Introduction

An alternate ending to Act 6. What if Dee hadn't listened to Ryo's pleas? What if the bullet had hit Ryo, instead of the wall?

Torn apart by guilt, Dee can only watch as the trust he shared with Ryo crumbles away, leaving their growing relationship a broken and shattered one. And when Ryo announces that he's leaving, it looks like all of Dee's hopes for a future with the man he loves have become impossible to achieve.

With only himself to blame for the turn of events, Dee searches frantically for Ryo, only to find that his old partner seems to have disappeared for good. Is this the end of their crime busting team? Has Dee's mistake cost him his dream of being with Ryo?

As events unfold, two hearts are broken….

Chapter Three; Deception

Dee did a double take, stepping back from the bed in shock at Ryo's words.

"Wha…what? Dude, what are you saying?" He gasped.

Ryo simply shut his eyes and turned his head away, refusing to look at Dee. And when he spoke, his voice was even colder, every word certain.

"I need you to leave."

"Ryo? Are you being serious! Tell me you're just joking, please…." Dee croaked, green eyes wide and shocked. Ryo shook his head, never breaking eye contact with the younger man.

"I'm deadly serious, Dee. What, did you think you could just shoot me and then we'd go back to being best buddies? I'm sorry, Dee, but this isn't like when you force me into a kiss – I can't just pretend it never happened." Ryo snapped, wincing slightly as his aggravated movements made his wound throb.

"Ryo, please!" Dee pleaded, horrified at the way that things were going. "I didn't mean to shoot you like that! It was a mistake – you gotta believe me!" Raking his hands through his dark hair, Dee's breathing sped up as he grew more and more agitated, Ryo's dark expression shooting right through him.

"Oh, and that's supposed to make me feel better! You could have killed me! All I was trying to do was stop you from doing something you'd regret for the rest of your life, and in return you turned your gun on me." Ryo visibly drooped, suddenly becoming quieter.

"We're partners, for crying out loud Dee. We face dangerous situations every day in this city – we should be able to trust each other with our lives. And the thing is, I can't trust you. Not anymore." Ryo said brokenly.

"Ryo…" Dee whispered, moving to wrap the blonde in a tight embrace, just wanting Ryo to trust him again, to maybe break down crying on his shoulder and to stop acting so coldly. But before he could even get close, Ryo had flinched away from his touch, gazing at him evenly with those unreadable dark eyes.

"Could you ring Bikky and let him know that I'm awake please? I'd like to see him." Ryo said, cutting Dee off before he could say anything else. Dee nodded numbly, silently walking out of the room and closing the door behind him. A nurse bustled by, and he grabbed her sleeve before vacantly saying;

"Mr Maclean from Room 542's awake. I'm just going to tell the kid he's looking after."

"Someone will be in to check on him shortly sir." The nurse smiled, continuing on with her rounds. Dee nodded and walked jerkily over to the nearby payphone, inserting a 50 cent coin into the slot and dialling Carol's home number. He knew that Bikky should be there, since he'd been staying at Carol's during Ryo's stay in hospital.

"Hello? Elina Tsumura?…..Ummm, it's Dee Laytner. I'm calling with news about Ryo…...Yes, I'd like to talk to Bikky please…..Bikky, get your butt down here right now. Ryo's woken up and he's asking for you…..yes, he seems to be fine….no, he's not got brain damage, where the hell did you get that idea from!….For God's sake, Bikky, he was hit in the chest, not the head!…..Just get down here!"

Growling under his breath, Dee hung up, cursing insolent 10 year olds who wouldn't just do what they were told. He didn't have a clue how Carol's aunt had coped looking after both kids these last few days. Checking his watch, he looked longingly at the door to Ryo's room before shaking his head and making his way down to the main entrance to meet Bikky.

"This is so great! I can't believe that he's awake and fine! I was so worried about him!" Carol laughed, clapping her hands happily as the group rode the elevator up to the 5th floor. Bikky nodded, shooting Dee a dark glare.

"Yeah, he's gonna be fine….no thanks to a certain person." He said stingingly, before pausing as he got no angry response from Dee.

"Dee? What the hell's up with you! I thought you'd be jumping for joy now that Ryo's awake!" Bikky frowned, staring suspiciously at the older man. Dee shrugged, hanging his head slightly.

