So to clear some things out: This story is about Ryan's mother and her side of the family, kind of. The other story, "I was going to hell anyway", was (is) more related to how it was when he lived with his father. Same thing with the "Blue Band tradition" one-shot story. So those stories have absolutely nothing to do with the flashbacks in this story. I know that I've probably already mentioned this, but I'm not sure so I figured that I'd stay on the safe side : ).
Thanks to reviewers, favoriters and subscribers!
Disclaimer: Don't own etc…
Flashback
"Homicide?" Lieutenant Amanda Wolfe said doubtfully from behind her desk.
"Homicide." Officer Horatio Caine repeated.
"Caine, you've been here for about two years. There's no way they're letting you work homicide already."
"Why not? My test went great, I've got a spotless track record and I do my job well." he shrugged.
"Look, if officers who've worked here for a much longer time than you, who have also done great on their tests, don't get to work homicide, why should you? It's not like Morris to just allow someone who's only worked here for two years to get that kind of promotion unless he's got some special reason." At the saying of her last words Horatio's expression changed and got a little insecure. It only lasted a second before he got back to his normal secure expression, but it didn't go past her. "What did you do Caine?"
"Nothing bad. I just… Morris said the same thing that you did, that I was too young and had too little experience so I suggested that I'd work with someone who has experience in homicide who could like, you know, mentor me."
"You do realize that no one is going to want to mentor you? Everyone has worked hard to get to homicide, they're not going to be willing to give some officer a free ride no matter how good he is."
"Well, you're in homicide." he said slowly. She suddenly moaned when she realized what he was asking her for and put her face in her hands.
"Harry, please don't say you used my name as a way to scare Morris into letting you do this. I've worked hard to get him wrapped around my finger and I don't want you or anyone else to take advantage of that."
"I didn't! I just said that you'd probably be willing to mentor me and he said that if you agreed…"
"Why would you think that I would agree?" she said looking up.
"Because you owe me, remember?" he said confidently, a small grin appearing on his lips.
"You're not seriously still thinking about the favor I promised you two years ago? You looked after my kid for two hours! I'm going to have to mentor you for at least a year before Morris gets satisfied!" The insecurity immediately came over Horatio and his grin fell.
"I, ehm…" She sighed loudly.
"Fine, I'll do it! But from now on if I'm busy with work and you're not, you're taking care of Ryan, deal?"
"Deal!" he said happily. He'd looked after Ryan a few times after the first time when he'd first met Wolfe and he and the kid came along pretty well. Or, at least as well as a two year old and his once in a while babysitter could get along.
-/-
"I can't believe you're going to work homicide! Good job!" Carl Wilson said happily and gave Horatio a clap on his shoulder.
"Thanks." he responded, a big grin on his face.
"Come on! The only reason you got in is because you're sleeping with that woman." Horatio immediately blushed at Herm's comment. They couldn't possibly know about the secret dreams he'd had over the last two years? He'd worked hard on covering it up through putting his emotions in a little box in the back of his mind. Although in the nights the forbidden content in that box would sometimes come out and occupy his mind and…
"I'm not sleeping with her!" he said loudly. "She's a friend who owes me a favor, that's it."
"Don't care about him. He's just jealous." Wilson said happily.
"I'm not jealous!"
"Well I am! I would love to work homicide. It's better pay, better working hours, and you get to follow up. I'm applying the moment I finish my bachelor in genetics. I've heard they need people who know that kind of stuff." Horatio and Herm stared at Wilson's happy face.
"Why are you always so happy?" Herm asked. Carl shrugged.
"Why are you always so grumpy?" he shot back.
"He's got a point." Horatio inflicted.
"Oh shut up you two."
"But see this on the good way; Caine have someone on the inside helping him out, and that's Wolfe. When he's done with the mentoring period he's going to be our guy on the inside and then he'll help us to get in to homicide. Right Horatio?"
"Of course." he responded without blinking. He, Herm and Wilson had been roommates in the academy together with another guy who'd gotten a job upstate. They were like brothers and he'd do anything for them, just like he'd do for his biological younger brother.
"Great."
"Caine!" Wolfe shouted from behind him. "We've got a murder. Get in the car now!"
"Yes ma'am."
-/-
"One year's passed. Soon you'll be a homicide detective. How are you feeling?" Amanda asked while clothing her son.
"Great! I can't believe it's gone so fast." Horatio said happily, watching the three year old trying to get out of his mother's grip.
"Don't want, it's hot!" he said loudly.
"You have to wear clothes Ryan, it's just how it is!" Amanda answered annoyed.
"No! Tell her I don't have to uncle Harry!" Ryan said and wrapped his arms and legs around Horatio's left leg.
"Your mother is right, you have to take your clothes on." he smiled down at the pouting child.
"Fine!" Ryan walked over to his mother again and let her drag the shirt over his head.
"So him you listen to, but not me?"
