Disclaimer: I do not own Castle.

Hey, look! A finished story! Hope ya'll enjoy :)

Breathless

A story of Detective Kevin Ryan

Ch. 7 Inspire

Almost two years later, Detective Kevin Ryan pulled a pen from a cup on his desk, setting down for a long night of paperwork. He sucked in a breath, letting out a long sigh, but it caught on congestion in his chest. Though he had made a full recovery and returned to work as soon as deemed fit by his doctors, the winters bothered him more than they used to. Feeling older than his years, He coughed, the heel of his hand coming up automatically to press against his ribs, massaging the scar tissue through his shirt.

It had been a rough day slogging through half-melted December snow chasing suspects, and while he was thankful they had caught their man, he was worn out, worn down, and desperately in need of rest.

Grimacing in pain, Ryan fought back another cough and glanced around the bullpen, hoping nobody had noticed his moment of weakness.

Beckett caught his eye. Of course. She noticed everything.

She gave him a grim yet sympathetically understanding smile, her own hand up at her sternum, applying pressure to old wounds.

"What d'ya say we cut out early; finish the paperwork tomorrow?" she asks, voice low enough that it carries only to her team.

"Sounds good to me," Esposito says, standing quickly and pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Night, Boss," his eyes on his phone, feet on their way to the elevator.

Beckett raised an eyebrow at Ryan, not having broken eye contact with him yet, waiting for his response.

"I don't know, Boss," he grinned, "I think you're just trying to get me out of here so you can go home and have your anniversary dinner."

Beckett gave him a surprised look, tossing a glance at Castle's empty chair.

He'd ducked out after lunch after seeing the connections between the clues they all had missed, and left with a weak excuse about meetings and errands, throwing a significant glance at Beckett on his way out.

A moment later, she glanced back, her expression softer as a faint blush worked its way up her cheeks and she bit her lip to keep back a smile.

"Congratulations," Ryan said with a smile and a nod as he stood, gathering his jacket from the back of his chair, tugging on his gloves.

"Thanks." Beckett joined him at the elevator. "How did you know?"

"Err…" he shifted nervously before turning to her, a teasing glimmer in his cobalt eyes. "When I was in the hospital, Alexis told me how she found out you were together." A smirk grew on his face as hers flushed brightly.

She gaped at him, mouth opening and closing a few times before managing, "How much did she tell you?"

They stepped into the elevator, pressed the button down.

"I always knew you didn't like to be interrupted," Ryan started, ignoring her question.

"Kevin Ryan!" Kate scolded, her voice higher pitched with embarrassment and humor, taking the edge out of the reproof as she lightly backhanded him.

"I just never realized exactly how much." He continued, laughing.

He smile softened as he held the door open for her into the bitter darkness of the city. "Have a nice night, Kate."

"Thank you, Kevin." A gentle smile graced her face as she patted his arm.

Several hours later, Ryan lay stretched out on his couch a little over half asleep with the light of a baseball game on the team washing over him. A lukewarm much rested curled in one of his hands. When he'd arrived home, he'd pulled a dinner from his freezer and popped it in the microwave and looked longingly at the beer in his fridge. But knowing it'd do his cough no favors, had settled on hot tea with milk, honey, and a shot of whiskey.

A knock at his door jolted him from his near unconscious state. Jerking up, he sloshed the contents of his mug onto the t-shirt he'd changed into. Grumbling incoherently as the liquid instantly turned frigid, he pulled the shirt over his head and lobbed it toward his bedroom door.

It made it halfway and pooled around the legs of his hallway table.

Another knock and he stumbled groggily toward the door in his sweatpants, snagging his gun from the table on his way. Thankfully, he glanced through the peephole and set the gun back down before unlocking the door. Otherwise, Alexis would have had a partial reconstruction of her night two years previous.

"Alexis." He stated dumbly, swinging the door wide. "What…?"

She was wrapped in a pale blue pea coat, the same color as her eyes, but lighter, with a matching cap covering the top of her fiery hair. A deep purple scarf wrapped around her throat. The only bit of skin showing was a circle of her face, cold and wind burned pink.

"I…" she stuttered out, and it was then he realized the moisture on her face wasn't from melted snow, but tears that glistened in the yellow hall lights.

"Alexis, what's the matter?" he asked, moving instinctually to pull her into a hug. He realized his mistake immediately as the half-melted snow on her jacket came into contact with his bare chest and he hissed in surprise.

But she wrapped her arms around him, her gloved hands clinging to his back. So he held her tighter, letting his body heat warm the half-frozen water, as she buried her face against that soft spot between his shoulder and collarbone with a muffled sob.

