Author's note – Okay here's a little explanation about some of the chapter names. Most are taken from English Idioms.

A Pyrrhic Victory – An apparent victory which in fact is no victory at all. Came from King Pyrrhus in 279BC who won a battle but lost most of his best men in the process.

Raising Cain – To explode with Anger. (Biblical reference). The name Cain is associated with a violent temper. I chose it because it was the chapter where Dee's kidnapper attacked him.

Beware the Chimera – Not an idiom in itself. A chimera (as well as being a creature from Greek mythology) is also defined as 'an illusion or fabrication of the mind'. It just fitted for the chapter since Dee was hallucinating so much.

Expelling Jeremiah – Again, not an idiom in itself. A 'Jeremiah' is one who always sees things in the gloomiest light. Jeremiah was a prophet of gloom of the Old Testament. It just made me think of Ryo being all depressed…

The Sword of Damocles – Idiom. From the legend of King Dionysius who made his courtier Damocles sit under a sword hung from the ceiling by a single hair to demonstrate the precariousness of his life.

Thirteen at the table – Biblical idiom, considered unlucky as some believe that the first to rise from a table of thirteen will die. Related to the Last Supper; Judas was the thirteenth man at the table and hanged himself after betraying Christ. I chose it purely for its association with bad luck (you could say our favourite detectives were experiencing their fair share of it!).

Okay, I hope that explains a little about the odd chapter titles. Swordy

Crash and Burn

Chapter 12 – The Faces of Janus

Although he tried, worrying was something that came easy to Ryo and he did plenty of it as he drove to Cal's aunt's house to pick up Bicky. The older lady shrugged off Ryo's attempts to repay her kindness monetarily, her face twinkling with emotion as she watched the boy greet his guardian with an enthusiastic welcome. Enquiries were made about Dee's health but Ryo didn't elaborate other than to say he was recovering and out of danger. Once he and Bicky were alone in the car however, he was subjected to further questioning from the boy who read his emotions far too easily.

"Is he really okay Ryo?" Bicky asked, staring at him as Ryo concentrated on the road ahead. "He's not gonna die or anything and you just don't want to tell me."

Ryo shook his head, feeling that this conversation was going a similar way to the one he'd had with Drake. He'd no choice but to tell Bicky; he lived with Dee and needed to be kept up to speed with how things were going to have to change.

"Dee's okay…" he started slowly, "His leg is broken again and he has a wound on his face which may need some surgery…"

"But that's not bad is it? Those things can heal right?"

"Yeah, but there's something else too. Have you heard of diabetes Bicky?"

As they pulled up in a queue of traffic, Ryo took the opportunity to look across at the boy in the passenger seat, whose own expression indicated that he was thinking about what Ryo had said. "I've heard of it," Bicky said eventually, "But I don't know anything about it. Has Dee got diabetes?"

"Yes," Ryo replied, breaking eye contact as the traffic began to move again. "He found out this morning. The doctor doesn't seem to think it's because of what's happened, more that it's just an unfortunate coincidence."

"So what does it mean? Is it curable?"

"No, but it is treatable," Ryo said quickly, not wanting to alarm him. "He'll need to maintain a healthy lifestyle while giving himself insulin injections several times a day."

"Shit…" Bicky said under his breath. Just the thought of going for an injection was bad enough, let alone having to do it to yourself each and every day. He felt sorry for Dee and decided there and then that he was going to try and be nice to him, even though his usual insults were only jokes anyway. "Is he scared?" Bicky asked, ending the moment of quiet reflection.

He watched as Ryo nodded, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tensely. "I think so… he hasn't said much since he came round. With everything he's been through… it's hard to know how much that has affected him too. I'm sure he'll be okay though." He let the sentence end there, not wanting to burden Bicky with the fact that Dee's behaviour was scaring him before he deflected any further conversation by asking the boy about what he'd been up to at school.

They reached the apartment and Bicky went to do his homework as Ryo started to prepare the evening meal. As Bicky disappeared into his bedroom, Ryo went straight to the phone to check the messages, hoping beyond hope that there would be a message from the hospital saying Dee wanted him to come back but there wasn't. He was still determined to go back to the hospital anyway later on but he would have preferred to know that he would be returning with Dee's blessing rather than the niggling doubt that his lover may not want to see him.

