Title: Weary at Heart
Chief
Author/pseudonym: NemKess
Fandom: Fake
Pairing: Ryo/Dee
Rating: PG
Archive: anywhere is fine too as long as you let me know.
E-mail address for feedback:: nemsmuses@msn.com
Other websites: ff.net
Disclaimers: Fake belong to me? I could only wish. Nope, not mine.
Summary: Dee finally takes Ryo's rejection seriously.

~*~*~

Every so often, Chief Jonathan Smith of the Criminal Investigation Department of New York City's 27th Police Precinct(1) would sit in his office and pull out a double handful of old manila folders out of a locked drawer in his desk. Then he'd spend an hour or so reminding himself of what his mistakes sometimes cost people.

The manila folders were each old case files. Cases where someone he'd known, even if only vaguely, had paid for his mistaken judgment.

Nine days after his laziest detective had come into his office looking like death warmed over asking for leave, was one of those times.

That particular detective had paid for his mistakes more often than anyone else.

Sighing, Smith pulled two of the older ones out of the pile.

The first was for the murder of one Arnon Rozenburg(2). He hadn't been the investigating officer on that one, Jess Laytner had. But the file had made it's way into his hands after the other cop's death. In fact, he had the file for Laytner's murder in the pile as well. The second file was for the kidnapping and assault of Dee Laytner, which he had been assigned.

He unclipped the photo that had been attached to the corner of the second file. Borrowed from the dead cop's desk to use on flyer's and in the news report when Dee had turned up missing, it had been taken the very first time he'd met the kid. Jess Laytner had brought Dee and Arnon to the NYPD's annual 4th of July Family Bar-B-Queue one year. Few of the other cops had been pleased that Jess had brought a pair of gay delinquents to their picnic, but he'd been insistent. The boys were the closest thing he had to family and apparently, he'd promised they could come as long as they stayed out of trouble- which, for once, they had.

Jonathan hadn't cared one way or the other. He and Jess hadn't been in the same department, so other than a brief introduction, the trio hadn't really come into contact with him all that much. He could recall a vague sense of annoyance mingled with respect that they'd dared to be so open about themselves, but that was the only impression he had.

"Dammit!"

His attention was jerked firmly back into the present as a phone went flying across the squad room and into one of his windows. With a frown, he stood and moved to his door just in time to see McClain shove all the papers off his desk. "McClain! What the hell are you doing?"

The sandy haired detective turned to glare at him, a smart retort seeming to be just on the tip of his tongue. Until he realized who he was about to smart off to. He was probably the only detective in the department that didn't go out of his way to be a nuisance. "Sorry, Chief." The apology was barely discernable, but Smith heard it.

"Walk with me, Randy." The other man shuffled along behind him with reluctant compliance. His shoulders were drooped and his head bowed. Jonathan walked them out of the main squad room and to one of the lesser used break rooms. Once there, he sat back and watched his companion for a long moment. Then he sighed. "You wanna tell me what that was all about, McClain?" The Japanese American had become increasingly volatile in the last week and a half, twice losing his temper in fits of rage more suited to his hair-triggered partner. One of their most recent cases was in danger of being thrown out because Ryo had torn into the suspect. If it kept up, the man would have to be taken off the streets until he got himself under control.

Dropping down into one of the folding metal chairs, Ryo laid his arms on the table in front of it and rested his head on them with a sigh. "I'm sorry, sir. I've been trying to get a hold of Dee all week and I keep getting his voice mail. I guess I just lost my temper when it happened again. It won't happen again, Chief."

With a sigh, Jonathan leaned against the wall and stared at the weary detective. He had a hunch that McClain had played some part in Dee's sudden decision to take the recommended leave he'd so violently opposed only hours prior. Pairing them together had been another mistake he'd made, he supposed. Honestly, he'd just hoped that the rookie's positive work ethics would rub off onto his new partner.

Instead, Randy's file was now dotted with the same reprimands that had always filled Laytner's and both cops had the highest injury rate in their division. Either one of them had more hospital visits than the rest of the unit's detectives combined. Despite his recklessness, Dee had only had 3 work related injuries to his name before being partnered with Randy. He'd had three times that in the two year's since.

"Look, Randy... Dee's got some issues right now. I'm sure that when he gets his head screwed back on right, you'll be the first person he calls." Actually, he was sure of the exact opposite, but the Chief really didn't need to be two detectives short. "Until then, calm down and do your job. Otherwise, when Laytner gets back, he's going to be short a partner. One more outburst and I'm gonna have to pull you off the streets. Understood?"

The absolute misery in those dark eyes, when McClain lifted his head and nodded, made him sympathetic, but there really wasn't anything he could do about it. The pair either had to work out their own problems or be separated. He'd already made one mistake by putting them together. He wasn't going to compound it by messing around with their lives now.

"Understood. May I go now, sir?"

"Yeah. Get outta here."

The younger officer stood and left the room quickly. The elder sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he followed at a more sedate pace. Damn but he was too old for this crap. Maybe it was time to start looking into retirement.

Re-entering the squad room, he noticed that McClain had gone straight to one of the other officers and borrowed their phone. By the way his face drew up into another scowl, he'd apparently tried to call Dee again without success.

