Chapter Four

Ryo woke to the sound of his telephone ringing uncontrollably off the hook- this was not a good sign. " Hello?" He answered the phone; the fact he had been sleeping clearly heard in his voice. " Uh...hello. I'm sorry if I woke you but I was looking for my son and his aunt gave me this number. His name is Lev. Oh! Are you Randy?" The rather enthusiastic woman on the phone spoke very properly with a hint of a British accent attached to her speech. Ryo groaned silently. He remembered dealing with the parents of his friends and even his own grandparents at one time. They all seemed so eager to speak with Ryo and they all somehow managed to sit him down and feed him while he tried to make striking conversation. By the end of his stories he'd end up hearing the enthusiasm in the adult's voices as they asked him questions, as if testing him on intelligence. He chuckled thinking of how inappropriate and odd it would be to ask this woman for something to eat seeing how he had been offered food and beverages each time he spoke to an adult parent. Then it hit him--this was the woman that had ruined the trust between his parents. " Wait. You're Lev's mother?" Ryo questioned, his curiosity had obviously gotten the best of him; sitting up suddenly as he awaited her answer.

Sarah smirked to herself. "Why yes, as a matter of fact I am." She laughed sweetly. She sat at her desk, toying with a fine point pen--placing it between her fingers and twisting it as if it were a baton. " So you are Randy. It's finally a pleasure to speak to you, Randy. I've heard a lot about you from Liz and Frank. And I'm very sorry for your loss," Sarah grinned to herself-enjoying the fact that she was speaking to Ryo a bit too much. To be honest, she enjoyed it much more than she thought. Years had gone by and her bitterness and anger hadn't faded. She knew something had to be done when Frank announced to her that he and Liz were not going to return to England as he had intended to do every year. The blonde man had wanted to take Lev with him--to live with him and to meet Ryo, but Sarah would not have it-ever! She despised Liz.

" Oh...I'm sorry. It seems I wasn't paying attention. Could you repeat that?" Sarah said, feigning innocence. A lot of things ran through her mind and she was obviously ignoring everything Ryo was saying on purpose. Maybe he was as boring and redundant as his mother. "I said that it was nice to finally speak to you also and I thank you." Ryo imitated Sarah's proper speech in a subtle but mocking way. He was beginning to dislike this woman for some unknown reason. " Anyways- Ryo is it? - I wanted to ask for my Lev. He promised to call but he hasn't and I'm beginning to worry. Have you any clue why he hasn't called?" Sarah asked. Ryo thought to himself, ' Probably avoiding you for good reason.' However, the blonde detective found that a bit too cruel and shook his head to stop the negative thoughts and feelings towards this woman. " No, not really. He was here last night but he left. I have a card with his number, do you want it?" Ryo asked. Sarah smiled and replied with a simples yes, accepting the number from Ryo. " You are very kind, Randy. Thank you so very much!" Ryo nodded to no one in particular. " Uh huh. Thank you." Both people hung up the phone, bidding each other farewell.

" Ah! You simian brat! What the hell are you trying to do?" Dee's angry yelling echoed throughout the room. "Right on time," Ryo whispered smiling at the loud crashes coming from the living room. The blonde man dressed and walked towards the sounds.

Lev groaned, tossing and turning in his sleep as nightmares plagued his newly gained sleep. It was a reoccurring dream-the one that had affected his daily sleep routine for years after his father's death. He sat quietly in the den of his mother's estate-that large white house in London- and he rocked back and forth in fear. There was screaming going on downstairs. Lev had seen four men or so walking into the living room of his home. They were speaking to his mother who in return was yelling at them. She cussed and moaned in aggravation. That was rather odd. Why had the memory of his mother's acquaintances come up all of a sudden? Lev had always been taught never to eavesdrop on any conversation-taking place in that house. Though it was his house, he had grown up isolated from certain areas. Sarah would never allow him to travel far from his room or her own. He had maintained his distance from any and all of her friends. Guess that's what happened when your mother was somehow associated with the wrong crowd.

The twenty five year old man could see himself sitting on a white colored rocking chair that creaked with every movement. Lev's blonde hair covered his face as he tightened his grip on the silver dog tags belonging to his father. Sarah had ordered Frank's room to be completely stripped of anything that could remind Lev of him. It was to be nothing but a bare room- -unused and untouched for the years that would come. " He's dead, baby," Sarah whispered. Lev looked up to see his mother's smiling face, which she quickly altered into a sad look. There was always something suspicious about her-something...off.

For one, Sarah had many friends. Many of them looked like threatening thugs and others like sweet angelic people. Most of them were male and female pairings, which Sarah had addressed as " The Carriers". Lev never trusted any of these people and he specifically disliked a certain man that had visited his mother ever since he had turned twenty-two. He remembered the only conversation between his mother and this man he had actually heard. He remembered his name was Leon...or something close to it.

