CSI:M/DW/TW/SGA/SG1: The Upside of Down 3/3
The epic crossover: part 2: The Upside of Down and other Wiggly-Wobbly, Timey-Whimey Lessons Learned While Traveling Space and Time Imparted to Ryan Wolfe at a Strange Part of His Life
For warnings and author's note, please see part two
“That was crazy, man,” Eric said.
Ryan grunted in response. He was focused on what was going on on the other side of the police tape. He was not accustomed to being on the outside of the tape. The NID and the Air Force had forced all people who did not work for said agencies on the other side of the tape, and no one without security clearance was allowed to cross that tape. And the best part was that they were not allowed to leave the area without signing confidentiality statements from both agencies.
Ryan scowled at the tape and all it stood for.
His scowl deepened when Lieutenant Cadman approached them with a disgustingly perky smile.
“Officer Wolfe,” Lieutenant Cadman said. “What you did earlier? Yeah. That reminded me of someone I used to work with. My former CO and a friend of my ex-beau. He pulled crazy heroics like that. He’s also trained for dealing with these guys. You’re not. You could have been killed or worse.”
“But I wasn’t,” Ryan answered stonily, folding his arms over his chest.
“This time,” Eric responded.
Lieutenant Cadman nodded. “Next time leave it to the experts, ‘kay, sexy?” And there were the beautiful women - or woman - coming on to him.
Ryan gawked at her as Eric worked his jaw.
Lieutenant Cadman winked at Eric and walked back behind the tape, and Horatio approached Ryan and Eric. The Doctor and Miss Jones lagged behind him.
“Not bad, Wolfe,” Horatio said, fiddling with his sunglasses.
The Doctor winced.
“Thanks, H,” Ryan said, pinching his lips together, unsure as to where Horatio was going with the conversation.
“They were going to turn her into one of them,” Horatio informed them calmly. Ryan wasn’t expecting that.
“One of the triplets?” Eric asked, very confused about the whole thing. Ryan was just as confused.
“One of the clones,” Horatio responded. “The Doctor knows all about him.”
“Right. His name is Ba’al.” That was all the Doctor said. He bounced on his heels. “Whelp,” he continued with a pop of his lips, “Martha and I are going to head out. Thanks for everything, Horatio, boys.”
“I’ll drive the both of you back to the TARDIS,” Horatio offered. “Eric, Wolfe, I’ll meet you both back at the lab.”
Horatio led the Doctor and Miss Jones away with a hand at the small of their backs.
“Isn’t he going to stay to sign those confidentiality papers?” Ryan demanded.
Eric shrugged. “It’s H. Maybe he already has.”
Ryan huffed.
: : :
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” The Air Force rep in front of Ryan and Eric was crisp and professional. “I’m Dr. Elizabeth Weir.”
Ryan and Eric nodded.
“You both need to sign these papers saying that you will not talk about what happened here and that, on behalf of the government, I will be censoring all reports made about this incident before they are submitted to your superiors.” Dr. Weir kinda reminded Ryan of Calleigh when she went all professional and focused on a case. It was kinda hot. Not that Ryan would ever tell Calleigh that. He had enough trouble at work with just the men… and Natalia. Ryan would put money on the notion that Dr. Weir could succeed in the dominance that Natalia had tried.
“Sure thing, ma’am,” Ryan agreed readily. He just wanted everything to be over with, and if that meant playing the government’s games, so be it.
Eric raised an eyebrow at him. “Since we’re signing this,” he said with a smirk, “maybe you could tell us everything that went down here.” His smirk turned into a charming smile.
Dr. Weir gave Eric an incredulous look. “No.” She handed both men identical packets of paper and a pen each.
“Hm,” Eric hummed in amusement. “You come prepared.”
“Comes with the job,” Dr. Weir said dryly. She turned to see Colonel Mitchell approaching them. She raised the volume of her voice slightly. “Although usually it’s with another colonel.”
“Glad to be of service, Lizzie!” Colonel Mitchell called back.
: : :
Ryan stared at his locker, too exhausted to do more than will it open. He must have stared at it for a good fifteen minutes… although he wasn’t quite sure.
Calleigh interrupted his lack of thoughts. She placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Hey, are you okay?”
Ryan snapped his brain into focus. “It was just a really weird case,” he said softly, pursing his lips.
“It’s not everyday the government forces us to sign a confidentiality statement.” She opened her locker and started fiddling around with its contents.
“Not just the aliens - ” He cut himself off as he stood to open his locker.
“I take it you didn’t clear things up with Aaron,” she said flatly.
Ryan shook his head.
“Don’t let too much time pass before you deal with it,” she advised sagely.
Ryan grunted in response, staring into his locker.
“I mean it,” she insisted. “This can affect lab dynamics.”
“It’s not like I’ve never done that before,” he grumbled.
“Hey now,” she said with a smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Ryan sighed out his nose, folded his arms across his chest, and turned to face Calleigh.
She smiled at him. “Have you thought about it at all?”
“I’ve been a little busy. With the aliens,” he said dryly.
“Well, what are you going to do?” she wheedled.
“You know,” Ryan said thoughtfully. “I’m not really comfortable talking about this with you.”
“Well, you should discuss it with someone.” She closed her locker and gave Ryan a kiss on his cheek as she left the locker room. “I suggest with Aaron,” she called back teasingly. “At Azul!”
Ryan sighed again and resisted the urge to bang his head against his locker door.
“Hey.” Ryan jumped at Eric’s sudden voice.
“Hey,” Ryan responded shakily.
“You want to grab a drink?” Eric offered. “I know I need one.”
“I don’t know,” Ryan sighed out. He needed to stop sighing. It was depressing.
“You probably need a drink.”
“I do.” Ryan shook his head. “I need to not think more, though.”
“If you change your mind, give me a call.”
Ryan expected a stray hand on his ass as Eric passed, but Eric only clapped him on the back. Ryan let out a relieved sigh and resumed staring at the interior of his locker. Until Aaron entered the locker room. Aaron whose locker was next to Ryan’s.
The hair on the nape of Ryan’s neck stood on end with the tension that flooded the room. His mind teetered back and forth between saying something and not. Aaron saved him.
“Calleigh spoke with me,” he said conversationally.
Ryan closed his locker and looked at Aaron expectantly. “She said that she would do something to that effect.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. He resolved never to let Calleigh out of his sight the next time she smirked.
“I don’t think we should have this conversation here.” Aaron’s expression was soft and hard simultaneously, and Ryan found himself lost again.
“Not Azul,” he blurted out.
Aaron laughed, and Ryan felt the tension drain from the room. “I was thinking about the bar down the street.”
Ryan nodded dumbly and followed Aaron out of the locker room.
: : :
Ryan kept shifting in his chair on the bar’s patio. The Miami nightlife was emerging, and people in gaudy clothing flowed passed them. And the tension between the two men had continued to be awkward, and Ryan was lost. He was absolutely horrible with people on a personal level. He always came on too strong and scared everyone away. Except Natalia, Eric, and Aaron. Although it took a while and a nail to the eye for Eric to adjust. Natalia apparently was still interested in Eric and just wanted to enact some fantastical manifestation of the antagonistic air between the two men while asserting her power over them. Eric - he was obviously more interested in Ryan than Natalia had been, which further confused Ryan, and he had yet to figure out what Aaron wanted.
“So,” Ryan said inelegantly, drawing out the word to hopefully draw a response from Aaron.
Aaron caught Ryan’s eye. “When I started working at the lab, you were this scrawny, awkward teenager. You even had that quaint Boston lisp. Now, good God, now you’ve fleshed out, bulked up, and I want to taste every inch of you.”
Ryan sucked in a shaky breath and felt adrenaline surge from his belly. “That was the most straightforward thing anyone has probably ever said to me.”
Aaron raised a curious eyebrow at Ryan’s evasion.
