Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Common Ground ❯ Chapter 8
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: NeekerBreeker 
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Police | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.06.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 438 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Police | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.06.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 438 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter Eight
Ryou glanced at his watch as he ran, tilting it in order to see the time in the darkness of the alley. Dee had been without support for six minutes. It was a matter of seconds now, and Ryou was acutely aware of it each step he took. It was never a good thing to be separated from your partner, but in a free-flying case like this... Oh, this wouldn't end well, he knew it. He didn't even look back at the young man he had just knocked out; no matter if one or two of Lance's men got away if they could catch the man himself. This case had just been made personal, and not just because of Drake. The thought of not being able to be there for Dee because a few punks had showed up to act tough made him grit his teeth.
Following the wall of the storage building, Ryou ran forward, his thoughts flashing from one worst case scenario to another. He was doing his best to be as silent as he could, but soon found out there was no need to tip-toe. People were shouting right on the other side of the building, and the sound echoed off the rusted tin walls. Ryou recognized Dee's voice now; he was talking about making a deal. Ryou willed himself to ignore the sound of his own heart pounding and concentrate on Dee's voice, but it was cut off by the sound of gunfire. Ryou's heart jumped into his throat.
He halted at the corner of the building, and after a quick intake of breath, spun around it, gun ready. The moment Ryou caught sight of the van and the gun pointed at the kneeling Dee, he fired at the hand that was holding the gun. It was a good shot, too, considering his limited view, but he didn't stay and marvel on it. He retreated to the safety of the shadows, but raised his gun again when another gunshot echoed in the closed space. The sound was different - it came from somewhere above him. Thank goodness, JJ was still in action. They were outnumbered until the backup would arrive.
"Gimme that!" said a snappy male voice, and Ryou heard JJ shoot again. A short, ragged cry of pain followed the sound. With any luck, that was Lance.
Deciding he would risk it, Ryou took a big step sideways, so that he came into the range of light, and pointed his gun steadily forward. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the approaching sirens. His heart was hammering, but it was probably just the running.
The scene wasn't quite what he had expected. There was a van, still with its motor running, almost entirely backed out of the storage building. The van's backdoors were open and Ryou quickly counted five people inside, two down. Dee had hopped back on his feet, but Ryou noted with worry that his right pant leg was torn and glistening with fresh blood. He stood firmly, though, and was currently putting away his cell and pointing his gun at the driver, ordering him to get out and spread 'em. At Dee's feet, there was an unmoving body, a bundle of a human being.
Ryou turned his attention to the three people in the car, two of whom had already raised their hands in defeat. None of them looked to be over thirty; they had a rather spooked look about them. "This is NYPD; you can't escape, this area is surrounded! Put your guns down and kick them over to me! Do it now! Exit the vehicle!"
Ryou herded the only moderately resisting men to Dee, who was searching through the driver's pockets.
Dee looked at him as he pulled out a small pistol from under the driver's jacket. "You okay?" he asked quickly.
Ryou nodded. "Sorry I'm late. I ran into some friends."
Dee shoved the man among the others, and ordered with a strained voice, "Put your hands against the wall! Oh yes, smart boy, that means you too!" He glanced back at Ryou. "I'll take care of this, you go check on Drake."
"Is he inside?"
"The van," Dee said, nodding in the direction with his head. When their eyes met, there was stern worry in Dee's gaze. "For fuck's sake, go!"
Drake was inside the van? That meant one of the unmoving people he had seen inside had been Drake. Oh, hell!
Ryou ran over to the van and went inside. Lying on the floor, unmoving, with his eyes open and unseeing, was a blonde man whom Ryou recognized from the picture JJ had shown him: Thomas Lance, their suspect. He looked to be dead. Next to him, lying on his side, was Drake. His coat and shirt were bloody; he was bleeding from a bullet wound on the left side of his chest. His ragged, uneven breath was the only sound in the closed space. His eyes were open and still clear, and they focused on Ryou as he approached.
