Eight

Horatio looked pissed.

Of course that was to be expected.

Dave, Ryan, and Calleigh watched from a distance as Horatio handed over his badge and his gun. Dave had more a face of disbelief and Calleigh seemed to be sad. Ryan was sure he too, looked sad. He felt terrible. He felt like everything was somehow his fault, even though he knew it wasn't.

Horatio had to admit to their relationship while in court. He was on the stand and if he lied, he could get in a lot of trouble. Of course now, seeing that telling the truth caused trouble too made Ryan think that maybe lying would've been a better choice. But he wouldn't fault Horatio for that as he had always done what he knew was right.

And Julia's lawyer seemed to be ruthless. He criticized Ryan's character and his and Horatio's duties as parents. All just to demean Ryan and his word to get Julia off the hook for the crimes that she admitted to doing. Ryan knew that lawyers would do and say anything that they had to for their clients. But he didn't expect for him to attack the things Ryan had done in the past for it. Ryan didn't even expect himself to be brought up that way.

But now here they were. Horatio had been talking to a man for an hour. Rick had talked to the same man just before him. Also for about an hour. The only difference between them was the fact that Ryan didn't see Rick giving up his badge and gun. Only Horatio had.

Horatio started shaking his head when two officers came over to him.

"Escorting him out seems a little excessive." Dave whispered, to anyone that was listening. "He's not a criminal."

Calleigh nodded. "You're right, it's not fair. I don't think Rick is in trouble. I saw him leave without escorts. Did you, Ryan?"

He shook his head. "I didn't see him leave. They haven't talked to me yet, so I'm guessing I'll be next."

After Horatio left the building, the officers disappeared and the man that both Rick and Horatio had spoken to got into the elevator. While this happened, Calleigh started explaining to Ryan. Apparently after Ryan stopped watching what was going on with Rick because Valera had called him to look at something, Calleigh saw Rick leaving. But no police escorts, no giving up his badge or gun or anything else official. This to Ryan, was strange. He could see why Horatio would be in trouble. He could see why Horatio had to leave. But he didn't see why Rick didn't seem to be in any kind of trouble. Sure, he left but did he have to?

It wasn't like he wanted Rick to get in trouble, too. Really, Rick didn't have anything to do with it. It was all about Horatio and Ryan's relationship. But Rick was IAB, and he did know about it. Everyone did. So now everyone in the lab would be talked to and questioned. But would they get in trouble like Horatio? Or would they just apparently get a stern talking to, like Rick?

Calleigh gave Ryan a soft pat on the back before leaving him alone with Dave.

Ryan sighed. "So, did you ever fix your computers?"

"Yeah, I did. Someone sent us a little virus but I got it handled." Dave answered.

"Someone sent them; why?"

"It was trying to hack our systems for information. Fortunately, they weren't able to; whoever it was." Dave frowned. "Wait, I'm surprised you didn't know. Eric and Walter have been working on this since it happened."

Well Ryan hadn't spoken to Eric in a while. And they hadn't been working on anything together so it wasn't like they really needed to speak. And he hadn't really spoken to Walter since Horatio had told him that Walter had let the rumor slip to him. Although Ryan's not speaking to Walter wasn't intentional. He was upset that Walter told Horatio that rumor. But he had thought about it and well, if Ryan had heard about something like that with Calleigh and Eric or someone else he considered a friend, he'd probably say something too. Although he would have made sure of it first. But Ryan also wasn't completely sure if it was intentional for Walter to say anything to Horatio.

Walter was a nice guy but tough and to the point when needed. But Ryan couldn't really see him just telling Horatio something like that. It could have just slipped out.

The whole day Ryan kept looking over his shoulders, waiting to be spoken to. But that didn't happen. Ryan felt it was weird. And given everything that had happened, he decided to call Horatio to see if he knew what was going on. When Horatio answered the phone, he was upset. At least he sounded upset. And Ryan could understand why. Ryan asked him if he was okay, to which of course, all he got back was "I'm fine".

"It's just weird, they haven't spoken to me yet and it's almost the end of my shift." Ryan told him. "And Calleigh told me that Rick didn't give up his badge or gun or anything. And he just left without escorts. That can't be normal right? Is something else going on?"

"Maybe they are waiting until tomorrow to speak with you. But as far as anything with Rick goes, I have no idea. Maybe he managed to talk his way out of it." Horatio answered.

And that made sense to Ryan. "Yeah, maybe. Well did you still want to go out tonight?"

Horatio had suggested that he, Ryan and Alana go out for a day of fun tonight. But Alana had been feeling sick and couldn't go. So, he suggested just him and Ryan going out and just talking. Away from the house, away from people they know. And Ryan thought it was a good idea. But now since Horatio had officially been relieved of duty, he didn't think Horatio would be in the mood to tonight.

"No, no. Tonight is very important. I still want to."

"Good, me too. So, I'll just see you at home then."

Horatio said bye and then he hung up the phone. Ryan took his phone away from his ear and saw he had a missed notification. He looked at it and just stared at the text message.

Can we talk tonight?

