Still not mine, still don't own - although Ryan may be wishing I'd give him back about now.

My thanks to everyone who's faved or followed. I should have at least one more chapter.


The apartment was dim, blinds drawn. Only the flickering of a television set indicated life. Danny took a sip from a can of soda and grimaced. Since he'd taken the day off to babysit Ryan, it would have been nice to kick back and have a beer, but he didn't quite feel right about doing that when Ryan was still so vulnerable. He glanced at the young man beside him. Even at rest, the Miami CSI's brows were knotted and he appeared deeply troubled.

Ryan didn't stir when Danny's cell phone sounded. "Messer." He listened intently to the caller before replying. "Okay, Mac. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Danny set the soda aside and nudged the man sprawled on the sofa beside him. "Ryan."

"Huh?" The brunette woke with a puzzled expression and ran a hand down his face. "I fell asleep again?"

Danny chuckled. "Game wasn't that good, anyway. I'll cut ya some slack this time since you're doped up on pain meds." His voice sobered. "Mac just picked Horatio up at the airport, Ryan. They want to meet us at the lab and talk this thing out." He walked into his bedroom and grabbed Ryan's medication from the nightstand.

He entered the living room to find Ryan with folded arms and lowered brows, shaking his head. "There's nothing to talk about. I don't know why H followed me up here." Ryan began to chew his lower lip, but stopped short when his teeth touched the scab.

"Mac called him when you were still in the ER," Danny explained. "They were thinkin' about admittin' you. He told Mac he'd be up as soon as he could get away." Danny pulled another can of Sprite from his refrigerator.

"Yeah, well, I'm fine now." Ryan closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the sofa.

Danny made a noise somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. "Right. That's why you're taking all these meds." He handed his friend the can of soda, along with the two pill bottles. His voice dropped. "You were screamin' in your sleep last night about pliers and duct tape."

Ryan's head lifted and he tried to give Danny an angry stare, but there was no malice in the older man's expression, only compassion. Ryan sighed and popped open the first pill bottle. He took the antibiotic with a swig of soda, but hesitated when it came to the pain medication. Danny could sympathize with his friend. Ryan wanted - needed - to be clear-headed to deal with all of this, but it wouldn't help matters any if his pain level spiraled out of control.

"Maybe you could take half a dose for now," Danny suggested. Startled, Ryan nodded before complying. He set the soda aside and put his head in his hands. "God, I feel like shit," the younger CSI mumbled.

Danny shifted his weight from foot to foot, watching his friend with concern. "Ry, you need to tell Horatio what happened to you. If nothin' else, to keep anyone else on your team from havin' to go through something like that alone. What if it had been Calleigh who was abducted?"

Ryan didn't look up. "She was once. And everyone dropped everything to look for her until she was found."

Danny sat next to the battered CSI. "Well, your team's looking for you now," he said, handing Ryan a cell phone. "Found that on the dresser last night and thought I'd charge it for you while you were sleeping. Thing's been ringin' and pingin' nonstop."

Ryan took the phone, keyed in his passcode, and began scrolling through his texts and missed calls. Sighing, he placed the phone into a pocket of his borrowed sweats.

"You ain't gonna answer none of them?"

The younger man shook his head slowly. "I ... I don't know what to say. I got hurt, I panicked, I broke protocol, and then I walked off the job." He looked at Danny. "How can I possibly answer for that?" He stared at his hands. "Maybe I should just stay here."

"You know I'd vouch for ya," Danny said, nodding. "We could always use another good CSI at the lab. Budget's tight, but Mac'd find a way to keep you. But you gotta sort things with Horatio first, Ryan. You gotta answer for what you did." At his friend's pained expression, Danny pressed on. "And first thing you gotta do is quit blaming yourself for what happened. You keep saying that you did this to yourself, that you got yourself hurt." He shook his head. "That's a load of BS and you know it." He gently poked Ryan's ribs. "You didn't do that. You're a victim here, Ryan, whether you like it or not." Standing up, he added, "Come on. We gotta go meet Mac and Horatio."

Ryan tugged at the wrinkled Yankees jersey and frowned. "I definitely need to change first."

Danny laughed. "No, you don't."


Danny punched the button to the 35th floor while Ryan stood alongside him, fidgeting. His expression was one that the New York CSI had come to identify as Ryan trying very hard to hold his emotions in check. Danny cleared his throat. "You ready for this, Wolfe?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Ryan replied, picking imaginary lint from the wrinkled Yankees jersey. "I can't believe I let you talk me into wearing this in public."

Danny's blue eyes narrowed. "You talkin' smack about my Yankees?"

Ryan blinked at him before Danny clamped a hand on his elbow and smiled. "Relax, Ryan. I'm just givin' you hell."

Ryan folded his arms. "Yeah, like I need more of that." He rubbed his forehead with one hand and licked his lips. "You do have a vending machine up there somewhere, right?"

"Yeah," Danny replied as they stepped off the elevator. After a stop in the break room to get Ryan a bottle of water, they began to thread their way through the corridors of the New York Crime Lab.

The younger man gawped at the glass walls. "And I thought our lab was big." He paused by a room full of computer and technology equipment. A bearded young man wearing earbuds was seated, entering data into a computer, singing slightly off-key. He looked up when he realized that he was being watched, frowning at Ryan, but smiled when he saw that the young man in the Yankees jersey was with Danny. He stood up and walked toward them.

"Hey, Danny."

"Adam, this is my friend Ryan Wolfe from Miami. Ryan, this is Adam Ross, AV tech and all-around computer guru." The two men shook hands.

