Thanks to Agent101 on for some suggestions! I'm always willing to try to incorporate requests and suggestions, so if you have any, send 'em to me!
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Another night in New York, another crime scene. Tonight was particularly busy as this was the fifth 10-21 Officer Mark LaGuardi had responded to with his junior partner, Jason Kwantan. However, this was the first scene where they found a body and a screaming, freaked out spouse.
LaGuardi had called it in immediately as Kwantan tried to haul the screeching woman away from body, hoping she hadn't contaminated too much of the scene. Together, they managed to get her out of the brownstone and situated in the back of their squad car just as another black and white, lights flashing, pulled up to the curb.
They filled Officers Dermott and Johnson in on what little they knew and, leaving them to secure the area with, the first responders entered the house and made a quick sweep, assuring themselves that there was no one lurking in the shadows. By the time they'd completed that task and returned to the front stoop, four other uniforms had arrived and the wail of sirens could be heard in the distance, an ambulance by the sound of it. The ME's van and the CSU nerds tended to make a quieter approach.
Officer Sharan, a rookie of Indian descent was sitting beside the still weeping widow, Martha Huxley-Whitmore, whose husband Bentley was lying on the floor inside. The other officers gathered by the short staircase that led into the house, waiting for the detectives and forensics types to arrive. This was one of the aspects of police work that no one ever talked about, no one wrote books about or made tv shows about. There was a lot of waiting involved.
Especially on a busy night.
And the traffic, slowing on the street to peer at the gaggle of officers (all the while attempting to look aloof and non-chalant about it), would slow their arrival even more. Even as LaGuardi had that thought, a God Damned limo pulled to a stop at the curb.
"Shit on a stick," muttered Officer Anthony Carver. "Looks like some of us are gonna be working crowd control."
"Neighborhoods like this, the gawkers usually keep to their own houses," Johnson sighed as the back door of the limo suddenly swung open.
Bored and ready to step forward if the new arrivals got too close, LaGuardi watched as a long, stunning pair of legs swung out, high heeled sandals finding quick purchase on the pavement. Always one to appreciate an attractive woman, he smirked a little he let his eyes continue up over her slim, toned form, clad in some light purple dress. He thought her striking face was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
"Wow," Kwantan breathed as a second pair of legs appeared, less graceful even wearing flat soled shoes and another woman basically popped out of the car, short dress flouncing but not offering a glimpse of anything naughty. She was far more petite than the first, but slightly curvier, with milky white skin and long, flowing brown hair.
LaGuardi wasn't looking forward to turning them away, then the first of two men stepped out of the car and the officer jumped. What the heck was Detective Esposito doing with two elegantly dressed women…and was that the author that was following Beckett around…Oh crap, the leggy chick was Beckett…then that would make….
"That is some serious fuckedupness."
LaGuardi and the other officers present all knew exactly what Kwantan was referring to, as everyone on the job had heard about what had happened to Detective Ryan. At first, the rank and file had hesitated to believe what sounded like science fiction, but as more and more members of the department saw the truth, word got around…at least amongst those on the job.
They were all still staring, becoming the gawkers they had previously derided, as Beckett ducked under the yellow and black crime scene tape and demanded, "What've we got?"
Yep, just like any other night…with a Twilight Zone twist.
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The call had been a fairly routine one, made to look complicated by a panicky spouse trying to hide evidence of her crime. They'd only been at the SOC for a few minutes before they realized something was amiss at this suspected robbery/homicide. It was Beckett who found the hidden wall safe containing the supposedly stolen valuables and the rest of the wife's story had quickly fallen apart.
After completing the paperwork (at least the stuff that wouldn't keep until the morning), Castle (and the freakin' huge limo his publisher had paid for him to use for the night) dropped Esposito and Kevin off at the former's apartment (where Kevin was still staying, but a part of him was considering having someone in legal figure out how to deal with his apartment). He expected Beckett and Castle would continue their long, winding and non-productive cycle of flirting over coffee or maybe a late night dinner. Honestly, watching the two of them was like watching a TV program.
Javi's apartment building was still and quiet at 2:30 am, most of the tenants deep into a good night's sleep. It was the first time in several hours that the two of them had been alone, out of the overly observant presence of Beckett and Castle and, while he had been able to maintain a cool public façade (he hoped), Kevin was now feeling a little unsure about things.
I mean, what the hell? He and Javi had kissed! For real. And their close physical proximity during said kiss had let Kevin know exactly how into the kiss Javi had been. It was enough to shock and confuse the hell out of him.
Not that he was really confused about his own feelings, no, Kevin had long ago admitted to himself that he was attracted to his partner, that he loved him, maybe was a little bit in love with him, but he knew the score. Though equal opportunity, the NYPD was a paramilitary organization and had its share of less than open minded individuals. He knew Javi himself harbored no prejudice towards any particular person or group, but their working world wasn't exactly conducive to admitting you were less than straight.
