Fic: Bought and Paid For, Interlude & Chapter 10/11 (CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko)
Title: Bought and Paid For, Interlude & Chapter 10/11
Fandom: CSI Miami
Pair: Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always welcome.
CSI Miami Main List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Summary: Ryan Wolfe is a CSI working on a murder case. Eric Delko is a man of different vocation. A dead man brings them together.
PS: Despite the title, this is NOT a slave fic or anything similar. The meaning of the title becomes clear during the story, but it’s not what it sounds like.
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Interlude
“Now?” Calleigh asked and tired to ignore the beeping of the machinery.
“Fifty hours.” Alexx sighed. She eyed the man laying in the hospital bed, then turned to take a quick glance at the other man, who was sitting on the other side of the bed. “The first forty-eight are critical, that’s all they said. It doesn’t meant that he should have woken up two hours ago.”
“I have to go back to work. Calleigh got up and picked up her bag from the nightstand. “Call me if they tell you something new.”
“Sure, honey.”
Calleigh gave Eric a small nod and walked out. Alexx wrapped her hand around Ryan’s limp hand and squeezed it gently. She hadn’t talked much with the man, who had been in Ryan’s room with Calleigh when Alexx had first arrived to the hospital two days earlier. Calleigh had introduced him as Eric, but she hadn’t said much about his reason to be there. Alexx had taken a good look at the guilt on the man’s face and drawn her own conclusions. Now the guilty look was still firmly fixed on his face, but it was accessorised with bloodshot eyes and a thick stubble.
A soft sound almost made Alexx jump up from her chair. It sounded like a little meow, and she leaned over Ryan. His eyelids were fluttering, and he opened his eyes. He stared right in front of him and blinked several times, as if he couldn’t figure out where he was. Finally he seemed to focus on the man waiting behind Alexx`s back.
His lips moved, but the sound was almost too low to be heard. Alexx pressed her palm against his cheek and listened carefully.
“Yeah, baby boy. You’re in a hospital, and you’ll be just fine.”
“E…. E-Eric…?” Ryan’s voice was a gravely murmur, but the one word was clear. His eyes slipped shut again.
“Come on, honey.” Alexx encouraged. “You’ve had two days to sleep. Just open your eyes and I’ll get the doctor to come and take a look at you.”
Ryan’s eyes opened again, and this time he seemed focused, looking straight at Alexx and giving her a little smile.
“Eric…?”
“He’s right here, honey-” She turned her head, but the chair in the end of the bed was empty. The door was hanging open. “Well… he was here.”
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Chapter 10
”You’re not supposed to be here for weeks, go home.” Calleigh dumped her paperwork on the cafeteria table and sat down opposite Ryan. ”Not that I’m not happy to see you out and about.”
“I’ve spent eight weeks mostly laying down, I’m going crazy.”
“That’s less than the doctor and your physical therapist recommended before going around solo. You were shot. Work can wait, and you’re no good for anyone if you don’t get yourself in working order first.”
“I know, I know… And I’m not here trying to wheedle myself back to work, I just came to bring some papers about my medical leave.”
“Good. If Alexx hears that I didn’t kick you out, she’ll have my head on a platter.”
“You just got threats, but I’ve had to deal with an overeager mama bear practically every day, so don’t sound like you’re the long suffering victim here.” Ryan smirked and took a sip from his coffee. “Can’t say I really mind it though. It’s kinda nice to have someone around like that.”
“Speaking of being around…”
“Don’t say it.”
“You could call him.”
“He pulled a disappearing act when I was laying in the hospital and kept going for two months. If he can’t deal with me when I’m in this state, I don’t even want to know why he left.”
“Well… you’ll do what you want, but if I were you I’d want to know his reasons.”
“I don’t. I actually believed when he said he wanted me. For normal reasons, not because he lost three of his paying clients. I didn’t know it, but I think I really believed him.”
“You want to know what the girly solution to that would be?”
“Three tubs of ice-cream and a chick flick marathon?”
“You’re learning.” She giggled. “Moping doesn’t do any good to your recuperation. Call him or forget him. And get the hell out of here, Alexx is supposed to drop by with the autopsy results and I don’t want her to see you. You didn’t drive here, right?”
“When every time I move my upper body it hurts like hell? No, I took a cab.”
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Ryan closed the door behind him and walked into his bedroom. The quick visit to the lab had made the urge to get back to work even worse. Memories in the apartment didn’t make the medical leave any easier either. The short trip had taken most of his strength, and coming home made the feel of exhaustion and ache stronger.
When the doorbell rang, he almost didn’t asnwer it. He leaned against the wall for a minute, briefly considering if the company would be worth the short walk to the door. In the end he realised that Alexx would go get someone to break down the door if she suspected that something was wrong. Ryan walked slowly to the door and pulled it open.
“Alexx, you didn’t need to-” He spotted the man standing in the hallway and his eyes went wide. “Eric.”
“Yeah…” Eric fiddle the strap of his backbag nervously. “Can I come in?”
“I guess.” Ryan let him in and closed the door. “What do you want?”
“I…” Eric wandered into the living room and eyed the mountain of pillows and blankets on the couch, that had been Ryan’s favourite place to relax after he had been released from the hospital. “I got some news.”
“Like why you took off like that?”
“Yeah. It was my fault. I mean that you got shot, and… I couldn’t take it. It made me thinnk about stuff and…” He took a long calming breath. “Three deaths and being cuffed by a lunatic and shooting and all that… makes you think.”
“Did you come up with any conclusions?”
“I did.” Eric paused and pulled a memory stick from his pocket. “The only copy of my client list is here. I decided to retire. I’ve let all of them know that I’m out of the game.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I found a new job.” Eric beamed. “A steady job.”
“Doing what?”
“Teaching scuba diving. Same thing I did before as a free lancer.”
“That’s good. It’s… it’s nice to hear you’re doing well.”
“That kinda brings me to why I’m here. You asked me what I would do if I met someone? How I would deal with him and the job?”
“I remember.”
“I thought about it and… I can’t deal with it. If I find someone, I can’t continue my old job.” Eric rubbed his hands nervously against his jeans. “So I gave it up.”
Ryan closet his eyes for a minute, trying to calm down the heightened breathing that was becoming too painful for his surgery scars. He sat down on the couch and grabbed on of the pillows to keep his hands occupied.
“Why didn’t you come to see me?”
“I didn’t know what to do, so I… I took off. Cut off all contacts and just thought about my life.”
“And that thinking brought you here.”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk about my new job.”
“What about it?”
“The pay’s a lot smaller than what I used to make. I can’t afford my old apartment anymore, so… I was thinking... maybe you’d like a roommate.”
“A roommate?” Ryan stammered. He looked up, but Eric looked serious. Nervous, but serious. “You’re gonna have to be more specific than that. What exactly do you want?”
“I’d pay half the rent and stuff like that.” Eric kneeled down on the carpet between Ryan’s legs. “Wait until you’re better…” He put his hand on Ryan’s thigh and slowly moved it higher. “… get to know you better…” He crawled a bit closer. “… woo you…” His hand travelled up Ryan’s chest, and pressed his palm against it to feel the man’s heartbeat. “Make you fall in love with me.”
“You already did that.” Ryan groaned. The warm hand burned through his shirt, making him crave for more contact. “When I let you in here for the first time.”
Chapter 11/11