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Last chapter was pretty painful (well, for me anyway). If you love you some Javi, this one really isn't going to be a whole lot better, so get tissues… OH! But Castle and Ryan are in this chapter, and Castle is his adorable self. ^_^ He's a good friend. So, quit listening to me; go read. ;)

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"Gimme 'nother. C'mon." A loose slap of the bar counter brought the bartender back in his direction.

"No." The voice wasn't the bartender's. It was Kevin Ryan's. The blue-eyed detective had been watching his friend put away beer after beer for the better part of an hour, then watched with a lot more concern when he started switching to whiskey. Now, he spoke up, putting a hand out to the bartender. "He's cut off. I'm takin' 'im home." Kevin slid the man another twenty for his troubles.

Esposito shook his head, with what little command he still had over it. "Naw. Naw, bro."

"Yes." Kevin wasn't stern often, but when he was, God help the sleestak arguing on the other side.

Even falling-down drunk, Esposito seemed to understand that it was time to go home, because he nodded lazily and swirled around on his barstool. "A'ight. Easy. I'm out."

Kevin nodded, and stood after his partner, sliding his wallet back into his pocket. No sooner had Javier tried to take a step, though, than his footing weaved, and he pitched forward. Ryan body-blocked him. "Whoa whoa whoa, hey, hey." He braced his friend's shoulder and held him up before he had a chance to topple over, easing him back to a standing position. "You're not going anywhere, big guy."

While Ryan looped Javier's arm behind his shoulders, Javier tried blearily to bat him away. "Rhy'n. C'mon man, Kev, 'm fine. I c'n drive home. Lemme out."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Okay, if you think I would ever be dumb enough to agree to that, you're a lot more plastered than I thought."

"Th'n lemme walk," Javier slurred, stubborn as a jackass 'til the end.

"Into traffic? Yeah, I highly doubt that. Come on. Now." He started to gingerly walk his partner outside.

"Rhy'n-"

"Now."

"Mmrrgh." Nobody was quite sure what that noise was, but Ryan succeeded in getting his friend outside, down the curb, and into the back of the car. As an afterthought, he went around to the front passenger's side, opened the glove box, and rummaged through until he found a paper bag. Kept a pack in there for the occasional junkie they picked up.

"Here," he said, tossing it into the backseat. "Don't throw up on my seatcovers."

"Rrgh." Esposito waved him off. He didn't even bother sitting up, crashed across the entire backseat.

Kevin drove tensely and silently the whole way back to his apartment. His own apartment - he wasn't going to trust enough to leave Esposito alone right now. Every few blocks, he stole another glance at his partner in the rearview mirror, wishing he knew the details. Javier wouldn't talk. The whole evening, the man hadn't said a word about it, just insisted they catch drinks after work and proceeded to drink the bar out of its week's supply… But Kevin had a guess. This was about Lanie. She'd left him. Lanie had left him. All the signs were there. And Espo had never dealt with that before. Of course all he'd wanted to do was drown himself. The guy was not a talker to begin with. Especially not after this.

Funny how self-destruction just sort of…happened.

Whatever thoughts he had toward Lanie, they weren't justified yet - yet - so Ryan only drove. He kept on driving until he pulled the car up to the curb outside his building, killed the ignition, and got out. He went around back again, slipping his keys into his coat pocket as he reached in for Javier's arm. "Up. Come with me. C'mon."

However he did it, he managed to keep Esposito walking somewhat in tandem with him, thankful that he didn't live on an insane floor number as he trudged his Hispanic comrade up each flight of stairs. Somewhere back around the first set, he'd decided to start mumbling. The trigger was bound to come sometime.

"Asked me," Javier was saying. "…Shoulda told me. I didn't know…"

"Yeah, I know ya didn't," Ryan consoled him, not entirely sure what bandwagon he was jumping onto. Not that it mattered. He'd be on it anyway. One more flight of stairs to go.

"'N' last night…beautiful. She was…fire…moved like I never - "

"Any amount of money if you stop right there, Quart Low."

"Now…nah. I'unno. Over. Sh'sgone."

