Alexis honestly could not believe her luck. First, that she'd managed to convince Mandy to switch work shifts with her at the dining hall. And second, that she now had the time and a place to study. A wonderful, beautiful, amazingly silent place to study. She'd never been more grateful for her tidy and relatively quiet upbringing before she'd experienced the past couple months living in the exact opposite conditions.
She had been taking full advantage of Ryan's offer to use his apartment to study for practically two whole weeks, whenever she had a chunk of an hour or two. Sometimes, that time would be between classes, so she wouldn't even see Ryan. And other times, she'd be set up at the counter in the kitchen when he'd wander in at 9pm, looking entirely dead on his feet, practically falling into the fridge to eat the leftovers of whatever she'd cooked up for herself earlier in the evening. But today she had an entire day to spend studying her absolute worst subject!
She was a good third of the way through the first practice exam when her phone buzzed with a text.
Text From: Det. Ryan
You at my place?
Text From: Castle Jr.
Yeah
Text From: Det. Ryan
Be there in 10. Fair warning, covered in blood.
Text From: Det. Ryan
Not any of ours. Javi punched scumbag in the face. Nose blood.
Text From: Castle Jr.
Gross, I'll leave a path clear straight to the shower
"That's from a nose bleed!" Alexis exclaimed as Ryan came in the front door. The lower part of his shirt and blue patterned tie were covered in a dark red spray of blood.
"Yeah, Javi got him good, then Beckett got him to his knees and, since I was the one holding him..." Ryan trailed off, gesturing at his front. "So, showering, changing, and heading back out."
"This is still that drug dealer case?" Alexis asked, cringing.
"Yeah, this guy is one of his ex-suppliers, took us days to track him down, even with a contact name," Ryan replied, carefully unbuttoning his shirt. "Can you get me a trash bag from under the sink?"
"Sure," Alexis got up and searched the cabinet for the trash bags. Once locating them, she grabbed one and brought it over to Ryan, who was now shirtless and inspecting the damage to his jacket and jeans. "Doesn't look good."
"I can salvage the jacket, but shirt, tie, and undershirt are going to have to go," Ryan sighed as Alexis held the trash bag open for him. "This job does not pay enough to replenish my wardrobe."
"You do have a fantastic wardrobe," Alexis offered him a smile, trying not to pay attention to his surprisingly well-sculpted chest.
"Most days, I try," he responded, not entirely paying attention to the conversation as he took off his shoes and unzipped his jeans on the way to the bathroom.
Alexis tied off the trash bag of bloodied clothes and set it beside the main door of the apartment, then washed her hands. Could never be too careful when there was a stranger's blood around. Then she had a mini-chat with herself as she sat back down to her practice exam. Detective Kevin Ryan was a very good friend and that was all he would ever be. She was starting to know him well enough now to understand that his brain and his body weren't always operating in the same frame of reality. Changing from work clothes into sweatpants or shorts and a t-shirt was one of the first things he did whenever he got home; and he had a tendency to start changing mid-conversation with her before realizing that he was standing in front of her with just his boxers and socks on. Then he would turn bright red, curse, and stumble back to his room to make himself a little more decent to be in her presence again. After the second time this happened, it became one of Alexis's favorite occurrences. It was reminiscent of a child becoming angry about wearing clothes, ripping them off in a tantrum, and then just submitting to its parent re-clothing it. Unfortunately, this behavior did have the unintended side effect of her seeing his lithely muscled, well-proportioned body more than she should really ever see any friend of her father's.
Regardless of how hot she did or didn't find him, nothing would ever happen between them. They were friends. That was it. And that was the key point of all of these internal conversations she had with herself about Detective Kevin Ryan.
She refocused her attention on the magnetic repulsive field of a negatively charged grounded rod and spent the next several minutes utterly absorbed in trying to actually understand what the question was asking.
"Don't burn a hole in the paper," Alexis started slightly at Ryan's voice coming form just over her shoulder, but recovered quickly.
"How much do you know about magnetic repulsion?" She asked, sighing and running her fingers through her hair to tug on the ends.
"Not a damn thing," he replied cheerfully, leaning over the floor to towel dry his hair. "There's a reason I never went to college."
"You never went to college?" Alexis turned from her problem to look at him. She hadn't known that; she'd naively thought that was what criminal justice majors were for, people who wanted to be cops. These days every job required a degree of some sort.
