Fic: Kept in the Dark, Chapter 10 (CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko)
Title: Kept in The Dark, Chapter 10
Fandom: CSI Miami
Pairing: Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Makes the World Turn
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Eric dug his keychain from his pocket and opened the door. Ryan had given him
the spare key few weeks ago, when they had noticed Eric spend majority of his
free time there instead of his own apartment. He kicked his shoes off to the shoe
rack and went searching for Ryan. He found him sitting on the floor of the bedroom.
Eric took a long look at the usually tidy room. All Ryan’s clothes were spread on
the bed, on the chairs and on the nightstands.
“Tell me you finally decided to stop color coordinating you closets.” Eric tried to
sound humorous, but he had feeling something unpleasant was going on.
“No, I didn’t.” Ryan sighed. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“You know… those guidebooks I tried to read. They said that I should label all
my clothes so that I can tell what is what.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“Yeah, but then I thought… that maybe I should mark them so I know what
clothes looked good on me. Remember this one?” Ryan lifted an orange
dress shirt from one pile, and smiled. “That girl who used to work in the
reception said I looked good in this.”
“I think you got it wrong.” Eric chuckled. “You looked good, the shirt looked awful.”
“Shut up, I like it.”
Eric sat down on the floor next to him. He took a closer look at Ryan.
“Have you been crying?”
“Not much. It just keeps getting closer and closer. It starts to feel real. And
permanent. You know, it doesn’t really sink in, that I’m gonna be like that the
rest of my life. And when I started to think about that…”
Ryan paused.
“What the hell am I gonna do the rest of my life? I can`t go back to the lab,
I can`t go back to the patrol. I know I don’t need to, this was a work injury
and I get the pension from the county, but that’s not the point. I wanna
do something. I’m completely useless.”
“You’re not. You just need to think about what you can do now.”
“I can`t even concentrate! Every time I think about it I just think about things
I can`t do. Few more months and I need help for little things even a three
year old kid could do by himself.”
“You’re not helpless. It’ll take time to learn to do things differently, but
you’ll get there. And you forgot one key point.”
“What?”
“People don’t mind helping you when you need help.”
Ryan sniffed and stayed silent for a long time. Finally he pulled Eric closer.
He leaned his head against Eric’s shoulder and sobbed.
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When Eric saw Ryan the next day, the difference was easy to see. Ryan
seemed peaceful and confident. He came to the lab with a pizzabox and
pulled Eric to the break room.
“Not that I mind seeing you, but what are you doing with a pizza?”
“What do people usually do with a pizza? I had some errands, and I though
I stop by. You haven’t had lunch yet have you?”
“Nope.” Eric cut a slice for himself and started eating. “Can I ask you
something?”
“What?”
“What happened? Yesterday you were… well…”
“I know. I think a good cry actually helped. And that phase would have come
sooner or later. Today has been a good day.”
“That’s great. What exactly did you do after I left this morning?”
“I called one of those rough, handyman types to fix my plumbing and we
ended up doing it continuously on the countertop in my kitchen.”
“What?!”
“I just wanted to see if you’re listening before I get to the point. I called
Darren.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, we met for coffee.”
“How was it?”
“Easier than I thought. He was really nice.”
“Yeah, Alexx said he almost the same age as you.”
“Almost, little older. He was hilarious, we laughed so hard we got some
funny looks from the waiter.”
“So it was good.”
“It was good, and felt like a fool. I though it would be painful. Anyway, I
need to go,I got some things to take care of. Enjoy the pizza.” Ryan looked
around to see if there was anyone in the corridor, then he pulled Eric close
for a quick kiss. “I’ll see you when you get off.”
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Half an hour later Eric knocked on the door of Alexx`s office and walked in.
“Hey, baby.” Alexx greeted and snapped a case file shut. “Come in, I was
just finishing my paperwork. Did you need something?”
“No, I`m waiting for my results, so I got time. I though I`d just come and
see you.”
“Okay. How is everything?”
“Good, I just saw Ryan.”
“He came to the lab?”
“Yeah, he brought me some luch. He had a good day going on.”
“And he called Darren, I heard. How did it go?”
“They got on really well. According to him, Danny was a really nice guy.”
“Darren. And yes, he is.”
“That’s really nice, really nice to know he’s nice…”
“You’re repeating yourself, baby. Just say what you want to say, neither
one of us got all day.”
“I just wanted to know what he’s like. Just.. for Ryan’s sake.”
“Right… Well, like you already heard, he’s a nice guy. I’ve known him since
he was in med school. Wait a sec.” Alexx took her handbag and started
digging. She took out a pile of photographs. “I think I have a picture of him
somewhere…” She pulled out one picture and handed it over to Eric. “That’s
from my Halloween party last year.”
Eric looked at the picture. Alexx was offering punch to her guests and next
to her was a tall, blond man. A good looking man, who was smiling to
Alexx showing a mouthful of sparkly white teeth.
“He was dressed up as a Viking.” Alexx explained. “His ancestors were
from Sweden. He really turned heads in that horny iron helmet.”
“Great, a Swedish himbo with a medical degree…”Eric muttered under
his breath.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“I had really tough time persuading him to come. That was right after he
and Jeremy broke up.”
“Jeremy? This just keeps getting better and better…”
“Baby, you got that look on your face.” Alexx gave him a stern glance.
“What look?”
“That look you usually have on your face right before you do something
incredibly stupid.”
“I have no idea what you mean.” Eric handed the picture back to Alexx.
“Thanks for your time.”
TBC