Meredeth sat with her iPhone in the waiting room of Stuyvesant Memorial's physio clinic; beside her Esposito fidgeted as he read through a paper copy of Ryan's notes. She couldn't blame him for being antsy; he had one more scan today to find out if he was going to get the all-clear to go back to work on desk duty. She knew he would be just as pissy as when he got home from the hospital and couldn't do much of anything independently and that he was anticipating plenty of teasing about being soft while manning the pines since he couldn't be out in the field.

On the other hand, she knew for him to get back to work as quickly as he could was a matter of pride; he defined himself so much by the fact that he was a cop and to have that taken away from him was a partial loss of identity. As she'd pointed out to him more than once when she saw him starting to get down on himself or snipe about the lack of his usual twelve to fourteen hours a day on the job, he was only on leave because of being a super-cop in the first place and that he'd be just as super a cop when he got back to his desk in the bullpen. And if that hadn't worked, she'd bribed him with triple chocolate squishes, hot from the oven with vanilla ice cream. Okay, she'd only had to do that twice, but it was still a good bribe to tuck in the back pocket.

'Babe, relax. It'll be fine.'

'I know, I know, but...what if it's not?'

'Javi, you've been following Austin and the physiotherapist's instructions to the letter.' Meredeth set her phone aside, took his hand in hers reassuringly. 'No heavy lifting, moderate exercise of the joint, limited alcohol consumption, everything right down the line.'

'I know that too, but I can't help thinking about it.'

Meredeth said nothing. She didn't want to paper over his fears with blind cheerful confidence but neither did she want to let him think she didn't care either. 'Like you've told me so many times, if that's the case, we'll work through it. We always do.'

'That, right there, that's why I love you.' Esposito kissed her lightly, blew out a nervous breath. 'How much longer do you think we're going to be waiting?'

'Javier J. Esposito?' The nurse appeared at the entrance to the patient examination areas, clipboard in hand and calling Esposito's name.

'Guess that's us.'

Meredeth shouldered her purse, gave his arm a little supportive squeeze as they followed the nurse into a room with what appeared to be a small television screen attached to a sound-mixing board on a rolling stand. On the walls were charts with various kinds of injuries ranging from muscular tears to punctures and perforations like the kind Esposito had gone through. She took her seat in the chair as he unbutton his shirt, and for a moment forgot their surroundings as she admired the toned body of her man that looked particularly dangerous in his white work-out tank. Yowsa, was all she could think, that's all mine.

Esposito caught the look in her eyes and felt his ego purr like a tiger. Even when he'd been on the injured reserve, she still looked at him like that. It was lowering and base of him to admit it but there was a portion of him that was not only relieved but a little turned on that she would still want to jump his bones when he wasn't one hundred percent himself. Knowing that, even when there was little he could do about it in the first two weeks, helped him stay in a positive frame of mind - he now had a second motivation for getting healthy as quickly as he could.

'I know that look.'

'What look?'

'That look. The one that says 'I'm going to have my way with you first chance I get.' He paused, then winked at her. 'When you think that'll be?'

Meredeth laughed, composed herself as the door opened and in walked a whip-thin Asian man in shockingly purple scrubs with yellow suns and stars scattered over them.

You must be Meredeth. I've heard so many nice things about you. I'm Yung Ji-Suk, Detective Esposito's physiotherapist,' he said in a clipped voice that told Meredeth English was his second, or possibly third, language. 'Before we start, I must say I'm a fan of your books. Cannot wait to see the miniseries, even though I know it won't be aired until next May.'

He turned back to his patient, saw Esposito had already positioned his arm on the padded slant-board. 'Why don't we work through a muscle pattern, then we'll do an ultrasound and go from there.' Ji-Suk took his place on a rolly-footed stool across from Esposito, warmed his hands and began to therapeutically massage the recovering upper-arm muscles.

Meredeth cocked her head to the side as she shook his hand. 'I thought you were seeing a female physiotherapist.'

'I did, originally, but then I transferred to Ji-Suk.' Esposito shifted on the exam table. 'I didn't like the idea of a woman touching me like that, even if it was medically related.'

'Javi, I'm not going to bust on you for your health care worker putting her hands on you.'

'Either way, it made me uncomfortable. I told her it was nothing personal, I just wasn't comfortable having a woman that wasn't you putting her hands on me in such an intimate way. She understood completely,' he added, 'said when she was a resident in medical school, her husband was a little weirded out when she told him about the different things she had to do, and didn't always like that she was seeing people's naked bits.'

'That's...sweet, I think. You know there's only one nurse in the world I'd have a problem with and she's not even allowed through the doors of this place anymore.'

'Oh you must mean Val Morales. Yeah, we heard about that one all the way down here in the clinic.' Ji-Suk shook his head as he continued to work on his client's muscles. 'She filled in when one of my nurses was down with the flu and man oh man, what a piece of work.'

'Well that's all behind us now.' Esposito gave Meredeth a comforting smile. 'Hey, tell Ji-Suk here who you met yesterday at your table read.'

'Movie dish? I'm all ears.' Ji-Suk rose from his seat, faced Meredeth with avid interest.

