Two:

Ryan had walked with Rick, following him to the elevator. When the doors opened, they both completely stopped. Of course Horatio stood there. But he only glanced at the two before stepping out, saying "excuse me, gentlemen" and disappearing down the hall. Rick shot Ryan and look, who in return just shrugged and they got in the elevator.

"He seems upset."

"Don't." Ryan warned.

Ryan heard him snigger. He chose to ignore it. They continued on when the elevator doors opened. Rick's receptionist said hello to them, but Rick ignored her. Ryan on the other hand said hi back, as it was only polite.

He entered Rick's office and knew the drill- shut the door. Ryan shut the door behind him and then sat down in front of Rick's desk. "Why'd you need to speak to Eric?"

"That is private business, Mr. Wolfe." Rick said. "Besides, I asked you up here. Not the other way around. You don't question me."

"Well what do you want?"

"What's going on with Holly's case? Everytime I ask, you guys have nothing new."

"Sorry Rick. There's-." Ryan started, only to have Rick slam his hand down on the desk. This startled Ryan, causing him to jump slightly.

"There's never anything. Are you guys even trying down there? Or did you just decide that since it slightly involved me you didn't want to work on it?"

Ryan frowned. "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened to Holly. And I'm sorry that you feel so responsible for it. But don't criticize what we're doing in the lab. Everyone tries their best and then some, and they're working hard on finding out who attacked Holly."

Rick still didn't seem convinced. He just sighed and then sat down in his chair. He turned his whole chair and faced the large window that overlooked the city. He started looking at it. If Ryan hadn't kind of known Rick, he would've thought that he should leave. But he knew that Rick would say something else to him. Eventually. Ryan just looked out the window, too and waited.

He finally heard Rick clear his throat. Ryan watched him, as he opened up his desk drawer and pull out a file. "Sorry."

"It's alright. You're just having a crises."

Rick chortled. "Right. So I'll see you later? Dave invited you to his house, right?"

"Yeah he did." Ryan answered slowly. "But given everything that's happened, I don't think you and I should be hanging out together."

"Why; can't trust yourself around me?"

Ryan opened his mouth to say something but his mind had suddenly gone blank. Only when Rick started laughing, did Ryan breathe out. Rick had reached over the desk and gripped Ryan's shoulders. "It's a joke. Relax a little."

"A little hard to when Horatio still thinks we're seeing each other. You know, he hasn't spoken to Eric in weeks? I feel bad about that." Ryan told him.

It was true; Horatio hadn't spoken to Eric in a while. All because Ryan had to open his big mouth. It was accidental of course. But Ryan let it slip that Eric knew about him and Rick. Granted, all Eric knew was the rumor that he himself had somewhat started. But who's to say that he didn't think it wasn't true? Ryan was sure he did. Especially since Eric hadn't spoken to Ryan either since Horatio's party. Ryan still felt bad, though. Horatio and Eric were great friends. And Horatio felt like Eric betrayed him by not telling him what was going on.

Now, he wasn't sure if Horatio still thought that Ryan and Rick were 'seeing' each other. Ryan had explained to Horatio that he and Rick had only kissed. But he wasn't so sure that Horatio had believed that. And not to mention, Rick's constant calling Ryan into his office since the party. Granted, all he ever asked was about Holly but the others didn't know that. For all they knew, Rick could have been banging Ryan right now. If they had thought that though, none of the others in the lab showed any change of attitude toward him. Of course, except Eric.

Calleigh was still nice to Ryan, smiling at him whenever they spoke. Even Walter was still nice to Ryan. He was always talking to Ryan about everything- sports, celebrities, his dates- anything. And Ryan appreciated that no one was treating him differently.

Rick pursed his lips and hummed in response. "I guess that's true. Well I guess that's it then. Let me know if you hear anything new about Holly's case."

Ryan nodded as he stood up. He started walking toward the door, but then he stopped. "Hey Rick; how is Holly?"

"She's alright. She's still shaken up since she doesn't know if someone's after her or not." He answered. "She was mad at me for a little while but she said it wasn't my fault. She's been staying with me because she's too afraid to go home."

Ryan didn't know she was staying with Rick. But then again, why would he know? Sure they talked about Holly but only about her case. Nothing ever personal. All Ryan knew was that for the last week, she'd been out of the hospital. Alexx couldn't release that information to Ryan unless it pertained to their investigation. They didn't need to know her location- only how to contact her. "Well, she's right. It's not your fault. I'll keep you updated." He opened the door before Rick could say anything else and walked out as fast as he could.

Ryan shook his head as he got back down to the floor where he was supposed to be. His mind was racing. He kept thinking about his doctor's appointment, trying to remember that Horatio would be picking up Alana today. With his pregnancy brain, Ryan sometimes found it hard to remember the smallest of things. So it was a good thing Horatio reminded him of his doctor's appointment later. He probably reminded him more times but Ryan had just forgotten.