"Nice threads you got there," Adam quipped with a grin. Ryan rolled his eyes as Danny smirked. In a low voice, the tech added, "Bossman's waitin' for you. Conference room 3."

"Thanks, man," Danny replied.

"He didn't look too happy," Adam confided. "Came in here with some red-headed guy and they looked all worked up about something."

"That would be me," Ryan said with a sigh, picking more imaginary lint from his sleeves.

Danny shoved him forward. "C'mon, Miami, let's get this over with."

Adam shook his head as the two walked down the hall. "Montana, Miami. I wonder why I'm not Arizona or why Mac isn't Chicago?" he mumbled to himself. "Maybe he likes the letter M. M for Messer, that's got to be it." The tech's rambling monologue faded as the two CSI's walked down the hall.

"Does he always talk to himself like that?" Ryan asked in a low voice.

"Pretty much," Danny replied. At Ryan's quirked eyebrow, he added, "Adam's a good guy. You get used to him."

The door to the conference room, when they finally arrived, was closed. Danny poked his head in. "You ready for us?"

"Come in, Danny."

Danny held open the door for his colleague, but Ryan stood in the hallway, rigid, with his eyes closed, as if bracing for impact. Danny poked him until his eyes popped open. "You got this, Ryan," he whispered. "And I ain't goin' nowhere unless you tell me to."

Ryan nodded. Dipping his head, he walked in.

Mac quirked an eyebrow at Danny. Without saying a word, he asked how Ryan was, how Danny was, and if Danny understood this whole mess.

Danny shrugged and waved a hand back and forth, as if to say, he's as good as can be expected. I know some things but not everything. He used a sidelong glance at Ryan to add, I'm worried about him, Mac.

Mac nodded.

Horatio stood and faced his underling, wearing an impeccably tailored black suit with a white dress shirt, face unreadable as usual. "Hello, Mr. Wolfe."

Ryan folded his arms and stared across the conference table at his boss. "H." He gave the man a curt nod.

Danny and Mac traded glances. Danny suspected that Mac, like himself, was on the verge of rolling his eyes.

Mac cleared his throat. "Ryan, Horatio, let's sit down." Mac chose the head of the large table, with Horatio sitting near him on one side. Danny and Ryan sat side by side opposite Horatio. "I've asked you here today to see if Danny and I can help you two work through what appears to be a serious breakdown in communication. Just so you both know, what is said in this room will be held confidential."

Horatio looked at Mac. "Is this room secure?"

Mac nodded at him. "This is one of our war rooms."

"Seems appropriate," Ryan muttered, and Danny kicked him under the table.

"What was that, Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio had fixed his intense blue stare on Ryan, and Danny, seated next to him, shuddered. I would not like to be on the receiving end of that, he thought.

Mac cleared his throat again. "I think we should begin with a factual account of what led to this point. Ryan, would you begin?"

The brunette CSI shook his head, jutting his chin defiantly. "Horatio knows," he said, in a soft but clear voice.

Mac glanced at Horatio, who spoke up. "I've had a chance to thoroughly examine the evidence in our last case, Mr. Wolfe. And that does not -" Horatio paused, "look good for you." He stared calmly at Ryan. "And then you left for New York ... without informing me or anyone else on our team of your whereabouts," Horatio recounted. "I know you haven't been returning calls or texts. What I don't know-" the redhead paused dramatically, "is why you were in the hospital."

Ryan just stared at Horatio and pursed his lips.

"Ryan," Danny hissed, but it did no good. Ryan simply folded his arms across his middle and set his face like flint. But if he didn't explain himself soon, Danny knew, Ryan might be out of a job.

Watching Ryan's face redden and twitch, Danny had a sudden realization. He doesn't know how to say it without breaking down in front of his boss. He's afraid he's gonna cry.

Danny thought of the night he had stood outside of the hospital sobbing in Mac's arms, the night after Louie had been beaten so severely he almost died. He had been beyond grateful for Mac's concern.

Was Horatio really that much of a hard ass? Maybe it was time to find out.

"Ryan was abducted by the Russian mob and tortured for twelve straight hours."

"Danny," Ryan warned.

"They strapped him to a chair using duct tape. They punched him so hard and so often that he has two cracked ribs and he's takin' Percocet for the pain." Danny's voice grew louder with each detail.

"Danny." Ryan was standing by this point, fisting his hands.

The blond CSI stood to match him. He focused on Ryan's troubled hazel eyes as he continued. "And then those bastards tore out one of his molars using rusted pliers! He never gave in, not once. But then they abducted his godson."

Ryan closed his eyes and shuddered.

At this series of revelations, Horatio and Mac walked quickly around the table to flank their subordinates.

"Ryan, is that true?" Horatio asked, his voice faltering slightly. He reached for Ryan's shoulder.

The young CSI didn't answer, but he shrugged the hand away. Opening his eyes to slits, he glared at Danny and hissed softly, "How could you do this? I thought I could trust you."

Danny shook his head. "I'm not lettin' you take the fall for this, Ryan. Whatever happened after that, it was because you were messed up from bein' used as a punchin' bag. Your team and your boss -" He shot a telling glance at Horatio - "Shoulda been there for you, Ryan. You're gonna need help to get through this. I don't care if you hate me right now. I ain't lettin' you do this alone."

Ryan swallowed, painfully. "I need some air." He moved for the door.

"I'll escort him," Mac said, and both Danny and Horatio nodded sadly. Things were not going well.