The elevator doors opened with a quiet ping, signaling their arrival on the Homicide floor.
Taking in the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, warm electronics and drying printer ink, Beckett stepped into the busy bullpen, Castle flanking her to the right.
With her hand wrapped around a half-full cup of morning brew provided by the writer as one of his many tokens of appreciation- and a little bit more- she slowly sauntered toward her desk, stopping midway when she caught something out of the corner of her eye.
Next to her, Castle froze in his spot, then cleared his throat.
"Well, that's…peculiar…"
"Yeah…", she noted and slowly walked up to Ryan's and Esposito's desk.
The two never saw them coming; for the most part because Ryan was standing with his back toward the elevator, intently engaged with massaging his partner's shoulder. Esposito had his chair pulled out, leaning his elbows on his knees, head dropped to his chest as he submitted himself to the younger detective's busy fingers.
"So…what's going on here…?", Beckett asked when they arrived, unable to hide a smile when Kevin flinched violently and turned around, momentarily at a loss of words. Then, as the appearance of the situation dawned on him, he grinned sheepishly.
"We are just…I was showing Javi…see, remember how I told you I started to look into Thai massage and then…"
"Could you two do that off the clock please?", she continued, when Castle decided to chime in.
"Thai massage is fantastic. Are you going to ride Esposito on his stomach across the floor next? I had that done in Korea once and my shoulders cracked so bad, I thought they'd dislocated. But as soon as the pain went away, I felt amazing…well…except for the girl kneeling on my buttocks. That was a bit uncomfortable."
At his description, Esposito stared up at them and grinned smugly.
"I'd have somebody ride me across the floor like that…", he began, his expression changing to embarrassment when his teammates stared back at him in undisguised surprise, "I mean, not Ryan of course, but you know…somebody… a woman…that I would…know…personally…"
Upon Beckett's raised eyebrows, he fell quiet again, giving Kevin another chance to add more awkwardness to the situation.
"What I was trying to say was that this guy here captured Moreno this morning…", Ryan explained and theatrically pointed at his partner, "By jumping across Allison Banes' signing table in true WWF fashion. I think that was what… the world-famous Jim The Anvil Smackdown?"
Esposito was about to reply when Beckett frowned.
"You even watch that stuff?", she scoffed before taking a sip of her coffee, relishing the strong flavor, "Good job on Moreno, boys. I'll bring him up for an interview as soon as I am caught up. Anything else I should know about your morning?"
Again, Esposito was opening his mouth for an answer, only to have Kevin cut him off by pushing his head back down toward his chest.
"As a matter of fact, yes.", the young detective said and moved to his desktop, before tilting the large monitor upward, "Thanks to his selfless actions, Detective Javier Esposito is now a social media icon, being hailed as Allison Banes' knight in shining armor. Isn't that right, Javi?"
Typing a website into the browser, it took Kevin less than a few seconds to bring up a short video clip of the incident, the counter on the bottom left signaling over 25,000 views so far.
"I…I did my job…", Esposito stammered, visibly uncomfortable with the situation.
"Well, look at you, Espo, going above and beyond the line of duty…", Beckett teased and pointed at his empty inbox, "That ought to bring in some fan mail shortly."
"That guy over there looks to be your first fan, buddy…", Castle added and used his index finger to tap on the monitor screen where it showed a bald man in a pink sweater cheering the two detectives on vigorously.
Deciding to ignore the remark altogether, Esposito got back on his feet, standing slightly hunched over as he pointed toward the break room.
"I am gonna get me an ice pack. You guys mock me all you want. At least we got him…"
Kevin waited until his best friend was out of earshot, his smile fading slightly.
"It seems that despite his newfound hero status, our dear detective is feeling his age today. He's not bouncing as well as he used to twenty years ago. Sometimes he forgets that when he goes after thugs."
"Well, don't remind him…", Kate replied amicably, then pointed her chin at Gates' office, "Is she in the loop yet?"
"Mhmmyeaaah."
Hesitating slightly, Kevin ran a hand down his azure tie, then shrugged as he tapped his monitor.
"She knows about the arrest. Not about…this…yet."
"Oh boy…well…at least it was a positive thing. As long as we don't end up with a bunch of groupies in front of the precinct we should be fi-"
She got cut off by the rhythmic clattering of high heels making their way from Gates' office toward the bullpen.
Watching their new captain stop short, then put her hands on her hips as she surveyed her pride of detectives, Beckett sighed inwardly, her eyes meeting Castle's.
"Anybody care to explain to me why there is there a bunch of singing and dancing people gathered downstairs asking to be let into the Homicide department for an autograph?"
