a/n: FOR: DEXTER IS DELICIOUS; CHAPTER 37/38. This is in the same universe as: "DUBIOUS DEXTER" and "DOUBTFUL DEXTER" [Ryan Wolfe is Dexter and Brian's biological cousin + Deborah does not know], but is NOT a sequel! but for this to make more sense you might want to read them.

:In Dexter's POV. Includes Officer Ryan Wolfe from CSI:MIAMI, and spoilers for this book, some events will be twisted with AU.

SUMMARY: Dexter is once again in a situation and it's cousin Ryan to the rescue; only problem is Deborah's there.

Dependent DEXTER

I was not in a good position, nor situation.

When the ship Vengeance had made its way down the artificial river, firing its cannons, I had ducked for cover, twisting my ankle in the process-or in my deluded panic. This didn't help me any, and now I was ducked down in twisted greenery of thorns while my dear sister was being held at gun point, surrounded by a coven of cannibals, trying to negotiate the freedom of a teenager who had gone there willingly. I hunkered, most of my weight going to my left ankle, I knew that if I tried to get any lower and something crazy happened, I'd never get up again, either killed in an entanglement of shrubs or something far worse.

Deborah had come from nowhere. I hadn't seen her coming or heard her, but Alana expression didn't change. Deborah gave up and walked up the flimsy ramp, and Alana didn't even have to put much work into it, just a tini-tiny mosquito bite of threat towards Samantha, and Deb waved a white handkerchief. Now there was the barrel of a shotgun at her stomach.

How could Deborah have been so stupid? I have told her so many times that Samantha did not, I repeat: NOT, want to be rescued, she wanted to be eaten. Why couldn't her bull-headedness recognize it? It might be genetic, in the Morgan gene. What I possessed was not bull-headedness, but instead a need of self preservation for myself and the Dark Passenger; if I went then it would go along with me.

I was stuck. Deborah was being held at gun point by Alana; something that the two of us should have seen. Debs with her cop instinct and me because of my Dark Passenger and, the fact that I had gotten a glimpse of her in the parking garage. She was the one who told us that Bobby was at Buccaneer Land, and she was so convincing. But with Dull Human Dexter, one needn't have to be too cleaver.

I knew that I couldn't just sit here and watch as they either killed or ate Deb, or both, and not necessarily in that order either. So on my elbows I inched forward through the thorny underbrush, leaving several small and precious pieces of my flesh behind on the carnivorous bushes, until I got to the far edge of the little forest, where I flattened down behind a fan of palmetto fronds and peeked out at the river.

I raised up my pistol. It was a very good pistol, extremely accurate, and I knew for a fact that I was a good shot. I had about a twenty percent chance of hitting Alana, the odds of hitting Deb was just as good- or even Samantha, something that I was sure I would get over rather quick. The pistol rose higher at just the thought, Samantha had caused tremendous problems for me, I could easily tell it as if it was an accident.

Of course, such things would never happen in a just world, but we don't live in one, and the small movement must have caught a glimmer from one of the battered lights over head, and of course it was enough so in the darkness that it caught Alana's eye. She swung from Deborah and came to the edge of the ship and pumped the shotgun, briskly enough to leave no doubt about whether she knew to use it, and she raised it to her shoulder, pointed it directly at me.

I only had a second to react as her finger tightened around the trigger, and with my ankle I never would have managed to dive out of the way if I was by myself. As it was, I wasn't. It happened quick, too. Something, or should I say, someone, grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked my from my inert place on the ground, into the air and behind the nearest palm tree. Chutsky, my mind had supplied reasonably. He was the only other person that was here in the park with Debs and me, and he could be the only one to possibly pick me up.

"That's better!" I vaguely heard Alana cheer as there was another blast from the shotgun and a chunk of my protection vanished. "Peek-a-boo!" she said like a creepy mother, I was never going to do that with Lily Anne if I lived through this.

But that was at the back of my mind. I could feel the bark of the palm through the material of my shirt as my saviour pressed be back into it. And as I soon realized that the body size of the man covering me was too slim to be Chutsky and the Passenger had already come to the same conclusion with a flounder of leather wings, almost on a panicked movement. Now I was worried, the last time that the Dark Passenger had acted this way, it was because of Malik. I was ready to shove him away, but then he turned his face to mine, and even though most of his face was in shadow, I could recognize him.

