Nine:

Ryan was surprised that he was at the lab. He was surprised that no one had spoken to him yet about his and Horatio's relationship.

Calleigh said she had been spoken to and she didn't reveal too much information. Much to Ryans appreciation. Nothing happened to her. Eric had been spoken to as well. As far as Ryan knew, he didn't say much either. And nothing happened to him. Walter hadn't been spoken to, and neither had Valera. So maybe they were only talking to those closest to Ryan and Horatio and not everyone in the lab, as they had previously thought.

Or Walter and Valera would be talked to, around the same time Ryan would be.

Whenever that would happen.

Rick had strutted through the doors of the lab as if nothing had happened a few days earlier. As if Horatio hadn't been sent home in front of everyone. Nothing did happen to Rick, it seemed. He continued on being head of the IAB department. Everyone continued to ignore Rick. Rick continued to harass people over the smallest matters.

Ryan was sitting next to Dave in the break room when they both saw Rick walk pass the room. Dave immediately looked to Ryan. He had told him that he hadn't spoken to Rick since a few days before the first court hearing. Not that Dave hadn't tried communicating with Rick. It was just that Rick wasn't answering him. Ryan told Dave that Rick hadn't spoken to him in a few days. Not since those text messages where he tried to get Ryan to come over.

They both watched the doorway again when they heard the sounds of footsteps approaching. Rick walked by the room again, this time with someone from their department behind him. Ryan just shook his head. He had no idea what was going on.

Ryan felt terrible that Horatio wasn't working. He seemed so lost, to Ryan. And he was sure that seeing Ryan go into work and coming home without the news of being investigated as well was weird to him. It was weird to Ryan. Why was Horatio being punished and not Ryan? Was it because Horatio was the supervisor?

"Do you think we should try to talk to him?" Dave asked. "Something just feels off about this whole thing. It's completely unfair to Horatio. Not that you should be punished too, but Rick is head of IAB and he knew about you and Horatio, too. How is he not in trouble?"

Ryan sighed. "I don't know. Rick's been acting strange the last few times I talked to him. I think it's something with Holly."

Ryan saw Dave grin at the mention of Holly's name. "Just because Rick and Holly-."

"They're not dating and I'm not jealous."

"Well not anymore, anyways." Dave chuckled. Ryan rolled his eyes as he stood up. "Something is going on with Rick. I'll find out what it is eventually. I'm going to go talk to Walter. See you later."

Ryan walked down the halls until he found him. When he did, he saw Walter in the break room. Which made sense, seeing as he was supposed to be on break. Ryan had walked in on him mid-bite of a sandwich. Walter slowed down his chewing and when he was finished he put his hand over his mouth."Need something?"

"Actually, I do. It's about Holly."

"Can it wait until I'm off break?"

"You know about gases and poisons, right?" Ryan questioned anyways. "I'm wondering if someone exposed Holly to anything at the party. Her toxicology reports came back clean for drugs and alcohol. And she was tested for rohypnol and chloroform, that also came back clean. But something had to be clouding her brain for her to not remember anything that happened."

Walter nodded. "You think someone drugged her with something that's undetectable? I guess that's a possibility. But then the question would be how someone drugged her, and still the other question remains- how did someone get upstairs without anyone seeing them? And also how did she get outside?"

"That I don't know. But I have a feeling if we know what was given to Holly then we'll know more about everything else."

"I'll look into it for you." Then Walter frowned. "Hey, Ryan have you been avoiding me?"

And to that, Ryan just shook his head. Then he turned on his heels and left the room, leaving Walter alone with his sandwich.

"Can we take Domino to the park?" Alana asked.

Ryan glanced at his daughter sitting in the backseat. Horatio was driving, Ryan sat in the passenger seat. Domino lay down in the backseat, next to Alana. She had her hand resting on his head, not petting him.

"I think Domino needs to rest at home." Horatio answered.

"No he needs fresh air!" Alana protested.

Ryan opened his mouth to speak but Horatio had beat him to it. "And we're going to have to have another talk with you about not having food in your room and not letting dogs eat chocolate." His voice was very stern which meant that he was completely serious.

Alana huffed in anger and crossed her arms across her chest.

Ryan just shook his head and looked forward again. Horatio was right he thought. Domino was finally being released from the Vets office, and what he really needed some rest at home. But on the other hand, he was sure Domino hated being inside all the time. So, Alana was also right. But Ryan decided against saying anything.

When they got home, they found Kyle already there. His car was parked in the driveway.

They had to go back down to the courthouse today, and Kyle agreed to watch Alana again. Ryan wondered how Kyle was taking the whole thing. He even wondered if Kyle maybe wanted to go down to the courthouse. But he also thought that maybe he wouldn't want to see his own mother on trial. Ryan had asked Horatio a number of times to talk to Kyle about it. And he had assured him that he had.

