Author's note – Wow, guys, what can I say except I'm completely blown away by the number of reviews for the last chapter! Thank you SO much! As promised, here's the next chapter, which finally brings Ryo back into the action. There's an extra 'scene' (if you get my drift) not posted here to conform to the rules, but it can be found at mediaminer and adultfanfiction so enjoy! The ending is starting to appear on the horizon…

Oh and I forgot to say – kudos to anyone who recognises the names of Elena's horses!

Somewhere in Between

Chapter 19 – Dark Desires

"Ryo, ooh it's good to see you!" Elena threw the front door open wide and welcomed her nephew as he dropped his bags onto the front porch. She waited until he was inside the house before she embraced him, her wild blond hair tickling his chin as she hugged him.

"You too, Aunt Elena." He smiled as she stepped back, recognising what was different about her. "You cut your hair."

"Uh huh. Although Rick thought I'd been in a fight with some hedge clippers. I like it though."

Ryo chuckled and nodded. "It's very you."

"That's just what I said. Mind you, he soon said he liked it when I threatened to stop cooking his meals." She arched a fine blond eyebrow to compliment her smile. "Come on. Let's have a drink."

They engaged in idle chit-chat while Elena made some tea. With mug in hand, Ryo followed her outside where two easy chairs sat invitingly on the back porch. Ryo studied the idyllic surroundings, the endless grasslands, where in the distance Elena's and her daughter Carrie's horses grazed.

"I'd forgotten how peaceful it is here," he remarked. "I still can't believe Uncle Rick persuaded you to move from the city."

Elena grinned from behind her mug of tea. "Hey! What are you saying? Do I not make a convincing cowgirl?"

"Sure you do. I guess I'm just used to Aunt Elena, the city-slicker fashion photographer."

"I'm still that too… now I just turn up at shoots with horse shit on my shoes – it's no big deal."

Ryo laughed, loving how she could always make him do that. "And I'm sure no one dares point it out."

"You got that right. We could go for a ride later if you want."

The blond detective's eyes returned to the animals, their tails swishing away the flies, oblivious to the watching humans. "You realise I don't know how to ride?"

"Nonsense, you were great the last time I saw you."

Ryo quirked an eyebrow, the expression reminiscent of the woman facing him. "I was five years old and the pony was no bigger than a large dog."

"And your point is?"

"Okay, okay," he capitulated. "You can let me make a fool of myself later."

They talked for another hour. Ryo was amazed how she never raised the subject of Dee and he could only guess that she was waiting for him to make the first move. He knew they would talk about it eventually, but at present he was content to be away from his crazy life and the problems that he knew he would have to find solutions for in time.

Uncle Rick arrived home early evening. The polite conversation started up afresh over dinner until Rick left to go bowling, a routine he apparently followed every Thursday evening. After clearing away the dishes, Ryo went and changed before he and Elena set off across the field to catch the horses. Lured by the possibility of treats, the horses wandered over to investigate as Elena and Ryo approached. Their curiosity was rewarded, and as a result they came willingly when their owner and her companion put on their halters and led them towards the barn that stood next to the house.

Under Elena's guidance Ryo saddled Scout, Carrie's five year old mare. The gentle creature stood patiently while he fumbled with the various straps and buckles, cursing fingers that could expertly handle a loaded firearm but couldn't fasten a cinch without multiple attempts. Eventually he was ready, and he mounted after watching Elena climb onto her horse, Jem. His own attempt was clumsy but he made it into the saddle, his right foot finding the other stirrup as he settled himself into a comfortable position and took up the reins.

"See? You're a natural!" Elena said with a grin.

"Oh sure. Say that again when we've started moving."

They set out at an easy pace following the dirt track away from the house. The sun was low on the horizon, casting a warm pink glow across the land as they moved along side by side.

"I can see why you're happy with the move," Ryo said after a while.

Elena smiled. "Yeah. I never thought I'd be so in love with peace and quiet. At first I thought I'd go crazy without the constant sound of traffic but now I think I've gotten the right balance. I can enjoy the city through work but come home to this."

Just as Ryo was about to think his formerly wild-child aunt had completely calmed down, she gave him a wink and a wicked grin.

"Plus you can have really wild parties when your nearest neighbours are half a mile away!"

Ryo chuckled in response. "I should have known you'd have an ulterior motive for buying this place."

"You didn't think I'd hang up my mini skirts just because I'm a grandmother now, did you?"

"You without a mini skirt is like… New York without bagels."

"Bagels?" She laughed. "Why bagels?"

Ryo looked at her askance. "Have you tried to get a decent bagel outside New York?"