"Ryan?" I said. I was both shocked and surprised. They're the same thing so I was doubly so, I did not expect this. "How could you-?" I started, but Ryan cut me off with a hiss.

"Shush." I was even more shocked by that, that I did shush, as it were. It was something in his voice, something that I had never heard before, and something that I couldn't seem to place in my current state. "You were real stupid back there, if I hadn't come, you would be dead right now. And then what?" his breath was hot on my cheek. "You're going to stay down," he instructed, "And you're not going to make a sound until I come back."

Even I wasn't stupid enough to try and argue back, and the Dark Passenger's warning was needless. I had no idea what Ryan was up to, but I was sure that it was better than my plan to turn myself in, anything was probably better. As Ryan turned away, I got a glimpse into his brown eyes, it was more chilling than Alana.

He patted my shoulder as he stepped out from behind the cover of the palm tree, in his tan uniform, he stuck out like white on black, calling, "Don't shoot!" his hands were up.

There was silence, as I peeked form around the tree, not heeding Ryan's words like I should have. Alana stared down at him with a piercing gaze.

"Who the hell are you?" she said.

"Officer Wolfe." Ryan said clearly, calmly like he didn't have a shotgun pointed at him.

I saw Deborah's head snapped over, and I knew that she really wanted to put some unhealthy words out there at the fact that Ryan had come from nowhere, but she shoved it down with a force and made her expression stay blank.

"Hm. I thought that you would have brought that charming companion of yours." Alana said to Deborah, and I was pretty sure she was talking about me. Who could be more charming? "Doesn't matter. Come up, little piglet." she said and gestured with the barrel of the gun, "Use the ramp."

Ryan went around and used the ramp, seemingly having no trouble going up the wobbly and old aluminium ramp. He stepped next to Deborah, who was glaring at him, he didn't seem to care about the muzzle in his back. And the fact that his sidearm was take away.

"Well, look at you, handsome." Alana greeted Ryan with an appraising look. "Lean, but with that touch of fat that all little piglets need." she licked her lips.

"Evening, ma'am." Ryan nodded to her. I recognized that tone of voice; it was Ryan's professional, calm, on patrol, you're crazy tone of voice but I'm calm so you're calm. Little did I know what it housed underneath. "I'm going to have to ask you and these gentlemen to put the weapons down."

I couldn't believe my ears, maybe it was the distance. I looked at everyone else's expressions; Deborah's, Alana's, the two goons with the shotguns. All of their expression matched mine, what the hell was Ryan thinking? There was no way that he would be able to negotiate Deborah and himself out of this, he had to know that. Ryan was no way dumb. If there was anyone that I trusted with anything, it would be Ryan. He didn't cause trouble by appearing like Brian did, he was a problem solver not a problem. So what the hell was Ryan thinking? He was going to get Deborah and himself both killed... and eaten.

Alana chuckled and I couldn't help but shiver, Deborah's face scrunched up, but Ryan stayed the same. "You're a funny little piglet." she poked him in the shoulder with the gun.

"I'm only going to say this once more," Ryan said, "Relinquish your weapons and prepare to be under arrest, or I will be forced to use force."

Now even the goons laughed, Alana laughed and Bobby Acosta laughed. Deborah looked like she was going to explode. I knew that she knew Ryan, knew him as Officer Wolfe, what she didn't know was the fact that the two of us were related. After what happened between her and Brian, I didn't think she would appreciate it, even though I knew that Ryan was no where near like Brian. And I was sure she was wondering how the hell Ryan was even there, something that I was still wondering myself.

"Play time's over," Alana said, no longer laughing. "You know that you can't possibly get out of this, you're surrounded."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Ryan said. "What makes you think there aren't others?"

I can't believe that I never thought of that. Deborah had been to stubborn to call in for backup, police back up. She called Chutsky, but so far he wasn't useful. If Ryan knew, maybe he did tell, maybe this place was actually surrounded with police officers. I was really feeling better, and whether Deb was pissed about this, well, she'd just have to deal about it later.

