Seven:

Horatio said to take things day by day.

Slow.

But those words just weren't in Ryan vocabulary. Ryan was impulsive, and impatient. When he wanted things done, he went and got them done. When he wanted something, he went and got it. If there was a problem, he confronted it head on. The point being, that Ryan just did things his way. Sometimes it went awry. But other times, it went great

And that was why when Horatio had entered the bedroom, Ryan asked him if Alana was sleeping yet. Horatio had said yes, that he read her a few stories because she just wouldn't fall asleep. But now she was sleeping soundly in her bed.

It had been two days since their talk, and Ryan couldn't say that things were back to normal. But they were better. Horatio talked to Ryan more, even when no one was around. At the lab, he found something other than desk work for Ryan to do, letting Ryan go over evidence for Holly's case. He still hadn't slept in the same bed, though. When asked why, Horatio only said that he had become restless lately and didn't want to keep Ryan up all night as well. And Ryan could accept that. Because now before bed, Horatio would come into the room and would talk to him for a while before he went back to the guest room.

When Horatio sat down on the bed next to him, Ryan just kissed him. The first real kiss he'd given Horatio in a while. Horatio seemed surprised or caught off guard, but that didn't stop Ryan. He kissed him once, then twice, then by the third kiss he had wrapped his arms around the back of Horatio's neck to pull him closer.

He felt the vibration of Horatio chuckling and heard it as well.

Ryan pulled away to look at Horatio. He had a smile on his face, which definitely was a good thing. But his face turned to worry when Ryan had put his head on his shoulder, burying his face into it. "Ryan?"

"I missed you." His voice was muffled but Horatio heard him perfectly. "I hated living together but not talking to you."

Horatio used his hand and put it on Ryan's back. He rubbed it lightly and sighed. "It's alright. We're going to be okay, you know."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Ryan kissed Horatio again. And Horatio kissed him back, and it was nice.

Then Horatio's face lit up. He looked really happy and excited about something. Seeing him happy definitely put a smile on Ryan's face as well. But he was wondering what had him that way. But he didn't have to wait long. Before Ryan said anything, Horatio shook his head. "I have an idea." He told him. "Tomorrow after work why don't you, me and Alana go out? We could have dinner, maybe see a movie if we can all agree on one. And maybe we can take Alana to the park afterwards."

Ryan definitely liked the sound of that. As he thought about it, he realized that they hadn't gone out and done things as a family in a while. Horatio would take Alana out and Ryan would take Alana out. But it was always separately. Although Alana never complained about it, he thought maybe she had missed that as well. "That sounds great, Horatio."

Horatio nodded and he kissed Ryan again. As he did, Ryan could hear a faint noise. It sounded like buzzing. Ryan pulled away, and Horatio reached into his own pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Horatio looked at the screen, frowned and then answered the phone.

"Lieutenant Caine!"

Ryan inwardly groaned, and laid back onto the bed as he could hear Holly's clear voice on the other side of the phone. Horatio had put the phone in between his ear and his shoulder, and then put his hand on Ryan's thigh, rubbing it lightly. "What's wrong, Holly?"

She started talking rather frantically, and Ryan couldn't catch what she was saying. But he could tell that something was wrong. Horatio's demeanor had changed. His hand had stilled on Ryan's thigh and soon, it was gone altogether. Horatio stood up from the bed. "I'll be right there." And then he hung up. "Sorry, I have to go; Holly's having some kind of problem."

Ryan shook his head. "No, it's fine." He answered. "My hormones are raging and I really want to have sex right now, but I guess I can wait."

Horatio pursed his lips together. "I'll try to be back soon."

"Alright."

And then Horatio kissed Ryan again, grabbed a jacket that was draped across a chair and then left the bedroom. Ryan thought about checking on Alana. It wasn't uncommon for Horatio or him to put their daughter to bed, only to have moments later for her to hop up and to start quietly coloring a picture or making crafts instead.

As he got up to check on her, he heard the sound of a car door closing. Ryan didn't think much of it, and continued on to Alana's room. She was lying down in bed, her back was facing Ryan but he could see her movements from breathing. She was sleeping, and he could hear her light snoring. Ryan closed her bedroom door and left the room. He decided to go downstairs to the kitchen for a snack. As Ryan walked past the front door, he could see a light shining inside. The lights were bright and large, like a car's headlights. Seconds later, Ryan could hear hard knocking on the door. He stopped walking for a moment, and stared at the door. He wondered if it was Horatio, maybe he had forgot something.

