Hello faithful readers! So glad I have people adding this to their faves and story alerts! This snapshot is a little different than the first four in this story because I wanted to bring in the bro-ship of Ry-Sposito and Ryan's insight into his partner's commitment to Meredeth after Esposito's busted his chops so much on Ryan and Honey-Milk's relationship. Also, all the science is completely fictional I am not a doctor so I have no idea if that's how it works but for the sake of my story, just run with it. Cheers!

Ryan loved his nights off when Jenny had to work late. Not that he didn't want to see his wife, but it gave him a chance to catch up with Esposito off the clock. The loose plan of a few beers and the latest Die Hard on DVD had flown right out the window like John McClane escaping a band of German terrorists when his partner had shown up on his doorstep with - God help him - baking supplies. A treat for Meredeth was the only explanation he was given, as if this four-word response was answer enough. Now, forty minutes after his partner, who had just that afternoon sighted his SWAT rifle between a suspect's eyes, had started measuring butter and white sugar, he had to say something.

'Explain again to me why we are using our only night off the roll this week to become the world's most ho-yay crime-solving duo outside of Batman and Robin?' Ryan dropped the spoon into the cookie bowl and looked at Esposito like he was a dangerous caged animal as a thought occurred. 'Are we baking so you can get laid?'

'No, we're baking because Meredeth is having a hard time with this move, harder than I realized.'

'Why? I thought you said she's excited to be back in Chelsea. Closer to you, and her office, better places to take Arturo for walks.'

Esposito nodded his agreement as he poured peanut-butter chips into the bowl. 'All true, but actually moving in there means her grandmother, who is the only real family she has, is no longer going to be a subway ride away. It's given her some rough nights.'

'Oh.' Ryan had been witness to just what a 'rough night' meant for Meredeth and it wasn't pleasant. Moving was hard enough but that stress on top of it...He felt a little slimier when Esposito paused before adding, 'She might be getting some meds to help her sleep.'

Ryan said nothing, just grabbed a couple of extra spoons out of the drawer and helped scoop batter onto the cookie sheet. He knew how much Meredeth meant to Esposito, remembered all too well the scene at her office building the day before Hallowe'en when they'd found her at the mercy of her so-called 'number one fan' who had held her hostage and the panic that poured out of Esposito at the possibility of Meredeth in serious danger. He also knew if it were the other way around, Esposito would do the same for him.

'So are we heading to Chelsea or Yorkville after these are done?'

They made it to Meredeth's apartment with the cookies stored in one of Jenny's Ziploc tubs, though Ryan was still a little convinced that something as cheesy as homemade cookies wasn't going to work on a woman like Meredeth.

'Be forewarned,' Esposito added as they approached her door, 'Arturo looks like a monster but he's a total suck.'

'Who-' Before he could say anything, Esposito opened the door and a large honey-brown dog leaped towards them, his coaster-sized front paws landing squarely on Esposito's chest as he gave him a lick on the face.

'Get off, Artie, these aren't yours,' Esposito said as he held the box out of the beast's range. 'Hey, Mere! It's your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Men.'

Ryan followed Esposito and Artie into the spacious apartment, saw the dog wag his tail in delight at Meredeth, hair bundled under a Blackhawks cap as she bubble-wrapped some glass knickknack amid a pile of boxes.

'Yes, I know, they're here,' she told the dog before setting the object into a box marked 'Living Room Breakables' and getting to her feet to greet the men. 'Hello Detectives.'

She gave Esposito a warm kiss before her eyes landed on the plastic container in his hand. 'What are those?'

'Cookies.' He lifted the lid for her to inspect the contents. 'Peanut-butter oatmeal.'

'My favourites. Thank you.' She grabbed two out of the box, put it on the table as she bit in and Esposito had the fun of watching her face go from delight to confusion and finally to gratitude. 'You baked these?'

Esposito was equally thrilled at her smile and smugly satisfied that he'd proven himself right when Ryan thought he was nuts. 'With real butter, not that fake margarine shit, and the flour is the unbleached white, just like the recipe said.'

'I helped,' Ryan added, stripping off his jacket. 'We used my kitchen.'

'That is so sweet of you guys.' Cheeks still stuffed with cookies, she dusted crumbs from her hands and kissed her boyfriend on the lips, followed it up with a quick smack on Ryan's cheek. The Irishman's own cheeks turned a little pink as Meredeth whirled away to the refrigerator.

'I haven't got a lot in the house right now, but there's milk, apple juice, some questionable sangria, and a couple of beers.'

'I'll take a beer after I hit the head. Where?' Ryan gestured around before Meredeth pointed him in the right direction.

Esposito took the beer Meredeth gave him, knowing his partner's excuse to the bathroom was as much to give them a little privacy as to void his bladder. 'So how'd it go with Anna today?'