Alana perked up when she saw Kyle's car there. She always got excited when Kyle came over.

She was the first inside the house after Horatio had unlocked the door.

When Ryan and Horatio, and Domino, came in, they found Kyle in his usual spot. Sitting on the floor in front of the TV. He waved to the men without actually taking his eyes off of the screen. He even hugged Alana without looking away. Then he turned her around and said "go get your colouring books", still not looking at her. Alana didn't seem to mind though.

Horatio on the other hand, couldn't help but to roll his eyes. He always thought it was a little rude.

But before he could comment on it, Ryan had put his hand on Horatio's shoulder. "Come on, we have to get ready." And that seemed to calm Horatio down. He nodded and the two walked upstairs together.

Ryan had laid Horatio's clothes out on the bed for him to avoid last times events. Since last time, Horatio spent an hour running around looking for his lucky blazer and almost made them late. Ryan decided he would just have it out for him instead. To which, Horatio seemed to appreciate. He wasted no time in getting dressed, along with Ryan. He also chuckled when he heard Ryan curse under his breath. "Damn it," Horatio turned to look at Ryan messing with his button. "I'm going to need a bigger suit soon."

Horatio just laughed again, and pat Ryan on the shoulder lightly. "We'll be sure to get it tailored. So next time we won't run into this problem again."

And then Ryan stopped moving. "Next time? Oh no, there's not going to be a next time."

"That's what you said when you were pregnant with Alana."

"The difference is I mean it this time." He answered. "Come on, we're about to have 3 kids. You're gonna have four. What; do you want a whole basketball team or something?"

Horatio chuckled as he shook his head. He started helping Ryan with his suits button, even swatting his hand away. "No, not a basketball team. I've just always wanted a big family."

"Well how many kids were you thinking?"

"Well we already have Kyle and Alana. And then two more on the way." He answered as he finished buttoning up Ryan's suit. "So, I was thinking two more?"

Ryans face twisted up and he glared at Horatio. "Then how about next time, I try to impregnate you instead? Agree to that and then we'll talk about two more kids." He then mumbled under his breath, implying that Horatio had lost his mind.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court."

"My name is Ryan Wolfe and I am a Level 3 CSI." Ryan answered. He glanced out to the sea of eyes watching him. He saw Horatio sitting next to Derek Powell again, of course. He could see Dave sitting next to Valera. Calleigh and Eric were seated together, behind Horatio and Derek. To the right of the room, he could see Julia. Behind her though, was Dan Cooper and Natalia Boa Vista.

Initially, Ryan was surprised that the trial would be joint. But then he figured, it was probably for the best. No one wanted to go through the same thing again 2 more times.

Then seated in the very back, was Rick Stetler.

He was sitting next to people Ryan hadn't met before. He was sure they were people that had just wanted to witness the trial unfold. He didn't think Rick actually knew them. But he was pleasantly surprised to not see Holly or Ron Saris in the room as well.

The lawyer in front of him was hired to defend Julia, Natalia and Dan.

"Ryan Wolfe, you helped solve this case- gathering evidence, tracking down where Horatio Caine was once allegedly held, and interviewing suspects. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"All in the name of finding Horatio?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell us how you managed to pinpoint each suspect? How did you know it was them?"

Ryan nodded. "Well, the evidence pointed to them. We got Dan when clues were being left around us. There was a note left when Horatio was first taken. Then there was one left at the mall, he had been following us around." Ryan said. "There was a phone number that I had to call. He wanted me to say goodbye to Horatio. But I guess I pissed him off enough to stall him and trace the call to an abandoned house. Then we managed to get a license plate number and traced it back to Dan Coopers car. We confronted him and then he admitted to being hired to kidnap Horatio."

The lawyer nodded his head as some people started to mumble. "You mean, when he admitted to being hired when he was under duress? While you beat him?"

Ryan instantly shook his head. "I never touched him!"

"Then who did, Ryan?" He asked. "I think we all can't help but noticed that you repeatedly said 'we' during your testimony. Well, who is 'we'; who else helped you? If you didn't beat Dan into a confession, then who did?"

Ryan chanced a look to Horatio. Horatio in return looked to Derek. Derek stood up and shook his head. "No, objection! He's trying to get Ryan Wolfe to change his answer to make him look not credible as a witness or as a CSI."

"I don't need him to recant to do that. I think he does a pretty great job of proving his incompetence himself." The lawyer answered. Ryan felt like slinking away when he saw Natalia and Dan laughing. He looked at Rick, sitting alone. Rick had a stern look on his face. He looked pretty angry, if Ryan had to guess.

"Overruled." The judge answered. "Mr. Wolfe please answer the question."

Ryan nodded again. "'We' refers to Rick and Dave. They both helped out a lot. I couldn't do anything like this on my own."