"Point taken."

As their laughter died away she caught a slightly wistful smile on her nephew's face and questioned it. "It just made me think that sounded like something Dee would say," he explained.

There was a moment's silence before Elena spoke again. "You can tell me to butt out, Ryo…"

"No, it's okay," he interrupted, halting whatever it was she was about to say. "If I'm honest I called you up because I needed someone to talk to. There's no point in pretending everything's okay between Dee and me."

"Are you still together?" she queried, noting the solemnity of his expression.

The detective sighed as he watched Scout's ears flick back and forth, as if she too was waiting to hear his answer. "I don't know. We've been living apart for a few weeks now. Dee moved out when we got to the point where we couldn't speak to each other without it turning into an argument."

"That's not like you, Ryo."

"I know," he agreed. "But it just seemed to happen. I could hear myself yelling back at him – then we'd just go round in circles. About the only thing we agreed on was that it wasn't fair on Bicky, so Dee went to stay at Drake's."

"And he's been there since then?"

Ryo's response stalled, before he decided that if he wanted her objective opinion she needed to know everything. "He had a brief stay at the hospital… in a psych ward."

Elena turned in the saddle, her eyes wide. "Oh my God, Ryo. What happened?" She watched her nephew shake his head slowly.

"I still don't know the full story. Dee was staying with Drake before he was admitted. The strange thing was, he had called me up and asked if we could get together to talk. Obviously I agreed but the next night he didn't show. I figured he'd just changed his mind, but Bicky went round to see him. He found Dee in a diabetic coma."

"Oh God. No wonder he didn't show."

"That's not the end of it though. When I got to the hospital the doctor treating Dee took me to one side and told me his situation was almost certainly self-inflicted."

Elena's blond eyebrows knitted together into a frown as she guided Jem along the left hand fork of the path. "Self-inflicted? Why would he do that unless…?" Her glance across at Ryo confirmed it. "Suicide? He tried to kill himself?"

It still sounded ridiculous, Ryo thought. Was this what it was like to be in denial? So many times he'd sat across from abused partners or families of murderers as they refused to believe that the person they loved, and thought they knew, was capable of such evil. He'd felt sorry for them then, but now he felt incensed that his own situation might warrant others to feel that way about him.

"You don't believe it, do you?"

"No, I don't, but the doctor says there's no other explanation and Dee's friend Tyler agreed."

"And what does Dee say?"

"That he didn't do it, but he can't provide an alternative explanation either. That's why the doctor wanted him to have psychiatric assessment. Dee agreed to it but only because the doctor said he had the power to commit him involuntarily. It's not really like he had any choice. I tried to tell him that I'd stand by him but he wouldn't listen. At the time, I guess I was confused by what the doctor was telling me and Dee obviously felt betrayed by my doubt."

"So he's back at Drake's now?"

"I haven't spoken to him since the day the doctor mentioned psychiatric evaluation. He told me to go and that he would talk to me again when he was out. I only found out he'd been released and was back at Drake's because he asked Bicky to take Bright round to him. Since he didn't come and get Bright for himself, or come home, it's obvious that he still doesn't want to speak to me."

The steady rhythm of the horses' hooves filled the inevitable silence that followed Ryo's gloomy proclamation about the state of his relationship. Elena watched her nephew for a minute, his expression confirming that he was lost in memories and clearly none of them good.

"And what do you want, Ryo? Is it over in your eyes?"

Ryo looked pained. "That's the last thing I want, but… well, a lot's happened. I – I thought I knew Dee, but he kept things, important things, from me. I don't know if we could just go back to the way things were if I don't feel like I can trust him."

"Can you tell me?"

He wanted to tell her, to have someone understand why he was so hurt. Drake was a good source of support, but without all the facts his colleague obviously couldn't appreciate why he and Dee were still at odds. He'd realised that the night he had met Drake, wanting to talk. Drake had seemed, well, off with him when he'd indicated that his relationship with Dee might be over – like it was he, Ryo, that was the only maintaining factor in their separation. He needed someone to listen.

"You remember when Dee was abducted? He had a lot of injuries, both mental and physical but, well, there was something else he didn't tell me about. When he went on that therapy programme in England, he realised he'd repressed memories of being sexually assaulted. He let the guy do it to protect me and Bicky."

"Oh Ryo…"

"Obviously I'm devastated that someone could hurt him like that, and use me to achieve it, but I can't believe he didn't tell me. I'm so hurt that he didn't want me to know."

"So how did you find out?"

"Through Tyler. She let slip because she assumed I'd know. I don't blame her – I mean, Dee and I are supposed to be married, for better or worse and all that. She didn't know that he'd kept it from me."

