Title: A moment in time

Chapter 1
Characters: Eric, Ryan with a brief (but really brief) apparition from Calleigh.
Pairing: will be Eric/Ryan but later...
Word Count: 2000
Rating: PG, for now at least.
Warnings/Spoilers: none, apart maybe from incoherence with the show, since I haven't see a lot of episodes yet.
Summary: At Ryan's arrival, the team did not welcome him, Eric included. But his whole perception is change in one moment. What happen when Ryan become Eric's protégé… and maybe more?Chapter 1

Thanks to shadowfax27 who corrected my awful lot of mistake and made that story readable!

Eric was heading towards the locker room, ready to change and go home. He had had a big day and was feeling exhausted. He had worked with Horatio on this case, and they had been out of the lab most of the time. That tended to happen when the suspects were out of town.

However, he had to admit that he was kind of glad to have been away from there for some time. The atmosphere in the lab had been tense since Speed's death and Ryan's arrival. It was not that easy to work together again(,) so it was a nice change for him to work alone with his boss.

Nonetheless, he was sure it had not been the same for the others. Horatio had stuck Calleigh with the newbie, wanting to make them "bond" over a case. It was true that the young woman had been the one to react the worse to Wolfe's presence, and Eric feared it would not be enough to conciliate them.

His doubts were confirmed when Calleigh stormed out of a room and passed him without even a word or a look of acknowledgement. Bemused, Eric turned around to see where she was headed and shook his head slightly when he saw her leaving the building, before resuming his way to his destination. Something must have happened, but now was not the time for him to wonder about it. He would just have to ask Calleigh about it the day after because right now, all he wanted to do was to crawl into his bed and have a good night's sleep.

Fate, however, did not seem to agree with him as he noticed, as soon as he had opened the locker room's door, that it was not empty, like he thought it would be. Ryan was there. The young man must have come in when he was watching Calleigh leave. Apparently, the younger CSI did not hear him come in as he was facing away from him.

Ryan was sitting on the bench and breathing heavily and unevenly, and that worried Eric more than he cared to admit. Slowly, he made his way to the other man, fearing for a hyperventilation crisis. Sure, he did not especially like Ryan, but he was just a kid, and somehow, seeing him so vulnerable made him ache.

"Hey Wolfe!" he exclaimed, feeling uncomfortable with staying there without the younger man knowing it. He felt like he was witnessing a private moment, which he actually was, but that was not the point.

Ryan was startled when he heard his name being called, and he turned to face Eric. The look on the youngest man's face was heartbreaking. Eric could see that he was hurting, and alongside with that conclusion, he felt a pang of guilt as well. Nonetheless, he had to concentrate on the real issue, namely, Ryan's apparent difficulty breathing.

"You okay, man?" he asked, trying to find a way to begin a conversation and, at the same time, gathering information to be able to help Wolfe.

Ryan nodded frantically, hoping that Eric would just drop the matter and go away. But the Cuban did not buy it and stayed where he was, which was a good thing, seeing that Wolfe began to really hyperventilate soon afterwards.

Staying calm for the young man's sake and knowing exactly what to do in such a situation, Eric quickly sat down on the bench, one leg on each side, and maneuvered Ryan until he was leaning against his chest. Ryan did not fight him and was only a bit startled when strong arms encircled him.

"Breathe, Ryan, deeply. Calm down, and take a deep breath," Eric said firmly before taking in a profound breathe himself, inciting the younger man to do the same.

Gradually, Ryan calmed down and was soon able to breathe normally, only a bit shaken by the panic he had just felt. He stayed still, allowing himself to rest his head on the man's shoulder.

After a while, Eric felt Wolfe regain his composure and begin to stir away from him. He let him go without any resistance but still did not tear his eyes away from him, ready to react quickly if necessary. Fortunately, nothing happened, and Ryan, once he got up, was perfectly stable on his legs.

"Thanks," he murmured, embarrassed by the display he had just shown, particularly because it had been in front of Eric. The older CSI already saw him as a replacement, as someone who did not belong in their team." What would he think of him now?

"No problem," Eric answered, shaking off the fear he had felt when he saw Ryan in such distress. By the time he snapped out of his thoughts, however, Ryan was already at the door. "Wolfe!" he exclaimed, without thinking about it.

The young man turned around and looked at Eric, questioning him silently.

"Come back here."

"Why?" Ryan asked, frowning. He was suspicious. What was Eric going to do? Mock him because of his crisis?

Somehow, his thoughts must have shown onto his face because Eric, who was not able to suppress the guilt and the hurt from his eyes, just answered. "I just wanted to know what happened with Calleigh."

"What makes you think something happened with her?" Ryan asked, trying to look sincerely taken aback. But as much as he was gifted with being able to tell when he was being lied to, he could not do a great job of lying himself.

Eric just raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Listen, Delko, it's nothing. We just… had a disagreement on something, and we had some words. It's nothing that concerns you."

