Chapter Two: Found
Elena and Rick sat in the uncomfortable silence that had settled in during their dinner with Lev and Sarah. Lev refused to look up at them or touch a piece of the finely prepared food. Rick ate as quietly as he possibly could without having to ask anyone to pass anything across the table. Elena sighed and watched her new nephew with a determined stare. " How old are you, Lev?" Elena asked, smiling at the young man. Lev shrugged and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. " Twenty five," He replied, " Born June 27." Elena nodded and picked at her own food with her fork. She wasn't very hungry and all the things Sarah had said about Frank had a huge affect on her. " Did you like your father?" Rick asked, grabbing a napkin from the porcelain chicken shaped napkin holder. Lev looked up at him, eyes watering as he nodded and whispered a hardly audible, " Yes." Lev wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, the memory of his father's last visit still fresh in his mind.
" Are you going to visit me again, daddy?" The young fifteen-year-old boy asked. The taller blonde man stood beside him, staring out at the night sky as the stars twinkled and shined, adding an eerie but beautiful glow to the darkness surrounding the two. " Maybe," Frank replied. His blue eyes reflected only sadness and pain hidden deep inside his soul. " Why is that a maybe?" Lev asked, smiling nervously as his father shifted anxiously from one foot to the other. " Don't. I don't want to upset you, Lev, but your dad has another wife-- you know I can't come see you all the time. You live really far, and I still care for you, Lev," Frank said, smiling sadly. " It's okay. Liz is a good person, and mom already said we would have to say good bye to you forever." Lev turned his back, making it face his father. Frank sighed, frustrated and upset. " Not forever, there's not much we can do though. I'll write to you and send you gifts for your birthday and Christmas," Frank began. Lev shook his head when tears began to sting his eyes. Frank turned his son around and pushed back Lev's blonde bangs from his eyes and smiled, placing cold silver dog tags in his palm. " When I was in the army, we were given these dog tags. I want you to have them, Lev. So that you never forget me, deal?" Frank asked, watching his son smile. " Deal."
" So you liked him?" Elena asked, snapping Lev back into reality. Lev nodded, receiving a warm smile from both Elena and Rick. " You were born American so how about we go to New York and visit Ryo." Lev stared at Elena strangely. " Who the hell is Ryo?" Lev asked, wondering where he had heard that name before. " Your half-brother," Sarah replied, wiping her mouth on a fine white diner napkin. Lev recalled a moment when he had asked his father for a brother and he received a smile and, " You already have one," as a reply. Lev always wondered what it meant, but all these things piled on him at once. He had received news of his father's death through his mother and had cried despite experiencing deep pain as a child.
Lev stood from his seat without excusing himself, heading quickly towards his room. His white button down shirt was unbuttoned at his torso. He pushed back long blonde hair, tying it into a ponytail to avoid immense heat. Lev's life had not been as glamorous as everyone in his prestigious schools imagined. He may have been the sun of a beautiful former American actress who made more money in Britain and France than she had in America. Lev's long blonde hair was a special trait received from his father. His mother had dark raven hair while his father's hair was a brilliant shade of blonde. His light blue eyes were inherited from both his parents. His strong jaw line also came from his father. His pale skin color he had inherited from both. His mother's ears framed his strong young face. He smiled; looking into a mirror, recognizing that most of his handsome smooth features came from his father. He wondered if this so called " Ryo" was in the least bit similar to him. Lev needed to know, was this Ryo really Frank's child? Were they alike? Did they share common interests? Was Ryo grateful that he had his father for as long as he did? He better have been. Lev removed the small suitcase he kept in the wooden closet in his bedroom. He whistled as he grabbed clothing and stuffed them inside the suitcase.
