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 Five; Seeing You Again
Sighing, Dee stared out of the window, absent-mindedly tapping his pencil against the desk as he watched the rain trickle down the glass. Flicking his gaze back to the pile of paperwork that awaited him, he sighed again, before screwing his face into an expression of determination and finally putting pen to paper, forcing himself to do the one bit of police work he hated the most.
>God, it's times like these that I miss Ryo…> He thought moodily to himself, before realising what he'd just said and instantly freezing, emerald eyes widening in shock. He hadn't meant it that way…that had sounded like he only missed his partner because the blonde had been the one to write up all of the reports.
Yes, Dee missed having someone to do his share of the paperwork for him, but that wasn't the only reason that he was pining for Ryo. It wasn't even the main one. No, the real reason, the most important one of them all, was that he had loved the Japanese-American with all his heart, more than he'd ever loved anyone – even Mother. Before, all his relationships had been purely physical, mere flings where he purposely went after the most good looking girl (or guy) he could find, just so he could trip them into bed. But Ryo had changed all that.
And now Dee was lost, his heart shattered.
>I love you Ryo…I love you so much…why did you leave me? Why did you fool me so that I'd miss the chance to even say goodbye?> The answer came to him immediately; because Ryo hadn't wanted anything more to do with him. Focused on himself and his own crazy need for vengeance, Dee had finally brought the blonde to the end of his tolerance, bringing him crashing over the edge into loathing with a single, ill-placed bullet.
>It's been two years…two whole years since I last saw you. How are you doing, baby? Did you manage to build another life for yourself? Or are you just lost and lonely like me?>
The door to his office swung open almost silently, and a tanned face with black, tousled hair stuck itself round the corner.
"Dee? The Walrus wants the whole team in his office right now…something about the Commissioner arranging a meeting out of the blue." Steven announced, winking cheekily at the depressed looking Dee. "Cheer up! I'm sure the rain won't last long…and who knows, maybe the Commissioner finally recognised all of our hard work and decided to give us a pay rise!"
Dee snorted disbelievingly, getting up and reaching for his suit jacket, slinging it over his arm and exiting the office.
"Sure thing, Steve. And maybe the Badger's going to give us all a holiday too. Get real."
"Ah, whatever man. Let's just go, alright? He'll scalp us if we're late again this week." Steven sighed, leading the way through the station.
Staring at the back of his friend's head, Dee felt the sudden urge to scream, as if letting the world know how he felt inside would switch this impostor of a partner with the only person who'd ever been able to make him eager to get to work each day - Ryo. >Not that Steven's a bad guy…hell, under other circumstances, I'd have been thrilled to have such a funny, upbeat partner. But I just can't seem to forget about Ryo, despite him being gone for so long. Steven may have been there for me these last two years…but it's Ryo that made this job truly worthwhile.>
Shaking his head, Dee caught up to his partner and grimaced as they arrived at the Chief's office, hearing the steady murmur of voices already from inside. >Huh…guess we were late after all.> Glancing at Steven, the pair shared a look of resignation, before opening the door and entering together.
Promptly being blown back against the wall by the sheer power of the angry yell that came from within.
"You lazy idiots! How come everyone else manages to get here on time, but you two can't! That's the fourth time this week! Get your asses in here…NOW!" The Chief bellowed, shaking his fist at them as they slunk into the office and found themselves a spare bit of wall to lean against.
A pair of dark eyes coldly observed them for a moment, before their owner coughed lightly and smirked as all attention was drawn back to him.
"Well, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted by our latecomers here…" Berkeley Rose paused for a second, awarding Dee with a scornful smile. "I've decided that some of you deserve a break from the 27th precinct, so I'll be sending you away for a few months…complete with full pay, of course."
A stunned silence fell over the room before hushed whispers broke through, the whole of the Criminal Investigations section seemingly stunned by the generous offer.
"Did you hear that, Dee! Free holiday…with pay!" Steven hissed excitedly, waiting for the exuberant reply he was expecting from Dee. But to his surprise, the dark haired cop merely raised a hand, the other tucked uncaringly in his trouser pocket.
