Fan-Fiction Database
Product's FanFiction

Characters/Original Story Line owned by ABC
Story by [Product of a Primal Urge]

Chapters

1. A Picture and a Bullet
2. Rough on Relations
3. Settling Soul and Relapses
4. Looking Glass Partner
5. Fine Print
6. Sinking Kisses
7. Killer Collage
8. Of Conferencing Hearts
9. Morning After
10. End Game

11:00 A.M. Wednesday- Case 19 days cold

Detective Kevin Ryan would have to remember to thank Beckett for getting permission from the Bronx district to raid Marcus Henry's apartment. Kevin had a hand on his hip, resting on the holster of his gun. Javier was at his right shoulder, close enough Kevin could feel Javier's breath over the back of his neck. It was oddly settling. Beckett was in front of them, knocking on the apartment door. Kevin looked up and down the brightly lit hallway, noting it was small, and escape on anyone's part might be hard.

Kevin's heart was racing as silence met their ears after Beckett's knocking ceased. This could be it; this could be the moment that Kevin would face his sister's killer. His fingers itched across the butt of his gun, arm tensing. Still nothing.

"Police, we have a warrant." Kate's voice was loud and strong. No answer, yet again.

"Javier." Kevin looked over at the man and then at Beckett. "Door?"

Kate shrugged and stepped out of the way, moving to take up position on the opposite side Kevin was on. Their guns were leveled to the floor as they waited. Javier stepped around Kevin, hefted a leg up and smashed into the door near the handle. It made a splintering sound then shook and shuddered open. Javier stepped back as Kate and Kevin hoisted their guns and moved in, eyes searching.

Kevin could feel Javier moving at his back; it lifted his lips into a small grin. He could feel his heart lodged in his throat as he looked around the place. It smelled musty, abandoned. There were not many signs of human life aside from a pizza box growing mold in one corner resting on a coffee table, the intermittent drip-drop of water from a faucet, and the small radio next to a recliner. Slowly, all three lowered their weapons to positions less threatening. "I'll take the back rooms," Kevin said looking down a side hallway to his left.

He toed open the first door and found a bathroom and the source of the dripping. Sink needed fixing. He moved on, gun pointed down at the floor with both hands wrapped about it. He nudged a door on his right with his shoulder, glancing in, and found what looked to be an office space. There were a few folders and a few more loose papers scattered about. A distinct hole in the mess sat, squarely announcing the lack of a laptop. Stepping back out and looking down the hallway, head on, Kevin saw another door. Walking to the door, he found this one fully shut. He had to let go of the gun with one hand to turn the handle.

Pushing it open slowly, Kevin let his gun lead the way in and he froze. There was a bed off to the right, a desk to the left and straight on, between two windows, was a collage of pictures. Kevin sucked in a sharp breath, cringing. He felt his head start to spin. There were pictures of girls, boys, men and women splattered across the wall laced with newspaper articles about murders, missing persons, and suspicious deaths. In spray paint across it all was written, "Game".

Kevin took a few steps forward, tucking his gun back into the holster. His hand moved up to a picture of Karen. It was not a family photo; it was taken from across a street, intruding on her personal life. She was smiling, alive, sitting with a friend at a café. His fingers moved to the article write up of her death. Kevin was standing there, in the crime scene photo, peering down at her, looking lost.

"Kev?" Javier's hand was gently put on Kevin's shoulder, trying to get the man to step away from the plastered wall.

Kevin turned, mouth slightly agape and baby blues wide open. "He's not here, Javier. We missed him. Look at this place- he's gone."

Javier gave Kevin a slight frown, letting milked-coffee eyes stray to the wall. "He'll be back bro. They never leave their trophies. He has no idea we're on to him. He'll be back for this."

"No one's been in here for a good week, Javie." Kevin's shoulders slumped. Turning his back to the wall he brushed past his partner and out of the room. He really didn't want to stay staring at the pictures, one of which was a memory of his.

"Guys!" Kate's voice called from the main area of the apartment.

Kevin led the way back out, hearing the tell-tale footfalls of Javier behind him. "What's up Beckett?" Kevin asked looking around the apartment carefully then back at her, hand resting on the butt of his gun again.

"Found this on the counter." Kate held up a newspaper clipping, holding it out for them to take a look at.

Kevin handled it greedily, eyes soaking up each detail and coming to the realization, then consequently the denial, of what it meant. The clipping was a picture of Katherine's murder, of when Javier stepped up beside Kevin protectively. Javier's head was circled furiously with red pen. Kevin looked over at his partner who stood solidly, arms folded over his chest, and lips pursed tightly as he looked at the picture. 'Impenetrable' the stance said. 'Vulnerable' baby blue eyes said.

"Javier, look man-"

"No, Kevin. I'm not backing out of this. As long as you're working this I am, too." Javier tightened his arms over his chest.

