Proposal [Castle fic]
Title: Proposal
Characters/Pairing: Ryan/Esposito, Castle, Beckett, Ike Thornton
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3000
Summary: In which Ryan is Esposito's partner, but not his cop partner and there's an annual NYPD Labor Day picnic in Central Park.
Note: Written for ryanandesposito ficathon.
"Is Ryan coming to the Labor Day picnic?" Beckett asks casually as Esposito is packing away case files for the night.
Esposito snorts. "Please. There's going to be hot dogs, beer and badminton. I could not keep him away."
Beckett smiles. "Great. I'll see you both there then."
"Sure thing," Esposito says, waving goodnight and heading for the elevator.
Once the elevator doors slide closed, Beckett rounds on Castle. "And are you planning to come to the annual NYPD Labor Day picnic?" she asks, eyes narrowed.
"Absolutely," Castle says, "Both Alexis and my mother are thrilled to be getting the chance to meet some of my co-workers." Martha in particular was elated because some months back she'd come to the precinct to spy on Castle's new work environment under the cover of reporting her Fendi handbag stolen and somehow managed to meet Detective Simmons from White Collar who pinged her gray-dar so hard she'd given Castle specific instructions to contrive a situation where she could bump into him 'accidentally.'
"Well, you're going to be meeting everyone's families too," Beckett says somewhat ominously, "and you have a disturbing habit of blurting out less than tactful things when you're surprised--also when you're not surprised, but even more so when you're surprised--so I'm going to read you in on something that you don't seem to know."
"Ooh, intriguing. Do continue," Castle says, propping his chin on his fist.
"You heard me ask Esposito whether Ryan's coming, right?" Beckett says.
"Yes," Castle says, drawing out the word.
"Well, just so you don't react oddly when you're introduced, you should probably know that Ryan is Esposito's boyfriend."
"Wait, what?" Castle shouts.
Beckett sighs and tucks her hair back behind her ears. "That's pretty much the exact reaction I didn't want you to have at the picnic."
"How come no one told me this?" Castle says. His eyes go round and he winces theatrically, "Oh shit, I gave Ochoa a wife in Heat Wave. That must have stung."
"Esposito has never read one of your books and I doubt he ever will," Beckett says, rolling her eyes.
"Well, thank God. Dodged a bullet there," Castle says. His relief suddenly gives way to offense. "Why doesn't Esposito read my books? I'm a best-seller!"
"Ryan," Beckett cuts in, "on the other hand owns every book you've ever written and practically offered me sexual favors to get his hands on that advance copy of Heat Wave."
Castle preens. "Hold on, you didn't give it to him, did you?"
Beckett shrugs. "They invited me over for a dinner party and it's only polite to bring something for the host," she says, "Lanie brought wine. Thornton and Carol did a vegetable tray. Montgomery's wife baked a fantastic chocolate torte."
"I don't even know this guy. Anything could have happened! He could have leaked it on the internet! It could have been like that debacle with Twilight from Edward Cullen's point of view!" Castle rants. He pauses and takes in the rest of Beckett's statement. "You have departmental dinner parties and don't invite me?"
"Ryan wanted to invite you," Beckett says consolingly, turning off her computer and grabbing her jacket off the chairback, "But Esposito banned you because you're on Ryan's freebie five list and he's therefore never allowed to meet you."
Castle smirks and follows her to the elevator. "So, did he like the book?"
"Oh, God," Beckett says, jabbing the button for the ground floor, "Not that your ego needs the boost, but he loved it. Even though I let him read the advance copy, he still stood in line at midnight to get the real thing the day it came out. And don't even worry about him being upset about Esposito's faux wife. Ryan told me Mrs. Ochoa was his favorite character in the whole novel because, and I quote, 'she's a total HBIC who keeps Ochoa in line.'"
"I think I'm going to like this Ryan," Castle says, smiling. "He sounds like he has very good taste."
