Eleven:
From the moment the elevator doors opened, and Ryan stepped out, the air felt thick with tension. Almost everyone had stopped what they were doing to look at him. Some glanced and went back to whatever, but some stared with disapproving gazes. Even though he and Horatio had never 'officially' came out to the lab, it was still obvious to everyone there that they had a relationship.
And he knew that now everyone knew what had happened the other day in the bathroom stall with Rick. And he knew it was because Eric Delko had loose lips.
Taking a deep breath, Ryan made his way past everyone as quickly as he could. He was careful to avoid eye contact with anyone. He went into the first room he saw, which thankfully was the break room. No one was in there yet, leaving Ryan alone and feeling grateful. There was a brewed pot of coffee on so he grabbed himself a cup and sat there in the silence for a little while.
When Calleigh had started to enter the room, Ryan looked at her. The two shared extended eye contact before she shook her head and left the room without a word. She didn't even want to be in the same room as Ryan. He figured as much, though. Everyone loved Horatio. People loved Ryan too, he was sure of it, but obviously if someone crossed Horatio they'd take his side immediately. Ryan could understand that. If he had actually done something bad in the first place.
After finishing up his coffee, Ryan left the room and spotted Valera. He figured he might as well be useful.
"Hey Valera." He said. Her head snapped up and she smiled softly to him. "Need any help?"
"Not really, no. But I'm not opposed to it. Grab some gloves and a lab coat and get over here." She said. Ryan always liked Valera. She didn't let what was going on affect her work.
Ryan did as he was told, slipping his arms through the sleeves of a lab coat. He put on gloves and stood next to Valera. She handed him a slide and turned on a microscope. "You are looking at a fingernail. It was found at the crime scene and we need to see if it matches any of our victims or if there is a third party involved."
"Got it." Ryan said.
He looked through the microscope and then looked back to one of the photographs that lay on the desk. He had done that a few times before concluding "this definitely doesn't belong to the female. She had purple nail polish on and this nail is red."
"That's right."
"And I'm sure this doesn't belong to the boyfriend either. Because, I think the red is blood. But the males nails were completely clean."
"That's what I thought too." Valera nodded. "Always good to have a second opinion, right?"
She nodded at her own comment and began shifting through the photographs again.
"Hey Valera; how bad is it?"
"Well any murder case is bad, I guess. But it-."
Ryan shook his head. "No, I mean here. What are people saying about me?"
Valera pursed her lips. She was quiet for a moment. Then finally, she sighed and shrugged. "It's not good, Ryan. People are saying that Horatio's not on vacation at all- he's been gone too long for that and there's already been questions but everyone was afraid to ask anything. They say you two broke up so he's taking personal time off."
"That's crazy."
"Because he found out about your affair with Rick that apparently has been going on for a while now." She finished.
"That's even crazier." Ryan told her. "You don't believe that do you?"
"Well originally, I didn't. But I don't know what to believe. Eric said he caught you both and I don't see why he would lie about that, you know. And with Horatio just up and leaving to go on an unexpected 'vacation' is just fishy. Especially since Rick was the one who told us, and not him or you." She answered. "I don't want to jump to conclusions though. I like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth."
Ryan shook his head. "There is no affair with Rick."
"And what about what Eric said? He caught you two were caught in the bathroom together."
"That's complicated."
"Right." Valera answered. She went back to looking at the slides. Though she still smiled at him, Ryan had the feeling now that he wasn't wanted around here anymore. And he had a feeling that she didn't believe him. He took off the gloves and lab coat and disposed of them properly. Then Ryan left without another word and made his way down to the Audio/Visual Lab.
He saw Dave sitting there with his back to him. He was looking at the computer screen with large headphones on. He was also writing something down. Ryan felt he shouldn't interrupt, but he really needed to talk to Dave. So Ryan sat down next to him, which seemed to startle Dave.
He took off his headphones, but continued writing wordlessly next to Ryan.
"Hey, uh, what's this for?"
"Work." Was his reply.
Ryan chuckled, uneasily. "Right. I meant the case, but… Did you run the plate yet? I can see you're busy and I don't want to bother you, though."
"Nope."
