For your reading pleasure, unedited and churned out as quickly as possible. Because I love you guys that much.

And because I didn't add it in the first chapter: I don't own anything. Happy?

Chapter 2:

In which there is a liberal use of the words 'Yo' and 'bro'.

~/~

"C'mon, Beckett pick up the goddamn phone!" Esposito had been pacing around the small living room for the past few minutes dialing and redialing Beckett's, Captains, and Castles phone number to no avail. I watched from my perch on the black leather sofa with worried interest as he growled and stabbed 'redial' on the cell.

"Espo, I don't think she's going to pick up this time if she hasn't the past three," I said not unkindly, trying to not anger the man any further. He stopped pacing and slumped down on the sofa next to me, sighing as the answering machine picked up again.

"I guess you're right, bro," he sighed, sinking down into the soft cushions. I pat him on the leg, not noticing that he relaxes slightly as I do so.

"It's fine," I tell him. "We're two detectives in our own right. We can take care of ourselves." Esposito shook his head slightly.

"We don't know how far these guys' connection goes. They already got your number, who knows when they could be here, bashing down the door for you." I raised an eyebrow at my partner.

"Anyone could've found my number in the phone book, man. It's not like it's a big secret, or anything," Javier threw an exasperated look my way.

"Bro, there has got to be thousands of Kevin Ryans in the phone book. There's no way they could've looked through them that fast." I thought about it for a second and shrugged.

"I guess you're right." It did make sense. How else would they have been able to stay hidden for that long in a populated area unless they had bought off a cop? "I don't want to admit it, but we could be dealing with some pretty hard core people here." Espo nodded a slightly relieved look on his face.

"Alright, so we need to get hold of-" There was a soft knock on the door and we both froze, listening for any further noise.

"Esposito? Are you here? Is Kevin with you?" I frowned, wondering what she was doing here.

"It's Jenny," I murmured to Javi. He gave me a strange look.

"Didn't she walk out on you?" I nodded.

"But she did try to call me the day I was held hostage." He nodded, still frowning.

"I'm gonna go check it out, bro. Stay here." He stood up, pulling out his gun as he rounded the corner to get the door. There was a sound of a door opening, and then I heard Jenny.

"Is he alright? Is he here?" She asked, concern evident I her voice. Javier didn't answer her question immediately.

"How did you get my address, and why would you think Kevin was here?" He asked her, suspicion lacing his words.

"Beckett told me what happened." She sounded flustered. "I just wanted to make sure he was alright, because he didn't pick up his phone, and he always answers his phone." I mentally snorted. You walked out on me, why would I answer the phone for you?

"He's here," was all Javier said. "I'll be right outside; I have a few calls to make." The door closed and then Jenny rounded the corner. She looked a bit worse for the wear. Her make up was slightly smudged and her eyes were red rimmed.

"Kevin. Are you alright?" She asked awkwardly. I nodded, gesturing for her to sit in the only chair.

"We need to break the engagement," I told her bluntly, once she had taken a seat. I had thought about it for a while after she left, and I had told myself that the next time we met face to face, I would break it off. She looked down at her hands, which were resting in her lap.

"I know," she said tiredly. "It was never going to work." I nodded, even though I knew that she couldn't see me do so, as she was still looking down.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." She shook her head adamantly.

"It's my fault. I knew you were a cop, but I didn't realize how much it would bother me." She lifted her head and smiled brightly at me. "But there's someone else to take care of you now, so I don't have to worry anymore." I raised my eyebrow in confusion.

"Who?" She stared at me for a second, mouth gaping. Then she started to giggle. The giggles turned into laughter, and she laughed until she was holding onto her sides, tears streaming down her face.

"You really don't know?" She asked in-between gasps as I sat there, eyebrow still raised. I shook my head and watched as she laughed a bit more. "Well, you'll just have to figure that out for yourself. There's no way I'm telling you if you don't already know." She stood up, clutching her hands together.

"You're insane," I told her, standing up as well. She grinned up at me.

"You already knew that." I nodded. I did. "I'm going to miss you, Jen." She walked over and hugged me around the waist.

"I won't be gone forever," she said, releasing me from her surprisingly strong hold. "If you ever need to talk, just call me. I really would like to keep you as a friend." I smiled and ruffled her hair.

"That sounds good." Together, we walked to the door. I opened it and smiled at Javier, who had apparently finally gotten ahold of someone. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me about this other person?" I asked Jenny, who shot a quick glance at Javier as well.

"You'll figure it out soon, hopefully," was all she said on the subject. "Now, you should go back inside, I need a quick word with Esposito." My eyebrow shot into the air again.

"About what?" She smiled and turned to Javier as he finished his call. "Just something I need to tell him." I shrugged and walked back into the apartment.

"Bye Jenny." The last thing I saw before closing the door was her waggling her fingers at me.

~/~

The ride to the precinct was uneventful. On the way, Javier told me that he had finally gotten hold of Beckett. She and Castle had been searching the underground tunnels that the traffickers had escaped in, and there had been no service. She had been alarmed to hear about Javier's theory about a dirty cop, and had told them to get to the precinct as soon as possible.

"Ryan, the guys down at IT need your phone so that they can try and trace the number back to the caller," Beckett said, walking up to my desk and setting down a cup of coffee. I nodded, and fished it out of my pocket.

"What's the coffee for?" I asked, handing her the phone. Beckett smiled slightly.