"He's a sweetheart," Beckett agrees. "So I expect you to be extremely nice to him. But don't be too nice," she warns, "Esposito might shoot you."
--
Esposito might shoot you, Castle reminds himself when he's introduced to Kevin Ryan who gushes over his novels and looks exactly like the type of guys Castle went for during his experimentation phase at college. Sweet, pretty, boy-next-door.
Possibly, Castle has been staring at the bright blue of Ryan's eyes, his cupid's bow lips, a little too long because Esposito makes a low noise in his throat like a growl and Beckett elbows Castle in the ribs and mimes a gun with her fingers before she breaks away to go sit with Lanie.
"Hey, Ike, are Carol and Tim here?" Ryan asks, oblivious.
Thornton points him toward a table by the grill where Montgomery is wearing a Kiss the Cop apron and charbroiling burgers and hot dogs.
"Carol called me a few days ago about Tim having some trouble in school with math," Ryan explains, "So I brought one of the practice books that my kids use in class." He reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out a workbook with math symbols and, somewhat surprisingly, dinosaurs on the front. Ryan smiles, "Even math is more fun when you get to multiply the number of triceratops by the number of pterodactyls."
"Thanks, man. That's great," Thornton says.
"Aside from dinosaurs, he also bribes his class with chocolate," Esposito smirks, draping a proprietary arm around Ryan's shoulders.
"Counting the number of each color in a bag of M&Ms is a valid and time-honored statistical exercise," Ryan says. He pecks Esposito on the cheek and adds, "I'll bring you a hot dog on my way back," before he heads over to the picnic table where Carol and Tim are sitting.
"Man," Thornton says to Esposito, shaking his head as they watch Ryan walk away. "I thought he minute the marriage bill passed you'd have a ring on that boy's finger. What are you waiting for?"
Esposito looks hunted, but not in the traditional I'm not ready to be tied down by marriage way, more in the I am hiding something huge way.
Castle points at him in sudden realization. "You have a ring in your pocket!"
"What?" Esposito says, hand straying guiltily to his jacket pocket. "I do not. Why would you think that?"
Thornton looks like he's had the same epiphany as Castle. "You have been fiddling with your jacket and shoving you hand in your pocket every other second for the past week. I thought you'd just been drinking too much coffee."
"Well, let's see it!" Castle demands.
Esposito glances over his shoulder, shifty-eyed. "Kevin's right over there!" he hisses, jerking his head toward Ryan.
Castle pulls Thornton and Esposito in close until they're huddled together like a football team, blocking anyone's view. Resigned, Esposito fishes the blue velvet box out of his pocket and flips it open. The ring is silver with a Celtic knot design going around the band. "He's Irish," Esposito says, looking a little embarrassed.
"Kevin is gonna love it, Javi," Thornton says reassuringly, patting Esposito on the shoulder.
Esposito closes the box and shoves it back out of sight. "Okay," he says, "So now that both you assholes know, and considering you've both done the proposal thing successfully, give me some good advice. I mean, first of all, am I supposed to ask his dad's permission?" Esposito wonders. "And before you answer that, I just want you to know that his dad is a scaryass ex-Army colonel who told me over Thanksgiving dinner that if I broke his son's heart, Homicide would have one more cold case because they'd never find my body."
"Definitely ask," Castle and Thornton say simultaneously.
"That's what I thought," Esposito says, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "But Colonel Ryan lives all the way out in Arizona and I don't want to ask over the phone."
"I have a brilliant plan," Castle says.
--
This is how Esposito ends up at Castle's loft the next night making a videoconference call to Colonel Ryan in Phoenix while Castle watches from the couch, off-frame and cradling a bowl of popcorn.
Esposito is just about to send the call through when there's a knock on the door. Castle jumps up to open it and Thornton walks in. "You didn't seriously think I was going to miss this, did you?" he asks Esposito, plopping down on the couch and taking a handful of Castle's popcorn.