They ate together and then Ryo helped Bicky with his homework before he went to take a shower. The needling spray felt good as it soaked his hair and body although he could still feel the tension in his shoulders as he dried himself and redressed. Bicky was on his Playstation as Ryo wandered back into the living room and picked up his jacket and keys. The boy paused the game and looked up, his bright blue eyes indicating that he wished Ryo would change his mind and let him come to the hospital with him, as he had asked over dinner.

"I'm sorry Bicky," Ryo said and truly meant it. "I'd let you come but Dee's had a big shock today and I don't think he's up to having many visitors. I promise I'll ask him so maybe you can come with me tomorrow." The boy fixed him with an unhappy stare before he shrugged his shoulders and went back to playing his game although he cheered up slightly when Ryo left him some money to order pizza if he got hungry later. Having sorted Bicky out, Ryo then drove the familiar route back to the hospital, his mind debating how he should approach Dee if his lover was in a similar mood to how he'd been earlier today. He parked up and headed into the hospital, smiling at the young woman on the reception desk as he approached, thinking he should check in case Dee had been moved to another ward over the course of the day. The receptionist finished her telephone call and returned Ryo's smiled with a friendly one of her own.

"Can I help you sir?" she asked, gazing at the handsome man appreciatively.

"I hope so. I'm here to see a patient by the name of Dee Latener. He was in Critical Care this morning but he may have been moved. I was told to check here to find out where he is now."

Her smile remained friendly but her eyes narrowed suddenly. "I'm not sure there's anyone here by that name."

Ryo opened his mouth to dispute the fact before he realised why she was suddenly so evasive. The hospital staff were under strict instruction to keep Dee's identity protected while they had the factory staked out in the hope that the kidnapper would return, not knowing Dee had been rescued. He reached into his pocket, glad that he had his police ID badge on him. "My name is Detective Randy McLain. I'm Detective Latener's partner."

The receptionist nodded as she inputted the data onto her computer and verified which names were to be allowed access to the patient. Detective McLain's name was on the list. "Okay… Detective Latener has been moved to the general ward on the third floor. You can go straight up."

"Thank you," Ryo replied gratefully as he started in the direction of the stairs. He found the correct ward but there was no one at the nurses' station to tell him where he'd find Dee and so he started to walk towards the individual rooms, certain that Dee would have been given more private facilities. As he approached one room, the door slightly ajar, he heard a familiar, yet somewhat anxious voice say, "Like this?"

"You're doing fine Dee," a female voice replied encouragingly as Ryo tentatively knocked on the door. He listened as the same voice called out 'come in' before he poked his head around the door, hoping he wasn't intruding. Inside the room, the lady doctor that had given him permission to enter looked up and smiled as Ryo came in before her attention returned to her patient. In the bed, Dee was sat up, propped up by pillows and now dressed in a plain black t-shirt and shorts as opposed to the hospital gown he had been wearing when Ryo had seen him last. He didn't look up as Ryo entered; clearly he was far too focussed on the task he was attempting to contemplate any distractions. In one hand, he was holding up the t-shirt to reveal his lean and lightly tanned stomach; in the other he held a syringe, the contents of which he had just dispensed into his abdomen with a slight wince as the needle punctured his skin.

"Now, how was that?" the doctor asked gently as she took the syringe from him and deposited it in a sharps box.

"It wasn't too bad," Dee admitted, sounding relieved as he rubbed the site of the injection and lowered his t-shirt. He looked up suddenly and offered Ryo a small smile before the doctor started to speak and he turned to look at her again. "Well I'll come back tomorrow morning Dee and we'll go through what other sites you can use for injecting yourself and how that affects the speed of the insulin release." She stood and pushed back the chair although she continued to smile at the man in the bed. "You've done really well tonight Dee, honestly."

"Thank you Dr Stephens and you will make sure no one else is told about my condition, won't you? I don't want work to know yet," he called after the woman as she walked towards the door. She smiled and nodded, making eye contact with Ryo as she passed before she exited the room and closed the door behind her.