"Esposito asked me to give it to you," she replied, turning around and walking to sit down at her own desk, which was covered in her 'lucky elephants'. "He said you didn't have time to get some this morning." I smiled and picked up the cup, inhaling the enticing aroma.

"Isn't that Espo's shirt?" Asked Castle, who had just walked in from the elevator. He smiled suggestively and raised his eyebrows. I made a sour face at him.

"We forgot to stop by my house last night. I had to borrow his clothes." Castle just chuckled and sat down in his chair next to Beckett's desk. Beckett herself smiled and then turned around, obviously trying to hide it from me.

"Oh, come on," I protested. "Nothing happened."

"What happened?" Esposito asked, walking out of the break room with a mug in his hand.

"Nothing," Castle and Beckett replied at the same time. Espo looked at me for clarification.

"They're teasing me about wearing your clothes," I told him. Instead of snorting and throwing a witty comeback like I had expected him to, he blushed slightly and hurried to his desk. There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Captain poked his head out of his office.

"I need to see you four," he told us, and then leaned back into his office. We all slowly got up from our desks and piled into the cramped office. "Shut the door," he told Esposito, who had been the last in the door. Once the door had been closed, the Captain leaned his arms on the desk and regarded us with a serious expression.

"This dirty cop theory- does it seem likely?" He asked, looking at each of us individually. Beckett slightly stepped forward.

"Yes, sir," she said quietly. "And with all due respect, I think that makes it necessary for Ryan to not have a protective detail." Captain nodded, obviously agreeing.

"Esposito, I'm sorry to ask this, but do you think that Ryan could stay with you for a few more days?" Espo nodded, glancing at me.

"That's no problem, Captain. But I'm not sure it'll be enough to protect him.' Captain sighed and rubbed his face, leaning back into his seat.

"The only other thing I could do is take him off the case." I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. "Which I'm sure he won't want. I'm sorry; my hands are tied." Beckett nodded slightly.

"He's right. It's also to our advantage to keep Ryan on the case so that our cop doesn't know that we're onto them." Captain nodded.

"Maybe he'll get careless and make a mistake. Now get to work. I want this case wrapped up by the end of the week."

~/~

"Yo, just got word on our Jane Doe." Espo strode into the room, brandishing a file in the air. "Name Kaci Collins, 23, lives in a penthouse in Manhattan." I whistled.

"Her parents must be loaded." Javier nodded, setting the file down on Beckett's desk. I rolled over, going way past her desk as usual, and Javier grabbed my arm and hauled me back.

"Have we managed to contact the parents?" Javier took a seat next to Castle, who had just gotten back from coffee.

"Yeah, they're downstairs getting checked in. Uniforms'll bring 'em up in a few." Beckett sighed and opened the file.

"Alright, you and Ryan interview the parents while Castle and I run down any connections to human trafficking Kaci might've had." Javier and I stood up and made our way over to the interview room.

"So what were you and Jenny talking about?" I started and looked at Espo, who had been relatively quiet the entire day at the precinct.

"We broke it off on good terms."

"Really?" He didn't seem too surprised. I nodded.

"Yeah, it was never going to work, anyways," I informed him. "What did Jenny talk to you about?"

"Oh, nothing," he replied. "She just wanted to make sure you were really alright." I could tell that there was something else from the way he wouldn't look at me, but I just raised my eyebrow and said nothing. He would tell me when he was ready.

"After you, honeymilk." He opened the door and beckoned me inside. I rolled my eyes and good naturedly bumped him on the shoulder as I walked past.

"Just watch, man," I started. "When you get a girlfriend, I am going to be all over your sorry ass." Espo entered the room after me and looked down.

"That's not going to happen," he mumbled. I raised my eyebrow and looked at him quizzically.

"Any girl would be glad to have you, Javi." He looked up at me and smiled, though it looked tight.

"I know," he told me. "It's just not going to happen. Now, the parents' names are Gregory and Stacy Collins. The father owns a large portion of the computer company HP."

"No wonder they were able to afford that penthouse," I snorted. Javier nodded an agreement just as there was a knock on the door. "Come in," I called. A uniform opened the door to admit two miserable looking people.

"You found my baby?" The woman asked me, once she had taken a seat. She was pretty, even at her age with long brown hair, blue eyes, and delicate features.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied. "We're very sorry for your loss." She nodded and wiped her face with a tissue that she had been wringing in her hand.

"I understand that you were also held hostage by those monsters." That was Gregory Collins. I shared a glance with Espo and nodded. "Then I'm glad that you're on my daughters case."

"Is there anyone who might have dragged her into this?" Javier asked him. The slightly balding man sighed.

"Yes, she had a boyfriend shortly before she disappeared, but we never met him." Espo frowned.

"And there were no pictures in the penthouse. Did you happen to have any?" Stacy Collins shook her head.

"We didn't really talk to Kaci after she moved out," she told us new tears falling down her face. "She was really busy with school."

"Is there anyone that we can talk to who might have known who this boyfriend was?" I asked. Gregory Collins nodded.

"Her best friend, Alexa," he replied. "My wife can give you her phone number." Stacy nodded and pulled out her cell phone, scrolling down the contacts and rattling off a number to Espo, who took it down on his notepad.

"Thank you for your time," I told them, holding open the door. They filed past me and walked toward the elevator when Javier walked out.

"You okay, bro?" He asked, a worried frown etching lines into his forehead.

"Yeah," I said. "Let's go find Alexa."

~/~

You guys flatter me. Really, you do. J

And to the anon, Jay- Thanks for the review. You make me happy.