Not mine, don't own. If I've mischaracterized my boys in any way, please let me know, since I don't have a beta for my crossovers. I'm only borrowing them because I think they could use the emotional support. :) I'm not a doctor, but I am treating Ryan way better than the writers did regardless. I'm hoping to write at least one more chapter. Thanks for reading!
"Danny, you need to take him to a hospital." Hawkes removed his reading glasses and stethoscope and shoved them into his medical bag. "He needs to have that tooth socket cleaned out and packed properly before he develops dry socket." Sheldon stood up from the end of the sofa and joined Danny, who was staring unhappily at the young brunette sprawled on his couch.
"Can't that wait until tomorrow, Doc?" Danny fingered the police camera hanging from a strap around his neck, the one he'd used to document all of Ryan's injuries - just in case - while Hawkes was assessing them. "He's been through so much already."
Sheldon sighed. "You wanted my professional opinion, Danny, and I'm giving it to you. Right now, your friend is dehydrated and at risk of infection. I'd recommend a course of intravenous antibiotics along with IV fluids. I can't rule out internal injury without a scan. I'm sure he's got at least two cracked ribs." The doctor put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Whoever did this wasn't messing around. He's lucky he's got a friend like you to take care of him."
Danny grimaced. "He ain't gonna be none too happy when I throw him in a cab and haul him to Trinity."
"Why don't you let me drive you?"
Danny nodded at Sheldon and approached his injured friend. "Ryan," he said gently, shaking the man's shoulder.
The brunette jerked upright, eyes wide with fear, and tried unsuccessfully to stand. "Billy?" he exclaimed, voice tinged with panic. "Where's Billy?" A coughing jag set him back.
Danny knelt beside him. "Billy is safe now, Ryan, and you're safe too." He waited until the frantic hazel eyes rested on his blue ones before continuing. "But we need to get you to the hospital."
Ryan moaned. "No, no hospital. I don't need a doctor. I just want to sleep."
Sheldon pushed his way past Danny and into Ryan's line of sight. "Ryan, my name is Sheldon Hawkes. I'm a doctor and I'm a friend of Danny's. I took a look at your injuries. You were so exhausted that you slept through most of my exam."
Ryan squinted at the earnest man with the short cropped hair. Doubt clouded the injured man's features.
"You need to go to the hospital, Ryan. The hole left by your tooth extraction is showing signs of infection. I want you on intravenous antibiotics. You also need an abdominal ultrasound to rule out any internal organ damage. You've got at least two cracked ribs on your right side." Sheldon steadily looked at Ryan until the latter nodded.
Defeat was audible in Ryan's voice when he replied. "Okay."
Ryan woke to the sound of someone on the phone. After a panicked moment of staring at the four white walls in consternation, he realized that he was in Danny Messer's bedroom. Danny must have given him the bed and slept on the couch. There was a hospital bracelet encircling his left wrist and a wad of damp gauze in the back of his mouth where his molar had been extracted. Two pill bottles sat on the nightstand; one contained an opioid pain medication while the other held antibiotics. There was a fresh bandage on his upper right arm.
Splotchy images dotted his memory: riding in the back seat of Sheldon's car and trying not to throw up, a nurse holding his head and injecting a shot into his mouth, the puncture of an IV drip, flinching when cold gel hit his abdomen before the ultrasound. And then there had been a man with short-cropped dark hair and intense green eyes standing with Danny at Ryan's bedside, asking questions that Ryan couldn't answer. Why had he come to New York? Why hadn't he told anyone in Miami where he was headed? Was he safe?
I didn't want to be alone, Ryan had whispered, and the knot between the dark-haired man's eyes had deepened.
"I dunno, Mac. I ain't pushin' him. If he don't wanna go back to Miami, he can stay here with me and Linds for awhile." Danny's voice cut through Ryan's thoughts, and Ryan abruptly remembered that the dark-haired man in the hospital was named Mac. Why did that name sound familiar?
Ryan blinked and shook his head. His mind was full of cobwebs and his eyes felt gritty, the way they always did when he slept with his contacts in. I should get up, Ryan thought. Throwing his legs over the side of the bed, he was startled at how woozy he felt. And his legs ... Where are my jeans? he wondered. He was dressed in grey sweats and a Yankees jersey.
"Messer! What's the meaning of this?" Ryan said as he rose to standing. The head rush nearly knocked him flat. Luckily, Danny burst in, still holding the phone, and gave Ryan a steadying hand.
"I'll do that. You call me when he gets in, okay?" Danny ended the call and slid the phone into the pocket of his jeans as he turned his attention to Ryan. "Hey, there, Sleepin' Beauty. It's about time you woke up." He gave his friend a warm smile. Ryan noticed Danny had showered and shaved, and was wearing a fresh button down shirt.
Ryan tugged at the cotton jersey as Danny led him to the kitchen table. "What is this?"
