Title: When Curves Were Straight 1 of ?

Author(s): Shadowfax27 & Abendstern1601 (eventually)

Pairing: Eric/Ryan SLASH

Genre: Drama/Angst/Romance

Chapter Rating: PG-13, eventually R (As usual the NC-17/M rating will be posted on my website. I will let you know when I have posted those chapters.)

Disclaimer: We no own. You no sue us. Okay?

Summary: Eric/Ryan SLASH! Sequel to "Walking The Twisted Line." WIP, but Eric finally learns how Ryan met Speed. Reactions from the team affect Ryan in ways he did not expect. Inspired in part by the lyrics in "Mi Chico Latino" by Gerri Halliwell and Abendstern1601's Ryan/Eric fanvid.

Cross Beta-ed By: Shadowfax27 & Abendstern1601

A/N: This fic will be a joint effort between Abendstern1601 and me. I had the plot sitting in my head for the longest time, but I figured it would be cool to co-author a fic with someone who could write good fluff and smut! Heh-heh! I will be writing most of the chapters to set up the main plot (and hopefully one of the smut), and then my partner in crime will write the others.

If you haven't read 'Walking The Twisted Line," I highly recommend that you do so to understand the whole premise of this sequel.

Chapter 1 was written by Shadowfax27.

This is dedicated to: CSIM Fan, Roses, Zuza, Prue, Angel32, Prinsessa, Dark Angel's Blue Fire, and csiwolfe08. Thanks for the fav and kind reviews. We hope you guys enjoy the fruits of our labor!

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Chapter 1 – Of Secrets And Dreams

Donde esta el hombre (Where is the man)
Con fuego en la sangre? (With fire in the blood?)

I've got a secret I cannot keep it
It's just a whisper of a distant memory
Just a dream, Or so it seems
Take me back to the place I'd rather be…

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It had been a couple of days since Eric had last seen or spoken to Ryan at his home. The young man had had the last two days off since his 'freezing' incident at the chop shop, and Eric wouldn't be surprised at all if Horatio had had something to do with it, forcing the ex-patrol officer to take some time off to regroup, before the incident caught up with him and possibly affected his work.

And although he was grateful for Horatio's concern over their youngest CSI, Eric couldn't help but curse inwardly because giving Ryan the last two days off meant that he couldn't see him or talk to him about all the things he'd been dying to know, particularly, Ryan's 'secret' friendship with Speed.

Not that he couldn't have called him on the phone himself or stopped by his home unannounced again… But as stubborn as he was, he knew that Ryan was even more stubborn, and he would've kicked him out of his home in a heartbeat (or hung up the phone on him), especially if he were to discover the real purpose behind Eric's phone call or visit.

He sighed heavily, thinking that despite the fact that he had been anxious to talk to him, he realized that Ryan needed that quiet time alone to himself. At any rate, having not seen his co-worker the last two days did give him some time to think about how to approach him regarding the subject that had been burning in his mind ever since he made that discovery in Horatio's office and then in Ryan's home just two days ago.

He only hoped that when the younger man did finally return to work that morning, that he would have recuperated enough and that he would be in a better disposition to talk.

He walked down to Alexx's lair, down to the morgue, where he knew she was currently examining the body of a one and half-year old boy, found buried near the edge of the Everglades by a couple of punk teenagers, who were trying to see if they could catch an alligator and shoot it down with their BB guns, which were mere scale replicas of actual guns and used 6mm plastic BB gun pellets for ammunition.

Really… Shoot down a friggin' alligator with BB guns?

Eric shook his head at how stupid teenagers could be sometimes. The idea was just preposterous, plain and simple. And any half-wit with a brain should've known that one simply did not go about tempting fate by taunting alligators, much less in their natural habitat…and with BB guns, no less.

"Stupid kids…" Eric half thought, half muttered to himself.

He reached his destination and opened the door, greeting the coroner in the process.

"Hey, Alexx. What do you have?"