"I can run it myself then?" Ryan suggested. "So that you won't have to stop what you're doing."
"It's over there. On the desk." Dave answered curtly. Ryan stood and found the small paper that had a license plate number on it. He almost walked out, but Ryan had to ask. "Dave, do you really believe it? You know why Horatio's gone. You know it's not true, right?"
"Doesn't matter what I think. What you do is none of my business."
"But I know you like Rick." Ryan told him. "I picked up on that a while ago. And if you don't want to admit it, that's okay. But even now it's obvious given how you're acting toward me. I just want you to know that it's not true. Nothing happened. So I don't deserve to be shunned."
Dave put his pen down and turned to Ryan. "So Eric Delko- Horatio Caine's best friend who has no reason to lie- did not catch you and Rick in the bathroom together?"
"Well he did, but nothing happened! You've known me for years and you know that I would never-."
"I don't know you." Dave shrugged. "I thought I did. Until I realized Rick know's a lot more about you than I did. And we're supposed to be friends. He knew you were pregnant before I did. Why would you tell him and not me?"
"I don't know, you weren't around and I was dying to tell someone. That doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that you believing that nothing is going on between me and Rick. At all." Ryan said.
Dave nodded. Then he turned back to his work. "Okay."
Okay, Ryan thought. Just 'okay'. So Dave obviously didn't believe him. He didn't even want to face Calleigh or Natalia. He felt Walter would still talk to him, though he'd be upset with him. Worst though, Ryan didn't want to see Eric. This reminded him of when he first started working at the lab. Ryan would go out of his way to avoid social interaction with Eric, and he would too. He didn't want to have to resort to that but he knew it was probably the best choice. He knew Eric. And he knew that he would say something to him if they crossed paths. Eric looked so mad the other day. Ryan was afraid he'd hit Rick and lose his job. And Ryan know if Eric didn't give a damn about hitting Rick, he definitely didn't give a damn about hitting Ryan, too.
Ryan hadn't seen Rick yet today. Then again, Rick had no reason to be on their floor, and Ryan had no reason to be on his. There was so much Ryan wanted to say to Rick. Yet, he didn't want to see his face. He had a feeling that if he saw Rick he'd have too much anger to even form coherent sentences together. Ryan was curious to see how long this day would drag on.
I should have called off sick.
Ryan made his way to another part of the lab. He saw the receptionist. She smiled sweetly to him and continued talking to an officer nearby. He was tired of seeing her face everyday, too. He knew that she was involved with Horatio's disappearance, but he couldn't do anything about it. Worst of all, he had to keep an eye on Eric, Calleigh and Dave. It was hard to watch Eric, since he wanted to avoid him. It was hard to try to be around Calleigh because he knew she would have a disapproving look all day. And Dave was also upset with Ryan. So he knew that watching over him would also be a disaster.
Ryan took a deep breath and walked down the halls, looking for the long blond hair. When he finally saw her, she was giggling along with Natalia. Boa Vista noticed Ryan first. She had suddenly stopped laughing and looked away. Calleigh followed suit, but tried to walk away.
"Calleigh, wait," Ryan called out to her. She didn't even attempt to stop, so Ryan continued after her. "Cal, come on, I have to talk to you."
"If it's about a case then speak. If not, then I don't want to hear it, Ryan." She was cold, as expected. Natalia just stood there, not saying a word.
"Calleigh, please listen to me. You know how much I hate Rick. Do you honestly believe that-."
Calleigh had stopped and dropped her voice to a harsh whisper. "No, Ryan I don't know how much you hate Rick. I thought I did. I thought we all did down here. But we've all noticed how chummy you two have been lately. But we haven't said anything cuz none of us wanted to believe or even acknowledge that it was true. But now we see that it is."
Ryan was taken aback. He knew that she'd be mad but he hadn't expected this. "Wait, everyone thinks it's true? You all already thought I was having an affair but just didn't say anything?"
"Yes, Ryan. Because none of us wanted to cause drama or worse, accuse you of something you didn't do. But look how well that turned out. You've been acting so weird lately. We all see it. And Eric told us all that you confided in him about your and Horatio's problems. It makes sense."