Ryan sighed and pursed his lips, shifting in his chair. He then leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. “I’ll return the favor: I have no idea what is going on with my life. Between today’s case and that rumor you heard, I - I don’t know.”
Aaron nodded.
“But I do know that I don’t want a workplace relationship.”
Aaron nodded again. “Starting in the fall, I am teaching chemistry at the University of Miami.”
Ryan sat up in his chair, alarmed. “What?!”
“It’s a lot less stressful than working in the lab - in relation to politics.”
Ryan frowned. “You’re bailing because of lab politics?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yes. There are too many federal investigations in the lab. I don’t want any part of it.”
“Does H know your reason?”
“Yes.”
Ryan waited a beat, then blurted out, “Are you the mole?”
Aaron stared at him severely. “No. Not the way you’re thinking.”
“Then in what way?”
“Not with the feds.”
Ryan shot him a bland look.
“That’s all I can tell you. I’m sorry.” Aaron looked properly contrite. Ryan glared.
“Did it have to do with today’s case?” Ryan hazarded a guess.
Aaron leveled Ryan with an intense stare but nodded curtly.
“Oh,” Ryan said quietly. “And you want out?”
Aaron took two large gulps of his beer.
“No? You’re being reassigned?” Ryan asked in astonishment.
Aaron nodded.
“Wow.” Ryan leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.
Aaron hummed in agreement.
The rest of the night went comfortably. Except for the niggling in the back of Ryan’s head that Aaron already knew about the whole alien thing. That perpetuated Ryan’s confusion in the scheme of things. Their night ended with Aaron asking Ryan to consider his proposal of tasting every inch.
: : :
Eric was waiting in the lobby of Ryan’s apartment building.
“Delko,” Ryan said sharply at Eric’s back.
“Wolfe,” Eric responded, spinning around.
“What are you doing here?”
“Can I come up?”
“Eric,” Ryan growled.
“Calleigh said - It has to do with Calleigh,” he explained in a rush.
“Is she okay? Nothing’s wrong, is it?” Ryan asked in a panic.
“Can we discuss this elsewhere?”
Ryan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Calleigh wasn’t hurt or in trouble. If she were, they would be heading to help her.
“Please,” Eric stressed.
“Alright,” Ryan grumbled, punching the elevator button.
: : :
As soon as the door to Ryan’s apartment closed behind them, he demanded that Eric tell him everything.
“Calleigh said that I had competition,” Eric said smugly as he made himself at home on Ryan’s couch.
Ryan growled and threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “You bastard! I thought she was hurt. And you’re telling me that she told you about my personal life - as if it were any of your business! And why are you sneaking around behind Boa Vista’s back?!”
“Ryan. Sit down,” Eric ordered, grabbing the sleeve of Ryan’s shirt and pulling him down to the couch. “It’s nearly midnight, and you haven’t even undone your tie.” Eric’s fingers make quick work of undoing the half-Windsor and popping the button underneath it. Ryan half-heartedly attempted to bat Eric’s hand away.
“This is a bad idea,” Ryan pointed out as Eric’s hand pushed away Ryan’s shirt collar.
“Are you saying no?” Eric asked, brushing the spot by Ryan’s ear that the psychic paper had mentioned earlier.
Ryan moaned in response. “Bastard,” he breathed out.
“You need to unwind,” Eric whispered into Ryan’s ear as one of his hands slowly pulled Ryan’s shirttails free.
“Already did,” Ryan growled. “With Aaron.”
Eric drew away as Ryan had expected, but instead of stopping, Eric reached down to cup Ryan through his jeans. “Then is this for me or Aaron?” He squeezed lightly.
Ryan made an embarrassing noise.
“You said that you wanted to dominate,” Eric whispered hotly into Ryan’s ear. He pulled away and languidly stretched himself out over the couch. Ryan’s breath quickened when Eric continued, “I’m letting you.”
There was no way that Ryan was going to let that opportunity pass him by. He held Eric down by his biceps and fucked him into the couch.
: : :
When Ryan caught his breath, he said, “Okay, let’s not do that again.”
Eric snickered and smirked up at him. “You’re the first one to ever say that to me.” He licked the corner of Ryan’s mouth. “You didn’t enjoy it?”
Ryan snarled and bit down on Eric’s earlobe. “I don’t think workplace relationships are a good thing.”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “Natalia? Aaron?”
“Natalia was unobtainable - still is. I have no idea what’s going on with Aaron. And even if I decide to pursue something with Aaron, he won’t be working at the lab much longer.”
Eric’s expression turned serious. “Is he the mole?”
“No,” Ryan said with a shake of his head. He crawled off Eric to find something to clean themselves up with and dispose of the condom.
“How do you know?” Eric challenged, sprawling out over the sofa.
“Because he didn’t ask about my eye,” Ryan snapped back.
Eric chuckled in amusement. “You are always cranky after you come.”
“It’s the company,” Ryan shot back.
Eric sighed and rolled up into a sitting position. “Do you want me to leave?”
“Not until this is resolved.” Ryan crossed his arms over his chest, which was not as intimidating as he had aimed for, mostly because his pants were on the other side of the couch.
“What’s there to resolve? I’m looking for something that you obviously can’t handle.”
“See? That’s my point!” Ryan cried. “We’d end up killing each other!”
“I don’t mind rough sex,” Eric added thoughtfully. “In fact, I really enjoyed it.” He stretched to expose his stomach muscles. Ryan suspected it was to distract him from whatever point he was making.
“I’m not talking about on a physical level - I mean on a mental and emotional level. It’s like were constantly waging psychological war. Which is affecting our work.”
“You may have a point,” Eric admitted.
Ryan scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course I have a point. Now explain to me why you’re so quick to discard your relationship with Boa Vista? You’ve never shown any sort of positive interest in me. Only negative. I know I’ve never thought about you that way.”
“You’re very sexy,” Eric said with a shrug.
“You’re shallow,” Ryan grumbled. “If that’s all you have to say for yourself, then I guess we’ve resolved this.” He stared coldly down at Eric. “And you can leave.”
Eric rose to his feet as he raised his eyebrows in challenge. “Is that so?”
Ryan nodded curtly.
“No way to change your mind?” Eric asked slyly, crowding Ryan’s space.
“I’m not saying the sex was bad. I’m saying the idea of pursuing anything is bad. I’ve also noticed that you failed to give a serious response when I pointed out your lack of pervious interest.” Eric opened his mouth to respond, but Ryan breezed on. “That means you aren’t looking for anything serious, and I don’t have the mental stamina to deal with that right now.”
Eric eyed Ryan critically.
“What?!”
“You’re naked,” Eric stated.
“Yes,” Ryan said carefully. “So are you.” He tried to think of a way to bring the conversation back from the cusp of surreal.
“Let’s continue this conversation with clothes on.”
“It’s still going to come to the same conclusion, Eric.”
“You’re right.” Eric’s face closed off, and he bent down to collect his clothing. “I should leave.”
Ryan sighed. “Nothing’s been resolved if you’re going to leave angry.” He rubbed his eyelids with his thumb and forefinger. “I’m too tired to discuss this at length. And unlike some of us, I don’t have tomorrow off.”
“I’ll get out of your hair,” Eric said resolutely.
Ryan sighed. He was going to regret this, but, “You’re tired too. Stay the night.”
Eric flashed Ryan a sexy grin.
“Clean up first,” Ryan said in a deadpan.
: : :
Eric curled around Ryan, mouthing his neck in no specific pattern. It was warm and wet where his mouth was and cold and wet where it had been. Ryan shivered.
“No,” Ryan mumbled, shoving a hand between their bodies.
The alarm clock beeped in annoyance. Ryan groaned and dislodged Eric to turn off the alarm clock. He crawled out of bed, and Eric sprawled out over it.
“When’re we gonna talk about it?” Eric mumbled sleepily.
“Join me for lunch,” Ryan said after a beat.
Eric mumbled something in Russian.