Alexx didn't look at him. For a moment, she just stood over the young boy's body, quietly caressing the pale little face before her, brushing the soft strands of his hair back in a tender manner. It reminded Eric of how much of a mother Alexx had been to the team…

To Speed…

To Ryan…

"Baby boy died of suffocation," Alexx finally replied, and Eric detected the sadness in her voice.

"I don't see any marks on his neck," Eric pointed out. "Was he strangled by an object? A pillow, perhaps?"

"No…" Alexx shook her head sadly. "Baby boy drowned."

"Suffocation by submersion," Eric realized.

"Mm-hmm… he had fluid in his lungs," Alexx pointed out.

"T.O.D.?"

"Liver temp indicates that this baby died between 9:00 to 10:00 last night."

Eric thought for a moment before asking, "Do you think this could've been an accident?"

"I don't know," Alexx shrugged. "It's certainly possible; the body was buried near the Everglades, wasn't it?" she reminded him.

Eric nodded, "Yeah… but nowhere near any immediate bodies of water."

Alexx finally met his eyes with curiosity, "What are you thinking?"

"That maybe he didn't drown in the same area we found him in. Maybe he drowned somewhere else and was buried there to hide the body."

Alexx nodded in understanding, "I'll draw some fluid from his lungs and send it to Trace for comparison; see if Ryan could find anything that would tell us what happened to this poor boy."

At the mention of Ryan's name, Eric stiffened slightly as the memories of what happened just two days ago flooded back to him. He wondered briefly if Alexx had had any inkling at all about Ryan having been friends with Speed before the older CSI had died.

"Um… Alexx?" Eric began hesitatingly.

"Hmmm?"

"Have you spoken to Ryan lately?"

"Yeah, spoke to him yesterday."

"I take it you talked to him about what happened at the chop shop?" he asked, more than stated.

"Mm-hmm… And he seems to be coping just fine," she paused a moment then frowned slightly, "Why do you ask?"

Eric sighed, "I spoke to him, too."

"And?" Alexx pressed, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"We just talked," Eric shrugged. "And I, uh…sort of found out something about Ryan that he didn't necessarily want me to find out… or the team, for that matter."

Alexx's curiosity was piqued and she asked, "Eric, what are you talking about?"

Taking a deep breath, Eric began, "Alexx, what, um…" he sputtered uneasily. "What do you know about Ryan?"

"What do you mean?" Alexx looked at him quizzically.

"I mean… what do you know about him? His past…his background…?" he trailed off.

Alexx shrugged, "Not much, really. Ryan pretty much keeps a lot to himself… doesn't like to talk about his personal life. And what little I do know, I practically have had to wrestle out of him."

"Oh…" Eric replied, seemingly lost in thought.

"Why?" Alexx asked him again. "What does this have to do with what you found?"

"Nothing," Eric shrugged, shaking his head.

Alexx gave him a pointed look, "Eric. Don't start something with me that you know you can't finish," she warned. "Now, what did you find out about my boy?" she asked a little more sternly now, a tinge of worry in her voice.

"It's nothing…big, Alexx," Eric began hesitatingly.

And yeah… That was a lie.

"I just… I don't even know if I should tell you," Eric replied. "I don't think Ryan would appreciate me telling you or anyone about it either."

"Eric, honey," Alexx began gently. "Don't take this the wrong way, but…since when did you start caring about what Ryan thought?"

Damn.

She had a point. And she was right.

In the past, Eric could really care less about what Ryan thought, but that was now in the past. Things have changed between them, or at least he thought so. Even his own feelings have changed since the incident at the chop shop…

Since he found out about Ryan's secret two days ago…

Since Ryan broke down in his arms…

Since he ended up holding Ryan on his couch until the young man had quieted down in his sleep…

Since he didn't bother (want?) to leave until he was sure that Ryan would be okay.