Alana was starting to look at little uncertain, and I revelled in the sight.

"We both know that's not true." she said.

"Do we though? You asked her to come alone, do you think that Sergeant Morgan would risk something like that?" Ryan asked. Was it mean that I enjoyed the jab at Deborah in the current situation? She did risk this being a trap, knowing full well that it was going to be, she even admitted it to me that she didn't trust Alana. Deb's gaze narrowed even more. "You are a criminal and a cannibal, a killer. I've heard you've done this before, and you are not going to get away with it."

Alana smirked at that, and I dropped my head in defeat. You are not going to get away with this. I'd heard that phrase before, everyone has. It's in every movie possibly made, that was what someone always said and that person does get away with it. I knew that this was a bad idea, this whole thing was from the beginning. I should never have let Deborah push me into going into Fang, I never should have tried to save Samantha, she was very ungrateful and never wanted it in the first place, and I should have called this in before Deborah grabbed my phone and threw it in the car's backseat. I probably just should have let Deborah walk into what she may, because all I am is a blood spatter expert and a killer by hobby, I was not a cop.

"The Sergeant did come alone, she's that desperate to save this little girl," Alana gestured with her shotgun at Samantha who was hanging limp at the mast.

"Don't hurt her." Debs finally said something, and it had to be that.

Alana rolled her eyes at the repetitive-ness of the comment as she looked back a Deborah, "I thought that Sergeants were supposed to be bright."

Deborah was grinding her teeth so hard that I was sure she was going to shatter them, but she didn't say anything; even though I knew that she wanted to tear a few heads from their shoulders.

"So you're not going to put the weapons down, then." Ryan concluded. He nodded, his head bowed.

And I now realized that I was going to loose both my sister and my cousin, and I realized that I cared. I knew that even if I did step out from behind the tree and give myself up, I wouldn't be helping the odds here. I would just become another target, another meal. And then I would never see Lily Anne again, I couldn't let that happen. So where the hell was Chutsky? But then I saw it, a change in Ryan's stature. So subtle that I had only noticed it because of the Dark Passenger, but because I did, that meant that Alana did, too.

It happened quick, and I wasn't sure that it was real.

Ryan's left foot kicked back, striking the guy behind him in the crotch, as he reached behind him to grab the barrel against his lower back. The guy bent with a painful grunt and Ryan jerked the gun from his back just as the trigger was pressed. The gun fired, and the edge of the ship splintered a few feet from where Alana stood. She flinched away from it while Bobby tried to dive for cover, Samantha just moaned. Deborah, not stupid, realized that things were already in motion, and to stay still would mean death. She jerked her elbow behind her and knocked the shotgun haphazardly to the side, it fired, rather close to Samantha. She spun around before the guy could right his shotgun again and hit him three time right in the face. I had felt Deborah's punches before, and I could get why the guy hit the deck like a rock. Deborah grabbed the shotgun and instantly went to check on the teenager, despite the fact that there were still other people and guns in play. Very stupid of her.

I didn't care should something happen to that brat Samantha, and Deborah could take care of herself. What I couldn't seem to do, however, was take my eyes off of Ryan. The Dark Passenger wouldn't let me.

The goon that he had already kicked had pumped the shotgun, ready to shoot Ryan, but Ryan hadn't stopped moving. He spun on his heel and in one fluent movement, he snapped the guy's neck. The guy fell down, dead. In that same movement, he'd swiped up the shotgun and came to face Alana. She didn't jump for cover like Bobby had, but stood tall as ever, that lizard gleam in her eyes, with the gun pointed at Ryan. I held my breath as they faced off.

Alana gave him her best smile. "Very athletic, little piglet. But I'm hungry, and you're it."

I found myself peeking out from the tree a little more, trying to see Ryan better in the night. I wished I hadn't, I wished a lot things in that instant. One, that I had kept my soul locked up and felt nothing at all, that maybe if I didn't feel anything then everything I was made of wouldn't have turned to ice and shrivelled in fear. Two, I wished I had never peeked out. Three, I wished that it was darker so that I couldn't see him, but darkness would make it worse and I don't think that the sun would erase it from my brain.