"Hey you," Ryo said warmly as he moved around the bed to take the seat the doctor had just vacated. Before he sat down, he leaned in to kiss Dee and was relieved when the other man didn't shy away from the embrace. "How're you feeling?"

Dee frowned slightly as he toyed with the bandage on his left wrist. "You'd not believe how many times I've been asked that today."

Ryo suddenly looked contrite. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay. I'm just not sure how exactly I'm supposed to feel." He looked up at Ryo, a lopsided smile on his face as he gazed at his blond lover. "That sounds stupid doesn't it?"

Ryo shook his head emphatically. "Not at all." He paused and fiddled with the car keys awkwardly. "I'm sorry about before. I didn't mean to push you."

Dee sighed and dragged a hand through his newly washed hair. "Forget it," he said quietly, "You don't need to apologise. I know you were only trying to help."

"You're right," Ryo said, fixing him with sincere dark eyed stare as he reached across and took one of Dee's hands. "I do want to help you Dee. We'll get over this, together."

Ryo wasn't prepared for the look Dee suddenly shot him as he snatched his hand back. "Get over this?" he snapped, "Ryo, I have an illness that I'll have for the rest of my fucking life! What's there to 'get over'?"

"I… I didn't mean it like that." Ryo stammered, completely disorientated by how he seemed to have put his foot in it once again. "I meant about the kidnapping…"

"But I'm fine; you're the one making a big deal about it."

Ryo looked at Dee, stunned at how dismissive his lover was about what had happened to him. "But it is a big deal Dee. You were so upset yesterday…"

"I was," Dee said curtly, "But I'm not now. I was having fucking hallucinations, what did you expect? When I realised that none of that stuff had actually happened I was okay."

Understandably Ryo didn't believe him and he was unsuccessful in keeping the scepticism from his expression but unfortunately Dee saw it and flipped. "What? You don't fucking believe me?" he shouted angrily, balling the bed sheets up in his fists. "I'm fine, when will you get that into your stupid head?"

Ryo eyes went wide; stunned by the way Dee was speaking to him. Sure, they'd had disagreements in the past but Dee had never raised his voice and said such things the way he was doing now. He looked so angry that Ryo wondered what he'd do next and so when the dark haired man raised his hand suddenly, intending to push his unruly hair away from his eyes, Ryo flinched instantly assuming that he was about to be hit. Dee saw the instinctive reaction and froze. "You thought I was going to hit you, didn't you?" he said coldly, studying the blond's anxious face. "Is that what you think of me Ryo? You think I'd hit my own lover?"

"No…" Ryo replied feebly, not sure what to think anymore. "Look maybe I should go… I'm making you upset."

"Sure, whatever," came the reply, "I'm tired anyway." He turned to face the window so he wouldn't have to see the pained look on Ryo's face as his lover stood and made his way slowly to the door. Unfortunately however the blind was up, causing Ryo's reflection to be painted onto the glass before his eyes. He closed his own eyes against the image as he heard a voice, resonating with emotion, whisper 'I love you' before the door closed and hurried footsteps could be heard moving down the corridor and away from his room. Finally, he turned, tears streaming down his tired face as he listened to his lover rushing from this encounter, filled with pain.

"I'm so sorry Ryo," he cried, burying his face in his hands, at a loss at why he kept acting this way with someone who was only ever gentle and loving towards him. "What's wrong with me?" He stayed that way, sobbing into his hands, for several long moments until fatigue overtook him and fell into an empty, dreamless sleep.

Berkley Rose placed the report back down on his desk and sighed heavily as he removed his glasses and began to massage the bridge of his nose. He seemed to have had a perpetual headache for the last couple of days; the strains of the job weighing heavily on his broad shoulders. Sometimes the money and status offered little comfort when he was faced with such stresses. The press were still on his back, wanting to know whether there had been any progress on the kidnapping and in the morning, he was due to attend a press conference to give the impression that Dee was still missing. So far, the kidnapper hadn't returned to the factory so, unless he'd seen the police cars when they'd recovered Dee, he wouldn't know that his hostage was no longer there. The slightest hint in the media that Dee was safe and they'd have lost the best chance of catching the perpetrator. Rose had also had to liaise with the hospital to warn them about the likely media frenzy that would erupt when they could announce Dee's rescue and understandably they were far from happy about it. As a result, Rose had had to promise the services of several of his officers if the worst case scenario arose.