“What was that?” Ryan asked.
“I’ll see you then, sexy,” Eric said, looking up at Ryan through half-lidded eyes. Eric didn’t look so bad himself… if Ryan stopped to think about it.
: : :
Unlike the day before, there were no crazy cases. No cases at all. Ryan was stuck in the lab filling out paperwork. He managed to avoid both Calleigh and Aaron. Calleigh was primary on a B and E gone bad, and Aaron had made himself scarce, holing himself up in his lab. It was actually Horatio who cornered Ryan.
“Mr. Wolfe,” Horatio said lightly, fingering his sunglasses, passing them back and forth from hand to hand.
Ryan jerked to attention. “Yeah, H?”
Horatio had a serious expression that caused Ryan to frown in response. “Is there…” Horatio paused and looked thoughtful. “Is there a reason for me to look at breaking up the team?”
“Why?” Ryan asked, startled.
“It’s lab policy that no two peoples in a romantic involvement should be on the same team.”
“What?! No! Why - no, don’t answer that.”
“I am concerned about your relationship with Eric.”
Ryan twitched. “What relationship?”
“The antagonism I’ve been seeing…” Ryan paled. “It’s been replaced with something more constructive, hasn’t it?”
“Look, H,” Ryan began, unsure as to how to continue without blushing furiously and apologizing for defiling the Hummer.
“You don’t need to explain yourself, Ryan.” Horatio smiled at him and tipped his head coyly.
“No, H. It’s, uh, it’s been resolved.” Ryan ran his forefinger along his chin nervously. “It won’t be a problem.”
“Are you aware that Aaron Peters is leaving the lab?” Out of left field much? Horatio knew too much for Ryan’s peace of mind.
“What? Oh, yeah. He - he told me. He’s not a fed,” Ryan offered, answering Horatio’s unasked question. “He wasn’t concerned about my eye.” Just every other part of my anatomy, Ryan didn’t say.
“Good. That’s good.” Horatio trailed off. “How’s that paperwork coming?”
“I’m having difficulty. I’m reluctant because I know some government official is going to redact the hell out of my report.”
Horatio nodded but didn’t say anything else, eventually leaving Ryan to his paperwork.
: : :
Eric paced the bottom of the stairs of the Crime Lab when Ryan left for lunch.
“Took you long enough,” he accused lightly.
“Someone had to write up the case report,” Ryan snorted.
“Glad it wasn’t me.”
“H said that he wanted your account too.”
“I’ll just copy yours.”
“No such luck. The government already took their big black marker to it. I thought Alexx was going to kill me when I told her that I couldn’t explain what happened.” Ryan was suddenly self-conscious standing on the front steps exposed to everyone. “Let’s go to lunch. Before I’m called back in.”
: : :
They ended up at a small diner out on the patio. The air was humid to the point where the condensation of Ryan’s water glass stained the table cloth. That also meant that both men were sweating.
“You fascinate me,” Eric finally admitted.
Ryan set down his fork and leveled Eric with a severe look. “We’d kill each other.”
“I know.”
“So what do you want?”
“I’m not sure.”
“With everything that happened yesterday, I think it’s best that we have each other’s backs and can think along the same lines out in the field. And no more perverse games of twenty questions.”
“How else was I supposed to find out that you were a Red Sox fan?”
“Pay attention. That is your job. Also, when they play the Yankees, I take off early. You’ve also neglected to talk about Boa Vista.”
“I did tell you about Natalia: we agreed not to fool around without someone else in the picture.”
“That’s not what I meant. Is she - Are you - I mean emotionally.”
“Does it matter?” Eric shrugged.
Ryan scoffed. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, it matters.”
“I don’t know, Wolfe, alright?” Eric bit out defensively.
Ryan felt his anger dissipate and smirked lopsidedly. “Was that so hard to admit?”
Eric snorted. Ryan couldn’t tell if it was amusement or anger. “You’re right,” he said eventually. “We would end up killing each other.”
“That wasn’t so hard to admit either, now was it?”
Eric’s smirk mirrored Ryan’s.
: : :
“Hey there,” Calleigh said with a bright smile upon entering the break room.
Ryan looked up from his paperwork. “Calleigh.”
“How was Azul?” she asked sweetly.
Ryan looked back down to his paperwork. “Didn’t go,” he said curtly. He was still uncomfortable with people taking an interest in his personal life. He was so accustomed to not fitting in, that finally belonging felt more awkward than not belonging. Calleigh’s sisterly inquiries and teasing still made Ryan twitchy.
“Where did you go, then?” she pried.
“Don’t you have evidence to process?” he asked without looking up again.
“I just dropped some trace off to Aaron.” Ryan frowned. Calleigh was smirking that nasty smirk that did not bode well for Ryan’s piece of mind.
Ryan made a noncommittal grunt.
“Oh, come on,” she teased, leaning onto the table, her breasts at Ryan’s eyelevel - if he looked up, which he did.
“Hey!” he exclaimed. “Put those away!”
“What? These?” She cupped herself.
“That - That is sexual harassment,” Ryan choked out.
Calleigh chuckled. “Relax, honey. From what I’ve heard, that’s not something that interests you.”
“Doesn’t matter if it interests me or not. It’s still unwanted. It’s like telling me my sister is a sexual being.”
“You never mentioned a sister.” Calleigh stood up straight. Ryan boggled at how quickly she could change directions.
“I don’t have one.”
“Oh. I guess I’ve made up for that, haven’t I?”
Ryan gave her a halfhearted smile.
“Does this mean I can set you up on dates?”
“No,” Ryan said flatly. “And you’re trying that anyway.”
“Oh. Right,” she drawled, smiling widely. “I just want my li’l brother to be happy.”
Ryan snorted.
“And I think that you and Aaron would be - ”
“Mr. Wolfe,” Horatio interrupted. He stood in the doorway of the break room. “May I speak with you privately?”
Calleigh smiled widely again. “I’ll leave you boys to it. Ryan, I’ll tell Aaron you say hi.”
Before Ryan could object, Calleigh was halfway down the hallway.
He sighed. “Yeah, H?”
“Let’s… let’s talk in my office.” Because that wasn’t ominous.
: : :
Ryan tried not to twitch as he sat across from Horatio. Ryan was mostly succeeding.
“I’ve been meaning to speak with you about the Doctor,” Horatio finally said.
Ryan swiped his thumb over the tip of his nose. “Uh, we’re not supposed to discuss the case.”
“We are not to discuss the Goa’uld. We are at liberty to discuss the Doctor.” So, Horatio knew about the goold… which would have been useful to know thirty-six hours ago.
“Okay,” Ryan said.
“What do you know about the Doctor?”
“What - what do you mean?” Ryan asked, trying to hide his suspicion. He figured it was a bad idea to show suspicion of his boss in front of his boss.
“The Doctor. What do you know about him?”
“Uh. He - he was very strange,” Ryan stated. He shifted in his seat, unsure what exactly Horatio wanted him to say. “Very unique. It was like he had this switch from serious to ecstatic instantly. Uh.” He swiped a fingernail across his eyebrow, watching Horatio for any sort of reaction. There was none. “He, uh… What are you looking for, H? What do you want me to say?”
“How did you see the Doctor’s TARDIS?” Horatio asked, cocking his head to the side.
So that’s what this was about. “I was looking for something that would be out of place at a crime scene. That’s what I told the Doctor.”
“I see. That was a very clever thing to do.”
Ryan frowned. He couldn’t tell if Horatio was patronizing him or not. “The Doctor said something similar. Although, a large blue box is hard to miss.”
“Ryan,” Horatio said softly. “The TARDIS is made so that eyes are drawn away from it.”
“Really?” Ryan pressed, hoping that Horatio would actually explain something for once.
“Yes. It is. You went inside to find the Doctor, didn’t you?”
Ryan nodded slowly before saying, “I did. It’s in my report. Probably redacted.”
