Fanfic: I've Seen The Heart of Darkness, Let's Just Say I've Crossed Over That Line
Chapter 2
They arrived at the hospital minutes later, the team rushing both of them inside. The young man was wheeled off towards a surgical room while Yelina was kept outside. One of the doctors held her forearms, talking to her, trying to get her attention. Yelina blinked and what the doctor was saying seemed to catch up with her. “Are you hurt miss?” The doctor looked down at Yelina’s hands and legs. Yelina looked down to see them covered in blood. “Umm…no. It isn’t my blood.” Yelina replied as if she had just remembered that she kneeled down to help the young man. The doctor nodded and took her to a bench, sitting her down he then rushed into the surgical room, preparing to help the young man. Yelina was jolted back into reality as she heard a nurse say, “He’s going into cardiac arrest! Get the defibrillator!” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she heard the flat line of the monitor. She jumped as she heard the electrical current jump his body trying to restart his heart. The sound continued on for a few more moments and just when Yelina thought the young man might be dead she heard the faint and weak sound of his heart through the monitor.
A surgeon walked out, blood covering his outfit. He saw Yelina right where he had left her. He took his surgical gown off and threw it in a hamper, sitting down next to her he put his hands on his knees. “Is he going to be all right?” Yelina asked, her voice soft as if she was afraid she would disturb him. The surgeon looked at her blood shot eyes and nodded. “Your friend’s throat was sliced open. We performed a minor surgery and closed the lesion. He went into cardiac arrest and flat lined for over two minutes. He needs transfusions for all the blood he’s lost. Do you know what blood type he is?” Yelina smiled and buried her head in her hands, she looked up at the surgeon and shook her head. “No, I don’t even know who he is.” The surgeon looked alarmed for a moment before Yelina put her hand up. “Don’t worry. I’m a private investigator. I used to be a cop, I know all about patient confidentiality. Considering your patient was just attacked on a roof top your doing your job by informing how he’s doing.”
The surgeon settled down, his tense position changing to a more relaxed one. “I can run a simple blood test that won’t take long. He’ll need a lot of blood transfusions before he gets out of the park. He’ll be listed under critical until we get some blood into him. Even then there are chances that the lack of oxygen could have damaged his brain or that the loss of blood will be too much for his system to take. These next couple of days will be critical to his health, so no one will be allowed in to see him. He probably has a fractured cheekbone according to the bruising. And his cheek should be fine, just a nasty bruise.” Yelina nodded and stood her face once again calm. “I’m going to make a call, you’ll let me know the minute you get his blood type back, I want to see if I can donate some blood for him.” The surgeon nodded before walking off into the room they wheeled the young man into. Yelina took her phone out of its holster before calling Horatio’s number.
Horatio smiled as Ray Jr told him stories about how much trouble he wasn’t getting into. His nephew was adorable; there was no other word for it. Of course if Horatio actually said that out loud he wasn’t sure Ray would think so. He was glad Yelina brought him down for a visit. Now that she was a private investigator he didn’t see her as often as he used too. Ever since Rio he had worried about them, the death of his older brother once again traumatizing them. But Yelina had pulled herself together for Ray Jr. Horatio chuckled as Calleigh showed him her ‘gun collection’. The amazement in his eyes when Calleigh showed him exactly what those guns could do lightened Horatio’s mood. It wasn’t too often that he got to spend time with Ray. He was glad to see his nephew had kept out of trouble since Rio, at least trouble that dealt with guns, gangs, and drugs.
Ray’s brown hair was a stark contrast to the Caine men’s bright red. He had grown since Horatio last saw him, gaining a teenagers build. Horatio heard the light tune of his cell phone ringing. Looking down Horatio opened it answering in his typical fashion, “Caine.” Horatio watched as Ray laughed at something Calleigh said. “Horatio, its Yelina.” Horatio’s attention was drawn downwards as his brows furrowed. “Yelina, what is it?” He heard Yelina sigh into the phone from the other end. “I’m afraid I have to cut your time with Ray short.” Staring up at his nephew their gazes caught and Ray looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Did something come up?” He could hear people talking in the background, straining he tried to hear what they said but Yelina started talking. “You could say that. I’m at the hospital. Could you meet me here with a spare change of clothes and your team?” Horatio became alarmed when she asked for his team. His worrying increased as she said the hospital. “Are you hurt?”