"Yes, Detective Laytner?" Rose asked, noticing the silent call for attention.
"This all sounds very good…so what's the catch? If I'm right about slimy bastards like you, then you don't give anything away for free." Dee replied point blank.
The corner of Rose's mouth lifted in a mocking smile, and he nodded slowly, moving to the whiteboard set up against the wall and beginning to write.
"You're absolutely right, Detective Laytner. It looks like all these years of leeching off other people's effort finally paid off – you may have actually developed a brain."
Dee growled under his breath, but refused to rise to the challenge this time, instead focusing all of his attention on the words rapidly forming on the board.
"Star Investigations? What the hell's that? Another detective agency set up by another wannabe police officer?" Dee demanded scathingly, glaring at the confident Commissioner in front of him. If anything, Rose's smile just grew wider.
"Got it in one. Except that unlike other similar agencies, this has actually lasted – it's been open for nearly ten years now. And nearly every case that has been brought to its attention has been solved and turned over to the police for processing. We're not dealing with amateurs here – these people are qualified, able workers, who clearly know what they're doing."
"Sounds like they could be real cops if they wanted." Drake commented. Berkeley nodded, sticking a photo of a dark skinned man in his early forties on the board.
"Indeed. In fact, the founder and Chief Inspector of the agency used to actually be a Detective Sergeant for the NYPD, and was due for a promotion to head of his department when his partner was killed in a bungled drugs bust at a local warehouse. The cop, Carlton Smith, claimed that he wouldn't work for a force that only worked as well as its luck, and resigned, going off to set up his own detective agency."
"So what's that got to do with us? They're good at their job, so what?" Dee snapped. Rose chuckled under his breath, moving forwards to stare the other detective in the eye.
"So I've decided that it would be good if we could improve our own crime busting record by watching these guys in action. Therefore, I'll be sending five of you over to their agency for 3 months, where you'll partner up with the detectives at Star Investigations. In return, we'll be receiving five of their own workers."
Dee glared angrily at the Commissioner, his eyes narrowing.
"And let me guess…the ever present thorn in your side is one of those chosen to take part in the exchange, along with his partner." He said sarcastically.
"Not quite. As you'll be partnering up with the detectives there, it won't be necessary for you all to be kept in your pairs. So I'll just be sending the five people that I can stand the least." Rose smirked, watching the vein that was beginning to pulse in Dee's forehead with great satisfaction.
"Hmph. If the other detectives are so great, I may even be tempted to ask for the swap to become permanent." The Chief grunted, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.
"Aww, Chief, you know you love us really." Drake smiled, ignoring the rolled eyes he got in return.
"Ahem…anyway, the five officers that I've chosen for this exchange programme are Detectives Laytner, Parker, Griffin, Taylor and…" Rose's voice tailed away as he scanned the room, looking for another person to send. Eyes falling on JJ as the hyperactive cop accidentally knocked over the pot of pencils balanced on the Chief's desk, Berkeley's lip curled in distaste and he turned to face the rest of the room again.
"…And Adams. Any questions?" He finished quickly. Drake nodded, raising a hand to get Rose's attention.
"Um, yeah…you said that we wouldn't be sent in pairs…but JJ's my partner, so shouldn't…" He began, before being cut off by a wave of Rose's hand.
"Yes, but I'm making an exception in your case – Detective Adams is simply too annoying. It doesn't matter anyway, as you'll be split up on arrival. Any other questions? No? Then meeting dismissed – could the five chosen please report to my office for more information in half an hour? Thankyou." Rose finished, before breezing out of the room as he if he hadn't a care in the world.
"Annoying! Annoying my ass! I can't help it if I'm a klutz sometimes!" JJ seethed. Drake nodded half heartedly, not really listening.
"I wonder how my girl's going to take the news that I won't be around to take her out for the evening for a while?" He wondered glumly. Ted laughed, clapping his friend on the back.
