Author's Note: Ok, this might be a long note. Please bare with me.
First of all, thank you so much to the people who took the time to review the first chapter, especially csimiamifreak92310, 1zippy, LadyGreySun and Gooniegirl13333. I know I've already replied to you to thank you, but I just wanted you all to know that I really do appreciate you taking the time to give me feedback and encouragement. So once again, thank you. And in return, I will follow your stories, and encourage you too. So expect reviews from me soon *fake evil laugh* haha! Thank you also to all those who have subscribed to this story, and put it on their alerts and favourites.
Secondly, I apologise for the delay. I know I said to some people I would update in a week, but life has been a git to me lately. I have spent the past few weeks moving into my new student halls, reading course books for uni, fixing my parent's garden, helping my Nana move into her nursing home and emptying her house, as she had a stroke a few months ago. So not only has it been a physically hectic time, but also an emotional one. So once again, apologies.
On to my third point- another disclaimer. I forgot to mention in the first chapter that the title credit for the story goes to Enter Shikari for their song 'Labyrinth', a truly epic song. This chapter's title credit goes once again to In This Moment. Also, I still don't own CSI: Miami, Ryan Wolfe (I wish), or any of the lovely characters in the programme.
And last, but not least, I have planned at least five chapter's of this story so far, and I know roughly how I want the story to pan out, but I am open to suggestions. In the near future, I may put polls up on my profile with various options for you lovely people to vote on how you want the story to go. Actually, am I allowed to do that? Anyway, if so, you can suggest options to go on the poll if you want, but I will talk about this closer to the time.
Right, I think that is all. On with the story. Oh, there's some swearing in this chapter, so be warned. Only a little though. Enjoy chapter two!
Ryan looked down at the teen sat in front of him and Horatio in the interrogation room. He had spent the best part of the day collecting and analysing evidence which tied this young man to the murder of his father.
"Why did you do it, Ben?" Horatio calmly asked the lad who Ryan thought, frankly, looked a nervous wreck. A guilty nervous wreck, to be more precise. Benedict Baker shifted in discomfort at Horatio's question. "You wouldn't understand," he mumbled.
"Try me." Horatio shifted in front of the table to fall in Ben's eye line, giving the young man no choice but to meet the Lieutenant's gaze.
Benedict swallowed hard before answering. "He didn't respect her- my mom. He always treated her like shit. You should've seen him, parading his new Barbie doll around like my mom didn't even exist! He made me sick. I mean, marriage is for life, right? 'For better, or for worse', isn't that it Lieutenant?" He broke off, looking at Horatio in earnest. Horatio nodded gently, in both confirmation of Ben's theory, and in encouragement for him to continue with his confession.
"So I confronted him about it. I told him that I knew his secret. He laughed at me and told me to grow up, and that I was imagining it. Then he called me a mommy's boy, he said I was soft, a pansy. He started muttering about Mom, and her parenting skills, and that made me mad. I mean, as if it wasn't bad enough him cheating on her, he then starts bad-mouthing her and her parental abilities! At least Mom was around to raise me, that's more than I can say for him- at least she didn't sleep with the nearest thing that moved. So I grabbed the monkey wrench and hit him over the head. Over and over again, I don't know how many times- enough to make him stop. I was so angry and upset at what he put her through. I hated him. My own dad and he made me hate him."
Ben choked out the end of his confession, before breaking down in floods of tears. As Horatio signalled to the uniformed in the room to take the young man away, Ryan sighed and ran his hand through his thoroughly ruffled hair for the umpteenth time since earlier that morning. Another case solved, he thought to himself. At least I can go home and try to relax. Even though he knew that relaxing wouldn't be easy- he had had Lucca's face etched onto his eyeballs like a tattoo all day. The girl's been dead for nearly a decade, and she's still got a hold on you, he mentally pointed out. His brain had a point, Ryan decided, although his heart was still sore from the loss of his best friend. Never gets any easier.