A shotgun went off and I tore my gaze from Ryan to Alana. Splinters were raining down and she was blinking rabidly. I was sure that Ryan had shot her, but I couldn't see red, and she didn't fall down dead. Instead, there was screaming; it was loud and strangled and filled with pain, and for a happy second I thought that it sounded like a girl, Samantha, but then I realized that it was Bobby Acosta's scream.

Deborah spun from Samantha, the gun raised. It was pointed at Alana-finally, she was back in the game- but she was looking somewhere else, presumably where Bobby had been hiding. Later, I would discover that he shot Bobby in the leg where it had been poking out from his hiding pot, his foot nearly gone.

"What- what have you done?" Alana forced from her throat, breathless.

"Drop the weapon, put your hands in the air!" Deborah suddenly barked, finally acting like a cop.

Alana didn't move though, it was like her spine, her Dark Passenger went into hiding after it saw Ryan. "No," she said, but I could tell she was still thinking about Bobby. How could you not, with those annoying and ugly screams and moans.

"May I say," Ryan said. "You look very good for your age." Alana looked at him in confusion, and I had to agree. "I'd hate to see what a shotgun would do to you at this range," he continued, "Because I'm not going to kill you, either way, today, you're not going to die." his voice was different, and it took me a second to place the change. That must have been what I sounded like when it came time, when it became we. I knew Alana saw it too, but Deborah didn't. Interesting. "Please put the weapon down, and raise your hands over your head, if you would." his voice sounded gentle, and I was barely able to hear it, but what I did hear, made me want to raise my hands above my head, too.

Alana was pale, sweat shinned on her forehead, her breathing rough, Bobby's screams continued on though they were weaker now, he was probably close to passing out. It looked like she was fighting a few things through. Should she risk resisting? If I was her, I wouldn't. I knew that Ryan was a good shot, better than Deborah, even though I had never seen him fire his weapon before this. I would believe his voice, and his voice said that he would and could do it. Alana seemed to come to the same conclusion before she finally dropped the shotgun, her hands went above her head. Deborah covered while Ryan set aside his shotgun and came around, taking her hands one at a time and locking them in bracelets. I watched as he leaned in and whispered something in her ear, I was sure that she had gone so white that she turned dark; Debs didn't seem to notice that either as she started to untie Samantha.

Deborah glared at him, "Call it in."

Ryan held onto Alan's arm as he took out his phone from the holster on his belt. "This is Officer Wolfe, I need multiple patrol units at Buccaneer Land entrance, as well as two EMS units. No sirens. Sergeant Morgan will debrief on arrival." he hung up and slid the phone back onto the clip.

Deborah had finally finished cutting Samantha free, and by her expression I was disappointed to realize that the teen was alive. She was now sitting on the deck, leaning against the post, unconscious. Debs had moved over to Bobby, a cuffed him even though he was quite clearly not going anywhere.

"We are going to have a little fucking chat, Wolfe." Deborah gritted out, glaring harshly at Ryan.

It wasn't long after that that the additional police units arrived, along with the ambulances. Alana was put into a car, Bobby and Samantha were put into the other ambulances. As the patrol units cleaned out Buccaneer Land, at least a dozen cannibals were arrested, not including the goons, and Chutsky was located knocked unconscious and tied down below deck. Now that I knew it was safe, I came out of hiding and found my way to Ryan.

His back was to me. Everyone seemed to be skirting around him, reasonable after what I had seen. He turned at my approach and I let out a breath when I realized that he was back to normal again. Or the normal that I was accustomed to.

"Hey, Dexter." he said.

"Hi," I looked at him. I was still trying to believe that after want went down, that this was really the cousin I knew. "How did you know?"

Ryan shrugged. "Brian."

"Brian," I repeated.

Ryan nodded.

I looked around myself, suddenly nervous. Was he here, with all these cops, with Deborah?

"He's not here." Ryan read my mind. "It's too dangerous with all these cops, and Sergeant Morgan. He knew that you were in trouble and we thought that it would be more better that I come instead. There is the risk that the Sergeant will find out who I am, but I can't get in trouble for being related to you. I've found that that isn't a crime in Miami, so I think were good." he said.

