Title: When Curves Were Straight 13/13

Author & Beta: Shadowfax27

Fandom: CSI: Miami

Pairing: Eric/Ryan

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I own nothing but these nefarious Plot Penguins.

Spoilers: A bit of Season 3's 'Lost Son' and 'Hell Night' but totally AU, so please indulge my creative liberties.

Summary: What did Ryan see that made him freeze in his tracks?

A/N: Well, wahey! Will you look at that? It is the last chapter! Lyricstaken from Gerri Halliwell's "Mi Chico Latino." I tried to tie this last chapter in a bit with its prequel, "Walking The Twisted Line." I won't spoiler this anymore, as you'll see what I mean soon. Read on, and enjoy!

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Chapter 14 – Epilogue: Unexpected Castles

I'm free to be, I'm letting go
I'll find my way so…

---

But now, things were different once again. And that same twisted line had now been redrawn by ghostly fingers, fashioned out of loss over a friend's untimely death and gain over finding love overdue, orchestrated from beyond the grave to become the straight curve it had once been.

Except this time… Ryan knew that he need not walk alone anymore. He might not have Speed there to guide him along the way, but he had Eric in his life now. Speed had made sure of that.

Eric, whom he had become fast friends with all of a sudden.

Eric, who had already staked a claim to his heart long before either of them had the nerve to give voice to their feelings.

Eric, who was now walking alongside him, holding his hand, twining their fingers together, keeping him close as only a lover would do.

"Eric…" Ryan nearly gasped, unsure of what to think as he froze suddenly in his tracks…

---

Lifting his head more fully, Ryan's surprised gaze landed on three people he'd least expected to see, all walking towards them, a smile gracing each one of their usually solemn faces.

"Eric…" Ryan started again. "What…?"

Sensing trepidation and anxiety in his voice, the Cuban squeezed his hand quickly, turning his head to look at the younger man next to him.

"It's okay, Ryan," Eric assuaged gently, giving him a comforting smile. "They already know."

Somehow, Ryan discerned Eric's statement as two-fold: first, that they (as in Alexx and Calleigh) already knew about his once-secret friendship with Speed, and second, that both women and Horatio already knew about his now-budding relationship with Eric.

And judging from the looks on their faces, Ryan perceived that he probably had nothing to worry about regarding their acceptance of the former and that they had supportively approved of the latter.

Reaching the couple finally, Alexx was the first one to reach over and wrap her arms securely around Ryan, embracing him with a fierceness only a mother reserved for her children. And laying aside his apprehensions for once, Ryan allowed himself to be enveloped tightly, his body slumping tiredly against Alexx, grateful for once that he no longer had to worry about hiding such a cumbersome secret… at least not to the people who mattered.

No words were exchanged between them as each clung tightly to the other. Only the quiet sniffling, as long-restrained tears pooled in their eyes and rolled down their faces unfettered, could be heard in the heavy stillness around them.

Alexx cupped his face in her palms when she'd finally let him go, brushing the salty stains away with the pads of her thumbs, a proud twinkle in her eyes mixing with an embarrassed, apologetic look for having treated him with cold indifference the first time they'd met and the first time he had to work with her at a crime scene two years ago, where an infamous athlete had been murdered…

Ryan: Knife missing from this block could be our murder weapon.

Alexx: (sarcastically) Nice work, Ryan. Think you may have cracked the case.

Ryan: Thanks, I…have a keen grasp for the obvious. Look… I know you and Tim Speedle were close. I know this was Speedle's case. I'm not trying to replace him.

Alexx: (still coldly) Good. 'Cause I don't need any new friends.

Ryan: All I want is to do a good job.

Alexx: Okay. Tell me what you see.

…and not knowing any better that he was the 'new friend' that Speed wanted her to meet and eventually 'mother' too.

Sensing her still-apparent distress and her maternal urge to care for others, Speed thought that this might just be the prime moment to bring up the topic of his 'new' and secret friend.

"Hey, Alexx?" he began carefully.

"Hmmm?"

"How would you like to have another friend who could use some, uh… mothering?" Speed queried teasingly.

Alexx stopped what she was doing to give Speed a questioning frown, "What do you mean, Timmy?"

"I'm just saying that you're the type of person who cares a lot about people, and I know someone who could use a person like you in their life," Speed explained evasively.

Suspiciously, Alexx asked, "Now, Timmy… What do you have up your sleeve?"

