Author's note: Sorry everyone, RL decided to throw so much stuff at me at once that writing took a back seat to it. This is the last chapter. I'm not particularly happy with it but it's been hanging around my computer for long enough now. I would like to thank everyone who read and the people who stuck around to the very end. So, thank you! Also, if you spot any mistakes, please point them out!

Summary: Spoilers for "Man Down" AU, kinda. Ryan goes to visit Eric after the case is closed.

Warnings: Spoilers for "Man Down", slash, itty bitty spoilers for any episodes after "Man Down" Also, a humungous amount of scmoop in this chapter. I do apologize for that…it kind of got away from me near the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. And, while I have not seen any other stories like this, this is my take on the idea; any resemblance to other stories is sheer coincidence.

'thoughts' "talking" --------- scene change

Ch.5.

Eric swore his heart stopped for a second as Calleigh uttered 3 words he hoped to never hear. "Ryan's been hurt." Realizing that the blonde was still speaking, he dragged his mind back to reality, struggling to hold the need to panic back.

"I don't know how bad it is," Calleigh continued, trying to stay calm for Eric's sake. "All I know if that he and Horatio were going to pick up a suspect. Details are really fuzzy…there were some shots fired but nobody is confirming anything."

Eric winced as a sharp pain shot across his head. "Let's get to the hospital then" he said thickly as his vision doubled for the first time in a few weeks. He looked up at Calleigh who was staring at him, looking worried. "What?" he ground out through clenched teeth, not caring that Calleigh really didn't deserve that tone of voice.

She shook her head quickly, not wanting to push her friend anymore. She grabbed his arm under the pretense of dragging him to the elevator but in reality, Eric looked like he was going to faint and she really didn't need to deal with that at the lab. 'Eric can faint all he wants when we get to the hospital' she thought grimly. 'Preferably right into Ryan's bed. Let's see those idiots ignore that!'

"What happened Horatio?" Calleigh asked softly, sitting down beside Eric and placing a hand his knee. They had gotten to the hospital in record time with her driving and Eric had rushed in, only to be denied any access to information about Ryan. Frustrated and confused, he had turned to find Horatio waiting there along with Calleigh.

"We went back to the scene to see if there was any more evidence. The suspect appeared on the scene and ran," Horatio explained, drawing a hand over his face. "From what I could put together, Ryan caught up with him but the suspect pulled out a gun and shot at Mr. Wolfe. It was a wild shot but it caused Ryan to move without thinking and stumbled. They were near a construction site and Ryan fell heavily into a pile of scraps. I'm assuming that he broke his arm in the fall but there was a board with some nails in it and they punctured his upper arm."

Eric swallowed heavily, thoughts swarming out of control as his mind tried to process everything. 'What day is it?' he thought frantically, trying to get thinks make sense. 'Why wouldn't the hospital give me information on Ryan?' He knew that he was listed as the brunette's emergency contact and vice versa.

"Eric?" Calleigh asked gently, as though not to startle him. He turned towards her, wincing as the pounding in his head increased.

"Calleigh…" he murmured, looking dazed. "Why won't the doctors give me any information? We're…we're each others emergency contacts." Calleigh exchanged a frightened look with Horatio.

"Eric, are you feeling okay?" the blonde asked hesitantly.

"No, my head hurts" he whispered, eyes closing. "Calleigh, what day is it?"

She exchanged another look with her boss and Horatio nodded in understanding before standing to go and find a doctor. Calleigh squeezed Eric's knee gently, trying to provide some reassurance.

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The doctor walked out of the exam room only to be pounced on by one CSI and one medical examiner who arrived while the doctor had been in with Eric. "Is Eric all right?" Calleigh demanded.

"He's a little confused and has a moderate headache but he seems to have filled in whatever gaps there were in his memory" the doctor replied calmly. "Mr. Delko's memories from the past months are a little fuzzy but I'm pretty sure that once he sorts everything out, those memories will clear up." He offered the group a small smile. "If you'll excuse me, I promised him that I would check on Mr. Wolfe." Murmured thank yous were exchanged before the group entered the cubicle.

Eric glanced up from his seated position on the bed. "Does everyone know?" he asked hesitantly. Calleigh smiled brightly before pulling her friend into a hug.

"Honey, we all knew before the accident" Alexx replied, hugging Eric after Calleigh had stepped back. "You two, especially you, are not subtle."

Eric managed a weak smirk. "Yeah, well, I guess it would have come out sooner or later." His smirk faded slightly. "So, what happened exactly? Why won't they give me information about Ryan? One of the first things we did was change our contact information."

A look was passed between the other 3 people in the room. With a final hug from Alexx and a squeeze on Eric's shoulder from Horatio, they left the room and Calleigh sat down beside Eric and took one of his hands between hers. Taking a deep breath, she began to explain.

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Eric scowled slightly as he hurriedly wiped a stray tear from his cheek. How could Ryan think that he could have ever forgotten what they had together? His subconscious had clearly not forgotten if what Calleigh was saying was true and he had been actively pursuing Ryan the entire time his memory was gone.

"The worst part about this whole thing?" Eric said quietly, turning to face his friend. "I can't be angry with him because what he did was perfectly logical in his mind!" Calleigh smiled softly.

"Don't worry Eric. He had to put up with Alexx and me. I think that's punishment enough." Eric grinned in agreement but said nothing. Though his memories of the past several months were fuzzy, he could only begin to imagine all the mothering and scheming Ryan had had to endure. He glanced down at his watch, frowning. Alexx had come back about half an hour ago to tell them that Ryan was now in a room but asleep. Eric knew that any kind of heavy-duty painkiller would knock Ryan out completely but he really wanted to at least see him tonight, if only to reassure himself that his lover was still alive.