Must have realized the kid is screening his calls, he thought as he shook his head and went back into his office. He stopped short though at the sight of J.J. leaning over his desk peering at the files there. Dee and Arnon's files.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The young man straightened up immediately and pink tinged his cheeks. "Sorry sir. I just needed to ask you something. You weren't here so I thought I'd wait-"

"Shut up. What did you need?" He moved around to the back of his desk and quickly scooped up the files. Depositing them back into their usual drawer, he slammed it closed and locked it- all under the watchful eye of his youngest, most annoying detective.

"Err... well... the Lieu. from Vice came up here earlier looking for a sharp shooter for an operation tonight. Since Ryo's been acting all weird since Dee-sempai left, I figured I'd be the best choice, but we need your approval first." He dropped some papers onto the Chief's desk.

Looking them over carefully (he'd stopped just signing things after Dee had managed to slip by a form re-instating him to active duty once), he took note of the time and locale of the bust. Seeing that everything was in order, Jonathan grabbed a pen and, grunting in annoyance, signed off on it. Most of the other officers preferred dealing with Randy. But, pain in the ass though he was, J.J. really was the best shot on the force.

"There, now get outta here. Be unusual for once and go do some actual police work."

J.J. picked up the forms but rather than leave at the dismissal, he hovered uneasily in front of the desk.

"Excuse me, Chief?"

Annoyed, Smith glared at the detective. "What?"

The detective chewed on his lower lip for a second before nodding his head towards the locked drawer where the files had gone. "Was that Dee-sempai?"

"I hardly think it's any of your business, now is it Detective Adams?"

At the dangerous tone, J.J. straightened up to his full height and snapped a salute. "No, sir." Then he was gone.

I really am too old for this crap, Jonathan mused again. Standing, he moved over to the window and stared out over his city as he let his mind wander back again.

His mistakes.

Dee had turned up missing the same day that the body of Jess Laytner had been found. When the nun, Mother Maria Lane, had come to the station no one had paid much attention to the near hysterical woman. Orphaned delinquents ran away all the time. She'd recognized him from an earlier case and had begged him to do something. He hadn't believed that anything was wrong, but he'd humored her. He'd snagged the one pic of Dee that had been in Jess's things, helped her make flyers, and even sent it to the news station.

A week later he'd received a package from the dead cop. It had been filled with records of all Laytner's criminal dealings. Everything needed to bust the people he'd been working with.

His happiness at finally being able to nail one of the worse syndicates in the city had turned to horror at the bust the next evening when he'd found Dee in their not so tender care.

No one had understood why he was as upset as he was. Not looking hard enough for the kid had been a mistake they'd all made, not just him.

His own partner and Captain had been baffled when he'd gone out of his way to make sure that Dee and the orphanage wasn't troubled with medical bills and later, when he'd signed the recommendation needed for the kid to get into the Academy. And once he made Chief, everyone had thought he'd lost his mind when he put in the request for the kid to be transferred into his unit as soon as he was eligible. Even that early in his career Dee had had a reputation for being reckless and rebellious, not to mention very open about his sexuality.

Some of the others just shook their heads now, whenever Dee pulled some dumb stunt or another. Most of them would have drummed him out of their department within months- and yet, Smith had kept him for years.

They didn't understand that while that one mistake still made him sick to his stomach, that wasn't the one that had done the most damage. It wasn't the one that still gave him nightmares.

It wasn't the reason he'd look out for Dee as long as they were both on the force. It wasn't the mistake that the kid was still paying for, even after all this time.

Quite simply, he'd known, years before Arnon Rozenburg had been killed, that Jess Laytner had been a dirty cop.

And he'd done nothing at all.

~*~*~

Author's Notes:
*wails* I'm so confused! I recently got the new TokyoPop release of the first two volumes of the Manga. I now have 5 translations- that's if you count both the sub and dub of the OVA- concerning Rose and the Chief and their rolls in the department. Each one is just different enough to be confusing. *sighs* Adding to the hinky hierarchy that Sanomi Matoh put in the series and I'm just plain lost. My Uncle is a police officer and I just know he'd be in stitches from laughing if I asked him to help me sort it out, well... maybe not because he is a bit homophobic, but still. You get the point. Oh, and the files that the Chief was keeping? Copies. I'd have to ask, but I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to keep the actual files, whether they were the investigating officer or now. Also, I know that this was supposed to be from Ryo's P.O.V.. It just didn't work out that way. I'm sorry that this took so very long. I also write Harry Potter fiction and with the release of the new book, I wanted to finish all my pre-OotP fics before I went and read it. *Sighs* It's taking longer than I'd planned as I underestimated the number of half finished fics stored in my files. And then there were questions that I had about certain things... Thank you Wildefyre for answering them and putting up with my babble! Many thanks to my good friend Pixie Wings who helped me get this out. ^_~ Sometimes just having a second pair of eyes going over the story really is all it takes. Well, Thanks for all the great reviews to the previous parts and I hope that this was worth the wait. Next part (for real this time!) Dee returns! ^_^ Ja! NemKess

1) Technically speaking, the entire law enforcement hierarchy is kind of skewed in FAKE and that made it difficult to get some things right. For the most part, Chief Smith actually seems to do the job of a Captain or a Lieutenant and Rose seems more like a Chief rather than a Commissioner (although, not really because the Chief of Police doesn't often get involved in individual investigations). I decided it was best to stick to FAKE's apparent hierarchy rather than confuse things with normal rank distinctions.

2) To my knowledge, they never gave any of Dee's old friends from the orphanage last names. And I'm not sure how German this particular name is, I just liked how it sounded. ^_^