But Speed merely smirked, "Nothing! I just thought you could use a new friend, you know? A new 'baby,' if you will, to take care of."

"Why would I need a new friend when I've got you?" Alexx now asked, confused. "Besides, I already have Horatio, Calleigh, Eric, and some of the lab techs as friends, so why would I need someone new?" As if realizing her question all of a sudden, Alexx stared at Speed for a moment, her hands firmly settling on her hips, "Wait a minute… You're not planning on leaving us, are you, Timmy?"

"No, Alexx… of course not!" Speed only laughed. "I'm not planning to leave you or anybody at all. Really, you have nothing to worry about. Believe me, I'm not going anywhere," he said, pacifying her. "Knowing you and how good you are to me, I just thought that you could do the same with my new friend, who, by the way, is in desperate need of mothering," he explained, trying to butter her up. "Plus, we could all use another friend around here, a fresh face if you will," he added, smirking yet again.

"We?" Alexx asked, raising a curious eyebrow at him.

"Yes, 'we,' as in all of us… including H, Cal, and Eric," Speed clarified.

Alexx shook her head and turned her attention back to her autopsy, "I don't know, Timmy. I'm still not convinced."

At this, Speed sided up next to her, put his arm around her shoulders, and gave her a light squeeze, "Come on, Alexx," he coaxed gently. "Just give him a chance, will you?"

"So, it's a him, is it?" she teased, trying to hold down her own smirk this time.

"Yes, Alexx, he's a young guy, and I'm sure you'll love him," Speed encouraged, adding, "Besides, you could always use another person to 'baby' around here."

Sighing in resignation, Alexx answered, "Alright, Timmy… fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have another friend. So, when do I meet this new friend of yours?"

"Ah! That, my dear coroner, is something that I'm currently working on," Speed answered evasively. "You'll meet him when everyone else does, but yeah… if everything goes according to my plan, then you'll meet him soon enough, and you'll love him too," he winked teasingly. "I promise."

Ryan merely smiled, his lips twisting up in meek understanding, as if to tell Alexx that he could never harbor any hard feelings for something she didn't know.

There was no real harm done…

So, there was nothing to forgive.

She had barely released Ryan when without warning, Calleigh tackled him with a fierce hug of her own, her face already wet with tears. And Ryan found himself in the unexpected position of being the one to offer comfort once more… and empathy for their shared loss.

"I'm so sorry I didn't see it sooner," Calleigh whispered, sniffling. "I never even considered that you might've known Speed, that you might've been one of his friends," she explained. "I was so busy trying to deal with my own grief that I didn't realize you were grieving and hurting too… and no one really knew."

"It's okay, Cal. No one knew because I wanted it that way," Ryan told her softly. "It was always meant to be a secret after Speed died. That's why I've never faulted you for not knowing," he reassured her, smiling faintly when she pulled away to look into his still-glassy eyes.

Still sniffling, Calleigh returned the watery smile and said, "I understand now that you were always meant to be a CSI. You were always meant to be part of the team, Ryan, to be a part of this family. Speed knew that too… and I know he's really proud of you."

Calleigh hugged him once more before releasing him and stepping aside for the red head to have his turn with their youngest criminalist.

Nodding to his boss as he approached, Ryan greeted him first, "Horatio."

"Ryan," the Lieutenant greeted him, nodding back. "I had a rather unexpected visit…" he paused for effect before adding, "…from an old friend."

A diminutive, almost imperceptible smile graced the Lieutenant's face, and Ryan sensed that something must've transpired amongst all of them the previous night, something wonderfully supernatural, something Ryan's anxiously trying to figure out right now.

"I see…" he replied, nodding slowly, uncertainly. "But how did you…?" he started to ask how they knew he'd be there that morning but trailed off in an instant when a sliver of last night's encounter sparked a flashback in his mind…

Giving the younger man another gentle squeeze on his shoulder, Speed, once more, did his best to assuage Ryan's fears and insecurities about being part of the team – the team that he, himself, had come to consider as family.

"Things have gotten better lately, haven't they?" he reminded. "So, trust me when I say that things are going to be even better from now on," he encouraged softly. "You've found your place in the team, Ryan. You don't have to keep proving that to anyone and everyone… or to yourself, for that matter."

"Then why does it feel like every mistake I make's magnified? Why do I still feel like I'm an outsider looking in?" Ryan whispered brokenly, his voice so small, so uncharacteristically insecure, so painfully uncertain, that it caught Speed off guard.