" So what happened, exactly?" Sarah asked. She sat sprawled out on her couch, her usual flowing white casual gown on. " Nothing really. He overheard or should I say eavesdropped on our conversation, I shot him and it was over. He came out, screaming something about a mistake and his partner jumped in to stop him," the man replied. Sarah smirked and nodded her head as if agreeing on something. " It's good he suffers. It'll be much better for me in the end. I'll end up with every last drop of the inheritance because of Lev and I plan on spending it well. Feeding into my addiction has gotten the best of me and I'm afraid I won't be able to help you or your boss," Sarah added, sounding sympathetic towards the end of her statement. The man smirked and leaned back in his chair, trying to make himself comfortable. " I thought you had stopped your little 'problem' from being nosy," The man said. His eyes were fixed on the door Lev stood behind. " Lev!" Sarah cried out, standing quickly and yanking her son from behind the door. The man had stood and stared in silence at the boy. " Damn...he looks just like him," he muttered, " You sure he isn't a clone or something?" Sarah chuckled and pushed Lev away. The boy remembered exactly how the man had looked. He was in his early thirties or so with short blonde hair and vibrant but piercing green eyes. He was tall, taller than Lev's father. " You're twenty-two, Lev, learn to respect other people's privacy. Now I want you to apologize to the Mister," Sarah demanded. Lev looked straight at the man, his smirk was ruthless- almost threatening in a way- and his eyes glared at Lev with an indescribable emotion, seemingly between hatred and pity. " I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to eavesdrop." With his apologies said, he exited the room, looking back at the man only once. There was something about him he just did not trust.

RING! RING! Lev shot up from his bed, wondering where in bloody hell that ringing sound came from. It couldn't possibly be the elevator. It was much too loud for that. Lev studied every inch of his room, glancing around it to figure out where the sound came from. The phone rang once more as Lev realized it was what caused all the noise.

" Hello?" The man answered. " Sweetie? Hey, it's you mum," Sarah said quickly. Lev sighed; he really didn't feel like speaking to her. It had been fun the day before not having to speak to her. He disliked his mother's false sense of security and her lack of understanding. He had a hard time speaking to her about his day considering it included spending time in a room full of dancers. " Hey, mom. What's up?" He asked, smiling to himself. It was the only way he could fake happiness at hearing her voice. " Not much. Just wanted to ask you about your trip. Ooh! I spoke to your brother. Wow, that sounds so weird," Sarah laughed and continued, " He was really nice about it. Anyways-" Sarah was cut off by Lev's groaning. He apologized, not realizing how loud he had done it. " Mom, I want to ask you a question and I want you to be honest," Lev began, " Ma, did you use drugs before? Were you associated with drugs in anyway and please, don't lie to me to protect my feelings and all that good crap. Be real honest, mom." Sarah sat at her desk, completely shocked as she heard her son bring up her use of drugs. It was something she had kept hidden from him for years. Yes, she had used, abused and had all around given her life to those goddamned things. They were addictive and continued to call for her. They called and called and she continued to run to them. It was something that almost cost her the life of her son and her own. But hers was much more important-or at least, that was what she believed. " Yes-but I stopped! I swear I did!" Sarah calmed her hysteria, something she had to do often when discussing her precious disgusting vice. " In that case, we need to talk."

" Morning, Ryo," Ted greeted, handing the honey blonde detective a yellow office envelope. "Your aunt faxed a whole bunch of papers over. They were police reports so we let them slide instead of calling you on it as personal stuff." Ted chuckled, patting Ryo's shoulders.

" Thanks Ted."

Dee sat waiting for his partner to return with their breakfast. Ryo had seemed more distracted than usual lately and that bothered Dee- a lot. He never expected Ryo to have a brother. What else had his partner kept from him? Did he have a wife and kids in South America or something? Okay, maybe that was going a bit overboard, but Dee truly feared the other secrets Ryo kept from him. What else could he have hidden in his closet? Ryo had clouded Dee's thoughts almost constantly from the minute he walked into the precinct, Dee knew his heart skipped beats with every footstep Ryo took. 'You're a fool, Dee,' the little voice in Dee's head would cry out but Dee ignored it. He knew he loved Ryo and hopefully Ryo knew it too. It was painful to know this though. It meant that Ryo was simply evading Dee's feelings and that killed the dark haired man. Both men were friends but for Dee, Ryo was much more. He was so much more Dee feared losing Ryo. He dreamed of Ryo's sweet passionate kisses and of Ryo's smiling face.

