Fake Fan Fiction ❯ FAKE in Love: Act VI, Prejudice and Lovers ❯ Chapter 1

Warnings and Disclaimers: Not Sanami Matoh, no right to FAKE. Boo. So sad and poor. And freakin' busy. Anyway, enjoy. Set in the timeline after (surprise surprise) FAKE in Love Act V. Much love to you all.

 

 

“And this is the cafeteria,” Mother Maria Lane stated as the young nun trailed after her. “We take all of our meals here, they're served communally and the children help with the cooking and clean-up.”

 

“How nice,” the nun murmured. “Like a family setting.”

 

“That's it exactly.”

 

Sounds of muffled yelling began to reach them and Mother Maria chuckled a little.

 

“We're coming up on the gym now,” she said. “The children always tend to get boisterous when they play.”

 

“Get off!” a loud voice roared. “It's not fair for all of you to be ganging up on me like this! How about some help Ryo?”

 

More sounds of a scuffle then the same voice yelled again.

 

“I meant help me! Dammit! You're going to break me!”

 

“You can take it!” a boy's voice yelled. “Hold him down!”

 

Mother chuckled again and opened the door, the young woman at her elbow following her inside with wide eyes. The children had a dark haired man pinned to the floor and were crawling all over him, another man egging them on and helping to pull them free when they became too entangled.

 

“Get `em!” a little girl yelled as she pounced on the dark haired man and wrapped her arms around his neck. “We've got you pinned now! Say it!”

 

“This isn't fair!” he answered. “You're cheating!”

 

“You cheated first,” the brown haired man chided. “Don't blame them for following your example.”

 

“You should be helping me!” the pinned man yelled at him. “How can you be so cold?”

 

“It's surprisingly easy,” he answered with a smile and then his eyes flashed over to Mother Maria. “Hello Mother.”

 

“Penguin!” the man on the floor bellowed. “Get these monsters off of me!”

 

“Dee Laytner,” the old woman snapped. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? Honestly, you're incorrigible. You have the patience of a saint Ryo.”

 

“So I've been told,” Ryo said as he leaned down and hugged the elderly woman. “How are you doing?”

 

“Alright, all things considered,” she answered and sighed. “Ryo, come meet Sister Beatrice, she'll be taking things over around here.”

 

“Wait! Wait!” Dee yelled still struggling beneath the mob of children. “Don't leave me like this! Come on! Ryo!”

 

“Sister Beatrice, this is Ryo MacLean, he's a detective from the 27th precinct,” Mother Maria said as Ryo shook the young woman's hand. “You'll see people from his department around from time to time.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” Ryo said with a warm smile.

 

“Yes,” the woman said and her eyes skidded back to Dee. “Is it really alright to just leave him like that?”

 

“Oh they'll give up once he says the magic word,” Mother said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “He knows it. He's just too stubborn to give in yet. Let's go get some tea, that usually makes him give in.”

 

“Wait!” Dee hollered again. “This isn't fair!”

 

“Come and find me when you're done,” Ryo called. “I'll save you some tea.”

 

 

Ryo laughed easily. It was one of his warmer personality traits, an easy smile that graced his face and lit his dark eyes with welcoming fire. He was polite and well spoken and soon had Sister Beatrice happily chatting with him as they sipped their tea. Things were going fine until the door to the small room flew open and Dee stormed in.

 

“You!” he roared as he grabbed hold of Ryo's shirt and pulled him close. “I can't believe you left me there like that! They could have killed me!”

 

“Ha, ha,” Ryo weakly laughed. “You look alright to me. And you know they wouldn't have actually hurt you, they would have stopped the instant you said uncle. You're just too stubborn for your own good.”

 

Dee growled low in his throat and shook his head.

 

“I will get even with you Ryo. No, I'll get ahead.”

 

Ryo laughed shakily again and straightened his shirt as Dee released him and sat down. Dee leaned over and kissed Mother Maria's cheek as she handed him a cup of tea.

 

“Hey Penguin,” he said. “How are you doing?”

 

Her mouth thinned irritably and she sighed before she continued.

