that won't be slowed down by a bullet and a brief meet up with some concrete.

But Esposito thinks it's still too soon to even come close to joking about what happened to his partner, so Ryan promises himself he won't joke around about it in front of his best friend. Ryan would expect the same respect if their roles were reversed. God forbid.

"Really though," Castle clears his throat, thankfully changing the subject. "Watching Sarah is no problem." He gestures to the sleeping toddler in Ryan's lap.

"I'll keep that in mind," Ryan smiles. "But it's already almost one. We're probably just going to get to my place and crash."

Castle laughs and nods. "Okay, but don't hesitate to call. Even if you just want to hear my voice." He waggles his eyebrows suggestively and Ryan rolls his eyes.

Beckett raises her eyebrows next to the author and says, "So, you're leaving me for Ryan?"

Castle sighs dramatically with a frown and pulls Beckett to his side. He shakes his head and says, "I have needs. Blue-eyed leprechaun needs that you just can't give me." Castle keeps a straight face for an impressively long time.

"You're gonna have to choose, babe. A great ass with an even better personality or a man living at the end of a rainbow. Besides, I hear he's grumpy in the morning- not pretty," Beckett teases back, but ruffles Ryan's hair to show she's just kidding around with him. Ryan grumbles and swats above his head. Really, what doesn't she understand about, 'Don't touch the hair'?

Esposito is the one to break up the friendly ribbing when the taxi that Castle had called earlier pulled up. "Listen as much as I'm enjoying this impromptu, kinda creepy conversation that sounds a lot like the beginning to a horrible threesome porno...I really don't want to scar our poor cabbie."

"You would know, huh, Esposito?" Castle smirks with a gentle jab to his arm with his elbow. Esposito glares at him with a look that clearly suggests the writer shut his mouth before he was eating Esposito's fist.

"Let's put 'em away boys and get in the cab." Beckett walks past them where there was a yellow taxi idling at the curb. "It's already almost one in the morning and some of us didn't have the luxury of sleeping the day away."

Ryan sticks his tongue out childishly at Beckett. She deserves it. And she really deserves it only two minutes later when she voices the humor she finds in watching Ryan stubbornly try to lift himself from the chair and into the back seat by himself. It would be much easier if the doctors hadn't made him take more painkillers after his walk. They make him feel tired and he loses all of the control he should have over his body.

Without any help from his team, as far as he knows, Ryan makes it into the cab and the other three all squish in beside him. The drive is quiet and almost relaxing, with Sarah Grace still snoring softly in his arms, Ryan feels his own exhaustion creeping up on him. He's barely awake when they stop at Castle's loft, but he's coherent enough to say his goodbyes. By the time they reach Ryan's apartment, he's close to falling asleep until Esposito wakes him up.

"C'mon, you lazy ass," Esposito says as he shakes Ryan's arm softly. Ryan does his best to ignore his partner and go back to sleep, but suddenly the comforting warmth is gone from his lap and he's wide awake.

"What-?" He's looking blearily around the car until he sees his daughter safely in her uncle's arms. "Oh." He releases a soft breath and his heart rate calms down.

"I'm not carrying Little Leprechaun and Big Leprechaun so start walking, bro," Esposito says as he hands the cabbie their fare.

Ryan wants to tell his partner that he doesn't want to be called a leprechaun, but his tongue doesn't want to cooperate so he settles on a glare that is hopefully intimidating. Judging by the look of amusement on Espo's face, he knows it isn't, as always. So he stumbles from the taxi and follows Esposito up to the door, watching as Esposito pulls his own copied key from his pocket to unlock the door.

Once inside, Esposito immediately starts down the hall to Sarah's room. "I'm going to put her in bed. You should get in bed, too." Esposito doesn't wait for Ryan's opinion on the matter of his bedtime before disappearing.

Ryan huffs and turns to his bedroom, wishing he could fight Esposito every step of the way of him going to bed early. (Technically one in the morning was early. Not for sleeping, but it could be.) Unfortunately, he's too tired to do much more than pull his pants off. He falls to his bed in a heap and doesn't even bother to climb under the blankets.

His eyes slide shut and he reaches out slowly to pull his daughter closer when he remembers that Esposito put her to sleep in her own room. Ryan doesn't usually let his daughter sleep in his bed, unless of course for special circumstances, but tonight he really wishes he could have her presence beside him to lull him to sleep.

He should wait for his partner to come back so Ryan could insist that he bring back Sarah, but minutes after his head touches the pillow, the painkillers take him to sleep.

Esposito flips past the dozenth infomercial with a sigh. His eyes are burning and he wants to do nothing else but go to sleep. Unfortunately, he probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep if he tried because he's too worried that something will happen to Ryan when he's sleeping. Concussions are dangerous and nerve wracking injuries while asleep.

He checked on his partner after he put Sarah in her bed; he was already asleep. He managed to strip down to his boxers and t-shirt, but not get under the blankets. Esposito rolled his eyes and pulled the comforter out from under him and covered Ryan.

That was three hours ago before Esposito grabbed the box of donuts that he knows Ryan keeps above the fridge with a tall glass of milk. He only meant to have one or two, but as he goes to grab another, the box is empty. He frowns as he tries to remember if the box was full when he started.