"Everything okay, Mister Wolfe?" Ryan almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of Horatio's voice, but he collected his wits together to give his boss that half-hearted, lopsided grin which endeared him to well over half of the female staff at MDPD. Not that Ryan was aware of that, although it was something which Walter and Jesse found highly amusing- Ryan's complete obliviousness to the amount of female attention he got in the work place would never cease to be their favourite out-of-work topic of conversation.
"Yeah, everything's fine thanks, H." lied Ryan, even though he had a sneaking feeling that his boss wasn't fooled. And he was proved right when Horatio scrutinised him carefully, as though he were a piece of evidence to be analysed.
"Okay, well if you need anything, you know to call me" Horatio eventually concluded, before walking out of the interrogation room, then abruptly stopping again.
"And Mister Wolfe?" Horatio called back to him.
"Yeah, H?" Ryan wondered what the Lieutenant wanted him for now. After all, he had spent the entire day working his butt off, despite having had a crap night's sleep.
"The team are going for a meal tonight. No special occasion, just a casual social thing. Fancy coming?"
Ryan smiled at his boss's eagerness at having his whole team bond outside of work. He thought for a second- he was tired, no doubt about that, what with the dream having disturbed his sleep, but on the other hand, it would be nice to chill out with his colleagues, especially if Walter and Jesse were going to be there. Mind you, he thought, if I go home, all I'm gonna do is clean the kitchen again, so it's not like I'm gonna get any sleep anytime soon anyway. And when I do, she's gonna be there waiting, just like always. He looked at Horatio and grinned.
"Yeah, sounds good boss. I'll get the details off Walter- as he knows everything."
Horatio couldn't help but smile at the cheeky grin Ryan had on his face- everyone knew that Walter could come across as... well, intimidatingly intelligent, but everyone also knew that Ryan and Walter together usually meant double trouble, and that they were both just as bad as each other.
Ryan pulled up at the diner, parking his Hummer next to Calleigh's, before getting out and locking the door and walking up to the entrance. He stopped suddenly at the door, and looked around the car park in alarm. Ever since his ordeal with the Russians, he had become sensitive to the feeling of eyes on his back. His eyes quickly scanned the area, even though it was twilight and the car park was mainly in shadows. He decided it was clear, and that he was probably being paranoid. Besides, why want anyone want to watch me from a diner car park, he reasoned, that's hardly hardcore stalking. He almost laughed out loud at the thought of some poor swine having to sit in a car for the best part of the evening, whilst he sat inside the warm diner, eating delicious food and chatting with his friends. Pity the poor idiot who would have to do that job- they would really have no life if they took to stalking me. Shaking his head at his own absurdity, Ryan walked into the diner, leaving thoughts of stalkers behind him.
He spotted the rest of the team there already, but he had known that they would get there before him- his OCD wouldn't let him leave the office until he had his paperwork in order- and he sat down at the end of their booth, next to Jesse and opposite Frank, who looked less than impressed at the way they were all squashed into the booth like sardines in a tin. They were all chatting about various things; Natalia and Calleigh were in the middle of discussing some new firearm which was being tested out, Walter was explaining the way of the female mind to a bewildered and perplexed Frank, whilst Horatio listened in obvious amusement. Ryan and Jesse sat in companionable silence, both of them watching as Frank got more and more visibly agitated by Walter's rambling. Ryan caught Jesse's eye and both stifled a laugh at Frank's attempt to bite back his temper for politeness's sake.
As Ryan sat there listening to his colleagues chat, he felt the familiar feeling of being watched again. He shifted in his seat before scanning their booth- none of the team were staring at him. He turned his head slightly so that he could see the rest of the diner- no one was looking at him. You're being paranoid again, he reminded himself. He decided to scan the diner once more, just for peace of mind, and then concentrate on enjoying the rare time he spent with the rest of the team off shift.
