"Are you nuts?"
Castle's tone of voice had reached an unhealthy pitch, his cheeks flushed at the sheer mentioning of their "plan".
"It would give us a better understanding of what's going on and that's what we need the most right now.", Beckett explained, uncomfortable with the idea herself as she chewed on her bottom lip, leaning against the counter of the break room they had closed off for their secret team meeting while Gates was busy with a brass briefing.
"But how…where…how are we...Ryan and I…and…wow."
"I realize it's a bit unorthodox."
"To say the least.", he countered flippantly, causing Beckett to shrug.
"Castle, if you got a better idea, please do let me know."
As the tense silence spoke for itself, he checked his wristwatch once more, hating every moment of this.
"It's almost 7:30am. He should be coming in any minute. And you just…we're just going to follow you and…"
Unable to as much as formulate the plan that would more than likely cost him a few teeth and broken bones, the writer began to pace the small room, well aware that Ryan hadn't said a word either, probably just as uncomfortable.
"Lanie said that all we need is a vial of blood. While the blood itself wouldn't be admissible in court, it would tell us if Espo is on those meds and would give us probable cause to search his apartment. If we find anything that links him to our case, we'll get a court order and search Lafayette's practice, his house, everything he owns."
"But the only reason this wouldn't be admissible in court is if Esposito doesn't submit to the blood draw, in which case, we'd have to force it…"
"He won't.", Ryan countered almost instantly, then shrugged, "Not just because of this case, although I don't doubt that will only make matters worse. He hates needles in general. Turns into a real baby about that."
"Oh god, I just…", resuming his nervous pacing, Castle checked his watch again, realizing the time hadn't changed yet, "Do you know how "Tom Cruise- The Firm"-esque this sounds like?! We're talking about one of our own here."
"If we don't get him to stop taking these drugs, he could die.", Beckett reiterated firmly, her brown eyes piercing his, "Now, I hate this as much as the next person but if we confront him, and if he refuses, we gotta figure out a way to get that blood regardless. He may not realize it now, but our intervention could save his life."
"And…while I appreciate your faith in me…you honestly think that Ryan and I here could hold him down while you and Lanie…get the blood?"
Hesitating for a beat, Beckett nodded.
"I think so, actually. We could handcuff him to a chair in the morgue so it would be easier to control him. He couldn't fight back much. Just use your…your overactive imagination to get him to agree to it. Say you're trying to replay a scenario. Once he's cuffed, we can move in."
Even though he cherished her optimism every time it showed its shy face, Castle couldn't help but shake his head.
"Two words, Beckett. Special…Forces. He's going to eat Ryan and myself for breakfast. You've seen those moves he did where he bent Ryan's wrists in a direction they weren't supposed to go. That'll happen to us, I just want you to envision that before volunteering us for this."
"I didn't say it was going to be easy but it's the only thing we could come up with that would achieve both, getting the blood and doing so without Gates finding out. Lafayette has clearly set him up and a situation like this could cost Esposito his badge if we don't provide enough proof that he took the pills against his will."
"And at this point we are sure that he is being forced to take them?"
His honest question caused Beckett to hesitate once again, sharing a brief glance with Ryan before answering.
"I am certain of it. It's the only thig that makes sense. We don't know all of the logistics yet but in the meantime, we need to do to what it takes to save Espo's life. Once we have the blood, we'll get our answers."
"I don't like this. I just want you to know that I don't like this one bit.", Castle complained and pursed his lips, shuddering at the thought of what Ryan and he were about to do, "But under the circumstances, I am in."
