Fic: Watcher, Chapter 7/7 (CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko)
Title: Watcher, Chapter 7
Pairing: Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
CSI Miami Main List
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Interlude Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Four months later
“You got five minutes.” Ryan parked the car to the side of the road in front of Eric’s apartment building. “Starting now.”
“What if I got better things to do?” Eric snapped his seatbelt off and leaned closer to press a soft kiss on the man’s lips. “What happens then?”
“I’ll go to work alone and you’ll have to explain why you were late.” Ryan grinned and his tongue dipped into Eric’s mouth to deepen the kiss. “And I’m not covering for you.”
“Can’t I just say I spent the night getting ravaged and I was too exhausted to be on time?”
“And wearing the same clothes you’ve had on for two days?”
“They’re not that wrinkly-”
“No, but they smell. What’s the point of showering if you put on dirty clothes afterwards?”
“What’s the point of showering if you just tackle me to the wall and-” Eric paused and a goofy grin spread on his face. “Forget I said that, shower is a wonderful thing.”
“Yeah, and you got three minutes left.”
“Right.” Eric opened the door and galloped across the street. He was too wired to wait for the elevator, instead he chose the stairs. He made his way to the third floor in record time and unlocked the door.
The blinds in the living room were up, just like he had left them on his last visit three days ago. The view to the next building was clear as ever and Taylor gave him small wave, then he went back to reading his morning paper. Eric send back a nod and headed to the bedroom. He dumped the dirty clothes from his bag unceremoniously to the floor and pulled some fresh ones from the closet. He shoved the bag full, and turned to leave, but took one last glance at the neighbouring building. Taylor was too focused on his paper and coffee to notice the quick glance. Eric had to wonder where the initial lust had gone. Taylor was still as pretty to look at as he had always been, but the sexual pull had disappeared. Ryan had introduced them few weeks after Eric’s decision, mainly in order to recruit him to help carry some large moving boxes up the stairs. Meeting the man face to face had confirmed what Eric had already known: The attraction was gone for good.
Eric closed the door behind him and rushed down the stairs. He couldn’t really feel any sense of loss over the death of that infatuation. When real life was good, why would he need fantasies? The thought hit him at the front door. Life really was good.
Everything was well at the lab, things were beyond good with Ryan and his family was doing well. All three largest blocks of his life were in order. Only thing he had to consider was the state of his apartment. During the past four months he had spent most of his time at Ryan’s, and his own apartment was beginning to resemble a dusty mausoleum and an occational pit-stop for clean clothes and dirty laundry.
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“When did you get back from court?” Eric sailed into one of the work spaces, where Ryan was currently spreading a wide array of forms.
“A while ago, I’m catching up on my paperwork.”
“Anything interesting?”
“A woman, her lover and his other woman.”
“Suicide pact?”
“No, the husband shot all three.”
“So you got time to take a break and get some lunch?”
“Sure, it your turn to pay.” He grabbed his keys and wallet from the desk and shoved them into his pocket. He turned around to check the tabletops. Suddenly his face turned pale from horror. He padded his pockets frantically, then moved on to rummage his backbag.
“What?”
“My cellphone!”
“What about it?”
“I can’t find it!”
“Maybe you left it in the car-”
“No, I had it when I went to the-
“Break room?” Calleigh suggested from the door and walked in wigging a phone in her hand. “You caused quite a stir.”
“You mean people saw them?” Ryan held his breath, although he could already see the answer in her grin.
“Who saw what?” Eric’s eyes went back and forth between the two. “What are you talking about?”
“My phone.” Ryan growled. “My phone that we used to take some pictures on our spare time… remember?”
“You mean…?”
“When you said it was something that should be documented for the benefit of future generations.”
“Well, it was!”
“Nice to hear you`re taking it so well.” Calleigh nodded and handed the phone over to Ryan. “I mean the situation. Because those pics showed everything, including your face.”
“Right…” The situation was finally beginning to dawn on Eric. “How many people saw them?”
“At least four of the busiest gossip mongers of the lab. They went to the break room for their regular coffee and rumour marathon, found the phone and of course they had to see what was on it to know whose it was.”
“So they know… everything?”
“I think I had something to do with that.” She admitted. “I’m really sorry. I walked in, spotted the phone and I said that it looked like Ryan’s. I didn’t know what they were looking at. All you could see of the other man in those pics was his-” She glanced at the hallway, but it was empty. “-manhood, and by the way, Ryan, that was quite impressive. They knew the other person was a man and when I said the phone looked like Ryan’s, they put two and two together.”
“They saw them.” Ryan took a calming breath. “Just tell me they didn’t copy the pictures or something like that.”
“They didn’t, I snatched it from them.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me, I think I owe you after that little slip.”
“It’s okay, you didn’t know.”
“What about me?” Eric interrupted. “Don’t I get an apology?”
“For what? They had already seen the pictures, I didn’t out you.” She shrugged. “They got an eyeful, but those pics are not going to end up on the bulleting board, so calm down.”
“Yeah, but they saw me! Cuffed to the bed and legs in the air and-”
“Eric, we’re at work. Turn down the volume just a bit. You got nothing that those ladies haven’t seen before.”
“I guess so…”
“But I’d love to know how you managed to spread your leg like that. I haven’t seen anyone get themselves to that position without breaking their legs first.”
“Practise makes perfect.” Eric shot back, but his mouth was beginning to curl into a little smile. “And how come you’re so calm about this?”
“Because I’ve seen how many home movies you got at your place. This pretty much follows the same pattern.”
“They’re all gone now.” Eric muttered, trying to sound hurt, but failed. “He made me destroy them.”
“Good for him.” Calleigh stated. “And Eric? I knew you weren’t exactly picky with your bed mates, so I had nothing to be shocked about. Except maybe the fact that it was someone I know.” She turned to leave and glanced over her shoulder. “One more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“How long?”
“About four months.”
“Good thing I didn’t put any money on it.”
“On us?”
“No, Carrie at the administration has a board with all the lab employees and you can make your bet about who will hook up with who, like a matchmaking game. If it happens within a year from the date of the bet, you’ll win. You can also make additional bets about how soon it will happen and when the new couple will make it public.”
“Did anyone make bets for us?”
“No, but they paired you up with almost everyone else in the lab. Even Cooper.”
“That’s disgusting…”
“Not as disgusting as that bet about you and Horatio.”
“Who made that bet?”
“Cooper, but I think he was kidding. He put bets on almost everyone on the chart to max his chances. With your reputation you’re Carrie’s favourite, she’s made of ton of money from your bachelor days.” She paused at the door and gave Eric a questioning glance. “I assume they’re over now.”
“Yeah.” Eric grinned and stole a quick peek at Ryan, who had observed their conversation quietly. “Definitely.”
She gave him an approving smile and walked out of the break room.
“That was…”
“Embarrassing?” Ryan offered and flipped through the photos on his phone. “Awkward?”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about that betting thing? We could have made a fortune!”
“Eric.”
“What?”
“Would you have believed four months ago how this would go?”
“No way.”
“See my point?”
“Yeah…”
“And that thing about the time people go public? We just went really public.”
“Even my privates went public.” Eric agreed and sighed. “Does that mean we can give up the "no PDAs in the lab" rule?”
“Nope.”
“Come on, it’s a special day. Four old crows saw me naked and the whole lab will hear about my sex life.”
“Fine, but just this one time.” Ryan closed the gap between them and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips. “Nothing more than that before we get off duty. You’ve been showing off more than enough for one day.”