In fact, Kevin had never seen any sign to indicate Javi was anything but a 0 on the Kinsey Scale (he thought himself to come in at about a 2.5)… but, then again, he wasn't exactly running around the station house wearing a pin with overlapping pink and blue triangles, was he? No, he was not.
Then, in the off chance Javi was on the same page as him emotionally, physically Kevin was still unsure about this new body. Sure, he'd done a little recon of his new form (anyone in his position would have) and he knew all the parts looked good, felt right…but they weren't the parts he'd spent years learning.
The kiss had been really nice. It was a little odd being so much shorter than his partner, but that was definitely not off putting. Other things though…wow, he couldn't even imagine how he'd be able to get this body to behave properly when inundated with hormones.
Hell, on the walk up the stairs, he tripped twice. Any sort of sex would probably result in broken bones and limitless shame.
By the time they reached the 7th floor, the stress of the long day had completely caught up with Kevin and he let Javi hold the door to the apartment open for him without comment. The air in the apartment was still and stifling as the air conditioner had been turned off that morning when they left for work. They'd thought to return after the book launch, but had been caught up at the office with the Huxley-Whitmore case and by the time the place cooled down it would probably be time to head out again.
It'd probably end up being a cold shower then sleep on top of the covers with the fan strategically aimed sort of night.
Lovely.
Neither of them spoke as they wandered into the kitchen, rooting around for little snacks before getting ready to turn in. Feeling wilted and worn out, Ryan dropped into a chair with a glass of milk in one hand and an uncooked hot dog slathered with cream cheese and tucked into a slice of Wonder bread in the other. Esposito took his seat, a handful of crackers, cheese cubes and pepperoni slices on a plate and blinked at Ryan.
"How have you not died of salmonella?" Javi sounded both mystified and a little awed.
Banter. This was familiar. "Bacteria flees from my immune system," Ryan joked, then took a bite of his snack, then almost choked when this partner's eyes followed the motion. Suddenly the hot dog did not seem like the best choice for a snack.
Placing the food down on the table, Ryan laid his hands flat on the surface, taking a deep breath as he regarded his small hands, delicate fingers and neat nails. Clearly female hands. But he was a guy. They weren't the hands he expected to see when he reached for something
He knew he wasn't the only one thrown for a loop by this whole, freaky situation and he knew he and Javi needed to have a talk, but he didn't want to say that phrase aloud, 'cause how much more chick flick could you get?
With a sigh, Kevin looked up at his partner, who was still watching him closely. Taking a bracing breath, he asked, "I think…what happened earlier…some clarification is needed."
Javi began stacking cubes of cheese, making a little pyramid on his plate. "Clarification?"
"Yeah." Damn this was hard. "Okay, so, at the moment, I'm obviously not quite myself right now…physically at least and it's confusing and…."
Sitting up straight, hand tightening on the edge of the table, Javi cut him off. "You're uncomfortable with the fact that we kissed."
"It's not that exactly," Kevin said, trying to figure out how to say what was going on in his head. He really had no frame of reference for this.
"It's cause I'm a guy, right?"
"No!" Ryan ran his hands through his hair in frustration and began to babble. "No, see, I'm a guy but I look like a woman and when I was a guy you saw me as a partner and a guy but now it's partner and a girl but I hope at some point Creepy Elmer will be able to turn be back into a man and if something happens between us, I don't want it to be all weird for you and screw up our partnership."
Javi looked taken slightly aback by the sudden flow of words and paused a moment to sort through the jumbled speech. "So…you don't have an issue with the fact that I'm a guy…and so are you. On the inside."
"What? No, no, that's never been a problem for me, but you know…."
"Not a problem for me either, bro."
Kevin sat back in his chair and let out a little, "Huh." Apparently he'd been stressing over a bit of a non-issue. He imagined his face must even more surprised and confused than Javi's did. This was just never a conversation he pictured them having…well, not the part about him being a woman, at least temporarily.
"Yeah."
They sat there for a moment in the silence of the apartment and Kevin took a sip of his milk, looking into the cup and wishing he'd grabbed a beer instead. From Javi's expression, the same thought was running through his mind.
"Helluva day," Javi commented with a small smile and Kevin chuckled softly in response.
"Seems to be ending on a high note though," he said, glancing down at his small hand again before stretching it out, resting it on the table between them.
Javi laid his hand beside Kevin's, touching baby finger to baby finger, not holding hands but just sharing contact.
It was nice.
No need to rush.
Besides, Kevin reflected, biting back a yawn that turned to laughter as Javi echoed it, it was too freakin' late to even be considering anything more.
TBC…..