Breathing out slowly, thoughtfully, Speed turned to face his sullen friend, cupping his head in the process and looking straight into wide, disheartened hazel eyes.

"Whether you believe it or not, you are part of the team, Ryan. And, therefore, you are family," he reasoned. "You followed your dream, and now, you are right where you should always be, right where you belong. Don't ever doubt that."

"And the team?" Ryan now queried anxiously.

Speed merely gave him a sly wink before letting him go to resume walking, not bothering to voice an answer to the younger man's query, Ryan turning to follow him not more than two steps later.

Somehow, Ryan sensed that the former CSI had already taken care of his concerns… had taken care of all of them… of him – of everything. It was just like Speed to leave no business unfinished; just like him to make sure that every major detail had been plotted out, carefully covered… even in death.

And suddenly, Ryan understood…

The three watched with interest as realization dawned transparently in the young CSI's eyes. And when he finally met their gazes again, they nodded their heads to affirm in silence that Speed had indeed kept his word to him, visiting his colleagues even in their sleep, and confirming to them finally (at least to Alexx and Calleigh) the truth about their veiled friendship.

Smiling faintly at the three, Ryan knowingly stated more than asked, "Speed told you I'd be here, didn't he?"

"That, he did," Horatio answered, confirming with a smile what Ryan, himself, already knew.

Turning on their heels at last, the five of them started making their way back to the large entrance gates that guarded the cemetery, twisting their way around the line of headstones surrounding Timothy Speedle's gravesite and walking straight down the curvy path that hugged the sequence of rolling hills towards their exit.

And in the vanishing distance, a once-restless soul watched proudly as the team he had always called his family had finally come together to become a unified one:

Horatio, always their suited and fearless leader, walking just a few paces ahead of the pack, sunglasses firmly on his aging but smiling face.

Alexx, the family's mother hen, and Calleigh, a woman who looked out for them like an older, protective sister, walking on either side of the two men, a hand around each of their backs as they trodded along the greens together, Alexx on Ryan's and Calleigh on Eric's, flanking them protectively as they made their way through the quiet field, ready to defend them and their relationship to the rest of the world, even as their hands assured them that they also had their backs.

Eric, standing tall and walking closely, protectively right next to Ryan, their hands joined together in ever-deepening friendship, their fingers entwined perfectly, fiercely, the way two equally intense and fiery lovers share a profound love and sincere respect for each other.

And Ryan, walking confidently for the first time since joining the team, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was right where he belonged: next to Eric, holding his lover's hand securely; between the two women, whom he'd come to consider as mother and sister; and right behind the redheaded man, who knew about his secret all along but respectfully chose to honor his wishes by keeping his knowledge of the young man's relationship with Speed a secret, and who treated Ryan fairly from the very beginning, like a son, even, protecting him when he made serious mistakes that got him into trouble at times and urging him on in the direction he should go.

They were just climbing up the gentle slope of the next hill when Ryan felt a distinct urge to look over his shoulder one last time. He stopped in his tracks abruptly and turned now to look back towards the direction of Speed's place of rest, his eyes landing immediately on something… someone familiar.

Next to them, the two women wordlessly continued trodding along the wavy course towards the entrance, sensing somehow that Ryan (and Eric) needed to fall behind.

Because in the rising expanse between the peaks of the two rolling hills, Ryan caught a glimpse of a lone figure with short, dark hair, ethereal and almost wraithlike in form, standing by the gravesite he'd just visited, wearing that unmistakably scruffy smile on his face, and nodding hearteningly at the young criminalist.

And Ryan knew…

He knew it was him.

"Good-bye, Ryan Wolfe," he heard Speed's voice resonate in his head, whispery soft and almost dying, even as he watched him wave almost invisibly in the distance. "I'll see you again sometime, old friend…" the fast-fading voice said, pausing before adding, "Someday… but not yet," as if to echo the very same words Ryan had spoken earlier when he was reciting his absolute farewell.

And with that, Speed smiled for the last time and waved to Ryan his final good-bye.

"What is it, Ryan?" Eric now asked, halting in turn when he saw his lover stop in his tracks to turn and look back, turning slightly, himself, to look in the direction where Ryan's gaze was drawn.

He saw nothing.

And turning a questioning gaze back towards the younger man, Eric studied his boyish face, that almost-faraway look in his eyes.

"You alright?"

Meeting Eric's stare finally, Ryan shook his head and replied, "No, it's… It's nothing…. I'm alright… I think."