"So what did Dee say when he knew that you knew?"

Ryo sighed, wearied by the memory. "We had a fight. I just wanted Dee to see why I was upset that he hadn't told me, but he got mad, said I should just get over it because he had."

"Do you believe that he is over it?"

The blond shrugged as he studied Scout's head rhythmically bobbing up and down as she walked, her ears swivelling around to catch the sounds of nature all around them. "I don't think I could answer that – we just haven't been able to talk, so I really don't know."

"Do you think it has anything to do with why he ended up in hospital?"

"I don't know."

Elena could see Ryo was no closer to understanding the situation and she decided against asking anymore questions. A beautiful bird on the path ahead provided a welcome distraction and the topic of conversation moved on, but Elena wasn't about to give up. She could tell Ryo didn't want his marriage to be over and she was sure that, despite everything, Dee felt the same - with everything that had happened between them they'd just lost sight of what they really wanted. As she looked across at Ryo, staring off into the distance, she was relieved to find that her instinct told her that he wasn't a lost cause just yet.

The first that Dee knew that anything had happened to his new ally was when he received a frantic phone call from Bicky the morning following the attack. He held the door for a pregnant woman as he left the convenience store, his arms laden with groceries.

"Okay, okay," he muttered, juggling bags and battling pocketfuls of crap to locate his insistent cell phone. From where his leash was attached to a post outside the store, Bright looked up at him, his tail wagging in the hope that they were about to go somewhere he could run about and chase things.

"I know," Dee said to his canine companion. "There's no rest for the wicked, huh, boy?" He swore as the device stopped ringing the moment he laid his hand on it. The display gave Bicky's name as the identity of the caller, but before he could call him back it began to ring again. He pressed the button to answer it.

"Jeez, I'm here! What's the rush?"

No greeting, just straight into the message. "Someone tried to kill Kelly Capland last night. She's in hospital, but she's not expected to survive."

"Holy shit." Dee moved the phone to his other ear so he could hear better when some children came to stand nearby and started arguing loudly about baseball cards. "How'd you know?"

"I tried to ring her this morning but her cell was answered by a cop. I just said I was a friend and he asked me a few questions."

"Jesus," Dee muttered to himself before he replied. "I was with her 'til ten. I walked her back to her apartment and then went home. Where was she attacked?"

"She was found in her apartment so it must have just happened after you'd left her."

"Did the cop say what his name was?"

"Detective Maz… Mazowski, something like that."

Dee drew a long breath in through his nose, turning and frowning at the kids that were now engaged in a half-hearted scuffle on the sidewalk. "I don't recognise his name, but it's probably the fourteenth precinct since that's not far from her apartment. I'll go and speak to them."

"Did you find anything else about Tyler?"

"I've got an address, most likely where she was living before she moved in with us. I'll check that out too."

"Okay, call if you need us."

"I will…. Bick? Does Ryo know about all this?"

"Don't think so. He's gone to stay with Elena for a few days."

"Oh… okay."

Once he had ended the call, he turned his attention to Bright, fixing the dog with an apologetic gaze. "Sorry, boy, but something's come up. Can we do the whole walk thing later?"

The dog's head cocked to one side to show he was listening but his tail no longer wagged, as if he understood that his date with his favourite sniffing places had been cancelled.

"Oh come on, don't look at me like that. I'll make it up to you later, I promise." No response. "I'll throw in a bone to sweeten the deal, how does that sound?" When the dog wagged his tail, the detective rolled his eyes. "You sure drive a hard bargain, mutt."

He was right about the fourteenth precinct. Detective Steve Mazowski was indeed based there and on the premises when Dee asked for him on the main desk. The young male cop working the desk looked reluctant to call the detective until Dee explained that he was there about an attempted murder case and that he was 'Detective' rather than Mr. McLain.

He was directed to a row of scuffed plastic seats while he waited for the other man to arrive. There was a small table piled high with magazines that looked well-read for want of a better description. The most recent edition of any of the publications that Dee could find was July 2001 and he was certain, as he thought of his own place of work, that there was a company somewhere that sold out of date magazines to police precincts and hospitals to dump in their waiting areas.

Footsteps alerted him to the approach of a balding middle-aged man in grey slacks and a navy sports coat, the fourteenth precinct clearly not having adopted the dress-down rule of the twenty-seventh.

"Detective McLain?" he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Detective Mazowski. I believe you may have information about the attempted murder of Kelly Capland?"

Dee nodded solemnly. "I don't know how useful it'll be, but I figured I should come."

"Appreciated. This way, please."