"If I survive this, I am going to kill both of you," Esposito promises. He puts the call through and Colonel Ryan's face pops up immediately on Castle's 32" viewscreen. He's steel-eyed and gray-haired and even though he's wearing slacks and a polo shirt instead of fatigues or dress blues, just looking at him gives Castle flashbacks to the time his mother thought military school might be a good option and he had to take a horrific four hour tour of Fort Hamilton before practically sprinting away and making his special blend of strawberry daiquiris to prove to her how invaluable he was in the home.
"Javier," Colonel Ryan says, sounding displeased, "What is so important that I had to have someone from IT spend two hours setting up this new-fangled contraption?" He taps on the lens of the webcam. "Can you see me?"
Esposito covers the microphone and swallows hard. Then he clears his throat, uncovers the microphone and says, "Yes, sir, I can see you. I wanted to speak with you face to face, sir."
"That was apparent," the colonel says wryly.
"It's about Kevin," Esposito says.
All the straight-backed severity drains straight out of Colonel Ryan. "What? What happened? Is he all right?" he demands, knuckles gone white as he grips the armrests of his chair.
"He...what? No, he's fine, sir. He's completely fine," Esposito says, thrown off-script. "He's fantastic, which is why I'm calling." The colonel relaxes and Esposito rushes ahead, completely disregarding the heartfelt speech he made Castle write him. "He's fantastic and I'm calling to ask for your blessing to marry him."
"Ah," Colonel Ryan says, succinctly, and proceeds to stare unblinkingly at Esposito for so long that Castle thinks the picture must have frozen and pulls out his iPhone to check the wireless signal.
The silent tension stretches. Thornton accidentally crushes a handful of popcorn to mush in his fist. Esposito starts to sweat and surreptitiously wipes his palms against his slacks. Castle imagines this is how suspects feel when they're being grilled by Beckett in the interrogation room.
"Ah," Colonel Ryan says again. Everyone jumps. "Kevin is my youngest child, you know," Ryan continues, like there's been no conspicuous time lapse during which Esposito was probably scared out of a few years of his life, "and the most like his mother. I think I explained how very badly I would take it if he were ever hurt in any way." He waits for Esposito's jerky nod. Castle can practically see Esposito thinking Homicide cold case.
"But you come from a good family," Ryan considers, "You have a steady job. Kevin loves you. I could have worse son-in-laws I suppose." Castle almost lets out a low, admiring whistle. He thought his mother was the only person on the planet who could give such scathing back-hand compliments.
"I'll take good care of him," Esposito says.
"You know Kevin has three older brothers, right?" Colonel Ryan says. "I'm not saying you should ask them too, I just want you to know."
"I know, sir," Esposito says, his voice a little higher than usual. He reaches automatically to his hip where his sidearm would be if he was on duty.
Colonel Ryan cracks a smile that is actually more frightening than the previously stony set of his face. "All right, Javier," he says, "Slán agus beannacht leat." The screen goes dark.
Esposito sucks in a deep, whistling breath and collapses on the couch next to Castle. "Holy crap," Thornton says, reaching over to pat him down like he's checking for a gunshot wound, "I feel like it was irresponsible of me to let you do that while not wearing Kevlar. And I thought my in-laws were scary."
"That was like the best horror movie I've ever seen," Castle says.
--
There's a pool--run by Beckett, who apparently has fewer qualms about betting on people's personal lives than homicide cases--going on when Esposito will ask Ryan to marry him.
Lanie has already lost out, having chosen Labor Day. "We were in Central Park," she laments to Castle over a fresh murder victim who had traces of chicken blood under her fingernails for some reason. "All he had to do was break away from the picnic for a minute, ask Kevin to go for a walk maybe, and get down on one knee. How hard would that have been?" she says.
Beckett is down for the eighteenth of September. "It's their anniversary," she says smugly.
"How could you possibly know that?" Castle asks. "I don't even know my own anniversaries. I didn't remember them when I was still married either." That had been something of a source of friction with Gina now that he thinks about it.