He looked through the peephole of the door and just stood there.

Ryan wondered what was going on.

Then more knocking.

Ryan slowly turned the knob and opened the door. He was pushed back immediately as Rick charged into the house. "Where is he?"

Ryan was taken aback. "What? Where is who?"

"Where is Horatio?"

"He just left. Holly called him and said she needed help." Ryan answered. "What's going on?"

Rick seemed confused. He frowned in response and shook his head. "Holly? She didn't tell me anything."

"Well why are you here?"

"I'm looking for Horatio."

"Why?" Ryan asked, a little pissed that Rick had just barged into his house, and was yelling while Alana was in bed sleeping.

Rick had just turned and left out of the house again. Ryan watched him from the door, as Rick opened his car door, turned the running vehicle off and then started back for the house. He moved out of the way to let him back inside. Ryan saw that Rick was holding papers in his left hand now. Ryan shut the door behind him as Rick walked toward their living room.

Ryan didn't have to ask again, as Rick had practically shoved the papers in Ryan's face. He had to move out the way just to avoid them actually hitting him. Ryan snatched the papers out of his hands, and immediately looked horrified. "What is this?"

"Because of Horatio's little confession on stand to your guys' relationship, we're all being investigated." Rick announced, the anger apparent in his voice. "Office relationships are prohibited for a number of reasons; it's distracting, it causes discomfort with the others, or there's favoritism. And now we're all in trouble. You for making babies with the lieutenant, and me for knowing about it and not reporting it because I'm in Internal Affairs."

"Well it's not like Horatio could lie on the stand. He would get in a lot of trouble. And I don't see why this is a big deal now- everyone knew."

"It's a big deal because people are making it a big deal. It wasn't a problem until it was announced in court. Now suddenly the public wants cases relooked at, and everything that the lab has done to be questioned because Horatio could have used 'favoritism' with you. All because of a romance. None of us cared until it could get us all fired."

Well Ryan was slightly panicking now. "What's going to happen?"

"I assume they're going to either tell you to break up, or one of you will be transferred elsewhere or you'll just be fired." Rick answered. "You said something about Holly; what's wrong with her?"

"She called for Horatio. I couldn't understand what she said, but I know he went to meet her somewhere. Do you have any idea what happened?"

Rick shook his head. "No. She told me she was going to go to a friends place a few hours ago, but I haven't heard anything other than that."

"You don't seem too concerned."

"Well you said Horatio was handling it." Rick shrugged. "Why should I be worried?"

Rick had a point there. If there was a problem, Horatio could always fix it. And besides, Holly didn't sound too freaked out on the phone. Her voice was fast-paced and rushed but as many times as Ryan had spoken to her, he thought that was just how she was. And he noticed anyways, that she got a little hyperactive while chatting with Horatio. But Ryan had a feeling that if he asked anything about her, Rick would just get upset at him. He gestured toward his couch. "Well, do you want to sit down? I'll call Horatio and see if he can tell me anything."

Rick sat down but shook his head. "Don't call him. He just left, Wolfe. I'm sure he doesn't know anything yet." He had his own phone out and pressed it to his ear. "I'll just call Holly."

Ryan nodded. He decided to go back upstairs anyways. To grab his own phone that he had left and to check on Alana. He figured she would've came downstairs to see what was going on if she had been woken up. But it didn't hurt to check.

As he went upstairs, he saw Rick take the phone from his ear, push a button then put it back to his ear. He thought that maybe Holly hadn't answered. It was strange to Ryan that Holly's first call was to Horatio. It seemed natural for her to call her boyfriend first, that being Rick. But that didn't happen. Rick seemed to be in the dark, and what was stranger, he didn't seem the least bit concerned. Horatio would handle the situation of course, as he always did. But he thought that Rick would be at least a little concerned. Or maybe he just wasn't showing it.

And why had Rick showed up anyways to their house? He was pissed off, and at Horatio for confessing to his and Ryan's relationship. And now because of that, there would be yet again another investigation in the lab. Ryan could understand why Rick would be upset- he could get in a ton of trouble for concealing that. They all could. But Ryan didn't understand what possessed Rick to drive to their home. What was he going to do if Horatio had been home; yell at him? Try to fight him?

