Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.

This Is The End

Horatio sat down. 'Tell me, do you know why you're here, Mr Stephenson?'

'Please,' Luke said lazily. 'Call me Luke.'

'Very well. Luke. Do you know why you're here?'

'No. I don't and I'm not very impressed at being dragged down here.'

'Your car was involved in a hit and run accident this morning.'

'Really?' Luke contrived to looked horrified and succeeded. 'It was stolen this morning, I was going to report it but your guys brought me here before I could. It was used in a hit and run?'

'Yes,' Horatio said quietly. 'It was used to try and kill a police officer.'

'Well, I am very sorry, Lieutenant Caine. I truly am, but I had nothing to do with it.'

'You're sure about that?'

'Of course I am. I'm very sorry – was the officer injured?'

'Nothing serious,' Horatio said.

Luke looked sympathetic. 'I'm glad to hear that. I would be horrified if my car was used to kill a police officer.'

'You didn't ask how I knew it was your car,' Horatio observed mildly.

Luke looked blank but rallied. 'I assumed you knew what you were talking about, but now you bring it up, how do you know?'

'The officer managed to supply us with the license plate,' Horatio said. 'Make, model, colour, and a description of the driver who matches yours.'

'Oh, I expect there are a few thousand men who are similar in description to me in Miami,' Luke said calmly. 'It wasn't me driving the car. I told you.'

'We also found red paint transfer from your car on the officer's car,' Horatio continued. 'We compared the samples. They match your car.'

'Like I said, my car was stolen.'

'You don't want to change your story?'

'No, thank you. I'm telling you the truth.'

'I wonder.' Horatio gave him a thoughtful look. 'You're the ex-boyfriend of Maxine Valera, aren't you?'

'I hardly see what that has to do with anything.'

'Having trouble letting go, Luke?'

'I don't know what you mean.'

'She's reported you for harassing her, for stalking her.'

'I'm sorry,' Luke said, smiling now. 'But Maxine is – prone to exaggeration. It's true I tried to persuade her to take me back, but I never stalked her.'

'You stalked her,' Horatio repeated. 'You've been following her, calling her, even after she asked you to stop repeatedly.'

'This is nonsense,' Luke said quietly. 'Maxine resents the fact that we broke up, she's trying to get me into trouble.'

Horatio didn't answer that. 'You couldn't cope with the fact that soon after she broke up with you, she started dating Ryan Wolfe. You threatened her, you threatened to harm him. You told her that if you couldn't have her, no one could.'

'That is not true.'

'You slashed Ryan's tire as a warning to Valera, didn't you? You refused to leave her alone, to accept her decision to finish with you. So eventually you decided to try and get rid of Ryan. You reasoned he was the only thing standing between her coming back to you. You tried to kill him this morning.'

'No.'

Horatio lent back. 'Are you certain you don't want to change your story?'

'No, I don't want to change my story! Look, Valera has been ringing me and coming over to mine – '

'Listen to this.' Horatio set down a small tape recorder on the table and pressed the play button. It began to play.

'You almost killed Ryan this morning.'

'Not for lack of trying. He has good reflexes, I'll give him that. If he'd been a bit slower I would have got him. Still, if at first you don't succeed…'

'Just stop this. It's over between him and me.'

'Only because you think that breaking up with him will make me stop. I love you. I'm going to be here until you realise you love me too.'

'Why involve Ryan?'

'Because you care about him.'

Horatio hit the fast forward button.

'It's clear to me this Ryan is clouding your judgement. With him out of the way, you'll be able to see I'm the man for you.'

'You're crazy if you think I'll ever come back to you.'

'You will. You will.'

'You hurt Ryan anymore, you kill him, I will hate you forever.'

'I'll do what I have to. For us.'

'There is no us. Leave Ryan alone, Luke. Don't hurt him anymore.'

'I'll hurt him as much I need to if it will make you see sense.'

Horatio stopped the tape. 'I call that a confession,' he said. 'Even if you didn't know you were confessing.' He gave a grim smile. 'She told me everything this morning. I sent her to see you, wearing a wire. You fell for a very simply trick, my friend. You confessed to the attempted murder of a police officer and to stalking Valera. It was you in the car this morning. We have fingerprints to back that up. And you saying it was you. So you might as well come clean now, not that it will help you much.'

'You ever been in love, Lieutenant?' Luke asked him. 'I love her. I would do anything for her.'

'Except what she asked you – to leave her alone and to leave him alone,' Horatio said.

'She cheated on me. She treated me like dirt. Like I was nothing.'

'She didn't cheat on you,' Horatio said. 'She didn't treat you like dirt, she was honest with you.'

'I love her.'

'You don't love her. You don't know what love is. You just wanted to possess her, you didn't want her to be anyone else's and you wouldn't take no for an answer.'

'He took her away from me. He stole her from me.'

'He didn't steal her,' Horatio said, disgusted. 'You drove her away and then you tried to force her to go back to you. And you can't even understand what you've done.' He got up. 'But you're going to prison, my friend, and you're not going to get the chance to do this again. Not for a very long time.'


She was getting ready to leave at the end of the day when she finally saw him. She had been to afraid to go and find him, had felt too guilty to go and find him.

He stood in the doorway, watching her. The lab was all but empty. He was pale, with a dressing on the side of his face. Obviously where he had cut his head in the crash.

'Ryan,' she said, not knowing what to say. 'I hope you're okay,' she said eventually.

'No, I'm not,' he replied.