His eyes landed on the girl at the counter. It wasn't the girl herself, as he could hardly see her face due to her oversized hood covering most of it, but more the state of her which attracted his attention. Her cream and olive green hooded lumberjack jacket was slightly too large for her petite frame, and the cream was more a shade of grey due to built up grime. The dark grey jeans were so threadbare that Ryan could see that it wouldn't be too long before they fell apart all together. Her worn-out hobnail boots were untied- but looking at the laces, he saw that there wasn't much left to tie them together with. The grey hood on her shabby jacket engulfed her head and covered most of her face, but he could see a few tresses of dark brown hair hanging over her face. She sat at the counter, small hands wrapped around a cup of coffee, hunching over it like her life depended on the hot, caffeinated liquid. All in all, her appearance screamed homeless, but as Ryan looked closely at her clothes, he realised that she was dressed quite fashionably. Her clothes just looked so worn, not to mention filthy. Almost like she lives in them, he thought. Well, the phrase 'all I own are the clothes on my back' definitely springs to mind. He watched as she sat, stock still, just hunched over her coffee.
As he sat there watching her, he noticed that every now and again she would slightly move her head to the side- not noticeably enough to catch anyone's attention if they weren't watching her like a hawk as Ryan was currently doing, but he couldn't help thinking that she kept glancing in his direction. He shrugged, and put it down to his paranoia- she was probably glancing at Jesse anyway. Ever since Delko had left, Jesse now got all of the female attention.
"And that is how you get the ladies, dude." concluded Walter as Frank glared at him, obviously not able to contain his temper for much longer.
"Really? 'Cause I've never noticed, what with me being older than you kid, and having more experience." Frank retorted, sarcasm dripping from every word. The whole group burst out laughing, whilst Walter looked crestfallen at his advice having been shot to smithereens by Frank's acidic remark. Ryan laughed along with his colleagues, enjoying the fact that Walter had been brought down a peg or two by the grumpy detective. Hell, he thought whilst grinning, it's about time someone did.
Sharing a knowing grin with Jesse, Ryan once again felt that familiar jolting feeling of eyes on him. Frowning in annoyance at his over-alert senses, he discreetly looked around the diner again and saw that the grubby girl was glancing in his direction once more. This time he could see the profile of her face, although the hood shadowed most of it still. He could see smooth, tanned skin and the gentle slope of her nose which resulted in a slightly upturned snub nose. As he tried to see her face more clearly, he had a gut feeling that he had seen her somewhere before. An old case perhaps, he mused, or someone I saw at school? He tried to think of where he had seen her. But I don't remember any scruffily dressed young women, she could be anyone- someone I've passed in the street maybe. Besides, I can't even see her face. But deep down Ryan knew that he could think of thousands of excuses to justify the feeling of recognition, but that somehow he knew of this girl.
At that moment, Horatio's phone rang, announcing a text message. Immediately the booth went quiet, everyone wondering who on earth was texting their boss at that time of night. Horatio quickly read the message, frowning slightly before discreetly glancing at Ryan out of the corner of his eyes in confusion.
"If you would all excuse me for a moment..." he trailed off as he stood to leave the booth.
"H, what's wrong?" an anxious Calleigh asked.
"Nothing. I just need to make a call..." Horatio replied as he walked towards the door of the diner.
Ryan looked at the rest of the team, who all looked as baffled as each other at the fact that their boss had left. It wasn't that Horatio had to make a call- that wasn't unusual. It was the look on his face when he had read the text message that had startled them. Ryan couldn't remember a time when he had ever seen the Lieutenant look as confused, bewildered and plain worried as he had just then. The whole team knew that Horatio was a man who kept his emotions under wraps as much as possible, so to see those emotions on his face set the team on edge in anxiousness. Ryan was so preoccupied with pondering over what had worried his boss so much, that he failed to notice the shabby girl slip off her seat at the counter and walk out of the diner after throwing one last glance in his direction.
There you go! Finally finished the chapter. I'm aiming to get the next one out by... let's say Friday night? Only if you R and R though ;) And, again, if anyone spots any mistakes, please point them out so I can correct them. Thank you.