M'kay people, here's the part where I get super-grumpy at most of you (except four people) and if you want to avoid that, I totally understand, and the chapter is just below this. But for all of you still reading my author's note, I'm struggling with college applications, SATs, ACTs, AP classes, essays, make-up work, tests, crazy social crap, tough family situations, and other things I'm trying not to think about. I am about a week behind where I should be right now in everything, and I still manage to update a chapter every couple of days. Chapter eight got eight reviews and chapter nine got half of that. Believe it or not, I actually really look forward to what you all have to say, and what you think. I like getting into conversations with all of you, asking if I'm going to go more in depth into some things. It doesn't get repetitive, and I'm not asking for much. It'd be nice if you could indulge me a bit more.

Well, now that I've gotten that spastic screaming match over with (sorry guys, I've been super-stressed lately) here's the next chapter. Another brilliant cliff hanger is to come, and I would like your input on what you think will happen, and what is going to be said. We're getting very near to the point where you're going to find out what happened to Ryan, so now's the best time for guesses. I'm serious; all of you people who reviewed saying that you had a "guess" but wouldn't say what, let me know now or soon. I want to see how close or far off you are.

Chapter Ten: Calling in Favors

"Well yeah, he's a regular insomniac, and he does get frequent nightmares, but this? This has never happened before."

"Wait, insomniac?" Esposito questioned the last person on earth he'd ever thought he'd question, about the last person on earth he'd ever expect to be asking about. They were sitting on the red couch in the living room.

"Yeah, he can't go to sleep before midnight, and on those days he does go to sleep around that time… well, they're few and far between. Normally I like his night owl habits, but…"

She drifted off slowly, and one thought reverberated in Esposito's mind at hearing that last sentence. Ewww! But he quickly refocused himself, and put away all of his personal feelings about the situation so he could look at the facts objectively.

"Here you go honey, you need to rehydrate. Trust me, it'll help you to calm down." Well, so much for staying objective. Watching Lanie, who had taken time out of her night after a full day of work to help him comfort this woman was distracting enough.

After Jenny accepted the cold glass of water gratefully, the M.E. immediately took her place on the couch next to him. His best friend's girlfriend was crying to him and his… well, he really had no clue where Lanie fell in his mind. And to top it off, she was crying about his best friend. Nope, this day wasn't at all complicated enough already, this was exactly what he needed.

"Thanks. I'm sorry for calling you so late; I know you had a hard day today. Kevin didn't tell me much of anything, but he went right to sleep, so I figured," she ended ambiguously, waving her wrist to indicate the obvious connection.

"Yeah, well Ryan's our friend. Feel free to call us whenever you need," Lanie said kindly to Jenny sitting across from her. Esposito on the other hand, was struggling to keep his emotions down.

"But," Esposito felt the need to ask, "How did you get my number in the first place? You didn't call from Ryan's phone."

"After we'd been going out for a while, he gave it to me as an emergency contact, if I couldn't get a hold of him and I thought that something might be wrong."

Esposito was satisfied with the answer, as it sounded all too much like his overly-affectionate partner. Part of him even swelled with pride at the fact that he, before his Ryan's entire family, was the first emergency contact. But most of his thoughts were consumed with anger that he didn't know so many things about his closest friend.

"You say that he's had frequent nightmares in the past?"

"He still does. And before you ask me when the last one was before tonight, I can tell you it was yesterday."

"As in, yesterday yesterday?" Esposito was shocked. He had thought he knew close to everything about his partner, and now there was so much that he didn't know. Despite his pathetic attempts to compartmentalize, he couldn't keep the shock and hurt out of his voice. Lanie must've picked up on it, because he felt a small hand rubbing his back sympathetically.

"Yeah, but normally he'll just wake up a little jumpy and disoriented. He wouldn't refuse to wake up, and that reaction, I've never seen him react that way. Just… do you know what's going on, or what I should do?"

"Well, if this is regular then I could smack a Nightmare Disorder on this, but it seems too simple. Usually ND is also linked to trauma-related coping disorders like PTSD," Lanie took over when she recognized her cue. Automatically, she jumped into the professional mode so easily.

"Something tells me I won't like those acronyms," Jenny mumbled neutrally enough. "Couldn't it be something like Night Terrors? That's a similar reaction to what I saw."

When they had come in, it was horrible to watch. It was as if he was trapped in whatever nightmare world was stuck in his head, and unable to wake up. His hands clawed at the bed with white palms, and he kept thrashing his head from side to side. The only consolation in any of this was that he was modest enough to wear pajamas of some kind to bed, but even that wasn't too much comfort. Esposito hated to see his partner in this state of utter vulnerability.