Kevin glanced at Kate, his eyebrows raised in concern. His eyes slid to the front door and she nodded softly before striding out, leaving them alone. "Javie, I've lost too much from this case already. If you…" Kevin looked down at his feet, hands smoothing his pants and then tugging at his vest.

Javier stepped up to him and put a hand to the side of his face. Javier's hand slowly moved up his jaw to curve tan fingers around his pale neck at the base of his hairline. Javier's thumb smoothly caressed across his high cheekbone. "Don't push me away, Kevin. This involves both of us and I'm not leaving your side, you got me?"

Leaning into the touch, Kevin rubbed his face along the strong hand and let his eyes fall shut. His face relaxed and his shoulders went slack. Heat was radiating from Javier's hand and Kevin looked back into those soft brown eyes. "Yes, yeah, all right. You're right."

"Good." Javier looked over Kevin's shoulder then leaned in and brushed his lips over Kevin's. "Come on, we should go talk to the building's owner."

"Mmm," Kevin's murmur was not really in reference to talking with anyone. His eyes were fluttering a little as he felt the warmth of a kiss drift away. "Right, good idea." Baby blues snapped open fully and he straightened his vest again as Javier pulled his hand from Kevin's face.

11:45 A.M.

"Whaddya mean you can't find him?" Javier was leaning on the counter, face tightened angrily as he looked at the kid behind the desk.

Kevin watched with an eyebrow raised. Kate stepped up and lightly pushed the Hispanic aside. "Look kid, I know this is probably just a part time job for you, some cash to blow on whatever, but I need you to work with me here, okay? Put that phone away and pay attention or I'll let Esposito here," she cocked her head towards Javier. "Drag you down to lock up to sit for a few hours."

The kid's eyes went a little wide as he looked at Javier then back to Kate. "Yeah, fine. Sean runs this place but he's like never here, ya know? Don't need to be. He's got this guy that does the rent collecting. Comes in once a month like just fer that."

"Doesn't," Kevin muttered under his breath. The kid's eyes still snapped over to him.

"What was that?" he asked puffing up.

"'Doesn't need to be'; English, kid." Kevin cocked one eyebrow upwards and stared hard at him.

"Whatever, like I said. Sean's never here. Got his number, though." The kid ducked under the counter and the three detectives tensed, their hands shifting subconsciously to their weapons. He came back up with a notebook, seeming not to notice the tense shift in the atmosphere. "Look, his cell phone number. Can't say he'll answer but what ev."

Kate twisted her mouth skeptically but yanked the notebook around to look at the number. "Ryan, get this number…       607-742-0114   ."

Kevin grabbed his phone and typed the numbers into it. "Got it. Call it now?" he asked looking up at her with an open grin. He couldn't help but flick his eyes to Javier for a long pause. His partner was staring rather intently at him, at his mouth, then down to his hands. Kevin felt a shiver run up his spine at the feel of visual scrutiny. He forced his eyes back to Kate and took a breath to ward off anymore spine-tingling shocks.

"Yeah, once we're outside. I need some air." Kate pushed open the front door of the apartment's lobby and all three detectives inhaled deeply.

The chill of New York at this time may have caused some shivering, but it wasn't that stale, unwashed smell of the apartment complex. Kevin pulled his phone up and hit the "send" button. He stuffed it to his ear and waited. It went to voice mail.

"You got Sean. If I owe ya, I'll get to ya. If you owe me, I'll get to you too. Leave a message."

"Real charmer this one," Kevin said in a hushed voice. "Sean!" Kevin pulled out a false tone. "Hey man, got your number from the kid here, Lewis or whatever. Gimme a call, I got something you might like." He clicked the phone off and tossed a grin at Kate and Javier. "Think we'll hear back from him?"

"I think we need to leave a car out here in case he wants to kill Lewis," Kate said shaking her head and walking towards the car.

"So what now, fearless leader?" Javier asked following after her.

Kate shrugged her shoulders and looked back at Javier then set her eyes on Kevin. "What do you guys think?"

"Well, we at least need that car to sit and wait for Marcus." Kevin pulled open the back door of the car and climbed in. Once Javier was in the passenger's seat and Kate the driver's, he picked back up again. "Back to the precinct to run names? Maybe get a clue as to where this Sean guy hangs at?"

"Good enough for now. Not much else to go off of. And Javier?" Kate looked over at him as she fired up the car.

"Uh huh?" he asked putting a lot of attention to his seatbelt.

Kate waited for him to look at her. "You're on watch with Kevin. Neither of you take off alone."

"Fine." Javier turned his eyes to the road.