Thornton laughs. "They met because of a case," he explains. "A few years back, this poor girl got killed by her asshole ex-husband in the alley across from Ryan's building. So Javier and I are canvassing the neighbors and we knock on Ryan's door." He pauses for effect. "You should have seen the way Javier's jaw dropped when he first met him. And then it turns out that Ryan was up half the night watching Johnny Vong infomercials because he couldn't sleep and he saw some guy sprint out of that alley like he was being chased by the hounds of hell, so there's a totally legitimate reason to take him down to the station."
"Ryan's trying to tell us, 'It was 3 o'clock in the morning and the guy was all the way across the street' but Javier's all, 'We're going to sit you down with a sketch artist and I'm going to need your contact details and your whole life story.'"
"Poor Ryan was giving me this Is this asshole's badge actually real? look," Beckett laughs.
"Javier wore him down in the end," Thornton smiles.
"That is totally going in my next book," Castle says, whipping out his notebook.
Beckett may think she has the edge and, Castle has to admit, their anniversary would be a perfect opening, but Castle has two hundred down on this Friday and he's hedged his bet by getting Esposito reservations at Q3. No one says no to a proposal in Q3.
--
When Esposito comes into the precinct Monday morning without the slight telltale bulge of the ring box in his pocket, Castle, Thornton and Beckett converge on him.
"What the hell, people," Esposito says, exasperated. "We have murders to solve."
"We're taking a coffee break," Thornton says. "Come on, Javi, we're detectives. We can tell when the ring you've been carrying around for weeks is no longer in your jacket pocket. Spill."
Esposito sighs. "Fine," he says. "I took Kevin out to Q3 on Friday night--"
"Q3?" Becket interrupts, the corners of her mouth tilted down. "No one gets reservations for Q3 unless they have either connections or about five hundred times more cash than you make as an NYPD detective." She glares at Castle and mouths cheater!
"Well, apparently I have connections," Esposito says, "Do you want to hear this or not?"
"I really only need to hear that he said yes," Thornton says practically.
"What?" Castle cries, rounding on Thornton, "This is a story. A story that will be told and re-told for years at countless dinner parties and cocktail hours until everyone Ryan and Esposito have ever met is sick to death of it and can recite it by heart. You can't just skip to the end!"
"Man, there is something wrong with you," Esposito says, shaking his head, "But in the interests of you not bothering me while I solve a murder, I'm going to cater to your psychotic whims for the next sixty seconds."
Everyone crowds forward like children at story time.
Esposito skids his chair back. "There was amazing but ridiculously priced food. I ordered champagne. I told Kevin I talked to his dad. He said, 'You asked my dad's permission and you're still alive? He must really like you.' I said I found that debatable. I offered him the ring which is no longer in my pocket because it is around his finger because he said yes." Esposito smiles.
"Well, you'll never be a novelist," Castle says, "but congratulations." Beckett echoes the sentiment and Thornton claps Esposito on the shoulder and claims best man status.
"So, just to be clear," Castle says casually, "You proposed to Ryan on Friday, September 9th, 2011?"
"Yes," Esposito says suspiciously. Beckett rolls her eyes.
"Fantastic," Castle says, "Perfect date for a proposal. Excuse me."
Esposito stares after him until Thornton distracts him with a two foot high stack of case files, loose papers slipping out of half the folders.
Beckett sits back down at her desk, arranging her own files in neat stacks and turning on her desktop.
"I believe you have something for me?" Castle says.
Beckett opens the locked drawer in her desk and shoves a thick envelope of bills into Castle's hands. Castle opens the flap and makes a deliberate show of counting the cash, slowly, until she storms off to the gym to beat the hell out of a punching bag.
-
Castle gets an email the next day from kevin.ryan@nycityschools.edu. It says:
Heard you won a bet. In case you're wondering, Javier and I are registering at Crate & Barrel, Macy's and Target.
P.S. I'd also accept an advance copy of your next book.