“So you saw the inside of the TARDIS?”
“Yes, sir,” Ryan answered, a little wary of Horatio’s eagerness. “It was… unexpected.” He left out the part where he dragged Eric inside too. He didn’t think that would help this conversation with Horatio.
“Bigger on the inside,” Horatio said with a chuckle that left Ryan nonplussed.
“Yeah.” Ryan shifted uneasily again. “What - what was his connection to that Torchwood?”
“The Doctor is Torchwood’s number one enemy. The reason for its establishment.”
Ryan nodded, processing it slowly, filing it with the rest of the evidence he processed the day before. “But Captain Harkness talked with the Doctor and left,” he pointed out.
“Yes. Captain Harkness is… different. The Doctor spoke of him once but never by name.” Horatio looked off to the left of Ryan’s shoulder.
“What was it like?” Ryan asked quietly. “Traveling with him.”
“Indescribable,” Horatio said. “Have you come closer to determining who the mole in the lab is?”
Ryan swore that some time soon he was going to suffer whiplash from Horatio’s change in subjects. “No, sir. Aaron Peters is off the list, though.” He really wanted to ask more about the Doctor, but the opportunity was not presenting itself. Mostly Ryan wanted to know how Horatio was able to get his hands on another sonic screwdriver, but he was afraid that the answer might be “timey whimey” and that was just not fair.
“I see. Keep up the good work, Wolfe.”
Ryan pressed his lips together before saying, “Thanks, H.”
: : :
Calleigh caught up to Ryan in the locker room again.
“Aaron told me all about your date last night.”
Ryan raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms to lean against his locker. “All about our date? We didn’t have a date.”
“Was it a business proposal then?”
Ryan flushed at the word “proposal.”
“Oh, I see,” she said innocently.
“Stop it,” Ryan muttered.
“Have you heard the newest rumor circulating the lab today?” she asked, sitting down at the bench in front of him.
Ryan uncrossed his arms. “No,” he said carefully.
“You’re going to want to sit down,” she said.
Ryan rolled his eyes but sat down next to her on the bench.
“Boa Vista forced you and Eric to have sex while she watched.”
Ryan blinked a few times. Since when did the rumor mill actually generate something true? “Where did that rumor come from?”
Calleigh shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that - ”
“You told Eric about Aaron,” Ryan interrupted.
“Really?” She peered at him with interest.
Ryan tore his gaze away from the vents at the top of his locker and stared at her blandly.
“So you saw him between the end of shift yesterday and now?” Ryan was completely uncomfortable with the fact that Calleigh was a little too good at her job and could easily fill in the gaps of his story.
“Yes. I did,” Ryan admitted. There was obviously no point in denying it. “Was there any particular reason you brought that up with him?”
“No need to be snippy. Was there any truth to this newest rumor?”
“I asked first,” Ryan shot back childishly.
“I figured that you needed some motivation,” she stated plainly.
“That rumor is the truest thing I’ve ever heard through the rumor mill, which means that’s probably not where you got it.”
Calleigh evaluated Ryan for a moment before answering. “Boa Vista was bragging about the power of her breasts,” she said with a wrinkle of her nose.
“They are right there,” Ryan pointed out. “They’re very hard to miss.”
“I always thought you were an ass man,” Calleigh teased, knocking Ryan’s shoulder with her knuckles. “You’re turning my whole world upside down.”
“I am an ass man,” Ryan agreed. “But her breasts are - ”
Someone cleared his throat behind them. Ryan jumped.
Calleigh swiveled on the bench to face the door. “Oh, hey, Aaron. Are you here to pick Ryan up for your date?”
“Date?” Ryan sputtered. “I never said - I’m not free tonight. I have things to do!” he protested.
“Right. Aaron.” She smirked and stood up patting him on the shoulder. “You kids have fun tonight!” she called as she left them alone in the locker room.
Ryan opened his mouth to protest, decided that there really wasn’t a point, and closed it again.
“Sorry about that,” Aaron said with a faint blush even as he tried to look dignified.
Ryan pursed his lips. “I do have plans tonight.”
Aaron nodded. “Horatio mentioned that you were asking after Torchwood.”
Ryan’s attention snapped to Aaron’s face, and he frowned. “I was,” he answered, suspicious of where Aaron was going.
“I’ll tell you as much as I can over dinner. C’mon.” He placed a hand on Ryan’s forearm and dragged his fingers down to Ryan’s own. The soft hiss of skin against skin made Ryan shiver.
“Okay,” he vaguely heard himself say. He could always reschedule his dentist appointment.
: : :
Lying in bed with Aaron was a lot different than lying in bed with Eric. Eric had constantly been in motion, where as Aaron could wind down. It was almost as if he could read Ryan’s mind, which made him paranoid, because maybe Aaron could read his mind. Ryan had already seen aliens, how much further was mindreading?
“Torchwood is the British version of what my bosses do,” Aaron explained, stretching in Ryan’s arms. He buried his face in the crook of Ryan’s shoulder, kissing his neck briefly before continuing. “They were founded for very different reasons. I’m not at liberty to discuss those reasons.”
Ryan hummed in encouragement for Aaron to continue. Continue talking or continue to bury his face in Ryan’s body. Whichever. Ryan was still reeling that the man who was snuggling (no other word for it) in his arms was the same man who was cold and detached while in the lab.
“H mentioned the Doctor.”
“Right,” Aaron agreed.
“And the Doctor doesn’t have anything to do with the star gate,” Ryan concluded.
“I can’t confirm or deny that statement,” Aaron said ruefully.
At least Ryan knew what type of secrets were being kept from him before he entered a relationship this time around. It was then he knew that he was doomed: he was calling what had happened between him and Aaron a relationship. Ryan would deal with that in the morning. He would also love to see Eric’s face when he found out, but he really didn’t want to deal with Calleigh’s gloating. He’d tell them later, when he was sure that there actually was a relationship going on.
: : :
“Aaron and I are dating,” Ryan announced weeks later to the entire trace lab. Okay, it was just Eric.
Eric raised his eyebrows but otherwise did not look up from the microscope he was looking through.
“I felt that you should know,” Ryan said with a shrug.
Eric finally looked up from the microscope. “And why is that?”
“Because we had that thing and - ” Ryan stopped and glared when Eric started to smirk. “You really are a bastard,” he groused.
“Maybe. Is he better than me?”
Ryan glowered spectacularly. “You ask that again and I’m going to tell Calleigh that you can barely get it up without a little blue pill. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you panting after her.”
Eric looked severely traumatized. “Viagra?! That is such a low blow, and you would never tell Calleigh that.”
“Tell me what?” Calleigh asked, walking into the lab.
Both men looked as if they had already been properly chastised and both declined to answer.
“I see,” she said thoughtfully. “Boy things. Do you have the trace identified yet?”
“Almost,” Ryan answered. “It’s running through the mass spec now.”
“I’m glad you two boys are getting along now. Find me when it’s done. I’ll be in ballistics,” Calleigh said, leaving the lab.
“Don’t stare at her ass,” Ryan muttered as he placed two fingers under Eric’s chin to manually shut his mouth.
“Oh, like you don’t stare at mine,” Eric said as soon as he recovered.
“I don’t,” Ryan grumbled.
“Not once?” Eric wheedled, looking into the microscope again as Ryan attended to the mass spec. “You’ve never thought to yourself, ‘hey! I’ve been there’?”
Ryan flushed and sputtered.
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
: : :
End.
Author’s End Note: I loved the idea of Companion H. Also, I am not a Boston fan. Nor am I a Yankees fan. I’m a bad Nutmeger for not choosing sides. Ryan, however, at least went to school in Boston; therefore, it is relatively safe to assume that he would be a Sox fan. They’re fierce in B-town.
Also, if anyone finds an error in my chemistry, please let me know. I almost failed O-Chem, and even that was a while ago. *sigh* I can barely remember the difference between an SN1 and SN2 reaction. *wails*
And Martha Jones is made of awesome.