"Relax…she'll just dump you again! She always comes back, right dude?" He joked. Dee raised an eyebrow, pointing a thumb towards the door.
"No offence, Ted, but why are you still here? Shouldn't you be back researching your current case with Marty right now?" He asked. Ted blinked in mild confusion at the question.
"Hello? Where have you been these last few years? I'm Detective Griffin…you've seriously known me that long without even knowing my last name? Damnit, Dee…" Dee flushed, raising his hands as if to defend himself from the accusations.
"Whatever, I'm sorry…by the way Mandy, what the hell did you do to get up Berkeley's nose?" He asked, turning his head to face the blonde woman currently leaning against the doorframe.
"Called him a self-righteous asshole when he started flirting with me the same day I got transferred in. Hasn't liked me since." She said shortly, tossing her long hair over her shoulder and shooting Ted a sexy wink that had the redhead drooling.
Amanda, or Mandy, Taylor had transferred to the 27th a few months after Ryo had left, after being kicked out of the 21st for repeatedly slamming her Chief's head against a filing cabinet after he'd tried to grope her chest. With the absence of major perverts around, she'd calmed down considerably…but that wasn't to say she'd let guys like Rose push her around.
Dee whistled, tucking his hands behind his head as he leaned back against the wall.
"Bet that ticked him off – slimeball's probably used to girls throwing themselves at him." He commented.
"You bet. You should have seen his face…it went all slack and pale, as if someone had just…" Amanda began, when a light cough redirected their attention to the Chief.
"In case you'd forgotten…this is my office you're just standing around and chatting in! Get out! The lot of you!" He roared, sending them scurrying for the hills. Shaking his head, the older man got up and shut the door, sinking back into his seat with a small smile on his face.
"I love my job…"
"So to sum up, you'll be put up in temporary lodgings for the three months, seeing as how it would be too far for you to travel from here to the other side of the city. You'll receive your normal wages direct to your bank accounts, and what you'll actually be working on will be determined by who Chief Inspector Smith pairs you up with. Is that clear?"
A chorus of grunts answered Rose's question, and the Commissioner sighed, rubbing at the headache rapidly forming behind his left temple.
"Fine. Get out of here then, and report to the agency bright and early tomorrow for your first day." He muttered, dropping into his chair and swivelling to gaze out the window.
Hearing the sound of footsteps and assuming that everyone had left, Rose stood to shut the door, only to swing around in shock as he heard the sound of it clicking closed.
"Detective Laytner? What on earth are you still doing here? " He demanded, glaring at the cocky cop. Dee just shrugged, emerald eyes burning.
"Just wanted to verify a few things. The only reason you chose me for this stupid exchange programme was because I'm the one who made Ryo leave before you could get your dirty little paws on him, right?" Dee said calmly, gaze even as he stared at the blonde Commissioner.
Rose's lip curled for the second time that day, and he nodded, moving round his desk to stand directly in front of Dee, silently challenging his subordinate to continue with his line of questioning.
"Yes, I have to admit that it was a rather large in factor in my decision. Because of you, the 27th lost one of the best cops that it's ever had, simply because one of its own forgot that to be someone's 'partner' means you have to actually think of them once in a while, and watch out for them." He paused, a sly gleam suddenly appearing in his eye.
"And of course, when I say 'think' I don't mean the lust-induced fantasies that you lived your life around." He said cuttingly. Dee's eyes widened in fury, and the next thing Rose knew, he was being bent backwards against his desk at what had before seemed to be an impossible angle, Dee's grip on his collar almost unbearably tight.
"You asshole! You think that what I felt for Ryo was just lust? I'm not a pompous git like you – when I say I love someone, I really mean it! I cared for Ryo more than anything else in the world!" Dee spat.
"Enough to shoot him?" Rose shot back. Dee growled, raising the blonde's head a few inches above the desk before slamming it back down to painfully connect with the varnished wood.