"Yes, I do!" he said loudly. "Uncle Harry is almost the best uncle in the world!"
"Oh really? Then who's the best uncle in the world?" Amanda said amused.
"Uncle Ronny of course! He brings toys."
"Of course. Then who do you love most, mom or uncle Ronny or uncle Harry?"
"MOM!" he yelled and gave his mother a big hug. She laughed and kissed his head.
"I love you too sweetie." she whispered to her son and hugged him tightly. Horatio suddenly felt like he was intruding on a precious family moment. But still, he couldn't help but wish that he could join that hug.
Then the phone rang and the moment was broken. Amanda quickly stood up and answered.
"What do you want Morris?" she said annoyed when she heard the voice in the other end. "I can't come in, I have the day of remember?" she continued. "Double homicide?" she sighed "I'm with my son, so I couldn't come in even if I wanted to." she said frustrated. "I can't get a nanny on such a short notice. Why don't you call someone else?", "Oh, you don't know? Then maybe my idea wasn't that bad after all.", "Fine, I'll come in but I'm bringing Ryan with me.", "Yes I'll get Caine too, goodbye." She hung up and looked over at Horatio. "Want to help me catch one last bad guy before becoming an official homicide detective?"
"Always." Horatio responded.
"And you, do you feel for coming with mom to work?" she said and looked down at her son.
"Always." Ryan repeated after Horatio and Amanda laughed.
-/-
"We can't just let him go!" Amanda said angrily to Morris. "We know he did it." She looked over at a middle aged man in an expensive suit who had a smug smile on his face who was standing by the reception desk.
"There's nothing we can do about it. There's no evidence." Morris answered just as angry. "We're just going to have to deal with it." then he glanced over at Wolfe and sighed. "You're not going to deal with it are you?"
"This man killed two innocent people and he's just walking out, how am I suppose to just let it go?"
"Do you have any better plan?"
"Let me talk to him alone…"
"No. I've already had enough complaints about you getting too physical with the suspects. I don't need any more of that."
Horatio was standing beside them silently. He'd seen the force with which she's pushed the man down against the hood of the car when she arrested him. He knew that she could get a little angry, but never to the degree the other cops seemed to fear. Maybe she'd done something before he'd joined that had gotten Morris to not want to put her in an interrogation room with a suspect on her own?
"So he's just going to walk away?" She followed the man with her eyes as he walked past the reception desk.
"For now."
"Get away kid!" the man suddenly said and Horatio saw the man push away Ryan out of his way.
"Hey! Stop that!" Wolfe yelled and ran out to her son. "He's just a kid." She picked him up from the floor and gave him a concerned look. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Can we eat at McDonald's?" The little boy said, oblivious to his mother's concern.
"What? Where did you get that from?" Amanda asked her son surprised.
"The mister's shoe had ketchup on it, and there's ketchup in McDonald's. Can we eat there?"
"Ketchup? On his shoe?" She turned and looked at the man, her eyes wandering from his suddenly concerned eyes to his shoes. "May I take a look at those?"
"I… Ehm…"
"I'll take that as a yes. Give them to me." Morris said, coming up behind her. The man slowly took his shoes off and handed them over to Morris. "Let's see here. There's a red substance under your shoe that looks a lot like blood, did you know that sir?"
"It's like the kid said; it's just ketchup." the man said, the concern obvious in his eyes.
"Then you won't mind us testing it?" The man swallowed and shook his head.
"It can take some time though." Amanda said. "We're going to have to keep you in custody during that time. And then there will be the talk with the DA and the judge, not to mention the trial. It's going to be some long months for you. Then, when we put you in jail, I am going to make sure that you get in to the worst jail of them all, and that you get into a room with a bunch of criminals who've spent their entire lives on the streets, starving. Because you see, those men, they hate rich people. And they're for sure going to make your life miserable." Horatio was standing behind Amanda and he couldn't see her facial expression, but by the look on the man she was talking to it wasn't pretty. "Unless."
"Unless what?" the man said quickly.
"Unless of course you confess and make a deal with the DA."
"Ok…"
"Good. Officers." Two officers came up and took the man with them into the department again.
"Would the blood on the shoes really have gotten him convicted?" Horatio asked doubtfully.
"No way, but Amanda is very good at getting people to believe in her. It took some hard work to get the hang of it for her though; she used to be a terrible on getting people to take her seriously. But after what happened to Graham she got determined and…" Morris stopped and gave Horatio a strange look. "Why am I telling you this?"
"I don't know sir."
"Go back to work Caine."
"Yes sir."
"Can we go to McDonald's now?" Horatio heard Ryan ask his mother. She laughed.
"Well, you did help to solve the murder, so I guess you deserve a little gift. Hey Caine!"
"Yeah?"
"Want to come with and celebrate my son's first solved crime." Horatio couldn't help but to laugh at that.
"Sure, why not?"