They walked in silence to an interview room, Dee noting that the precinct was depressingly similar in upkeep to the twenty-seventh.

"Coffee?" the older man asked once Dee had seated himself at the only table in the room.

"Thanks. Black's fine."

"Feel free to smoke," Mazowski said, seeing Dee's attention directed at the no smoking sign behind him. He gave him an empty polystyrene cup to use as an ashtray.

"So Detective McLain…"

"It's Dee, please."

"Okay, Dee. You feel you might be able to help us with the Capland Case?" He'd gone all business-like, clearly presuming that Dee was there in a professional capacity, most likely having come across a perp with a similar MO. Naturally, he was taken aback by the response he received.

"As I said, I'm not sure I can be of too much help, but I thought you should know that I was with Kelly Capland last night."

To his credit, Mazowski's response was coolly professional. "With? As in the Biblical sense?"

A vehement shake of the head. "Hell no, I'm married."

Mazowski allowed a slight smile to penetrate his otherwise stoic features. "Well, I saw the ring but I had to ask. You wouldn't be the first married man…"

"Married gay man?"

"Touché. Okay, so tell me what you mean by 'with'."

Dee nodded, knocking the ash off his cigarette into the cup. "I met her in bar. I was asked by someone to meet her because she had some information for me."

"About a case?"

"No, for personal reasons. She's an ex-work colleague of an old friend of mine who, well, I think might not be as good a friend as I first thought."

"Sounds complicated."

Dee gave the man a humourless smile. "It's certainly looking that way. My husband's son is suspicious of Tyler, my friend. She's been living with us, but he feels that she's up to no good. He remembered an incident when he'd been with Tyler and a girl, I now know to be Kelly Capland, had spoken to her, but Tyler pretended not to know her. Bicky went to see Kelly and asked her how she knew Tyler…"

"Ah, was Bicky the young man who rung Kelly's cell phone this morning?"

Dee nodded. "That's how I found out something had happened to her. Anyway, Kelly and Tyler used to work together but there was no love lost between them. She knew Tyler as Laura and since something strange does seem to be going on, she agreed to help find out more about her. She called Bicky yesterday wanting to arrange a meeting with me. We met at Red's, a bar about three blocks from Kelly's apartment at eight thirty."

Mazowski nodded, making a note of the time and location on his notepad. "Was she there when you arrived?"

"Yeah." Dee crushed his cigarette into his makeshift ashtray and took a sip of the steaming black coffee. "I arrived about ten minutes late and she was there already."

"Alone?"

"Yeah."

"Did you notice anyone else showing an interest in her? She's a pretty girl – or was," Mazowski added ominously.

"No, well, not that I noticed anyway. What's her status?"

"Officially she's fighting for her life, unofficially she hasn't got a cat in hell's chance. The girl needs a goddamned miracle if she's going to pull through. The emergency crew were amazed to find a pulse – they were all ready to stick her in a bag."

"She's obviously a fighter then."

"Let's hope, huh?" Mazowski studied the scrawl on his pad. It wasn't much, but it was more than he had twenty minutes ago. "So your friend, Tyler. You said she and Kelly didn't get on."

"Apparently so."

"Do you think she disliked her enough to give her a motive?"

Dee looked up from his cigarette packet, half open to reveal his next smoke. He contemplated the question, his mind torn as he tried to come up with the answer. If Tyler was the Tyler he'd known and loved then the answer was a resounding no. If, however, she was an impostor posing as Tyler then how could he possibly know for sure?

"I couldn't say," he answered eventually. "I mean, I'm not even sure Tyler is who she says she is yet."

"Okay, no probs. So you met Kelly at Red's last night. What time did you leave?"

"About ten. I walked her home."

"Did you go up to her apartment?"

Dee shook his head. "No. I left her at the main doors. We stood, had a chat and then I walked home. She was going inside when I turned round and waved. That was the last I saw of her."

There was a short silence as Mazowski scribbled furiously on his pad. When the older man looked up, he seemed uneasy with what he was about to say. Dee was soon to find out why.

"Detective McLain, I hate to ask you this, but would you mind giving us a DNA sample?"

To his credit, if Dee was surprised, he didn't show it. "Sure."

Mazowski nodded. "Appreciated. I'll just get a kit."

Dee sat alone for a minute as the other man left the room. He reasoned they must have found some evidence at the scene if they wanted DNA, and he wasn't surprised that he'd been asked to give a sample – after all, he'd probably been the last person to see Kelly, aside from her attacker of course. He decked his second cigarette and blew a breath on his hand before raising the cupped appendage to his nose and sniffing it. "Ugh," he muttered, his face scrunched into a frown as he inhaled the mingling odours of coffee and cigarettes. "Dee, you really need to quit."