Comments are loved.
Characters/Pairing: Ryan/Esposito, Castle, Beckett, Ike Thornton
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3000
Summary: In which Ryan is Esposito's partner, but not his cop partner and there's an annual NYPD Labor Day picnic in Central Park.
Note: Written for ryanandesposito ficathon.
"Is Ryan coming to the Labor Day picnic?" Beckett asks casually as Esposito is packing away case files for the night.
Esposito snorts. "Please. There's going to be hot dogs, beer and badminton. I could not keep him away."
Beckett smiles. "Great. I'll see you both there then."
"Sure thing," Esposito says, waving goodnight and heading for the elevator.
Once the elevator doors slide closed, Beckett rounds on Castle. "And are you planning to come to the annual NYPD Labor Day picnic?" she asks, eyes narrowed.
"Absolutely," Castle says, "Both Alexis and my mother are thrilled to be getting the chance to meet some of my co-workers." Martha in particular was elated because some months back she'd come to the precinct to spy on Castle's new work environment under the cover of reporting her Fendi handbag stolen and somehow managed to meet Detective Simmons from White Collar who pinged her gray-dar so hard she'd given Castle specific instructions to contrive a situation where she could bump into him 'accidentally.'
"Well, you're going to be meeting everyone's families too," Beckett says somewhat ominously, "and you have a disturbing habit of blurting out less than tactful things when you're surprised--also when you're not surprised, but even more so when you're surprised--so I'm going to read you in on something that you don't seem to know."
"Ooh, intriguing. Do continue," Castle says, propping his chin on his fist.
"You heard me ask Esposito whether Ryan's coming, right?" Beckett says.
"Yes," Castle says, drawing out the word.
"Well, just so you don't react oddly when you're introduced, you should probably know that Ryan is Esposito's boyfriend."
"Wait, what?" Castle shouts.
Beckett sighs and tucks her hair back behind her ears. "That's pretty much the exact reaction I didn't want you to have at the picnic."
"How come no one told me this?" Castle says. His eyes go round and he winces theatrically, "Oh shit, I gave Ochoa a wife in Heat Wave. That must have stung."
"Esposito has never read one of your books and I doubt he ever will," Beckett says, rolling her eyes.
"Well, thank God. Dodged a bullet there," Castle says. His relief suddenly gives way to offense. "Why doesn't Esposito read my books? I'm a best-seller!"
"Ryan," Beckett cuts in, "on the other hand owns every book you've ever written and practically offered me sexual favors to get his hands on that advance copy of Heat Wave."
Castle preens. "Hold on, you didn't give it to him, did you?"
Beckett shrugs. "They invited me over for a dinner party and it's only polite to bring something for the host," she says, "Lanie brought wine. Thornton and Carol did a vegetable tray. Montgomery's wife baked a fantastic chocolate torte."
"I don't even know this guy. Anything could have happened! He could have leaked it on the internet! It could have been like that debacle with Twilight from Edward Cullen's point of view!" Castle rants. He pauses and takes in the rest of Beckett's statement. "You have departmental dinner parties and don't invite me?"
"Ryan wanted to invite you," Beckett says consolingly, turning off her computer and grabbing her jacket off the chairback, "But Esposito banned you because you're on Ryan's freebie five list and he's therefore never allowed to meet you."
Castle smirks and follows her to the elevator. "So, did he like the book?"
"Oh, God," Beckett says, jabbing the button for the ground floor, "Not that your ego needs the boost, but he loved it. Even though I let him read the advance copy, he still stood in line at midnight to get the real thing the day it came out. And don't even worry about him being upset about Esposito's faux wife. Ryan told me Mrs. Ochoa was his favorite character in the whole novel because, and I quote, 'she's a total HBIC who keeps Ochoa in line.'"
"I think I'm going to like this Ryan," Castle says, smiling. "He sounds like he has very good taste."