Yelina laughed softly and for a moment Horatio could imagine her smiling softly. “No, I’m fine. But someone’s not. I want to know who hurt this poor young man.” Horatio heard the sadness in her voice. Whoever was hurt was affecting her more than he could hear. He would have to see her for himself and this young man to determine how bad. Horatio nodded and replied that he would be there in a few minutes with the team. Looking up Horatio walked into the Lab. “Calleigh grab Eric and Wolfe. We have a case.” Calleigh nodded as she started locking up the gun case. Horatio showed Ray the way out before going to get Yelina’s bag and continuing outside to wait by his Hummer. “What is it Uncle Horatio?” Ray asked his voice puzzled and curious. “Your mother sure knows how to find trouble.” Ray looked up at him, alarmed. Horatio tousled his hair gently and smiled.
“Your mother’s fine. She just found us a young man who isn’t.” Ray settled down and watched as Calleigh and Eric walked out, kit and camera in hand. Horatio’s brows knit together. “Where’s Ryan?” Eric gave him a look, a look that clearly said ‘hell if I know.’ “Who knows where he is. We’ve tried calling his cell five times. Probably out gambling the little punk.” Calleigh’s head whipped around to look at him, her eyes reprimanding him. “Eric! Ryan’s probably just sick. Over slept and forgot to call in.” Eric scowled but looked moderately satisfied with her answer, after all there were times he was sick and forgot to call in, heck there were times he wasn’t sick and he forgot to call. Times when Marisol would get sick. “Eric, whatever tension you have with Ryan I want it out. Keep calling him.” Eric nodded and murmured a, “Yeah, sure thing H.”
Horatio and Ray Jr climbed into one Hummer while Eric and Calleigh slid into the other. Horatio drove to the hospital, Eric and Calleigh right behind him. Walking in he brought the bag of clothes with him. Looking around he spotted Yelina sitting on a bench, her white dress clothes ruined. Her white slacks covered in blood all the way up to her knees. Her hands had been washed but blood stained her sleeves. Droplets of blood had also been spattered in her upper chest area. Horatio sat down next to her, his face one of worry. “Hand me a bag. I have to protect the evidence.” Eric handed Yelina a bag, his face along with Calleigh’s and Ray’s matching Horatio’s. Yelina walked into the bathroom, Calleigh following in after her. Yelina walked into a stall and locked it, Calleigh leaning up against it, putting on her gloves. “Are you all right?” Calleigh called back, bagging up her clothes as evidence. “Yes, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up.” Yelina walked back out moments later wearing a black two piece. Her dress shirt was a dark brown, her jacket black. Her dress pants were a little wrinkled.
They walked out to sit on the bench with Horatio, Ray Jr on her other side with Calleigh and Eric sitting next to him. “So what did you need my team for?” Horatio asked her as soon as it appeared she had settled down. Yelina opened her mouth to speak when a doctor walked up to her, a folder in hand. He opened his mouth to speak but then pointed at Yelina’s companions. “It’s all right. They’re CSI’s.” Nodding the doctor ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Your friend has O negative blood. It’s gonna be a little hard to find him some blood, especially since we don’t really have an O negative blood right now. We’re supposed to be getting more in today, but without a blood transfusion within the next couple of hours, I don’t think he’ll make it.” Yelina’s eyes started watering again as she put a hand to her forehead. She was A positive and so was Ray.
Horatio fiddled with his shades before putting them in his coat pocket. “Doctor, I am O negative.” The doctor nodded and stood motioning for Horatio to follow. “Yelina, debrief the team while I go give our friend a boost, okay?” Yelina nodded and began talking to the team, Horatio followed the doctor into a room just as he had pulled a curtain around the patient. “He’s a little sensitive to light, so I’m drawing the curtain around him. It’s the loss of blood that’s making him sensitive. Your blood should send him well on his way to recovering. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if he woke up in the next couple of days because of your donation.” The doctor said as he tried to preoccupy Horatio’s attention from the needle. Horatio stared on in amusement, he may not like needles but it wasn’t as if he was going to yank it out, especially if it meant saving someone’s life. He pushed the needle into the vein on his arm. Horatio winced inside; he had always hated needles.
The doctor walked behind the curtain and pushed the other end into the young man. Horatio leaned over, but the doctor turned back towards him, closing the curtain behind him only allowing Horatio to get a glimpse of brown hair. The doctor smiled at him. “I’ll be leaving the room and coming back in to check up on you and him. Make sure you don't move around too much. I'll allow your team in, but you must be quite.” Horatio nodded and watched as the doctor left. Horatio looked at the needle in his arm before looking up to see Calleigh and Eric in the doorway. Walking over they sat down in chairs next to him. “We’re going to Michael Law Firm. Yelina says she likes to go there and look at the view to unwind when she found our mystery man up there. According to her and the doctors our Vic had his throat slashed, definitely something personal happening there. He also had minor wounds on his wrists, like he was restrained and tried to escape. His cheekbone was fractured and he has a nasty bruise on his cheek. Our guy was probably roughed up a bit before his throat was slashed.”
