The knock on the door had taken all his willpower, his ego fighting it out with the confusing rollercoaster of emotions that had befallen him over the past few weeks. There'd been questions about love and devotion that had kept him up at night, making him hash out the old what-if's, wondering if he could have been a proud father in a stable family situation by now, had things just turned out a bit different.
Instead, he was the lone wolf amongst a variety of couples and their children, the butt of jokes when it came to his unwillingness to commit, and worst of all, still suffering from the burden that came with fighting the demons of this world in painful solitude.
Except for the one bright light that had crossed his path, a woman who not just rivaled Sonia's intelligence, but also her volatile temper.
Lanie wasn't just stunningly gorgeous, she was also caring, selfless; somebody who had given him a sense of companionship he'd so sorely missed.
That was until things fell apart between them, their world views too different, the nature of their jobs making them both realize the fragility of life on a daily basis and as such, being a driving force when it came to harsh decisions that involved their future.
Javier loved adventure, a long leash, a warm kiss and a tight hug when he came home, no matter the time a night. Lanie needed stability and devotion, a regular schedule and a farsighted approach, neither of which he'd been able to provide no matter how hard he had tried.
Because of this, his inner demons had fought the idea of seeking her out, tempting him to just drive to work, then the lab. But no matter how logical that would have been, there was a distinct sense of romantic feelings mixed up in the mess that was his emotional state.
And tonight, he had succumbed to them, seeking out the comfort his battered body so desperately craved while fulfilling the second, most important part of his plan for the day.
This early in the morning, it took several moments before he could hear the footsteps on the other side of the door, followed by a chain rattling.
For the fraction of a second, there was unbridled annoyance in Lanie's face that quickly changed to utter horror as she took in the whole picture.
"Oh my god, Javi!"
"I am ok.", he reassured quickly, his voice raspy as he reached for the door to open it wider.
"What happened to you?", she continued frantically, her hand automatically reaching for the bleeding gash on his temple.
He caught her midway, grasping her wrist stronger than necessary, still fully enveloped in the aftermath of the adrenaline rush flooding his body, putting him into blind fighting mode.
The unexpected move was enough to make her stop in her tracks, then narrow her eyes.
"What is going on? You smell of alcohol."
"I am smelling of a lot of things, but you can't touch me.", he answered cryptically, then looked down the hallway one last time before shutting the door and locking it behind him.
"Javi, if you are going to show up at my doorstep at four in the morning bleeding and reeking of booze, you better explain to me what the hell is going on."
Realizing that he wasn't going to accomplish much without Lanie's help, he symbolically raised his hands, flinching at the pain greeting him from his battered ribs.
"I did some…detective work this morning. I wanted to see if our killer would come back to the scene of Officer Reece's murder. And he did."
It took a brief second for the words to sink in before Lanie took a step back and put her hands on her hips.
"You went there by yourself? Are you out of your mind?! Javi, you could have been killed. Where…where is this guy now? Is he dead?"
"He got away.", he answered in undisguised disappointment, then hesitated when his body began to protest the latest mistreatment, causing him to sway dangerously, "But he did…touch me. I need you to help me take my clothes off and we can send them to the lab, see if we can get some prints this time around."
Torn between out-and-out frustration and the validity of his point, Lanie scolded in discontent, her eyes softening somewhat when she saw him struggle.
"You've got a hell of a stupid way to get your evidence in, detective. Stay right there, I got some gloves in the bathroom."
As if he was going to move.
Unable to hide a smug grin when he realized that Lanie was wearing nothing but a satin night gown that barely reached the middle of her thighs, he stayed in place, ignoring the frustrated grunts coming from the next room over.
"Does Kate know about this?", she asked amidst the sound of drawers being opened.
"Not yet. I lost my phone somewhere in the park.", he replied carelessly, managing another grin when she returned with a fresh garbage bag and a set of latex gloves, taking great care in putting them on before reaching for the zipper of his leather coat.
