Alex was in a rage, someone was playing pranks on her Ryan, her baby. She paced in front of the reception desk, determined to talk to him. TODAY! This morning before he started work.
She knew the rest of the team had been present when Ryan opened the package. The rumor mill was rife with the story.
If it had been any other member of the team Alexx would have not been as upset and concerned. They all tended to look out for one another, except for some reason Ryan always seemed the odd man out.
Ryan also was a wounded soul. Alexx was aware of some of the reasons for that. It was a big part of why he was her baby, although things had not always been that way.
She knew a big part of the reason that Ryan had such a difficult time gaining acceptance from the team is the fact that he was seen as the replacement. Ryan knew it too. But only Alexx knew that Ryan was even more devastated by Speed’s death than anyone else on the team.
Only she knew that Ryan was even acquainted with Speed, though they were much closer than acquaintances.
Ryan had already been her baby when she learned the truth, having overheard Ryan speaking with his cousin Tony when the older man was in town for a visit that morphed into a joint case with NCIS and the FBI. She learned that Tony and Speed had been friends for several years, since College, that Tony had asked Speed to watch out for his cousin when Ryan decided to join the Miami-Dade PD out of college to be closer to his uncle. That Ryan had been the roommate that Speed had mentioned a few times but the team had never met. That they had been lovers for almost 4 years when Speed was shot.
When she first found out she was furious and a little doubtful. Speed would never keep something so important from her. Ryan had not been able to discuss it with her at the time, and that is probably what saved both their personal and working relationship, that and the fact that Tony defended Ryan like few family members she had ever seen before.
She learned from Tony the reason that Speed had agreed to keep the relationship a secret. Tony told her how he had nearly been killed when he was working his first PD job after college in Peoria, because he had been outted bi. That he had 2 cousins and several friends who were in the same situation as he was, working in police organizations and living with being gay or bi sexual. He had made them all promise to never do anything that would jeopardize their safety, especially letting it be known that they were not as straight as they appeared.
Tony went on to say that Speed never really thought that any of his team would have a problem with it but that Ryan worked patrol for their entire relationship and that was a main part of the reason that no one was told.
Alexx knew Tony took a huge risk, explaining this to her. As far as she knew no one on his team knew he was bi. She later saw the subtle undercurrents in the NCIS team, and she couldn’t blame the man for keeping it a secret, though she thought the young goth lab rat may have known.
Ryan came to talk to her later after the case was solved they had dinner together. He told Alexx how much Speed loved her, and that he had finally convinced Ryan that telling Alexx at least would not cause them any problems. That she would not out them and that she would love Ryan. Ryan further explained that what Speed really wanted was to tell the whole team but was willing to settle for telling Alexx.
And now a box addressed to her baby containing a shot up hat and some mangled electronic equipment came to the lab. She knew Ryan was very upset about what had happened in the chop shop and it appeared that someone wanted to tease and torment him. Not while Alexx was around. She would get to the bottom of this and protect her baby.
Normally she would count on the team to close ranks and protect one of their own, but with Ryan being the one threatened she couldn’t be sure that would happen. No mater she would take matters into her own hands, starting with talking to the man himself.
While the CSIs on the day shift got along now better than ever, Ryan, was still at times the odd man out. Still thought of by his immediate coworkers as the replacement instead of being accepted for his own strengths and weaknesses, he was constant compared to a dead man. At this point Alexx is sure that the team isn’t even aware that they do it… not anymore.
It had to be even more difficult for Ryan since he probably missed the man the lab still mourned more than all of the people who worked there put together.
Alexx made a turn on her heel as she paced and glanced toward the entrance... Finally her quarry was here!
Alexx stalked up to the young CSI and said only one word, “WHO?”
Ryan had been talking to one of the lab techs and had not noticed Alexx waiting in the reception area as he walked into work. He glanced up distractedly and said, “Hey Alexx.”
Ryan concluded his conversation and turned his attention to the ME.
“Don’t hey me Ryan. I want to know WHO!?”
Ryan looked at her in a puzzled fashion not sure what she meant. He said “Who…?” expectantly hoping she would give him some more information to go on. After receiving the package from Tony yesterday and actually thinking about the last time Speed had used his gun and the fact that Ryan had cleaned it had Ryan spending the night wondering anew about how long and to what lengths Ari had been following or stalking them. He had thought he had laid this to rest after the terrorist’s death but Tony had inadvertently brought it all back up for him. Ryan was definitely not at his best this morning.
Alexx shook her head in exasperation, “The package you got yesterday. Who sent it? Because once I find out who…”
Ryan broke into to Alexx’s tirade. “Tony”
“… I’m gonna- Wh- Tony? Why would he send you something like that?” Alexx was grudgingly fond of the NCIS agent cousin of Ryan’s. The younger man had a bit of a rogue in him but wasn’t mean or malicious and in the short time she had spent with him, he seemed to really care about his cousin. She couldn’t fathom him doing something to deliberately hurt him, tease him definitely but never hurt him.
Ryan looked chagrinned. “It’s his way of telling me I need to go to the range more often. He’s probably right, other than for yearly qualifying I haven’t been to the range in far too long.” Left unsaid was the reason for that. Alexx filled in the blanks herself. She knew now how tight Speed and Ryan were.
“Tony sent 2 very special targets.”
“Targets?” Alexx asked quizzically.
“Yeah, a couple of years ago Tony’s boss took him to the outdoor Marine firing range and made Tony use his favorite NCIS cap as a target… well the object was to avoid the cap to hone his aim but one round caught the edge of the cap.”
It wasn’t the strangest thing Alexx had heard of but it was definitely different. “So what’s with the wires?” She had heard that there were wires or a ruined piece of electronic equipment in the box also.
“You remember the female agent on Tony’s team? Kate Todd?” at Alexx’s nod of assent he continued, “That was her PDA. I’m still not sure how he rescued it from the trash.” He knew that for all their arguing while she was alive, Tony genuinely cared for Kate and to be entrusted with her PDA was no small thing.
“So you talked to Tony?” Alexx asked not sure how else the NCIS agent could have learned about the shooting.
“No I haven’t been able to get a hold of him. Left a message for him last night cause he asked me to call in the package, but before that it had been nearly a month since I called him.”
Alexx raised an eyebrow at that, glancing at Ryan questioningly.
“I have no idea how he does it but he always finds out what's going on here. One of the reasons I chose Miami is because I thought it would be free of prying influence apparently I was wrong. I mean look how quickly he was down here after I injured my eye.”
Ryan looked at his watch he really had to start the day before Calleigh or god forbid Eric came looking for him.
“I gotta go Alexx, but I need to talk to you about something. Can we meet for lunch today or sometime this week?”
“Sure baby, give me a call when you have time.” She gave him a hug. “Make sure that you do what Tony is telling you to do and go out to the range soon ok?”
Ryan hugged her back and gave her an extra squeeze when she mentioned his going to the range. “I will. I asked Eric to tag along so we will see.”
Ryan walked away and missed her speculative look. She knew the 2 CSIs had been hanging out together more often since the summer road trip they took and more still since Ryan injured his eye. She just hoped they knew what they were getting into.
Chapter End Notes:
I cant write a one shot!