'Dude.'

Esposito stood at his locker in the precinct gym, polo shirt in hand. He'd just finished the workout regime that he and Ji-Suk had prepared to get him back to his usual fitness level; he was now showered and redressing, and evidently being interrupted by Ryan who was changing from his suit into his running sweats. 'What?'

'What's that?'

'What?'

'That' Naked to the waist, Ryan stepped over, tapped his index finger against the mark near the base of Esposito throat. 'Is that what I think it is?'

Esposito looked in the mirror he'd hung in his locker and swore. 'Well, shit.' He knew he and Meredeth had been getting pretty into it the night before, but he'd doubted anyone would have been so up-close to bust him on it.

'It is, isn't it?'

'What's going on?' Gil popped his head around the corner, having just emerged from one of the showers with a towel around his waist.

Ryan couldn't help himself. 'Detective Esposito's girlfriend gave him a hickey!'

Gil came over to inspect, poke at his friend like Ryan had. 'Yep, that's a good one too. She doesn't always play rough like that, does she?' he asked with a suggestive smirk. 'Mouth like that, you'd cringe to think what kind of damage she could do other places on a brother.'

'Piss off, Mazzara,' Esposito pouted, putting his shirt on and unsure whether he should be flattered his Meredeth was getting such high praise in the locker room or insulted she was their sex-object of the day. 'Might I point out I'm the only one of the three of us getting the good stuff right now?'

'Yeah, by default. You've got Meredeth, I've got a lying slut of a soon-to-be ex-wife and Ryan's girl can barely bend over to tie her shoes since she's got Little Ryan ready to pop out at any moment.'

'Doesn't mean I don't get the good stuff.' Miffed, Ryan dragged his t-shirt on over his head, checked the battery on his iPod. 'What, you think pregnant women don't wanna get laid, because I can assure you-'

He was cut off when a cellphone buzzed from one of their open lockers; as it wasn't the Beach Boys, Esposito ruled himself out. His hand frozen on his locker door when Ryan picked up and the look on his face went from jovial to thunderstruck in a heartbeat.

'Oh my god, are you sure...okay, well how far apart...where are you...okay, get Meredeth to drive you, I'll meet you at Saint Vincent's as soon as I get out of here...I love you too.'

He hung up the phone and stared at it. 'Jenny's in labour. I'm gonna be a daddy.'

'Oh shit! Congrats man!' Gil slapped him on the shoulder, then saw Ryan had budged. 'Ry?'

'I'm gonna be a father.'

'Dude!' Gil's hand moved from the Irishman's shoulder to tap him lightly on the face. Apparently the call had sent him into a slight fugue state. 'Ryan, she's waiting for you, you need to get moving.'

'Right.'

The words or the pat to the cheek, Esposito wasn't sure which one did it, shook Ryan from his fog as he began to fumble for his things from his locker. 'I, ah, keys-'

'Bro, you're not driving anywhere.' Esposito nipped them from the locker shelf, along with Ryan's bag and his own. 'We'll take your car. Gil, can you swing into the bullpen, let them know?'

'You got it, bro. Hey, good luck man.'

Ryan gave Gil a quick embrace; he knew how hard it was for the Vice cop to be around him given the circumstances. 'Thanks bro.'

They headed down to the garage, tossing Ryan's things in the back of his car and taking a few minutes for Esposito to adjust the mirrors. Despite being roughly the same height as his partner, Esposito had a shorter torso and longer legs, so Ryan's side-views were a hell of a lot different than his own. They zipped out of the garage and into Saturday lunchtime traffic.

'She said she felt a bit funny when we were having breakfast this morning, why didn't I see that?'

'Where was she calling from?' Esposito asked as he negotiated a tight turn.

'Your place. She'd gone with Meredeth over to Chelsea Park with Arturo and needed to pee, and when they were walking back, she was having routine contractions.' Ryan ground his teeth as they stopped in the thick of traffic for a red light. 'Think we should turn on the sirens?'

'Contrary to what Hollywood wants us to believe, it takes longer than a sitcom's run-time to pop out a caterwauling ball of flesh.'

