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As a fan of the horror genre and a real life police officer Esposito had seen more terrible things than he cared to admit, but nothing could have prepared him for what laid before him. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie.

Blood. Everywhere. The horrible metallic smell was overwhelming and all he could think of was all the crime scenes that smelt just like this. Like death.

The tiles on the wall and the floor he stood on were splattered with blood and smeared handprints were seen on the door handle where he had obviously tried to get away from his attacker before being dragged backwards. The mirror was shattered from an impact point that looked suspiciously like the size of Ryan's head and the tub faucet was dripping steadily on to Ryan's bare feet.

"Kevin!"

He holstered his gun and ran forward to the tub where Ryan was laying awkwardly, blood coating most of his soggy clothes and skin. A thick black wool bag was over his head and his ankles and wrists were tied together with frayed twine biting into his skin. He was shivering slightly and quiet, not even giving a reaction to hearing someone else in the room with him.

Esposito dropped down beside him and after carefully removing the bag gently touched his bruised and busted face, "Kevin wake up bro. Come on don't do this to me. Let me see those beautiful blues." He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed 911, "This is Detective Esposito badge number 42152, I need a Bus now." After reading off the address he quickly hung up and checked Ryan's pulse point, cursing at how sluggish it seemed.

He ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife before running back and cutting through the twine wrapped tightly around Ryan's appendages, his hands trembling as he held up his wrists and stared at the irritated skin that was beginning to bleed now that blood flow had been restored. Not even thinking about other injuries he carefully pulled the smaller man out of the tub and laid him on the floor all the while trying to keep it together which was proving difficult with all the blood everywhere.

"Please wake up. You can't die on me, I won't let you."

Ryan suddenly coughed and stiffened in pain as he grabbed his stomach. Seeing his tight expression he grabbed a towel off the rack and after lifting his saturated shirt carefully began wiping away blood, he was met with a large stab wound. "Hold on Kev, everything's going to be ok. I should have been here, I'm sorry. I should have kept you safe," he said shakily as he pressed the cloth to his stomach, his trembling hands clenching around the soaked material.

The minutes seemed to crawl by as the puddle under Ryan grew until half the bathroom was covered in water and blood. "J'vi."

Esposito looked down with hopeful eyes, "You there bro? Just hold on help's coming."

Ryan blinked slowly as his bleary eyes tried to focus. "'m sorry for everythin'. I'm so s'rry 'vi," he slurred.

"Don't talk just breathe ok?"

Pain filled wheezes filled the small room and Esposito held him closer when he began to shake more violently. He was small but right now, curled up in a fetal position and barely hanging on, he looked downright tiny. They half-sat, half-laid on the floor both clutching each other desperate to keep the connection, fear that if one let the other go they would never see them again. Ryan's eyes kept drifting shut and his grip was getting more and more weak with every passing second.

"Don't do this to me Kev. Please stay with me," he said desperately as he grabbed one of his hands only to pull back when he realized his fingers were broken. "God, what did they do to you?"

Ryan coughed again and gagged, water and blood spilling on to the floor. Esposito frowned, "Where'd the water come from? Why did you swallow water?" He never got an answer because at that moment the door burst open as paramedics flooded into the apartment.

In emergencies he was usually the calm and collected one, somehow staying detached to help the victim but right now he was just in shock. The EMT's asked him what happened but he had no idea and when they asked if he was alright he could only nod and stare down at his blood soaked clothes. "Where are you taking him?" he asked anxiously as they loaded him onto the gurney and lifted it.

"Bellevue," one immediately answered. Not wasting any time they quickly wheeled him out leaving Esposito standing in the bathroom alone and drenched in the blood of the man he loved. He loved him. That revelation should have him excited and thrilled but now it just felt cruel that he might never get to actually say it out loud. His brain switched to autopilot since he couldn't seem to think and a short time later he found himself at the hospital in clean clothes with Kevin's keys in his pocket from him locking the door. The blood could wait to be cleaned up from the apartment, not like it wasn't going to stain everything anyway.

After the umpteenth time asking for updates and them informing him they could only speak to family he lost it. Slamming his badge, that he had thankfully grabbed, down on the table he barked out, "He doesn't have any fucking family! Go find out what's going on!" At her stunned face he slapped his hands down. "Now!"

Seeing her scurry away he realized he should have handled that better but he couldn't worry about that right now. Somewhere in this death infested hell hole Kevin was being poked and prodded and hopefully sewn back together and he needed to know if he was even still alive at this point. Apparently his badge and temper got his point across because only a few minutes later the woman reappeared with a nervous expression. "Mr. Ryan is still in surgery, they're trying to stop some internal bleeding. I promise you if I hear anything else I will let you know."