'Ryan – I'm sorry - '

'Horatio says they arrested him,' he said, ignoring the apology. 'And he's definitely going to be charged. So he won't be bothering you for a while.'

'You have no idea how relieved I am about that.'

'I might.' He looked down at the floor. 'You know, I've had one hell of a year. It seemed to be getting better for a while but it turns out that's not the case.'

'Ryan – '

'Don't you dare tell me you're sorry.'

It would have been easier if he had been angry. But he wasn't. He sounded sad, more than anything else. His voice was heavy with disappointment.

'But I am,' she said.

'Are you going to tell me why you neglected to tell me your crazy ex-boyfriend wanted to kill me?' he asked bluntly.

She winced. 'I didn't know he was going to try and kill you – '

'But you knew it was him who slashed my tire.'

There was no point in denying it. 'Yes.'

'And you didn't tell me.'

'I didn't want to get you involved.' Now it sounded stupid.

'I was involved. He tried to kill me.'

'I thought if I kept you out of it then he would leave you alone.'

'This is the real reason you broke up with me. Why you treated me like shit.'

'I thought if I pushed you away, drove you away, then he would think I didn't care about you and he would leave you alone.'

'Do you think it worked?' he asked spitefully. He winced the moment the words were out of his mouth. 'I'm sorry. That was unfair.'

'I was trying to protect you,' she said. She was amazed at how composed she was. 'I was prepared to have you hate me if it kept him from harming you.'

'What I don't understand is why you didn't trust me enough to tell me. Why you didn't trust anyone enough to tell them.'

'You think it was a matter of trust?' she asked, astonished.

'You're saying it wasn't?'

'No! Of course I trust you!'

'Not enough to trust me with the fact that your ex had turned into a scary stalker type.'

'I thought you getting involved would end up with you getting hurt, Ryan!'

'If you had told me, maybe I wouldn't have!' He pointed at the cut on his face. 'I had to have seven stitches, Valera. I was lucky. I could have died.'

'You think I don't know that?'

'You obviously didn't think he'd really try to kill me or you would have told me! Or you simply didn't care enough to tell me my life was in danger, that your life could have been in danger!'

'I was trying to protect you!'

'Then you made a terrible job of it!'

'I was just trying to protect you,' she repeated in a whisper.

'I didn't need you to try and protect me,' he said dully. 'I needed you to trust me.'

'I couldn't risk it. Luke was threatening you.'

'All the more reason to tell me, to trust me.'

'It's not an issue of trust.'

'Yes it is. You trusted Horatio and that's fair enough. But you couldn't trust me.'

'Ryan – '

'I can't protect myself against something I don't know about.'

'I wasn't trying to get you hurt.'

'Now that is a lie,' he said harshly.

'Ryan – '

'You did hurt me,' he said. 'You pushed me away, you forced me away, and you really, really hurt me. More than anyone else ever has, I think. All you needed to do was tell me. You think I wouldn't have understood? That I could have accepted. But no. You didn't.'

'I needed to keep you away from me because he was jealous,' she tried to explain. 'I had to keep you away, completely away, so that Luke would have no reason to hate you.'

'But it didn't work like that, did it? He knew you were lying. He knew what you were playing at. Unfortunately, I didn't. I could have accepted that, Maxine. I would have understood. This – I don't. I understand why you thought you had to act like this, but I really can't understand why you didn't just tell me.'

'Ryan, I'm sorry.'

'I believe that,' he said quietly.

'I never meant to hurt you.'

He gave her a sad smile. 'Yes, you did. You meant to hurt me and you did. Even if your intentions were supposed to be for the best.'

'I'm sorry. For everything. Would you believe me if I said that I only did all of it because I wanted to protect you? That I thought I was doing the right thing?'

'Oh, I believe that. I really do.'

'I am sorry.'

'I know you are.'

She waited for him to say something else but he didn't. So she did. 'Where does this leave us?'

'Us?' he echoed. 'Right now, I don't think it leaves us anywhere.' He didn't sound angry; he sounded miserable. As if he was trying not to cry. Which was exactly how she felt.

'Can you forgive me?'

'I don't need to forgive you and you don't need to ask for it,' he said. 'You did everything because you thought you were doing the right thing. I can't argue with that and I won't. I understand that and please believe me when I say I appreciate it. Thank you for trying to protect me.'

'Ryan – ' she whispered.

'Horatio's given me the next few days off so I won't be around.'

'Don't go,' she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

He didn't look around. 'Goodbye, Maxine.'

'Ryan, please don't go.'

He stopped at the door, hesitated and then carried on.

She watched him go, wanting to go after him, wanting him to come back. She couldn't. She saw Alexx stop him beside the lift, saw her speak to him, a hand resting on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort and knew that this was hurting him as much as it was hurting her. She turned away so she couldn't see him, wiping her eyes even as she began to cry, determined that she wasn't going to. Her iron determination was crumbling. Leaving the room she crossed the lab to the bathroom. It was empty. She locked herself in a cubical and began to cry softly.

Hands up everyone who had tears in their eyes. Come on, fess up. I certainly did when I wrote it. I know, I'm sad.


I know it's not a happy ending. But hey, I couldn't see things working out any other way at this point. I hope Ryan hasn't come across as an insensitive git, because that wasn't my intention and I wanted him to come across as angry and hurt.But there you go. Not everyone gets a happy ending, right?

There might be a sequel. I like sequels. If anyone has any ideas for a sequel, feel free to message them to me.