He also thought of Holly. Ryan felt bad that they weren't any closer to finding anything in her case. A break; something. Poor girl probably was terrified that someone at any moment would attack her again, and try to kill her. And for what? What was the motive. Holly had stated she had no idea what she could have done wrong or who she could have made mad. And of course, Ryan thought. Holly was perfect; perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect eyes, perfect face and body, perfect voice, perfect personality. Just perfect. How could she have possibly wronged anybody?

Not to mention the fact that Rick had admitted that his purpose of even inviting Holly to Horatio's party was to make Ryan jealous. Since Holly was now staying at Rick's place, he was sure that he hadn't told her about that.

"Ryan."

Horatio's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Yeah?"

Horatio handed him a stack of papers. "These have to be filed. Try to get as much done as you can before you leave. It's very important."

Ryan nodded. "Okay."

"And," Horatio hesitated, dropping his voice down to a whisper. "If Rick comes down here again for you, tell him you're busy and don't have time to fraternize or socialize today. You have a lot of work to do."

Horatio walked away, over to Calleigh and started speaking to her. Eric stood by them, not saying a word. Ryan found himself frowning at Horatio's words. He didn't think he was being fair. But then again, maybe Horatio thought the same way about Ryan. Sighing, he reluctantly went over to the desk he was so dreading sitting at. Ryan just hated doing paperwork. But it had to be done. He skimmed through the stack of papers and saw that they were all case files. Most files were solved. Some unfortunately, were not. So it was Ryan's job to organize them.

Calleigh and Eric had walked by him. Calleigh flashed Ryan a winning smile as she said hi to him. But Eric didn't even bother to look up to him, but that was to be expected. Horatio wasn't talking to Eric anymore and it was Ryan's fault.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the appointment today."

Horatio told him, leaning down to kiss Ryan on the cheek.

Kyle and Alana both smiled at the interaction.

"It's okay; you were busy."

"So, Ryan you found out the sex of the babies?" Kyle asked him. Ryan said yes, and Alana immediately got excited. She kept hoping to have little sisters. The more girls in the house, the better. At least that was what she said. "Tell us." Alana whined. Horatio smiled at Alana's eagerness. Even he had to admit that he was excited too.

Ryan smiled. "Okay well, we are having girls."

Alana let out a squeal of delight. Kyle congratulated Ryan, standing to hug him. Ryan hugged him back, but couldn't help but to look at Horatio during this whole thing. Horatio's face didn't seem so happy. At least not as happy as he had expected him to be.

Even now Kyle and Alana were staring at Horatio. Who in return, gave a soft smile and breathed out audibly. "Excuse me for a moment." He announced. Horatio turned and left the living room where they were all in. Alana looked incredibly confused. As did Kyle. Probably not as confused as Ryan felt.

He stood, too and followed behind Horatio.

He went into the guest room and shut the door, even though he knew that Ryan was following him. Ryan sighed as he knocked on the door and tried to keep his voice soft. "Horatio, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Was his reply.

Ryan turned the door handle, knowing that Horatio didn't lock the door. He never did. But still, Ryan usually didn't try to pry. He came inside the room and saw that Horatio was lying down on the bed. He had his arm draped across his face. His eye peeked out to Ryan, but he didn't say anything to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong."

"You just don't seem too excited. I just announced our babies genders."

Horatio moved his arm. "I'm happy about that."

Ryan looked back and saw that Alana had came up the stairs now. He shut the door, so that she couldn't hear the conversation. "So then, what's bothering you? You were fine a few minutes ago; now it looks like you've been punched in the gut."

"I'm happy we're going to have twins. And girls, especially. That'll be fun for Alana." Horatio told him. "I'm not happy about the fact that I can't seem to enjoy this news because, well, I expected to be in a happy relationship with the person I was having kids with."

Ryan sat down on the edge of the bed. "You chose to sleep in here."

"You chose to kiss Rick. And then you chose to lie about it."

"I apologized. I know that's not much, but that's all I can do."

"You're always alone with him. Up in his office. Doing who know's what."

"Because he asks me about Holly!" Ryan defended himself, his voice raising just a little. "I don't sleep with him in his office."

Horatio removed his arm from his face, and ran his hair through his red hair. "We slept together in my office."

"But there's a difference. You're my boyfriend, and-."

"And I can't deal with being with someone who obviously has feelings for someone else." Horatio replied short. His voice still just as calm as ever. "I am ecstatic that you're pregnant. I am not with our current situation, though. I have to get ready to go now, so I'm going to go shower."

Ryan didn't bother saying anything else. He just sat there quietly while Horatio got off the bed and left the room. Ryan heard Horatio say something, probably talking to Alana. He was sure she was trying to hear what they were saying. And she'd been caught. Obviously she didn't hear much because Ryan heard her very distinct giggling.

Horatio was going to leave now. He had started going to counseling sessions paid for by the department to deal with everything that had happened. At least, that was what Ryan had thought. He really had no idea what Horatio and his counselor talked about. They could have been speaking about Horatio being taken, or even their relationship. Maybe both. But Ryan did notice a change in mood with Horatio. Not a giant one, but he did seem at least a little bit happier. Even if he wasn't happier with Ryan.