What You Don't See, CSI:Miami fanfiction
This is finally finished after I abandoned it in 2009. There just isn't enough free hours in a day for me to do everything I want to do. Parts of this was completed within the last few weeks, i.e. after a 2-year lull, so I apologise if my rusty writing skillz is showing.
Title: Next Step
Type: 5-times
Words: 100, 200, 300, 200 and 100 (because I like to torture myself with word limits.)
Pairing: Eric/Ryan (HardyBoys)
Warnings: Varying levels of slash. Don't like don't read. Spoilers for season 7 episode 14 (Smoke Gets in Your CSI's).
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: CBS, Anthony E. Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue own CSI:Miami. I don't.
Summary: The four times it was noticed, and the one time no one did.
Beta: -
What You Don't See
1.
This was not expected. Horatio Caine stood beside the hospital bed and berated himself silently.
He trusted Wolfe too muchCalleigh, too. In his haste to close the case, the redhead had believed their insistence that they were fine instead of forcing the paramedics on them.
Wolfe was found collapsed in Valera's lab, and now H had two hospitalized CSIs. He sighed.
"I should have noticed, too," Eric spoke up beside him. "It's OK, H, I'll stay with Ryan."
Horatio nodded, relieved at the sight of Wolfe's hand clasped tightly in Eric's, but settled in another chair to wait, anyway.
2.
Ryan barely strung two words into the interrogation before he started coughing violently, and would have crashed against the floor if Eric caught him just a second later.
Beyond Ryan's panicked wheezing and his own shouts for an ambulance, Eric heard nothing.
* * *
Eric had enough scareand guiltfor one day. He should have known the effects of smoke inhalation were not always immediately apparent. He should have pushed Ryan to get checked. He should have said what was needed instead of waiting for the right timefor his courage.
Eric's cell phone rang suddenly. H called. Work to do.
The Cuban glanced at Ryan. Dark hair against light blue pillows; lips dry and pale; he still looked perfect.
"You're gonna get through this, 'kay?" Eric removed his watch to strap it around Ryan's wrist. "You have to." Then, he took out the metallic watch Alexx had handed him and wore it like his own. "I can't imagine going to work without youI can't imagine living my life without you."
No response.
Eric sighed. Standing up from his chair, he let his hand linger on Ryan's as he took one more look at the man, and left for work.
3.
"Hey."
"Hey, Eric."
"Didn't catch you at the scene."
"Yeah, Calleigh and I came back with the body first."
"You two doing OK?"
"Yeah... Calleigh's breathed in more smoke, though. But she said she's fine..."
"You've got a cut there."
"Stapler. Big one."
"Need help?"
"I'm good. Cleaned it myself when we came back. I'm just here for a band-aid and a change of clothes. Can't walk around smelling like a burnt house."
"C'mon, let me see."
"I'm fine, really."
"If you won't get yourself checked, at least let me take a look and bandage it properly."
Ryan realized it was an argument he could not win; with a sigh, he sat down on the bench in the middle of the locker room and waited for Eric to dig out the first aid kit.
The sunlight shining in through the windows warmed Ryan's back as it smoothed out the thoughts from his mind until all he knew was Eric's methodical yet gentle treatment of his wound, the bow of his back, the sweep of eyelashes and the angle of his nose.
Finally satisfied with his handiwork, the Cuban stood up with the kit in one hand and Ryan's hand in the other.
"Done. You gotta let H know if anything feels off," Eric said as his thumb rubbed circles against Ryan's pulse point. "What am I saying, you're too stubborn to tell him anyway."
The younger man shrugged and stood up, ready to head back to work.
"Hey." Eric tugged gently on Ryan's hand, entangling their fingers and pulling him close enough to press a kiss against his temple. "Watch your own back, yeah?"
Ryan hummed a half-hearted agreement before squeezing Eric's hand and stepping away from his warmth.
"Yeah, will do," Ryan finally conceded with an exasperated, fond smile.
4.
After stumbling out of the burning building, everything came back to Ryan in flashes of memory and jumbled sensory input.
Stretchers clanging upright in urgent succession; the house cracking, falling apart, crumbling into itself; shouting, so much shouting that sounded strangely like H, which was ridiculous because the man had no panic bone in his body; smoke, the overwhelming scent that insisted on following everything everywhere.
Then, loud bangs of vehicle doors. Quick efficient voices. Paramedics. The wailing of ambulance sirens. A hand tight around his. Dark skin swam before his fading vision. Chocolate-colored eyes. An urgent but soothing voice that overrode the dulled cacophony.
"You'll be fine, I promise. You better be. Fine. So I can tell you. Dammit I should've told you. So many things, Ryan. I'm such a coward. I won't let you wait anymore, justRyan..."
The next time he opened his eyes he was under thin, starched white sheets. This time his hand was pulled up gently until the man at his bed could press warm lips against his skin.
Ryan still felt too brittle to make much movement but he managed a smile when Eric's frown smoothed and his brown eyes softened with relief.
5.
With a metallic clank, Ryan closed his locker. He leaned against it and exhaled audibly in the empty locker room. He never realized how tired he was until his worry for Calleigh lifted when Alexx texted him that she had finally woken up.
Ryan's level of exhaustion alarmed him, and suddenly, he couldn't breathe; each breath becoming shallower than the last.
Dammit, Ryan cursed as he gasped for air, falling against his locker and crashing to the floor. He dialled randomly on his cellphone for anyone in the lab, praying desperately that his call got through, before darkness claimed him.
fin.
Completed 1 November 2011.
Crossposted:
CSI Slash and wolfe_delko.