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Horatio had been watching the interaction between Ryan and his other CSI for several days now. Once everyone had learned what Ryan had done with the evidence on the last case they started treating him like an outsider. Horatio didn't really blame the other CSI for feeling this way toward Ryan, but he also didn't think they were being very fair either. Ryan had tried to tell them why he had done it, but his explanations only fell on deaf ears. Horatio knew that eventually everyone would come around and begin to understand why he did what he had done, but until then he feared Ryan's presence would start to damage the very soul of the team. He had finally decided to step in to prevent this from happening and was on his way to talk to Ryan about it.

"Mr. Wolfe, a word please". Horatio had stopped at the door of the locker room blocking the exit.

"H, what is it?" Ryan didn't like the tone inHoratio's voice and figured this wasn't going to be anything he wanted to hear.

"I've been asked to temporarily reassign one of my CSI to another department and I have chosen you". Horatio had decided not to tell Ryan the real reason he was chosen, as this would only make it harder on him. Horatio also had no intentions of telling Ryan that the request had not actually come from someone else, but was in fact all his idea.

When Ryan heard this, he wasn't surprised. The way everyone was treating him lately, he knew if would only be a matter of time before they asked him to leave. "Why? Does this have anything to do with the last case?

"I can assure you it has nothing to do with your last case. I just thought this would be a good experience for you". Horatio had expected some resistance from Ryan.

"H, do I get any say in this? I was just heading out to a new case before you stopped me". Ryan didn't really think he could talk his way out of this, but he had to try. He didn't want to leave the team because he feared that this time he would not be able to come back.

"The decision has been made Mr. Wolfe and is not up for negotiation. As for the case you were called to I will take care of it". He chose this moment to hand Ryan some paperwork pertaining to the reassignment. "Here is everything you will need for your new department, they will be expecting you later today Mr. Wolfe so I suggest you get going".

"Well are you going to at least tell me which department I am being reassigned to?" Ryan was expecting to have to go back to patrol and he couldn't hide the disappointment on his face.

"You are being reassigned to the cold case division". Horatio saw Ryan's expression change when he told him what department he was being assigned to. He wondered where Ryan had thought he was going.

Ryan had decided to accept his new assignment for what it was worth and didn't ask Horatio any further questions. He didn't know if he would ever be coming back to Horatio's team but he was relieved that he was not being asked to go back on patrol.

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As Ryan made his way to his new department he realized that this was probably for the best. His teammates had been doing everything they could to avoid working with him, so he could understand why Horatio had chosen him to go. Boy, he had really screwed up with this last case, but when he tried to explain they had all looked the other way. He always knew he had never really been a true member of the team, but he had hoped that once they worked with him for awhile it would have made them realize how valuable he was to the team. Now he would never get the chance. Well he would have to make the most of things in this new department and hope for the best.

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Author's note: I'm sorry this first chapter was so short, but I wanted to at least get this story started. I know that I won't be updating this story as often as I may have done with my other story, but I will certainly try. I hope you enjoyed chapter 1 and are able to stick around for chapter 2.