Esposito sauntered into the precinct, enjoying its early morning murmur of activity, with a stack of magazines in one arm; when he dropped them on Beckett's desk she gave a little jump.

'Good morning, Detective Beckett.' He practically sang it as he took the top copy and put it on his boss' desk, sipping the coffee he'd made with his brand-new cappuccino maker, thank you very much.

Beckett barely turned a hair. 'Why are we so happy this early? Meredeth give you a side of sugar in the shower?'

'Check it out.' Esposito gave the magazine cover a little tap. 'That's my baby.'

Beckett gave him the obligatory eye-roll before picking up the copy of Bombshell magazine and whistling appreciatively. Meredeth was, indeed on the cover of the magazine, in dark jeans, crimson lipstick and a black top showing off a bosom that would make a blind man say boy-howdy. Overlaying her thighs was the text Meredeth Coleman - The Lady Behind Lady Hawk.

'Congrats, Esposito, she looks beautiful.'

'No, a Harley Davidson is beautiful. This,' he corrected, picking up a copy of the magazine, 'is going to be every straight man and bi-curious woman's dream girl. And the best part, I'm in there too.'

'She mentions you in the interview?' Beckett asked, taking the opportunity for a refill on her coffee, with Esposito following her to the break-room.

'They even included a photo of the two of us.'

Beckett gave him another eye-roll as she walked back to her desk with her. 'If I promise to read it, will you stop following me? Ryan's going with Honey-Milk to the baby-doc's this morning so I'm a man down until ten which means you're paper-trailing for two.'

'Absolutely. Page forty-two.'

'Fine.' Beckett set her mug down with a thump. 'Now, I need you to-'

'Hey superstar!' Richard Castle's voice was just as sunny as Esposito's face as he strolled off the elevator, his overcoat slung on his arm and a smile wide as the Grand Canyon. 'Stopped at the newsstand by the subway when a certain magazine cover caught my eye.'

Esposito tossed him a copy. 'Oh, you mean this little honey?'

'That would be it.' Castle, ever the showman, made a flourish of opening the magazine to the article and cleared his throat. 'One of the most creative minds in literature today, it isn't hard to see why Meredeth Coleman would earn such respect from the male-dominated world of graphic novels. As brilliant as she is charming, my conversation with her was one of the most entertaining interviews I've done during my stint at Bombshell. And it certainly didn't hurt she came with those big blue eyes - or other big beautiful assets - either,' he read, smirking with glee the entire time. 'Talk about a love letter to your girlfriend.'

'Wait until you see this.' Clearing his throat, Esposito turned the page and got a rush of pure male satisfaction when he saw Castle's eyes bug out in his head.

'Damn, Detective.'

'I know.'

'I mean, da-amn, Detective.'

'So she's in her bra,' Beckett commented blithely, yanking the magazine out of her boyfriend's hands. 'Doesn't mean you two should...'

She trailed off as she saw the full page picture; the magazine had used the black and white photos of Esposito and Meredeth in each other's arms as the profile picture to go with the interview.

'Damn, Detective,' she said, echoing Castle's words while he smirked his victory. 'You've been working out.'

'Thanks, boss.'

Castle gave him a friendly swat on the arm. 'I keep telling you, you need a better tailor. Then Meredeth will have good reason for not keeping it in her pants.'

'Yeah, I'll get on that when the city starts paying its lowly second-grades the same wages as a best-selling author.' Esposito rounded his desk as Beckett and Castle continued to read the article when his phone began to ring. 'Esposito.'

'Dude!'

'Hey, big daddy!'

On the other end of the line, Ryan's voice was eager as a Trekkie at Comic-Con. 'Saw the cover on the way to the doc's. No wonder you two boink like bunnies.'

'Says the guy who knocked his wife up in a bathroom on Hallowe'en. Is there a reason you called other than to bust my chops?'

'Just letting you know I'll be there in about twenty minutes, I'm saying bye-bye to my baby mama.'

'Alright, we'll see you soon bro.'

'Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on.'

It was nearly nine when Meredeth left the Elevation Animation Studio building. She'd stopped to fish in her purse for her metro pass when she heard a voice beside her.

'Excuse me, miss. Detective Esposito, NYPD, have you seen this woman?'

When a copy of Bombshell appeared under her nose, she giggled, looked up at her boyfriend who appeared to be practically glowing with pride. 'Depends, what do you want her for?'

'Her boyfriend is just frantic to get her back home, show her how proud he is of her.'

'Are you sure he didn't do that last night, when he saw the preview copy?'

'We like to cover all our bases.' Esposito offered her his arm. 'We're just a few blocks from my house in Chelsea, and it's a nice night. Perhaps we can continue this while you walk me home?'

Giggling, she looped her arm through his. 'So how was your day? Full of wolf-whistles and offers to be the stripper at the next NYPD bachelorette party?'

'Surprisingly, not too many people gave me grief. What about you?'

'What about me what?'

Esposito gave her a little nudge in the shoulder as they turned the corner onto Seventh to head north towards home. 'Any of those computer nerds think they're boss is super-smexy now?'

'If they did, I didn't hear it. You know computer nerds scatter like roaches when a woman walks in the room. Smexy?' she asked, laughing at his word choice.

'I heard Alexis use it once to mock her dad, and I've been waiting for a chance to use it. You eaten yet?'

'What did you have in mind?'

'I know it's not an autograph signing, but how does Petrelli's strike you?'

'Mmmm, sounds delish. Oh, wait, we have to stop.' Meredeth halted at a twenty-four seven. 'I want to grab a couple more copies, just for posterity's sake. When I'm pregnant or just old and grey, I can take them out and go, damn I was hot.'