"Drake?" Ryou asked, quickly checking if there were other injuries. For the love of Christ, one bullet was more than enough. His hand met something wet at Drake's back, and looking at the blood spreading on the light fabric of the coat, Ryou realized that the bullet must've gone straight through him. Drake let out a strangled moan, and Ryou quickly removed his hand.
"Hurts," Drake managed in a strangled voice. "Fucking... hurts."
Ryou saw blood on his teeth. He swallowed. That meant the bullet had probably pierced his lung. A lump settled in his throat as he desperately scanned the car for something to bind the wound with. The dark blood didn't stop flowing, and he couldn't do much good with just his hands. "It's okay, Drake, we'll get you to a hospital. Don't worry, okay? Okay, Drake?" He didn't know who he was convincing, himself or Drake. Ryou knew what bloody teeth usually meant.
Seeing that there was nothing usable in the car and the nearest first aid kit was in their car about two blocks away, Ryou simply took off his coat and, knowing that wool would help at least a little, pressed the sleeve against the wound.
Drake coughed; a nasty, wheezing sound. Then he gasped a few times and his eyes slipped shut.
"Oh shit, no, don't die on me," Ryou mumbled frantically, and checked his pulse, leaving two bloody fingermarks on Drake's skin. He found it easily, and sighed in relief. In retrospect, it was probably better if Drake was unconscious; the bullet wound must've hurt like hell.
Ryou remembered their suspect and reached over to check Lance's pulse with his other hand. To his amazement, he found a strong pulse. Lance had a bullet wound in his chest as well, only a little lower, and it didn't seem to bleed at all. It was obvious neither one of the shot men was going to survive long if they didn't get the ambulance here ASAP, though.
"Dee!" he yelled, keeping his eyes on Drake's pale face. "Dee, have you called the ambulance?"
How had this happened? Ryou hadn't heard anyone shoot but JJ. Perhaps Lance's people had silencers, but that didn't explain why both Drake and Lance were shot. He pushed the unanswered questions aside and made sure Lance could breathe properly by pushing him over to his side with his one free hand.
Amidst the shuffling, he didn't hear JJ enter the van. Ryou turned around and jumped a little at the sight of him. JJ's eyes were huge and white in the twilight and filled with horror.
"Drake," JJ demanded, "How's Drake?"
Ryou frowned and said, "He's alive." It sounded less than convincing.
A look of despair flashed on JJ's face, and he pushed Ryou out of his way, taking his place at Drake's side. The sleeve of the coat was already turning dark from the blood. Ryou was relieved to leave the task to JJ, he was ashamed to admit.
He jumped out of the van and turned his gaze at Dee. "Dee, did you call the ambulance?"
"It's on its way," Dee replied, still pointing his gun at the four people standing against the wall. "I told the 83rd Precinct we have a detective down."
As soon as he had said it, a patrol car sped into the alley, and two uniforms jumped out. Another car appeared at the other end of the alley. The sound of sirens echoed everywhere. It calmed Ryou; they were no longer alone on the case. The uniforms quickly started cuffing the arrested men, and Dee put his gun back into holster and came over to Ryou. He was walking with an obvious limp now, trying to take weight off his right foot.
"That man over there," Ryou said, pointing at the unmoving body on the ground, "is he dead?"
Dee nodded. "Six bullets to the chest, no vest. You'd think it's a relief when they kill their own for ya, but it's just fuckin' dirty." He made a face and looked away, muttering under his breath.
An uniform came to them and they explained the situation the best they could. When the woman turned away to give instructions to other cops that had just showed up, Ryou realized that Dee and him had both been unconsciously covering up for each other and JJ. The details had better stay under wraps until they had finished their cover story. Christ, it had been hard enough to think of one before, but what would they do now that Drake was down? They were screwed. Ryou glanced at the van, noticing that JJ still hadn't come out.
Dee followed his gaze. "How is he?"
Ryou looked to the ground and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know, Dee, I--"
"Bad." Dee sighed a little and ran his hand through his hair. "Isn't it?"
"I just hope the ambulance will get here in time. You've hurt your leg." He gestured at the torn pant leg, and then looked up into Dee's eyes, to keep him focused and to know if he was lying.