The feel of her soft face against his chest was almost overwhelming as her tears pooled warm against his skin. Tenderly he brushed a hand through the long hair down her back as the other arm continued to hold her close.

"Hey, Lex, calm down, sweetheart," he soothed. "I can't help if I don't know what's the matter."

She gulped in a breath, her exhale sliding warm against his skin. He shivered.

She pulled back slightly. "It's Eric," she finally managed. "I tried to give it a chance, to make it work. But he's been cheating on me for almost a year. I just found out tonight."

"Oh." His heart ached for the girl in his arms with that vulnerable look on her face and her too-shiny eyes, brilliant sapphire, the light in the hall glinting off the tears that pooled against her bottom eyelids.

"And I don't want to go home because it's dad and Beckett's anniversary, and I can't deal with a repeat of two years ago, and I don't want to ruin their night, either, and Lanie's probably with Esposito, and I just can't be around my friends right now because they were all there and I think some of them even knew about it but didn't tell me, and…" Her voice rising as she continued.

"Hey, hey, breathe, Lex. It's going to be alright." Ryan soothed, running his hands back and forth over her shoulders. "Let me go change and we can go grab a cup of coffee. There's a little place around the corner." He tightened his fingers, gently squeezing the sockets of her shoulders before dropping his hands and stepping back into his apartment, allowing her to enter.

"Just… don't look around much." He warned, shutting the door behind her. He sensed her relax with a clear plan in mind and she gave him a ghost of a smile.

She glanced around his cluttered dwelling. Instantly she noticed his service weapon on the table. She met his eyes, a quiet, tight-lipped smile fighting its way onto her face. "You almost pointed that at me, didn't you?" she queried.

He ducked his head guiltily in response. "Kind of becoming a tradition with you, isn't it?" he asked.

"I'll buy you a slice of cheesecake to make up for it." He offered. "A celebration of you yet again surviving the 12th precincts' accidental efforts to off you. It'll be an anniversary in your own right. A celebration of life." He sent her a cheeky grin and she managed a giggle that almost didn't catch on the tears in her throat.

"Now, I'm going to go change if you don't mind… and I'm also going to let your dad know, okay?" The last part was added on hesitantly, and he waited until she nodded before he slipped through his bedroom door.

It took two rings before a breathless Kate answered the phone. "There'd better not be a body," she growled, "Because I swear…"

"No, if there was, I would have called your…"

"Ryan. I'm a little busy at the moment." Frustration evident in her voice.

"No, yeah, I… uhh…" Ryan fumbled, blushing. "Look." He finally managed. "I need to talk to Castle."

"He's… occupied."

"Ahh, Beckett! Too much information. Way. Too. Much. I really, really don't mean to be interrupting you two, but this is important. Just. Trust me on this."

Silence. Then the muffled sounds of the phone being passed.

"Castle." Amusement and frustration mixing in his voice.

"Hey, umm?" suddenly twice as nervous, Ryan didn't know how to continue. His boss, fine, but the father?

An impatient growl.

"Alexis showed up here." He blurted out.

"What?" Castle was instantly more alert. "Is she okay?" Concern quickly turning frantic.

"No… yeah, she's fine. Upset, but uninjured." Ryan paced his room in his boxers, having gotten only as far as taking his sweatpants off before the call distracted him from his other task in his room of changing. "Her… uhh… She broke up with her boyfriend, but she didn't want to interrupt whatever I'm interrupting by calling you, so she came here. I'm taking her to coffee and then I'll bring her back to the loft before…" he glanced at his watch. "I'll have her home at a reasonable time." He concluded.

"Are you asking permission to…" Castle began.

"No. I'm telling you that I'm taking your daughter out for coffee and dessert and I will return her in better condition than how she arrived."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

A long, awkward pause, and then, "Castle," in the background.

It seemed to snap him out of it.

"Okay, Ryan. Yeah, okay. Take care of her."

"Sir." Ryan responded and ended the call.

Quickly, he shuffled into a pair of faded jeans from a pile on his floor and rummaged through his dresser for a shirt. Shoving his feet into a pair of shoes and grabbing his jacket from his bed, he opened the door to find the beautiful redhead waiting on just the other side for him. The shy smile on her face told him that she'd listened in.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Thank you." She replied, her soft smile indicating she meant more than just coffee, as she stepped closer and wrapped an arm around his waist, leaning her head briefly against his shoulder.

"Any time, darling, any time." He leaned in and kissed her forehead, leading her out the door.