Title: Walking The Twisted Line 2?

Author: Shadowfax27

Pairing: Eric/Ryan

Rating: Mild R

Genre: Drama/Angst/Romance

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue. Just borrowing…blah, blah, blah…get it?

A/N: This was supposed to be a oneshot…but complications from the damn plot bunny's bite turned this into a multi-chapter fic. Stupid plot bunnies!

Spoilers: Mild Spoilers for S4 Episode: Driven.

Summary: Eric confront Ryan about freezing during the shootout and learns an unexpected secret about Ryan's relationship with his dead best friend, Speed. Eric-Ryan Mild SLASH!

Beta-ed by: Me! (All mistakes are mine.)

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Chapter 2 – Asking The Right Questions

It was getting late in the day, and by the time Eric pulled in front of Ryan's condominium, the sun was beginning to disappear completely over the horizon. As it made a last effort to cast an orange glow over the brick home, Eric took a deep breath and then got out of the car. He walked up the path towards Ryan's front door, and stood there for a moment before knocking.

He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to confront Ryan about his secret. Of course, he could just bully the young CSI into talking, but their existing friendship is tenuous at best, and Eric figured it best not to put any additional strain in their relationship.

And so, reminding himself to stay calm, he took another deep breath before raising his hand and ringing the doorbell. He only hoped that Ryan wasn't too upset about the whole 'freezing' thing to talk.

"Freezing…right." Eric thought suddenly as an idea hit him. "I'll just ask him about that first."

He heard footsteps approaching the door and knew that Ryan would look through the peephole. And after what seemed like an eternity of hesitation, he heard the young man finally unlock his door, only to open it warily, surprise and a frown of confusion evident on his face.

"Eric?" Ryan asked suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh…" Eric began uncertainly, "I…I heard about what happened today…at the chop shop."

At this, Ryan crossed his arms defensively, his expression changing from a confused frown to that of an indignant glare.

"Great! Perfect!" he thought in annoyance. "Just what I need to wrap up this day – Eric Delko coming to my home to rub this in my face."

Sensing the bubbling tension between them, Eric quickly tried to diffuse the situation.

"Listen, Ryan," Eric began in earnest. "I'm not here to rub what happened today in your face or to give you a hard time about it. I just…" he trailed off, not sure how to tell Ryan the real purpose of his unannounced visit.

"What, Eric?" Ryan asked, still suspicious. "You just what?"

Eric looked up and met the young man's eyes, "I just wanted to talk," he replied tiredly.

Ryan was caught off guard by Eric's demeanor. He had fully expected Eric to yell at him and to throw this back at his face. Tired as he was, he had even prepared himself mentally for the onslaught of Eric's verbal attacks, ready to defend himself against anything that his co-worker might throw at him.

But this…

This threw Ryan completely off-guard, and for a moment, he stared at Eric through narrowed eyes, unsure whether to believe him or not.

To Eric's relief, however, the young CSI's expression began to soften in understanding. But that relief was short-lived as Ryan abruptly turned his back on Eric. And without so much as a word of invitation, Ryan left him standing in front of the half-opened door and disappeared upstairs into his bedroom.

For a moment, Eric was unsure whether or not Ryan was letting him in.

"Well, he did leave the door open…" he thought as he slowly stepped inside and quietly shut the door behind him.

His eyes immediately began to assess Ryan's place as he stepped out of the foyer and into the simple yet immaculate living room. He had only been by Ryan's place once…when he gave him a ride from the hospital after he got shot by a nail gun. And even then, Ryan only wanted to be dropped off at his door and didn't bother to invite Eric inside.

Eric might've taken offense to this had it not been for the fact that he knew Ryan simply wanted to rest. And so, he didn't bother to push the issue…especially when they had just declared an uneasy 'truce' at the time, deciding to bury the hatchet for the sake of their working relationship.

As he walked through the living room, noting the unmistakable evidence of Ryan's OCD in the way his books, CDs, and DVDs were meticulously organized, Eric wondered briefly where his young co-worker had gone off to. He only hoped that he had read Ryan's signal correctly, and that he was not intruding into his home.

Unbeknownst to Eric, however, Ryan had quietly come down from his bedroom and was now standing at the foot of the stairwell, silently watching Eric's every move with intent eyes.

"Might as well get to the bottom of this," Ryan thought as he stepped into the living room. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked politely.

Slightly startled, Eric whirled around to find Ryan standing not two feet behind him with his arms crossed.