 

“Honestly Dee, I hope you're better behaved at home than you are here. I'm fine, or as fine as a poor woman can be when she's about to be put out to pasture.”

 

Sister Beatrice fidgeted a little and Dee shook his head.

 

“Not this again,” he said. “Come on Penguin, this is for the best and you know it. Now you can play with the kids as much as you like and somebody else has to take care of all the headaches that come up.”

 

His eyes flashed at the young nun and he grinned.

 

“And boy do the headaches come up.”

 

“They certainly do,” Mother Maria agreed. “Dee Laytner, this is Sister Beatrice. She's been selected to run things. I hope you'll show her more respect than you show me.”

 

“Not a chance,” Dee said as he warmly shook the woman's hand. “Don't let Penguin scare you off, it's a good facility and she does great work. I'm a product of her tutelage.”

 

“Don't let that scare you either,” Mother said flatly. “Dee broke the mold around here, the little hellion.”

 

She smiled warmly at him and ruffled a hand through the dark hair. Dee laughed as he brushed it back into place, and then glanced at his watch.

 

“Oops, sorry Penguin but we've got to get going,” Dee said. “We're taking Bikky to a Knicks game tonight; the little brat actually managed a B average on his report card.”

 

“Well tell him congratulations from me,” Mother said as Ryo leaned forward and gave her another hug. “You come back soon Ryo, I always love your visits.”

 

“Of course,” he said. “Christmas is coming, do you need anything special or just the usual stuff?”

 

“You boys,” Mother said as Dee kissed her cheek again. “You spoil us. Whatever you can manage is fine.”

 

“Careful,” Dee teased. “She's about to play the guilt card. In about two seconds she's going to tell us how fortunate such a small under funded organization is to have such generous benefactors.”

 

“Well it's the God's honest truth,” Mother said with a coy smile.

 

Dee chuckled and he and Ryo pulled on their jackets.

 

“Bye Penguin,” Dee said and gave her another hug. “We'll be back soon. Ryo's already started on the Christmas shopping, so I'm sure we'll have some packages for you in the next few days.”

 

“Thank you,” she said warmly.

 

“Let's go collect the monkey,” Dee said and hooked an arm around Ryo's waist as they walked back towards the gym. “I was serious you know, I am going to get you for abandoning me like that.”

 

“I'm shaking in my boots,” Ryo said with a laugh as he pushed Dee back. “Why don't you try freezing me out?”

 

“That never works,” Dee said sadly. “You're such an animal after all, pawing at me all the time…”

 

Ryo smacked him a little harder and Dee chuckled as he swung the gym door open again.

 

“Alright, Biks, let's go! We're going to be late!”

 

“Coming! Coming!” Bikky yelled as he darted to them from a busy basketball court. “Bye guys! I'll see you soon!”

 

A chorus of voices yelled goodbye and the three of them headed out into the cool night, a little snow crunching underfoot as they walked towards the car. Dee sighed and glanced back at the new orphanage, his head shaking slightly.

 

“It's just not the same,” he said quietly.

 

Ryo leaned forward and gently kissed his cheek. “Not much can stay the same.”

 

“Yeah, you're right,” Dee said and grinned again as he turned and pulled Ryo into a deeper kiss.

 

Sister Beatrice watched from the window and her eyes widened as her hand flew to her mouth.

 

“Something wrong dear?” Mother Maria asked.

 

“They're…they're…”

 

Mother peered over her shoulder and smiled slightly.

 

“They're in love,” she said warmly.

 

Sister Beatrice stared at her in shock. “You knew about this?”

 

“Of course,” Mother answered. “Just between you and me, I think I knew before Ryo did.”

 

 

Dee leaned back in his desk chair and carefully launched the ball of paper into the waste basket on the other side of the room. He chuckled and glanced over at Drake.

 

“Miss one more time man, and you owe me ten bucks.”

 

“But no pressure,” Drake said.

 

The door clicked open and Ryo frowned at them both as he sat down at his desk and began pulling out files.

 

“You two are going to get fired,” Ryo said dully. “I can't remember the last time either of you did any work around here.”