He was also receiving a hard time from several of his own men after he had complained about Ryo taking his vacation time at short notice. The chief was already giving him short shrift because of the memo he had sent him and now several of his most senior detectives were treating him like something they'd scraped of the bottom of their shoes. Not that Rose particularly cared; after all, being the boss wasn't a popularity contest but he couldn't help but think that the respect his colleagues had for him had slipped several notches since this whole sorry saga had begun. He was certain they didn't know about the memo; more the fact that he was a friend of Henry Goldsmith's was making them bitter towards him.

Rose looked up suddenly as the door handle started to turn. It was late, almost nine pm, and all the regular workers had long since finished for the day. The night shift were all downstairs on the 'shop' floor; regular uniformed cops dealing with the usual issues that the evening brought with it but nothing that should require the services of the commissioner and so he waited to see exactly who would come through his door at this hour. Strangely, Rose found his headache suddenly intensified as Henry Goldsmith stepped into his office, looking edgy and somewhat relieved to find his old friend still at his desk.

Rose put his glasses back on as Goldsmith closed the door and walked over to the ornamental decanter and poured himself some brandy, which he downed in one swift motion. Rose watched as the agitated man paced for a few seconds before he sank into the leather chair across from the commissioner and covered the lower half of his face with his hand. He stayed that way for several long moments before he broke his silence, his voice slightly hoarse from the large slug of brandy he'd just consumed.

"Berkley…. I think we've got a problem," he said ominously as the blond man continued to stare, his face expressionless. "That detective that had been kidnapped. He's been found right?"

Rose nodded as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Yes, we recovered him yesterday. He's still in hospital but should make a full recovery."

"Shit!" Goldsmith replied, standing quickly and pacing away from the desk.

"How did you know about that?" Rose said sharply. "That information's not been made available to the public yet."

"Call it a lucky guess," Goldsmith replied, waving his hand dismissively, "But we might be in deep shit now."

Rose arched one bright blond eyebrow. "We might be in deep shit? Just what's going on Henry?"

The older man sighed as he returned to his seat. Rose studied him carefully, concluding that he looked even more worried than when he'd first come to see his old friend about the kidnapping threat. "I think there's something you should know Berkley… about the De Lucas and the kidnapping." He paused and glanced up at his friend, hoping that the younger man would be understanding of what he was about to tell him. "I'm listening," Rose said flatly, his expression indicating that he expected bad news.

"Okay," Goldsmith said, resigning himself to the truth. "The De Luca's didn't arrange to kidnap my family… it was me." He expected anger but instead, Rose simple closed his eyes and sighed. "Why Henry?" he asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

"Because those bastard De Lucas were about to get the better of me! They were about to better my final offer for Henderson Media and I just panicked. Henderson wouldn't risk dealing with reputed criminals, even for the sake of an extra couple of million so I needed to make them look bad."

"So who did you hire to do it?" Rose asked, scarcely able to believe he was having this conversation with someone he'd trusted for so many years. Goldsmith suddenly looked awkward, as if he was coming to the most difficult part of his confession. "Two brothers; Daniel and Liam… I don't know their surname."

Berkley rolled his eyes, amazed that his friend would be so careless. "How did you find them?"

Goldsmith's eyes dropped down to the floor. "Daniel was a rent boy that I grew fond of. I helped him get a place when he was homeless." He glanced up to be met by Rose's condescending stare. "Oh give it a rest Berkley," he snapped irritably, "Don't tell me you've never fancied a bit of young dick."

Rose chose to ignore the vulgarity. "Get to the point Henry," he said coldly.