Horatio nodded to her, his eyes drooping slowly. “The doctor said that the wound was a clean cut, so that means it was probably done by a knife. Question is, where’s the knife and our attacker?” Calleigh nodded as she and Eric turned to get up and leave. “Eric?” Eric turned around at the sound of Horatio’s voice calling him back. “Have you been able to get a hold of Ryan?” Eric shifted his head down and shook his head. “No, but I’ll keep trying.” Horatio nodded as Eric and Calleigh left. He reached behind him and took his cell phone out of its cradle. Looking for the number Horatio hit the call button and listened to the dial tone. “This is Wolfe. Leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you.” Horatio sighed as he put his head down. “It’s Horatio. We need to talk about last night.” Horatio closed his phone and looked down at the floor. His eyes slowly lowering until sleep had claimed him.
Horatio knocked on the apartment door, he breathed deeply through his nose. Ryan had been acting rather strange lately, nothing huge, just subtle little shifts in his mood and behavior. The team had gotten used to Ryan and Ryan had gotten warmed up to them. The initial tension between Eric and Ryan had cooled down after Ryan was shot with a nail gun. But Horatio doubted that Eric would notice something was wrong. After all they still fought and named called each other, but it wasn’t as heated as it used to be. They baited each other to show the others they were friends, it was how they acted, showed they cared. But like Horatio had initially thought at the beginning of Ryan’s little subtle changes, he doubt anyone but himself would notice.
Ryan began getting quieter, much like he was when he first joined the lab, but even then he spoke up. Ryan’s OCD had also begun to show itself up at work, rarely Horatio saw tails or hide of it, only seeing it in his clothes, his gun, or how he arranged items. Now though, Ryan begun to fidget, his hands would bounce up and down in an effort to restrain himself. He would wash his hands five times before anything. Anyone with a brain would know that the appearance of his OCD at work meant Ryan was upset. So, naturally Horatio was worried about him. Ryan was apart of his team, it was his duty to protect him. So here Horatio stood, in front of Ryan’s apartment, knocking on his door. He would admit to himself it was more than just professional worrying. He had grown a soft spot in his heart for the brunette CSI; well more of like a warm spot. Ryan was likable, he was cute, he was intelligent, and he had a knack for cleaning.
What person wouldn’t be interested in a man like that? So that was why Horatio had come to his apartment instead of seeking him out in the middle of the lab. He wanted a more private setting to find out what had bothered Ryan so much. The door began to open and he saw Ryan there dressed in a light blue T-shirt and blue sweat pants. Ryan’s eyes widened a little as the spoon he had in his mouth started slipping, the jar of icing cradled in his arm. “Is something happening H?” Ryan asked, his voice timid and once again Horatio knew something was wrong. “Can I come in Ryan?” Ryan sputtered as he held open the door. “Y-yeah.” He stammered the use of his first name from Horatio a little too shocking. He closed the door behind him watching as Horatio drank in the sight of his apartment.
“Do you want something to drink?” Horatio smiled softly at Ryan before shaking his head and sitting down on his sofa. Ryan went into his kitchen, putting the icing back into the fridge. He washed his spoon in the sink seven times before putting it away. Horatio sat there, silently observing him. His OCD was worse at home. Ryan sat on the sofa next to Horatio and bean to fidget. “Ryan, is something bothering you?” Ryan looked up in surprise at Horatio, he looked back down in his lap. “It’s nothing really. Just silly little things.” Horatio raised an eyebrow at him. He put his hand underneath Ryan’s chin and gently forced him to look at him. “Nothing?” Horatio questioned him, his blue eyes searching Ryan’s green ones. “Ryan, you’ve brought your OCD to work. Something you haven’t done before. You’re meeker and more timid than when you started. What’s wrong?” Ryan closed his eyes and sighed before opening them to look at Horatio. “My birthday’s coming up and my family always plans something. I just get really jumpy this time of year. I don’t like the attention. It puts my OCD into overdrive.” Ryan muttered somewhat slowly his eyes downcast.