"He doesn't want to see me. He wouldn't even let me apologise properly….he just got angry at me and asked me to ring you." He muttered miserable, shoving his hands in his pockets. Carol sighed pityingly, and took Bikky's hand as the doors to the lift pinged open, pulling the mulatto down the corridor towards Ryo's room.

"Don't worry Dee, we'll talk to him!" She promised, smiling over her shoulder. Bikky jerked his hand away from her, staring at Carol like she'd just grown a second head.

"Who's we! I don't want them to get back together – maybe then I wouldn't have to keep walking in on this old geezer slurping all over Ryo's face!" He protested loudly. Carol just rolled her eyes and winked at Dee knowingly.

"Fine, I'll talk to him. I'm sure he won't stay mad at you for long…well ok, he's Ryo, so he will stay mad at you for ages…but I'm sure he'll get over it eventually." She promised. Dee smiled wanly at her, nodding as he watched them knock and enter Ryo's room.

"Thanks…" He murmured, before going to notify the precinct of Ryo's awakening.

Two hours later, and Dee was ready to collapse from a mixture of boredom and despair. He'd read through all the magazines he could get his hands on, tried out most of the free arcade games offered in the nearby room, and failing that, attempted to escape using his imagination.

At which point he'd realised he didn't have one.

So now he was just slouched in his seat, staring blankly at the white wall and wishing that he had something to distract him from the scenes that were currently playing in his head – all of which were focused around a certain dark haired blonde that was currently talking to Bikky and Carol.

So engrossed in his self-pity was he, Dee almost didn't hear the soft click of the door opening. But his police training kicked in, and his head shot round to stare unblinkingly at the door, his breath catching as the two children walked out.

"Well?" He demanded, jumping to his feet as Carol dragged Bikky over to him.

"He said he'll see y…" Carol's voice trailed away as a whirlwind suddenly blew past her, leaving the space previously occupied by Dee empty. Twisting round, she just had time to catch sight of a leg vanishing through the doorway to Ryo's room before the door clicked closed and the corridor fell silent.

"Kyaa, he's fast!" She giggled, putting her hand up to hide her mouth. Bikky snorted, looking to the side.

"Bet that's what everyone he sleeps with say so too…OW!" Squinting in pain and rubbing at his abused head, Bikky looked up at Carol indignantly.

"What was that for?"

"For saying mean things about Dee – he's Ryo's, so only Ryo should be allowed to insult him." She explained cheerfully, grabbing his arm again. "Come on, let's leave the lovebirds be!"

Meanwhile, Dee was nervously hovering by the door, waiting for Ryo to give him the ok to sit down. Tilting his head to look at him, Ryo just shrugged and raised a sarcastic eyebrow, pointing to the chair next to him. Sighing in relief, Dee promptly made his way over and sat down in it.

"So…" He began, voice tailing off as he realised that he hadn't got a clue what to say. In awkward situations like these, he'd normally end up pouncing on the blonde and kissing him….but he somehow doubted that Ryo would take that in a good way at the moment, what with him recently being shot and all.

"Don't get carried away, Dee. I didn't call you in here to play the forgiving victim. I just wanted to say a few things before you go." Ryo cut in. Dee's mouth went dry and he swallowed hard, staring at Ryo in shock.

"Go? But…I've been staying at the hospital ever since you were admitted…I'm happy to stay…"

"But I don't want you to stay, Dee. I'd much rather you went home and stayed away from me for a while." Ryo said icily, glaring at the green eyed man. "I just wanted to say that I'm not going to press charges against you when this comes up in court, I'll support the claim that you were out of your mind with grief at the time. But that's it – that's as far as I'm prepared to go when it comes to forgiving you."

"Well…guess that'll put a strain on our working relationship." Dee said weakly, somehow knowing full well that the only reason Ryo wasn't pressing charges was because like it or not, Dee was too good a cop for the 27th precinct to lose.

"Not really, since I'm requesting a transfer." Ryo stated casually, as if it wasn't that big of a deal. To the Dee however, it was like a bomb had been dropped on his head – no, bigger…a meteor.

"What! Ryo, you can't do this!" He yelped, jumping to his feet and staring at Ryo in shock. Ryo shrugged again and looked away, his expression pained.

