Summary:

Ryan has been resting in Eric's flat while he healed from Alexandros' attack. Horatio and Alexx turn up for a full explanation of what Ryan was, especially considering his actions since he had returned to Miami.

Notes:

So I know it's been a while but I've had major writers block. I pushed through it when writing this chapter so it might show through a bit but now this chapter is out of the way it should be easier for me to continue to update. An entire explanation of Ryan's situation is included in this chapter.

Eric covered his mouth with a hand to smother a yawn as he tramped down his hallway towards his front door. Someone had knocked on his door and since Ryan was getting ready for a shower it fell to Eric to answer it. Glancing at the clock in his front room as he passed Eric noticed it was actually half ten in the morning and it still felt early for him. It had been three days since Alexandros had been taken into custody by Miami Dade PD and Ryan had been staying with Eric while he recovered, and until Esteban deemed it was safe for Ryan to live alone again. Ryan had been suffering from terrible nightmares each night and Eric had not been getting to sleep until late because he was staying up to help Ryan calm down.

Opening the door without looking through the peep hole Eric was surprised to find himself face to face with Horatio. Horatio himself did not seem to be surprised to see Eric wearing nothing but his boxers, his hair ruffled since he had just gotten out of bed.

"H…what are you doing here?" Eric asked, suddenly extremely self-conscious about being nearly naked in front of his boss.

"Ryan called me, offering an explanation." Horatio explained simply.

"Oh. Right. Come in." Eric moved back so Horatio could enter his flat and closed the door quickly behind him.
"Ryan's in the shower right now so…you're going to have to wait." Eric explained when Horatio glanced around as if looking for Ryan.

"That's fine."

"Can I get you anything to drink? Eat?" Eric asked, crossing to the counter of his kitchen and grabbing some mugs. Ryan liked a cup of tea when he got out of the shower so Eric made the preparations for it as Horatio took a seat.

"No thank you Eric." Horatio declined his offer with a smile.

"So um…you're here for an explanation?" Eric asked.

"Yes. Ryan called me this morning and told me he was ready to give me a full explanation of who, and what, he was. I had been waiting for him to be ready to tell me after the display I saw in the morgue. I'm sure Alexx wants an explanation as well, she'll be coming here soon as well." Horatio confirmed.

"Oh. Excuse me a moment." Eric excused himself and had to force himself to walk, not run, into his bedroom to find some clothes.

The shower was still running and Eric grinned. Ryan would be in the shower for a while, he was extremely methodical when it came to cleaning himself. Tapping on the door Eric entered the room and made his way over to the shower. Ryan had not heard him enter judging from the way he jumped when Eric opened the door and leaned in.

"Horatio is here." Eric murmured.

"Did you have to come into the shower to tell me that?" Ryan asked in annoyance.

"I wanted to make sure you didn't come out naked in front of the boss." Eric laughed.

"Why would I do that!?" Ryan asked, his voice rising a few octaves in his anger and shock at Eric's suggestion.

"You've been coming out and asking me to check your wounds to see if they're healing, and normally since no one else is here you walk out straight from the shower to find me." Eric murmured, reaching out and drawing Ryan closer to him so he could lay a kiss on Ryan's bare shoulder.

"Right I'll make sure to be dressed!" Ryan snapped, pulling away from Eric and shoving him out of the shower.

Eric fell back with a laugh and exited the bathroom door, closing it behind him and making his way back to Horatio. When he emerged into his living room he found Alexx was now sat with him and she was clasping a cup of tea.

"Just make yourself at home." Eric laughed again as he joined them.

"Where's my baby?" Alexx asked.

"He's showering Alexx, he'll be with us soon." Eric told her. Alexx nodded and sipped at her tea.

Horatio seemed to be busy reading something off his phone and Eric assumed it was to do with work. Silence fell between the three and Eric wondered if the other two were feeling as awkward as he was.

Eventually Ryan came out into the living room and slipped onto the couch next to Eric. Horatio and Alexx both greeted him but he merely smiled in response, too nervous to speak for the moment.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Eric asked quietly, concerned by how pale Ryan seemed to him all of a sudden.
"You're still injured Ryan maybe this should wait."

"I'm fine Eric," Ryan replied with a small smile. "I want to do this now."

Eric was unconvinced by this but he stayed silent while Ryan contemplated how best to begin.

"I have talked to my father before this meeting and he gave me some more details to help me explain my situation to you, to all of you." Ryan started quietly. Eric threaded his fingers through Ryan's and squeezed gently, offering his silent support as Horatio and Alexx waited patiently for a full explanation.
"What I am about to say will seem ridiculous to you, even lies but I swear to you that it is the truth."

"Ryan honey, I'm going to have no problems believing you after what I saw in my morgue." Alexx spoke up and Ryan smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry about that Alexx, truly." He replied.

"Horatio?"