'Well, we decided to go with some up-and-coming talents for Josh and Tabitha, but for Officer Andrews, we went with the very awesome, oh-so-pretty Milo Ventimiglia.'

'No way, Peter Petrelli is in the miniseries? Oh I have to post my scoop on the forums! Was he really cool?

'Yeah, very laid back, a lot more sparkly than I anticipated. But then, a lot of people associate him with his role from Heroes so I suppose it's natural to think he'd be-'

'A big whining emo man-girl?' Esposito finished for her, smirking at Meredeth's lethal glare. He knew she loved the series as much as he hated it; why wouldn't he? It was nothing more than a bunch of pretty people thinking they were in some Shakespearean drama when they were really part of the X-Men. 'Sorry, babe, continue.'

'Anyways, he's a really funny guy and he absconded with the entire plate of vegan brownies I'd made for the table. Boy's got almost as big a sweet tooth as you do, Javi.'

The rest of the hour passed with Meredeth giving Ji-Suk a little insider scoop on the she knew wouldn't get her ears boxed by the producers - everything she was telling her boyfriend's physiotherapist had already been released to WENN and the other info-tainment outlets that morning. She noted, too, as the three of them chatted about her project, Esposito was far more relaxed than he'd been when they'd first come into the room. By the time Esposito had gotten the ultrasound done on his arm and was putting his shirt back on as they waited for Austin, Meredeth could tell he felt much more at ease.

'Now we wait,' he told her, hopping off the table. 'The ultrasound will say if I can go back to work or not.'

'Just keep in mind if the doctor says no, it's for your own good so you're not going back at anything less than awesome.'

As Meredeth could sense that his spirits were hanging by a thread, she opted to close her mouth and just leave her hand resting on his thigh in a subtle show of support while she used her iPhone to text back and forth with Bonnie and Mark at the studios. Her heart lept into her mouth as she felt Esposito tense under her touch when Austin walked in the door, shut it.

'Hello,' he said in his impossibly calm and even voice. 'Meredeth, it's nice to see you again under better circumstances.'

'Likewise.'

'I've had a chance to look over the notes from Ji-Suk and looking at your ultrasounds, everything appears to be healing right on schedule.'

'That's good to hear,' Esposito replied warily.

'Yes. I can tell you're eager to get back, and while I'll leave the rehabilitation schedule to the specialist, I can tell you, provide no complications arise, you'll be able to return to desk duty by June twenty-fifth and to full duty by July fourteenth.'

Esposito's breathed whooshed out audibly. He put his hand over Meredeth's, gripped it tightly. 'Why so long the wait?'

'Surgery is an invasive process. Skin and flesh is cut and the body is working overtime to reproduce those cells. You'll find too, even just being at your desk, you'll be easily fatigued.' Austin flipped through the chart. 'Just keep doing what your doing, and you'll be good to go.'

Once they were on the street, Meredeth gave him a fat whooping kiss on the lips. 'See, Javi? Nothing to worry about.'

'Thank you, too.'

'For what?'

'Just being you.' This time, Esposito kissed her, sliding a hand down to give her bottom a quick few pats. He started to make a suggestion or two about what they could do to make sure he kept his endurance up when her phone went off. He watched as she took the call, checked her watch.

'I'm sorry, babe, I know we were supposed to grab a coffee but I have to head back early. We got an extra hour of recording time booked and we really need it.'

'Go, it's okay. Dinner tonight at home?'

'Yes. But no more apple-pie flavoured chicken.'

'You got it. Love you,' he added with one last peck at her lips.

'Love you too.'

When she'd disappeared into the subway station below, Esposito whipped out his cellphone; with the sudden hour extra, he'd be able to fit in a quick stop uptown if he was lucky. 'Hi, is Francesca Mendes available? Tell her it's her favourite cousin.'

Fifteen minutes later, Esposito was waiting in a small coffee shop off of Fifty-Eighth and Fifth, stirring cream into his cup of java. It was risky, he knew, but it could also easily be explained should Meredeth hear anything from Lili. He was perusing the sports section of the Ledger when a sweet, familiar voice sounded above him.

'I only have ten minutes, so we'll cut through the crap. What do you want?''

'Nice to see you too, Frannie. How're Joe and the kids?'

Francesca's gruff demeanour mellowed in a blink. 'Getting big. Micah's almost three and Soladora's turning one next month.' She flagged down the waitress. 'Cinnamon steamer to go please,' she told her before smoothing the front of her silk suit jacket. 'Jaiv, not that I'm not thrilled to see you, but can we make it fast? I have to get back to the store. Busy time of year, you know.'

'I know. It's kinda why I called.'

'Really?' At this Francesca perked up. 'You and your lady are shopping? Why haven't I heard this from Tia Rosie?'

'Because she doesn't know. No one knows in the family and I want to keep it that way.'

'Does Meredeth know?'

'Nope, I'm shopping blind for her. I want to surprise her when she gets back from Japan in mid-August, and I've just started a little research which is why I called you. Figured I might get an inside track on what to look for.'

'Well, a good place to start is the four C's - cut, colour, clarity and of course, carat.'

R&R&Enjoy!