"Of course not." The lawyer agreed. "So why don't you tell us all how you managed to catch Natalia?"

"Well, Rick's niece was babysitting my daughter-."

"You mean your and Horatio's daughter, correct?"

Ryan stalled. But he still agreed. "Uh, yes, that's correct. She was babysitting for me and she told me that a woman matching Natalia's description came over and tried to take Alana. But before that, I kind of had a feeling that she knew more than she was letting on." Ryan answered. "She brought Dan in for questioning. She knew more about the case than I did. Dan was visibly afraid of her, and during her interrogating him, I noticed she had bruised knuckles when Dan had obviously been beaten up before being brought in. Honestly out of all the criminals we've busted, Natalia was probably the dumbest and easiest to catch. And it didn't help when she snapped and then tried to stab me."

"And how did you connect it to Julia?"

"Natalia confessed to being paid by Julia. And then when she was wanted for questioning, she fled. Someone who was innocent wouldn't flee. Not unless they had something to hide. And then Ron Saris told our investigators that Julia had approached him with this plan to try to get him in on it as well."

"Ron Saris- her crazy, violent, abusive ex? You didn't think he was lying at all?"

"Well, I think he is. I think Ron is behind this whole thing. And then he preyed on these people- Julia is not all there. Not when she's off her medicine. Natalia is obviously resentful towards everyone in the lab because of her ex husband, but more so toward Horatio because she feels he didn't help enough. He preyed on her anger. And he preyed on Dans anger as well, because he was still pissed at being caught stealing Speedles credit cards. It's a shame he can't be the one tried here today because he was granted immunity. But these 3 are still involved. They are not the victims- Horatio was."

And then the lawyer stopped talking. He shook his head as he approached Julia. Instead of saying anything, he just sat down next to her. Derek Powell had a shit-eating grin on his face. He stood up. "Your honor, I would like Natalia Boa Vista to approach the bench."

Ryan stood up and left the seat next to the judge.

He went and sat down next to Calleigh.

Natalia stood up and sat down where Ryan had just been.

"Natalia Boa Vista, it's from my understanding that you had a pretty good relationship with everyone in the lab. You dated both Ryan Wolfe and Eric Delko. Horatio Caine was a mentor toward you. He helped you. As did everyone else in the lab." He said. "So then, why are you so angry. Why did you help with this crazy scheme?"

Natalia shook her head. "My lawyer advised me not to say anything about that. It's all alleged anyway."

Derek nodded. "Okay then. So why did you allegedly help with this plan?"

Natalia smirked and a small laugh escaped her lips. "You're right, everyone helped me. And I helped them too. Except for the time they didn't help me." She said. "My abusive ex husband was hired to work in the same lab as me. The same. They all knew what I went through and yet he was still hired. It was hurtful. It was betrayal to the highest level."

"You didn't seem all that broken up about it when you started sleeping with the same abusive ex again." Derek told her. "So why was that? Did you feel-?"

"I still loved him. And its Horatio's fault he's dead now."

Ryan looked at Horatio, who couldn't seem to hide his bewildered expression.

Even Derek looked a little surprised.

"You blamed Horatio for his death. If he hadn't have been hired there in the first place, then he wouldn't be dead now, is that it?"

Natalia nodded her head slowly.

"The shame is that Horatio Caine had nothing to do with Nick Townsend being hired. Nor with him being murdered. That is the faults of the crime scene cleaning company director who had hired him." Derek told her. "And the fault of the man that killed him, for stealing his wife's earring while on the job. Do you admit your guilt in this case; did you want revenge against Horatio Caine?"

Again, Natalia just nodded her head.

In return, Derek shook his. "I have no more questions."

The judge banged his gavel twice and then stood up. "This court is now in recess. We will resume in an hour."

The officers around the judge let Julia and her lawyer out of the room first, then Natalia and Dan. And then Derek and Horatio were permitted. Then, the rest of the court were allowed to leave.

Ryan immediately started looking for Horatio. But when he found him, Derek was walking away with him. Ryan had called out to Horatio a few times. He in turn, looked at him, and softly shook his head. Obviously, Ryan couldn't follow them.

He was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It's standard, Ryan, you know that." Dave told him.

Ryan knew that was true. Horatio was going with Derek to discuss the rest of the case.

Dave looked at Ryan with extreme sympathy. "You wanna go get lunch together? I'll buy."

Ryan shook his head. "Oh, no, you go ahead. Maybe I'll catch up with you."

Dave agreed, and told Ryan that he would be in the restaurant just across the street if he did decide to join him. And he even made Ryan promise that he would.

The moment Ryan felt like he was alone, he suddenly felt nauseated. He rushed to the nearest bathroom to vomit.

