The little warm body next to him hadn't stopped moving since he remembered waking up, slowly but surely coaxing him to open his eyes.
Long before that task was ever possible, Esposito used his other senses to gauge his surroundings, identifying the nearby smells as those of a hospital, feeling the plastic tubing of an IV run down the inside of his arm.
Hushed voices could be heard here and there, many of them unfamiliar except for that of his best friend and Jenny, both of whom had been at his bedside for quite some time now.
While his sluggish mind struggled to make sense out of what happened that brought him here, he was grateful to be alive nonetheless.
It took a few attempts, but he finally opened his eyes, squinting against the dim lights greeting him in the world of the living.
Off in the corner, he could see Kevin look at a magazine, showing something to a skeptical Jenny. With one hand over her pregnant belly, she raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head dismissively.
Much to his surprise, the warm body he'd been feeling belonged to SG who was sitting by his left leg, busy playing with an etch-a-sketch, the little wheel creaking in pain each time she wiped her board clean.
"You're dragging your whole family into this mess now, bro?", he tried, sounding pathetic as he turned his head to get a better look at his partner.
His clearing vision delivered a shock when he realized that Kevin was in a wheelchair, left arm supported in a brace, his face a colorful mess.
The blanket draped over his lap only deepened the pit in his stomach, making him wonder if Kevin's legs were as battered as the rest of the body, maybe even worse.
"It's about time you joined the party.", the younger detective cheered as a warm smile spread on his face, lighting up the room.
And yet it did so little to take away that haunted look in his eyes.
It was no different with Jenny who turned around to face him, her carefully guarded expression mirroring anxiety and relief all at once. He could tell that she was in pain from the strain of her pregnancy, and the current situation was only adding to the toxic concoction.
O'Donnell.
The name hit him in an instant, bringing back a slew of unwelcome memories that made him fall still for a moment, trying to play catchup with what happened. The few puzzle pieces his foggy mind was able to produce only added to the panic that threatened to overcome him.
The ambush, the fighting, the pipe…KEVIN!
His gaze must have given away his inner turmoil when he snapped back to reality in time to find Kevin next to him, his partner's hand on his upper arm, squeezing it reassuringly.
"You ok?
Those bright blue eyes stayed on him for a few extra moments as Esposito fought to regain his composure, trying to forget the paralyzing horror he felt every single second he was tied to that godforsaken pipe, his efforts to interfere both worthless and pitiful, all while his partner was used as bait like a slave being thrown to the lions in Roman times.
"Are you ok?", he replied instead, unable to take his eyes off the purple and blue marks on his partner's face, his swollen and split lip, remembering the sounds of fists and kicks hitting Kevin's body so vividly that it brought him right back to that filthy warehouse.
"Just bruises. A broken bone here or there. But mostly bruises. Deep bruises."
Knowing that there was a slew of half-truths woven into that seemingly half-hearted comment didn't stop him from nodding in gratitude, knowing that under any normal circumstances, they should have been carried out of that warehouse in body bags.
Swallowing against the unpleasant images associated with that morose thought, Esposito glanced down at his right leg, seeing it elevated, feeling the pressure of a tight bandage around his thigh.
As he continue his personal inventory, he ran his hand over the assortment of cables disappearing into the collar of his hospital gown before his fingers reached the Velcro of a blood pressure cuff whirring away for another reading.
His knuckles were raw and bloodied, and he could feel a new set of staples in his forehead, covered with a thick bandage.
"You ehm…you remember what happened?", Kevin tried after a while, his nervous eyes travelling to the monitors up above, where he studied the lines and numbers intently.
"Yeah, I remember just fine.", he countered sourly, "Tell me somebody put a bullet into that racist, egocentric-"
He stopped himself when SG looked up at them worriedly, her frown turning into a genuine grin as Kevin waved at her.
"Beckett did.", the young detective replied with a feigned smile, "They got the other three boys in custody. By the sound of it, they're going to go for a plea bargain to bring down the rest of that organization which seems to include an off-the-boat German couple that owns a nearby deli…at least according to Castle. I was trying to follow along, but he lost me somewhere between all the wie geht's and was brauchen Sie denn's. Beckett told me later that he was the leading force in locating the warehouse in time to save our sorry behinds."
"Castle? Running the show on that? No way…"
"Way. Sounds like he did a lot of the talking, pretty much intimidating our suspects into relinquishing the information."
"Are we sure somebody didn't…embellish a bit on that? As in somebody who likes to embellish a lot?", Esposito replied skeptically before shrugging, "Either way, sounds like the DA's office is gonna be pretty damn busy here these next few weeks…that's something at least."
A long pause ensued, giving both men time to process what happened. Their silence eventually caught Jenny's attention and she stood up, carefully helping SG off the hospital bed before excusing herself for a while.
It was enough for Kevin to draw in a deep breath and lean back in his wheelchair, staring at his hands resting in his lap.
"I have to give you credit on this one, bro, you read him right from the beginning…this O'Donnell dude? The whole situation actually. I just thought you were…you know…on edge and reading something into a case that wasn't there, but ironically, I was the one being blinded."
The candid words surprised him and Esposito glanced back over at his partner, sensing a hint of regret.
"Nah. I was worked up from everything that happened these last few weeks. I pushed it when I didn't need to and I was an unnecessary jerk. I feel like I owe Beckett and Castle an apology. And you, most of all. I didn't need to say all these shitty things about you. That was as low as it gets."
When he saw Kevin open his mouth to rebut, he shook his head slightly, shutting down the remark before it could ever leave his best friend's lips.