Horatio smiled softly, glad it wasn’t anything serious. He looked at Ryan, his lips soft and inviting. “Ryan?” Ryan looked up as Horatio said his name, his eyes widened as he felt Horatio’s lips against his own. Ryan gasped and Horatio took advantage of it, gently probing his mouth. Horatio stroked Ryan’s tongue, hearing moans and mewls coming out of him he moved his hand under Ryan’s T-shirt. Ryan freaked; he jumped up and dislodged himself from Horatio, standing at least five feet away. Horatio’s brows furrowed a confused expression on his face. Things had been going so well. “Ryan?” Ryan shook his head, his hands burying themselves into his hair as he let out a frustrated growl. “Ryan, what’s wrong?” Ryan stopped pulling out his hair to stare at Horatio. “Wh-what’s wrong? What’s wrong! Agh!” Ryan was pacing now, murmuring to himself when it suddenly hit Horatio. He never even thought there might be a change that Ryan might not be gay.
“Ryan, your not gay are you?” Ryan stopped his pacing to stare at Horatio. Ryan gave another frustrated growl and grabbed Horatio, pushing him towards the door. He opened it and shoved Horatio outside gently. He looked down at the ground. “It-it’s not you. Honestly. Your great, you-your charming, your patient and heck what st-straight or bi or g-g-gay guy wouldn’t want you? You’re dedicated to things so deeply. That-that’s why I can’t be in a relationship with you o-one night or o-one year. I’m not datable. And no one can ever change that Horatio.” Ryan was looking into Horatio’s eyes now, his green eyes cold and calculating, his stammering cut off to an end at the last two sentences. His behavior did a complete turn around in the last two seconds. Like he had, had an internal battle with himself and won.
He was confident now, confident in his answer and cold about enforcing it. “Ryan. Don’t do this.” Horatio said as he looked at him, his blue eyes pleading with Ryan to let him in, to not shut him out. “Goodnight Sir.” And the door was closed on him. Horatio stood there, mouth open, shock flooding in throughout his system. He returned home in a daze. Walking into his apartment the night’s events finally caught up to him. Ryan rejected him. He told him no through a cold voice. Horatio shook his head. No, Ryan hadn’t rejected him, he rejected himself. Ryan put himself down, had told him subtly that he should move onto other people. He told him that other people gay, straight, and bi would find him attractive, Ryan fit into that category somewhere. But then he said he wasn’t datable. Ryan didn’t think he was worth it. Well Horatio would prove him wrong. After all, didn’t Ryan say he was patient?
Horatio woke up, the memory from last night still fresh in his head. He was determined to have Ryan as his own, even if it killed him. He looked down at the needle and the tube leading towards the young man next to him. Horatio moved the curtain aside by an inch; the young man had dark brown hair, tousled and fair skin. He moved the curtain back in place as his phone began vibrating. Looking down Horatio’s heart jumped a beat, thinking that maybe Ryan had decided to call him back. Horatio grabbed his phone out of its clip and opened it. “Caine.” Horatio held his breath and sighed in disappointment when he heard Calleigh start talking. “Alright. Here’s what we have so far. The doc up at the hospital gave us some of our Vic’s hair. It had traces of blood, gravel, and gunshot residue in it. I ran the blood against the sample off of our Vic’s clothes and there was no match. That means we have an unaccounted body out there somewhere. It also means our Vic was somewhere else before he had his throat slashed.” Calleigh paused momentarily and Horatio could hear her typing on the computer.
“There’s also something else. Our Vic’s jeans had a mark on the back of his pants pocket. Now, it’s a mark that’s probably taken months to get there and it rectangular in shape. I’m thinking that our Vic had his wallet in there and that’s how the mark got there. But the doc said that there wasn’t a wallet in the pants when they took it off.” Horatio nodded his head and sat there in thought. “Then that means that it was taken to conceal our Vic’s identity. What else was there Calleigh?” Calleigh sighed in sadness. “Your not gonna like this next detail Horatio. Our Vic had a gun, a gun that was police forced issued. There’s no prints on it so we can’t find out who the gun belongs to but the point still stands…” Horatio looked towards the man beyond the curtain. “He’s one of us.”
Horatio rubbed his temple, trying to rid himself of the oncoming headache. “What else Calleigh?” He heard papers rustle beyond the phone. “We have three sets of foot prints. We eliminated one belonging to our Vic. There’s another set belonging to a male slightly larger than our Vic but there’s a difference in his prints. On the left we have a total print but on the right we don’t have his heel. That leads me to think that he’s a trauma on his right foot, maybe a torn ligament? Then the other set of footprints we have are female, someone small and wearing high heels. Now we found a piece of long black hair at the crime scene and we found some on our Vic’s clothes.