Ryan's mouth turned to a fine line. So he'd been right. Lanie had actually walked out on his bro. And, from the way-too-close-to-TMI sound of it, she'd done it pretty suddenly, too. Surprising that Esposito'd gotten through the workday without cracking about it. Adjusting his shoulders under Javier's arm, Kevin changed the incoherent subject, nodding up at the hallway landing ahead. "Couple more steps here. One foot. Next one. There ya go. Just two doors."

His apartment door was in front of him in the minute. Made pretty good time, considering that hauling a semi-cooperative gym-rat up several flights of stairs was pretty difficult for most guys. Deciding against fumbling with his keys again, Ryan knocked softly on the door instead, hoping Jenny was awake.

Luck of the Irish. After a few moments and soft footsteps, the blonde in her college tee and pink-and-green sweatpants opened the door. An immediate look of concern etched into her features, and she stepped aside. "Kevin! Is he okay?" she asked quietly.

"He will be," Kevin answered her, taking his partner to the couch. "Hey, can you throw down that blanket? Don't want him to wake up and have a hissy fit." The half-roll of his eyes did nothing to lighten the mood, but he wasn't about to subject Javier to the extra annoyance of roadkill. The man was a baby about the damn couch, but, Ryan would save that for some other time when his girlfriend hadn't just dropped him. Jenny nodded and quickly complied, and Kevin explained as he steered his bro toward the right crashing point. "He decided to drink the whole bar. Wasn't done, either, but I stopped him." Ryan wasn't about to lose his partner to alcohol poisoning, of all things, and it'd looked like it was getting there. As a prank parting gift from Narc, there was a Breathalyzer in the hall closet. Joke was on them, because the thing worked, and he wasn't afraid to use it if he had to.

Jenny gasped softly. "Why?"

"Lanie dumped him, Jen." Well, she was going to find out sooner or later. Why hide the truth? Or be anything but blunt, for that matter. He could have said 'He and Lanie broke up,' but he wasn't quite feeling that generous. Kevin noticed his fiancée's jaw fall open, and he continued for her sake. "I don't know any of the specifics. He wouldn't talk about it; best I got was drunk ramblings out of 'im."

"Well, of course, I can imagine." Jenny shook her head in shock, staring maternally at the man on her couch for a moment before looking back to Kevin. "Has anyone talked to Lanie about this?"

Ryan shook his head. "Not that I know of. My money's on Beckett, though." It was definitely a talk to have in the morning. In the meantime, Ryan pointed at his partner. "You mind if he stays here tonight?"

"You don't have to ask," Jenny assured. "I'll get an extra blanket from the hall closet."

"Thanks Jenny." Ryan gave his fiancée a kiss on the cheek as she headed off, and with a watchful glance at Javier, went to go get some rest himself…but was stopped when he heard Javier stir, starting to mumble something. Kevin turned around.

"…Loved her."

"…I know, bro." Kevin didn't like this. He didn't like it at all. But for now, there was nothing more to do. So he turned, shut off the light, and went to bed, hoping morning would bring them all a little divine intervention.

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On a scale of 'World-Class Bro' to 'Total Piker,' Ryan was pretty proud of how he'd handled things last night. There was just one thing he hadn't thought about, which he realized as he was getting ready for work in the morning. He would be at the precinct, Jenny would be at her own job…that left Esposito, alone on the couch. Wasn't the point so that he didn't have to fend for himself after drinking himself senseless?

Ryan thought about this. There was no way Esposito was going to work this morning; he was calling him in, that was a given. But who could look after him for a few hours, just to make sure he didn't wake up feeling more miserable and alone or worse, find something else to drink… Ah. After a few moments' deliberation, the one choice was obvious, and Ryan picked up the phone.

The call connected. "You've got Castle."

"Hey, Castle. It's Ryan. Listen, can I ask you a favor?" He kept his voice down, peeking into the living room to make sure his 80-proof charge was still zonked out in there.

"Ask away, my friend; I think it's about time I start repaying my many debts to society…"

"Great. I just need you to keep an eye on Javier for the morning. Possibly afternoon, depending on how well he can walk a straight line by then."

"Uh-oh, I see we've reached first-name territory - how much did he drink?"