They hadn't spoken a single word for the rest of that entire evening, and neither felt the need to break the silence. There was a sense of quiet comfortableness that had settled between the two men for the first time…

Eric had held Ryan when he finally broke down and cried. He held him until the young man had let all of his hurt, anger, and frustrations out of his system.

By the time Ryan had calmed down, he lifted his head to look up at Eric, glassy greens shyly meeting concerned brown. For a moment, both men just looked at each other, neither one daring to speak, to break the hold, to make a move… And both trying frantically to figure out what was happening between them.

A spark had been lit.

And they could feel the beginnings of a fire and confusion coursing its way through their veins, crackling in the air around them, beginning a slow burn in their blood.

Finally, Ryan took a deep breath and wordlessly extricated himself from Eric's embrace, Eric reluctantly letting the young man go. He watched as Ryan turned on his heels and silently made his way upstairs without sparing a second glance back at him. He heard the sound of running water and knew that Ryan was washing his face.

And for a moment, he wondered whether that was his cue to leave. But his feet were rooted firmly to their spot, bolted down by something unseen, a force stronger than he was willing to fight at that moment. And as much as Eric would never openly admit it, a huge part of him didn't want to go at all.

He didn't really want to leave Ryan alone.

And so he stayed and stood there, frozen in place. He heard Ryan come down the steps a few minutes later and saw the young man freeze slightly in surprise at seeing him still standing there in his living room. But then Ryan just shook his head, and a small, amused smirk appeared briefly on his boyish face.

He turned and grabbed two more beers from his fridge, walked over to the living room, and then set them down on the coffee table, before taking a seat on the couch. It was a silent invitation…and Eric knew it.

Ryan was still too proud to ask him if he'd like to stay a while, and Eric was just as equally too proud to ask him if he could.

Following Ryan's movements intently, Eric watched him cautiously avoid eye contact as he picked up the remote control. And when he heard the distinct sound of the television turning on, Eric finally unbolted his feet and sat down on the couch as well, close to Ryan, but not too close.

They sat there on Ryan's couch, watching but not really watching the television in companionable silence, occasionally sipping their drinks but never once saying another word to each other for the rest of the night. Their minds, however, were a different story. Because they both knew that their thoughts were still running a million miles per minute, mentally dissecting the events of the day and what had just transpired between them.

It wasn't until Ryan had fallen asleep a couple of hours later, his head tossed back and resting haphazardly on the back of the couch, that the wordless silence between them was broken.

Eric had turned his head to find Ryan mumbling something in his sleep. At first, he merely tried to ignore it, thinking that Ryan was just having a dream. But then the mumblings turned into soft whimpers of desperation, of pain, and Eric simply couldn't ignore them any longer.

"No… can't… already tried…" Ryan mumbled unconsciously. "too tired…"

He turned his head to find Ryan tossing his head slightly from one side to the other, his face wearing a pain-filled expression, his brows creased in a frown. He could hear the young man still mumbling almost incoherently in between heavy breaths, and he leaned slightly to put a hand on Ryan's shoulder, trying to wake him up.

"Hey, man…" Eric called softly as he shook his shoulder slightly. "Ryan?"

But the younger man would not be roused from his dreadful slumber. Instead, his breathing became even harsher.

"No place… no place… don't belong…" Ryan mumbled desperately in his sleep. "I can't… Don't make me do it… Please…"

"Ryan," Eric shook his shoulder again. "Ryan, wake up."

"No!" Ryan was whimpering now. "No, no… Please! Don't leave me!" he began to cry out now as a few tears started to roll down his pale face. "I can't do this… can't do this alone…"

Concerned and starting to panic, Eric pulled Ryan into his embrace and held him close against his chest, letting the younger man cry out in his sleep as he tried to comfort him the best he knew how.

Ryan didn't even stir.

"Shhhh…" Eric said as he rubbed soothing circles on Ryan's back. "It's okay, Ryan. I'm here… I'm not going anywhere," he replied, unconsciously answering Ryan's plea.

But then Eric froze when he heard the next words out of Ryan's lips and realized whom he had been talking to in his sleep.