"I'm not too fond of night terrors for my diagnosis here. They are completely unconscious, and by the time the person wakes up, they have no memory of what they were screaming about. Jumpy behavior suggests a memory of whatever he saw." Lanie rebutted as kindly as possible. "On the other hand, frequent nightmares are congruent with PTSD."

Esposito completely lost his professional attitude in a moment of staring upsettedly at the Doctor. Finally, he shook himself back into his role, as a detective. This may not be a case, but it sure needed the eyes of one.

"Well, are you sure?" Jenny asked shakily, unwilling to accept the idea.

"Did he say anything in his sleep, or give any indication as to what was going on in his mind?" Esposito asked seriously. He already had a good guess as to what his partner might've said, but he had to make sure.

"Yeah," she said slowly and carefully, as if a single wrong pronunciation would hurt him. "He said something that sounded like an apology, or bits of broken excuses. He never really finished what he wanted to say,"

"Is there a name, or a place, or anything else you can give me?" He knew exactly what she was going to say, even before he asked the question.

"Uh-huh. It was as if he was talking to some girl," she said in a sad voice. Most of it was because of what was happening to Ryan, but he could just guess that part of it was jealousy over this mysterious, new woman. "He called her Ashleigh."

•••

"Evening Detective. Whatever could've possessed you to call so late?" He asked jovially, though even he heard the sleep creeping into his voice.

He knew that police weren't the best at introductions, or pleasantries over the phone for that matter. But normally there was a brief acknowledgement of the other person. This time however, there was no introduction.

"Listen bro," the man got straight down to the nitty-gritty. "I need to ask a huge favor of you."

•••

Kate Beckett fiddled absentmindedly with the last bite of leftover lo mein on her chopsticks, and stared at the small television screen emptily. When Luke was volunteering to be the one to blow up the death star, her phone inevitably started to ring.

"Beckett," she groaned in anticipation when she picked up. It was close to midnight, and she was at Kayla's crime scene before the crack of dawn this morning. If she had to deal with any more murder tonight, she would scream. Normally, her tolerance was fairly high, but after Kayla, Ryan, and Castle, she was beat.

"Hey girl, we've got a 911."

Beckett hadn't expected Lanie's voice to be the one she met with when she answered the phone, but her detective skills already kicked in, and her mind was beginning to shift into gear.

"Case or otherwise?"

"It's Ryan."

Beckett nearly followed the movie cliché of dropping her phone at the words. She had been worried this morning when Ryan passed out, but the day continued almost normally. How could she not assume everything was better? Especially when there was a little girl's murder in the mix.

"Do you need me there?"

"We've got the situation under control, but just thought you'd need to know."

"Tell me everything, then."

"Bout twenty minutes ago, Jenny got freaked out because Ryan was reacting harshly to a dream she couldn't wake him from. She called Esposito out of fear. We rushed over, where he seemed to have calmed down a bit, but not by much. I couldn't wake him up any better than she could, but this is far from my specialty."

"Oh… kay?" Beckett asked slowly. Despite everything, a small smile appeared on her face. "How did you get there?"

"Esposito called me, and picked me up."

"But you're in the opposite direction," Beckett's smile widened even more. Neither of the boys would've gotten upset with her or Lanie for the conversation switch into normal. It was a typical cop coping method: gallows humor and normal routines. It was easier that way, safer that way.

"I was in the area when he called, just a walk in the city,"

"You do know you're trying to lie to a cop?"

"Oh shut up!"

Kate grinned at her friend's defensive voice. Already her mind was making associations between facts, and then her Castle-tainted imagination, filled in the rest.

"Anyway," Lanie exaggerated each vowel to suggest that the previous conversation was over, and that there was more to be said for what was happening. Beckett sobered immediately. "My guess is that Ryan is going to need as much normalcy as possible when he does wake up. Odds are he will be coming into work tomorrow, so watch out for him."

"What about Esposito?" Even though she was the team leader, and they were a group, she was aware that his partner was much closer to him, and would be able to look out for him.

"Said he needed to take tomorrow off. He's going to stay here 'till Ryan wakes up, but then he said there was something he needed to do."

"Now?" Even through this mysterious situation with Ryan, she was still acutely aware of Kayla, and the case she needed to solve. She wasn't sure if she could afford to lose another team member, especially when the last one left standing was clearly distracted by something.

"Said it was only a day, and he'd be back soon. You know he wouldn't leave a case hanging if it wasn't important."

Beckett knew that Lanie was right. Esposito would never take a day off from work in the middle of a case if it wasn't absolutely essential. She decided to refocus on the main matter again.

"What about Jenny?"

"Poor girl was scared out of her wits. It was lucky I got her to go home. Who knows what he might do again tonight?"

