Sooooo . . . MAYDAY! OMG! I'm totally freaking out xD
Alexx stepped out of Ryan's small hospital room at around seven. She glanced over to where Calleigh, Eric and Natalia were sitting, and noticed a recent addition to their ranks.
"Horatio." She grinned with delight.
Horatio flashed her one of his rare, warm smiles. "Good evening Alexx. I thought I'd stop off on my way back from the lab to see how Mr Wolfe is getting on."
Alexx narrowed her eyes. "Horatio are you telling me that you gave all your CSIs the day off, and you still went into the lab?" She sounded thoroughly unimpressed, and while the three seated CSIs hid smirks in their hands, Horatio took a wary step back from the old ME.
"Mhm, there was some paperwork I needed to sort out." He answered noncommittally.
Alexx's hands flew to her hips as she continued to eye Horatio dangerously, but she chose not to comment further. "Ryan's doing fine. In fact he's awake now," she held up a hand as the three CSIs and their boss looked eagerly towards the closed door, "but I don't want all four of you in there at once bombarding him with questions. Poor baby needs to relax."
Calleigh glanced at Eric and he nodded at her before she had even found the words she wanted to speak.
"Me and Calleigh have already spoken to him today so we'll probably take off now." He yawned loudly.
Alexx looked questioningly at Calleigh, surprised Eric had spoken for her. "Yeah I should be off too," Calleigh said, "would someone tell Ryan I'll swing by tomorrow?"
Natalia nodded. "Sure." She smiled gratefully at her friend, the reason Calleigh and Eric had relinquished their claim to see Ryan before visiting hours closed had not been lost on Natalia.
Calleigh and Eric said their goodbyes and the pair left together.
"Well well well." Was all Alexx said, having not seen the team for a while she had assumed Eric and Calleigh's relationship was properly over, but the lack of surprise on both Horatio and Natalia's faces told her otherwise.
"Indeed." Horatio said simply.
Alexx smiled widely, although she worried about them and (like every mother) thought she knew what was best for them, it seemed to her like finally the team was learning to look after itself without her.
XXX
Horatio entered Ryan's room alone. Natalia had asked whether she could speak to Ryan privately before his family arrived and so Alexx had sent Horatio in first.
As Horatio regarded his injured CSI staring dazedly up at the ceiling, he could feel guilt crashing over him once more. Even though Ryan was no longer new or young, Horatio couldn't help viewing him as his most vulnerable team member. Between nail-guns, Erica Sykes, gambling debts, and Russian Mobsters, Ryan, it seemed, always managed to end up in trouble.
"Hey H." Ryan said quietly, startling Horatio out of his reflection.
"Mr Wolfe," Horatio smiled, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that it was his fault his CSI had nearly lost his life, "how are you feeling?"
Ryan rolled his eyes. "I'm sure I've answered that question at least a million times already today." He laughed.
Horatio's smile flickered and his expression turned serious as he sat down next to Ryan. "Mr Wolfe, did you know that IAB are expecting a full statement from you by the end of the week?"
"IAB?" Ryan groaned, knowing he should have seen their investigation coming.
"I'm afraid so," Horatio said, the distaste on his face mirroring Ryan's, "Mr Harper was killed during the gunfight and you were heavily wounded." Horatio reminded him.
Ryan nodded uneasily. "I'm not in trouble am I?"
Horatio's expression softened. "I am confident you acted appropriately according to your . . . circumstances." He assured.
"I split up with my partner." Ryan reminded his boss of the most fundamental rule of undercover work.
"Mr Wolfe, you don't need to worry about anything. I'm going to sort it." Compassion danced in Horatio's bright blue eyes.
"Horatio," Ryan spoke suddenly as a memory rushed back to him, "when I was talking to Kris . . . Mr Harper, he said he hadn't acted alone." He cursed himself in his mind for forgetting such a crucial detail to the case. For goodness sake Wolfe, you're a CSI!
"We may be CSIs, but foremost, we are all human." Horatio said wisely as if in response to Ryan's unspoken thoughts.