'Interesting.' Meredeth cracked her own beer open, took a bracing drink before she told him about her session with Dr. Anna Fredrick. 'There's a doctor she wants to refer me to, who might be able to help the night terrors subside altogether.'

'You'd be rid of them?'

'Possibly, yeah. This guy Anna told me about, Franklin Werner, he's a hypotherapist.'

'A hypontist?' Esposito immediately flashed to a college freshman night where a so-called hypnotist had gotten various people onto stage and convinced them they were on rollercoasters or that one poor girl's belt was a cobra. 'Is that even legal?'

'It's not like those Vegas parlour trick shows. Hypnotherapy has gained a lot of ground in helping people with eating disorders, addictive habits like smoking, even insomnia.' Meredeth set her drink aside. 'And this guy, Werner, is good, he's really good. He's a board-certified hypnotherapist and psychiatrist, he was the APA's winner of the New Frontiers of Psychiatry award last year.'

Esposito crossed over to her. 'How exactly would it work?'

'The way Anna explained it, the subject - me - goes into an unconscious state to replicate the point in the sleep cycle where the night terrors occur and then use conventional psychiatric counseling techniques to dig out the root.'

'So you'd essentially be having these things while you're awake? No, I'm sorry, but no.' Esposito shook his head firmly. 'I don't want you to suffer like that.'

'And it's better I should go to bed every night not knowing if I'm going to wake up screaming in the middle of the night? Javi, doing this could mean I would get the best sleep I've had in nearly twenty years. You wouldn't have to worry when I travel for work, or if I'm sleeping alone while you're working nights.'

'Can you tell me that they won't get worse than they are right now?' When she didn't answer him.

'Javi, I get it, I know you don't want me going through these episode anymore than necessary, and trust me, I don't either, but the whole point of making them worse in the short term is so they go away for good.'

She was right, which made swallowing his male ego all the more difficult. It wasn't just that he was a cop who swore to serve and protect, since the first time he'd seen her have one of her episodes he'd made it his personal promise to keep her safe as reasonably possible. Not only that, but this would push their relationship forward to a whole other level of trust he hadn't expected he'd want. Sighing deeply, he pulled her in for a supportive embrace. 'Okay. Whatever you decide to do, I'll support you.'

'I'll call Anna in the morning, tell her I'm going to do it.' Meredeth shuddered a little. 'This is something I've considered for a long time, but I never had the motivation. Now I do.'

She pulled back from him a little so she could kiss him, a soft press of her lips against his, reassurance that she would be okay. When she felt him squeeze her tight against his body, she put her hand to his cheek. 'It'll be okay, babe.'

'I want to come with you.'

'Javi-'

'At least give me that. I want to know what to expect after...after.'

'Okay. You can come out of hiding, Ryan,' she added as he slowly walked down the hallway. His face was full of concern as he took the offered beer from Esposito, who looked like Christmas had been canceled. Beside him, Meredeth's usually sunny face was just as miserable.

'Everything okay?'

'It will be.'

When it was time to leave, Ryan kept his mouth shut until they were in the car. The underlying tension between the normally happy-go-lucky couple was very palpable and it made Ryan's gut clench sickeningly. As they pulled away from the curb, he eased into the conversation as gently as he could without sounding like he was prying.

'Everything alright with you two?'

'She's going to see a hypnotherapist to get rid of her night terrors. Each session, she'd be put into a sleep-like state in order to 'dig out the roots' as she put it.'

'And that's bad because-'

'When it's at night, I'm there to help her through it. This stuff, there isn't a damn thing I can do to stop it. At least when I'm there, I can help her get over it, but this...I don't know if I can handle just sitting there and watching her suffer through it. Goddamn it!'

Ryan's eyebrows nearly lifted through the roof. He'd thought he'd seen how much he cared about Meredeth at Hallowe'en, but this was beyond the heightened sensations of a new relationship. It seemed what Beckett had reported back to him and Castle was true: big bad Javier Esposito had fallen hard and fast in love with the pretty Danish woman. 'Does she know you feel this way?'

'Yeah. I'm going with her, on the first session.'

'Not what I meant, bro.'

Esposito only stared out the window, watched New York zip past. All those people, he thought, and he'd found his Meredeth amongst them. 'How long did you wait to say it to Honey-Milk?'

'About five months. We'd had dinner out, and we were taking a walk through Central Park by Strawberry Fields, and I just blurted it out. Scared the hell outta me when she didn't say anything for a few seconds, and I sincerely thought I'd blown it. Very few moments in my life have been as excruciating as those handful of seconds. Then she just put her arms around me and said it back. '

'Did you know she'd say it back?'

'I had a feeling she would, but I'd have said it even if I was flying blind. The right girl, she's worth that risk, and bro,' Ryan gestured his thumb over his shoulder towards the direction they'd just come from, 'that woman is definitely worth the risk.'

R&R&Enjoy!