'That's my son or daughter you're talking about, you know.'

'Sorry, just trying for a little levity since it's going to take a long time.' Esposito turned east to head towards the hospital. 'My cousin Frannie-'

'You have a cousin Frannie?'

'Well, Francesca, but we call her Frannie, her little girl Soladora took her sweet ass time coming out. Jenny's a warrior, she'll get through it.'

They parked in the underground attached to the hospital, and Esposito had to restrain Ryan from sprinting inside. He held his friend at arm's length against the side of the car. 'Ryan, you got it together right?'

When Ryan nodded, they walked into the check-in desk where they were greeted by a sunny-faced receptionist. 'How can I help you?'

'My wife, Jenny Ryan, she's in labour.'

'Ah, congratulations, let me find out where she is for you.' The receptionist turned to her computer, called up whatever information was appropriate. 'Yes, it says here she came through the ER clinic, so you'll probably find her down there. The clinic, not the ER waiting room.'

'Of course. Thanks.' Having met Jenny there many times after work, Ryan knew where to go. Setting off towards the appropriate hallway, he kept his pace brisk but calm; all he wanted was to see his wife. Freaking out could come later. 'Jenny's baby doc, Krishner, she was one of the people who opened the ER clinic, and told Jenny if she had any labour symptoms five weeks and under that's where she should go,' he explained to Esposito as they made their way over.

'Really, she's at a free clinic?'

'A fast-track clinic. Like where you go for the doctor when it's unexpected but you don't need the ER.'

Esposito opened his mouth to say something else, but when they went through the doors, he saw Ryan was right: the waiting room was done in bright blues and greens and felt more like a regular medical office than it being attached to a major metropolitan hospital. He went straight to the desk and with a calm that surprised Esposito, Ryan asked in a very clear voice, 'Excuse me, my wife Jenny Ryan was brought in, she'd gone into labour?'

'Of course, sir, she's in Exam Room Three,' the nurse replied after a quick check of information.

'Thank you.'

The two men found the room and went in; sure enough, Honey-Milk was in a gown, lying on her left side attached to an IV of clear fluid and some kind of beeping monitor. On the opposite side of the bed Meredeth folded her street clothes into neat squares and put them into a very large purple canvas bag on a chair. The pregnant woman's face light up like a sun when she saw Ryan. 'Hey sweetie.'

'Hi.' He pulled up a chair beside her, took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth. 'How are you feeling?'

'Scared. It's too soon.'

'Babies do things on their terms. I was a full three weeks early and look how I turned out,' Ryan joked, glad he was able to make her smile a little. 'Has the doctor been in yet?'

'No. I'd literally just gotten admitted and into the gown, and the nurse finished hooking me up. It's just a glucose drip, to help keep my energy up.' Honey-Milk pointed to the IV.

'What can I do?'

Honey-Milk put her free hand over their joined ones. 'Just this. This is perfect right now.'

'We'll be right outside if you need anything.' Taking Esposito by the arm, Meredeth tugged him out the door, where they sat in uncomfortably small chairs. 'How'd he take it when Jenny called?' she asked when she was certain the door had shut.

'I think he actually blacked out for a moment.'

Meredeth snorted. 'Seriously?'

'Yeah, when he hung up, he just kinda stood there dazed.'

'Poor guy. Didn't see that one coming today did he? Kinda jumped up and bit him in the ass.'

'Speaking of which...' Esposito leaned closer, unbuttoned his top two shirt buttons and jerked aside the cotton. 'Care to explain this one?'

She looked over, down his shirt to the bruise-like mark near his left clavicle. 'We were having a good time, and you were digging it so I didn't see any reason to stop. Besides, it was dark and I don't have night vision. You hadn't noticed it until you got to the gym?'

'No, I saw it when I was shaving this morning after I got out of the shower. Ryan and Gil saw it when I was in the locker room. It's not funny, Mere,' he added pointedly when he saw her shoulders begin to shake.

'Oh,' Meredeth pressed her lips together, trying to hold in the laugh, 'I think I'll have to disagree. Consider it evening the score from when you gave him hell over interrupting our sexy-time back in January, 'cause I'm gonna guess this is how he felt after you and Castle had a good laugh at him in the bullpen.'

