AN- This chapter is going to be a little...how should I say this...different. Oh ho ho! There will be a little something later on in the chapter. I don't want to give anything away...but I have to warn. There will be SLIGHT man on man action. Nothing big...yet. But I have to warn about it. Enjoy!
Chapter 6
A few days had passed. Dee was still going over in his mind what he had felt with Berkeley. The man hadn't left his thoughts since he had come over.
'What the hell is wrong with me?'
Dee was brought out of his thoughts by laughter. He looked up to see Drake standing there.
"Are you ok? You looked like you had fallen asleep with your eyes open."
Dee blinked.
"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just this case. Every lead I have isn't any good. These guys are good at covering up their tracks. I guess I'm just tired. I haven't slept well for the past week either."
Drake nodded his head. He could guess why Dee had trouble sleeping.
"Why don't you ask the commissioner for a partner on the case then? It doesn't have to be a permanent partner, but someone for the time being. You know...just until you get back on your feet."
Dee considered this for a moment.
"I don't know...I'm just..."
Dee sighed.
"I understand Dee. You don't have to say anything."
Dee was glad Drake understood. He didn't want to talk about it.
"Hey. I'm going down to the coffee place, do you want anything?"
"Yeah. Get me a decaf coffee."
Dee handed Drake the money. He wouldn't normally have said yes, but he didn't want to drink the stuff in the coffee room.
"Ok. I'll be back shortly then."
Dee nodded his head, and went back to trying to figure out the case. He called an older man who had said he saw some guys selling drugs on the corner of his street. Dee got as much information from him as possible, and hung up the phone.
"This may be the break in the case I have been looking for."
The old man had told Dee that he had seen some boys, in about their twenties dealing the drugs. He said the boys looked Asian. Dee was glad. All he had to do now, was stake the place out, and hopefully something will happen when he did so he could solve this case, and move on. He looked up at the clock in his office. He still had a few hours left of work.
"I hope Drake makes it back soon with that coffee. I am ready to fall asleep here."
He chuckled to himself. It's times like this when he would space out that Ryo would yell at him.
'Dee. Staring at the clock will not get those reports done on time.'
"I know Ryo. I know."
Dee said to no one in particular.
"Sir?"
Berkeley looked up from his desk over to the door where Dee stood.
"Yes?"
"I was just wondering if I could leave a little early today. I have a good lead on this case, and I wanted to drive over to the place, and get a good idea of the surroundings before doing a stake out."
Berkeley considered this for a moment, and then shook his head.
"Go on Dee."
"Thank you."
Dee left the office. Berkeley was sure in a good mood for some odd reason. Dee went out to the parking garage and got into his car. He looked at the address, and noticed it wasn't in the nicest of neighborhoods.
"I used to do this sort of thing with someone. This is going to be different."
Dee sighed as he started the car. It's not that he was afraid to go out to the place. He was more then ready for anything. He was just used to doing it with somebody.
"Oh well. It doesn't matter I guess."
Dee drove down the road. The neighborhood was a run-down place. The once nice townhouses, where covered n graffiti, and most had the windows boarded up. He was driving around, when he came to the street corner. He saw a couple of boys there.
"Bingo."
Now, technically Dee wasn't on duty, but there was some action going on, and he just couldn't sit there and watch it happen, now could he? Dee got out of the car, and ran towards the boys.
"Stop! Police!"
Dee yelled. The one boy with the black hair looked up, and saw him coming. He pulled a gun out and shot at Dee. Dee didn't see it coming.
Berkeley Rose sat at his desk. The shifts were changing, so there weren't many people in the building. He sighed. He hated working late. It's not like he had anything to come home too, but he still hated being at work late. He would much rather have been at home cleaning, or reading a book.
"Commissioner!"
Berkeley looked up. Jake stood at the door.
"What is it?"
"It's Dee. Drake called me and said that Dee had been shot. He found Dee in an alley in a really bad part of town."
Berkeley's eyes went wide.
"What do you mean he was shot? What the hell was Drake doing all the way out there?"
"I don't know sir. You will have to ask Drake that. He says he's at the hospital with Dee."
Berkeley nodded his head.
"I'm coming."
He got up from his desk and grabbed his car keys. He hoped Dee would be ok.
"Dee?"
Dee blinked and looked around. He was in a beautiful garden. He was lying down in soft grass that really green.
"Where am I?"
Dee sat up. He knew someone had said something to him, but he couldn't figure out from whom, or from where.
"Dee?"
Dee recognized that voice. It was Ryo's voice.
"Ryo? Where are you baby?"
Dee stood up. He walked around, and then spotted Ryo. Ryo had his back to him.
"Hey Ryo! It's Dee! Oh Ryo come here!"