 

“Well things are slow,” Dee said as he lit a cigarette. “Don't tell me you're complaining about that Ryo? Slow crime is a good thing, remember?”

 

Ryo scowled at him and handed Dee a stack of papers.

 

“Start filling these out.”

 

“What? Wait, these aren't even for our department!”

 

“The Chief volunteered us to help some of the other departments get caught back up,” Ryo said absently. “It won't kill you.”

 

“Miss!” Dee yelled as Drake launched the paper ball.

 

“You son of a bitch,” Drake snapped. “You're lucky that went in.”

 

Dee chuckled and shook his head. “Seriously Drake, you missed a good game last night. The Knicks were on fire, even Bikky was cheering for them.”

 

“Well Diana had plans for us,” Drake said with a shrug. “I saw the highlights.”

 

“It's not the same,” Dee pressed.

 

“It's really not,” Ryo said as he read through one of the case files. “Half-court shot, last ten seconds, damn fine game. We should go more often.”

 

“Basketball's overrated,” Drake said with a shrug.

 

Dee and Ryo both stared at him and he sighed.

 

“I'm trying not to be upset about missing the game of the season,” he grumbled.

 

Dee snorted laughter and Ryo smiled slightly as he turned back to the file on his desk.

 

“So what were you and Diana doing anyway?” Dee asked as he continued to avoid the paperwork Ryo had given him.

 

“Looking at apartments,” Drake answered. “She says that my place is too small and ugly for her to want to live there for long.”

 

Dee bellowed laughter. “Yup, that sounds like the lovely Diana!”

 

“It wouldn't bother me so much except it's true,” Drake said with another sigh.

 

There was a loud knock at their door and all three looked up as Berkeley Rose's head poked inside.

 

“Ryo, Laytner, I've got a case for you,” his eyes skidded to Drake. “Don't you have some work to do?”

 

“Er, sorry sir,” Drake answered as he scrabbled for the door. “Bye guys.”

 

Rose scowled at him with annoyance and stepped inside.

 

“When did you start knocking?” Dee said as he took a long drag from his cigarette.

 

“I'm trying to demonstrate manners for you Detective,” Rose said wryly. “It doesn't seem to be working.”

 

“You arrogant--”

 

“I'm going for coffee,” Ryo said flatly. “Will the two of you be done by the time I get back, or should I stop for some lunch too?”

 

“Sorry,” Dee said and turned back to Rose. “What do you want?”

 

“Prostitution ring down by the wharves,” Rose said as he held up a file. “A recent murder seems to be tied to it, so we need someone to start doing some investigating.”

 

“Prostitution and murder,” Dee said with a sigh. “We live in such uplifting times.”

 

“Get over it,” Rose said. “I want a report by the end of tomorrow.”

 

“Yes sir,” Ryo said.

 

Rose smiled at him and then sighed as he turned back to the door.

 

“Make sure you call for back-up if things start to look…questionable,” he said. “This didn't happen in a good part of town and I don't want to have to pay anymore hospital bills.”

 

The door clicked shut and Dee stared after him with a slightly contemplative look on his face.

 

“Do you think he's sick?” Dee said finally.

 

“Dee…” Ryo began tiredly.

 

“No,” Dee said as he frowned. “He didn't hit on you once.”

 

 

Rose hadn't been kidding about their crime scene being on the wrong side of the tracks. The evidence had already been collected and the crime scene sketches done, but Dee and Ryo liked to see their scenes for themselves. Both glanced up nervously as gunfire sounded in the distance and then Dee sighed as he kicked aside some of the trash.

 

“They've spray painted everywhere,” Dee said with disappointment. “We're not going to find much here.”

 

“No,” Ryo agreed. “Probably not.”

 

“Why did we come down here again?” Dee moaned.

 

“We're doing our jobs,” Ryo said absently as he knelt down. “Look at this.”

 

“Bullet marks,” Dee said as he peered over Ryo's shoulder. “Looks like about seven of them.”

 

“Yeah,” Ryo said. “You thinking what I'm thinking?”

 

“That many shots…This wasn't professional,” Dee said. “We're looking for an amatuer.”

 

“Always fun,” Ryo said as he stretched a little. “Let's head back to the station and look at the evidence.”