They arrived at the hospital minutes later, the team rushing both of them inside. The young man was wheeled off towards a surgical room while Yelina was kept outside. One of the doctors held her forearms, talking to her, trying to get her attention. Yelina blinked and what the doctor was saying seemed to catch up with her. “Are you hurt miss?” The doctor looked down at Yelina’s hands and legs. Yelina looked down to see them covered in blood. “Umm…no. It isn’t my blood.” Yelina replied as if she had just remembered that she kneeled down to help the young man. The doctor nodded and took her to a bench, sitting her down he then rushed into the surgical room, preparing to help the young man. Yelina was jolted back into reality as she heard a nurse say, “He’s going into cardiac arrest! Get the defibrillator!” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she heard the flat line of the monitor. She jumped as she heard the electrical current jump his body trying to restart his heart. The sound continued on for a few more moments and just when Yelina thought the young man might be dead she heard the faint and weak sound of his heart through the monitor.
A surgeon walked out, blood covering his outfit. He saw Yelina right where he had left her. He took his surgical gown off and threw it in a hamper, sitting down next to her he put his hands on his knees. “Is he going to be all right?” Yelina asked, her voice soft as if she was afraid she would disturb him. The surgeon looked at her blood shot eyes and nodded. “Your friend’s throat was sliced open. We performed a minor surgery and closed the lesion. He went into cardiac arrest and flat lined for over two minutes. He needs transfusions for all the blood he’s lost. Do you know what blood type he is?” Yelina smiled and buried her head in her hands, she looked up at the surgeon and shook her head. “No, I don’t even know who he is.” The surgeon looked alarmed for a moment before Yelina put her hand up. “Don’t worry. I’m a private investigator. I used to be a cop, I know all about patient confidentiality. Considering your patient was just attacked on a roof top your doing your job by informing how he’s doing.”
The surgeon settled down, his tense position changing to a more relaxed one. “I can run a simple blood test that won’t take long. He’ll need a lot of blood transfusions before he gets out of the park. He’ll be listed under critical until we get some blood into him. Even then there are chances that the lack of oxygen could have damaged his brain or that the loss of blood will be too much for his system to take. These next couple of days will be critical to his health, so no one will be allowed in to see him. He probably has a fractured cheekbone according to the bruising. And his cheek should be fine, just a nasty bruise.” Yelina nodded and stood her face once again calm. “I’m going to make a call, you’ll let me know the minute you get his blood type back, I want to see if I can donate some blood for him.” The surgeon nodded before walking off into the room they wheeled the young man into. Yelina took her phone out of its holster before calling Horatio’s number.
Horatio smiled as Ray Jr told him stories about how much trouble he wasn’t getting into. His nephew was adorable; there was no other word for it. Of course if Horatio actually said that out loud he wasn’t sure Ray would think so. He was glad Yelina brought him down for a visit. Now that she was a private investigator he didn’t see her as often as he used too. Ever since Rio he had worried about them, the death of his older brother once again traumatizing them. But Yelina had pulled herself together for Ray Jr. Horatio chuckled as Calleigh showed him her ‘gun collection’. The amazement in his eyes when Calleigh showed him exactly what those guns could do lightened Horatio’s mood. It wasn’t too often that he got to spend time with Ray. He was glad to see his nephew had kept out of trouble since Rio, at least trouble that dealt with guns, gangs, and drugs.
Ray’s brown hair was a stark contrast to the Caine men’s bright red. He had grown since Horatio last saw him, gaining a teenagers build. Horatio heard the light tune of his cell phone ringing. Looking down Horatio opened it answering in his typical fashion, “Caine.” Horatio watched as Ray laughed at something Calleigh said. “Horatio, its Yelina.” Horatio’s attention was drawn downwards as his brows furrowed. “Yelina, what is it?” He heard Yelina sigh into the phone from the other end. “I’m afraid I have to cut your time with Ray short.” Staring up at his nephew their gazes caught and Ray looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Did something come up?” He could hear people talking in the background, straining he tried to hear what they said but Yelina started talking. “You could say that. I’m at the hospital. Could you meet me here with a spare change of clothes and your team?” Horatio became alarmed when she asked for his team. His worrying increased as she said the hospital. “Are you hurt?”