"He's a sweetheart," Beckett agrees. "So I expect you to be extremely nice to him. But don't be too nice," she warns, "Esposito might shoot you."
--
Esposito might shoot you, Castle reminds himself when he's introduced to Kevin Ryan who gushes over his novels and looks exactly like the type of guys Castle went for during his experimentation phase at college. Sweet, pretty, boy-next-door.
Possibly, Castle has been staring at the bright blue of Ryan's eyes, his cupid's bow lips, a little too long because Esposito makes a low noise in his throat like a growl and Beckett elbows Castle in the ribs and mimes a gun with her fingers before she breaks away to go sit with Lanie.
"Hey, Ike, are Carol and Tim here?" Ryan asks, oblivious.
Thornton points him toward a table by the grill where Montgomery is wearing a Kiss the Cop apron and charbroiling burgers and hot dogs.
"Carol called me a few days ago about Tim having some trouble in school with math," Ryan explains, "So I brought one of the practice books that my kids use in class." He reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out a workbook with math symbols and, somewhat surprisingly, dinosaurs on the front. Ryan smiles, "Even math is more fun when you get to multiply the number of triceratops by the number of pterodactyls."
"Thanks, man. That's great," Thornton says.
"Aside from dinosaurs, he also bribes his class with chocolate," Esposito smirks, draping a proprietary arm around Ryan's shoulders.
"Counting the number of each color in a bag of M&Ms is a valid and time-honored statistical exercise," Ryan says. He pecks Esposito on the cheek and adds, "I'll bring you a hot dog on my way back," before he heads over to the picnic table where Carol and Tim are sitting.
"Man," Thornton says to Esposito, shaking his head as they watch Ryan walk away. "I thought he minute the marriage bill passed you'd have a ring on that boy's finger. What are you waiting for?"
Esposito looks hunted, but not in the traditional I'm not ready to be tied down by marriage way, more in the I am hiding something huge way.
Castle points at him in sudden realization. "You have a ring in your pocket!"
"What?" Esposito says, hand straying guiltily to his jacket pocket. "I do not. Why would you think that?"
Thornton looks like he's had the same epiphany as Castle. "You have been fiddling with your jacket and shoving you hand in your pocket every other second for the past week. I thought you'd just been drinking too much coffee."
"Well, let's see it!" Castle demands.
Esposito glances over his shoulder, shifty-eyed. "Kevin's right over there!" he hisses, jerking his head toward Ryan.
Castle pulls Thornton and Esposito in close until they're huddled together like a football team, blocking anyone's view. Resigned, Esposito fishes the blue velvet box out of his pocket and flips it open. The ring is silver with a Celtic knot design going around the band. "He's Irish," Esposito says, looking a little embarrassed.
"Kevin is gonna love it, Javi," Thornton says reassuringly, patting Esposito on the shoulder.
Esposito closes the box and shoves it back out of sight. "Okay," he says, "So now that both you assholes know, and considering you've both done the proposal thing successfully, give me some good advice. I mean, first of all, am I supposed to ask his dad's permission?" Esposito wonders. "And before you answer that, I just want you to know that his dad is a scaryass ex-Army colonel who told me over Thanksgiving dinner that if I broke his son's heart, Homicide would have one more cold case because they'd never find my body."
"Definitely ask," Castle and Thornton say simultaneously.
"That's what I thought," Esposito says, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "But Colonel Ryan lives all the way out in Arizona and I don't want to ask over the phone."
"I have a brilliant plan," Castle says.
--
This is how Esposito ends up at Castle's loft the next night making a videoconference call to Colonel Ryan in Phoenix while Castle watches from the couch, off-frame and cradling a bowl of popcorn.
Esposito is just about to send the call through when there's a knock on the door. Castle jumps up to open it and Thornton walks in. "You didn't seriously think I was going to miss this, did you?" he asks Esposito, plopping down on the couch and taking a handful of Castle's popcorn.
