This may not be quite what you were thinking of, hope you still enjoy it! Sorry about the length.
----
It’s been almost three months since Ryan was transferred to his new precinct under the white collar division as a liaison to the FBI.
Esposito can count on one hand the number of times they’ve spoken since. When Beckett asks him if he’s seen their old friend one morning, he realises just how long it’s been and the guilt is like a punch to the gut.
Esposito and Ryan hadn’t managed the best – or even the most professional – parting.
“’Sposito, man, I looked for you all morning. I wanted you to hear it from me –“
Esposito flared and turned on his partn – no, former partner, outside the Chief’s office. “How about some heads up, man? How long had they been trying to get you over there? You didn’t think maybe this was the sort of thing you wanted to discuss with the guy who’s had your back for the last three years?”
Ryan’s expression was torn and yesterday Esposito’s first instinct would have been to apologise, brush it off, find a compromise, just to make that expression lighten up. That was yesterday.
“Chief pulled me into his office this morning, he said the white collar division had an opportunity for me –“
“You didn’t have to say ‘yes’!”
Ryan stared at him and slowly shook his head. “Yeah, man. I did.” He sighs, hands on his hips and he leans in to mutter for some semblance of privacy, although they’re standing in the middle of the corridor and people were starting to notice. “You know I’ve been heading here, the FBI—“
Esposito could barely hear him over the angry thud of his heart in his chest. Lip curled, he threw up his hands and started backing away. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s your life. Go get 'em federalies.”
“Esposito,” Ryan sighed, exasperated, but then Beckett was there, eyes blazing as she glared between them.
“Do you think you two could manage this like professional officers and take this somewhere else? Everyone is staring and this isn’t the last impression I want to leave them with!”
“It’s all right, Beckett, Ryan’s made it pretty clear that we’re done.”
Esposito heads to the roof and ignores his partner as he calls after him. He’s thankful when nobody follows him.
That was three months ago.
He has a new partner now and he’s thankful they gave him Lindsey who doesn’t try to compete with the memory of Ryan at happy hour. She’s tactful and thorough, she doesn’t balk at crime scenes and she has an entirely different sense of humour that still cracks him up, but she’s not Ryan.
It’s three months, almost to the day, when they’re making a coffee stop in the break out room and Esposito almost doesn’t recognise Ryan when he passes by the window.
Esposito double takes, recovering from Lindsey’s anecdote about her family over the weekend and Lindsey looks over her shoulder, concerned.
“What is it?”
“I’ll be damned… I think that was my old partner.”
Lindsey takes his coffee mug from him, “Well, go on!”
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
PART 1 - Being Strangers, Ryan/Esposito, PG-13
Date: 2010-03-01 08:43 am (UTC)----
It’s been almost three months since Ryan was transferred to his new precinct under the white collar division as a liaison to the FBI.
Esposito can count on one hand the number of times they’ve spoken since. When Beckett asks him if he’s seen their old friend one morning, he realises just how long it’s been and the guilt is like a punch to the gut.
Esposito and Ryan hadn’t managed the best – or even the most professional – parting.
“’Sposito, man, I looked for you all morning. I wanted you to hear it from me –“
Esposito flared and turned on his partn – no, former partner, outside the Chief’s office. “How about some heads up, man? How long had they been trying to get you over there? You didn’t think maybe this was the sort of thing you wanted to discuss with the guy who’s had your back for the last three years?”
Ryan’s expression was torn and yesterday Esposito’s first instinct would have been to apologise, brush it off, find a compromise, just to make that expression lighten up. That was yesterday.
“Chief pulled me into his office this morning, he said the white collar division had an opportunity for me –“
“You didn’t have to say ‘yes’!”
Ryan stared at him and slowly shook his head. “Yeah, man. I did.” He sighs, hands on his hips and he leans in to mutter for some semblance of privacy, although they’re standing in the middle of the corridor and people were starting to notice. “You know I’ve been heading here, the FBI—“
Esposito could barely hear him over the angry thud of his heart in his chest. Lip curled, he threw up his hands and started backing away. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s your life. Go get 'em federalies.”
“Esposito,” Ryan sighed, exasperated, but then Beckett was there, eyes blazing as she glared between them.
“Do you think you two could manage this like professional officers and take this somewhere else? Everyone is staring and this isn’t the last impression I want to leave them with!”
“It’s all right, Beckett, Ryan’s made it pretty clear that we’re done.”
Esposito heads to the roof and ignores his partner as he calls after him. He’s thankful when nobody follows him.
That was three months ago.
He has a new partner now and he’s thankful they gave him Lindsey who doesn’t try to compete with the memory of Ryan at happy hour. She’s tactful and thorough, she doesn’t balk at crime scenes and she has an entirely different sense of humour that still cracks him up, but she’s not Ryan.
It’s three months, almost to the day, when they’re making a coffee stop in the break out room and Esposito almost doesn’t recognise Ryan when he passes by the window.
Esposito double takes, recovering from Lindsey’s anecdote about her family over the weekend and Lindsey looks over her shoulder, concerned.
“What is it?”
“I’ll be damned… I think that was my old partner.”
Lindsey takes his coffee mug from him, “Well, go on!”