Well at least it was something. Not much, but something. "Alright. Thank you and I'm sorry for... before."

The woman smiled hesitantly and sagged in relief when he walked away.

Hours later Beckett and Castle entered a hospital room and walked over to Esposito who was seated next to the black and blue covered bartender, his hand covering Ryan's broken one. "I spoke with the doctor, he said there was quite a bit of ice water in his lungs," Beckett said quietly.

"Consistent with torture," Esposito finished bitterly.

Esposito, Castle and Beckett all stood inside the room over the sleeping Ryan for a while. It was Beckett who broke the tense silence, "Esposito I know you don't want to think about this right now but it was most likely his ties to the mob that caused this. Do you know if he does anything in particular for them? Does he have a specialty?"

The Puerto Rican man shook his head angrily, "He's not like that. He's just a bartender, that's it."

Castle opened his mouth but snapped it closed abruptly. "What?" Beckett asked.

He glanced at Esposito before answering, "What if someone found out he has ties to a detective? What if they didn't want the chance of secrets getting out? Just because he doesn't do anything in particular doesn't mean he didn't hear or see something that someone would want to keep quiet."

Esposito's head dropped in defeat, "So then this is my fault. I said I could protect him and then I let this happen."

"Protect him from what?" Beckett asked softly as she laid a hand on his shoulder to provide comfort.

Esposito looked at his battered ex-boyfriend's face and fought off tears, "He wouldn't ever say. He was spooked, terrified a few weeks ago. I walked into the bar and some guy was smacking him around. Whoever he's mixed in with has him running scared."

Beckett sighed, "It's got to be the Irish mob or maybe one of the gangs associated with them. It's the only thing that makes sense but unless he talks we have nothing. I'm going back to the precinct to try to dig up what I can, are you staying here Espo?"

He nodded, "For now. I'll come in tomorrow and see what you found." A few minutes after they left he looked up at a soft knock and smiled tiredly at Lanie.

"Hey sugar, I heard you could use a friend right now." With quiet steps she walked over and peered at Ryan for a few seconds before looking back to him, "So this is the boyfriend?"

"Ex," he said gruffly.

Lanie simply hummed at his statement and sat down next to him, "What'd the doctor say?"

He gave a weak shrug, "A bunch of stuff that I have no idea what it meant. Pretty sure it was all just fancy talk for he got the shit beat out of him."

Lanie smiled softly and picked up the chart before frowning heavily and flipping to the next page quickly. Esposito instantly picked up on her changed expression. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong per se," she said slowly. "Has Ryan ever been in a car accident or anything severely traumatic?"

"Not that I know of why?"

She pursed her lips and flipped through the pages again before shaking her head, "Beckett told me a bit about him and his involvement with unsavory people."

He was starting to get a knot in his stomach from her avoidance. "Lanie just tell me what's wrong with his chart."

"Javier," she began softly. "His x-rays show numerous old breaks, way more than what could be considered normal. He's been in and out of the hospital five times in the last three years with injuries ranging from severe concussions to a broken arm. Coupled with all his defensive wounds from today I have to think that whoever is causing these injuries is one person or one group. Someone's been after him for years."

Not having a response for that he just opened his mouth and let his mind wander. "Doc said he looked like he had laid there for about four hours before I got there. He was alone and bleeding to death with a bag over his head for four hours and was at least partly conscious the entire time." With haunted eyes he turned and looked at Lanie, "They had to pick out six shards of glass from his head where someone slammed him into the mirror. I just…"

"I know honey," Lanie said quietly and rubbed her hand across his shoulders. "Tell me about him, not about all this but about him."

Esposito stared at his ex-boyfriend for a few seconds before looking back to Lanie, "I think you'd like him. He's a trouble maker, light-hearted and fun. You can tell he's been through things, as much as he tries to hide it you can still tell but he still just has this energy. He get's excited about the stupidest things and has all these little quirks that are so ridiculous and his hair is this auburn color that sometimes looks more red than brown and.… and… I can't lose him Lanie."

Lanie quickly gathered him into a hug when he finally broke down and rubbed her hand up and down his back. "You won't. I know it looks bad sugar but his wounds will all heal, I can't say about his emotional ones but the physical ones will. You have to stay strong because he's going to need you when he wakes up. It might take some time but he'll get back to himself but in the meantime you need to prepare yourself for the possibility of a personality change. This could go two ways once he wakes up, he could either be extremely needy or just close himself off. Just know that no matter what he says or does he's going to need you."