"If I survive this, I am going to kill both of you," Esposito promises. He puts the call through and Colonel Ryan's face pops up immediately on Castle's 32" viewscreen. He's steel-eyed and gray-haired and even though he's wearing slacks and a polo shirt instead of fatigues or dress blues, just looking at him gives Castle flashbacks to the time his mother thought military school might be a good option and he had to take a horrific four hour tour of Fort Hamilton before practically sprinting away and making his special blend of strawberry daiquiris to prove to her how invaluable he was in the home.
"Javier," Colonel Ryan says, sounding displeased, "What is so important that I had to have someone from IT spend two hours setting up this new-fangled contraption?" He taps on the lens of the webcam. "Can you see me?"
Esposito covers the microphone and swallows hard. Then he clears his throat, uncovers the microphone and says, "Yes, sir, I can see you. I wanted to speak with you face to face, sir."
"That was apparent," the colonel says wryly.
"It's about Kevin," Esposito says.
All the straight-backed severity drains straight out of Colonel Ryan. "What? What happened? Is he all right?" he demands, knuckles gone white as he grips the armrests of his chair.
"He...what? No, he's fine, sir. He's completely fine," Esposito says, thrown off-script. "He's fantastic, which is why I'm calling." The colonel relaxes and Esposito rushes ahead, completely disregarding the heartfelt speech he made Castle write him. "He's fantastic and I'm calling to ask for your blessing to marry him."
"Ah," Colonel Ryan says, succinctly, and proceeds to stare unblinkingly at Esposito for so long that Castle thinks the picture must have frozen and pulls out his iPhone to check the wireless signal.
The silent tension stretches. Thornton accidentally crushes a handful of popcorn to mush in his fist. Esposito starts to sweat and surreptitiously wipes his palms against his slacks. Castle imagines this is how suspects feel when they're being grilled by Beckett in the interrogation room.
"Ah," Colonel Ryan says again. Everyone jumps. "Kevin is my youngest child, you know," Ryan continues, like there's been no conspicuous time lapse during which Esposito was probably scared out of a few years of his life, "and the most like his mother. I think I explained how very badly I would take it if he were ever hurt in any way." He waits for Esposito's jerky nod. Castle can practically see Esposito thinking Homicide cold case.
"But you come from a good family," Ryan considers, "You have a steady job. Kevin loves you. I could have worse son-in-laws I suppose." Castle almost lets out a low, admiring whistle. He thought his mother was the only person on the planet who could give such scathing back-hand compliments.
"I'll take good care of him," Esposito says.
"You know Kevin has three older brothers, right?" Colonel Ryan says. "I'm not saying you should ask them too, I just want you to know."
"I know, sir," Esposito says, his voice a little higher than usual. He reaches automatically to his hip where his sidearm would be if he was on duty.
Colonel Ryan cracks a smile that is actually more frightening than the previously stony set of his face. "All right, Javier," he says, "Slán agus beannacht leat." The screen goes dark.
Esposito sucks in a deep, whistling breath and collapses on the couch next to Castle. "Holy crap," Thornton says, reaching over to pat him down like he's checking for a gunshot wound, "I feel like it was irresponsible of me to let you do that while not wearing Kevlar. And I thought my in-laws were scary."
"That was like the best horror movie I've ever seen," Castle says.
--
There's a pool--run by Beckett, who apparently has fewer qualms about betting on people's personal lives than homicide cases--going on when Esposito will ask Ryan to marry him.
Lanie has already lost out, having chosen Labor Day. "We were in Central Park," she laments to Castle over a fresh murder victim who had traces of chicken blood under her fingernails for some reason. "All he had to do was break away from the picnic for a minute, ask Kevin to go for a walk maybe, and get down on one knee. How hard would that have been?" she says.
Beckett is down for the eighteenth of September. "It's their anniversary," she says smugly.
"How could you possibly know that?" Castle asks. "I don't even know my own anniversaries. I didn't remember them when I was still married either." That had been something of a source of friction with Gina now that he thinks about it.