"Shut the hell up! What do you know, anyway? The only times you ever spoke to the guy were when you were trying to come up with an excuse to get him into your apartment!" Dee snarled. Rose winced at the sharp pain in his head, glaring up at his attacker.
"You think you know me, Detective Laytner? I'm not the sort of person who'd have just got him into bed and then abandoned him the next morning – I fully intended to date him properly! It would have been Ryo's choice how far we went in the end…I only wanted to make sure he knew that I was interested! You're the one who never really understood him!" Rose snapped angrily, before leaning his weight back and bringing his legs up to kick Dee off of him, sending the dark haired cop to the floor.
"Shit!" Dee cursed, lifting a hand to wipe at the blood now freely pouring down his face, feeling gingerly for the head wound that the heels on Berkeley's shoes had inflicted. "You damn bastard…you make it sound like you were the only one that cared for him…but he was my partner damnit, and I knew him the longest! I knew things about him that you could never hope to learn! I spent weeks trying to find out where he went after he left – I checked every single database known to mankind for a Ryo Maclean living in the United States of America, and I got nothing! I even went begging to the little brat he used to care for, only to learn that Ryo had never given an address where he could be reached! So don't you dare say I don't care about him!" Dee fumed, anger coming off him in waves.
Rose stared at him silently for a moment, before loosening his tie and collapsing back into his seat, not looking at Dee as he waved his hand towards the door.
"Get out of here, Detective. And count yourself lucky that I don't intend to report you for assault." He said quietly, his voice lacking the usual confidence it normally held.
Dee blinked, gazing at him uncertainly. Then he turned and left without a word, taking care to shut the door behind him.
"Well…I guess this is it, guys…" Drake murmured, looking up from the piece of paper he was holding at the building in front of him. "This is the address that the Commissioner gave us…"
Ted frowned, hands in his pockets as he surveyed the average looking building.
"But how can we be sure? There's nothing to say it's an actual detective agency – how could they be getting so many clients?" He pointed out. A derisive snort sounded, and the group of men looked back to see Amanda standing there with her hands on her hips.
"Maybe because their clients aren't dumb enough to miss the huge sign pasted in the second floor window?" She said scathingly, pointing. The others followed her finger, flushing as they saw the neon star painted onto said window, the name of the agency standing out clearly from the yellow background.
"Right…well now that we've just proven our inadequacy at finding things, why don't we just turn around and show the world how much we suck at other police work?" Dee suggested lightly, getting ready to do an about-turn.
"Fine, chicken boy. But don't come crying to me when the others call you a coward, Delia." Mandy called. Dee glared at her, sticking his nose in the air as he marched straight up to the building's door, shoving it open.
"Why don't you just shut your mouth, Mandy, and let the big boys do their work, alright?" He retorted, leading the way up the stairs. Behind him, Amanda rolled her eyes good naturedly.
"Men. So easily manipulated."
"So, you're the exchange officers, then. You must have only just missed my own detectives – I sent them over as soon as I'd finalised the arrangements with your Commissioner. They probably arrived not long after you'd left." Carlton Smith smiled, shaking each of the cops by the hand and gesturing for them to sit down on the seats set up for them. JJ smiled brightly, positively bouncing at the change in his usual surroundings.
"Yup, that's us! Ignore whatever our Commissioner may have said about us, we won't let you down Chief Inspector Smith!" He chirped. Smith grinned and shook his head in reply, leaning back in his chair.
"There's no need to be so formal here…JJ, was it? Just call me Carlton. At Star Investigations, we call everyone by their first names, regardless of rank or status. That's the main difference that you'll notice between here and an actual police station – other than that, we work in practically the same manner."
Dee blinked, unable to imagine working in a place where everyone was addressed so casually. From day one at the academy, it had been drilled into his head that he should always address his superiors by their rank – this would take some getting used to.
"So what exactly will we be doing here? All we were told was that our tasks would be determined by whoever we got paired up with." Drake said, glancing casually at where JJ was sitting. It looked like he was vaguely put out by the fact that he'd have to work with someone other than JJ for the time spent here.