This is not the best fic I've ever written, but it's pretty close to the crackiest.
For warnings and author's note, please see part two
“That was crazy, man,” Eric said.
Ryan grunted in response. He was focused on what was going on on the other side of the police tape. He was not accustomed to being on the outside of the tape. The NID and the Air Force had forced all people who did not work for said agencies on the other side of the tape, and no one without security clearance was allowed to cross that tape. And the best part was that they were not allowed to leave the area without signing confidentiality statements from both agencies.
Ryan scowled at the tape and all it stood for.
His scowl deepened when Lieutenant Cadman approached them with a disgustingly perky smile.
“Officer Wolfe,” Lieutenant Cadman said. “What you did earlier? Yeah. That reminded me of someone I used to work with. My former CO and a friend of my ex-beau. He pulled crazy heroics like that. He’s also trained for dealing with these guys. You’re not. You could have been killed or worse.”
“But I wasn’t,” Ryan answered stonily, folding his arms over his chest.
“This time,” Eric responded.
Lieutenant Cadman nodded. “Next time leave it to the experts, ‘kay, sexy?” And there were the beautiful women - or woman - coming on to him.
Ryan gawked at her as Eric worked his jaw.
Lieutenant Cadman winked at Eric and walked back behind the tape, and Horatio approached Ryan and Eric. The Doctor and Miss Jones lagged behind him.
“Not bad, Wolfe,” Horatio said, fiddling with his sunglasses.
The Doctor winced.
“Thanks, H,” Ryan said, pinching his lips together, unsure as to where Horatio was going with the conversation.
“They were going to turn her into one of them,” Horatio informed them calmly. Ryan wasn’t expecting that.
“One of the triplets?” Eric asked, very confused about the whole thing. Ryan was just as confused.
“One of the clones,” Horatio responded. “The Doctor knows all about him.”
“Right. His name is Ba’al.” That was all the Doctor said. He bounced on his heels. “Whelp,” he continued with a pop of his lips, “Martha and I are going to head out. Thanks for everything, Horatio, boys.”
“I’ll drive the both of you back to the TARDIS,” Horatio offered. “Eric, Wolfe, I’ll meet you both back at the lab.”
Horatio led the Doctor and Miss Jones away with a hand at the small of their backs.
“Isn’t he going to stay to sign those confidentiality papers?” Ryan demanded.
Eric shrugged. “It’s H. Maybe he already has.”
Ryan huffed.
: : :
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” The Air Force rep in front of Ryan and Eric was crisp and professional. “I’m Dr. Elizabeth Weir.”
Ryan and Eric nodded.
“You both need to sign these papers saying that you will not talk about what happened here and that, on behalf of the government, I will be censoring all reports made about this incident before they are submitted to your superiors.” Dr. Weir kinda reminded Ryan of Calleigh when she went all professional and focused on a case. It was kinda hot. Not that Ryan would ever tell Calleigh that. He had enough trouble at work with just the men… and Natalia. Ryan would put money on the notion that Dr. Weir could succeed in the dominance that Natalia had tried.
“Sure thing, ma’am,” Ryan agreed readily. He just wanted everything to be over with, and if that meant playing the government’s games, so be it.
Eric raised an eyebrow at him. “Since we’re signing this,” he said with a smirk, “maybe you could tell us everything that went down here.” His smirk turned into a charming smile.
Dr. Weir gave Eric an incredulous look. “No.” She handed both men identical packets of paper and a pen each.
“Hm,” Eric hummed in amusement. “You come prepared.”
“Comes with the job,” Dr. Weir said dryly. She turned to see Colonel Mitchell approaching them. She raised the volume of her voice slightly. “Although usually it’s with another colonel.”
“Glad to be of service, Lizzie!” Colonel Mitchell called back.
: : :
Ryan stared at his locker, too exhausted to do more than will it open. He must have stared at it for a good fifteen minutes… although he wasn’t quite sure.
Calleigh interrupted his lack of thoughts. She placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Hey, are you okay?”
Ryan snapped his brain into focus. “It was just a really weird case,” he said softly, pursing his lips.
“It’s not everyday the government forces us to sign a confidentiality statement.” She opened her locker and started fiddling around with its contents.
“Not just the aliens - ” He cut himself off as he stood to open his locker.
“I take it you didn’t clear things up with Aaron,” she said flatly.
Ryan shook his head.
“Don’t let too much time pass before you deal with it,” she advised sagely.
Ryan grunted in response, staring into his locker.
“I mean it,” she insisted. “This can affect lab dynamics.”
“It’s not like I’ve never done that before,” he grumbled.
“Hey now,” she said with a smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Ryan sighed out his nose, folded his arms across his chest, and turned to face Calleigh.
She smiled at him. “Have you thought about it at all?”
“I’ve been a little busy. With the aliens,” he said dryly.
“Well, what are you going to do?” she wheedled.
“You know,” Ryan said thoughtfully. “I’m not really comfortable talking about this with you.”
“Well, you should discuss it with someone.” She closed her locker and gave Ryan a kiss on his cheek as she left the locker room. “I suggest with Aaron,” she called back teasingly. “At Azul!”
Ryan sighed again and resisted the urge to bang his head against his locker door.
“Hey.” Ryan jumped at Eric’s sudden voice.
“Hey,” Ryan responded shakily.
“You want to grab a drink?” Eric offered. “I know I need one.”
“I don’t know,” Ryan sighed out. He needed to stop sighing. It was depressing.
“You probably need a drink.”
“I do.” Ryan shook his head. “I need to not think more, though.”
“If you change your mind, give me a call.”
Ryan expected a stray hand on his ass as Eric passed, but Eric only clapped him on the back. Ryan let out a relieved sigh and resumed staring at the interior of his locker. Until Aaron entered the locker room. Aaron whose locker was next to Ryan’s.
The hair on the nape of Ryan’s neck stood on end with the tension that flooded the room. His mind teetered back and forth between saying something and not. Aaron saved him.
“Calleigh spoke with me,” he said conversationally.
Ryan closed his locker and looked at Aaron expectantly. “She said that she would do something to that effect.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. He resolved never to let Calleigh out of his sight the next time she smirked.
“I don’t think we should have this conversation here.” Aaron’s expression was soft and hard simultaneously, and Ryan found himself lost again.
“Not Azul,” he blurted out.
Aaron laughed, and Ryan felt the tension drain from the room. “I was thinking about the bar down the street.”
Ryan nodded dumbly and followed Aaron out of the locker room.
: : :
Ryan kept shifting in his chair on the bar’s patio. The Miami nightlife was emerging, and people in gaudy clothing flowed passed them. And the tension between the two men had continued to be awkward, and Ryan was lost. He was absolutely horrible with people on a personal level. He always came on too strong and scared everyone away. Except Natalia, Eric, and Aaron. Although it took a while and a nail to the eye for Eric to adjust. Natalia apparently was still interested in Eric and just wanted to enact some fantastical manifestation of the antagonistic air between the two men while asserting her power over them. Eric - he was obviously more interested in Ryan than Natalia had been, which further confused Ryan, and he had yet to figure out what Aaron wanted.
“So,” Ryan said inelegantly, drawing out the word to hopefully draw a response from Aaron.
Aaron caught Ryan’s eye. “When I started working at the lab, you were this scrawny, awkward teenager. You even had that quaint Boston lisp. Now, good God, now you’ve fleshed out, bulked up, and I want to taste every inch of you.”
Ryan sucked in a shaky breath and felt adrenaline surge from his belly. “That was the most straightforward thing anyone has probably ever said to me.”
Aaron raised a curious eyebrow at Ryan’s evasion.
Ryan sighed and pursed his lips, shifting in his chair. He then leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. “I’ll return the favor: I have no idea what is going on with my life. Between today’s case and that rumor you heard, I - I don’t know.”