'I can assure you, pregnant, or old and grey, you will still be a bombshell. No pun intended,' he tacked on as they went into the store. It was narrow as an alley and boasted almost every possible magazine in print. He saw the leather-faced Filipino man behind the counter give him a curt nod, obviously making him for a cop, as he followed Meredeth over to the racks.

When she'd made her selection, they lined up behind two men Meredeth would classify as type-one ass-hats: fake-baked jocks wearing too-tight polo-shirts in pastel colours with the collars popped, sunglasses on the napes of their necks despite the fact it was way past sundown, and so much hair-gel she figured a round from Esposito's gun would barely make a dent in their heads. When she saw the magazine one of them was carrying, she elbowed her man in the ribs and jerked her head towards them; he smiled back at her.

Then the ass-hats opened their mouths.

'Dude, you're not seriously going to buy that, are you?'

'Why not? I like her books and she's pretty hot.'

'Yeah, for a heifer. I mean, look at that body, it's hideous. She should go live in India, they worship cows there.'

Esposito could actually feel Meredeth deflate beside him and it made him want to kick both ginos in the capped teeth; being a cop he had to check himself from doing things like that. Instead, he clenched his hand into an impotent fist as he looked at Meredeth, saw the flat look in her eyes, as she shook her head at him while the two ass-hats continued to shred the photo to pieces.

'Oh, lord, have mercy! Why would anyone want to see that naked? It's like watching a lava lamp!'

'He's probably just a stand-in, man, girl like that would never score a brother like him.'

Esposito had heard enough. Giving Meredeth a quick kiss, he stepped forward and prepared to defend his girl's honour. 'Scuse me, boys,' he said, all fierce politeness, 'but I couldn't help overhearing your comments on my girlfriend's picture.'

One looked at the black and white picture and back up. 'Hey, you're the dude in the photo! How many showers you take after snapping pics with that walrus?'

'You best watch your mouth, boy.' Esposito jabbed his finger at Meredeth's photo. 'That's my woman in the magazine, and I don't appreciate you talking shit about her.'

'Javi, it's alright.' Seeing him stepping in to defend her without hesitation had snapped Meredeth from the fog of hurt their words had caused; now that she'd found her voice again, her temper was kicked into high gear. Rolling up her sleeves, literally, she stepped up beside Esposito and clapped her hands together between her breasts like she was praying. As she began to speak, she saw the light of recognition dawn on their faces. 'Thank you for your observations gentlemen, it's nice to know the American Guild of Douche-Baggery's charter members aren't letting the team down. Tell me, do you all have your own copies of The Situation's autograph, or do you just pass one around at the weekly meetings before your big group jerk-off?'

When neither said anything, Meredeth narrowed her eyes to slits. 'Now run along. You don't want to miss the next episode of Jersey Shore. How else would you continue your education on being such upstanding class-one assholes?'

Both of them tossed their magazines on the counter, paid and made a hasty exit, Meredeth's eyes following them out the door before she heaved out a great sigh. 'I'm sorry, sir,' she told the man behind the counter, setting her copies of the magazine on the counter. 'Didn't mean to be so rude in your store.'

'Are you kidding? I should be thanking you. Those two come in almost every day and making disgusting remarks every time they line up. You're the first person I've seen stand her ground against them. And you too, Officer,' he added, nodding at Esposito.

'It's Detective and thanks, though I think Meredeth gets most of the credit.'

'Just don't upload the security tape to You-Tube, please. My agent's going through a nasty divorce and she can't handle anymore stress.'

'Of course not.' The attendant took her money, rang the purchase through the cash register as he looked past Meredeth's shoulder. 'I think you've got a trio of fans there.'

'Hmm?' Meredeth turned around and saw three people in their early twenties - two guys, one girl - behind them in line, all clutching copies of Bombshell and looking slightly dumbfounded. 'Oh, sorry, I'm finished here.'

'You're Meredeth Coleman,' the taller of the two boys breathed in an awestruck voice. He held out his magazine like he was offering a sacrifice to a pagan god. 'Can...Can we have your autograph?'

Her heart melted into butter, the perfect salve after wanting to beat the previous purchasers of her cover-story with their own shoes. 'Of course. What's your name?'

'I'm Jay, and that's Nate and Ivy,' Jay said, tapping his toes on the spot as Meredeth dug her Bookworm 702 out of her purse. 'That was frickin' awesome the way you laid into those guys. And don't believe them. You're really hot,' he added on a blush, sending Esposito a baleful look, recognizing him also from the magazine. 'Sorry bro, but she is.'

'No argument from me.'

'There you are.' Meredeth finished signing all three magazines and was recapping her pen when Ivy pulled her phone from her purse.

'Could we maybe get a picture, too? I'll post it on Y-Frog so you can tweet about it,' she offered.

'Sure.'

'I'll do the honours.' Holding out his hand, Esposito took the phone and snapped a few photos for the adoring fans. 'Everyone say 'ass-hat'!'

When the impromptu signing session was done and they were back on the street heading home, Meredeth held his hand tightly in hers. 'Thank you, for back there, defending me against those guys.'

'That's my job, to make sure no one puts that miserable look I saw on your face.'

'You don't feel, like emmasculated that I jumped in and finished them off myself or something, do you?'

'No way, in fact I was almost tempted to snag a bag of pretzels and watch you leg-drop them with your words. Better than UFC Fight Night.'

Meredeth bit her lower lip as she grinned. 'So, Detective...Esposito was it? Just how were you planning to get this information about your cover-girl from me?'

'Any way I can. That information is vital to my investigation.'

'My memory isn't the greatest. What if it takes all night?'

'NYPD, we never sleep.'

R&R&Enjoy.