Danny shrugged as he took a chair next to Ryan. "Thought you'd be more comfortable. Wearing the right team and all."
Ryan grinned at him, but the gesture triggered pain from the extraction. "Ow." He held a hand up to his jaw.
"That tooth botherin' you, buddy?" Danny's eyebrows knotted in worry.
The brunette shook his head. "No more than before." He swallowed and looked away.
"Ryan, we gotta talk." Danny looked at his friend apologetically. "I know you don't wanna relive what happened, but we got a problem." Ryan regarded the blond warily. "Some things just ain't addin' up."
Ryan folded in upon himself, crossing his arms and legs protectively. "What do you want to know?" He nervously chewed his lower lip, causing the scab there to open. Danny handed him a paper towel and Ryan dabbed at the cut.
"Why did you hide your injuries from your team?" Danny's voice was gentle.
"Who says I did?" Anger laced through Ryan's voice, along with an undercut of fear.
"You showed up here, a day after having been beaten, with no medical care. Hawkes told me. You couldn't have been assessed in the field or you'd have been in the ER down in Miami instead of up here."
"I didn't think I was hurt that -"
"Cut the crap, Ryan! You came to me lookin' for help but I can't help you if you won't talk to me!" Danny stood and started pacing around his apartment. "What the hell happened down there? Your boss is flyin' up from Miami right now and if he did this to you, so help me God -"
"I did this to me, okay? It's my fault." Ryan's eyes flared as he stood to meet Danny's stare. Belatedly, he remembered why the name Mac was familiar. Mac was Danny's boss; Horatio and Mac were friends, damn it. "I've ruined everything that matters. Horatio had nothing to do with this."
"Then why -"
"I was embarrassed, all right? I'm a cop and I let those guys jump me. They tortured me and then, when I wouldn't give them what they wanted, they took Billy."
"Your sponsor's kid?"
"Yes! And I even screwed up choosing my sponsor because they only came after me because Mark owed them money. I took over his debt so he and Billy could have a new life. That kid means everything to me! I'm his godfather. You have no idea -"
Danny sank into a chair at his kitchen table, head in one hand. "I have an idea." The words were cold.
"Then you know I was desperate! I couldn't let them kill Billy, I just couldn't. They asked me to compromise a crime scene and I did. I tampered with evidence. I contaminated the crime scene!" Ryan was shouting by now. "I lifted fingerprints from an innocent man and introduced them as evidence!" His voice dropped, filled with anguish. "I compromised every one of my ethical principles as a CSI and I'd do it again so that little boy could live."
Ryan collapsed into the chair next to Danny, his hazel eyes glittery, his brows knotted. In a low voice, he added, "But now, I have to live with what I've done. Horatio doesn't want to know anything. If I document an injury like this, IAB will be all over it. Under inquiry, I'd lose my job." He dropped his head into his hands. "And maybe I should. Calleigh and Eric don't even know half of what I did and they hate me. They practically threw me out of the lab yesterday."
Danny focused his gaze on Ryan. "But they don't know you were tortured. For, like what, twelve straight hours, Ryan? They don't know what you went through to save that little boy."
Ryan nodded sadly. "No, they don't. But I doubt they'd believe me now." He rubbed a hand down his face, feeling the roughness of stubble, and sighed. "I'm sorry, Danny. I shouldn't have dumped all of this on you. I just didn't know where else to go."
Danny reached a hand out and clamped it on Ryan's lower arm. "I'm glad you came." He made sure to meet Ryan's eyes. "You did right by that kid."
"Then why does it feel so wrong?" Ryan whispered.
Danny's eyes flared. "You think you'd feel better if you done everything by the book and that kid died? Lemme tell you right now, that's hell to live with too." The blond pulled away and began to pace, eyes watery.
Ryan squinted at Danny with a frown, but he didn't say anything. After a long silence, Danny spoke again, his voice unsteady. "Ruben was my neighbor. He was my friend, my little buddy. He used to come over here sometimes and just hang out. He was a good kid." The older CSI gave a wistful smile. "So, one day, he wanted to get his bike blessed at the local Catholic Church, you know, for safe journeys and all that. And I -" Danny took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "I took him. He and I, comin' back, we walked right into the middle of a shooting at a bodega. And I -" Danny stopped again as his voice cracked, and Ryan gave him a sympathetic smile. "I did what I was trained to do, you know?" He shook his head. "I followed the perp instead of the kid. I put the job ahead of him." The blond swallowed, rubbed his eyes, and shook his head. "I made the wrong choice," he said, softly.
Ryan gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Danny."
"Me, too. But what can I do? Nothing I do will ever bring that kid back. I used to sit on top of the roof of this building, thinking what it'd be like if I jumped." Danny folded his arms over his stomach and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.
"What got you through it?" Ryan asked, intently.
"My friends and my job."
Ryan's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Then I'm in a lot of trouble."