Aaron nodded.
“But I do know that I don’t want a workplace relationship.”
Aaron nodded again. “Starting in the fall, I am teaching chemistry at the University of Miami.”
Ryan sat up in his chair, alarmed. “What?!”
“It’s a lot less stressful than working in the lab - in relation to politics.”
Ryan frowned. “You’re bailing because of lab politics?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yes. There are too many federal investigations in the lab. I don’t want any part of it.”
“Does H know your reason?”
“Yes.”
Ryan waited a beat, then blurted out, “Are you the mole?”
Aaron stared at him severely. “No. Not the way you’re thinking.”
“Then in what way?”
“Not with the feds.”
Ryan shot him a bland look.
“That’s all I can tell you. I’m sorry.” Aaron looked properly contrite. Ryan glared.
“Did it have to do with today’s case?” Ryan hazarded a guess.
Aaron leveled Ryan with an intense stare but nodded curtly.
“Oh,” Ryan said quietly. “And you want out?”
Aaron took two large gulps of his beer.
“No? You’re being reassigned?” Ryan asked in astonishment.
Aaron nodded.
“Wow.” Ryan leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.
Aaron hummed in agreement.
The rest of the night went comfortably. Except for the niggling in the back of Ryan’s head that Aaron already knew about the whole alien thing. That perpetuated Ryan’s confusion in the scheme of things. Their night ended with Aaron asking Ryan to consider his proposal of tasting every inch.
: : :
Eric was waiting in the lobby of Ryan’s apartment building.
“Delko,” Ryan said sharply at Eric’s back.
“Wolfe,” Eric responded, spinning around.
“What are you doing here?”
“Can I come up?”
“Eric,” Ryan growled.
“Calleigh said - It has to do with Calleigh,” he explained in a rush.
“Is she okay? Nothing’s wrong, is it?” Ryan asked in a panic.
“Can we discuss this elsewhere?”
Ryan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Calleigh wasn’t hurt or in trouble. If she were, they would be heading to help her.
“Please,” Eric stressed.
“Alright,” Ryan grumbled, punching the elevator button.
: : :
As soon as the door to Ryan’s apartment closed behind them, he demanded that Eric tell him everything.
“Calleigh said that I had competition,” Eric said smugly as he made himself at home on Ryan’s couch.
Ryan growled and threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “You bastard! I thought she was hurt. And you’re telling me that she told you about my personal life - as if it were any of your business! And why are you sneaking around behind Boa Vista’s back?!”
“Ryan. Sit down,” Eric ordered, grabbing the sleeve of Ryan’s shirt and pulling him down to the couch. “It’s nearly midnight, and you haven’t even undone your tie.” Eric’s fingers make quick work of undoing the half-Windsor and popping the button underneath it. Ryan half-heartedly attempted to bat Eric’s hand away.
“This is a bad idea,” Ryan pointed out as Eric’s hand pushed away Ryan’s shirt collar.
“Are you saying no?” Eric asked, brushing the spot by Ryan’s ear that the psychic paper had mentioned earlier.
Ryan moaned in response. “Bastard,” he breathed out.
“You need to unwind,” Eric whispered into Ryan’s ear as one of his hands slowly pulled Ryan’s shirttails free.
“Already did,” Ryan growled. “With Aaron.”
Eric drew away as Ryan had expected, but instead of stopping, Eric reached down to cup Ryan through his jeans. “Then is this for me or Aaron?” He squeezed lightly.
Ryan made an embarrassing noise.
“You said that you wanted to dominate,” Eric whispered hotly into Ryan’s ear. He pulled away and languidly stretched himself out over the couch. Ryan’s breath quickened when Eric continued, “I’m letting you.”
There was no way that Ryan was going to let that opportunity pass him by. He held Eric down by his biceps and fucked him into the couch.
: : :
When Ryan caught his breath, he said, “Okay, let’s not do that again.”
Eric snickered and smirked up at him. “You’re the first one to ever say that to me.” He licked the corner of Ryan’s mouth. “You didn’t enjoy it?”
Ryan snarled and bit down on Eric’s earlobe. “I don’t think workplace relationships are a good thing.”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “Natalia? Aaron?”
“Natalia was unobtainable - still is. I have no idea what’s going on with Aaron. And even if I decide to pursue something with Aaron, he won’t be working at the lab much longer.”
Eric’s expression turned serious. “Is he the mole?”
“No,” Ryan said with a shake of his head. He crawled off Eric to find something to clean themselves up with and dispose of the condom.
“How do you know?” Eric challenged, sprawling out over the sofa.
“Because he didn’t ask about my eye,” Ryan snapped back.
Eric chuckled in amusement. “You are always cranky after you come.”
“It’s the company,” Ryan shot back.
Eric sighed and rolled up into a sitting position. “Do you want me to leave?”
“Not until this is resolved.” Ryan crossed his arms over his chest, which was not as intimidating as he had aimed for, mostly because his pants were on the other side of the couch.
“What’s there to resolve? I’m looking for something that you obviously can’t handle.”
“See? That’s my point!” Ryan cried. “We’d end up killing each other!”
“I don’t mind rough sex,” Eric added thoughtfully. “In fact, I really enjoyed it.” He stretched to expose his stomach muscles. Ryan suspected it was to distract him from whatever point he was making.
“I’m not talking about on a physical level - I mean on a mental and emotional level. It’s like were constantly waging psychological war. Which is affecting our work.”
“You may have a point,” Eric admitted.
Ryan scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Of course I have a point. Now explain to me why you’re so quick to discard your relationship with Boa Vista? You’ve never shown any sort of positive interest in me. Only negative. I know I’ve never thought about you that way.”
“You’re very sexy,” Eric said with a shrug.
“You’re shallow,” Ryan grumbled. “If that’s all you have to say for yourself, then I guess we’ve resolved this.” He stared coldly down at Eric. “And you can leave.”
Eric rose to his feet as he raised his eyebrows in challenge. “Is that so?”
Ryan nodded curtly.
“No way to change your mind?” Eric asked slyly, crowding Ryan’s space.
“I’m not saying the sex was bad. I’m saying the idea of pursuing anything is bad. I’ve also noticed that you failed to give a serious response when I pointed out your lack of pervious interest.” Eric opened his mouth to respond, but Ryan breezed on. “That means you aren’t looking for anything serious, and I don’t have the mental stamina to deal with that right now.”
Eric eyed Ryan critically.
“What?!”
“You’re naked,” Eric stated.
“Yes,” Ryan said carefully. “So are you.” He tried to think of a way to bring the conversation back from the cusp of surreal.
“Let’s continue this conversation with clothes on.”
“It’s still going to come to the same conclusion, Eric.”
“You’re right.” Eric’s face closed off, and he bent down to collect his clothing. “I should leave.”
Ryan sighed. “Nothing’s been resolved if you’re going to leave angry.” He rubbed his eyelids with his thumb and forefinger. “I’m too tired to discuss this at length. And unlike some of us, I don’t have tomorrow off.”
“I’ll get out of your hair,” Eric said resolutely.
Ryan sighed. He was going to regret this, but, “You’re tired too. Stay the night.”
Eric flashed Ryan a sexy grin.
“Clean up first,” Ryan said in a deadpan.
: : :
Eric curled around Ryan, mouthing his neck in no specific pattern. It was warm and wet where his mouth was and cold and wet where it had been. Ryan shivered.
“No,” Ryan mumbled, shoving a hand between their bodies.
The alarm clock beeped in annoyance. Ryan groaned and dislodged Eric to turn off the alarm clock. He crawled out of bed, and Eric sprawled out over it.
“When’re we gonna talk about it?” Eric mumbled sleepily.
“Join me for lunch,” Ryan said after a beat.
Eric mumbled something in Russian.
“What was that?” Ryan asked.
“I’ll see you then, sexy,” Eric said, looking up at Ryan through half-lidded eyes. Eric didn’t look so bad himself… if Ryan stopped to think about it.
