Fake Fan Fiction ❯ FAKE in Love: Act XX, Memories and Moments ❯ Chapter 3
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Warnings and Disclaimers: I do not own FAKE. Dammit. You'd think by now you'd all know that. I'm not making any money off of this, though if anyone's interested in hiring a writer, feel free to contact me. This is yaoi.
“Let's talk about how you were feeling before this happened.”
Ryo nodded absently as the psychiatrist (psychologist? He wasn't sure which it was or how much of a difference it would really make) continued to speak.
“How were you feeling?”
“Fine,” Ryo answered with a shrug and a faint smile pulled at his lips. “Normal.”
“Any stress?”
Ryo chuckled.
“I'm a New York City police detective,” Ryo pointed out. “There's always stress.”
“But some cases are more stressful than others?” the doctor prompted.
Ryo nodded. “Yes.”
“Were you on one of those cases?”
Ryo paused a moment, his breath dragging lightly over his lips.
“We lost two officers,” Ryo said quietly. “Dee…my partner and I, were working with Organized Crime. We'd just…”
His voice faded. He remembered the night that he had walked Rose home, the sickly scent of a city warming beneath rising summer thick in his nose. Alicia Grant's words were still loud in his ears, and he couldn't help it when his breath hitched slightly. They had gotten pulled into something, something that Ryo knew wasn't just going to calm down.
“We'd just been transferred back to Criminal Investigations,” Ryo continued. “There was a lot of catching up that we needed to do and a few old cases that were coming up for review.”
“That's a lot of work to walk back into.”
Ryo shrugged. “The usual.”
“Your file says that you were called out for a sharp shooting assignment.”
Ryo nodded.
“Yes.”
“And what happened?”
“It was a hostage situation,” Ryo said. “A woman was holding a gun on her kids.”
“That must have been hard.”
Ryo's eyes were distant as he nodded this time.
“You have a son of your own?” the therapist asked.
Ryo nodded again. “Bikky.”
“How old is he?”
“Fifteen,” Ryo said with a sigh.
“How does he feel about you being a detective?”
“He's…fine with it, I guess.”
“You guess?” the doctor asked.
“He's had some problems with the law in the past,” Ryo said with a weak laugh. “Just last week…I guess two weeks ago…” he shook his head sharply. “Whenever, he and one of his friends were almost beaten after they ended up with a bag load of money. Bikky tried to walk off with some of it. He's a good kid, a great kid, but sometimes he wants the easy way out.”
The psychiatrist laughed slightly.
“That sounds about like every teenager I know. What'd you do when you found him with the money?”
“Dee and I headed up the officers who captured the men after him,” Ryo said. “Bikky called us right away, which was very smart of him, and everything went right to plan, no problems. But I know Bikky, and I pulled the cash off of him. He wasn't happy, but he knows better.”
“Sounds like you raised him right.”
“We did our best.”
“Yes,” the doctor shifted and looked back at the file in front of him. “So you came back to work behind in everything just after losing two colleagues in a case you were working, you were called out on a shooting mission, and you just had to witness your own son in a dangerous situation. That sounds pretty stressful.”
“Yes,” Ryo admitted. “When you list it off like that, I guess it sounds like a lot.”
“And there's your partner.”
Ryo frowned slightly. “Dee?”
“Yes,” the doctor said and flipped the paperwork closed. “Why don't we talk about him?”
“What do you want to know?” Ryo asked cautiously.
“What's your relationship with him?”
Ryo blinked and suddenly snorted laughter.
“I think we both know that Dee's more than just my partner at work,” Ryo said.
A tight smile passed over the doctor's face.
“Yes,” he agreed. “Have you considered the stress that adds to your life?”
“How do you mean?” Ryo asked with a frown.
“Homosexual relationships leave you open to a whole level of outside pressures and questions that--”
“No,” Ryo said, shaking his head absently. “Dee doesn't add any kind of stress to my life.”
He smiled faintly then and sighed.
“At least, no bad stress.”
Dee shut the door and smiled as he spotted Ryo sitting up in bed, a magazine spread in his lap as the brunette squinted down at it. Dee chuckled and Ryo looked up with a slightly embarrassed smile.
“Hi,” Dee said, pulling a thin case from his pocket. “Need a hand?”
Ryo laughed and took his glasses, absently setting them on the nightstand before he tossed the magazine on top of them.
“Hi,” Ryo said and pulled on Dee's tie to bring their lips to a quick kiss.
“How'd your appointment go?” Dee murmured over Ryo's lips.
“Mmm,” Ryo's fingers trailed over Dee's tie as the detective sat down close at his side. “I'm stressed.”
“Shocking,” Dee said.
“And you're making it worse.”
“Quack,” Dee muttered.
“That's what I thought.”
“The rest of your tests look good,” Dee said. “So assuming your psychiatrist doesn't feel the need to transfer you to a psych ward, we should be able to spring you tomorrow.”
Ryo smiled with relief and watched as Dee absently straightened the edge of the thin hospital blanket.
“I'm supposed to make sure that you take it easy,” Dee said. “Keep you all calm and relaxed. The doctor recommended that I make a list of things we did and see if I can't find things that might jog your memory. Mail, places we went, that kind of thing.”
“Did we do anything good?” Ryo asked with a teasing smile. “Bermuda or anything like that?”