"Nah, I thought about it, but my parents didn't have that kind of money, so I went straight to the police academy after I left the nuns. I've taken a couple courses here and there to qualify for becoming a detective. Beckett's the one with the degree though, Javi and I are just her minions," Although Ryan's voice was muffled by the towel, he didn't sound upset at all with his place in the world, so Alexis just nodded.
"Huh, so you always wanted to be a cop then?" She asked. He looked up at her, dropping the hand holding his towel to his side. His hair, rather than being set into its usual cowlick, was curling at the ends, falling gently against his forehead, making his already baby-face look even younger. He could easily fit in around campus, looking like that.
"I had a cousin who was a cop, it looked better than the alternative," he said, picking up his gun and badge from where he'd left them on the counter and fixing them to the belt on the clean pair of dark jeans.
"What was the alternative?" Alexis asked, very willingly pushing her studying away from her to focus on learning more about Kevin Ryan and his life.
Ryan chuckled at her and grabbed her practice exam off the counter to wave in her face. "Enough prying for distractions! You have very important classes to pass!"
She gave him an evil glare as she snatched her exam back and he disappeared back into his bedroom. Alexis pulled the physics text back to her and scanned the index to find the chapter on magnetic repulsion again.
When Ryan re-emerged from his room, he was fixing a new blue tie onto his clean shirt. His hair had been gelled back into place, and he looked ready to make his way back into the cop world. He grabbed an apple from the bag on the counter and his keys.
"What do you want for dinner?" Alexis asked as he opened the door to leave.
"You're staying here that late?"
"I got someone to switch shifts with me, since clearly about I'm about to fail physics."
"Umm, whatever you can make out of the stuff here is fine. I have to get groceries soon anyway," Ryan replied, frowning as he took a mental inventory of the last time that he'd looked in his cabinets.
"Ok," she said, turning back to her textbook. "Don't get bled on by anymore crazy drug dealers."
"I'll try my best," he called back, letting the door fall shut behind him.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
By the time Ryan got home from the precinct that night, Alexis had changed her study area from the kitchen to the couch. She was set up with Khan Academy Physics on the smart tv, her textbook resting on the arm of the couch, and her notebook splayed open on her lap as she tried to understand the corrections that needed to be made on her answers from the practice exams she'd done earlier.
Ryan stumbled into the apartment, stripping off his clothes while wandering down the hall to his bedroom. When he reappeared in the living room, he was wearing sweatpants and a t shirt and he let himself fall onto the opposite end of the couch. His legs hung over the other armrest and his head landed just below her open notebook.
"Hi Kevin," Alexis deadpanned, pausing the video explaining ground charges.
"Hey, Alexis," he mumbled, closing his eyes. "What are we watching?"
"Physics," she said, unable to keep the goofy grin off her face at his complete lack of sense of propriety. Another thing she'd noticed over the past couple of weeks was how quickly that sense of personal space disappeared when he was tired. She closed her notebook and set it on top of the physics text. Ryan seemed to take that as an invitation to get more comfortable, so he shifted around to grab a pillow to put on her lap so that he could put his head on top of it, giving his legs enough space to curl onto the couch. "Comfortable?"
"Hmmmm," he sighed, snuggling himself further into the pillow, her lap, and the couch. As his breathing started to get deeper, she sighed; it looked like she wasn't getting up any time soon.
"Are you going to stay still there for a while?" She asked, nudging him gently.
"Prob'ly," he mumbled again.
"Ok," she said, bringing her notebook back in front of her and resting it on his head. He shifted his position ever so slightly, but she assumed it was to take the pressure of her writing off of his ear. As soon as he stopped moving, she started the video up again. It was only a few minutes later that underneath the instructive voice of Khan Academy, she heard the soft snores of Kevin Ryan.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Text From: Kevin
How did you get into my phone?
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
Physics was not enough to hold my attention. And your phone was right there. Plus, your passcode is 1234. You should change that if you don't want people messing with it.
Text From: Kevin
You changed Castle's name to MainManCrush
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
I've seen your collection. It seemed to fit.
Text From: Kevin
And Javi's to ESPO-STEAKS
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
I was hungry. And very tired. It made sense to me at the time.
Text From: Kevin
Was going to be nice and ask how exam went. Now I have to fix all the contact numbers you changed.