"Think he'll relapse?"

"Honey, I couldn't wake him up. Most kinds of sleep, that doesn't happen. There's something significant about that nightmare. Almost anything is possible."

•••

It was morning, he had driven for almost two hours last night, had gotten next to no sleep, which was entirely his own fault, and he had next to no clue what was going on. But that wasn't what worried him; as far as he was concerned, he was nervous for no reason whatsoever. There was something different recently, and no one would tell him the whole story. Whatever was going on though, he kept getting the odd feeling that he had done something wrong.

The chair that he was so comfortable with felt awkward, and unfamiliar around him. The entire precinct was exactly the same, yet everything was totally different. The atmosphere wasn't at all what he remembered.

Actually, that wasn't completely true. The atmosphere wasn't what he remembered leaving, but he had experienced this kind of ambiance at the Twelfth before. When he first started shadowing Beckett, things were almost as nose-to-the-grindstone, by-the-rules as they were now. Maybe it was the case, but he wasn't sure.

"Castle!" The shocked voice almost made him jump, but he forced his nerves to relax, and play it cool. He had left for the Hamptons to get over her, and now he couldn't show his hand by letting slip how little his plan had worked.

"Good morning Detective Beckett. How's your summer been?"

"What're you doing here?" She avoided the question entirely, and for now he relented.

"That is a fantastic question that I had hoped you could answer for me."

"What?" Of course her eyebrows had to crinkle together in that adorable way. She always got that little crinkle when she was confused and equally exasperated.

"Esposito called to ask a favor of me, and step on the case while he's gone. But other than that, I barely know what it's about, what's going on, why Esposito's vanishing, and why no one will tell me."

"You're telling me that you drove for two hours from your beach house, for the purpose of helping out on a case you know nothing about, only to leave again in a matter of hours? How stupid do you think I am?"

"It's true! I didn't ask questions because there seemed to be something else going on. I just hoped someone would tell me when I got here."

He watched Beckett staring at him, seemingly deep in thought. He saw that look many times while she stared at the murder board, waiting for inspiration to strike her, but never was it directed at him. He became awkward under her gaze, and began to squirm slightly. If only he could read minds.

"Fine, the case is on the murder board, and I'll fill you in on the rest on the way there. You've got two minutes before I head out to talk to the babysitter."

Gleefully, he ran over the crowded whiteboard, and began to skim as quickly and accurately as he could. He knew the grim outline of the case, but the fact of the matter was that all he knew was her age, and how she was found.

During most cases, he was able to ease the tension with some light humor and friendly conversations, but this was one of those times when he'd need to tread carefully, for fear of slipping into the gray zone between "wiseass" and "jackass."

He was still nervous, and he still had the feeling that he'd done something wrong. The tension between them was much too reminiscent of the time after he told Beckett what he'd found on her mother's murder for things to be okay. But maybe he could make things right.

•••

He thrashed wildly in a desperate attempt to escape. His head whipping back and forth. Clumps of short, sweat-drenched hair splayed out wildly across his forehead. His chest heaved from taking such deep gulps of air, as if each breath was labored. Terror gripped his every feature.

And his eyes shot open. He didn't give himself time to acknowledge his surroundings, or adjust his sight to the dark. He simply flung himself off the bed, and collapsed into a heap on the floor. His hands immediately flew to his head to grab his throbbing temples. He might as well just be a little kid again.

"Kev?"

The soft, concerned voice made him tense in surprise, even though he wasn't sure if it was just the memory of yesterday, or if it was actually being said at the moment. It could honestly have been either, and he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. All he knew was that someone had spoken, and he had panicked.

Immediately he turned to face the sound, and threw himself backwards as far as he could before his back roughly met the wooden bedside table. It took several moments before his brain made the connections that said it was his partner standing behind him, worry in every feature.

He could've sworn under his breath if he wasn't still shaking horribly from the after-effects of the experience. He didn't want Esposito to see him like this. He didn't want anyone to see him like this.

"What time is it?" He couldn't think of what else to ask, and his partner's face switched from concern, to confusion. He was grateful for the change.

"Four in the morning." Esposito's voice was cautious and wary, but Ryan didn't pay attention. He just kept his eyes down, and to the side, and nodded quickly.

"What're you doing here?"

"You gotta tell me bro."

What'd I tell you? Huge, right? Wait until next chapter, that's when things start to get interesting. What can I say? Championship Vinyl, you called it; our mystery woman was in fact Jenny. Applause to you.

Like I said before, if you guys review, I reward you, but last chapter's reviews were so scarce that you don't get the next chapter title yet. Shame, it's a really good one. Review a lot and you'll get it sooner.