"I will listen to what Ryan has to say and decide from that whether I shall believe it or not. I too saw what happened in the morgue and if the explanation fits the act I shall believe it." Horatio replied in true Horatio fashion and both Eric and Ryan grinned.

Ryan turned to Eric.
"There are going to be things in this explanation that you have not heard Eric, my father has only just told me of them."

Eric nodded and smiled.

"Alright, I'll explain now, I'll delayed it long enough." Ryan took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on Eric's coffee table. He could not bring himself to look upon anyone while he explained his situation, his entire life, to the friends he had built up around him.
"As you all have guessed, I am not human. There is no name for what I am, for ease I shall just call myself an immortal. I am immortal." Ryan paused and his eyes hardened as he stiffened, remembering the way he had almost been killed by the other immortal Alexandros. "No…there is one way to kill us and it can only be performed by those who are like us. The details I'm going to keep from you, it's too dangerous to let too many people know how to kill us."

"We would never use that information against you Ryan," Alexx interrupted.

"The less we know the better." Eric spoke before Ryan could, "It took me shooting Ryan for him to finally explain who he was, what he was, and even after that he left."

Ryan smiled thankfully at Eric and nodded. "It is not so much that knowing what we are is dangerous or anything, but when it gets out to one person it becomes harder and harder to keep a lid on the secret.
"As I said I am immortal. We are born like this and the form we take…well my father didn't really explain this to me and I've never seen it happen, but the form we take is that of a normal baby, albeit we are naturally…more beautiful." Ryan mumbled the last few words through embarrassment, his face lightly flushed red.
"Our eyes are naturally blue, a medium shade of blue-green with a bright, bright blue ring around the outside. Our skin seems to mortals as marble, sculpted bodies like the ancient sculptures from Greece and Rome. We are…we are perfect to mortal eyes in our true forms when we grow. In disguises we pass for human."

Ryan paused again and Eric took that small time to imagine what Ryan could look like in his true form. He had denied Ryan the chance to show him once and Eric did not regret that choice but it was an intriguing thought.

"Beauty isn't the only thing that makes us differ from humans. We can heal extremely quickly and since we are pretty much immortal there are not many things that can actually do us enough harm to put us out of action when injured. When you got the call, as you inevitably did, about the gunshots at my address Horatio it was because Eric shot me. Twice. And I survived it. It took me about fifteen maybe twenty minutes to recover from the shot. When I was shot on duty and everyone thought I was wearing a fest I wasn't, I just healed extremely quickly." Ryan finally continued. Eric stood as he spoke and made his way over to the pot of tea he had prepared for Ryan while he had been showering and poured Ryan a cup. Ryan accepted it gratefully and curled his hands around it, fixing his eyes on the dark mass of liquid before him spitting up trails of smoke.
"We can heal other people."

Horatio looked up at Ryan in surprise and looked between him and Eric, his eyes narrowed a little as he put two and two together. Ryan waited with baited breath as Horatio figured out what he, or rather his father, had done for Eric but Horatio said nothing and waited for Ryan to continue.

"Wait baby," Alexx interrupted again, "You mentioned how you weren't actually wearing a vest before to me as well, and you also mentioned that your father was the one who made us all think that you were. How did he do that?"

"Ah well, my father is extremely old, even I don't know exactly when he was born. Considering we don't die from old age he could have lived since…since ancient times and still look as young as when you all saw him. In fact although we age we show no physical signs of it so you could never actually guess our age." Ryan answered and carried on speaking until Eric nudged him and pointed out he was stalling again.
"Sorry." Ryan laughed humourlessly and the sound of it wasn't lost on his three companions.
"Because my father is so old, one of the oldest remaining of us alive, he has developed the powers that we have to be at the most powerful that they can be. He cannot completely control a person's mind, but when he fixes someone under his gaze he can direct their thoughts and imply certain things into their minds. It happened to all of you, you just don't remember it." He explained.

Horatio stayed rather emotionless though it was evident he was listening intently. Alexx and Eric's eyes widened. She had not been expecting that answer and Eric had never know that before. Then again, he speculated, Ryan did say there would be things I haven't heard before.

"Now if I can get back to the main explanation about healing." Ryan murmured, his voice cracking a little. Sipping his tea Ryan coughed and his hand automatically went to his chest. Eric, who knew his ribs had been giving him problems despite his fast healing rates, turned to him immediately and took his face in his hands.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

Ryan nodded. "I'm fine. I can continue." He coughed.

"Are you sure?"

"Mm, I need to do this." Ryan confirmed. Eric was not convinced but nodded and moved back so Ryan could continue.
"I said that we can heal people didn't I? So, say you were shot Horatio I could take that wound from you onto my own body and you would be completely healed. There would be no after effects and the more skilled I was the less amount of scar tissue there would be. When Eric was shot in the head my father agreed to help him after I heard that he was unaware that Marisol had been killed. He took Eric's wound and that is why Eric had such a miraculous recovery."

"I wondered." Alexx mused, "Even the doctors said it was a miracle, especially considering it had not been a lot of time between him getting shot and suddenly recovering."