"Nah, it's just scraped."
"Dee."
"Okay, it hurts like a bitch. There was broken glass on the ground where I dove down, fuck it. That's the last time I fake taking a bullet."
Ryou winced. "When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?"
"I don't KNOW when was the last time I had a fucking tetanus shot!" Dee snapped, making Ryou jump a little. Dee wetted his lips and looked around, nervously, desperately.
*I don't need this,* was Ryou's first thought as he stood there, blood of a colleague on his clothes and about to get sacked for this completely insane stunt they had just pulled. *I really don't need one of Dee's temper tantrums right now.* Deep down, he knew they were both just stressed, but he had to fight to not snap back. There were limits to how much he could take, and Ryou had been in the red since the moment he had seen Drake's eyes slip shut.
While they stood there in mutual distress, an ambulance backed into the alley from the dockside. It was getting crowded, what with all the uniforms running around, trying to make sense of the situation. Ryou glanced over at the van, ready to go there and help, but he saw JJ had already jumped into action and was currently talking with the paramedics.
"Hey." Dee came close to Ryou, took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
Ryou squeezed his arm assuringly. "I'm sending you to the hospital with Drake and Lance."
"It's not--"
Ryou looked Dee in the eyes and took a firmer grip on his arm. "We'll handle the rest. You need to have that leg checked. Keep an eye on Drake, okay?"
Dee gave up with a little sigh, shrugged and gave him a quick kiss that managed to make Ryou smile a little, despite everything. Ryou gently pushed Dee to the direction of the paramedics, who were currently carrying Lance out of the van. Ryou showed them the way to the shot young man who was still lying on the ground, unheeded and unnoticed. Then Ryou allowed himself a minute to just breathe and feel like he had done his best while others ran to and fro around him.
He saw JJ talking with the uniforms who had arrived first. When the paramedics started closing the ambulance doors, JJ glanced up and went to stop them. Ryou ran over to grab his shoulder. "JJ, let them go."
JJ glanced at him, eyes still wide and horrified but otherwise calm. There was blood on his neck and cheek that wasn't his, although it looked like he had tried to wipe it off.
Ryou nodded okay to the paramedics, who banged the doors shut and sped away from the alley. Then he turned back to the quietly waiting JJ. "Even if you went with them, they wouldn't let you see him for hours yet. Besides, they're expecting us to return to Brooklyn to wrap things up." He cocked his head a little, trying to read JJ's blank face. "If you're feeling up to it."
JJ nodded swiftly. "Yeah. You're right, senpai. Let's go."
Ryou frowned. "You're sure?"
JJ nodded again, and suddenly Ryou realized that this was exactly how he himself would've reacted if Dee had been shot and there was nothing he could do. JJ was trying to hold himself together, and concentrating on matters at hand was the best way to go at it. Ryou could understand that. He forced himself into action, and showed JJ the way to the car.
***
After some hesitation, Ryou let JJ drive. They headed first to the station, so that JJ could slip the rifle back in its place and they could take a little breather, maybe change their clothes. Ryou was worried about what Chief would have to say, but then he realized that it was almost nine o'clock; Chief would've gone home for today. That would at least give them some time to get their plan's final stage over and done with: they'd have to write the report without mentioning Drake's kidnapping. Ryou frowned as he thought about it. He wondered if they could pull it off. It wouldn't be easy to act like it had never happened. He knew Dee at least had a big mouth, and JJ, well, JJ…
He glanced at JJ. The younger detective was keeping his eyes firmly on the road ahead.
"He will be okay, JJ," Ryou said rather pointlessly, feeling like he had to say something to make JJ feel better.
JJ frowned and nodded, but didn't say anything. From him, this kind of silence was unnerving. Ryou turned his gaze back to the road, too.
