Chicken Soup for the Battered Soul
Jenny elects herself the Espo-sitter for the weekend. Esposito, Ryan/Jenny, post-Punked.
"What are you doing? Give me those." Ryan grabbed the keys out of Esposito's hand and moved to the other side of the elevator.
"Ryan," Esposito growled.
"Dude," Ryan rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You have been thrown around by Hulk Hogan, mowed down by a shopping cart, and run over by a suspect. You're not driving."
"I can drive," Esposito retorted.
"Yeah, into a wall. Captain said to make sure you got back to your apartment, so that's what I'm doing."
Esposito grumbled and leaned back against the elevator wall as Ryan smirked and pocketed the car keys. Esposito smirked a minute later and mimed cracking a whip when Ryan's phone started beeping.
"You're lucky you're injured right now," Ryan muttered, flipping his friend off as he read his text.
Ice cream choices: Moose Tracks or Double Fudge Brownie Chocolate?
Both? We both know you're not going to share the Brownie one. Ryan texted back, grinning.
Very funny. :)
Going to be late, have to drop Esposito at his place and then go back to the precinct for a few hours.
Jenny stared down at her phone and shook her head, dialling Kevin.
"Hey, Kev," Jenny said as he picked up. She tucked the phone farther into her shoulder and grabbed a package of egg noodles off the grocery shelf. "What do you mean, you're dropping Javier off at his place? I thought he was hurt."
"He is."
"Is anyone going to be staying with him?"
"Don't think so."
"Well, you can't do that. You said he could barely move," Jenny rolled her eyes. Boys. "I'm twenty minutes away from the apartment. Bring Javier over. It's Friday, he can stay with us and I can stay with him while you're at work. That's what the pullout couch is for."
"Really?"
"I wouldn't have said anything, otherwise."
"Okay. I'll see you soon."
"What was that about?" Esposito asked suspiciously.
"Jenny was just wondering if you wanted to come over. She knows you don't have anyone who's going to come and stay with you, so Jenny has elected herself the Espo-sitter for the weekend. Or until you feel better, whichever comes first."
Esposito blinked.
"If you're really lucky, she'll make soup," Ryan added.
Jenny tapped her finger against her lips as she surveyed the living room. The groceries were put away, and her soup was still gently simmering away on the stove, the way it had been when she realised she was out of anything she could put in it. Jenny moved all of the essays she needed to mark onto the red couch, and both the arm chair and the beige pullout were cleared off. There were clean sheets in the closet; the Xbox was tucked neatly under the TV instead of all over the floor… what was she missing?
"Armchair," Jenny decided, dragging it to the right so that it had a better view of the TV. She was stepping back to check the new position when she caught voices outside.
"Ryan, seriously, just drop me at my place. … Ow, what the hell was that for?"
"I warned you I was going to smack you if you said that again."
"I'm wearing a neck brace!"
"And what, your ears are broken too? You're the one who keeps saying you're fine, stop being a baby. Jen, we're home!"
Jenny gave the armchair one last yank and dusted her hands off.
"Kevin," Jenny beamed at the two of them as they walked into the apartment. "Javier, it's good to see you again, though it could be under better circumstances. Come in, have a seat. I hope you don't mind, but I put all my stuff on the red couch."
"That's fine, Jenny," Javier hastily reassured her, taking a seat in the armchair. Kevin snickered.
"I'm making chicken soup, but I had to run out to the store – so just in case it takes longer than expected, how's Chinese, Javier?" Jenny asked.
"Ah… sure, sounds good." Javier replied.
"Excellent. Kev, have you seen the other Xbox controller?" Jenny asked, heading to the kitchen to dig the Chinese takeout menus of the drawer.
"It's under the couch, I think." Kevin called after her.
"Would you mind grabbing that for me?"
"No problem."
Jenny stuck her head back out into the living room. "I'm sorry; I meant to ask earlier – Javier, do you want anything to drink?"
"Water's fine, Jenny, thanks," Javier assured her, grinning.
"Listen, bro, no matter what she says about Call of Duty, Jenny can kick both our asses at it," Kevin warned Javier as Jenny ducked back into the kitchen.
"Right, bro, I believe you." Even from the kitchen Jenny could hear the disbelief in his voice. She grinned.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Kevin grinned and followed Jenny into the kitchen.
"Hey," Kevin smiled at Jenny and wrapped her in a hug.
"Hey," Jenny sank into Kevin's arms and took a deep breath.
"I gotta get back," Kevin said quietly.
Jenny nodded against his chest, running her fingers up and down his tie. So much for a quiet dinner in. Oh well, there was always next weekend.
"Thank you for doing this, Jenny. Are you sure? We might be able to con the Doc into it."
"I'm sure she'd jump at the chance to play sexy nurse, but she has to work too. We will be just fine until Sunday or the end of the case, whichever comes first," Jenny grinned up at Kevin. "Besides, you said they were trying to keep it on the down low."
