Esposito lifted his head off the pillow, stared at the clock. Five-twenty-two - still another eight minutes before the alarm would go off. Not that he'd have needed it, of course he'd barely managed to stay asleep for longer than forty minutes.

It was June twenty-fifth. Ji-Suk had given him the green light. He was going back to work.

Rather than stare at the ceiling for what felt like the millionth time that night, he turned back to his side nose to nose with his beloved. Meredeth was out cold, breath whistling in and out of her nose like a teakettle and for a moment he just watched her sleep. It was beautiful to watch her sleep now, where she wasn't trapped in the nightmare she'd gone to bed with nearly every night for twenty years dogging her busy brain. She no longer looked vulnerable, though she still slept the same way - one hand fisted by her cheek, the other flat on the pillow - but Esposito suspected that was more habit than unconscious preparation for battle.

Kissing her cheek, he slid out of bed, scratching the back of his neck as he made his way to the ensuite. He no longer worried about the running water waking her; after she'd finished her sessions with Werner at the end of February, after three months of twice-a-week appointments and only two night terrors the entire time, it would take all the nuclear warheads of the world detonated simultaneously to wake her up. He cleansed away the grease of sleep, reveling in the simple actions that his injury had restricted him from performing; even the irritation of shaving in the steamy shower wasn't such a pain.

When he left the ensuite, he blinked in shock as he saw that Meredeth wasn't in bed, nor was Artie waiting for him at the door whining to go outside. But he did see three of his suits neatly lain across the foot of the bed with their matching shirts and coordinating ties - one stark black with the grey tie-and-shirt combo, one dark blue with the pin-prick dots of pale blue matching the shirt, and the other in army drab olive with the green and silver stripes. He opted for the dark blue, dressed but for the tie and hung the others back in the closet.

He went downstairs to scare up coffee and found Meredeth, still half asleep standing at the waffle iron as she stirred a cup of her favoured red tea. Under the table, Arturo was dutifully gnawing on one of his bones and thumped his tail when he saw Esposito enter the room. He walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist.

'Morning, Detective,' she mumbled as she felt his lips on the curve of her neck.

'Morning, writer. You didn't have to do this for me.'

'It's an important day. You're going back to work for the first time since you were shot. I'm not letting you out of the house with just coffee and cold cereal in your belly.'

Merederth yawned, then turned around. 'I have no idea how to work that monster of a cappuccino maker so you're on your own on that front.' She yawned grandly, as she held out her hand for his tie while he set to brewing espresso. 'Nervous?'

'A little. I know I've been kept in the loop on what's been going on and my open cases got shuffled around because Ryan and I were both out sick, though I was out a little longer. He only had a broken arm and fingers, I was recovering from surgery.'

'Looks like seeing the department shrink in between pumping iron and canoodling with me on the couch paid off.'

'Looks like.' He looped his tied tie over his head, adjusted the silk under his shirt collar and sniffed. 'Chocolate chip?'

'Cinnamon-sugar. Grab a plate, they're ready.'

They ate, Esposito uncharacteristically chipper for so early in the morning; Meredeth knew it was his way of battling nerves and yet somehow he managed to wolf down three waffles without breaking striding in their conversation. As she tidied the kitchen and he went back upstairs for his bag and his jacket - why he still wore a jacket when the meteorologists were predicting the temperature would be a sweltering mid-eighties by noon - she felt only a small twinge come over her. She couldn't help but feel the little bit of anxiety she knew most people involved with cops would feel after their man or woman had been seriously injured in the line of duty. Of course, she knew that the odds of it happening again were astronomical; he wouldn't even be riding with Ryan to canvass for witnesses. He'd be running financial data, background checks, going head to head with the lab techs and the IT guys.

When he came back down stairs, she'd tightened the belt on her kimono and held her hands behind her back as he poured steamed milk and coffee into the traveling mug she'd gotten him to go with his cappuccino maker. 'I got you a little something for your first day back.'

'Even better than waffles and the non-apple pie parmigiana sandwich in my lunch-bag?'

'Nothing beats waffles.' She held out the little bag. 'Just something silly I thought you'd like to have on your desk.'

Esposito dipped his hand into the bag and came up with a simple Batman action figure. He gave her a questioning look. 'In case Ryan doesn't share his baseball cards at recess?'

'I know he's your favourite superhero-'

'He had gadgets, and he has Alfred watching his back.'

'-and I know it's going to make your frustrated not being able to go on the streets and all that for a few more weeks, so I thought you if you had your superhero to look at on the desk, you can remember you're my superhero and you'll be back to kicking ass in no time.'

Esposito held the tiny bit of molded plastic, now more precious to him than gold, in his hand as he cupped his other one at the back of Meredeth's neck to draw her in for a tender kiss. 'Thank you, my love.'

'Anytime, my love.' She followed him to the door. 'You going out after shift with the guys?'

'Tomorrow. Ryan's taking Jenny out for a fancy dinner and Castle's got family movie night with all his women.' He hooked his badge to his belt, along with his weapon holster and his cellphone. 'Alright, gimme one for good luck.'

She gave him a kiss that made Arturo growl, then watched as he went out the door, flashing her that cocky 'I got this one covered, babe' grin. When the door clicked shut behind him, Meredeth sat on the lowest stair and because Arturo had come over to investigate why his mistress was parked there, she wrapped her arms around his sturdy neck and wept a little.

'Hey, look who dropped in for a visit!'