Thornton laughs. "They met because of a case," he explains. "A few years back, this poor girl got killed by her asshole ex-husband in the alley across from Ryan's building. So Javier and I are canvassing the neighbors and we knock on Ryan's door." He pauses for effect. "You should have seen the way Javier's jaw dropped when he first met him. And then it turns out that Ryan was up half the night watching Johnny Vong infomercials because he couldn't sleep and he saw some guy sprint out of that alley like he was being chased by the hounds of hell, so there's a totally legitimate reason to take him down to the station."
"Ryan's trying to tell us, 'It was 3 o'clock in the morning and the guy was all the way across the street' but Javier's all, 'We're going to sit you down with a sketch artist and I'm going to need your contact details and your whole life story.'"
"Poor Ryan was giving me this Is this asshole's badge actually real? look," Beckett laughs.
"Javier wore him down in the end," Thornton smiles.
"That is totally going in my next book," Castle says, whipping out his notebook.
Beckett may think she has the edge and, Castle has to admit, their anniversary would be a perfect opening, but Castle has two hundred down on this Friday and he's hedged his bet by getting Esposito reservations at Q3. No one says no to a proposal in Q3.
--
When Esposito comes into the precinct Monday morning without the slight telltale bulge of the ring box in his pocket, Castle, Thornton and Beckett converge on him.
"What the hell, people," Esposito says, exasperated. "We have murders to solve."
"We're taking a coffee break," Thornton says. "Come on, Javi, we're detectives. We can tell when the ring you've been carrying around for weeks is no longer in your jacket pocket. Spill."
Esposito sighs. "Fine," he says. "I took Kevin out to Q3 on Friday night--"
"Q3?" Becket interrupts, the corners of her mouth tilted down. "No one gets reservations for Q3 unless they have either connections or about five hundred times more cash than you make as an NYPD detective." She glares at Castle and mouths cheater!
"Well, apparently I have connections," Esposito says, "Do you want to hear this or not?"
"I really only need to hear that he said yes," Thornton says practically.
"What?" Castle cries, rounding on Thornton, "This is a story. A story that will be told and re-told for years at countless dinner parties and cocktail hours until everyone Ryan and Esposito have ever met is sick to death of it and can recite it by heart. You can't just skip to the end!"
"Man, there is something wrong with you," Esposito says, shaking his head, "But in the interests of you not bothering me while I solve a murder, I'm going to cater to your psychotic whims for the next sixty seconds."
Everyone crowds forward like children at story time.
Esposito skids his chair back. "There was amazing but ridiculously priced food. I ordered champagne. I told Kevin I talked to his dad. He said, 'You asked my dad's permission and you're still alive? He must really like you.' I said I found that debatable. I offered him the ring which is no longer in my pocket because it is around his finger because he said yes." Esposito smiles.
"Well, you'll never be a novelist," Castle says, "but congratulations." Beckett echoes the sentiment and Thornton claps Esposito on the shoulder and claims best man status.
"So, just to be clear," Castle says casually, "You proposed to Ryan on Friday, September 9th, 2011?"
"Yes," Esposito says suspiciously. Beckett rolls her eyes.
"Fantastic," Castle says, "Perfect date for a proposal. Excuse me."
Esposito stares after him until Thornton distracts him with a two foot high stack of case files, loose papers slipping out of half the folders.
Beckett sits back down at her desk, arranging her own files in neat stacks and turning on her desktop.
"I believe you have something for me?" Castle says.
Beckett opens the locked drawer in her desk and shoves a thick envelope of bills into Castle's hands. Castle opens the flap and makes a deliberate show of counting the cash, slowly, until she storms off to the gym to beat the hell out of a punching bag.
-
Castle gets an email the next day from kevin.ryan@nycityschools.edu. It says:
Heard you won a bet. In case you're wondering, Javier and I are registering at Crate & Barrel, Macy's and Target.
P.S. I'd also accept an advance copy of your next book.
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