Noticing his miffed look, Carlton laughed, running his hand carelessly through his hair.
"Yes, as all my workers are currently working on cases of their own, it only makes sense that you'll be working on them too – the object of this little swap is for us to share investigative techniques, remember? And Drake, there's no need to look so glum – if you want, we have a large case that requires two teams of people to work through it. I'll put you and JJ with the two detectives already working on it." He smiled.
Drake sighed in faint relief, his expression being unconsciously mirrored by the now calmer looking JJ. Ted, Amanda and Dee, on the other hand, were looking fairly unsettled by the thought of being launched into investigations with people that they didn't even know the names of yet.
"Anyway, the basic information on Star Investigations…we're a fairly small team of people – even when we're all here, there are only 15 of us, including myself. Each partner team has their own office, although it's generally only large enough for them, two desks and the necessary filing cabinets. You're free to take a break whenever you want one, as long as the work gets done – we have a special room set aside for that purpose just down the hall."
Surveying the team of detectives in front of him, Carlton smiled reassuringly, standing up and gesturing for them to do the same.
"So if you follow me, I'll take you down to the Recreation room and introduce you to the guys. Ok?" He announced, walking through the door and down the hall, checking back over his shoulder to make sure that they were following him.
Arriving at what looked to be a fairly large room a few doors down, Carlton pushed the door open, letting it swing back on its hinges as he indicated for the 27th precinct detectives to move inside, stepping ahead and beginning to introduce his own team as they filed in behind him.
"Ok, starting from the right, we have Jake Gillian, Sarah Arkwright, Andrew Baxter, Daniel Parry, Matthew Harris, Alex Trelawney, Lisa Whitton, and…where's he gone? Oh, there he is, hiding away in the corner with his books – as usual. But anyway, that's…"
"Ryo…" Dee breathed, and a pair of startled dark eyes lifted to meet his gaze with their own.
Author's Note
Well, another chapter finally finished! Sorry it took so long...I actually have no excuses this time either - I just got caught up writing for my other fics. In case anyone was wondering, I made up Ted's last name, as it's never mentioned in the manga or the OAV. I also made up the fact that he's Marty's partner, just because everyone seems to know Marty, but we never know why.
And finally...FAKE characters of my own! Watch out for Amanda, Andrew and Lisa especially...I'm planning to put more focus on them than the other self-created characters, although I have a soft spot for poor old Carlton already. Amanda's going to be putting some spanners in the works when it comes to Dee and Ryo's relationship too...tune in to find out!
Oh, and the fight between Dee and Berkeley? That was inspired by AeryonSun's review of Chapter 2, where a confrontation between Rose and Dee was mentioned - thanks for the idea! Please read and review everybody!
firgodes7 - I'm sorry that things didn't get better for Dee just yet...but at least he's found Ryo, ne?
Blood Tears Dying Angel - Dee's still all heartbroken! I really torture my bishies, don't I?
AeryonSun - Oh yeah, Ryo's definitely pissed! Which is good, because now I'm having fun building a new character for him...but that's not to say that the real Ryo isn't going to start showing up again as the story progresses! By the way, was that confrontation thing ok?
Nariel - Eeek! Don't cry! You're making me feel all guilty!
LKTLB - Yes, poor Dee...will things ever go right for him?
GreenEyedFloozy - Don't cry! (Whoa, I'm making a lot of people cry in my fics...and not just in this one...oops)
Megamie - I'm sorry that Ryo is being so evil...but I'm primarily an angst writer, so I like to put my characters through hell before I even think of giving them a happy ending - that's my preferred writing style. But at least it looks like he's going to get closure, ne?
gPhoenix513 - Is that right? Is that a g before Phoenix? I couldn't tell...but anyway...go the angst! I love writing stuff like that! Have you got the rest of the series yet? When you get to the last book, go on and look for the epilogue chapter that was never published in America/England - some of the pairings may surprise you! Heh...and by the way, you actually did spell congratulations right...but not the word wrong...(sweatdrop)