Ryan had slowly reclosed Alana's door. She was still sleeping quietly except for her soft snores. He had started walking back to his room when he thought he heard the stairs creak. Ryan stopped moving and listened for a moment but there wasn't another sound. Ryan frowned. "Rick?" He called out, as loud as he could without risking waking Alana up.

"Yeah?"

His voice sounded close. Ryan walked back to the stairs and saw Rick just standing there. Ryan knew he probably looked very confused. Why was Rick sneaking up the stairs?

Rick smiled and pointed to the wall. "Oh, I was looking at these pictures." He chuckled. "You know I've never actually met a family that put portraits on the wall by their stairs. I've only seen them in the movies."

Ryan breathed out and nodded. They did have pictures on their wall. So that made sense that Rick had stopped coming up the stairs and was looking at them. But that didn't explain why he was coming upstairs anyways.

"Did you need something?" Ryan asked. "I was coming back down."

"Yeah, where is your bathroom? I didn't see one downstairs."

"Well there is one. But you can use the one up here. Just down the hall."

Rick nodded and continued up the stairs. He walked down the hall and found the bathroom. Ryan watched him go in and shut the door. Ryan went into his room and grabbed his phone, making sure to shut the door behind him. He contemplated going back downstairs but for some reason he felt like he should wait for Rick to come out.

It wasn't that Ryan didn't trust Rick. He just had a weird feeling about everything. It just didn't seem right. He decided to call Horatio anyways. Ryan waited, the phone rang three times before he answered. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you driving still?" Ryan questioned. It wouldn't have been good for Horatio to answer the phone. He only had one arm to drive. But he didn't really think Horatio would have answered if that was the case. "No, I'm waiting for Holly now. She told me she was with her friends and they decided to go out drinking but they left her there."

"Wait, wait. So she called you to be her designated driver?"

"I guess so. I'll drop her off at Rick's house and I'll be right home."

"Um," Ryan paused, unsure if he should mention Rick being at their house at that very moment. "Okay sounds good. I'll just be here waiting for you."

Horatio said bye to Ryan and they hung up. He continued to wait for Rick to come out, which wasn't too much longer. As he came out of the bathroom he stopped next to the guest room. The door was open and he peered inside. "Is this your bedroom?"

"No, it's our guestroom. You should probably-."

He continued on and stopped next to the door Ryan had just closed. "Is this your bedroom?"

"Yeah, but I think you-."

Rick turned the knob and pushed the door open and for a moment, Ryan's mind went blank. Rick obviously had no boundaries for others people's things. Ryan even let out a short laugh in disbelief that he had done that. And then Rick just walked into the room. "Rick, what the hell is your problem?"

Ryan had came into the room and saw Rick was looking at their dresser. Horatio had a collection of colognes, and Ryan had a collection of hair products. Rick picked up one of the cologne bottles and smelled it. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're in my bedroom. The door was shut, which usually signifies people keeping out. And yet you're in here." Ryan answered. "You should leave. Horatio's on his way back soon and, well, I don't think you should be here when he does."

Rick frowned as he put the bottle back. "But that was my whole point of coming here tonight- to talk to him. Why would I leave now when he's on his way? Unless you didn't tell him that I'm here."

"It's just not a good time tonight. I think you should be home waiting for your girlfriend to see if she's safe and sound."

Rick smiled, and then he laughed. "Girlfriend, that's funny. Holly is not my girlfriend."

"What? But she's staying with you in your house."

"She doesn't feel safe enough to go home."

"You said you were dating!"

Rick laughed again. "Well, yeah, we had a few dates. But there's nothing there. She's just not my type, I guess."

Ryan was surprised to hear that. He was amazed this whole time that he didn't know that. Then again, he had been avoiding talking to Rick about personal matters. "But she's so perfect."

Rick shrugged and put his hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Yeah she is, isn't she? But a little too perfect. No one's that perfect."

Ryan wanted to just yell out that he completely agreed but he didn't think that would go over too well. Rick released Ryan's shoulder and left the room. Ryan followed behind him, shutting the door again. Rick walked down the stairs, and sat down on the couch. Ryan came down after him, he sat down on the chair in the living room. He noticed Rick eyeing him but he didn't say anything so Ryan figured it wasn't that important. Ryan sat there, thinking.

He wondered how long Horatio would be. He wondered how he'd react if he came home and saw Rick in the house. He was sure he'd be surprised. He even thought that maybe Horatio would be a little upset with him. Especially since they just had a talk about trust and Rick.