The Cuban watched as a slight frown appeared on the younger man's face, as if he's truly taking the time to consider whether he really was okay. Ryan's eyes were still trained upon the Cuban's, but the older man could see that he wasn't really seeing him. Sensing his lover's uncertainties yet again, Eric gave Ryan's hand another gentle squeeze, which seemed to promptly snap him back to reality as recognition breathed into his eyes once more.

"You sure you're okay, babe?" Eric asked once more, still giving him that same curious stare.

And this time, Ryan slowly returned his gaze with a full-fledged smile, the most genuine, face-splittingly radiant smile Eric had ever seen.

"I'm alright, Eric," Ryan replied at length, and the certainty in his voice was contagious, more tangible than it had ever been. "I'm good," he added, nodding more assuredly this time, as if he was finally believing his own words for once. "Yeah… I'm good."

And with that, Ryan turned on his heels once more, resuming their walk back towards the tall iron gates, Eric bequeathing him with a smile of understanding as he fell into step with his partner, both eventually falling behind the two women who were previously flanking them, knowing that with each step his lover took, that he was finally breaking away, breaking free, and, in perfect peace with himself, saying good-bye.

In the fading distance behind the five, a solitary soul bowed his head wearily, breathing in an awesome sigh of relief, of quiet fulfillment at what he was finally able to accomplish since his premature death, before vanishing into the dazzling brilliance of his overdue rest.

Overhead, the ascending sun peeked high through the clouds for the first time that morning, the beam seemingly shining down radiantly upon the small group of people, highlighting them from their surroundings as they walked their way through death and grief, through trials and unexpected castles that had become their friendships, and through revelations and realizations… together, as a team and as a family.

And glancing up into the bright, clearing sky, Horatio mused out loud, as if to address Eric and Ryan in particular.

"The sun's out, gentlemen," he noted, as if speaking of the sun's optimistic foreshadowing of their lives, of their future together as a family, the smile in his voice unmistakable. "The sun's out, and it's gonna be... a good day."

Hearing the red head utter those words, the rest of the team glanced up briefly towards the sun, their faces smiling as they caught the Lieutenant's unspoken undertones, knowing that things were going to be different from now on; that things were going to be better and stronger between all of them moving forward.

And Ryan smiled even more because he believed for the first time what was being tacitly implied, knowing that their beloved friend was looking down on them from the heavens, watching over them with joy-filled eyes because he had at long last fulfilled what he'd promised long ago before his death.

"You're not sending Eric on a wild goose chase, are you?" she asked him seriously...

"Alexx, you have nothing to worry about," Speed reassured her without answering her question directly. "Eric's date has become one of my very good friends and is someone whom I trust entirely. Trust me when I say that Eric will be with the best company he'd ever been with tonight and that I have a very good feeling about this."

Taking in the sincerity in Speed's eyes, Alexx finally relented, "Okay, Speed. Let's just hope it works."

And Speed merely smiled as a promised thought came to mind, 'It'll work. I'll make it work… even if it's the last thing I do.'

Without a doubt, Speed had finally completed what he wanted and needed to accomplish in the lives of his two dearest and once-stubbornly blind friends.

And for the first time in a long time, the patrol officer-turned-CSI felt amazingly untroubled, felt utterly free – felt wholly found.

Because…

Ryan Wolfe had finally found… home.

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THE END

Hear that? That would be the Plot Penguins' (and mine's!) collective sighs over finishing this fic. Finally! They deserve some yummy feedback, ehrr... I mean, some fish for accomplishing as much, don't you think?

Come on… you know you want to feed them.

A/N: There were quite a few flashbacks in this chapter, but I hope that tied everything together. And what do you know? The penguins actually delivered this story to a close. After months of hard work, this fic is officially over. I'm elated and a bit sad at the same time. I feel like a mother letting go of her oldest child. I hope you guys have enjoyed this story and its prequel as much as I've enjoyed writing and 'agonizing' over it. A 'HUGE THANK YOU!!' to everyone who read this, especially to those who added this story as a fave and who took the time to offer wonderful feedback! You guys have kept me motivated to finish this. I had no idea there were so many Hardy Boys fans out there!

ETA: I do not own the script for the "Hell Night" dialogue between Alexx and Ryan. Credit for this S3 episode dialogue belongs to the talented writers of CSI: Miami.

Be looking for my SMUT-tastically Naughty Penguin Series to be posted (on my homepage only) in the very near future. I've got a sinfully delicious Eric/Ryan fic coming soon!