"I don't want to hear it. I don't need no justification or reassurances. I am man enough to know when I screwed up and I'm gonna fix this somehow. Lord knows I almost didn't get that chance. I'm just…I'm just glad O'Donnell's not wasting any more oxygen. Won't help the families tho."
"No…no, it won't. But we are alive, which is good. I am…I am just a couple weeks of downtime and PT away from being like new and you are conscious, with a few more staples in your head and you didn't bleed out. Just back to the olde cane for a few days. I was getting a bit worried there when you kept drifting in and out.", Kevin said, stumbling through his words as he kneaded the blanket over his lap.
"I was just conserving energy. Which is something you ought to do next time instead of incessantly blabbering on…", Esposito began, then turned his frown into a smile that instantly lifted his partner's spirits.
It didn't last long this time around, even for him. As soon as Esposito let his guard down, the frightening memories returned with relentless determination.
After a moment, he dropped his gaze, recalling the sickening chants from the sidelines as Kevin was dragged into a position he wasn't supposed to be in. That was his job after all. He was there to take the punches, be the protector, while his partner did his miracle work with technology. That was the unspoken agreement forged into their partnership from Day One.
But there he was, cuffed to a damn pipe, too tired to even keep his eyes open, trapped inside his body while listening to the pained groans and grunts that got an overenthusiastic O'Donnell fired up like a football coach at the Superbowl.
He had hoped to lay a hand on that son of a bitch, give him a piece of his own medicine and level that goddamn playing field once and for all. But instead, it had been Kevin against Derek, two skinny dudes who didn't belong in the fighting ring and sure as hell didn't want to be there.
Of course, he knew why O'Donnell had picked the even-tempered, rational and undeniably white Irish boy over him; but still. How dare he pick Kevin of all people?
"Well, in case you missed it while you were…conserving energy…I…I did what you said when O'Donnell put me up against that kid. And I won. So, you saved my life twice. Taking a bullet and coaching me on my fighting style."
"No, you saved mine.", Esposito answered sharply and glanced back up, "You saved mine because you just kept on going. And fighting. Every punch, every whack with that...that metal rod that you took bought enough time for Beckett to find us. You…doing stuff you normally never do, stepping up to the challenge, being a really tough dude…that's what did it, man."
Kevin didn't answer right away, his expression a mirror of mixed feelings that weren't ready to be expressed quite yet.
"I think we should keep that tape O'Donnell made of you fighting…", Esposito said when his best friend made no motion to reply, "Show it around every once in a while to remind people that you're not nearly as harmless as you may seem…"
"No, I think…I think I'd rather forget about that whole ordeal.", Kevin replied with a determined headshake, "I don't think I ever want to be in a position to fight for my life quite like that again. Or your life for that matter, Javi…"
Shifting nervously, he then gestured toward the small side table underneath the window, desperate and ready to change topics.
"While I was waiting for you to come out of surgery, I had the guys pick up something for me from the store. Got you that Shakira album you like so much. Then you can jam to it while you work out."
Raising his eyebrows sheepishly, Esposito looked over at the table, seeing the small cardboard box next to a handful of cards.
"Shakira? What are you talking about?"
"Don't you remember? When you were losing all that blood and you started calling for Sonia but you were adamant that you'd called Sha-"
"Yeah, yeah, I remember now…", he stammered innocently, "Of course, I love Shakira. Best music ever."
"Good. I am glad I didn't…misunderstand. I wouldn't want this to be about Sonia since we just narrowly escaped her curse."
"No, no you understood perfectly. Shakira, it is."
"Well, I am glad we got that straightened out…", Kevin said playfully and rolled his wheelchair back a few inches, "And being that we both are out of commission for a little bit, I thought we could spend some time together, in the apartment, while I wait for the baby to come. Castle and Beckett could bring over your games and we could catch up on a few of those. It won't be quite the same but we'd still be together like family, you know? You and I and Jenny and SG? Maybe we can convince Beckett and Castle to come over for a bit too. Like you said, we've all kind of drifted apart and this case has taught me that it's time to…to come back together now, act like the family that we are."
"So I get to babysit you and SG? Is that your latest idea in response to that whole daycare nightmare?", Esposito countered facetiously and showed off his immaculately white teeth, "I guess I could do that. Maybe teach her…and you a few more self-defense moves. And we gotta work on your fighting stance, man. You gotta learn to relax."
"And I gotta work on your taste in music. Geesh, what else do you like besides Shakira? N'Sync? Enrique Iglesias? Backstreet Boys?"
Kevin's genuine teasing did wonders to take the edge off the situation, allowing both men to relax for the first time since their harrowing ordeal began.
"Now you are pushing it.", Esposito scoffed, then hesitated, "No, actually I do like the Backstreet Boys. They had a few good songs."
"I guess so. I did like 'As long as you love me'."
"Yeah, their earlier work was pretty amazing. But 'Shape of my Heart' was awesome too. And 'I want it that way'. Pretty much the whole Millennial album was great. No comparison at all to any of the boy bands. They really stuck out and held together over the years. They aged well, man. I love hearing Kevin sing. He's rocking that bass like none other."
With a wily smile, Kevin leaned back in his wheelchair and shook his head.
"Javi, you do know this conversation can never leave this room."
Returning the amicable smile, he reached over to squeeze his partner's shoulder.
"Oh yeah, absolutely. You ask me about this later I will deny everything and talk about how much you love Britney Spears. She did have some pretty good songs too…"