Back in New York, the white and blue police cars bounced off light, blinding most of the passerby's. Ryo McLean walked quickly, avoiding cars moving in and out of the parking lot for no reason. Many cars were parked diagonally across the precinct lot. Ryo sighed as he ran into the one story building-- a few minutes later than usual. It was extremely rare for him to be late. " Morning Ryo, were the sheets hard to pull off?" Ted snickered, watching Ryo walk into the break room. " Even Dee is here before you," Drake commented. Ryo groaned, realizing it would be a really long day, especially since the Chief hated it when anyone was late-everyone except Dee that is. He frowned and pushed through the people in the precinct, plenty of " New York's finest" walked around carrying papers, food and cups of coffee. " Morning, Randy," Riz greeted him. The young woman smiled as Ryo greeted her with as much kindness as ever. " Damn Ryo, did you get off at the wrong train stop or something?" Dee laughed, watching Ryo scowl at him. " No, Bikky forgot his lunch money so I had to chase him down the street," Ryo replied, organizing his desk as he did every morning. " Do we have a case?" He asked the dark haired man sitting across him. " No, but your sexy secretary took a message for you. Your Aunt Elena called saying she wanted to speak to you and she's going to pass by today in the afternoon. She said it's absolutely important. Passing by at three," Dee said, wearing a smirk wider than his perverted grins. " Wait, who's my secretary?" Ryo asked, acting oblivious to see Dee's reaction. " Hey!" The younger dark haired detective screamed. Ryo chuckled and pushed his dark honey blonde bangs away from his face. " Laytner, McLean, I want to see the both of you in my office, now!" The chief's voice boomed into the detective's office. " We'll be right there, chief." Dee screamed back, leaning back in his swivel chair and flipping lazily through the precinct newsletter. Ryo shook his head, grabbing Dee's messy blue dress shirt and pulling him up.
" You two have to question a witness for a rape case today. But you'll have to be intruding on another precinct's area. Be careful, the 34th precinct is not the precinct you want to mess with. Their specialty is drug and gang related cases so there's no need to worry, just try to avoid confrontation, okay? Those guys are jerks." The chief warned Dee and Ryo for hours, droning on about how the guys from Washington Heights were the biggest jerks in the world and how he despised the chief there. Dee held back laughter, watching the chief almost pass out recounting the story of how the 34th precinct's chief had almost tried to kill him. Ryo had zoned out after, " just try to avoid confrontation." He had been wondering why his aunt Elena had called him at the precinct and left him a message. She would usually call his home and leave a message on his answering machine. It was," absolutely important," as Dee said. " I wonder what Aunt Elena wanted..." Ryo's voice drifted, interrupting the chief's story. He growled, lighting a cigarette and dismissing them with a wave of his hand.
" Well, we better get to it," Dee said, jumping into the useless piece of crap they called a car. Dee's constant cursing was drowned out by the soft music playing on the radio and the occasional interruption from the dispatcher. Ryo's own humming balanced out the noise of the New York City streets. He watched as the straight up ghetto kids with their baggy pants below their asses walked up and down the streets. Most of them rocked- as Bikky said- baseball hats and basketball jerseys while others, including females, wore sports gear and expensive sneakers. Ryo noticed that the majority of the people in the neighborhood were tanned and slightly darker. Most of them had big brown eyes and dark black or brown hair. He smiled watching a blond girl push her dark haired male friend out of her way while giggling. " The precinct is this way which means we'll have to go down these damned hills to get there." Dee mumbled, turning down a one-way street besides a gray building and a beautiful red and off white brick church. " Hey asshole, this is a one-way street," A young woman yelled. Dee flipped her off, driving down the hill like nothing. The neighborhood was called Washington Heights for a reason. Steep hills almost impossible to climb without water or a good amount of strong leg muscles lined almost every single street from Wadsworth to Saint Nicholas to Broadway. " Dee, she was right you know, this is a one way street," Ryo noted, pointing to the sign that read 183rd street and Broadway in big white letters. The signs themselves were connected to large poles at the edge of the street corner. " So what? This piece of crap precinct can't touch us." Dee explained. Ryo sighed, pushing back his hair. A lot of the teenagers in the street had disappeared into buildings or grocery stores to binge on junk food. " Holy shit, this place is huge!" Dee exclaimed, noticing the rows and rows of cars parked diagonally in the same style the officers parked in the 27th precinct. Ryo looked around, noticing the rich green trees around the neighborhood. Pink blossoms appeared on the tree branches leading to beautiful green leaves in the summer. Ryo inhaled the city air, surprisingly; it was cleaner than the smell in downtown.