Ryan groaned, out loud and put his hand on his head. "I should have told him you were here."

Rick was busy looking around the area but he still answered. "He might speed home faster if you did." Rick picked up a picture of Alana and looked at it. "Wow, Alana has none of your features."

"She definitely favors Horatio. She has my lips, I think."

Rick looked at the picture then at Ryan, seemingly eyeing his lips. Then Rick nodded as he sat the photo down. "So why didn't you tell Horatio I was here?"

Ryan shrugged. "I'm not sure. If I did, he'd ask why you were here." He answered. "And then I'd have to tell him why you're here. I don't wanna be the one to tell him we're being investigated."

Rick nodded, like he understood.

After a while, they both heard the sound of a lock clicking, Rick looked at Ryan. Ryan was sure he looked slightly, if not full-blown panicked. The whole time, he had been thinking about what to say to Horatio and feeling bad that he hadn't said something when he called him. Rick stood up and rushed toward the door, which only made Ryan feel even more panicked. Being 5 months pregnant with twins, he was bigger. And since he was bigger, he couldn't quite get off of the couch as fast as he used to. But he could hear the surprise in Horatio's voice.

"Rick?"

"Yeah, I need to talk to you."

"Why are you," he started. "When did… I just dropped Holly off at your place."

Ryan had finally made his way to the men. Rick looked mad. "I just got here, maybe 3 minutes ago. Are you going to keep questioning me or can I tell you what I came for?"

Horatio had glanced to Ryan. He had frowned but he nodded his head. "Yeah, we can go talk in the kitchen. Do you need Ryan with us?"

Rick looked back to Ryan and shook his head. "Nope, just you."

Horatio nodded and led Rick into the kitchen.

Ryan had felt a little bit of relief. Rick had definitely been there longer than 3 minutes. Meaning he'd just told a little fib to Horatio. But at least that way Horatio wouldn't have known that Ryan withheld information from him. And it wouldn't have been awkward to have them all sitting down in the same place; Ryan and the man he cheated with and the very angry boyfriend together just didn't seem good.

But the man he cheated with and his boyfriend together didn't sound too great either, so Ryan felt it was best to stay close to the kitchen. Just in case, as a precaution.

Horatio looked pissed by the time Rick was gone. Ryan wasn't able to hear what they were saying, since they were speaking in very hushed tones. But Rick left, looking mad and Horatio looked mad too. When Ryan asked him if he were okay, Horatio's mood seemed to change. He smiled and took Ryan's hand.

"What are you-?"

"Going upstairs." Was Horatio's short response.

He led them up the stairs, stopping momentarily at the closed door. But he didn't question it and just pushed the door open. Ryan chuckled at the fast-paced actions by Horatio. Horatio momentarily let go of his hand, only to shut the door behind him. Then he kissed Ryan.

"Wait, we're not going to talk about Holly?" Ryan pulled away.

"We can talk tomorrow." Horatio kissed him again. Ryan chuckled because he didn't see Horatio like this often. And he had thought that Horatio would have no longer been in the mood to do anything after leaving out. Ryan felt Horatio's hand go up his shirt, and then Ryan stopped moving.

Horatio halted his movement and looked at Ryan with concern and worry.

Despite his rather large stomach, Ryan suddenly felt small looking at Horatio. He knew before Horatio even said it that he'd ask Ryan what was wrong. Ryan sighed. "Rick…"

Horatio took a small step back and his head tilted slightly to the right. "You're going to have to stop saying his name every time I kiss you." He chuckled softly, and Ryan did too but he knew that Horatio was probably worried about what Ryan would say next.

He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. It's just, Rick lied to you. And I didn't say anything either so I guess, technically I lied too." He said. Horatio's eyebrows furrowed together but he was listening to Ryan. "He said he had just came over when you came home. But actually Rick came over as soon as you left."

Horatio was very quiet. And then Ryan felt like he should wait for him to say something. But he also thought that if he didn't say something now, then Horatio might have thought up a scenario in his head. "He told me about the lab being investigated because of our relationship. And then we talked about Alana a little bit. But that's it. The rest of the time we just kind of sat there, not saying anything."

"You didn't tell me he was here." Horatio answered. "Was he here when you called?"

"He was. I panicked and I decided not to tell you. But then when I was waiting for you to get home, I panicked more about not telling you. I'm sorry." Ryan said.

Horatio just nodded.