Title:
Brothers
Author:
Hawkeye/Katy
Fandom:
CSI: Miami
Rating:
FRT
Pairing:
None yet.
Disclaimer:
I own Caleb Wolfe and Brett and Clayton Felderbaum. I don't own CSI:
Miami. Hear that? Me no own. You no sue.
Thanks: Major thanks go to Alex/Odysseus for helping in this chapter. If it wasn't for that help this chapter wouldn't have gotten written and Caleb and Ryan would have been in pain for all eternity. So cheers, dude!
Carrying the still moaning and sobbing Caleb into the morgue, Eric winced as the blind Reader once again managed to kick him in the ribs. The rest of the team looked up as Eric and Calleigh hurried in to the morgue. Alexx strode forward; spreading a sheet over the gurney next to the one Ryan was on, moaning and sobbing, a mirror image of his brother's agony. Eric carefully placed Caleb down on the gurney, gently touching the Reader's hand before moving back to stand next to Speed. Speed placed his hand on the Cuban's shoulder in silent support.
Clayton Felderbaum watched on the computer screen, where his AV tech had hacked into the security cameras from the morgue, as the twins writhed in identical throes of agony, a feral smile twisting his lips. Clayton's own twin, Brett, moved to stand by his brother, a look of concentration on his face, wincing as he saw the twins writhing and sobbing on the gurneys in the morgue of the Miami-Dade Crime Lab. He shook his head in disgust. He was doing that, he was the source of the Wolfe twins' agony. The Wolfe twins were famous throughout the Reader community, the only set of Reader twins to survive past their 10th birthday. And now they were reduced to this. Sobbing, moaning, writhing wrecks. All because he couldn't stand up to his brother, because he was a coward. This had to stop.
Brett Felderbaum closed his eyes, finding the link in his mind that connected him to both Caleb and Ryan Wolfe. He winced as he saw in his mind the pain he was causing them, pain his brother had made him inflict. All because he thought that the Wolfe twins had made him look like an ass. He snorted internally; Clayton didn't need help looking like an ass. His brother was the inspiration for all things ass-y. His mind still on the link, with one sharp movement within his mind, Brett severed the agonising ties between him and the Wolfe twins. He glanced over at the computer screen, watching with a relieved look and a satisfied almost-smile as the Wolfe twins went limp, their pain gone.
Watching the two Readers go limp, Clayton's smile faded. He spun on his brother, drawing his gun and aiming it at his chest. Brett just raised an eyebrow and looked at the gun in his brother's hand. Clayton was confused. Normally just the sight of his gun would have Brett on his knees begging for his pathetic life. When did his brother grow the balls to stand up to him? Brett gave his brother a serene smile that made Clayton extremely nervous. What was his brother planning? Surely he wouldn't hurt him? They were twins. Brett heard all these thoughts running through his hypocritical brother's mind. Letting his smile grow, Brett walked forward until his chest was pressed up against the barrel of the gun.
'Hello brother,' came Brett's voice inside Clayton's head.
Clayton let out an undignified squeal, "What are you doing? Get out of my head!"
'I don't think so, Clayton.'
"Get out! Get out! Get out! I'll shoot you! I'll blow your goddamn brains out!" the Registry agent yelled, his voice getting higher and higher, until it was almost a screech.
'Go ahead. It won't matter. I'll still be here. Inside your head. You can't get rid of me. You'll never be rid of me. We're twins. Brothers. Brothers stick together, Clayton,' the Reader lied to his brother, knowing full well that if Clayton pulled the trigger, he was screwed.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," the Registry agent moaned, the single word becoming a litany.
'Yes, Clayton. Together forever. But it's ok. After all, mom did tell you to always take care of me. Remember, Clayton? Always look after him, Clay, he's special. I remember. Brett, your special, your different, but not everyone will see that and some people will hate you for it. Isn't it ironic, somehow, that you grew up to be one of the people mom warned me about?'
