She calls Horatio, who shows up quickly and Eric gets to enjoy the moment Horatio sees him. The usually aloof, unfazed, and unflappable lieutenant is speechless, staring into the eyes of a previously dead man he watched slowly bleed out to death.
au in which eric died in the episode "man down", but comes back to life as ryan's guardian angel.
tumblr — @ericdelko
title is from wings by little mix
somewhat inspired by the fic "on a prayer" by elenothar of the mission: impossible fandom.
sort of a fix it for two arcs of ryan's that i thought was stupid, the gambling one where he's fired for not disclosing that he knew the victim and the russian mob kidnapping when everyone got mad he was hiding evidence when he was coerced to with no apologies made.
in this scenario, eric does die briefly in "man down" but comes back to life.
(= time skip)
One second he's chasing after Horatio, eyes scanning for the vehicle that the hostage is apparently in. Then, bullets are flying through, pain is bursting against the side of his head and darkness engulfed him, H's face the last thing he sees.
Then, nothing.
Death is something Eric doesn't fear, it's part of the job. Believing in a higher power, as a catholic means knowing that there's something after death that's waiting for you. Either heaven or hell, there is life after death.
What he doesn't expect is actually life after death.
Eric wakes up thirty minutes after he's pronounced dead on the table. Alexx is the first person he sees, who'e eyes widen at the sight and turns white, and Eric immediately stops her from calling for help.
He was ready to die, and now, he's not dead.
Alexx checks his vitals, scanning over his injury, and checking for any abnormal signs. The sight of wings growing from his back probably counts as an abnormal thing, but so is the fact that he's come back from the dead.
She calls Horatio, who shows up quickly and Eric gets to enjoy the moment Horatio sees him. The usually aloof, unfazed, and unflappable lieutenant is speechless, staring into the eyes of a previously dead man he watched slowly bleed out to death.
The two of them get him out of the hospital and away from prying eyes. They create a backstory, saying that the doctors were wrong, that they were able to get his heart staring again, or something like that, they'll cross that bridge when they get there.
Three days later, Eric is back at work. Horatio was able to spin some story about a mislabeled death in order to get the charges to stick against Clavo, or something like that. Eric had stopped listening after H started on a tangent of police justice and propaganda. He had been more worried about his wing problem.
Upon discovery, Eric's wings aren't corporeal because they use move through random objects around his apartment. Also, apparently they seem invisible unless he wants to reveal them, Horatio's face becoming a pale ash when he noticed the wings sprouting from eric's back. All he had to do was think hard on them and they suddenly appeared, big white fluffy wings growing from between his shoulder blades. And of course, he can fly, though he hasn't spent most of his time on that, too busy freaking out over this and his colleagues dropping by to visit him.
He's in the middle of trying to find any trace on a victim's clothing when he discovers the pale thread in the back of his mind. It tugs, hard and Eric finds himself transporting.
He's in a field, near the outer banks, water sloshing around his ankles, wind blowing through the air. He hears grunts and yelling and awareness fills within him.
Eric turns to his right and in the distance, there's a peak of dark blond hair and he moves closer, recognizing the back of that head as it struggles out of a headlock.
The head fights out of the embrace, turning to face Eric and it's Ryan, fighting hand to hand with a suspect. Eric ducks behind some trees, hoping to stay hidden as he attempts to figure why he's here. Why is there a link between him and Ryan? What is his purpose here? Not for the first time does he wish there was some manual that could direct his new role in life after death.
He looks back over, the suspect seems to get the upper hand and begins running towards Eric's direction. He shifts, hoping to stay hidden and when the suspect passes by him, Eric launches his foot out, tripping the suspect.
Eric quickly races out, shifting away behind more trees as he watches Ryan look around suspiciously before shrugging and handcuffing the suspect.
As he watches Ryan walk the suspect back to the car, Eric slowly transports back, finding himself in the same position he was previously. The first thing he does after that is sprint into Horatio's office and explain his latest dilemma. Of course, Horatio thinks that's wonderful and to use it to his advantage to help catch more criminals and keep Ryan safe. but the questions keep bombarding his mind, filling up with theories on why it's Ryan and was he brought back because of the man?
Ryan's a messy situation in his head. They didn't get off the right foot the first time they met, Ryan just a young man walking the beat, Eric shouldering the rage of Speed's death. It lead to many complications, outbursts, fighting and Eric knows he's at fault for those. He's afraid to get close to anyone new, too scared that if something happens to them, he'll be destroyed. It happened with Speed, and look how that turned out.