1:00 A.M. Thursday- Case 20 days cold

Kevin lay in the guest room bed, staring up at the ceiling. He and Javier had decided that they should try and keep their growing relationship as simple as possible until after they got Karen's murderer. It would be safer that way, easier. Of course, the little round of 'battle of the tongues' they'd had on the couch a few hours ago had been nice. Kevin found that the taste of Javier was rich and masculine, that his hands were demanding, not soft and fleeting. Kevin found he liked the feel of a man versus that of the soft giving feel of a woman. Or perhaps he just preferred the feel of Javier over that of Jenny.

Sucking in a deep breath and letting it out as a huff up at the white ceiling, Kevin felt restless. He could hear the soft snores of Javier just down the hall- both of their doors must be open then- and Kevin couldn't settle his mind. While things were slow with Javier and Kevin's relationship, the job was just the opposite. It came in spurts for cops. Things could go from a long, slow week of too much coffee drinking and stacks of paper work to rapid car chases and hoofing it around the streets chasing rumors and getting no sleep the next week.

Pushing the comforter off, Kevin got up and wandered through the apartment. He paced nearly every inch of the living room and kitchen before he decided he needed more space. It was crammed in here and it left him little room for thinking. Going back to his room he pulled on a pair of jeans, stuffed his gun into the waistband at the small of his back, and threw on a zip-up sweatshirt. He stood in the middle of the hallway for a moment, listening for sounds from Javier's room. His partner still slept soundly.

Kevin knew this was a bad idea, knew that if anyone found out they'd probably tie him up and toss him in a locked interrogation room for the rest of this case, but he couldn't sit here much longer. Besides, he was a trained Detective and he had his weapon. He'd keep his eyes open and he wouldn't do anything stupid. A time or two around the block wouldn't be harmful. Getting to the front door he pushed it open and stepped out, making sure the key Javier had given him was in his pocket, and then he shut the door silently.

Outside was a bit cooler than he'd anticipated and the wind nipped through his sweatshirt, but Kevin didn't mind much. It was open and he could move. Walking to the street across from the apartment building, Kevin approached the unmarked police car. The door opened and a tall man with dark hair stepped out. "Everything okay?" he asked as his eyes moved up to one of the windows of Javier's place.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just needed to get some air." Kevin looked off to his right, towards the diner and its small side street. "I'm just going to go around the block. It takes about five minutes."

The man looked like he was going to argue. His attention played over the street, followed Kevin's line of sight, and back the other way where Kevin would come back out from. "Five minutes. If you're ten seconds over I'm calling it in."

"All right. Thanks." Kevin gave a little wave and moved off towards the diner. The front street was open, clean, and easy to move around. As he turned the corner between the apartment building and the diner, he entered the side street. It was narrower, dumpsters pressed in from the right side near the side door of the diner.

Kevin breathed in the city air, catching scents of a pizzeria, the sudsy scent of the Laundromat around the corner, and the tang of garbage in the alleyway. It was home, though some people would complain about the cramped feel but it was comfortable to him. The noise of the city was to him what a babbling brook was to others. Peace of mind.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets and moving down the side street, Kevin lost the uncomfortable feel of the cold as his thoughts took hold. Kevin and the team were drawing closer; they had new leads and new evidence. Beckett and Castle were working their best to help Kevin out with this. Javier- God, Javier was right there with him. If this all wasn't occurring around a murder, Kevin would be a pretty happy person. He kicked at a lose can, knocking it closer to the dumpsters just ahead of him.

Of course, most of their lives took place around murders. Kevin's left shoulder brushed against the wall of the apartment building as he thought about just how personal these murders were. Kevin couldn't believe Stacey and Javier had been included in the new threats. He couldn't believe that somewhere out there, someone was considering this a game. Kevin stopped walking a moment, leaned against the wall across from the door of the diner. He let his head rest on the hard brick and shivered a little, barely taking note of the physical.

The sound of quick footsteps to his left, at the end of the street he'd been walking towards, made Kevin push off of the wall and stick his hand to his lower back where the gun sat. His fingers curled around it, thumb stroking the safety lock. A man with hunkered shoulders, a long trench coat, and dark boots was padding along quickly in his direction. Kevin slid further from the wall of the building he was next to and watched intently.

The man stopped about a yard away and looked up. "Detective Kevin Ryan?" he asked in a rocky baritone.

"Who's asking?" Kevin pulled the gun free of his pants but not yet aiming it towards the man.

"A friend, I know what's going on with you. I know who's doing it; you have to listen to me. The others didn't and they paid for it." The man's eyes were watery gray, dull and punctuated with dark bags underneath.

Kevin shifted his feet and let the gun move around his hip into view. "Marcus Henry?" The hand not wrapped around the gun was twitching in anticipation and nervousness.

"I didn't do it, I'm a victim, like you. I've been following this guy." Marcus tilted his head a little, gray eyes flickering to the gun; he took an instinctive step backwards. "Look, my license." He slowly reached into his pocket.