Ryan's ears felt like they were ringing, his stomach hurt and his chest felt like there was a pit in it. He could faintly hear the sounds of someone's dress shoes connecting with the floor. And of course the pair of feet stopped in front of Ryan's stall. Then there were 4 short knocks on the door. "Hey are you okay in there?"

Ryan wiped his mouth and then frowned. "Rick? Is that you?"

"Ryan; are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's just the pregnancy." He flushed the toilet and came out of the stall. He washed his hands in the sink as Rick used the urinal. Ryan wasn't sure if he should wait for Rick or not, but he found himself doing it anyways. Rick made his way over to the sink and started washing his hands. Ryan was staring at the tiled floor underneath his feet when he heard Rick speak again.

"You didn't tell them I did it." He said. "You know; that I was a little rough with Dan."

Ryan just nodded. He wasn't sure of what to say.

Rick dried his hands off and then sighed. "Thanks, Ryan."

Ryan looked at Rick, who was standing pretty close to him and staring into his eyes. "It's no problem. So what are you gonna do for the next hour?"

"Well not stay in the bathroom, that's for sure." Rick answered. Then he nudged Ryan's arm. "Wanna go get something to eat together?"

Ryan found himself smiling. And then he nodded his head.

"Yeah, sure. Dave's across the street, we can go eat with him."

And then Rick smiled too. "Sounds good. It'll be like old times. You know, except Horatio isn't kidnapped and we aren't solving his case right now."

When Ryan and Rick entered the little fast food place together, he felt a little self conscious. He saw Eric look at him. He knew that was probably not a good thing. But Dave still smiled and waved at them. Of course he was seated in the middle of the room.

Ryan sat down next to Dave, while Rick immediately went to the counter. Ryan noticed that Dave seemed to be glaring at Rick as he walked away from the two men.

"So what happened to not being alone with Rick?"

"We're not alone. We're with you."

"Yeah, well, what do you think Horatio will say when you tell him; think he'd understand?" Ryan couldn't help but notice Dave's tone. He seemed annoyed. Or maybe even angry. But what would he be angry about? He had told Ryan that he didn't have feelings for Rick anymore. Then again, he could have been lying.

Ryan couldn't answer, because Rick had already returned holding two drinks. He handed one to Ryan. "I got you some type of lemon-lime soda. That's good for nausea, right?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah it is. Thanks Rick."

"Also, I ordered you some french fries. I wasn't completely sure what you wanted, but I felt like a burger would upset your stomach again."

"Thank you, Rick."

Dave rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" He questioned. "Am I the only one that see's an issue with this?"

Ryan frowned. "What?"

"You're, flirting. Over fastfood. Get a freaking grip, guys." He answered. "Horatio just forgave you for cheating and now what are you doing- fucking it up again by spending time with Rick. After you just said that you wouldn't anymore. Ryan, I don't know what's up with you but I don't like it. And I know Horatio wouldn't like it either."

"Dave-"

And then he stood. "I'm sorry but until you get it together, I don't think I can hang out with either one of you anymore. Either leave Horatio and be with Rick, or leave Rick alone and stay with Horatio. Stop hurting the poor bastards and put them out of their misery."

Rick shrugged. "Dave, stop being so dramatic."

Dave looked absolutely stunned. "Me?" His voice raised a little, and Ryan looked around to make sure no one was looking at them. Luckily, he didn't see any eyes on them. "I'm the dramatic one when just a few weeks ago you called me practically freaking out and crying over how in love with Ryan you are and how you'll 'never get someone like him'? Get over it, Rick."

"Why don't you get over your stupid crush on me and just leave me alone?"

"Gladly." Dave picked up the fries and drink he had on the table and then left them. Ryan watched as he went to another table and sat and huffed.

Ryan was staring at the drink in front of him. He was thinking about Dave's outburst and how random it seemed. He could vaguely hear Rick saying something to him, but he couldn't quite make out what he was saying. He could feel Rick's hand on his shoulder. But Ryan shook his head. "Horatio would lose his mind if I told him I was with you right now." Ryan sighed. "While we were investigating what happened to Horatio, I feel like we became closer. And maybe even friends. Am I wrong?"

Rick answered, "No, you're right. I think we became closer as well."

"I want to be your friend. But I don't think we can be just platonic given the fact that you like me, and the fact that Horatio wouldn't like it, since what happened between us."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Oh give me a break. I am more than capable of being just friends and that's all I'm trying to do here." He replied. "It was one kiss and you've made it clear that it was a mistake to you. Horatio should just get over it."

"I think if the roles were reversed it wouldn't be something I could just 'get over'." Ryan stood up and started leaving. Rick had reached out for him, but had missed by just a few inches. "Damn it, Ryan, I already paid for the food!" He groaned, and followed after the man.

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Sorry I haven't been posting. I hope this covers for me.

-V