When they arrived at the station, it was bustling with the usual liveliness that the change in shifts spurred. The night shift people were at the vending machine, getting their coffees. Ryou pushed his way through them, and waved goodbye to Ted, who was just walking out with his coat over his shoulder and a wide, cheerful grin on his face. It reminded Ryou that he hadn't originally planned on doing double shifts today, since Bicky was over at Cal's and there was a rare peace and quiet in Ryou and Dee's new apartment. Well, it looked like it couldn't be helped now. They had to make sure everything would go according to their plan the next day, when Chief came back to work. That meant writing the reports carefully and refining their cover-up stories. In other words, smart lying, which Ryou really didn't like to think about.
"I'll be right back," JJ said and disappeared with the sports bag.
Ryou nodded and called the crime scene in Brooklyn. Things were under control there; the officers just needed them to take a look at the body, talk to a couple of gang members and tell the beat cops what the hell was going on. The usual filler job. Then Ryou went to clean up a little. The drying blood was off-putting, especially if they'd have to speak to witnesses. Good thing the night was so warm; he realized belatedly that he had left his coat with Drake.
JJ came back and they worked on the report for a while, longer than Ryou had expected. They had hardly exchanged a word as they had both typed and harbored their own thoughts. In the end, they headed off without filling out half of the blank spots in their cover story. Ryou glanced at JJ as they walked, and could swear JJ was gritting his teeth. The silence was really getting to him now. It was the kind of silence that tended to end messily, with someone getting hurt.
Not wanting to risk JJ having a fit in the middle of night-time traffic, Ryou walked straight to the driver's side. "Here, let me drive for a change."
JJ frowned. "I'm all right, senpai."
"JJ, you're shook up, and I'm driving." Ryou reached out his hand.
"Fine, don't trust me," JJ said and shrugged stiffly, throwing him the keys and getting into the car.
That one stung. Where had it come from? "JJ, if I didn't trust you, I wouldn't break regulations just so you can get yourself a big gun and shoot at people." One look at JJ confirmed that had been entirely the wrong thing to say. That's it; he would give up on trying to crack jokes. They tended to fall flat.
"Maybe you shouldn't. Oh, I don't know." JJ rubbed his eyes and sighed, seeming to suddenly come back to life. "Sorry, senpai. That was uncalled for."
"Don't worry about it."
"Right. We have lots of other things to worry about. I can explain the rifle disappearing for a while, but how are we going to explain us being at the crime scene? We're not pulling the hunch card again, are we?"
Ryou stopped in the traffic lights, even though he knew he could've made it before the light went red. He was in no hurry to get to Brooklyn for a mind-numbing check-up. "Yeah, and how are we going to explain Drake? Actually, I'm not quite clear on that myself. What happened, did you see? Did they use silencers?"
JJ was quiet for a short while. Neon lights flowed through the car, coloring the silence. When JJ answered, his voice was soft. "That's going to be tough to explain. You see, senpai, both him and Lance were shot with the same rifle."
Things clicked into place in Ryou's head in one chilling second. "JJ, do you mean you..."
"Yes." JJ looked out of the window. For a moment, he seemed to shrink away. "I screwed up. He moved, I didn't see... I screwed up."
"But... JJ, you've never missed a single shot in your life, as far as I know! There must've been something--"
"Look, senpai, I *know* what happened. And what happened was this: I was aiming at Lance, and, and somehow, I managed to hit Drake, as well. It all happened too fast, I - I couldn't --" JJ took a deep breath, and his voice quickly gained confidence as he continued. "Well, that's neither here nor there, not now. The report. We have to... focus on what *didn't* really happen."
Since his mind apparently worked in similar ways to JJ's, Ryou had already constructed a sketch of a plan about Lance's goons using stolen police guns, but *damn*. He hadn't expected this. Him thinking up a cover story for a shooting of his colleague? JJ missing a shot and firing at Drake? Everything seemed to have gone topsy-turvy since that morning. He'd have to call Dee later. If Dee had made up with Nurse Emily and bought her flowers in the meantime, Ryou could be sure this was all a crazy dream.