Dee called. Ryo turned and began walking towards Dee. Ryo had this white light about him. He looked like an angel.
"I missed you so much Ryo."
Ryo was so close to Dee. Dee was about to reach out and touch Ryo, when suddenly everything broke apart, and Ryo faded away from Dee.
"Ryo! Come back! Where am I? Ryo?"
Dee was alone and in a dark place. He could faintly hear his name being called.
"Dee? Hey Dee. Wake up."
Dee opened his eyes. His head hurt like hell, as well as his stomach.
"He's awake."
Dee recognized that voice to be Drakes. He couldn't remember much at the moment, but what he did know was that Ryo wasn't there.
"Hey. Can you hear me Dee?"
Dee looked at Berkeley who was right next to him.
"Yeah...I hear you."
Dee spoke faintly.
"Where...am I? What...what happened?"
"You were shot in the stomach. You also hit your head pretty hard on the concrete. You had a small concussion, and you had to have the bullet pulled out of you. Thank God it didn't go an inch to the left, or else you would be dead right now."
Berkeley sighed.
"What the hell were you doing Dee? Why did you go after those kids on your own? You know that neighborhood isn't good, and you didn't even assess the situation. Those kids could have stayed and killed you, if Drake didn't show up in time."
Dee looked puzzled.
"Why was...Drake there?"
"He was out on his own case, when he heard gunshots. He came running in the direction, and called for backup. He caught the kids, and helped you. Dee, I'm sorry, but you need a partner for the remainder of this case. This shows that you can't work on your own yet."
Dee was stunned. He didn't want to be babied by some partner.
"I am a...grown man. I can...fend for myself."
"I don't care Dee. When you come back to work, you will be assigned to a partner."
Dee didn't argue. He didn't have the strength to argue at this point.
"Now. You get some rest, and I'll come back by tomorrow. You need to sleep."
Dee closed his eyes. He didn't feel like sleeping, but if it would get them to leave him alone for a while, he was going to do it.
Dee went back to work a few weeks later. The case was still unsolved. The kids that had shot Dee didn't give out much more information then they already knew. They would be spending time in jail for attempted murder of a police officer. Dee sighed as he sat down. He was really getting annoyed with this case. It never took him this long to solve any case before.
"That was because before I had Ryo with me."
Dee looked at the empty desk across from him. Every once in a while he would imagine Ryo sitting there and reading over a report, or reading through an e-mail, or the paper.
"Hey Dee."
Berkeley said from the doorway.
"Hey."
Dee looked up. His heart pounding just a little.
"So. Where is this new partner of mine?"
Dee asked sarcastically.
"I will be helping you on this case. While you were gone, Drake obtained some information on an unknown source that led to the bugging of a warehouse in the old business district."
Dee nodded his head. Working with Berkeley couldn't be all that bad, right? Berkeley began to sit at Ryo's desk, until Dee stopped him.
"Wait. Don't sit there just yet."
Berkeley nodded his head. He knew that giving Dee a new partner would be hard on him, so he decided he would help Dee on just this one case, and then send him on his way.
"Ok. You can sit."
Dee just had to imagine Ryo sitting there just one last time, before Berkeley sat down.
"Now, here is the information that we have gotten. The reason why the drugs are being sold only to Japanese men is because they all work for the Syndicate. The men that deal to them, get the shipments from the Syndicate in Japan, then they make an appointment to meet the other Syndicate members, and sell them the drugs."
"So then everything is all set for us, all we have to do is catch the guys dealing the drugs."
"Exactly. Since we can't go in undercover, we had to bug the warehouse and hope something happens that way."
Dee nodded his head.
"I have been monitoring the warehouse for the past week. It seems people only frequent the place after midnight. So me and you get to go down there tomorrow and see for ourselves what's going on."
Dee nodded his head.
"So, since we're this far, what do we do now? Keep monitoring or work on something else?"
Berkeley looked at Dee.
"I am not going to give you any other cases to deal with while working on this one, so you can just go home until tomorrow night. I'll come and pick you up at about eleven. You may go home now."
Dee was angry.
"What do you mean 'I can go home now'? I just spent the last week and a half healing. If I go home I'll go insane. Please give me something else to work on. I'm not a child, and I can handle more then one thing."
Berkeley sighed.
"No Dee. You should be lucky I let you stay on this case after you got yourself shot. That's not like you to just run blindly after a group of kids. You normally are smarter then that and call for back-up. I don't know what had gotten into you, but it better not happen again, or else I will have to schedule you an appointment with the precincts psychiatrist."
Dee was taken aback by this.
"Fine. I'll leave. I guess you think I'm not a good detective since Ryo died and all."
Berkeley sighed, and Dee began to walk to the door.
"No Dee...Dee wait."