 

 

“This really doesn't look like a planned out hit,” Dee said tiredly. “Everything's telling me crime of passion. How exactly was our vic connected to Rose's prostitution ring?”

 

“Er, pimp I think,” Ryo said as he sifted through the papers. “Do you have the lab reports?”

 

“No,” Dee said and shuffled through his own files. “I haven't seen them.”

 

“That's because you lazy asses didn't bother to pick them up,” Jim said from the doorway. “I can't believe how many times I have to walk down here and hand deliver these damn things.”

 

“Sorry Jim,” Ryo said. “We would have come up eventually.”

 

“I'm drowning in paperwork already,” Jim said as he handed the file over. “I don't need your stuff lying around until you remember it.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Dee said as he flipped open the file. “What the hell Jim? There's about five hundred pages in here.”

 

“CSI is training in some new recruits,” Jim said as he lit a cigarette. “They picked up everything that they could get their hands on. So I ran it all.”

 

“Damn,” Dee said. “This is going to take forever. Let's just give this to Rose. After he reads about three pages he'll give up.”

 

“His attention span is longer than yours,” Ryo said dryly. “I'll bet he'd make it through five. What is CSI saying, anyway?”

 

“I'm not your go-between,” Jim said with a shrug. “Go and talk to them. They're sifting through the same information as you guys.”

 

“Psh,” Dee said with a flip of his hair. “Those guys are nuts anyway.”

 

“Well, bye,” Jim said. “Try and remember to pick your shit up next time.”

 

“Thanks Jim,” Ryo called as he moved to read over Dee's shoulder. “Sorry to trouble you.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Jim said as he closed the door behind him.

 

“I hate reading these things,” Ryo said quietly. “They're boring. Who cares about the consistency of the garbage they found the guy laying in?”

 

“I know what you mean,” Dee murmured and breathed deeply. “What are we doing tonight?”

 

Ryo blinked and glanced over at the half-lidded expression on Dee's face. Hot fire flooded through Ryo and he felt the familiar excited tingle that Dee so often started in him. A playful coyness spread through Ryo and he gave Dee a half smile as his lips brushed over Dee's ear.

 

“Nothing we can talk about here,” he whispered and Dee shivered.

 

Ryo stood up and straightened his tie.

 

“Of course, you've got to drop off those packages at the orphanage,” Ryo said. “I'm dropping Bikky off at that basketball tournament downtown, so you'll have to go alone.”

 

“Does this mean we're alone tonight?” Dee said with a grin.

 

Ryo blushed a little and nodded.

 

“Good.”

 

 

“Dee! Dee! Dee's here!”

 

The children began to scramble out of the orphanage and fling themselves at the detective as he laughed and yelled with them. He lifted the box of packages over his head and shook his head as they tried to look inside.

 

“Ah, ah, ah,” Dee said. “No peeking!”

 

“Children!” Sister Beatrice called from the doorway. “Back inside. You need to finish your chores.”

 

“But Sister,” one of the boys said. “Dee's here. Mother always lets us--”

 

“Finish your chores,” she said sternly. “Now.”

 

The mob of children grumbled but dropped away from Dee and trudged back inside. Dee chuckled and started to follow, but Sister Beatrice stepped in his way.

 

“Hey Sister Bea,” Dee said. “How are things going?”

 

“They're fine Mr. Laytner.”

 

“Dee, please,” he said with a smile. “Is Penguin around?”

 

“No, I'm sorry, she's not here. I'll take those packages.”

 

“Huh? It's no problem Sister, I can carry them in for you.”

 

“I'd really rather you not,” she said, her voice cooling.

 

Dee stared at her and then frowned.

 

“Is something wrong Sister?”

 

“It's nothing Mr. Laytner,” she said flatly. “Goodnight.”

 

She yanked the box from his hands and slammed the door shut behind her, a warning glance telling him not to follow. Dee frowned and jammed his hands in his pockets, his eyes distant as he stared up at the cross over the door. Something about this was bothering him, something was wrong here. It just wouldn't let go of him. He sighed and turned to leave, his mind still wrapped up in worry.