"Fine. Daniel got it into his head that I was going to leave Helena and set up home with him. When I told him he'd got it wrong, his interfering brother threatened to blackmail me with a tape he'd secretly made of me and Daniel together. At the same time, the situation with the De Lucas was about to blow up so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone. I offered the brothers a substantial amount of money to carry out the kidnapping in exchange for the tape and their silence. They agreed but when they bungled the plan and Daniel got caught, I had to rethink the situation. I thought things would just die down but that moron Liam had to go and get revenge by kidnapping that detective of yours. He's a spiteful bastard and he'll probably have told your detective everything."

His final statement pulled Rose from his thoughts with a jolt. "So what are you saying Henry?"

"I'm saying," the older man said as he fingered the heavy gold bracelet on his left wrist, "That you need to interview that detective of yours to find out what he knows. Don't send anyone else; it has to be you."

Rose looked sceptical. "Don't you think that will look a little weird? The commissioner going to take a statement personally?"

"Not really," Goldsmith replied. "People will just think how caring you are; the attentive boss going to see one of his men who's been through one hell of an ordeal. Why should anyone be suspicious?"

"Maybe because I don't see eye to eye with the detective involved," Rose volunteered. "Haven't I done enough for you already Henry? I agreed not to release the young man we had in custody because of you. Give me one good reason why I should do this now."

Goldsmith fixed him with a hard stare, about to put the last nail in the coffin of their friendship. "Because I'm not sure exactly how much Daniel and Liam know about my activities, past and present. There are some things that they may know that I'm sure you wouldn't want to come out either."

"Meaning?" Rose said sharply, although the sinking feeling in his stomach told him that he knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"Meaning, that your detective may now know a story about how a young man was so desperate to go to college in order to join the police force that he slept with a rich businessman to pay his way through school."

"How would he know about that?" Rose growled, "That was a long, long time ago." He was sickened to see Goldsmith smile slightly, the corners of his mouth twitching into a victorious smirk now he had Berkley listening. "Oh you know… I'd had a few drinks, loosened my tongue… you came on the TV and Daniel commented how handsome you were. I couldn't resist telling him that I'd had you; the big, important commissioner of New York's twenty-seventh precinct."

Rose swallowed hard, disgusted at how someone he'd grown to consider a friend could turn on him so viciously. "He was very impressed," Goldsmith continued, "He wanted to know all the gory details. I just couldn't turn him down; not when he was offering to make it worth my while." He flinched as Rose stood quickly and for a split second thought the younger man was about to hit him. "Now don't be foolish Berkley. He may not have told Liam at all. By all accounts Liam was quite disgusted by Daniel's homosexuality so he may not have talked to him about our liaisons. Just go and interview that detective of yours and find out what he knows. It could all be a storm in a teacup but it's better to be on the safe side, don't you agree?"

Rose turned to face the window, studying the twinkling lights of the city and wishing he were anywhere but here. "So how did you find out that he had been rescued?" he asked finally, his tone leaden in defeat. He didn't turn round when Goldsmith answered but mentally sighed as the other man said, "Helena has a friend that works at the hospital. She mentioned they had a new patient whose identity was being withheld in case the media found out. I guessed it was him."

Despite asking to know, Rose didn't seem to be listening as he was finally given the answer. "You said that Daniel may not have told Liam about me. In that case I'm safe right?"

"Safe from them," the millionaire said coldly, "But not safe from me." In response to Rose's stunned expression, Goldsmith shook his head at the blond man's naivety. "If you don't help me and I go down then I'll personally make sure you come too Berkley."

Rose returned to staring out of the window, gripping the frame for support, feeling as if he wanted to vomit. "So what exactly do you suggest I do if Dee knows about all this?" he asked quietly, knowing that he had little choice but to do as he was told.

He turned as he heard Goldsmith stand and then walk to the door. "That's for you to decide Berkley. Bribe him, fire him, kill him, I don't care. Now I'm going home. My wife's waiting for me." The younger man snorted at the absurd sentiment as he watched his former friend step out into the corridor beyond. "I'll be in touch," Goldsmith said finally before he shut the door and walked away leaving Rose alone in his office to ponder exactly how he was going to fix this potentially catastrophic mess.

TBC…