Just as he gets up to throw away the box and hide the evidence from Ryan before he can buy a new box, he hears muttering leaking through Ryan's open doorway. Thinking he woke Ryan up with the annoyingly loud television, Esposito turns it off and goes to apologize.

Reaching the doorway, Esposito notices that Ryan isn't sitting up and grumbling, like he expected. He's lying down, kicking his feet feverishly under the blankets. Now that he's watching Ryan thrash, Esposito can tell that he isn't awake, he's having a nightmare.

"Shit," Esposito curses under his breath before hurrying to Ryan's side. Esposito debates whether or not he should wake up Ryan. Was it people with nightmares or sleepwalkers that were not to be woken?

Ryan's sudden shout of, "Don't hurt her!" decides for him. Esposito pulls the blanket off his partner's head and gets on the bed next to Ryan. He grabs Ryan's shoulder and tries to shake him awake.

"Ryan, c'mon. Wake up!" Esposito bites his lip worriedly when Ryan doesn't acknowledge Esposito's attempt at comfort other than flinching. Esposito takes in Ryan's sweating face that displays discomfort. He wants to do nothing more than to be able to scare off whatever was frightening Ryan like this. He's so used to being able to protect Ryan from anyone he sees that could hurt his partner, but when he's having a nightmare, Esposito is useless.

"Kill you-away from them-no!" Ryan's breathing is labored and his chest is rising and lowering faster than it should be.

"Kevin," Esposito says softer this time. "You're okay. We're all okay." Esposito shakes Ryan's shoulder.

Instead of Ryan waking up, or even a flinch, Ryan's balled up fist sails through the air and collides painfully with his nose. Esposito gasps as pain erupts to his face and he falls off the side of the bed. "Ugh," Esposito groans and lifts a hand to his face. He feels warm, sticky blood slowly leaking from his nose.

The crash Esposito made when he fell must have woken up Ryan because suddenly he's at the edge of the bed wide-eyed and panicking. "What...Javi, you're bleeding!" Ryan gasps and scrambles forward and off the bed.

Esposito rolls his eyes. Of course Ryan would be more worried for his partner, even though Ryan is the one still breathing heavy and fighting off the last of the terrors from his nightmare. Esposito wipes his nose with the back his hand, trying to hide the wince so Ryan doesn't feel too bad for clocking him.

Esposito shakes his head and assures his trembling partner, "I"m fine. You were having a nightmare."

Ryan nods his head slowly. "I"m sorry. I didn't mean to punch you...I didn't know." Ryan's eyes are trained on his nose and Esposito wills it to stop bleeding.

Esposito stands up and offers Ryan a hand, which his partner takes to help him stand. Ryan looks around nervously, honing in on the bed where the blankets are all rumpled and thrown about the bed. He looks down at his feet like he's ashamed of having a nightmare.

Esposito turns around to face Ryan's dresser and pulls open the top drawer consisting of his underwear and undershirts. He pulls out a shirt and tosses it to his partner as he turns back around. "Get changed. You sweated right through the other."

Ryan nods numbly and pulls off his damp shirt, to replace it. The new shirt smells like Ryan's not-too-masculine-but-not-quite-girly detergent, the familiarity enough to calm Esposito. Right after he's changed into the shirt, Ryan's worries are back to Esposito. "Is your nose still bleeding?"

Whether it is or not, Esposito shakes his head. "Go lay back down, I'll wash my face and be right back." Esposito hurries to the en suite bathroom so he can wash his face before Ryan starts to grow unsettled again.

He looks in the mirror and winces. It was a good punch and Esposito hopes he won't have a black eye in the morning. He wets a rag and gingerly dabs underneath his nose and hisses at the sharp pain.

A sudden voice surprises him and he jumps slightly. "I usually don't have them that badly...I should have warned you. Sarah usually snuggles with me when I'm having a bad night. She calms me down after Jenny..." Ryan admits and Esposito immediately knows this is a serious moment when Ryan says he likes to 'snuggle', even with just his daughter.

"I'm sorry, man, I should have put her to bed with you." Esposito feels guilty.

Ryan starts shaking his head feverishly. "I want her sleeping in her own bed. Now especially that I hurt you. I'll just deal with 'em as they come. Please don't worry about me." Ryan is looking down as he plays with the hem of his shirt.

Esposito puts the bloody rag down and walks slowly to his partner. "I'm going to worry about you, Kevin. Whether you like it or not." He tries to catch Ryan's eyes but they're still downcast. "I remember you saying once that we're partners and that means we're together until wheels fall off. So I'm going to be here for you. Whether all you need is me to stay over until you're concussion is gone or you need a punching bag or someone to eat all your donuts or hell, even someone to snuggle when you need the comfort." Esposito doesn't doubt he'll regret saying that last one in the morning.

Ryan is looking down, but Esposito can still see his lips curl into a soft smile. Ryan whips his head up and narrows his eyes. "You better not have finished off my donuts."

Esposito rolls his eyes, but fondly. "Seriously. That's what you pick up from everything I just said?"