The friendly greeting came from Castle, who was sitting in his usual spot by Beckett's desk as Esposito walked off the elevator into the Homicide bullpen. Ryan was there too, his cast gone and the edge of a tensor bandage visible at his shirt cuff. Both greeted him with manly bearhugs and knuckle bumps, even Captain Montgomery greeted him with a warm handshake.

'Good to have you back, Detective,' he said. 'Ryan was getting a little lonely here.'

'No, I...really,' the handsome Irishman protested with a little colour in his cheeks; Esposito slapped him on the back.

'Probably because he knows he's going home to the mama bear when he's off-shift.'

At this Ryan dragged a hand over his face. 'I'm already starting to lose sleep. Couple of nights I've been on the couch just so she'll have more space.'

'Not long, is it, Detective?' Montgomery asked with the knowing smiling of someone who'd been through this before.

'At last check up, the doctor said we should be prepared by the week of July fourteenth.'

Before Esposito could make any comment, Beckett strolled up with a file three inches thick and plopped it on Esposito's desk. 'Welcome back. Here's my gift to you. Renata Socorro, age thirty eight, found dead in an abandon building in Alphabet City. Grifter and scam artist, in and out of the system all her life, looks like someone finally paid her back. We need to go through all her previous arrests and figure out if any of these people had any recent contact or connection with her. Also, I need you to go over her financial records, she had at least five accounts under four different names. Ryan, Castle, you're with me, we're heading back to the scene.'

'Ain't it great to be back?' Ryan gave him an understanding smirk as he took off after Beckett and Castle.

Esposito pursed his lips; he knew this was what he would be coming back to. Fishing into his jacket pocket, he took out the little Batman toy and put it on his desk beside his picture of Meredeth and himself. He looked at it for a few seconds, then with a chuckled, flipped open the file on his desk courtesy of Beckett.

'Renata Socorro, born August five nineteen seventy-one,' he began as he booted up his computer.

Several hours later, his ass was numb, his head was pounding and he'd already chowed through the spiced-pumpkin turnovers Meredeth had made for his lunch before touching anything else. And he loved every second of it. He'd just returned from the breakroom for a refill on his coffee after briefing Beckett on what he'd found so far when his cell peeped 'Good Vibrations'.

'Hey babe,' he said when he answered.

'Hello Detective. How's it going so far?'

'Just like old times.' Esposito made a notation on a file as his computer continued to compile data. 'How's everything way downtown?'

'Super-busy. One of our actors, his flight was delayed from Chicago, so we're in a holding pattern until he gets here because he's the only person on the slate today because today was the only day he was available.'

At that moment, Ryan walked over to the desk, held out a piece of paper that read 'Meredeth?' Esposito nodded, saw Ryan scribble another note and read it with a laugh. 'Ryan wants to know if you can make some more cookies for him, as he's eaten them all.'

'Already?'

'Apparently.' Esposito balled up the note and tossed it in Ryan's direction. 'I told you, he's worse than Arturo, you feed him once and he'll be begging for snacks twenty-four seven.'

'Speaking of which, can you grab some of Arturo's kibble from the vet on the way home?'

'The vet's up on Forty Seventh, though.'

'Yeah, and I'm closer to Battery Park than Forty-Seventh right now.'

Esposito rolled his eyes, then made the note. 'Alright, can't have him starving, can we? God forbid he should weigh less than ninety-five pounds.'

'Thanks a million babe. I have to run, I think Mister Spinto is here. Love you.'

'Love you too.'

He hung up the phone, and had no sooner done so than it rang again and he picked up. 'Esposito...hey, Frannie...yes I got the email...yeah, I saw a couple that might work...I can't really talk, it's my first day back...four-thirty...yeah, I'll meet you there...bye.'

This time when he hung up and went back to his computer, Esposito could feel Ryan's eyes on his neck. Finally, he couldn't take anymore; he picked up the toy Batman and turned to face his partner. 'Yes, she's going to make your cookies, you big mooch,' he told his friend, 'now go away.'

'Who's Frannie and why are you making plans with her when Meredeth's expecting you home?'

'Frannie's my cousin Francesca . You met her, she was the girl we talked to when we needed the customer list after the Tiffany's keys popped at the Carlson homicide back in March. Anyways, she's helping me with a little gift for Meredeth.'

Ryan pursed his lips. 'What kind of gift?'

'The private kind. Now go away.'

Esposito arrived home around five-thirty, and was greeted by his four-legged friend not with the expected eagerness but with a haughty sniff and a cold shoulder. After depositing the super-sized bag of dog food in the laundry room underneath the stairs, he went into the kitchen and saw Meredeth wrist deep in some kind of sticky dough. She couldn't have been home very long, as she was in her tiny shorts and tank-top, but her hair was still pinned back in the style she usually wore to the office. He greeted her with a warm kiss and a tight embrace around the shoulders.

'You look delicious and smell,' he gave her a deep sniff, 'like sweat and flour. What have you been up to?'

'Don't know if you noticed or not but it's eighty-three degree outside and I've got the oven on.'

'Why?'

'Fish and sweet potatoes and raisin biscuits. All your comfort food favourites.' Meredeth finished kneading the dough, jutted her chin towards a glass jar. 'Pass me the flour?'

He did so, watched as she dusted her hands, then rolled the dough into little balls onto a greased baking sheet. 'I always love watching work with dough.'

'Oh?'

'Makes makes wonder what else you can use those hands of yours on.'

Meredeth laughed as he snagged a handful of raisins. 'Welcome back, Detective.'

R&R&Enjoy.