But despite his pushing away time and time again, Ryan has a weird way of worming into Eric's mind. He's loyal, determined to do the job, kind, and helpful. Even the odd flaws don't grate on Eric's nerves anymore, instead he looks at them with fondness which is very alarming. The first time they met, Eric had noted that Ryan was attractive, a handsome young man, who he'd soon find out fell into the category of men who are his type; Though that part of his mind was very small, mostly focused on the misery and guilt over replacing Speed so quick after his death.
He's known that he identifies with being bisexual for a while, his parents know but are still on the fence with accepting it. But Eric fights his urges with Ryan, because he's scared that if he begins to care, when and not if, Ryan get hurts or worst, Eric might actually have his heart broken. It's why he tries not to date people on the job, though Natalia was an unusual exception that he never wants to think about ever. She's a good friend, and their relationship is better now that there's no romantic feelings plaguing it.
But this newfound power is definitely testing the self-control he's exercised with Ryan. He figures out the transporting isn't a one time thing when Ryan gets somewhat in trouble again. He transported to a hotel, where he sees Ryan and Horatio arguing across the other side of the room. A headache builds in his head as he analyzes the situation. Ryan doesn't seem to be physically harmed, but whatever is happening isn't good, he deduces by the look of Horatio's face as he shoves photo after photo into Ryan's chest. The younger man storms off, fury lining the pathway as he heads back to the car.
Eric sighs, exasperation and tiredness leaking through his body as he strides towards Horatio. His wing twitches, also something he has had to get used to during this time. Sometimes he'll have to stretch them out, making sure they stay hidden in the lab when he does so, though most of the time, they're tucked in.
"H," he greets and the man turns, anger lingering in his expression still.
Eric reaches for the photos, recognizing the victim right away. What he also recognizes is the other man, passing a stack of bills to the victim. It's Ryan, and it's pretty bad that he hadn't disclosed that he knew the victim in any capacity. It's very bad, and Eric knows why he's here.
He convinces Horatio not to inform Internal Affairs, that this is obvious something that Ryan doesn't want to let out in the open. They've all made mistakes like this, taken things too personal, the pain that edges in Horatio's face when Eric mentions Marisol is proof that sometimes things happen. Ryan is still young, only in his second year of being a CSI and there's still things he hasn't learned.
He transports back after Horatio has conceded, telling Eric that instead of firing Ryan, he'll confront the man and make sure he gets some help with whatever problem he's keeping secret.
The next past weeks are filled with discovery, more transportations when Ryan is in danger or in need of help. Eric learns to fly, launching himself off a rooftop with the prayers of hoping his wings catch him. Flying becomes easy, like a reflex, the same way pulling a gun or scuba diving is to him. Ryan eventually reveals his secret and gains the team's support, attending meetings for his gambling addiction. Eric discovers that the necessary requirements needed to live as a human, such as eating or sleeping aren't needed now, but it does make him tired if he doesn't.
The walls he build when he's around Ryan slowly crumbles, though he doesn't know if it's because of his new situation or because he's let himself get closer to Ryan, but it's nice. Ryan smiles more around him, and he's never noticed how lovely it is or how it shines like the sun when it's directed at him. Eric feels light and content being around Ryan, a friendship building between them and Eric's heart beginning to beat faster when he's with him.
Eric mostly ignores that little voice in his head urging him to reveal his feelings to ryan, but for now, he's content in their ever growing relationship, glad to put behind the animosity they previously had behind them.
Of course though, that's when everything turns to shit.
It's late afternoon, Eric's just got off work and he's planning on heading to Calleigh's for dinner. It's been a while since they caught up and he misses his best friend. He's about to hop into the car when he feels the familiar tingling whenever he's being transported.
He braces himself and lands in the middle of a deserted freeway. Awareness flies through him as grunts and yelling reach his ears and he turns, fearful as he finally sees Ryan, unconscious as he's being dragged into a van.
Without even thinking about it, Eric is sprinting towards the van, immediately throwing himself into combat as he throws punches at two men and wrestles Ryan out of their grasps. Ryan, is still knocked out cold, as Eric's wings span out and he swings them around, hitting the men in the head. He pulls out his gun and releases, hitting the driver dead center in the chest. He heaves Ryan into his arms and kicks the men unconscious as he flies them away.
They're soaring in the air when Ryan comes to and Eric immediately stops, landing in a random park. Ryan's bleeding from the back of his head and there are some bruises from being kicked around. Eric's anger builds as he digs his phone out of his pocket and dials up Horatio.
"H? We have a situation."
Five minutes later, he hears a mumble and looks down at Ryan, who's cradled in his arms.