"Did your father help us to be convinced about that too?" Horatio inquired softly.

"No H, just me and the bullet proof vest." Ryan replied truthfully. "It was your relief at having Eric okay that convinced you it was possible."

"Can you do that with anything? Does it have to be a wound or can it be a disease?" Alexx inquired.

"It can be anything. Personally I can't actually do it very well, I've never been trained to do it but my father can take anything, any wound, any disease and heal it from a person." Ryan replied.

"That's amazing." Alexx murmured and Ryan steeled himself for her to say something similar to what Eric had when Ryan had first admitted the healing part to him. He couldn't get angry with Alexx for suggesting that his father, or himself, should use their power to cure the worse diseases such as cancer or HIV but Alexx was silent.

"Is it only healing that you can do?" Horatio inquired, "Or do you have other powers as well as that?"

"It's…not so much powers as heightened physical abilities." Ryan admitted. "We can move faster than humans, we're stronger and fitter and we have a lot of stamina. Our eyesight and hearing is only slightly heightened though. We have a sort of sixth sense that allows us to close off our other senses and…sense really the world around us mentally. We can tell when someone is approaching us without needing to hear or see them."

"I didn't know any of that," Eric whistled. "So all the times I've tried to sneak up on you, you've only pretended to be surprised?"

Ryan nodded, "I have to act like a human and a CSI such as me would not have good enough hearing to hear you if you were sneaking."

"You're good at it," Eric laughed.

Ryan laughed with him and took a breath. "There is little else I can tell you really."

"Alright Ryan, thank you for sharing." Horatio said.

"You believe me?" Ryan asked in surprise.

"With all the evidence you've given it makes sense for you to be telling the truth. And I know you Ryan, if you were going to make up a story to satisfy me it would have been less fantastical. No, it's pretty obvious you're telling the truth." Horatio said with a smile which Ryan found himself returning.

"I can see you're in quite a bit of pain honey," Alexx mentioned and Ryan blushed at her observation.
"Do you want us to leave so you can rest?" She inquired.

"No, no it's fine really." Ryan said quickly, "Um Horatio I have a request."

"What is it Ryan?" Horatio asked.

"Can I come back to work?" Ryan asked bluntly.

Horatio was silent for a moment before smiling again. "Of course you can Ryan, we'd be glad to have you back. As soon as your father can confirm to me that you are fully healed you can return to work with us at the lab."

"Thank you." Ryan said, deciding it would be better for him to appear grateful than annoyed that Horatio was making him wait. Already he was bored of being kept inside constantly.

"Eric I intend for you to return as soon as Ryan is okay to be left alone." Horatio informed Eric, who nodded grimly. He knew Ryan was sick of being cooped up inside and was loathe to leave him at home alone while he went out to work.
"Now I must return to work and Alexx I think you need to accompany me. Ryan, I will do all I can to make sure that nothing about who, or what, you are gets out into the lab."

"Thanks H." Ryan was relieved that Horatio had brought it up so he didn't have to.

"Get some rest now baby." Alexx told Ryan as she stood and hugged him, being as gentle as she could. Ryan nodded, and no one mentioned that Ryan was probably not going to get much rest since he had been doing nothing but resting for the last couple of days.

"Oh Horatio," Eric called as Horatio held the door open for Alexx and made to follow her out. "What happened to Alexandros?" He inquired.

Horatio's eyes flicked to Ryan but Ryan's face was expressionless, he did not seem to know what had happened.
"Esteban brought him in after a few hours on the same day that Ryan found him. He was roughed up and bleeding but he was still alive. He was questioned by us but was released to the Greek authorities because of his gang affiliations. Esteban said that he shall be dealt with. I did not ask."

Eric nodded, satisfied.

"I'll be seeing you both soon." Horatio called as he pulled the door shut.

Ryan sighed and slumped back against the couch, running a hand through his hair and closing his eyes. For some reason that had been hard to do, even though it had just been speaking. Eric leant back against the couch and wrapped an arm around Ryan's shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

"Mm, a little tired but okay."

"Feeling up to a trip out?" Eric asked.

Ryan's eyes snapped open and he looked right at Eric, searching to see if there was any sign of humour in his expression.

"Are you serious?" He asked.

"Of course." Eric replied.

"My dad told me I had to stay inside." Ryan pointed out.

Eric grinned, "What he doesn't know won't kill him will it?"

Ryan couldn't help but laugh. "Where are we going?"

Eric's grin grew a somewhat predatory edge to it as he swept his eyes over Ryan's body. Ryan tilted his head to the side as he waited for Eric's answer. Before Eric said anything he stood and held out a hand to pull Ryan up as well. Leading Ryan back towards the bedroom Ryan rolled his eyes, wondering if that hadn't just been a rouse for Eric to gauge how energetic he was. Eric however crossed to his dresser and withdrew two pairs of swimming trunks.

"I was thinking of the beach."