Clayton let out a low keening wail. Brett's formerly serene smile became a positively evil grin as he took in his asshole brother's fear. He reached up and took the gun from his brother's unresisting hands, not bothering to catch him as Clayton's eyes rolled up in his head and he crumpled to the floor. Brett wiped the gun clean, placed it back in his brother's hand, stepped over his brother's unconscious form, rifled through Clayton's pockets, pulling out his driver's license, cell phone, credit cards and cash and walked out without a backwards glance, determined to start a new life as far away from both his brother and the Wolfe twins as he could get.
In the morgue of the Miami-Dade Crime Lab, Ryan and Caleb Wolfe writhed in agony, listening to each other's screams and moans, feeling each other's tears running down their cheeks, melding and merging, unsure of who was who, not knowing where one began and the other ended. Alexx flitted back and forth between the gurneys, not able to give the two Readers any painkillers for fear of hurting them more. Speed and Eric stood next to the gurneys, out of Alexx's way, tears rolling down their own faces. Horatio and Calleigh stood back, their backs almost pressed against the wall of the morgue, their faces pale and drawn.
Without warning, and scaring the hell out of everyone in the morgue, the two Readers went limp. They lay lifeless, pale, tear-streaked and bloody on gurneys in the morgue, looking for all the world like the corpses Alexx dealt with on a daily basis. Alexx lunged forward, grabbing a wrist from each Reader and feeling for a pulse, breathing a sigh of pure relief when she felt the weak but steady thump of each man's pulse under her fingertips. Letting go of her boys' wrists, she placed a gentle hand on each of their chests, feeling their chests rise and fall with each breath they took.
"They're ok," she said, her own eyes filling with tears now that the emergency was over.
Speed and Eric both seemed to crumble, leaning on each other as tears of relief rolled down their cheeks. Horatio and Calleigh moved up from their positions against the wall, coming up to stand beside Alexx as the M.E. moved around both gurneys, checking the Readers' vitals. It was Horatio who asked the question everyone wanted answers to.
"What the hell was that, Alexx?" the red-headed supervisor asked; the fact that he cursed betraying his fear more than his tone of voice ever could.
"I don't know, Horatio, I honestly don't know," the M.E. replied, furious with herself, frustrated that the two things she was good at (being a mother and being a doctor) had failed to protect her boys.
"A virus or an illness that only affects Readers?" Calleigh spoke up, her eyes not leaving the bloody furrows Ryan had managed to gouge into his own temples.
"Then it's like no virus I've ever seen. As far as I know, no-one else was affected, only these two. And a virus wouldn't have manifested this quickly. No, Calleigh, I don't think it's a virus," Alexx said, shaking her head.
"It was another Reader," a weak voice spoke up.
Speed's head snapped up, "Ryan?"
"Not so loud…" moaned another weak voice.
Eric's head snapped up in an identical motion, "Caleb?"
Shoving past the rest of the team, Speed and Eric moved to stand beside the twins. In unison, the twins' hands reached out, Ryan for Speed's and Caleb for Eric's. Alexx smiled as all her boys were reunited. Eric took Caleb's hand, and then blushed furiously. He studiously avoided looking at the rest of the team, as the blind man ghosted his hand up the Cuban's arm and across his chest, tugging on his hand when he couldn't reach any further. Eric obligingly bent down and the Reader ran his hand up his neck and over his face. When Caleb got to Eric's left eye he yanked his hand back as though he'd been burned.
The blind man frowned, "I did that, didn't I?"
Eric nodded, then, realising Caleb couldn't see it, said, "It wasn't your fault."
Caleb gave Eric a wry half-smile, "I'm still sorry for it though."
Eric squeezed the blind Reader's hand and reached out, brushing a tendril of hair from out of Caleb's sightless eyes. Caleb smiled, laid a gentle kiss to the pulse point on Eric's wrist and, not letting go of the Cuban-Russian CSI's hand, let his eyes drift closed, a soft snore letting Eric know he was ok.
Still gripping each other's hand, the two trace analysts watched in amusement as Eric got more and more flustered, his face turning an ever-increasing shade of red. Ryan turned back to face Speed, causing the scruffy-haired CSI to wince as he saw the cuts on Ryan's temples.
Ryan snuffed a laugh, "I look that good, huh?"
Speed gave the Reader a watery smile and gently squeezed his hand, running his thumb back and forth over Ryan's knuckles, "You know, if you didn't want to come to my place, you could've just said so."