Ryan's smile comes back as he shakes his head. "No, I understand and I want to thank you. For sticking by my side and everything."

Esposito rubs Ryan's arm. "No problem, bro. I'm here for you. You know that." He watches Ryan nod and asks, "Do you want to try and get back to sleep? I can, uh, stay with you, you know. So you don't get upset again." It's now Esposito's turn to turn his head down when he feels his cheeks burn up.

"Nah, I'm not falling asleep again tonight, I don't think." Ryan chuckles humorlessly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Esposito checks his watch and says, "Bro, it's only four. At least get a few more hours of sleep."

Ryan shakes his head and not for the first time since he's known his partner, Esposito wishes he isn't so stubborn. "I've got a headache. I'll just join you on the couch if you don't mind."

"S'your couch, dude," Esposito says once he gives up trying to coax Ryan to bed. He isn't a stranger to nightmares and understands Ryan's aversion to sleep. Esposito checks his nose one last time in the mirror, making sure the bleeding has stopped, before exiting the small bathroom with Ryan by his side.

They both sit on the couch, Ryan curling up to one side and Esposito lounging on the other. Esposito yawns, still having yet to sleep, and stretches his legs as far as they reach to the floor and his arms way over his head. He looks over to where his partner is leaning on the arm rest on his side with his knees tucked to his chest and his feet hiding underneath him.

Esposito frowns and looks to the vacant space between them, then back to his partner. "Kevin, get comfortable. There's plenty of room."

Ryan moves his head slowly to look at Esposito. Him lying on the couch vertical gives the chance for Ryan to lay horizontally. Ryan pauses for a moment before stretching his legs out until the souls of his feet lay flat against Esposito's thigh. "This okay?"

Esposito looks down to where Ryan's socked feet are wiggling self consciously. Esposito looks up and quickly answers his partner before Ryan moves them away. "You're fine, Ryan. Just try to get some sleep."

Ryan ignores him and says, "I've got Smokey and the Bandit in the DVD player. The remote's in the drawer beside you."

Esposito rolls his eyes at Ryan's obvious avoidance to sleep and grabs the remote from its spot in the drawer. "You finally put it where you can find it, huh?" Esposito comments because Ryan never has anything organized. His so-called 'system' doesn't work for anyone, except him.

"Nah, it was under the couch, but Alexis cleaned up when I was in the hospital," Ryan admits with a shrug of the shoulder he's not lying on.

"Ah, I shoulda known." Esposito smirks as he switches the TV from 'cable' to 'DVD'. The title menu immediately brightens the screen.

"Shut up and press play," Ryan says as he digs his toes in Esposito's thigh. Esposito starts, but then looks over to see his partner smiling smugly at him.

"Bossy, bossy," Esposito mutters as he starts the movie. Once the opening song starts to play Esposito feels Ryan's feet relax against him and he starts to sing along, with as much enthusiasm as a concussed, exhausted man could.

Esposito has seen this movie many times, and Ryan's seen it a million times more. It's one of his partner's favorites (The Sound of Music is also included in that list). But when he can perform the lines along with the characters perfectly, Esposito knows he's watched it too many times. A few times, he cuts himself off with a yawn, but he doesn't let his drowsiness stop him.

Esposito wants his partner to get rest. Not only are the nightmares keeping him up, but the doctor also told them that the concussion would cause exhaustion and fatigue, as well. But he knows there's too much on his mind and he won't willingly fall to sleep. Not only is the other day's...accident, most likely stuck on replay every time Ryan closes his eyes, but he's stressing himself out over his pension problem.

Esposito has an idea how to fix it all, but he'd rather not share it and save the awkwardness. It's simply a last resort, a last resort after the first last resort fails.

Esposito emerges from his thoughts when he feels Ryan shaking next to to him. Thinking that something's wrong, Esposito places a steadying hand on Ryan's back and leans over to see if he's okay. Esposito lets out a breath of relieved air when he realizes that Ryan is only laughing. Laughing so hard that he can't get a sound out. "Jesus, Ryan."

Esposito looks over to the television and watches as a police car crashes into another police car and they both go splashing into the lake. Sure, this scene was hilarious the first few times he watched it and every other time Ryan forced him to watch it, he let out a chuckle, but recovering from an almost-heart-attack because his best friend is a fucking idiot, Esposito doesn't find it too funny now. "How many times have you seen this? It's not that funny."

Ryan nods his head, still recovering from his breathless laughter. "Yeah, it is."

"Whatever you say, Ryan," Esposito says, slouching heavily into the cushions. He can feel his own eyes drooping and can't imagine Ryan not being tired. Esposito watches as Ryan's eyes blink slowly and each time it takes longer for Ryan to open them back up.

It doesn't take long before Ryan closes his eyes and they don't reopen. Esposito waits for his breathing to steady to know he's fully asleep before he closes his own eyes giving into his exhaustion. Now that his partner is asleep and not running from nightmares, Esposito can sleep soundly.

Thank you to everyone reviewing and favoriting and following this story! Your reviews definitely make me that much more to excited to post and write. This is where we start getting to the pining from both sides and maybe they'll pull their heads out of their asses to do something. lol if only

Until next time,