: : :
Unlike the day before, there were no crazy cases. No cases at all. Ryan was stuck in the lab filling out paperwork. He managed to avoid both Calleigh and Aaron. Calleigh was primary on a B and E gone bad, and Aaron had made himself scarce, holing himself up in his lab. It was actually Horatio who cornered Ryan.
“Mr. Wolfe,” Horatio said lightly, fingering his sunglasses, passing them back and forth from hand to hand.
Ryan jerked to attention. “Yeah, H?”
Horatio had a serious expression that caused Ryan to frown in response. “Is there…” Horatio paused and looked thoughtful. “Is there a reason for me to look at breaking up the team?”
“Why?” Ryan asked, startled.
“It’s lab policy that no two peoples in a romantic involvement should be on the same team.”
“What?! No! Why - no, don’t answer that.”
“I am concerned about your relationship with Eric.”
Ryan twitched. “What relationship?”
“The antagonism I’ve been seeing…” Ryan paled. “It’s been replaced with something more constructive, hasn’t it?”
“Look, H,” Ryan began, unsure as to how to continue without blushing furiously and apologizing for defiling the Hummer.
“You don’t need to explain yourself, Ryan.” Horatio smiled at him and tipped his head coyly.
“No, H. It’s, uh, it’s been resolved.” Ryan ran his forefinger along his chin nervously. “It won’t be a problem.”
“Are you aware that Aaron Peters is leaving the lab?” Out of left field much? Horatio knew too much for Ryan’s peace of mind.
“What? Oh, yeah. He - he told me. He’s not a fed,” Ryan offered, answering Horatio’s unasked question. “He wasn’t concerned about my eye.” Just every other part of my anatomy, Ryan didn’t say.
“Good. That’s good.” Horatio trailed off. “How’s that paperwork coming?”
“I’m having difficulty. I’m reluctant because I know some government official is going to redact the hell out of my report.”
Horatio nodded but didn’t say anything else, eventually leaving Ryan to his paperwork.
: : :
Eric paced the bottom of the stairs of the Crime Lab when Ryan left for lunch.
“Took you long enough,” he accused lightly.
“Someone had to write up the case report,” Ryan snorted.
“Glad it wasn’t me.”
“H said that he wanted your account too.”
“I’ll just copy yours.”
“No such luck. The government already took their big black marker to it. I thought Alexx was going to kill me when I told her that I couldn’t explain what happened.” Ryan was suddenly self-conscious standing on the front steps exposed to everyone. “Let’s go to lunch. Before I’m called back in.”
: : :
They ended up at a small diner out on the patio. The air was humid to the point where the condensation of Ryan’s water glass stained the table cloth. That also meant that both men were sweating.
“You fascinate me,” Eric finally admitted.
Ryan set down his fork and leveled Eric with a severe look. “We’d kill each other.”
“I know.”
“So what do you want?”
“I’m not sure.”
“With everything that happened yesterday, I think it’s best that we have each other’s backs and can think along the same lines out in the field. And no more perverse games of twenty questions.”
“How else was I supposed to find out that you were a Red Sox fan?”
“Pay attention. That is your job. Also, when they play the Yankees, I take off early. You’ve also neglected to talk about Boa Vista.”
“I did tell you about Natalia: we agreed not to fool around without someone else in the picture.”
“That’s not what I meant. Is she - Are you - I mean emotionally.”
“Does it matter?” Eric shrugged.
Ryan scoffed. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, it matters.”
“I don’t know, Wolfe, alright?” Eric bit out defensively.
Ryan felt his anger dissipate and smirked lopsidedly. “Was that so hard to admit?”
Eric snorted. Ryan couldn’t tell if it was amusement or anger. “You’re right,” he said eventually. “We would end up killing each other.”
“That wasn’t so hard to admit either, now was it?”
Eric’s smirk mirrored Ryan’s.
: : :
“Hey there,” Calleigh said with a bright smile upon entering the break room.
Ryan looked up from his paperwork. “Calleigh.”
“How was Azul?” she asked sweetly.
Ryan looked back down to his paperwork. “Didn’t go,” he said curtly. He was still uncomfortable with people taking an interest in his personal life. He was so accustomed to not fitting in, that finally belonging felt more awkward than not belonging. Calleigh’s sisterly inquiries and teasing still made Ryan twitchy.
“Where did you go, then?” she pried.
“Don’t you have evidence to process?” he asked without looking up again.
“I just dropped some trace off to Aaron.” Ryan frowned. Calleigh was smirking that nasty smirk that did not bode well for Ryan’s piece of mind.
Ryan made a noncommittal grunt.
“Oh, come on,” she teased, leaning onto the table, her breasts at Ryan’s eyelevel - if he looked up, which he did.
“Hey!” he exclaimed. “Put those away!”
“What? These?” She cupped herself.
“That - That is sexual harassment,” Ryan choked out.
Calleigh chuckled. “Relax, honey. From what I’ve heard, that’s not something that interests you.”
“Doesn’t matter if it interests me or not. It’s still unwanted. It’s like telling me my sister is a sexual being.”
“You never mentioned a sister.” Calleigh stood up straight. Ryan boggled at how quickly she could change directions.
“I don’t have one.”
“Oh. I guess I’ve made up for that, haven’t I?”
Ryan gave her a halfhearted smile.
“Does this mean I can set you up on dates?”
“No,” Ryan said flatly. “And you’re trying that anyway.”
“Oh. Right,” she drawled, smiling widely. “I just want my li’l brother to be happy.”
Ryan snorted.
“And I think that you and Aaron would be - ”
“Mr. Wolfe,” Horatio interrupted. He stood in the doorway of the break room. “May I speak with you privately?”
Calleigh smiled widely again. “I’ll leave you boys to it. Ryan, I’ll tell Aaron you say hi.”
Before Ryan could object, Calleigh was halfway down the hallway.
He sighed. “Yeah, H?”
“Let’s… let’s talk in my office.” Because that wasn’t ominous.
: : :
Ryan tried not to twitch as he sat across from Horatio. Ryan was mostly succeeding.
“I’ve been meaning to speak with you about the Doctor,” Horatio finally said.
Ryan swiped his thumb over the tip of his nose. “Uh, we’re not supposed to discuss the case.”
“We are not to discuss the Goa’uld. We are at liberty to discuss the Doctor.” So, Horatio knew about the goold… which would have been useful to know thirty-six hours ago.
“Okay,” Ryan said.
“What do you know about the Doctor?”
“What - what do you mean?” Ryan asked, trying to hide his suspicion. He figured it was a bad idea to show suspicion of his boss in front of his boss.
“The Doctor. What do you know about him?”
“Uh. He - he was very strange,” Ryan stated. He shifted in his seat, unsure what exactly Horatio wanted him to say. “Very unique. It was like he had this switch from serious to ecstatic instantly. Uh.” He swiped a fingernail across his eyebrow, watching Horatio for any sort of reaction. There was none. “He, uh… What are you looking for, H? What do you want me to say?”
“How did you see the Doctor’s TARDIS?” Horatio asked, cocking his head to the side.
So that’s what this was about. “I was looking for something that would be out of place at a crime scene. That’s what I told the Doctor.”
“I see. That was a very clever thing to do.”
Ryan frowned. He couldn’t tell if Horatio was patronizing him or not. “The Doctor said something similar. Although, a large blue box is hard to miss.”
“Ryan,” Horatio said softly. “The TARDIS is made so that eyes are drawn away from it.”
“Really?” Ryan pressed, hoping that Horatio would actually explain something for once.
“Yes. It is. You went inside to find the Doctor, didn’t you?”
Ryan nodded slowly before saying, “I did. It’s in my report. Probably redacted.”
“So you saw the inside of the TARDIS?”
“Yes, sir,” Ryan answered, a little wary of Horatio’s eagerness. “It was… unexpected.” He left out the part where he dragged Eric inside too. He didn’t think that would help this conversation with Horatio.