"H," Ryan said in a strangled tone, "they could be anywhere by now!" Panic was starting to seep into his voice.
Horatio held out a calming hand and smiled gently. "I don't pretend to know what Mr Harper spoke about to you, but I would guess it's very similar to what his brother told Frank and Eric yesterday. Daniel Harper has been arrested along with Edward Guevara, his Cuban PA who was not only involved in the trafficking of woman, but also guns."
Ryan flopped back onto the pillows behind him. "Yeah I think they were the only accomplices." He sighed in relief. "What about all of the women they 'sold'?" Ryan asked sadly after a few minutes of silence.
"I've got a team reading through all of Mr Harper's paperwork for mentions of them. They've picked up three women so far, they seem to be localised to Miami so I'm confident we can locate and free all of them."
"That's great." Ryan replied, his mouth forming a sad smile.
"I should be going now." Horatio said suddenly, looking down at his watch.
"Oh . . . sure." Ryan murmured, once again having no idea what was going on inside his boss' head. Is he mad at me? I did leave Natalia . . . put everyone's life at risk to come and find me. Does he regret sending me? . . . Am I not good enough? Ryan's last though hit him the hardest as it was fairly recurring, no matter how hard he strived to be like Eric in Horatio's eyes, he always seemed to fall short.
Horatio made his way silently to the door, Ryan watching him with hurt eyes. As Horatio's hand grasped the door handle he turned back to face Ryan, though his head remained bowed.
"Mr Wolfe . . . I'm sorry for putting you through this . . . I'm glad you're okay." He said quietly.
A smile lit up Ryan's face, for once he knew where he stood with Horatio.
XXX
Alexx watched Horatio leave Ryan's room, confident he had said what he needed to in order to relieve some of his guilt and reassure Ryan. She smiled at Horatio's obliviousness to the huge amount of respect his team had for him.
"Honey if you wanted to speak to Ryan you should probably go soon. Isn't his family due to arrive soon?" Alexx chided Natalia, who was half asleep and sprawled out over the now empty seating area outside Ryan's room.
"Mhm." Natalia mumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly and forcing herself up.
Alexx watched fondly, hoping against hope that maybe – finally the two could admit their feelings for each other.
XXX
"Nat." A huge smile broke across Ryan's pale face as the beautiful brunette carefully closed the door behind her. Her eyes looked tired but Ryan could see them light up as she gazed across at him.
"Hey you." She whispered.
"Thanks for . . . staying here all day with me . . ." He said, trying to inject all of his love for this woman into those few words.
"Anytime." She replied, her voice still a whisper as if she were afraid to speak any louder.
"Alexx said my mom and dad are on their way, and my brother." Ryan commented, trying to make small talk when Natalia seemed unwilling to speak.
"Yeah they are . . ." Why is he being so casual? He told me he loved me a few hours ago, am I supposed to just pretend it never happened? Natalia shrieked internally.
"Is everything okay?" Ryan asked carefully, noticing Natalia detachment from the conversation.
You tell me! She thought. "Ryan, uh, I . . . earlier you said . . ." She replied with instead, unable to phrase the question she really wanted to ask.
"Sorry?" Ryan's hazel eyes gazed intently at her in confusion as he tried to understand her.
Natalia sighed. "You said you . . . loved . . . me." She said in a small voice, suddenly terrified she had imagined the whole conversation.
"I did?" Ryan asked in astonishment, unable to find another more eloquent response. Natalia's eyes immediately dropped to the ground and Ryan knew he had said the wrong thing.
Sorry guys . . . I didn't mean this to end on a cliffy as much as it did, but it just seemed like a good place to finish xD Mwahahaha :3
I'm pleased with how the Ryan/Horatio scene turned out too :D
One more thing, my beta said it seems like I'm dragging it out a bit now, which I kinda agree with. So I'm thinking I might wrap this up fairly soon and do a few other bits I have in my head (like the promised sequal to 'Just Say Yes') . . . and then embark on a semi-sequel multi chap for DM. Am interested to hear people's opinions :D You guys ROCK!