"Damn, Wolfe!" Eric breathed out as he clutched his chest in surprise. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Well, this is my home, Eric," Ryan pointed out sarcastically.

Backtracking, Eric replied, "I know that…it's just. Nothing," he shook his head. "You just startled me, that's all."

A small smirk tugged at the corners of Ryan's mouth, and unable to help himself, he let out a soft chuckle. Relieved, Eric chuckled as well as he felt the tension in the room ease up a bit.

"Would you like something to drink, Eric?" Ryan finally asked again.

"Sure…" Eric replied. "Beer would be fine."

And with that, Ryan headed towards the kitchen, and pulled out two bottles of beer from the fridge. Walking back into the living room, he handed one to Eric before sitting down on the couch. Following Ryan's lead, Eric sat down on the loveseat, so he could face Ryan a little more.

Both men sat in silence for a few minutes, nursing their own beers, as each tried to figure out who would speak first. To Eric's relief, however, Ryan decided to break the deafening silence.

"So…" Ryan began hesitantly. "You said you wanted to talk."

"Yeah, I did."

"So talk," he replied as he took another swig of his beer.

Keeping the bottle in his hands, Eric lowered his eyes and tried to think about what to say. He could feel Ryan's intent stare upon him, and for the first time, he felt slightly intimidated and didn't dare to look up.

"What happened at the chop shop today, Ryan?" Eric finally asked without looking at the younger man.

He heard an audible sigh before Ryan responded, "I don't know."

Looking up incredulously, Eric asked, "You don't know?"

Ryan simply shook his head, "I don't know, Eric."

"Can you walk me through what happened?" Eric pressed.

With a sigh, Ryan elaborated, "We were at the chop shop getting ready to make a bust. Horatio was in front, I was behind him, and SWAT was right behind me. We split off, and made the charge. SWAT quickly filtered in and neutralized the workers. I had my gun drawn, and then out of nowhere…" Ryan trailed off and shut his eyes, unable to verbalize the memory of what happened.

"Ryan?" Eric's gentle voice called out to him. "Ryan? Are you okay?"

Swallowing thickly, Ryan nodded, "I'm fine."

"So you had your gun drawn but then Tanner came out of nowhere with a shotgun," Eric continued for him.

Nodding, Ryan replied, "Yeah. I heard one of the SWAT yell, 'Gun!' and when I looked up, I saw him cock his gun and point it at me."

"And then what happened?" Eric pressed gently.

Silence and then…

"Nothing."

"Wh-? Nothing?"

Sighing in exasperation, Ryan replied, "That's exactly what happened, Eric… Nothing."

"Ryan…" Eric began, but Ryan cut him off.

"Eric, I don't know what happened, okay? Nothing happened…I just…froze," he finally confessed.

"And you can't…"

"No. I can't explain it," Ryan admitted, shaking his head.

"Did this have anything to do with your eye?" he asked hesitantly, knowing that this was a touchy subject with his colleague.

"No…but somehow, I wish it did this time."

"Did you have a clean shot?"

At this, Ryan set his beer down on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch as he let out a frustrated sigh, wincing slightly at the thought, "Yes."

"And Horatio?"

"He saved my ass, Eric," Ryan stated simply, and his voice was devoid of any emotion. "He shot Tanner before he could shoot me."

"And told you that you didn't have a clean shot," Eric concluded for him, knowing exactly how Horatio would try to protect his team.

"Yes. And that's exactly what I told Stetler during the investigation."

"And he believed you?" he asked curiously.

"I think he might've been a little suspicious at first, but I stuck to my answer, and he let it go…well, eventually." Then, turning curious eyes on Eric, he asked, "How did you find out anyway?"

"Cooper," came Eric's short and loaded reply.

"Ah, the king of office gossip," Ryan said, a hint of resentment lacing his voice. "Leave it to him to spread the dirt about everyone around the lab."

Sighing, Eric tried to encourage the young CSI, "Happens to the best of us, Ryan."

Snorting at Eric's comment, Ryan replied, "Now you sound like Calleigh."

"She talked to you too, huh?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"The locker room, after shift, right before she left."

"And Alexx?"

"No," Ryan shook his head definitively. "I got out of there as fast as I could. I knew she would've heard about it and would've definitely freaked out. I didn't want her to mother hen me any more than she had to, so I didn't bother to say good-bye. I just wanted to get out and go home."

Chuckling slightly at Ryan's admission, Eric replied, "Yeah, I would've done the same thing."

Silence descended upon them again as Eric tried to digest what little information Ryan did tell him. He was still consumed with his own thoughts when Ryan's voice interrupted his musings.