“Bigger on the inside,” Horatio said with a chuckle that left Ryan nonplussed.
“Yeah.” Ryan shifted uneasily again. “What - what was his connection to that Torchwood?”
“The Doctor is Torchwood’s number one enemy. The reason for its establishment.”
Ryan nodded, processing it slowly, filing it with the rest of the evidence he processed the day before. “But Captain Harkness talked with the Doctor and left,” he pointed out.
“Yes. Captain Harkness is… different. The Doctor spoke of him once but never by name.” Horatio looked off to the left of Ryan’s shoulder.
“What was it like?” Ryan asked quietly. “Traveling with him.”
“Indescribable,” Horatio said. “Have you come closer to determining who the mole in the lab is?”
Ryan swore that some time soon he was going to suffer whiplash from Horatio’s change in subjects. “No, sir. Aaron Peters is off the list, though.” He really wanted to ask more about the Doctor, but the opportunity was not presenting itself. Mostly Ryan wanted to know how Horatio was able to get his hands on another sonic screwdriver, but he was afraid that the answer might be “timey whimey” and that was just not fair.
“I see. Keep up the good work, Wolfe.”
Ryan pressed his lips together before saying, “Thanks, H.”
: : :
Calleigh caught up to Ryan in the locker room again.
“Aaron told me all about your date last night.”
Ryan raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms to lean against his locker. “All about our date? We didn’t have a date.”
“Was it a business proposal then?”
Ryan flushed at the word “proposal.”
“Oh, I see,” she said innocently.
“Stop it,” Ryan muttered.
“Have you heard the newest rumor circulating the lab today?” she asked, sitting down at the bench in front of him.
Ryan uncrossed his arms. “No,” he said carefully.
“You’re going to want to sit down,” she said.
Ryan rolled his eyes but sat down next to her on the bench.
“Boa Vista forced you and Eric to have sex while she watched.”
Ryan blinked a few times. Since when did the rumor mill actually generate something true? “Where did that rumor come from?”
Calleigh shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that - ”
“You told Eric about Aaron,” Ryan interrupted.
“Really?” She peered at him with interest.
Ryan tore his gaze away from the vents at the top of his locker and stared at her blandly.
“So you saw him between the end of shift yesterday and now?” Ryan was completely uncomfortable with the fact that Calleigh was a little too good at her job and could easily fill in the gaps of his story.
“Yes. I did,” Ryan admitted. There was obviously no point in denying it. “Was there any particular reason you brought that up with him?”
“No need to be snippy. Was there any truth to this newest rumor?”
“I asked first,” Ryan shot back childishly.
“I figured that you needed some motivation,” she stated plainly.
“That rumor is the truest thing I’ve ever heard through the rumor mill, which means that’s probably not where you got it.”
Calleigh evaluated Ryan for a moment before answering. “Boa Vista was bragging about the power of her breasts,” she said with a wrinkle of her nose.
“They are right there,” Ryan pointed out. “They’re very hard to miss.”
“I always thought you were an ass man,” Calleigh teased, knocking Ryan’s shoulder with her knuckles. “You’re turning my whole world upside down.”
“I am an ass man,” Ryan agreed. “But her breasts are - ”
Someone cleared his throat behind them. Ryan jumped.
Calleigh swiveled on the bench to face the door. “Oh, hey, Aaron. Are you here to pick Ryan up for your date?”
“Date?” Ryan sputtered. “I never said - I’m not free tonight. I have things to do!” he protested.
“Right. Aaron.” She smirked and stood up patting him on the shoulder. “You kids have fun tonight!” she called as she left them alone in the locker room.
Ryan opened his mouth to protest, decided that there really wasn’t a point, and closed it again.
“Sorry about that,” Aaron said with a faint blush even as he tried to look dignified.
Ryan pursed his lips. “I do have plans tonight.”
Aaron nodded. “Horatio mentioned that you were asking after Torchwood.”
Ryan’s attention snapped to Aaron’s face, and he frowned. “I was,” he answered, suspicious of where Aaron was going.
“I’ll tell you as much as I can over dinner. C’mon.” He placed a hand on Ryan’s forearm and dragged his fingers down to Ryan’s own. The soft hiss of skin against skin made Ryan shiver.
“Okay,” he vaguely heard himself say. He could always reschedule his dentist appointment.
: : :
Lying in bed with Aaron was a lot different than lying in bed with Eric. Eric had constantly been in motion, where as Aaron could wind down. It was almost as if he could read Ryan’s mind, which made him paranoid, because maybe Aaron could read his mind. Ryan had already seen aliens, how much further was mindreading?
“Torchwood is the British version of what my bosses do,” Aaron explained, stretching in Ryan’s arms. He buried his face in the crook of Ryan’s shoulder, kissing his neck briefly before continuing. “They were founded for very different reasons. I’m not at liberty to discuss those reasons.”
Ryan hummed in encouragement for Aaron to continue. Continue talking or continue to bury his face in Ryan’s body. Whichever. Ryan was still reeling that the man who was snuggling (no other word for it) in his arms was the same man who was cold and detached while in the lab.
“H mentioned the Doctor.”
“Right,” Aaron agreed.
“And the Doctor doesn’t have anything to do with the star gate,” Ryan concluded.
“I can’t confirm or deny that statement,” Aaron said ruefully.
At least Ryan knew what type of secrets were being kept from him before he entered a relationship this time around. It was then he knew that he was doomed: he was calling what had happened between him and Aaron a relationship. Ryan would deal with that in the morning. He would also love to see Eric’s face when he found out, but he really didn’t want to deal with Calleigh’s gloating. He’d tell them later, when he was sure that there actually was a relationship going on.
: : :
“Aaron and I are dating,” Ryan announced weeks later to the entire trace lab. Okay, it was just Eric.
Eric raised his eyebrows but otherwise did not look up from the microscope he was looking through.
“I felt that you should know,” Ryan said with a shrug.
Eric finally looked up from the microscope. “And why is that?”
“Because we had that thing and - ” Ryan stopped and glared when Eric started to smirk. “You really are a bastard,” he groused.
“Maybe. Is he better than me?”
Ryan glowered spectacularly. “You ask that again and I’m going to tell Calleigh that you can barely get it up without a little blue pill. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you panting after her.”
Eric looked severely traumatized. “Viagra?! That is such a low blow, and you would never tell Calleigh that.”
“Tell me what?” Calleigh asked, walking into the lab.
Both men looked as if they had already been properly chastised and both declined to answer.
“I see,” she said thoughtfully. “Boy things. Do you have the trace identified yet?”
“Almost,” Ryan answered. “It’s running through the mass spec now.”
“I’m glad you two boys are getting along now. Find me when it’s done. I’ll be in ballistics,” Calleigh said, leaving the lab.
“Don’t stare at her ass,” Ryan muttered as he placed two fingers under Eric’s chin to manually shut his mouth.
“Oh, like you don’t stare at mine,” Eric said as soon as he recovered.
“I don’t,” Ryan grumbled.
“Not once?” Eric wheedled, looking into the microscope again as Ryan attended to the mass spec. “You’ve never thought to yourself, ‘hey! I’ve been there’?”
Ryan flushed and sputtered.
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
: : :
End.
Author’s End Note: I loved the idea of Companion H. Also, I am not a Boston fan. Nor am I a Yankees fan. I’m a bad Nutmeger for not choosing sides. Ryan, however, at least went to school in Boston; therefore, it is relatively safe to assume that he would be a Sox fan. They’re fierce in B-town.
Also, if anyone finds an error in my chemistry, please let me know. I almost failed O-Chem, and even that was a while ago. *sigh* I can barely remember the difference between an SN1 and SN2 reaction. *wails*
And Martha Jones is made of awesome.
This is not the best fic I've ever written, but it's pretty close to the crackiest.