The streets were littered with papers and garbage. Small paper cups used to sell Italian ices littered the streets along with party flyers and wanted posters the cops had obviously not thrown into the wind. Dee maneuvered the car into an available spot, failing to notice the young blonde man running towards him. He halted and almost got run over by Dee's old car. " What the hell do you think you're doing, dolt!" Dee screamed, getting out of the car to see if the young man was all right. " Ass! What is wrong with you, did you not see me?" The young man yelled staring up at Dee. His blonde hair flew in his face as the wind picked up. Ryo aided the young man, helping him up from off the ground. Dee continued to stare down at the young man; something oddly familiar about his face sparked his interest. " Have I seen you before?" Dee asked out of curiosity. " No, ass. I just came from London." The young man replied, standing beside Ryo and thanking him silently. Dee pushed back his hair, staring at the two blondes with very similar features. " Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." The young man excused himself and wandered away, catching a town car as soon as he reached the corner of the street. Dee finished parking the car completely and walked with Ryo to the 34th precinct.
Ryo and Dee returned back to the 27th precinct in time for lunch. Ryo stared at his watch. " It's 3 o' clock, Dee. Why aren't they here?" Ryo questioned. Dee shrugged, biting into the large sandwich he split with Ryo. " Maybe they're going to be late. Relax, Ryo. You're way too tense." He said, taking a sip of his soda. " Hey Ryo, a blond woman and her husband are asking for you, they're carrying cameras, should I let them in?" Ted asked, poking his head in to the office. " Oh! That's my Aunt and Uncle. Send them in," Ryo stood from his seat, fixing his desk and organizing Dee's while his raven-haired partner just stared. The blond woman stepped into the office, thanking Ted who was opening the door for her. " Hi, Ryo!" Elena greeted, receiving a warm embrace from her nephew. She smiled, hugging Ryo tightly and looking over his shoulder at Dee who waved. " Ah, you must be Dee Laytner, we spoke over the phone," Elena said, smiling and holding out her hand for Dee to take. The dark haired man smiled, wiping his hand on a napkin and shaking Elena's extended hand. Ryo nodded approvingly; at least they got along.
" It's nice to finally meet you, Dee. Ryo has told me so much about you." Elena smiled, exchanging glances with a nervous looking Ryo. Dee raised his eyebrow, grinning at Ryo. " Hopefully it was all good." Elena nodded, walking towards the door. " Where's uncle Rick?" Ryo questioned, looking around the hall for any sign of his uncle Rick. " I want to talk to you first. It's important." Elena's smiling face became serious. " O...okay," Ryo whispered. " You can talk on the roof. It's the most private place I know of in this dump," Dee said, looking up at Ryo and smiling. He nodded gratefully, allowing Elena to walk in front of him through the doorway.