Dee continued to walk out of the door. He wasn't about to hear it.
"Damn it. Ryo, I am not as good of a person anymore. Why did you have to go and do that?"
Dee had been sitting on his couch for a while. He was just holding a picture of Ryo and talking to it. He had been for the past hour.
"I know. What I did was wrong, and I shouldn't have said that kind of shit to you, but you didn't have to go and kill yourself over it."
Dee began drying again. He had been for the past three hours. Ever since Berkeley sent him home, he had done nothing but bawl his eyes out. He felt like he wasn't capable of doing anything by himself anymore. He always had Ryo to help him though trouble, and tell him he was doing a good job, but now, he didn't have anybody like that.
"God...Ryo, look at me. I am not strong anymore. I am nothing but a weakling."
There was a small knock at Dee's door. Dee tried his best to compose himself, and went to answer the door.
"Hey Dee."
Dee saw Berkeley standing there.
"Hi."
Dee said back. He didn't feel much like socializing with people, but it beat being alone again tonight.
"Have you been crying? Oh I'm so sorry."
Berkeley came into the apartment when Dee stood out of the way.
"Yes. I have been."
Dee closed the door. For some odd reason he didn't feel ashamed to tell Berkeley this information.
"Come here."
Berkeley set the stuff down that he had been carrying, and pulled Dee into his arms. This didn't feel weird to Dee at all. Since Ryo's suicide Dee had often found that he could open up to Berkeley about what he was feeling.
"I'm so sorry Dee. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings earlier. I just don't want you to become tempered and end up doing something stupid, and then end up getting yourself killed."
Dee broke free from Berkeley's embrace, and sat on the couch.
"No. It's not your fault at all. Your just looking out for me, and I am just being a total jackass about it. It's fine."
Berkeley picked up the bag he was carrying. He had noticed that when Dee came back to the precinct that he lost some weight. He knew Dee probably wasn't eating every day like he should be.
"I brought some food over. I went by this Italian place, and picked up some food. I hope you don't mind me eating with you."
Dee shook his head.
"No. Thank you. I wasn't really planning on eating anything. I really can't cook well, and so I normally either buy TV dinners, or I just don't eat at all."
Berkeley nodded his head. He set the food on the table, and Dee joined him. Berkeley had got them both lasagna, and he had also picked up a nice wine. The two of them ate in silence, and when they were finished Berkeley helped Dee clean the mess.
"Thank you again. You know it's strange. We used to be enemies, but now look at us, we are like best friends now. I am totally comfortable around you. I can tell you almost anything."
Berkeley nodded and the two of them sat down on the couch.
"Can I...can I ask you something?"
Berkeley nodded his head.
"What is it Dee?"
"When...When is a good time to start seeing other people after your boyfriend dies?"
Berkeley suddenly felt his face go hot.
"Well...that would depend on what the person believes. Do you think it's right to see other people after a loved one just died?"
"Well...you see I don't know, because I don't know how the other person feels."
Berkeley had moved just an inch or so closer to Dee.
"What do you mean? Have you already found someone who you like?"
"Well...I don't really know. Because part of me is telling me to make the first move, and another part of me is telling me that it is wrong, and that I should wait...that it's probably just my emotions going all crazy, and that when someone is showing me sympathy, that I think they mean it to be love. Do you get what I am saying?"
Berkeley nodded his head.
"I think I understand you totally Dee."
Berkeley moved himself closer to Dee.
"I too am starting to feel things for someone. Even though Ryo wasn't my partner, I still don't know if I can just move on yet. I liked him for quite a few years. And me and you have been at each others throats about it."
Dee could feel Berkeley's breath ghosting over face. If he leaned closer by just an inch he could feel those lips pressed against his.
"Who do you think you have feelings for?"
Berkeley moved closer to Dee, and finally pressed his lips to Dee's. The kiss was unsure, but demanding. For what seemed like an eternity the two of them just sat there, with lips pressed against lips. No one daring to move an inch. Berkeley licked Dee's lips with his tongue and Dee parted his lips. Berkeley's tongue gently probed the inside of Dee's mouth.
'Oh Shit. This isn't happening.'
Dee kept thinking to himself the whole time. Finally Berkeley parted and looked into Dee's eyes.
"I'm so...sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I am going to go. I'll be by tomorrow to pick you up."
Berkeley quickly got up and left. Dee tried to stop him.
"No...Wait."
But Berkeley was already out the door. Dee sat on the couch. Lost in his thoughts.
AN- I am so sorry for the REALLY late update! My birthday was Thursday, and I had friends over Friday and Saturday. I hope I wrote this chapter well. I don't want them to rush into things too quickly, but I wanted to have some sort of tension between the two of them. Anyway. Do tell me how I did, and I promise chapter seven ASAP.