Yelina laughed softly and for a moment Horatio could imagine her smiling softly. “No, I’m fine. But someone’s not. I want to know who hurt this poor young man.” Horatio heard the sadness in her voice. Whoever was hurt was affecting her more than he could hear. He would have to see her for himself and this young man to determine how bad. Horatio nodded and replied that he would be there in a few minutes with the team. Looking up Horatio walked into the Lab. “Calleigh grab Eric and Wolfe. We have a case.” Calleigh nodded as she started locking up the gun case. Horatio showed Ray the way out before going to get Yelina’s bag and continuing outside to wait by his Hummer. “What is it Uncle Horatio?” Ray asked his voice puzzled and curious. “Your mother sure knows how to find trouble.” Ray looked up at him, alarmed. Horatio tousled his hair gently and smiled.
“Your mother’s fine. She just found us a young man who isn’t.” Ray settled down and watched as Calleigh and Eric walked out, kit and camera in hand. Horatio’s brows knit together. “Where’s Ryan?” Eric gave him a look, a look that clearly said ‘hell if I know.’ “Who knows where he is. We’ve tried calling his cell five times. Probably out gambling the little punk.” Calleigh’s head whipped around to look at him, her eyes reprimanding him. “Eric! Ryan’s probably just sick. Over slept and forgot to call in.” Eric scowled but looked moderately satisfied with her answer, after all there were times he was sick and forgot to call in, heck there were times he wasn’t sick and he forgot to call. Times when Marisol would get sick. “Eric, whatever tension you have with Ryan I want it out. Keep calling him.” Eric nodded and murmured a, “Yeah, sure thing H.”
Horatio and Ray Jr climbed into one Hummer while Eric and Calleigh slid into the other. Horatio drove to the hospital, Eric and Calleigh right behind him. Walking in he brought the bag of clothes with him. Looking around he spotted Yelina sitting on a bench, her white dress clothes ruined. Her white slacks covered in blood all the way up to her knees. Her hands had been washed but blood stained her sleeves. Droplets of blood had also been spattered in her upper chest area. Horatio sat down next to her, his face one of worry. “Hand me a bag. I have to protect the evidence.” Eric handed Yelina a bag, his face along with Calleigh’s and Ray’s matching Horatio’s. Yelina walked into the bathroom, Calleigh following in after her. Yelina walked into a stall and locked it, Calleigh leaning up against it, putting on her gloves. “Are you all right?” Calleigh called back, bagging up her clothes as evidence. “Yes, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up.” Yelina walked back out moments later wearing a black two piece. Her dress shirt was a dark brown, her jacket black. Her dress pants were a little wrinkled.
They walked out to sit on the bench with Horatio, Ray Jr on her other side with Calleigh and Eric sitting next to him. “So what did you need my team for?” Horatio asked her as soon as it appeared she had settled down. Yelina opened her mouth to speak when a doctor walked up to her, a folder in hand. He opened his mouth to speak but then pointed at Yelina’s companions. “It’s all right. They’re CSI’s.” Nodding the doctor ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Your friend has O negative blood. It’s gonna be a little hard to find him some blood, especially since we don’t really have an O negative blood right now. We’re supposed to be getting more in today, but without a blood transfusion within the next couple of hours, I don’t think he’ll make it.” Yelina’s eyes started watering again as she put a hand to her forehead. She was A positive and so was Ray.
Horatio fiddled with his shades before putting them in his coat pocket. “Doctor, I am O negative.” The doctor nodded and stood motioning for Horatio to follow. “Yelina, debrief the team while I go give our friend a boost, okay?” Yelina nodded and began talking to the team, Horatio followed the doctor into a room just as he had pulled a curtain around the patient. “He’s a little sensitive to light, so I’m drawing the curtain around him. It’s the loss of blood that’s making him sensitive. Your blood should send him well on his way to recovering. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if he woke up in the next couple of days because of your donation.” The doctor said as he tried to preoccupy Horatio’s attention from the needle. Horatio stared on in amusement, he may not like needles but it wasn’t as if he was going to yank it out, especially if it meant saving someone’s life. He pushed the needle into the vein on his arm. Horatio winced inside; he had always hated needles.
The doctor walked behind the curtain and pushed the other end into the young man. Horatio leaned over, but the doctor turned back towards him, closing the curtain behind him only allowing Horatio to get a glimpse of brown hair. The doctor smiled at him. “I’ll be leaving the room and coming back in to check up on you and him. Make sure you don't move around too much. I'll allow your team in, but you must be quite.” Horatio nodded and watched as the doctor left. Horatio looked at the needle in his arm before looking up to see Calleigh and Eric in the doorway. Walking over they sat down in chairs next to him. “We’re going to Michael Law Firm. Yelina says she likes to go there and look at the view to unwind when she found our mystery man up there. According to her and the doctors our Vic had his throat slashed, definitely something personal happening there. He also had minor wounds on his wrists, like he was restrained and tried to escape. His cheekbone was fractured and he has a nasty bruise on his cheek. Our guy was probably roughed up a bit before his throat was slashed.”