"Ryan, there is a difference between colleagues having an argument and a colleague leaving the other one hyperventilating. Normally, I would not worry about a simple argument, but I know enough about hyperventilation to know there is always a danger, and yes, that worries me. Now, I understand you don't want to talk about it, much less, do it with me, and I can't really blame you for that. But it can't stay that way, so you are going to wait here, and then, when I'm ready, we are going to go and talk somewhere."

Ryan stayed, mouth agape, and Eric went to his locker before the other man had time to come around and yell at him for ordering him around. Besides, it was probably the first real conversation they had had since Ryan arrived at the lab, and he had to admit that he did not want to fuck this up.

When Eric came back, they headed for the car park in silence. It was making Ryan nervous, but he did not know what to say so he just kept quiet, hoping that his colleague would be the one to open a conversation. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case as the drive was done in a complete silence. Eventually, Ryan lost it and turned to face the driver.

"Where are we going, Delko, and what the hell do you want?" he asked aggressively.

"You know, Wolfe, we've been driving for fifteen minutes, and waiting that long before asking where we are headed could have been potentially dangerous," he stated. "I only wanted to have a conversation with you, and I would like to have it in a quiet place. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," he added with a wink.

"What about?"

Eric sighed. "Listen, we're almost there, and it's really not a conversation I want to have while driving. You can wait fifteen more minutes, can't you?"

Ryan stared at him for some time, trying to determine whether or not he could trust Eric. Apparently, he decided that yes, he could. "Okay," he articulated slowly before falling into another silence.

Around ten minutes later, Eric left the road and stopped the car. Ryan immediately noticed they were at the beach(,) in a place where strangely enough, there was not a lot of people. Actually, as Eric led him on the sand, he realized they were totally alone.

"It's a spot nobody comes to. An old story, but let's just say that people don't like it here. It's perfectly safe, though, and good if you want to be left alone," he explained, seeing the frown on Ryan's face.

They walked for a while before Eric came to a halt, and just dropped on the sand. Ryan, himself, got out of his jacket, laid it out it on the ground, and sat down on it.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"I wanted to apologize," Eric stated.

Yeah, the little scene earlier had been a wake-up call for him. They had all welcomed the young CSI with hostility, meanness even. Of course, that was because they all felt like he was trying to take Speed's place. But now Eric understood how much they had hurt Wolfe. Not only had Ryan never wanted to take their friend's place, he was doing a damn good job, and nobody ever told him that. They would have to cut him some slack from then on.

"Why?" Ryan asked.

Eric looked at him incredulously. "You cannot possibly ask me that, Wolfe. You know damn well why I'm apologizing."

"I know what you're apologizing FOR, Delko," Ryan countered. "I don't know why you WANT to apologize. Because if this is some kind of a guilt trip because of what happened earlier, which I wouldn't know why since you had nothing to do with it, then don't worry. Trust me. I'm doing just fine."

"It has nothing to do with that, or yes, it does, but not because I feel responsible or whatever you're thinking. Just…. I never realized how much we were hurting you by behaving the way we were. And don't even try to deny it," he added as he saw Ryan on the verge of opening his mouth to protest. "Since you arrived, we have all been awful towards you. Well, all of us minus Horatio, that is. But you did nothing to deserve that. All of this was because of Speed's death, but you weren't responsible for that. It's not fair that we've been taking out our anger at his death on you. So, well, I'm sorry, for what it's worth. And it's going to change. I can't promise anything for the others, but with me, at least, it's going to change."

Ryan listened to Eric without interrupting. He would never admit how happy what the other man had said was making him. Because, yes, he was hurt by the way they were treating him. He could never seem to do things right, or even if he did, they would say something to make him feel like he did not. And each day, doing his job was getting harder and harder. Maybe, just maybe, now it was going to change.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

Eric only nodded. "You still don't want to tell me what happened with Calleigh." It was more a statement than a question, and Ryan understood it like so.

"It was nothing. Just a… heated conversation that did not end up well. It's just difficult to defend yourself when you're against everyone else."

He had not meant to reveal that much, but the atmosphere of confidence they were bathing in made it easier.

"Well, not anymore," Eric stated, repressing the guilt that was threatening to come out again. "And as far as Calleigh's concerned, give her some time. She loved him."

Ryan smiled to himself. "Speed? Yeah, I gathered that much," he admitted. "I would have liked to have met him," he added as an afterthought, his gaze lost into the blue of the sea.

"It might have made things easier," Eric whispered, lost into his own world.

Ryan could not take his eyes away from the water in front of him. When he was suddenly blinded by the redness of the sun setting down on the horizon, his eyes widened. He didn't think that they had been there for so long.

"It's sunset," he murmured, surprised by the sound of his own voice.

"Yeah."

"We're alone on a beach, facing the water, and it's sunset," Ryan repeated, almost disbelievingly.

Eric let out a laugh. "Okay, I did not think of that when I asked you to come here with me, promise!"

Ryan turned to face him, and seeing him laugh softly, he smiled broadly.

"I thought so, too."

Nonetheless, they stayed until the sun had finally disappeared beyond the sea.