'Well that's-' Esposito cut himself off when he realized she was right; it was so infuriating when she was right some days. Rebuttoning his shirt, he dragged a hand over his face. 'I think unless I'm on vacation, we should have a no love-bites policy.'

'Fine. Then you can't leave hickeys on my thighs, you perverted animal.'

Esposito gave her the wall-eye. 'If someone can see those, we should be having a whole other conversation, my love.'

'What if I'm having a dress fitting done? My seamstress would see them. Don't forget we've got my book launch next month, I have to get a dress for that.'

'Oh yeah.' The mention of the launch party had his stomach doing somersaults.

'You going to be okay doing the welcome speech?'

'Mere you dedicated the book to me, there's no way in hell I'm going to let you down.'

'Well just remember, it's going to be a lot smaller than the last one, hardly more than fifty or so people so-'

She stopped talking when she saw Doctor Krishner, a petite Indian woman who inexplicably reminded her of an exotic bird, go in the room. Immediately, she gripped Esposito's hand. 'Oh, this is it, the doctor's going to tell Honey-Milk and Ryan when they're going to be a mommy and daddy!'

'You know, for someone who doesn't like horror movies, you're very comfortable here.'

'There's a difference between being supportive of a friend having a baby and watching Jigsaw make some poor girl dig in her own eye for...oh, God, nope, can't even finished that one.' Meredeth let out a shudder. 'You still owe me for making me watch that with you.'

'You like The Exorcist, and Psycho.'

'Because those use your brain against you. The Saw movies are torture-porn at its finest. I personally blame Eli Roth for that trend. He's cute but he's seriously deranged.'

Esposito laughed. 'Hey, I forgot something when I got here.'

'What?'

He leaned over and gave her a kiss. 'That.'

'Aw, what a softie. Oh, Doctor Krishner.' Meredeth looked up as the doctor came out of the room, anxious to hear any news. 'How's Jenny? How many centimetres is she dilated? Three, four?'

'Zero. It was a false alarm.' Krishner clicked her pen, tucket it into her lab coat breast pocket. 'It's nothing to worry about, it happens to new mothers all the time. Once they have less than six weeks to the due date, they think every little stomach cramp or hiccup from the foetus is a contraction. The important thing is for her to go home and rest. You can see her, she's just finished dressing.'

They went in, saw Honey-Milk sitting on the edge of the bed while Ryan helped slide her shoes on her feet. 'There we go.'

'Oh thanks sweetie. You're the best.' Honey-Milk turned embarrassed eyes towards her friends. 'And you guys too. You'd think being a nurse, I'd know the difference between gas and labour. I just wanna go sleep.'

'Why don't you come to our place?' Esposito offered.

'Oh, I couldn't-'

'No, really. We've got a queen size bed with goose-down pillows, very comfy. Ryan and I can kick it down stairs with some Madden 2011 while you rest, and there's always Meredeth's cooking.'

'I can make you some gule aerter, without the bacon. I know it's one of your favourites.' Meredeth brushed her hand over Honey-Milk's shoulder as the woman began to sob in little wet sniffles. 'Or not, you know, your call.'

'No, it's the damn hormones. They're making me all loopy. Gule aerter at your house sounds lovely. I just really thought I was going to be a mom today.' Honey-Milk squeezed her husband's hand. 'Kev-'

'It's okay. Why don't we take a walk outside, get some fresh air?'

Meredeth watched him loop Honey-Milk's arm through his, walk with his still very pregnant bride onto the street. 'Well, there is one good thing out of her not having the baby today.'

'What's that?' Wrapping his arm around Meredeth's waist, they followed their friends outside, went the opposite direction to where Meredeth had parked the Nissan at a meter.

'Castle had today picked as the birthday of Little Ryan so he's out of the pool. No gloating,' she added, giving him a poke in the ribs when she saw the amused smile working across his face.

'Nah, I was just thinking a Ryan finally got the better of Richard Castle. Even if it is the unborn one.'

R&R&Enjoy!