Mazowski returned carrying the testing kit, which he unpacked on the desk in front of the other man. "You can do it yourself," he offered, but Dee shrugged.

"I don't mind. Just hold your breath if you're going in. My mouth don't exactly smell of roses, you know?" He gestured towards the cigarettes to emphasise his point. Mazowski smiled.

"Don't worry about it. I'm a twenty a day man myself."

The younger man leaned back, tilting his head upwards before he opened his mouth wide. Using the swab taken from the sterile kit, Mazowski ran it around his mouth, saturating the cotton wool in saliva.

"Done. Thanks for your cooperation, Detective McLain. I know I don't need to tell you it's just procedure. If we're done here you can go, but please ring me if you think of anything else."

"I will do. Nice meeting you."

"You too. And you're at the twenty-seventh if I need to speak to you again?"

He had to wait for the answer as Dee pulled on his jacket. "Yes and no. I'm on long term sick leave at the moment."

Detective Mazowski looked surprised – the younger man certainly looked healthy enough. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope your recovery is swift."

"Thanks."

Mazowski saw the other detective to the front door. Once Dee had gone he turned around and jumped, not realising his partnerwas standing almost directly behind him.

"Who was that?" Mike Delaney asked, inclining his head towards Dee's retreating form. "He looks familiar."

"Let's get a coffee and I'll fill you in."

Over the passing days, Elena noticed Ryo starting to relax. Being away from his stressful job was an obvious factor and, as she got him to talk more about Dee, she knew her initial instincts were correct: he still loved Dee and desperately wanted them to stay together. As they sat resting after another slightly more energetic ride, Elena took a calculated risk and pulled out the photograph album of the men's wedding, realising that there were some photographs that she had taken that her nephew had never seen.

"I meant to show you these when you came for Elijah's christening, but I forgot." Typical Elena style – no warning that she was entering potentially choppy waters, just straight in. She turned to the first page – a large landscape image of the entire wedding party with the two grooms standing centre stage. Ryo smiled as he studied the picture.

"It was a good day," he mused, tracing the picture with his finger. "It went so fast."

Elena nodded. "Yeah. I think you should have had a wedding weekend instead. All that preparation for just one day seems crazy." She laughed suddenly. "Remember that woman when we were ordering the flowers for the church?"

Ryo sniggered at the memory, just as his aunt was doing. "Oh yeah, when she asked what colour flowers the bride was having? Her face was a picture when we set her straight."

"I can't believe how long it took to convince her she wasn't on some hidden camera show. It's a good job you and Dee aren't easily offended."

Ryo shrugged and smiled. "You start to develop a remarkably thick skin about things like that. People's opinions don't matter when… when you've got each other."

"That's why you have to make this work, Ryo," Elena said, reaching across for his hand. "It's so obvious that you still love Dee, no matter what's happened. And, well, don't think I'm being critical here, but you seem to have been communicating through other people so much recently. The things you've told me, it's been like 'Bicky said this' and 'Tyler said that' – but very little what Dee actually said for himself. You know how things are, they can get misconstrued if you're not there to hear them directly." She squeezed his hand. "I hope you don't think I'm speaking out of turn here."

Ryo shook his head, knowing she was accurate in her assessment of the situation. "I appreciate your honesty and don't ever feel like you can't say what you think. I won't be offended."

Elena nodded as she turned her attention back to the photograph album. Her face lit up as she found another picture that brought back memories. "Oh Ryo, look at Rick's hair. I told him he needed to get it cut, but would he listen?"

Ryo smiled, although his mind had drifted far from the idle chit-chat they were engaged in. He mentally relived their wedding day, allowing himself to recall all the emotions involved. He could picture Dee, so handsome in his suit as they stood shoulder to shoulder in the church, and their friends and family, so thrilled that they were committing to each other in the happy ending they deserved.

With Elena excusing herself to make them some tea, his mind strayed further into the memories of that day, onto the evening and then, inevitably, the moment they had retired to their honeymoon suite. He allowed himself to picture their lovemaking, the tenderness of it and the promises they had made to each other in the warm, fuzzy aftermath. 'Forever' Dee had said, and he had agreed.

He studied the photo of them, grinning and showing their ring-adorned fingers to the camera, then looked at his left hand, the ring still in place. The thought of not wearing it seemed, well, unthinkable. His finger traced the image of his lover's handsome face as he realised he had come to a definite decision.

He wanted Dee back, even if it took forever.

TBC…