"Eric?"

Looking up into the young man's eyes, he saw the same confused frown he wore when he first opened the door reappear again.

"Why are you here?"

"Because I wanted to find out what happened at the chop shop," Eric replied, trying to sound matter-of-factly.

He knew that that wasn't the only reason why he had come, though, but it was part of the truth, so it still had to count for something…right?

"Bullshit," Ryan called him on it.

Right.

So, maybe it didn't count as much as he had hoped…but he could still try.

"That's not the whole reason, and you know it," Ryan pointed out. "So why are you really here, Eric?" Ryan asked again, aggravation beginning to tint his already exasperated tone. "Because I'm sure you have better things to do than to find out what went wrong with me today."

Setting his bottle down on the coffee table this time, Eric finally looked his colleague in the eye.

"You're wrong, and you're right," he began carefully. "Originally, I did want to talk to you about what happened at the chop shop today, to find out why you froze."

"But?" Ryan prodded questioningly.

Watching the young man's face intently, Eric replied, "But then I couldn't find you at the lab. You had already left, and so I spoke to Horatio."

"Horatio?" Ryan asked in confusion.

"Yeah…I told him I wanted to…" Eric trailed off, shaking his head. "No. I told him that I needed to know what happened, but he wouldn't tell me anything," Eric admitted. "And then he asked me what my questions were really about, and…" he trailed off once again, feeling his mouth become dry.

"And?" Ryan prodded uncertainly.

"I don't know, Ryan." Eric finally admitted after what seemed like a very pregnant pause. "Maybe it was the thought of losing another colleague to a gunshot in such a short time. Maybe I got scared because I didn't want to have to go through that…experience again."

Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his seat, trying to make sense of what Eric was telling him. Had he been wrong about Eric? Why did it sound like he cared about him all of a sudden? Didn't this guy hate him for replacing Speed? Doesn't he still hate him even though they've unofficially decided to bury the hatchet between them?

Wouldn't he be happier if Ryan was to vanish from the face of the earth? Shouldn't he be thrilled about his 'freezing' incident? Was he just reading him wrong?

Maybe there was something hidden between the lines…

Or maybe there was nothing.

"I'm fine, Eric," Ryan finally managed to say again, but with stern resolve this time. The last thing he wanted was for Eric to feel sorry for him. "Is that everything?" he asked coolly.

Caught off guard by the sudden change in Ryan's attitude, Eric replied, "No."

"Eric, if you have something to say, I suggest you say it now," Ryan said rather testily.

"Fine," Eric huffed. "There is something else that I wanted to talk to you about."

"And what is that?"

"Speed," Eric replied curtly as he studied Ryan's expression.

Frowning, Ryan asked, his heart beginning a rapid pounding in his chest, "Speed?"

"Yeah," came his short reply.

"Wait…" Ryan shook his head in confusion, "Speed?"

"You heard me."

"Now why the hell would he want to talk about Speed? Unless…" he thought. "Bastard!"

Squaring his jaw in defiance, Ryan grated out sarcastically, "Oh…I get it. You're here to compare me to Speed, aren't you? What? It's not good enough that I froze up today during the raid? You had to come here and tell me how Speed would never have done what I did?" he asked, his voice rising in righteous indignation, his eyes flashing with anger.

"What? No!" Eric denied vehemently. "Ryan, calm down. Please! That's not what I meant."

"Oh, really? And what exactly did you mean, Eric?" Ryan asked, not bothering to hide his anger.

"I didn't come here to compare you to Speed, Ryan."

"Then why did you come here?" Ryan asked exasperatedly.

"I came because I discovered something…" he trailed off again, not knowing how to proceed.

"What, Eric?" Ryan asked tiredly. "What did you discover this time?"

Swallowing thickly, Eric replied, "I discovered something in Horatio's office, Ryan. Something about you."

"Me?" Ryan frowned again, his mind racing to figure out what exactly Eric had discovered about him. He was obviously perplexed by his colleague's answer.

"Yeah…you."

"And?" Ryan asked uncertainly.

"And…" Eric sighed. This was it. He wanted answers from Ryan, and this was his chance to bring it up. With a trembling breath, he looked at the younger man, and replied, "…and I discovered something about Speed, too."

"What?"

"You and Speed," Eric stated. "I discovered something about both of you."

At Eric's revelation, Ryan's eyes suddenly grew wide with shock as he felt his chest begin to constrict painfully.

"No…it can't be…this can't be happening to me!"

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TBC