The next morning Kevin pried open his heavy and uncooperative lids and glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings. He coughed at the dryness in his mouth and throat, the noise waking up the other occupant in the room. "Kev? Hey bro it's good to see you awake," Esposito said quietly from his bedside.

Kevin looked confused and after a drink of water he asked, "How'd I get here?"

Esposito grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently, "What do you remember from yesterday?" He watched Ryan stare down at their hands and almost smile before something akin to anger sparked deep in the depths of his blue eyes and he pulled his hand away, Esposito instantly missing the warmth.

"First off how bad is it because I'm feeling pretty all over numb right now. I'm not missing anything right?"

Esposito cleared his throat and shook his head, "Sprained wrist, dislocated shoulder, three broken fingers, numerous bruises everywhere and a few lacerations, stab wound in the stomach, concussion, and internal bleeding from repeated hits to your kidneys." When he was finished he was finding it hard to keep it together. "They lost you once on the table but brought you back and they're scared you'll get pneumonia from the water in your lungs."

Ryan just nodded slowly as he took it all in. "So other than some scars I should be ok right? No maims or missing appendages or anything?"

"Yeah you should be good but it'll take a while for everything to heal. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was getting ready for work yesterday and I was getting ready to shave. I never even heard the door so they must have came in when I was showering. There were quiet a few of them but they put the bag over my head so fast I'm not sure how many. Tied me up because I tried to run, hammer to the fingers, kicks coming from everywhere, threw me into the mirror. Next thing I knew my head was in ice water, I fought all I could but they held me under so long I had to breath. They were good, never spoke a word and stuck me where it'd take a while to bleed out. Lifted me and dropped me in the tub, I was awake the entire time and I just kept wishing I would pass out but I never did. I was able to pull the plug somehow so I didn't freeze to death or drown. I don't know how long I was in there, last thing I remember is you being there and talking but I have no idea what you were saying."

Esposito frowned heavily at his detached tone, "Do you have any idea who would do this?"

Ryan nodded slowly and opened his mouth but a nurse entered and he quickly snapped it shut. After checking him over and filling out his chart she handed him some pills which he took without question and left the room with a promise the doctor would be in soon.

The room descended into silence once she was gone until Ryan spoke quietly but firmly, "I don't want ya here out of pity. I've been knocked around before and survived just fine. Ya didn't want anything to do with me and I don't want this to change your mind."

Esposito shook his head, "I'm not a good pity guy Kev. I've missed you too, that's why I went to the bar to see you but they said you were sick. I'm not stupid so I ran to your apartment and found you. I've been doing a lot of thinking and I'd like to try again if you're up to it. We all have our secrets and I shouldn't judge you because of yours."

Ryan looked at him closely before his lids began to droop, the pain medication taking effect as a fog began to fall over him. "I can't do this right now," he said as he lost the battle and his eyes slid shut.

"Ok, no pressure," Esposito whispered. "I have to go home before work but if you need anything call me ok?" He never got a response from the already slumbering man.

Almost a week later the doctor stood at the end of the bed looking over his chart. "Well Mr. Ryan you're healing nicely and I'd like to release you but it says you have no family and you're not married. I can't allow you to be alone, there's still a high chance that your internal stitches could rip or you could develop respiratory problems."

Knowing this would change everything for better or worse he released a heavy sigh and read off a phone number. An hour later Javier walked through the door with a smug look on his face. "Ready to go?"

Thankful he was already dressed Kevin glared but nodded and carefully moved himself to the wheel chair by the door. After stopping at his apartment for Esposito to run up and gather some of his clothes they made their way into the detective's apartment where Ryan collapsed onto the couch in severe pain. He had tried to stay stone faced but the pain was reaching unbearable levels, "Javi, make it stop please. It hurts so bad."

He grabbed his pills and a glass of water and handed them to him before sitting down next to him and pulling him carefully to his side. "I know bro, I know. Try to take it easy, when you tense it makes it worse."

They sat closely on the couch until Ryan finally began to relax as the pain ebbed, neither moving away from the other until Esposito had to leave him to make dinner. With stomachs full both began to get ready for bed, Ryan reluctantly letting him help since with his wide array of injuries doing things by himself was near impossible.

"You can have the bed, I'll sleep on the couch," Esposito offered from by the doorway.

Ryan fidgeted a little and glanced at the bed, "You don't have to. Just… stick to your side."

Smiling internally Esposito just nodded and after making sure Ryan was situated he flipped off the light and climbed under the covers, Ryan's soft breathing lulling him to sleep.