"You're sure?" Kevin asked again, getting the little wrinkle between his eyes that Jenny secretly thought was one of the sexiest things she'd ever seen.
"Kevin, he's family. We'll be fine," Jenny reassured him. "Even without a Kevin-shaped buffer."
"I love you, Jen," Kevin told her, and Jenny's knees went melty. It didn't matter how many times Kevin said it, Jenny's heart did just as many back flips as the first time.
"I love you too, Kevin," Jenny reluctantly stepped out of the hug and smoothed Kevin's tie down. "You should get going before Kate starts wondering where you disappeared to."
"Yeah, I should. I'll see you in a few hours."
Kevin was halfway to the door when he turned and kissed her, and Jenny's knees finished turning to goo.
"Okay, now I'm going," Kevin winked at her.
Jenny blinked as Kevin disappeared into the front hall.
He popped back into the kitchen a second later. "Oh, and Jenny? Espo didn't believe me about Call of Duty, so kick his ass, all right?"
"Okay."
Jenny grinned as Kevin left, tossing a "Play nice, you two!" over his shoulder. She grabbed Javier's water and a 7Up for herself and walked back into the living room.
"Kevin said you pranked Rick last year, Javier? Something about a mummy?"
Jenny and Javier both looked away from the TV as the door opened and Kevin dragged himself inside.
"There's soup on the stove, Kev," Jenny told him, watching as Kevin changed directions and made a beeline for the kitchen.
"Bro, your girlfriend has some serious gaming chops," Javier called after him.
"I know, right?" Kevin reappeared, soup in hand, and sprawled out on the beige couch. "The only one Jenny's bad at is Super Mario. Go figure."
"Really?" Javier shot an incredulous look at Jenny.
Jenny shrugged. "How was your night, Kev?"
"Long," Kevin sighed. "I had to go over those financials again and now whenever I close my eyes all I see are numbers. Captain's right, if I had a million dollars I'd put it in my mattress. But his friend confessed, so I think we're good."
"You think?" Javier asked.
"Beckett had that look on her face – you know, the same one she had when Castle said Cabot didn't kill Allison Tisdale," Kevin shook his head.
Javier groaned.
Jenny shushed them both as the baseball game came back on.
"She's been like that since the game started," Javier told Kevin.
"I know. It's cute," Kevin grinned.
"You convinced them Javier was going to be stuck in a wheelchair?" Jenny stared at the two of them from her position on the couch. "That's just mean."
"The Captain helped," Javier admitted.
"They fell for it?" Jenny still looked sceptical.
"For a detective and a mystery writer, they're surprisingly gullible," Kevin told her.
Jenny gave in and went along with them, pausing the movie. "Okay, then what happened?"
"Beckett's new boyfriend showed up." Javier looked singularly unimpressed.
"Kate has a new boyfriend?"
"Apparently," Kevin frowned and stabbed at his moo shu pork.
"What's his name?" Jenny asked Kevin, curious.
"Josh. He's a tree. Even Castle looks short next to him."
"Wonder how that makes Castle feel," Javier mused.
"What else?" Jenny asked. She'd liked Kate from the moment she met her and was interested in anyone who could catch the detective's eye like that.
"Beckett had a motorcycle helmet with her. I thought she was just yanking Castle's chain about that." Kevin looked at Javier. "You ever see Beckett riding a motorcycle?"
Jenny twirled a few noodles around her chopsticks and watched the two of them sulk for a minute before coming to a decision. "I can understand her not telling you two about her boyfriend."
"You can?" Kevin looked vaguely betrayed.
"I don't tell my brother about anyone I'm seeing unless we've made it past the one-month mark," Jenny bit her lip and grinned at Kevin, "You were the exception. I caved after the first week."
"Ryan held out until the second," Javier smirked.
Kevin launched a fortune cookie at his friend's head.
"Anyway," Jenny interjected, giving them both a look. "If it hasn't been very long, Kate probably wanted to make sure that it was going somewhere before she introduced you to each other. We'd been going out for almost nine months before I met everyone."
"He called us boys," Javier sounded offended, "Explain that one."
Jenny pulled herself out of the lotus position and turned to Javier. "It could just be a quirk. I went out with this guy in college, and he called everybody sport. Everybody. He called me – well, it doesn't matter what he called me," Jenny corrected herself, eyeing Kevin. "Whatever the reason, if he makes Kate happy, you two are going to have to give him a chance."
"Why?"
"Because you're the closest things she has to brothers, and your opinions mean a lot to her."
"Then why didn't she tell us right away?"
"Because Rick came back just over a month ago. With his ex-wife. If she was dating him then and she'd told you right away, and Rick found out, he might have thought she was jealous and trying to flaunt her relationship in front of him. And if she started seeing Josh after Rick came back, well, then it's still new enough she probably wanted to keep it to herself. Sometimes it's nice to have a secret relationship. Even if it's not really a secret."
"It's a girl thing?" Jenny offered, when Kevin and Javier just stared at her.