"Well, enough to put down an actual bull, I think, let's put it that way." Ryan hesitated to leak any more information than that, but, ultimately decided it would be obvious soon enough anyway, so he took a breath and went with it. "It's a Lanie thing. He said they're over; that was about all I got."

"Say no more," Castle said on the other line. "Believe me, there's nothing I understand better."

"Thanks, Castle," Ryan sighed, checking his watch. "I'll drop him by your place in half an hour on my way to work. He should be fine, just keep him away from windows."

"Will do," the writer saluted, "Will do."

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Javier barely remembered the transit. Either transit. He barely remembered…well, anything. Except the knot in his gut, keeping a sour company somewhere behind the nausea, south of the bitter taste of a hell of a lot of strong, strong alcohol. That was as familiar as an old friend.

"Aagh." He sat up slowly, gingerly, squinting hard against the light pouring in from the wall of windows across from him. At the moment, he didn't even remember knowing anyone who had that many windows. Or…lived that high off the ground. That was some kinda city out there. Probably full of people who didn't feel like they had nails drilled into their skull.

Leaning his elbows on his knees, Javier let his head fall into his hands, resting in repose at the carpet like that until an upbeat voice roused him out of his own self-beration.

"Ah, welcome back, Sleeping Drunky," it called. Agh. Why'd he have to be so loud. Or getting closer. "I whipped you up a little something that'll help take the edge off, so drink up. I'm afraid you have no choice or I'll have to tell Ryan that I've failed miserably as a detective-sitter." Javier looked up, head heavy, and saw the Castle who belonged to the voice, who was holding out a clear plastic glass of something green and concocted-looking. "Save us both," the latter man finished in a stage-whisper.

Cautiously, Javier placated him and took the damn thing, staring into the murky disgustingness for a moment before deciding there was no way his life was going to get worse at this point. Why not. He lifted the glass and threw a sip back like a shot, wincing afterwards. "Damn, Castle," he grimaced, sounding hoarse even to himself. "What the hell's in there?"

"It's a patented recipe we've been working with. Fifty percent wheatgrass juice, ten percent green tea, ten percent anything healthy from the fridge in a juicer, two percent hair-of-the-dog…" The writer walked around the coffee table and took a seat in the chair opposite. "I used to make one of those for Mother every morning ages eight through twelve."

Well. That explained a lot, then. Giving a nod of thanks - if you could call it that - Esposito leaned forward and set his glass on the coffee table. "I'll finish it later," he reasoned.

Castle didn't even blink. "Good idea. Let it marinate." Then, he studied his detective friend for a moment, finally working up the right words to ask his question. "…So." He made a point to sound a lot less Wiseass, and a little more genuinely concerned…it didn't turn out to be difficult. "I hear there's a…specific reason you chose to bake yourself last night…?"

And there it was. It had to be inevitable, didn't it? Javier wasn't going to question how Castle knew. He had a few good guesses, based on what little he did remember about he last twenty-four hours, and…well, he didn't want to get into it. The knot in his stomach seemed to want him all to itself, and that didn't leave room for a lot of useless verbatim. He nodded, looking away.

"And…" Castle pressed cautiously, sensing that this was a rare fragile topic. "Just, for the record…you know that, while I'm no Ryan, I do have a decent set of ears. In case you decide you…would…like to talk about it. …Not that you'd want to talk about it, of course."

Esposito glanced over at his friend. He paused for a long moment. Then he nodded again, this time adding a word to it. "…Yeah." …Thanks bro.

Castle nodded as well, and stood up. For once, that was as far as he was going to go with it. He understood what that felt like. "Okay then. I'm going to go see if Alexis left any waffle mix. There is nothing more alcohol-absorbent than waffles. I think it's something to do with the grids."

More than anything, Javier was eternally grateful that that was the note Castle walked away on. He just wished the man didn't have a constant replay of Lanie projected on his billionth-story windows.

…Oh, wait. That was the alcohol too.

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Awwwww. xD Anyone else want to hug him now? I did. Seriously. I'm depressing myself. XD

Want info on a Castle RPG community? Go to my profile and read the bold paragraph. Want more of this story? Drop a review to let me know! I'd LOVE to know what you guys are thinking. Details are my best friend! ^^ Thanks everyone.

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