"No, please… Speed… don't go… don't go… don't go…"

And that's when Eric tightened his hold on Ryan, feeling his own tears come down and stain his face. God! How he missed Speed, too! How he still dreamt about his fallen friend from time to time.

And here was Ryan, in emotional torment from having lost the same friend, from having to fill in that same friend's shoe in the lab, and then from having gone through hell from everyone (except Horatio) for 'replacing' Speed and 'not being' Speed. And no one would've ever known that the young CSI, himself, was suffering and hurting just the same, if not more than most of the people in the lab because he was actually Speed's friend.

He was just as in need of comforting after Speed had died, and what he got was animosity and maybe even hate. He had been treated with cruelty and ill will, and Eric realized that he had been suffering in silence for far too long.

And now here he was, having a nightmare about Speed leaving him. And ironically, he was begging for the same thing that Eric had always begged the former CSI in his own sleep – he realized that he wasn't the only one who had begged for Speed to not go, to not leave him alone.

And what was that bit about 'not belonging' and 'having no place'? Those words worried Eric even more, and he found himself resting his head protectively on top of Ryan's as he slowly rocked the young man back to a quiet sleep, a profound camaraderie beginning to take shape between them as they subconsciously 'bonded' over the loss of a dear friend.

He continued to hold Ryan like this until he had stilled from his sobbing. And after a while, he heard the young man take a deep breath as if he was finally letting go of something, as if a heavy burden was being lifted off of him.

"I'll miss you, Speed…" Ryan sighed in his slumber. "Never… Promise."

With those words, Eric felt Ryan relax more fully in his arms as the young man finally drifted off into a dreamless and more peaceful slumber.

And still, Eric didn't let him go…

"Eric?" Alexx called him worriedly. "Eric? Honey, are you okay?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Eric looked at Alexx and shook off the dazed look on his face, "Huh? Oh… Yeah, Alexx, I'm fine."

"You were just thinking about Ryan, weren't you?" Alexx asked knowingly.

Damn, the woman was frank! And she got it right, too. If Eric could say one thing about the M.E., she was definitely perceptive, and there weren't too many things that could escape her.

Smiling slightly in thought, Eric replied, "Yeah… I was."

An understanding smile graced the coroner's face, and she walked around the table and drew Eric in for a hug. He returned the kind gesture appreciatively.

"I'm glad you two are finally starting to get along," she told him, and Eric saw the sincerity in her eyes.

He smiled down at her and replied, "I know… me too."

And with that, Alexx let him go and turned around to resume her work.

"I'll send the water sample to Trace," she told him, returning her attention back to the case, her previous query about Ryan's secret forgotten for now. "You can check with Ryan later for the results."

"Thanks, Alexx," Eric replied, grateful for the fact that Alexx was sensitive enough to not push her question about Eric's discovery.

But that didn't mean that she wouldn't ever ask him about it again. Nonetheless, he still felt relieved that the woman had decided to drop the topic for now.

He left the morgue and picked up his kit before making his way out of the crime lab and into the already humid Miami morning air. He got into the Hummer and drove back down to the crime scene to collect the different water samples around the area. About an hour later, he was back at the crime lab to deliver the samples to Trace for comparison.

He made his way down the hall, trying to still his nerves, as he had made up his mind in the Hummer earlier that he was going to ask Ryan if he'd like to grab a beer or dinner or something with him after shift tonight. He really wanted to talk to the young CSI about his friendship with Speed, and if possible, about his dream two nights ago.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask Ryan.

So many questions that needed answers…

So many questions that he needed to be answered…

And so, taking a deep calming breath, Eric opened the door and walked into Trace, hoping that Ryan would be quite agreeable and wouldn't give him a hard time about his plan tonight.

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TBC

Let us know what you think. Reviews are much loved!

A/N: Up next, Eric and Ryan work a case and make plans to talk. Updating might take a while, so stay tuned!