Horatio nodded to her, his eyes drooping slowly. “The doctor said that the wound was a clean cut, so that means it was probably done by a knife. Question is, where’s the knife and our attacker?” Calleigh nodded as she and Eric turned to get up and leave. “Eric?” Eric turned around at the sound of Horatio’s voice calling him back. “Have you been able to get a hold of Ryan?” Eric shifted his head down and shook his head. “No, but I’ll keep trying.” Horatio nodded as Eric and Calleigh left. He reached behind him and took his cell phone out of its cradle. Looking for the number Horatio hit the call button and listened to the dial tone. “This is Wolfe. Leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you.” Horatio sighed as he put his head down. “It’s Horatio. We need to talk about last night.” Horatio closed his phone and looked down at the floor. His eyes slowly lowering until sleep had claimed him.
Horatio knocked on the apartment door, he breathed deeply through his nose. Ryan had been acting rather strange lately, nothing huge, just subtle little shifts in his mood and behavior. The team had gotten used to Ryan and Ryan had gotten warmed up to them. The initial tension between Eric and Ryan had cooled down after Ryan was shot with a nail gun. But Horatio doubted that Eric would notice something was wrong. After all they still fought and named called each other, but it wasn’t as heated as it used to be. They baited each other to show the others they were friends, it was how they acted, showed they cared. But like Horatio had initially thought at the beginning of Ryan’s little subtle changes, he doubt anyone but himself would notice.
Ryan began getting quieter, much like he was when he first joined the lab, but even then he spoke up. Ryan’s OCD had also begun to show itself up at work, rarely Horatio saw tails or hide of it, only seeing it in his clothes, his gun, or how he arranged items. Now though, Ryan begun to fidget, his hands would bounce up and down in an effort to restrain himself. He would wash his hands five times before anything. Anyone with a brain would know that the appearance of his OCD at work meant Ryan was upset. So, naturally Horatio was worried about him. Ryan was apart of his team, it was his duty to protect him. So here Horatio stood, in front of Ryan’s apartment, knocking on his door. He would admit to himself it was more than just professional worrying. He had grown a soft spot in his heart for the brunette CSI; well more of like a warm spot. Ryan was likable, he was cute, he was intelligent, and he had a knack for cleaning.
What person wouldn’t be interested in a man like that? So that was why Horatio had come to his apartment instead of seeking him out in the middle of the lab. He wanted a more private setting to find out what had bothered Ryan so much. The door began to open and he saw Ryan there dressed in a light blue T-shirt and blue sweat pants. Ryan’s eyes widened a little as the spoon he had in his mouth started slipping, the jar of icing cradled in his arm. “Is something happening H?” Ryan asked, his voice timid and once again Horatio knew something was wrong. “Can I come in Ryan?” Ryan sputtered as he held open the door. “Y-yeah.” He stammered the use of his first name from Horatio a little too shocking. He closed the door behind him watching as Horatio drank in the sight of his apartment.
“Do you want something to drink?” Horatio smiled softly at Ryan before shaking his head and sitting down on his sofa. Ryan went into his kitchen, putting the icing back into the fridge. He washed his spoon in the sink seven times before putting it away. Horatio sat there, silently observing him. His OCD was worse at home. Ryan sat on the sofa next to Horatio and bean to fidget. “Ryan, is something bothering you?” Ryan looked up in surprise at Horatio, he looked back down in his lap. “It’s nothing really. Just silly little things.” Horatio raised an eyebrow at him. He put his hand underneath Ryan’s chin and gently forced him to look at him. “Nothing?” Horatio questioned him, his blue eyes searching Ryan’s green ones. “Ryan, you’ve brought your OCD to work. Something you haven’t done before. You’re meeker and more timid than when you started. What’s wrong?” Ryan closed his eyes and sighed before opening them to look at Horatio. “My birthday’s coming up and my family always plans something. I just get really jumpy this time of year. I don’t like the attention. It puts my OCD into overdrive.” Ryan muttered somewhat slowly his eyes downcast.