"There's gonna be hell to pay when she finds out, Javi. This was a stupid move. How bad did he get you? Did he have his baseball bat on him?"
"He had something. We wrestled over it after he got me with it once. Felt like a metal pipe of sorts…"
Flinching when she helped him out of the coat, he heard her mutter a curseword under her breath as she stuffed the jacket into the garbage bag.
"Is that what split your head wide open, his metal pipe?"
"No, I ducked when he tried that. He got me in the side with the pipe."
Shaking her head, she pointed at his legs, then at the garbage bag.
"Let's take your pants off too. We might be able to find some DNA there."
"Most of it is probably mine. That guy put up a hell of a fight. Male, approximately six foot three, one-hundred and eighty pounds."
Impatience flooded in her features when she looked back up at him, then down at his pants.
"You can save that for your report."
Raising his hands in silent resignation, Esposito allowed her to take off his boots, then open his belt buckle and push down his pants, trying to move as gingerly as possible under the circumstances. It took barely a second for Lanie to chuckle.
"You're wearing taco shorts? Boy, you definitely haven't gotten laid lately.", she mocked and pointed at his underwear.
"It's Tuesday…", he defended his bright yellow shorts with the smiling beef tacos as he stepped out of his pant legs.
He watched her put them in the garbage bag before turning back around, her expression growing serious.
"Take off your shirt, I want to check out your body. From the looks of your head, it won't be pretty. I want to make sure you're not dying of internal injuries before Kate gets a chance to tear into you."
"All that talk about Beckett.", he breathed smugly, "If you wanted me naked, you could have just said so."
"Just shut up and do as I said.", she countered and helped him unbutton the gray dress shirt before sliding it over his shoulders and adding it to the buldging garbage bag.
In methodical order, she ran her hands across his upper body, looking for injuries like a mechanic assessing an old car, her warm brown eyes narrowed as she inspected the area where the metal rod brushed him earlier, leaving a nasty bruise.
Her expression hardened when she tilted his head to the left to look at the gash that covered the side of his face with blood, still seeping enough to make him drip all over the place.
He waited until her hands moved from his neck to his chest before leaning down to meet her gaze.
"We need to have your head looked at. Probable concussion. You might need stitches. I'd want to see a set of chest x-rays too just to be safe…", Lanie deflected matter-of-factly, not reacting when he drew in a deep breath of her sweet perfume, his lips seeking out the side of her neck to kiss it.
The moment he made contact with her skin, Lanie froze, then used her hands against his bare chest to push him away.
"We agreed to take a break, Javi.", she scolded sternly, those hands once again turning into tight fists as they returned to her hips.
"We could have fun for a few hours and then resume our break?", he tried, only to watch her shake her head.
"Will you just look at yourself?!", she countered furiously and took another step back, "You're bleeding and…and you are covered in bruises and smell like you spent the whole night at the bar. You scared the living daylights out of me showing up here in the middle of the night, not giving a damn if I was with somebody or not, and now you want to pretend that everything is fine between us? You've got problems, Javier, a lot of them. I think it's time you worry about sorting those out first."
The harsh words had cut straight through his ego, effectively deflating it along with every feeling of accomplishment that had come from the internal struggle that brought him here in the first place.
Pursing his lips, he tried to draw in another deep breath, hating the pain that came with it, before pointing his chin at her couch.
"Mind if I crash there for a little bit and then I'll be out of your hair? Just trying to let the adrenalin settle down and clear my head…"
"That you can do.", Lanie said in a quieter tone and headed for the nearby dresser, looking for a blanket, "But we're gonna get you cleaned up first and I'll drop you off at the Urgent Care on my way into work here in another hour. After that, you're going to be on your own again."
And there he stood, wearing nothing besides socks and taco underwear, dripping blood on the polished wooden floor, feeling like he'd been ran over by a school bus, and yet strangely enough finding solace in the company of a woman who'd just dismissed his most desperate advances.