"What, you expect me to just go back there, and see you everyday for the rest of my career? Even if I can get a new partner, I'll still bump into you all the time – Criminal Investigations isn't that big, and you know it. I can't live like that, Dee. I can't face you everyday as though nothing happened. I'm not a strong enough person."

"Ryo…please, reconsider. I…"

"No Dee. I won't reconsider. Now, I think that it's time to leave."

"Ryo! You can't do this! I won't let you just run away from everything like this! You can't!" Dee bellowed, not noticing Ryo reach behind him and press a button on the bed. Almost instantly, a nurse came into the room, frowning as she saw Dee yelling at one of her patients like that.

"Nurse, could you remove this man from my room and make arrangements so that he won't be allowed into see me ever again? He's harassing me, and I'd rather not have to put up with his obsessive stalker visits." Ryo said coldly, ignoring the hurt expression that washed across Dee's face.

"Of course, Mr Maclean. I'll make arrangements with Front Desk right away." Making a note on her clipboard, she turned to Dee and gently took his arm, beginning to guide him out of the room. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave Sir…"

"Fine!" Dee snapped, yanking his arm out of her grasp and storming out of the room. Once he was outside of the room, however, his enraged expression became one of pain, and he slid down the wall with his head in his hands, tears in his eyes. >Oh God Ryo…I don't want you to go…I don't think I'll survive if you leave me alone…>

"In conclusion, we recommend that Detective Laytner is given 21 days house arrest and is prohibited from using a firearm for the next 6 months. Afterwards, he will be granted access to guns once more, but must be kept under strict probation. Any failure to keep to these conditions will result in an enquiry into the circumstances concerning the particular incident, possibly followed by a short jail sentence."

Dee wilted in relief at the sentence, glad that it wasn't anything more serious. He could cope with being kept under house arrest for a few weeks…and as much as he relied on his gun, he'd never been able to look at one quite the same way after the confrontation in the alleyway.

Glancing up at the public seating in the gallery, Dee's gaze fell on a certain blonde who had slipped up to watch after giving his statement, noticing the slightly pale and worn expression he was wearing, obviously tired from the day's events.

Ryo happened to look down at him at that particular moment, and for an instant they were gazing into each others' eyes, warm brown staring into endless green. Then Ryo's eyes hardened, and he turned away. Sighing, Dee left the docks and walked out of the back entrance to the courtroom, smiling wanly as JJ leapt at him, babbling on about how relieved he was that Dee wasn't going to jail.

"Yeah, I'm glad that you got managed to get off lightly." Ted grinned, shooting Dee the thumbs-up. Drake nodded in agreement, offering a hand to pull Dee up from where he'd crashed to the floor during JJ's charge.

"For a moment there, I thought that they were going to give you a harsher sentence. But luckily, they seemed to change their minds halfway through…"

"No thanks to Ryo. I'm sure that his half-hearted defence of the lovely Dee here made things worse." JJ snorted, wrapping his arms tighter around Dee. Dee growled, wrenching himself away from the JJ leech.

"Shut the hell up, JJ! Ryo didn't have to come down here and speak for me, especially when he's still recovering from the injury that I gave him. And he did the best he could in the circumstances, so lay off him!" He snapped. Silence suddenly fell, and Dee looked up to see Ryo standing at the other end of the hall, watching him. Realising that he'd been spotted, the blonde quickly turned and walked away, heading for the exit.

"Ryo! Wait!" Dee yelped, shoving his way past JJ and running after his partner, trying to catch up with him. Leaping down the short flight of stone steps that led outside, he finally succeeded, dashing in front of Ryo and blocking his way. Ryo raised an eyebrow at the heavily breathing Dee but then turned away, not wanting to look at the persistent cop.

"Ryo…have you thought anymore about your decision? You're not really leaving, are you?" Dee pleaded, staring earnestly at his crush. Ryo tensed, biting his lip as he lifted his head to look at Dee again.

"Yeah…I am. I'm leaving at the end of the month, just over a week after you get freed from your house arrest." Ryo admitted, not quite meeting Dee's gaze.

"Ohh…any idea what job you'll get?" Dee asked quietly. Ryo shook his head, finally making eye contact with him.