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
I just made your contacts list look like something straight out of a tween version of Gossip Girl
Text From: Kevin
I know. I got a call this morning from #1 Frenemy K. Becks
Text From: BFF Alexi
You know you love it
Text From: Kevin
You need to stop binge-watching Gossip Girl
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
Never! Now that exams are done, what else am I going to do?
Text From: Kevin
Watch something cool. Like Stranger Things
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
You're such a dork
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
Plus, I already finished the new season last month
Text From: Kevin
No spoilers! I'm only two episodes in. Haven't had time.
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
Pathetic. I think you need more caffeine
Text From: Kevin
Who is Butter Scotch?
Text From: Kevin
WHY DID YOU CHANGE MONGOMERY'S NAME TO BUTTER SCOTCH?!
Text From: BFF Alexis 3 3 3
Random stroke of inspiration
Text From: Kevin
I'm done talking to you now. No more. Must make some calls.
Text From: BFF Alexi
Have fun!
Ryan scowled at his phone screen trying to make sense of what Alexis had changed. Thankfully the most embarrassing names were people that she knew from the precinct or else they were fairly translatable, like Queen K for his sister Karen and Pops for his dad's number.
As he scrolled through his contacts, fixing the names, he realized he didn't regret falling asleep on his couch with her one bit. Despite the trouble. He'd missed having someone sleep next to him. He'd only slept there for a few hours, then he'd left and covered her with a blanket like any good gentleman with his best friend's daughter, and finished the night alone in his own bed. But it was nice. Much like her companionship whenever she was around his place. Studying or sneaking food into his fridge. Damn those Castles were good cooks.
But he really did need to sort out some of his own shit. Or at least start dating again. A 32 year old man letting a 21 year old girl hang out at his apartment because he was lonely sounded suspicious. At the very least, it should be raising eyebrows from someone on his side of the law. He couldn't even imagine what Castle would do or say if he'd found out that Ryan spent hours last night with his head in his daughter's lap. That would be uncomfortable. Ryan pressed his lips together and put his phone away. Feigning ignorance is bliss. Isn't that how the saying goes?
"Yo, Ryan," Esposito came out of the interrogation room to meet Ryan at his desk. "You want to work with this guy's statement? His whereabouts from 11pm-2am are still shady. Beckett thinks she can break him if we've got something more solid to hit him with."
"Where's a Castle story when you need it?" Ryan asked.
"Right? He's trying to come up with something too, but some facts would make it better."
"Yeah, I'll take a look," Ryan responded, pulling out the 8th precinct's file on the drug dealer again. "Hey, man, speaking of Castle. Would it be weird if I told you that I'm kind of friends with Alexis now?"
Esposito raised his eyebrows at his partner, taking the chair beside him. "It depends. What kind of friends? How did it happen? How long? Was that the final straw to Jenny leaving?"
"No, Javi, geez relax!" Ryan quickly back-tracked, hushing Esposito's questions and lowering his voice to avoid getting Beckett and Castle's attention. "She lives a couple blocks away from me now. You know, the Old Mill area by Columbia? We ran into each other one night after Jenny moved out. I wasn't in great shape and she helped me out."
"Oh, that's it," Esposito let out a breath of relief. "Way to scare a guy. I thought you were gonna say you were having an affair with her or something."
"Ah, no, trying to avoid that," Ryan replied, though his cheeks rose ever so slightly in color. Esposito's accusing eyes widened again as he registered the blush and Ryan grabbed his arm to keep him from freaking out. Ryan continued explaining to his partner in hushed tones. "Nothing has happened! I let her use my place to study because she hates where she's living now and her boyfriend doesn't giver her any space. It's just weird that I've gotten so comfortable around her, right?"
"A little strange," Esposito replied slowly. "But not unthinkable. She and Castle are kind of in a fight, right? So it makes sense she's reaching out a little more. And you're vulnerable right now because of Jenny and we know she's a sweetheart who likes to make people feel better. So… Yeah, ok, I don't think it's as concerning as you're making it out to be."
Esposito subtly started nodding to himself as he spoke. These little things did make sense. Alexis was a great girl and if her presence was helping to keep Ryan sane, then yeah, he was ok with this.
"Thanks, bro," Ryan let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding since that first (and only) morning he'd woken up with a hangover and Alexis in his bed.
"Just keep it all rated PG though bro, I know she looks all grown up now," Esposito sent his partner a glare that was half playful and half a warning. Ryan rolled his eyes and shoved Esposito's shoulder in response before turning back to the paperwork on his desk, ready to help this case finally be over.