"Mmm…"
"Hey. Ryan," he gently cups Ryan's face and shakes him awake. He's rewarded when those green eyes (that have been haunting him in his dreams) flutter open. Ryan looks disoriented but he's awake and alive, which is all Eric can ask for.
"Eric? What…What happened?" Ryan tries to sit up but Eric easily pushes him back down into his lap. Then he blinks and blinks again owlishly, eyes focused to the right of Eric's face.
"Are those wings?!?" Eric feels a light stroke and shivers as Ryan uses his fingertip to trace the outline of Eric's right wing. It feels pleasant and heat pools in the bottom of his stomach.
The disbelief on Ryan's face would be comical had it been any other situation. "Am I dreaming, are you a hallucination? What are you doing here?"
Then Ryan passes out and Eric hauls him back into his arms, wings sailing through the air as he flies them to the hospital and lands on the rooftop.
/
Eric's stalking down the dark hallways of the hospital as he makes his way to where Ryan's room is located. Apparently Alexx had reported that Ryan has a couple of broken ribs, a head wound, and suffering from side effects of a drug administered in an attempt to subdue him. All in all, he's lucky to have gotten away with just that and it was a good thing Eric was able to save him from worse.
Eric certainly doesn't feel lucky. seeing Ryan hurt had caused flashes of pain and bits of memories of Speed getting shot to fly through his mind again. This time, it's worst, having fully acknowledged and accepted his growing feelings for the young man. It was hard to leave Ryan at the hospital, but after numerous reassurances from Alexx and continuing orders to return to the lab from Horatio, Eric left with a heavy heart and hopes of Ryan recovering.
He spent the rest of the night reporting to Internal Affairs, giving a detailed description of what had occurred and relinquishing his gun, being suspended until I.A.B. could finish up their investigation.
Eric snuck back into the hospital after visiting hours, flashing Horatio's badge, who slipped it to Eric when he said he was going to go see Ryan because they also took his badge.
He silently cracked the door open and slipped in, hoping to catch Ryan sleeping. Instead, he was greeted with Ryan awake, watching his every move.
He grimaced, sliding into the chair next to Ryan's bed and steeled his nerves. No doubt Ryan was looking for some answers to what he saw, one of the many things Eric could admit he admired about the young man.
A small smile dances on Ryan's lips when he dryly asks, "what, no wings?"
Eric just rolled his eyes. It seems even a beating couldn't stop Ryan's sarcastic nature.
He rolls his neck and closes his eyes. Clearing his mind, he thinks non-Eric thoughts and he feels the wings spanning from between his shoulder blades. He hears an audible gasp come from Ryan and opens his eyes to find the man left speechless.
"What, no comeback?" Eric teases, lips quirked in a challenging notion as Ryan attempts to collect himself.
"So those are real? I wasn't imagining that," Ryan chooses to say instead.
"Yup," Eric confirms and Ryan nods, almost to himself, as if he's trying to accept it.
"So what, you're an angel?"
"It's a little more complicated than that," Eric states bitterly, a sad smile on his face. Then he summarizes everything up for Ryan, his death, coming back to life, discovering his wings, and the established link between them.
Ryan takes it all in, firing question after question and Eric tries to give him the answer. But there's one part that confuses Ryan and he says it as much.
"Wait, we're connected?"
"Apparently. Whenever you're in danger, I show up."
"In danger?"
"Like today. Sometimes you're not even physically harmed, but the situation still puts you in danger."
"Does that make you my, what, guardian angel?"
"Honestly, even I don't know."
"So you're been watching me this whole time?"
Eric breathes in deeply, contemplating as he tries to choose his words. Nervousness sinks in and his palms start to sweat. He locks eyes with Ryan and admits, "even if I wasn't like this, I'd be watching you."
He watches as emotions flit through Ryan's face. First confusion, then shock, realization and happiness settles in his face, which puzzles Eric.
A smile blooms on Ryan's face, shyness lingering in the shadows of his face when he looks at Eric.
"Even if you weren't?"
A grin dances on eric's face when he confirms, "Yeah. I would."
"Good," is all Ryan says and that's all the warning Eric gets before Ryan fists his shirt and tugs him forward for a kiss.
When they pull up for air, two wings have folded themselves across Ryan's shoulders, holding him close. Eric hadn't even noticed them appearing and here they are doing what his arms hadn't dared to do. An embarrassed flush paints over his cheeks and his wings jerk backwards to hover over his own shoulders.
Ryan just laughs and skims his fingers lightly over them, causing Eric to shiver and shift closer to Ryan.
The first person to touch them that's not him is enough to send him over the edge and it causes them to lunge forward, engulfing him and Ryan into their own world.