His first thought was of course, no. Ryan had plans with Horatio tonight. And he most certainly didn't intend on breaking these plans to go see Rick. But Ryan would have been lying if he said he didn't want to see Rick. He was dying to know what happened and why he was able to just go freely. Was Rick in any kind of trouble? Or did he lie and say he knew nothing about it? Ryan sighed, and looked up and smiled when he saw a coworker enter the room.

Ryan went back to looking at his phone and he frowned.

I have plans with Horatio tonight. Maybe tomorrow?

He didn't have to wait long for Rick's response, it came immediately.

Can't tomorrow. Meet me at 6.

And to that, Ryan was taken aback. It was very brash of Rick to just tell him to come meet him. Who does he think he is, Ryan thought. Ryan looked at his phones time. It was 5:32pm. Meaning Ryan was now off the clock and he could leave and go home and see Horatio and check on Alana.

Ryan grabbed his jacket from the rack and put it on. He emptied everything he needed from his locker and then spoke to Calleigh as she entered the room. "Plans tonight?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah with Horatio. You?"

"Movie night with Eric. See you tomorrow, Ryan." Calleigh grabbed something out of her locker and waved to Ryan. He left behind her, but she had got on the elevator before him. When he finally got on and was able to leave, he got into his car and tossed his phone onto the seat. Then, his phone lit up and chimed with a new alert.

Ryan grabbed the phone and looked at it. Another text from Rick.

My house. Holly's gone.

Ryan frowned again. Rick was being very persistent. Ryan just shook his head and put his phone in his pocket before starting up the car. Ryan started to pull out of the parking lot but then stopped. Ryan groaned out loud and pulled his phone back out of his pocket and dialed a number.

"Hey what's up?"

"Horatio, I'm going to be a little late." Ryan said. "I have something to take care of and then I'll be right home. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Is everything okay?"

"Oh I'm fine. I just wanted to check on something. But I'll tell you everything as soon as I get home."

Horatio said okay, his voice sounding a little skeptical. Ryan had started to tell Horatio that he could just come straight home. But Horatio had already hung up. Ryan hesitated leaving for a moment. Maybe I should just go home, Ryan thought. But I do really wanna know what's going on. Ryan sighed again and started to drive.

Ryan knocked on the door. He was feeling pretty anxious, and hoped he made the right choice.

When Horatio opened the door, he frowned very deeply.

"Why did you knock; did you forget your key?"

Ryan shook his head and held out a bag for Horatio. "Nope, I just decided if we're going out tonight we have to do this right. I was gonna bring you flowers, but I figured alcohol was more effective."

Horatio smiled and chuckled as he took the bag out of Ryan's hand. "Well that's incredibly nice of you. But what about your other plans?"

Ryan shrugged. "I just chose you instead. Now go get ready, we have a date to go on."

Horatio listened to Ryan and turned to go back inside the house. Ryan heard him chuckle as he walked up the stairs. As he did, Alana came running down. She went past Horatio, just barely said hi to Ryan and went right out the back door.

Ryan thought that was a little strange. Alana was supposed to be sick in bed. He followed behind his daughter and saw her go to a spot directly in the middle of their backyard. She plopped down on the ground, and Ryan saw she had a blanket in her hands. As Ryan got closer, he saw their dog, Domino, lying down, breathing really hard and his eyes closed. Alana had draped the blanket over Domino and began to pet him.

"Alana, what's wrong?"

"Domino's sick."

Ryan paused momentarily before sitting in the grass, debating if he should ruin his pants or not. He slowly got down, to try to decrease whatever stains that would get on his pants. "What happened?"

"He ate all of my tea party food." She answered, as she scratched his ear.

"Alana, we told you about food in your bedroom."

"But I was hungry!" She whined.

Ryan noticed that Domino seemed to be shaking and he frowned as he leaned in closer to him. Ryan put his hand on his side and rubbed it gently. Domino was definitely shaking. Ryan stood up and turned when he heard the backdoor open again and saw Horatio holding something in his hand. He was reading the box with a frown on his face. "Alana, why did you have baker's chocolate in your room?"

"I was hungry."

"You don't eat bakers chocolate. You bake with it."

Ryan started shaking his head. "Wait, wait, wait. Alana, you let Domino eat that?" He asked. His voice raised, and Alana's eyes widened, not used to Ryan raising his voice at her. Ever. "We've told you dogs cannot eat chocolate. It's very bad for them."

Horatio, finally noticing Domino laying down made a noise sounding like a strangled groan. "We'll have to take him to the vet."

Ryan nodded and lifted Domino off the ground as gently as possible, it being a little hard with his pregnant stomach in the way. Horatio opened the gate of the backyard, and they both walked toward the car. Horatio unlocked and opened the car's backseat doors. Ryan sat Domino down in the car, while Horatio handed him the car keys. "You go take care of Domino, I'll stay with Alana."

"Okay. And I'm sorry about our date." Ryan told him.

Horatio's face was void of any emotion. Ryan had noticed that he had been more straight-faced than usual. He had been that way before, but it seemed to be happening a lot more now. "It's okay. I'll call Kyle and tell him he doesn't need to come over. Let me know what happens."

Ryan said okay and got into the car.