Lifting the gun just slightly, blue eyes sharp on the pocket the hand disappeared into, Kevin sucked in a sharp, untrusting breath. "Slowly…"

Out of the pocket came the hand and a worn leather wallet. The man tossed it at Kevin's feet. Bending his knees, keeping the gun poised and at the ready, Kevin lifted the leather compartment and flipped it open. He hefted the gun upwards more aggressively, and then looked down at the card in the clear plastic section. Marcus Henry he was. "Right, how does knowing you're Marcus make me believe you didn't do it? Your apartment was covered in pictures and news clippings."

"Just- they're his. I took the clippings from the papers whenever they seemed to be his work. The pictures- I found where he was staying. Got a shot in the shoulder to prove that, but also got those photos." Marcus inched forward a little, holding out his hand and looking at the wallet.

Kevin pulled himself back a couple steps and shook his head, back and forth, just once. "Stay there," Kevin said firmly. His heart was thumping loudly and his hands were sweating a little. Kevin's eyes were scouring up and down the man before him, his eyebrows scrunched together. "Why should I believe that?"

"I'm not the killer Kevin. They released me-"

"Everyone makes mistakes." Kevin shifted again, stuffing the wallet under his arm and switching hands on his gun to wipe one down his jeans. He replaced it, wanting a steady shot if he needed it.

"The same thing happened to me, Kevin. My brother. The case went cold and my partner was taken out. Rose petals, right?" The man still had his hand out, switching his eyes from the wallet, to the gun, to Kevin's blue eyes.

Kevin pursed his lips, glanced around behind the man and risked a quick look back over his shoulder. "Yeah," he said rounding back on Marcus again. "Rose petals. You said in a report something about a game?"

Henry Marcus nodded slowly, took another step forward and watched as Kevin eased the gun down just a touch. "Yes, the killer thinks this is all a game. He's got a vendetta against cops, something went wrong for him. I didn't get the whole story, but pieces started springing up." Marcus let his hand slowly fall like he was giving up hope on the wallet.

Kevin tossed it to him and watched him fumble to catch it. It gave Kevin just enough time to side step again and get into a more open area of the side street. He was confident the cops around the corner wouldn't have let anyone else down this street after him so he'd more than likely have a clean break back the way he'd come. He could get closer to the other wall, duck back behind the dumpsters if the guy had a gun. "What kind of pieces?"

"The man keeps switching identities, so it's hard to follow but it seems like one of the names I found could be him. I've been having trouble since I've been kicked off the force. Under that name he was in a court case involving the death of his daughter." Marcus tucked his wallet away, not taking much note of Kevin's shifting.

"All right, so he's sore at the system or something?" Kevin reached his free hand up and ran it through his hair, feeling it spike up under his tending. He felt like his nerves were vibrating, his emotions raw, and his adrenaline was buzzing along in his ears.

"Something like that, yeah. Apparently she was shot by a cop." Marcus paused looking down and then back up to Kevin. "Look, I can give you all the information I've gathered on him. I brought copies for you. They're tucked in the coat."

"No, don't touch anything. Just- just get against the wall, hands flat. I'll check for myself," Kevin said twitching the gun with the directions he was giving.

Marcus nodded and went over to the wall, spread his legs a bit, and put his palms flat on the brick. "They're on the left side, tucked in the vest."

Kevin nodded and moved over, gun still in one hand. He stopped a few feet away for a moment, tucked his gun into his holster, then patted the guy down quickly. He found the folder, thick, in the left side of the vest and not a single weapon. "I'm surprised you're not armed. If you are one of his targets shouldn't you be worried he'll kill you?"

Marcus' shoulders shook with laughter but he wasn't moving away from the wall. "I don't think you understand the game, Detective Ryan. I guess you will soon enough, when you read what's in the file." He pulled up from the wall and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Have a nice night." He headed out the way he came.

Kevin pulled the gun back up. "Hey, stop!"

"You won't shoot me. I'm unarmed and you have nothing on me." Bent into himself against the cold, Marcus continued shuffling away.

Kevin watched him go, eyes burning into the man's back until it disappeared around a corner. Kevin remained there, blinking, holding a gun in one hand and a thick manila folder in the other, just staring at one of the ends of the side street. A significant gust of wind ripped through the sweatshirt and sent him shivering. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he stuck the gun back to his waistband and the folder inside his sweatshirt. Kevin made his way back out of the side street. He moved to the unmarked car, rapt his knuckles on the window and nodded to the front door.

Walking up the stairs and into the apartment, Kevin tried to be as quiet as he could be. He took off his shoes in the room and laid the folder on the bed before falling onto it. He fell into a exhausted sleep with jeans and sweatshirt as night-clothes.