"Come on Eric" Calleigh said, interrupting her friend's thoughts as she hopped off the bed. "I know you won't rest until you see him so go for a few minutes tonight and tomorrow, after you both get a goodnight's sleep, you can come back."

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Eric let out a soft sigh as he leaned against the doorway to Ryan's hospital room, listening to Alexx lecture his young lover. He smiled as Ryan used every technique to try and pursuade her to go home, only to fail miserably. He glanced up once he heard the chair behind the curtain scrape on the floor and watched Alexx come towards him, a wary look in her brown eyes.

"How is he?" Eric asked softly, not wanting to wake Ryan in case he had fallen asleep.

"Alive and grumpy" she replied with a watery smile. "That's good enough for me. He's just resting right now if you want to go in and see him." He nodded, uncrossing his arms and standing up straight. "Just…don't' hurt him Eric, please." Eric offered her his trademark smirk, something that had been missing for a while now.

"Don't worry Alexx, I won't do anything to harm your baby," he teased, eyes sparkling before he brushed past her and disappeared behind the curtain. The coroner stared after him, a large smile on her face.

"Welcome back Eric…. you sure took your time, but you've come back to us."

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Eric studied his pale lover critically, taking in every detail of the heavy plaster cast that covered his right arm up to his elbow and the bandages that covered the rest to his shoulder. Besides that and a few bruises decorating Ryan's face, he looked ok…healthy…alive, and that was the most important thing to him right now. He felt awful that he could forget their long time relationship just like that; that he had made Ryan wait for several long months before he could put the pieces back together and see what he had forgotten. He sat down in the chair and cleared his throat slightly. Ryan's opened one sleepy hazel eye.

"Hey" he murmured, before closing it again. He was still feeling the after effects of the pain medication the doctors had given him.

"Hey" Eric replied softly, voice rough with emotion. "You like giving me heart attacks or something? Because I swear that my heart stopped when that call came in." His lover managed a tired laugh that sounded more like a sigh.

"Sorry…didn't mean to…" Reaching up, Eric smoothed a hand over Ryan's short hair, offering the brunette some tangible comfort.

"It's okay. I'll forgive you…" He didn't have the heart right now to make sure Ryan was fully awake to tell him the good news, he would wait until morning. "Get some sleep, okay?" Ryan bobbed his head up and down once before doing just that. Standing, Eric leaned over and brushed his lips past Ryan's before leaving the room.

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"I thought I said that you were going to have nothing to do with nail guns anymore." Ryan glanced up at the sound of another voice and smiled slightly as Eric sauntered into the room with a paper bag in hand.

"Technically, it wasn't a nail gun…. it was a board with lots of nails in it. And trust me, we weren't expecting the guy to run, and then turn and attack us. Horatio's okay though, right?" Ryan replied dryly as Eric sat down on the chair beside his bed.

"Yeah, he's fine. Worried about you…we all were." Ryan blushed slightly and nodded towards the paper bag, curious.

"What's in there?" Eric flashed him a familiar grin.

"Breakfast. I do owe you breakfast in bed, don't I?" He continued, letting Ryan process what he had just said. "Sorry it's a little late, but better late than never." He watched as the expression on Ryan's face changed from confused, to shock and then crumpled into an unreadable one as everything fell into place.

Ryan was not crying. He refused to cry over the fact that Eric had appeared to have regained his memories. His eyes were simply leaking a little as relief flooded throughout him. And he certainly did not let out that quiet whimper of relief as Eric studied him.

"Shh" Eric murmured, moving to wrap his arms around Ryan, making sure not to hit his lover's cast. "I'm sorry that I left you alone." He felt Ryan drop his head against his shoulder and Eric placed a soft kiss on the top of Ryan's head before mimicking the position; forehead resting gently on Ryan's shoulder. A few minutes later, Ryan reluctantly pulled back, hastily wiping away the remnants of tears on his cheeks. Eric offered him a small smile before reaching up and cupping one pale cheek with a hand.

"I'm sorry" Eric apologized again. "I hope you realize that I would never have left on purpose." Managing a tiny smile, Ryan nodded.

"I realize that now Eric" the brunette replied quietly. "I'm sorry too."

"I know you are," he murmured, sighing inwardly. He wasn't angry with Ryan per say. In fact, Eric would have been surprised if he had acted in any other manner. They would eventually have to talk about what happened but not now. Not while Eric was trying to process everything that had happened in the past several months and not while Ryan was in pain.

"So the doctor says I can go home later today" Ryan spoke up a few minutes later, breaking Eric's train of thought.

"Really? That's good." He motioned for Ryan to move over on the bed so that he could sit and wrap and arm around Ryan's shoulder. He smirked inwardly as he felt Ryan relax into him instantly.

"Mhm, but only if I go home with someone, just to be safe."

"Subtle, you are not" Eric laughed. "How about this time, you move in with me and get rid of your apartment?"

"But…"

"Your original arguments won't work" Eric interrupted. "Really, everyone knows about us now, there's no reason to hide."

"What about your family?" Ryan countered weakly, already knowing that he was going to give in. Eric's smile widened and gestured to the breakfast he had brought with him.

"Who do you think helped me with breakfast?"

Ryan groaned, shifting carefully to rest his head on Eric's chest, soaking up the warmth his lover offered. "You win then. I'll move in."

Eric's grip tightened slightly, bringing Ryan's body closer to him as a response. "I knew you would see it my way eventually."

Smiling, Ryan closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. He knew that everything was far from over and he and Eric clearly had some things to discuss. But, for now, surrounded by Eric's warmth, he decided to forget to remember those lonely months and concentrate on remembering the present and the future.

The End