" Hey," Ryo greeted at the door. He smiled and walked into his office, shaking his head in disgust at the papers and coffee mugs surrounding the office. " We really need to clean this place up." He chuckled and set down the bag and envelope he had been carrying. Dee spotted the yellow envelope and picked it up while Ryo picked up the mess of papers on Dee's and his desk. He tried to keep both of them clean (since Dee wouldn't clean his own) but the task seemed more troublesome than it sounded. " What's this?" Dee asked, studying the envelope. It was opened and someone with very poor penmanship had scribbled Ryo's name on it. " Is it from Ted? Is it a case?" Dee asked. Ryo stared at his partner in utter confusion. " How'd you know it was from Ted?" He asked, wondering if Dee had some hidden skill-other than going from zero to turned on in six point two seconds-that he did not know about. " Handwriting is horrible," Dee explained, pointing at Ryo's poorly written name. " Is that a p?" Ryo asked, leaning in closer to examine Ted's handwriting. Dee took this as an opportunity and pulled his partner in closer, claiming his lips in a short kiss. " Dee! We're working here!" Ryo cried out, pulling his partner away. Dee sighed, moving back into his chair. " Examining Ted's handwriting isn't working." Dee smirked, raising an eyebrow seductively while shifting in his chair. Ryo gave him a strange look, wondering when he was going to be able to stop Dee's random attacks. Being around the man or brushing against him was dangerous enough as it was being that it was when Dee's "turned on in six seconds" skill jumped in.

" They're the police reports from my parent's death. Remember?" Ryo sat at his desk, watching Dee carefully remove the papers inside the envelope. He studied them for quite some time, looking for familiar names of detectives or officers on the reports. " They were shot just outside of Manhattan? Wow, that's something," Dee mumbled. Ryo looked up, wondering where Dee was going with this. " Hey, there's a name I recognize!" He exclaimed, eyeing Ryo. " What're you talking about?" Ryo asked, leaning forward again only to be tricked into another kiss. He moaned in frustration as Dee snickered and pulled away. " Dee..."

" No really, I do recognize this name, though. Robert Kendall. He's a great detective. He reviewed the investigation and now that Lev's in the picture, maybe we can get some information out of him," Dee said. Ryo smiled, impressed that his partner was actually more than just a libido and sex drive. " Don't act so surprised Ryo. I'm not as dumb as I am sexy," he commented," and I'm much better in bed." Ryo couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Dee had been true to his word about helping Ryo out. Dee stood and walked over to the doorway where he shouted for someone. " Hey, Morgan! Come here a minute, will you?" Dee called. He waited a few minutes by the door until a fairly tall girl stood before him. She had blue eyes and brown hair. She smiled widely at Dee and nodded her hello to Ryo. " Hello, Morgan," Ryo greeted. " Hey, Ryo." She giggled silently and turned her attention back to Dee. " You wanted something, Dee?" She asked, wondering what Dee had called her over for. Dee smiled knowing full well how much this girl liked him. " Yeah, babe. I wanted to ask you about Mr. Robert Kendall. Remember the Rogers case and how he was at the funeral. Do you know where we can reach him?" Dee asked. Morgan looked thoughtful for a second before replying, " Yeah. I think he works down at the 34th precinct. It's in Washington Heights if you-" Dee's groan had caused Morgan to jump back in surprise. " We were just there yesterday! What is up with these damn detectives?" Dee yelled. Morgan glanced at Ryo who had also been taken aback by Dee's sudden outburst. " Err...yeah. I'll check and make sure, but I believe that is where he is working now unless he took my advice and went for the whole private detective thing," Morgan commented. She looked thoughtful again before noticing Dee's raised eyebrow and confused look. " Thanks then. I guess." Dee shrugged and stared at Ryo for a few minutes. He seemed to have forgotten Morgan's presence until she squealed with concealed excitement when the gaze of the two detectives locked. " Aren't you supposed to be off doing homework or taking care of horses or something?" Dee asked, rudeness setting in. " Hey!" Morgan exclaimed, faking a hurt look at his remark. Ryo chuckled and watched the girl walk slowly out of the room, smiling. " Cute kid." Ryo said, sitting at his desk. Dee raised an eyebrow in suspicion. " If you're going to cheat on me, at least do it with another guy, jeez." Dee sat at his own desk and smiled, shaking his head and listening to Ryo's sweet melodious laughter.

A/N: Someone made a cameo appearance! I won't say who so no trying to figure it out. You wouldn't be able to either, no matter how smart you are unless you are that person so...heh. Anyways, I really liked writing this chapter despite it being 6:03 in the morning and me having spent the night listening to music and feigning on , looking for GOOD fan fiction (which is nearly impossible to find, nowadays). Damn kids. Anyways, please review and let me know what you think. Some of this stuff is getting really dramatic and we're not even half way through. I just hope I don't end up receiving threats of death and junk. I'm not getting as many reviews as I'd like so I'm going to change the rating and cut down on the violence planned in later chapters. However, it does include a bit of violence, cursing and all that good stuff your parents try to shield you from- not mine though, I'm from New York. You learn your very first curse word on your first birthday when your parents curse out the drunk clown for scaring you. Heh. I'm really dramatic this week. Like I said, I'm putting the rating on PG- 13, which means Parental Guidance suggested and you must be over the age of 13. If not, I ask you show your parents this if they start cursing you- or me- out: I am not responsible for what your children read online. This is pretty tame considering some other stuff I've seen online and damn, this is one long author's note, so goodbye everyone. I am off to sleep at 6:19 a.m., sad, no?