Ryan didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything else. Out of all of them, Calleigh was the most rational person he knew. But he found out the truth- what she and everyone else thought.
He cleared his throat. "Well, then it's good to know what you all think of me and my character." Ryan shrugged. "I guess there's nothing else to say then."
Calleigh nodded in agreement. When Ryan turned his back to her and started off, he didn't get to see the look Calleigh was giving him. It was softer than it just was moments ago. More somber, and sympathy filled. Calleigh let out a deep breath and shook her head. Maybe she was wrong.
Ryan continued walking on, not even sure where he was going. When he saw the men's room, he rushed in and ran into a stall immediately. He lifted the toilet set and proceeded to drop to his knees and vomit into the porcelain bowl. Morning sickness.
When Ryan was finished, he quickly stood and tried to wipe the dirt from his pants. When he left the stall, he almost rolled his eyes at the sight of Rick standing there with a wet paper towel in his hand, outstretched toward Ryan.
He took the towel and wiped his mouth off, walking past Rick and throwing the paper towel into the trashcan. As Ryan started washing his hands, he cursed himself for the one day he decided to not bring breath mints to work with him.
"You okay?" Rick asked him. "Do you need me to get anything for you?"
"I need you to leave me alone. I need you to stay as far away from me as possible. I need Horatio here with me. I also need a breath mint. And mouthwash." Ryan answered.
Rick nodded his head. "Okay, well I can probably go get the mints and mouthwash."
"No, don't do anything for me. I don't need your help."
"What's up with Dave? Why is he being so short with me?"
Ryan chuckled. "'Why is he being so short with me?'" He mocked. "Let me think. It could be because he has a massive crush on you. Why; I don't know, I don't see the appeal. But he thinks we're sleeping together. Just like everyone else thinks, too."
When Rick didn't say anything, Ryan smiled and laughed again. "Everyone think's it true- they must think I just get around. Never saw that coming. Then again, I didn't see a lot of things coming."
"Ryan, you're not like that."
"Well yeah, I know that. Even you know that. But they don't. Everyone out there thinks that I'm sleeping with you. And none of them said anything. They just silently judged me. But now, it's all out in the open. God, this feels like high school again." Ryan wiped his hands off with a dry towel and sighed. "As much as I don't want to see you right now, I need you."
Rick nodded his head. "Just say the word Ryan. I'll do almost anything for you."
Ryan almost responded with something sarcastic and snarky. But he was in no mood and decided against it. "I have to run this plate number. I just," he sighed, stumbling over his words. "I just need someone with me while I do it. I can't ask Dave. And I can't ask anyone else. So will you just…?"
"Let's go, then."
Ryan knew that moments ago, he was thinking about what he'd say to Rick once he saw his face. He knew he wanted to yell and scream obscenities at him. He also knew he wanted to hit him a few times. But none of that happened. Ryan didn't want to do any of that anymore. He just wanted to run the license plate number, track down the car owner and get Horatio back so they can be a happy family again.
"You know I said I'd do anything for you right?" Rick asked. "Well, ask for a mint, cuz you really need one, Ryan."
He let out a short laugh and then shook his head. "Can you get me some mints, too?"
Rick agreed. They left the bathroom together. Sure, they got a few looks but Ryan figured what the hell. They all already thought he was sleeping with Rick. They all talked about it amongst each other, well, to everyone except Ryan.
Ryan and Rick found an empty room, and booted up the computer. Rick stood by the door to keep a lookout while Ryan searched the database. Ryan slowly typed in the numbers. His mind was filled with worry- what if it's a dead plate and it's not registered to anyone? What if the car's stolen or rented? What if it's just another dead-end?
When a name popped up, Ryan's breathed hitched and he stared at the screen. "Son of a bitch…" He murmured, loud enough for Rick to hear.
"What is it? Did you find something?" Rick asked. He came to the computer and also looked at the screen. First, his mouth hung agape. He hadn't thought about that at all. "Oh."
"I'm going to kill him." Ryan turned off the screen and marched past Rick. Rick stared at the blank screen a few more moments before running after Ryan. The words and his stupid picture still etched in his mind.
DAN COOPER- FORMER AUDIO/VISUAL LAB TECH AT MIAMI DADE