The precinct's roof was like every other New York City building roof. Pebbles lined the roof building's floor. The high smoke stack pipe allowed polluted black air to escape the building while the air vents did nothing but cough out dusty air. Elena stood overlooking the downtown New York City streets she was never accustomed to. She looked over to Ryo, who also looked over the streets, a content but worried smile crossing his lips. Elena placed her thin hand on the honey blonde detective's shoulder. The distant look in his eyes replaced the smile as he looked over the high buildings towards the George Washington Bridge. It overlooked everything with such majesty it reminded Ryo of his father's height and how no matter how old Ryo got, he never seemed to reach his father's record of six feet and two inches. The blonde man always seemed to tower above every one else for as long as Ryo could remember. He smiled, turning to Elena and holding her hand loosely. " You wanted to talk to me about something?" He asked, watching his aunt shift uncomfortably from her spot near him. " Well, Ryo it's like this: You have a half brother -from your father's side- and he wants to meet you. " Elena said. She had practiced before saying it to Rick over and over again so that she wouldn't blurt out the wrong thing or use the wrong tone while speaking to him. She was very happy to have another nephew. She had missed out on a lot in her life. Having children was one of those things. Her photographic expeditions usually stopped her from being able to have children and she feared being much too old for the motherhood thing now. Ryo had always been like her son, but she had missed out on everything almost every woman dreams of. " What? Is this a joke, aunt Elena?" Ryo asked, a nervous smile forming on his thin lips. " No, Ryo. This is everything but a joke. You seriously do have a half-brother. Me and Rick can prove it, he even looks like you!" Elena exclaimed, fearing Ryo would hate her for delivering such painful information. Ryo chuckled, looking up at the cloudless light blue sky so rarely seen in New York. " I know," Ryo whispered, staring down at his shocked aunt. " What? Hold on...how did you-" Elena's words stumbled out of her mouth as if she were just learning how to speak. " Dad told me...before he went to Europe. He said that I had what I always wanted but I wouldn't meet him for a very long time." Ryo explained, looking up at the sky again. " Oh that's right...you always asked Liz and Frank for a baby brother." Elena laughed, " You even asked me where babies came from." Ryo chuckled, nodding. " What a disaster that was." Rick interrupted the conversation with his comment. Ryo and Elena smiled and greeted the man. Rick grinned, patting Ryo's shoulder. " So...where is he?" Ryo asked, looking around for any sign of another person. " Not here. He had an audition for a Broadway play," Rick commented. " So is he an actor or something?" Ryo asked, wondering about his half brother's profession. " He's a dancer," Elena replied, staring at her nephew. " Invite him over to my place for dinner, okay? You come too." Ryo said, addressing his aunt and uncle. Elena smiled, pushing back her long blond hair. " We won't be able to make it, we took a flight from London back here just to bring Lev, we have to be back there by tomorrow, meaning we have to leave tonight. But thanks for inviting us, sweetheart. I promise, I will tell Lev about the dinner." Ryo nodded, walking alongside his aunt and uncle as they started down the stairs.
" So who's this guy again?" Dee asked, wondering who the hell Ryo was going through all the trouble of preparing dinner for. " He's my half- brother," the shorter but much older of the two detectives replied, tossing chopped onions and peppers into a frying pan. " You have a half brother?" Bikky, Cal and Dee asked, simultaneously. " Yeah. When I was eighteen, my dad and mom left for Europe on a business trip. Before they left, my dad told me that I had a brother somewhere in Europe and that he was going to find him and bring him back, but they couldn't...they didn't get the chance to." Ryo's voice shook as he spoke despite trying hard to keep it at a steady even tone. He wiped the tears away from his eyes and smiled up at the trio sitting at the kitchen table, muttering something about the onions making his eyes water. " Cal, Bikky, how about you two make the salad and slice the bread while me and Dee set the table, okay?" Ryo smiled handing Bikky a basket of bread, watching as the two kids got up from the table and headed for the living room, grabbing the plates before exiting.
Dee stared up at his honey blonde partner, studying Ryo's delicate features. Honey blonde hair framed a thin delicate face. Fair and flawless light skin made the dark color of Ryo's eyes appear even darker. " Ryo tell me why you're afraid of him?"
- 34th precinct's specialty: From what my friend's dad tells me, each precinct notes specific cases as high priority. The 27th (if you haven't noticed from reading FAKE) usually deals with drugs and child cases. The 34th deals specifically with Drugs and Gang related cases.
A/N: So here we are, another finished chapter. You'll all have to excuse my grammar and some of the words that don't seem to fit in here...Microsoft word is a demon in disguise. It's kind of cool, but it doesn't seem to really understand what I'm trying to say. But I'm a good writer...right? Right? RIGHT? So cruel...sniff Ciao Everyone! Please review.