Horatio smiled softly, glad it wasn’t anything serious. He looked at Ryan, his lips soft and inviting. “Ryan?” Ryan looked up as Horatio said his name, his eyes widened as he felt Horatio’s lips against his own. Ryan gasped and Horatio took advantage of it, gently probing his mouth. Horatio stroked Ryan’s tongue, hearing moans and mewls coming out of him he moved his hand under Ryan’s T-shirt. Ryan freaked; he jumped up and dislodged himself from Horatio, standing at least five feet away. Horatio’s brows furrowed a confused expression on his face. Things had been going so well. “Ryan?” Ryan shook his head, his hands burying themselves into his hair as he let out a frustrated growl. “Ryan, what’s wrong?” Ryan stopped pulling out his hair to stare at Horatio. “Wh-what’s wrong? What’s wrong! Agh!” Ryan was pacing now, murmuring to himself when it suddenly hit Horatio. He never even thought there might be a change that Ryan might not be gay.
“Ryan, your not gay are you?” Ryan stopped his pacing to stare at Horatio. Ryan gave another frustrated growl and grabbed Horatio, pushing him towards the door. He opened it and shoved Horatio outside gently. He looked down at the ground. “It-it’s not you. Honestly. Your great, you-your charming, your patient and heck what st-straight or bi or g-g-gay guy wouldn’t want you? You’re dedicated to things so deeply. That-that’s why I can’t be in a relationship with you o-one night or o-one year. I’m not datable. And no one can ever change that Horatio.” Ryan was looking into Horatio’s eyes now, his green eyes cold and calculating, his stammering cut off to an end at the last two sentences. His behavior did a complete turn around in the last two seconds. Like he had, had an internal battle with himself and won.
He was confident now, confident in his answer and cold about enforcing it. “Ryan. Don’t do this.” Horatio said as he looked at him, his blue eyes pleading with Ryan to let him in, to not shut him out. “Goodnight Sir.” And the door was closed on him. Horatio stood there, mouth open, shock flooding in throughout his system. He returned home in a daze. Walking into his apartment the night’s events finally caught up to him. Ryan rejected him. He told him no through a cold voice. Horatio shook his head. No, Ryan hadn’t rejected him, he rejected himself. Ryan put himself down, had told him subtly that he should move onto other people. He told him that other people gay, straight, and bi would find him attractive, Ryan fit into that category somewhere. But then he said he wasn’t datable. Ryan didn’t think he was worth it. Well Horatio would prove him wrong. After all, didn’t Ryan say he was patient?
Horatio woke up, the memory from last night still fresh in his head. He was determined to have Ryan as his own, even if it killed him. He looked down at the needle and the tube leading towards the young man next to him. Horatio moved the curtain aside by an inch; the young man had dark brown hair, tousled and fair skin. He moved the curtain back in place as his phone began vibrating. Looking down Horatio’s heart jumped a beat, thinking that maybe Ryan had decided to call him back. Horatio grabbed his phone out of its clip and opened it. “Caine.” Horatio held his breath and sighed in disappointment when he heard Calleigh start talking. “Alright. Here’s what we have so far. The doc up at the hospital gave us some of our Vic’s hair. It had traces of blood, gravel, and gunshot residue in it. I ran the blood against the sample off of our Vic’s clothes and there was no match. That means we have an unaccounted body out there somewhere. It also means our Vic was somewhere else before he had his throat slashed.” Calleigh paused momentarily and Horatio could hear her typing on the computer.
“There’s also something else. Our Vic’s jeans had a mark on the back of his pants pocket. Now, it’s a mark that’s probably taken months to get there and it rectangular in shape. I’m thinking that our Vic had his wallet in there and that’s how the mark got there. But the doc said that there wasn’t a wallet in the pants when they took it off.” Horatio nodded his head and sat there in thought. “Then that means that it was taken to conceal our Vic’s identity. What else was there Calleigh?” Calleigh sighed in sadness. “Your not gonna like this next detail Horatio. Our Vic had a gun, a gun that was police forced issued. There’s no prints on it so we can’t find out who the gun belongs to but the point still stands…” Horatio looked towards the man beyond the curtain. “He’s one of us.”
Horatio rubbed his temple, trying to rid himself of the oncoming headache. “What else Calleigh?” He heard papers rustle beyond the phone. “We have three sets of foot prints. We eliminated one belonging to our Vic. There’s another set belonging to a male slightly larger than our Vic but there’s a difference in his prints. On the left we have a total print but on the right we don’t have his heel. That leads me to think that he’s a trauma on his right foot, maybe a torn ligament? Then the other set of footprints we have are female, someone small and wearing high heels. Now we found a piece of long black hair at the crime scene and we found some on our Vic’s clothes.