"I look at this one more time and I swear I'm gonna go blind…"

Huffing in frustration, Esposito leaned back in his chair and ran a hand across his face, leaving it there for a few seconds before shaking his head.

Ryan couldn't begrudge him, their early start into the day having turned into a frustrating late afternoon of playing street camera recordings back and forth over and over again, hoping to find anything that might help narrow down their killer.

In the end, despite reasonably good technology, the most they were able to make out from the early morning incident were shadows, a handful of license plates that came back to unsuspecting people and three cabs.

They had put calls into the cab companies, hoping the drivers would be able to tell them more about the passengers they'd dropped off, but nothing had come back on that yet.

"This one over here looks a little like bigfoot, don't you think?", Ryan tried and pointed at a person half a block away, crossing the street in the twilight of a failing lamp, barely showing up as a shadow.

…one of about two dozen shadows they were currently trying to put a face to…

"Bigfoot, mothman, homeless dude, spiderman…I think we covered every marvel character and New York Subculture wannabe by now. But none of these people are identifiable, and none of them are carrying a bat around either."

"Maybe it's hidden in their coat?", Ryan hypothesized, causing his partner to roll his eyes, "Or, instead of a baseball bat, it's a metal pipe that's short enough that it can easily be disguised?"

With a groan, Esposito crossed his hands behind his head, then shrugged in disinterest.

"I'll just hit up the streets again tomorrow, see what I can find out. Maybe I'll get lucky and this punk tries to take me on. That'll be the last mistake he'll ever make."

Kevin pursed his lips and ran a nervous hand down his azure tie, trying to ignore the boastful taunt but knowing that when it came to his partner, behind those big words were even bigger and stronger muscles and a skull thick enough to make it all happen.

Add to it the undeniably sour attitude with which Esposito had returned from his earlier walk around Central Park but refused to explain, and Kevin found himself doing that same dangerous dance on thin ice he performed last night; torn between evading that volatile temper while worrying about his best friend's safety.

"I'll come with you."

The innocent notion made Esposito glare up at him before he shook his head.

"You've got…computer stuff to do. Besides, I'm not a baby."

"I am not saying you are. But you're still my partner and we do stuff together. Keeps us safe, you know?"

"Who says I can't take care of myself and stay safe? Done it for years. I am fine, I don't need a babysitter. Save that fretting for SG."

Ok, so much for making any form of headway after countless days spent getting drunk at some lonesome bar in Spanish Harlem.

Drawing in a deep breath, Kevin fell quiet, hoping to diffuse the rising tempers by quieting his voice and keeping his tone as non-judgmental as humanly possible.

"Nobody is saying you can't take care of yourself. I just want to go out with you, do stuff together, prowl the city like we always do. Four eyes are better than two, bro."

For once, Esposito didn't reply, a mixture of irritation, regret and nervousness flooding his features that seemed so unlike the man Kevin had come to know for over a decade.

Stuck in his position of leaning back in the chair, Javi eventually looked over at the side of his desk, trying to find something to stare at besides his partner, before clenching his jaws so tightly it made the veins on his neck appear.

Kevin watched his reaction with the utmost curiosity, trying to remind himself of one of the first things he had learned as a father; an emotional reaction to something he'd say or do didn't necessarily mean it had anything to do with him at all. Most times, SG's outbursts had more to do with the day she'd had or suffering from a bellyache, causing her to lash out at her father for an utter lack of other ways to communicate.

As a matter of fact, the more he learned about the complex feelings associated with toddlerhood, the more he learned to gauge his partner's peculiar behavior during times of great emotional upheaval.

Then again, if Javi as much as sensed that he was being compared to a toddler, there'd be hell to pay.

Part of him wanted to poke the bear, corner him to see if he'd get to the bottom of this behavior, knowing well enough that Sonia's return and Esposito's subsequent suspension had a lot to do with it.

But there was more to it than just a dysfunctional relationship.

Kevin sensed resentment, betrayal even, an emotion that hadn't made it past the thick walls of their partnership since the whole Bracken/ Maddox incident that left Beckett and Javi in mortal danger.

Year after year of working side by side had evened out many of the wrinkles that had plagued them early on in their friendship but now, ever since the dreadful encounter with Sonia, that undercurrent was back, infiltrating their harmony when it came to this case and Kevin feared what trouble it could cause under the wrong circumstances.

As such, he decided to tread lightly for now.

"Hey Javi, you ehm…you wanne just call it a day and we can start early tomorrow morning? Maybe whoever is responsible for this might be back in the park, looking for more victims? We might catch him."

"Central Park, the back alley behind some Chinese restaurant, an unlit parking lot on the southside, the street art district or the rusty fire ladder attached to a deteriorating apartment complex…that son of a bitch could be anywhere. And until we can figure out his pattern, he remains the hunter, staying one step ahead of us at all time."

"Then let's go out hunting tomorrow, you and I.", Ryan suggested enthusiastically and reached over to pat his partner's shoulder, leaving his hand there a moment longer than usual.

His sole response was a half-hearted nod before Esposito got up to grab his belongings, mouthing a quiet goodbye and headed toward the elevator for another night of dealing with his demons.

Kevin kept an eye on him until the doors shut, then exhaled slowly, forcing himself to give his partner the privacy he so obviously craved at the moment.

Tomorrow would be another day and offer plenty of opportunity to solve issues. But for tonight, he had a responsibility to be there for his very pregnant wife and a sweet little girl in dire need for some daddy bonding time.