"I suppose it depends on what kind of jobs are available near my new apartment…I'm moving away too."

"You're…ohh. I…I hope you have a good time in your new home." Dee said, smiling despite how it felt like his heart was breaking.

Ryo studied him for a moment, then looked down again, focusing on the coat that he held tightly in his hands.

"Umm…if you want you could come see me off…" He offered. Dee smiled gently, nodding.

"I think I'd like that."

"Good…don't forget, ok? Come see me off on the last day of the month – no sooner though, or I won't be ready." Ryo grinned.

"Sure! But…shouldn't it be 'see us off', instead of 'see me' off? What about Bikky?" Dee frowned, picking up on the slight slip. Ryo stiffened, tightening his grip on his coat at the question.

"Bikky won't be coming with me. It's not fair that he should have to start off in a new school and make new friends just because I want to move. I've made arrangements with Carol's aunt – she'll look after Bikky, and I'll send her money every month to help pay for him. I guess he's not my responsibility anymore, since I'm not keeping a roof over his head…but I feel like I should help out still." He murmured softly.

Dee nodded understandingly, making to pull Ryo into a short hug.

"I know what you mean. I…"

"Umm, Dee? I have to go now. Bikky will be wondering where I am." Ryo suddenly interrupted, moving away from Dee and looking at him questioningly. Dee held up his hands in surrender, allowing a crooked grin to crawl onto his face.

"Sure. But get ready for my visit at the end of the month, because I'll be using everything in my power to get you to stay." He announced, waving and walking off. Ryo watched him go for a moment, before turning and leaving himself, hair cast a shadow over his face so that his glittering eyes were lost to the darkness.

But the single tear that trickled down his cheek shone in the light, letting the world know that a certain heart was breaking.

>I'm sorry, Dee.>

Author's Note

Well, chapter 3 is finally up! I didn't mean to leave it that long! (Just over 2 months? Yow!) So anyway, I'm sorry about that. I've been focusing on my other fics, and I had to prepare for Mock Exams and my French Speaking Exam, so...yeah.This fic should get more attention soon, as my Tsubasa fic will be finished soon - so I'll only have 2 on the go for once!

But anyway, back to the chapter...Ryo, what are you doing? Well, I know, since I'm writing it, but still...what are you planning? Oh, and for anyone who got confused by 'Elina Tsumura', she's Carol's aunt. Book 2 mentions that she's called Elina, and as I couldn't find a last name for Carol anywhere (and believe me, I looked everywhere - OVA credits, manga, Absolute Anime factfile...) I used a fairly common Japanese one.

Please read and review!

Aeryon Sun - You thought I'd given up on the story? I bet you were sure I had after this long break! I am so sorry! I'm glad that you liked Ryo's reaction, and I hope that you liked how he acted in this chapter too! I'm quite interested in your idea of a confrontation between Rose and Dee...watch out in the next chapter, I may actually put that in somewhere. And yup, I was fully aware of why Volume 7 was shrinkwrapped - but I knew I had to have it anyway! Ha ha!

GreenEyedFloozy - Well, here's your update! Not ended in such an evil place this time, but still...hmmmm.

ll - I wrote more, but it wasn't soon!

Blood Tears Dying Angel - Yeah, FAKE is awesome, right? The reason number 7 is never in the shops is probably the content - a lot of shops refused to sell it, even shrink wrapped. I got all of mine online, since only one shop near me sells manga, and even then it has a grand total of different series on sale - what a range...not.

firgodes7 - Yeah, I thought it was about time too! And I enjoyed them a lot. It was too short a chapter for me too, but I really wanted to leave it on those particular lines. I tried to make this chapter a bit longer too, but it didn't really work out. Later chapters will be much longer though!

lynnea - Yup, Dee has his work cut out for him now! He didn't end up in jail though, did he? That's gotta be something...I hate to say it though, but Dee won't get his man until much later...but until then - yummy good ol' chasing!

Melantha Delmar - I'm glad that you liked my characterisation and plot twist! I didn't update soon though...hope you're not angry! I liked you better happy!

Ryo - Continued!

ColeridgeFan - Again, updated, but not soon. Sorry about that!

Wow, guys...I really appreciated all the reviews I got for that last chapter. If I could get just as many this time, I would be even happier! Thanks so much!