-/-
"What do you think they're talking about?" Horatio asked concerned while looking in to Morris office. Amanda was standing in front of the captain and their lips were moving fast, like they were arguing. What if Morris had changed his mind and decided that he didn't belong in homicide?
"Don't worry, he's not going to change his mind on you in the last minute. Especially not after all the time he knows Amanda put into helping you. She'd rip his head off." Ron said from beside him as if he'd been reading his mind.
"Then why did she want me to be here?"
"Same reason she wanted me and O'Connell here I guess."
"And why is that?"
"I don't know. What about you O'Connell?"
"I think it's about the team thing." the sergeant said quickly.
"Team thing?"
"Wolfe wants her own team in homicide. She also wants to be able to use that particular team in other crimes like burglary and assault and stuff. But Morris isn't to happy about the idea."
"Why not?"
"That I don't know."
"Wait, you think she wants us in the team?" Horatio asked.
"Probably."
"And you're going to accept?"
"Of course." Ron said quickly.
"And you O'Connell?"
"Let's see here… If the team would expand from just homicide to other cases too it would be about fifty extra dollars in the paycheck per week. We'll also only work during the dayshift, so no more late night call outs. And then there's the fact that we get to help a lot more people out. I think I'll accept." O'Connell smiled.
"You've really done your research on this."
"I always do my friends." The door to the office opened and Amanda walked out with a triumphant smile on her face.
"Four people Amanda, that's it." Morris called out and closed the door after her.
"Ok, you guys probably wonder why…"
"Don't worry Amanda, O'Connell explained everything." She smiled against the sergeant.
"I should have figured as much. So Ron, do you want to…"
"I'd be honored." he said and smiled.
"And O'Connell?"
"Yep."
Horatio waited for her to turn and ask him, but she didn't.
"Great. You guys have got the rest of the day off while I finish the paperwork. I'll see you later." Then she turned around to leave. "Caine, are you coming?" she asked suddenly and he hurried after her. "Congratulations Caine, you made it to homicide." she said happily while they walked into the elevator going to the reception floor.
"Ehm… Thanks. About the thing with your team…"
"Yeah?"
He didn't know how to address the question. He wanted to ask why she hadn't asked him to join, but he was afraid that he'd sound desperate.
"Never mind." Wolfe bit her lower lip and for the first time since Horatio had gotten to know her she looked insecure.
"Caine, you know that thorough being in my team you'd get a bit of a money raise…"
"Yeah, O'Connell mentioned it."
"And the expansion of our working area would be a bit more healthy than having to spend the whole days looking at dead bodies. We'll be working homicide too of course but…" She got quiet again.
"Are you asking me to join you?" Horatio asked carefully.
"Kind off."
"Why don't you just say it out loud?" She looked away from him.
"Because… It's understandable if you don't want to."
"So you're making the job seem more appealing so I'll want it." Horatio said and he saw her bit her lower lip again in a nervous twitch.
Nervous? She was nervous because of him. She wanted him to join her team. She wanted him to be with her. He could literally feel his heart skip a beat and had to push himself to the limit to keep all those thoughts in the box in the back of his head.
"Just, never mind." the doors opened and she made an attempt to walk out, but he stopped her.
"It would be an honor to work for you." he said and. Her face had already gone back to her normal blank one and she only glanced at him.
"Don't over exaggerate." she mumbled, but he could still see that her lips were fighting a smile. She walked out and he followed.
"Didn't Morris say you could have four people on the team?"
"Yes he did. Why? You have some suggestions?"
"Herm and Wilson." he said quickly.
"I think you need some help with your math. You, O'Connell and Ron equal three people, which means I only have room for one more. Plus, why would I have them anyway? I don't see how they could come to use."
"Why did you want me, Ron and O'Connell?"
"Ron is a good cop. I can always trust that he's got my back. No matter what. Same thing about you Caine."
"What about O'Connell?"
"Same thing. Plus, he's a really good information source, as you might have noticed, considering the time you spend with him."
"He's a friend of mine."
"He's everyone's friend. And he's got a master in psychology, which can come in pretty handy in interrogations." She stopped in front of the reception desk and asked for the papers she needed.
"Well, Wilson just got his bachelor in genetics. He can be useful at the scene." Horatio continued, stopping next to her.
"And Herm?" she said and looked up from the papers.
"He's a good cop." Wolfe looked out in nowhere as if she was weighting her options.
"Bachelor in genetics, that's not bad. What about this; the next case we'll work you bring the two of them and I'll see how well they work. If one of them satisfies me, I'll let him join."
"What if both of the satisfies you?"
"Then I'll talk to Morris and see what happens. Ok?"
"Ok."
Yes, not much happened in this chapter either but I promise that in next chapter I will finally explain what the hell happened between Amanda and Ryan's father Graham. It's not pretty though, just to give you a heads up. Don't forget to review!