“Not this time,” Dee answered. “Sorry Sexy, you're stuck at home with me.”
Ryo's hand ran over the line of buttons of his shirt, his eyes distant. He was sitting on the hospital bed, the little bag of clothing and things that Dee had brought him resting at his side. The pale hand continued up and rubbed over his chin, a faint smile on his face as he felt the skin smooth beneath his hand now. He'd spent the better part of the last few days with a bit of stubble, and had been thrilled when Dee had finally remembered to bring him a razor.
He was still sore, everywhere, but he was starting to wonder how much of that had been caused by his…accident and how much was from sleeping in the stiff hospital bed. Ryo couldn't wait to get home, he wanted to curl up in his bed, around his Dee, and just rest for a little while, just let the ache in his head smooth out a little. His bag of clothes and toiletries and the few meds the doctors had prescribed rested at his side, a long box of sunflowers (courtesy of his aunt) waiting next to it. Ryo couldn't wait to get home, even though it looked like he was going to have to deal with some plants when he got there. A faint smile passed over his lips, but it disappeared too quickly. He sighed and rubbed his hands over his jeans. He hoped Dee would hurry up with the paperwork so they could get out fast.
There was a quick rap on the door and Ryo looked up. Commissioner Rose stepped inside.
“Hello, Ryo.”
“Hello, sir.”
Rose looked different now. He was leaner, almost gaunt in the wrong light, and there was a new sternness to his eyes that had never been there before. He was a man driven now, and that determination was beginning to wear where there had been no leads and no answers.
“How are you feeling?” Rose asked.
“Fine,” Ryo chuckled. “Glad to be headed home.”
Rose nodded and shut the door quietly.
“Ryo,” Rose said slowly. “I need to know what happened in that warehouse.”
Ryo's smile immediately faded and his eyes drifted to the floor between them.
“I don't know,” he murmured. “I can't remember it.”
“It's important, Ryo,” Rose said.
Ryo shook his head.
“I know,” he said. “But knowing that doesn't…I can't make it happen. I've been trying, but every time…”
He shook his head again and now his hand lifted to lightly flutter over the bandage and across his forehead.
“There's a pressure here,” Ryo said. “And when I try and remember, it gets worse, and then I can't, I can't even think. It feels like my head's being crushed…I'm sorry.”
Rose took a deep breath and leaned heavily against the door, the fluorescent lighting of the hospital room making him look a little ragged and old.
“It's alright,” he said softly. “Did Dee tell you what happened?”
“He said we were out looking at a possible drug holding for the Grant family,” Ryo said, his eyes rising back to Rose's. “He went around to the back, and I went through the front. I guess he couldn't get inside, and by the time he came back around front, I was…hurt.”
“That's all he told you?” Rose asked.
“Yes,” Ryo answered with a nod.
“Ryo--”
The door started to push open and Rose slammed it shut again.
“We're busy in here,” Rose snapped.
“What?” Dee's voice was muffled but suddenly very pissed. “Let me in, you dick.”
Rose's hand splayed across the door as he pushed his whole body back into holding it closed. Dee pounded angrily on the door.
“Open up!”
Ryo blinked in surprise when he spotted a faint smile curl at Rose's lips. The Commissioner's eyes lifted to his, and the smile actually deepened. Ryo couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.
“Should I let him in?” Rose asked.
“He's probably not going to be quiet until you do,” Ryo pointed out.
Rose snorted and grabbed the handle, quickly stepping aside as he wrenched the door open. Dee stumbled inside, his eyes wide with surprise, and arms pin wheeling as he fought to keep on his feet. He spun on Rose irritably as the Commissioner again shut the door and leaned against it.
“You are an ass,” Dee snapped.
“Sir,” Rose reminded. “Ryo and I were just talking about the warehouse.”
Dee's expression immediately shifted to worry and his eyes darted back to Ryo. Ryo blinked and stared blankly back.
“You gave him a rather abbreviated version,” Rose said.
“I guess,” Dee said with a forced smile.
“What am I missing?” Ryo asked and he pulled on a worried smile of his own. “Other than a week of my life.”
Dee's eyes lifted back to Rose's. Both were silent then, and Dee finally let out a long sigh, his hand rising to scratch at the back of his head.
“When I found you in the warehouse,” Dee said. “You were unconscious at the bottom of a flight of stairs. You'd lost some blood, and you were barely breathing. I didn't check the rest of the place out, not until we had back-up and an ambulance for you. And when I did, I found…”
His mouth worked silently for a moment and Dee shook his head, his eyes pulling away from Ryo's before he spoke again.
“I found three dead bodies,” Dee said. “They'd all been shot in the head, and forensics is pretty sure that it happened just before I…found you.”
Ryo frowned, his mind working over the information and coming up with a thick headache.
“Detective Laytner reported that it was the sound of gunfire that caused him to give up on the backdoor and return to the front. He counted three shots. We recovered all of them from the victims. They came from your gun, Ryo.”
The throb in Ryo's head was only getting worse, and he frowned darker, his hand rising to press against the thick bandage.
“What does that mean?” he asked, his voice slow and almost slurred.
“Nothing,” Dee said, a warning glance tossed at Rose. “It doesn't mean anything.”
Ryo's eyes lifted to Dee's and the brunette blinked slowly.
“What happened there?” Ryo asked quietly. “What happened?”