"You..." I looked at him, there was nothing of what I had seen before. And I was sure that I hadn't imagined it. "You're like me." I finally managed.

Ryan looked at me. "No,"

"You're like Brian, but how?" I said.

"I am not like Brian," something flashed in his gentle brown eyes and I was barely able to stop myself from taking a step back. I knew that I hadn't imagined it. "I have a similar character, sure."

"The Dark Passenger," I breathed, "But how?"

Ryan furrowed his brows for a second. "The three of us went through the same traumatic experience, Dexter. It would improbable that we would all turn out the exact same way, but not implausible that we would be affected in a similar manor, hence, your Dark Passenger."

"So I'm not wrong."

"No. I'm not a killer, besides what I obvious just did with that man, when I probably didn't have to. There's already enough of them in Miami, without me as well."

I felt a flash of guilt. While I wasn't exactly like Brian, I had still tried to make killers out of Astor and Cody. Then, when Lily Anne was born and I changed my ways, and neglected the kids. I had basically handed them over to Brian to do with them what he will. And he did things, he was turning them into killers, just like him. And I was letting it happen, all because I couldn't seem to say no to my brother.

"Does Brian know?"

Ryan snorted and I raised my brows. "Brian doesn't know, he thinks that he knows everything, but he doesn't. If he did, then he would probably be the one that's dead."

I didn't know what to say, but then again, apparently I did, "Uh..." or not. Or not seems right.

Ryan smiled. "Don't worry, Dex. We're family. Now I have to go find Sergeant Morgan so she can yell at me for a while, we can talk later if you want." he gave me a light clap on the shoulder, careful of my many scratches, before he went. "You should really clean those," he called, "You don't want them to get infected!"

I watched him go, or we did. The Dark Passenger had never cared for Ryan, but now that we found out what Ryan really was, it couldn't tear its eyes away. Neither could I. I thought that I had known Ryan, he was so human, still is. Nothing with him, I realized, was fake. Not like me, and definitely, definitely not like Brian. But he had a Dark Passenger, like the two of us. Bigger and worse. Worse than Malik, the original. I was amazed and oddly felt better, this was why mosquitoes were scared of him, why no one dare try to run him off the Miami roads, why he's never had to shoot anyone, until now and even I knew the he never needed to. As he had pointed out, he didn't have to snap that guys neck, or even shoot Bobby who had been hiding. But I supposed that you had to let it out one way or another, and I would say that Bobby deserved getting shot, Deborah probably agreed on that. But what I didn't get, is why Ryan never showed his true self to Brian. If the mental torture that was happening to me was to go by, then it must have been worst when Brian was a kid, and Ryan had been stuck with that. But Ryan was Darker, than Brian, as it turned out. So why not use that? I guess it was a family thing, I knew that was what had me caught in the net.

But it also made me realize how dependent I seem to have become on Ryan. He seemed to be my therapist. I could talk to him about things that I could never talk to Debs about, and he understood because he was like me. He gave me advice, and saved my ass as it were. I never really realized it until know, and sometimes even Brian was there. I had never really needed to talk to anyone before, but then again I never thought I would give up my hobby, get married and have a kid.

I found Deborah with Ryan, I thought that I would see the steam coming from her ears as she tried to not scream at him here, in front of all these witnesses. But she seemed calmer than that, maybe she was happy that we would finally have Bobby and Samantha, much to my own dismay, was alive. So things had turned out better than I thought that they would, no one I cared about was dead. But now that Deborah's gaze had been attracted to Ryan, things were probably going to get messy before they got clean.

And I was still wondering what Ryan had said to Alana that made her so scared.

f

I hoped you enjoyed it, and yes, it would be easier to understand if you've read the book and/or the other two fics. This will be the last fic that I post for a long, long while; I'm loosing my access to the internet. I will keep writing and post when I can; I will elaborate more on "the view" and "the wrong girl" and maybe even "god's gift", I do want to write more Charlie McGee fics, and maybe even do a sequel to the "wolf sitter extraordinaire series" by request. I hope you enjoy all my fics and keep reviewing my fics.

Have a great summer!