When they reached Brooklyn, the parking lot had quieted down and was now empty, dark and somewhat sad. Uniforms were talking to the people who lived in the nearby houses, none of whom had seen or heard anything, naturally. Some would have to be taken to the station and carefully coaxed to open up if they wanted details. Ryou could almost feel the job hovering over him. JJ went over to check the scene of the murder, and was already chatting eagerly with the uniforms before he got to the alley. He seemed to have stepped on the accelerator and was now absolutely unstoppable; acting so he wouldn't have to think. Ryou knew that feeling well enough.
Ryou walked through the scattered pieces of broken glass and general wreckage, thinking of what kind of a person would stage this, just to make a distraction. He gritted his teeth. He would see Lance proven guilty, for the sake of the kids and officers who had been just walkers-on in the plan and were now dead. Given the scarce hard evidence they had gathered, it would not be easy to take Lance down. He could afford a battalion of lawyers, and could make the case as difficult and prolonged as he wanted. They had witnesses, but the only one who had recognized Lance was Tandi Borland, who had been arrested for possession of drugs so many times she must've brought her own pillow to the cell. Her testimony wouldn't be taken seriously. As a matter of fact, without the knife, their case would be on really flimsy ground.
Maybe it had been all worth it, then.
"Excuse me, detective?"
Ryou turned around to see a blonde woman in her forties, one of the uniforms whom he had helped take a difficult gang member in earlier.
The woman gave him a little smile, clearly remembering him. "The witnesses are on their way to the station right now, if you want to talk to them. I think we're pretty much done here. We'll call you if we find anything else, but I think the crew is going to wait until it's light again, anyway, so there's really no need to stand around here."
*She must've noticed how tired I look,* Ryou thought.
The surprisingly familiar tone made him feel better, and he smiled back. "That's good to hear. Then I guess I'll just pick up my colleague and go."
Before he went to inform JJ, however, Ryou called Dee. He had to know what was going on with Drake.
"Hey," Dee answered the phone, in a sleepy voice.
"Hey yourself. You sound like I woke you up." Ryou breathed in the cool night air, wondering what time it was. His own eyelids were starting to feel heavy. "What's going on?"
"Nothing much. I was dozing off; good thing you called. The doc is taking forever."
"Got your foot checked?"
"Yes, Mom. I was just waiting for someone to come back and tell me what's going on with Drake. I think they're still operating on him or something. Taking friggin' forever..."
Ryou could hear the worry in Dee's voice, even through the sleepiness and the deceptively light tone. He turned to look at JJ, and jumped a little when he saw that JJ was standing only a step away. The younger detective's eyes were so wide and demanding they were threatening to fall out of their sockets. "Listen, Dee, here's what we'll do. I'm sending JJ over there."
"Love you too," Dee quipped, but didn't sound particularly distressed.
"Someone has to finish the report," Ryou continued, speaking as much to JJ as to Dee, "so I'm heading back to the station while I'm still up and about. There are some witnesses from the Brooklyn scene that need to be questioned, but I'll handle them. We can switch in a few hours when I can no longer keep my eyes open. That report has to be on Chief's desk tomorrow morning, readable, double-checked and written according to our story." Ryou took a deep breath. "If we can pull it off, we are clear."
JJ nodded curtly at Ryou's plan. "I can catch the subway, senpai. I'll be at the hospital more quickly than by car." He was itching to go, and Ryou didn't have the heart to keep him for a minute longer. He nodded okay, and JJ was on his way before Ryou could say a word.
"Ryou?" Dee called, drawing his partner's attention back to him. "I took a good nap before so I'm a-okay for another couple of hours. How about you call me when you get too tired, and I'll come and pick up where you've left it?"
"Sounds good. And you can alert JJ to come finish up when you're nodding off."
"We're gonna make it," Dee said assuredly, "no sweat."
"Who said we wouldn't?" Ryou asked, mildly amused.
"Oh, don't give me that. You hate this plan. You don't think it's gonna work for a second. But tell you what; I think you overestimate Chief Teddy. Believe me, I've survived far dumber schemes."
Ryou shook his head and felt a tug at the corners of his mouth, wondering how he had ever gotten by without Dee's unquenchable belief that ultimately, craziness paid off. "Let's hope so. And let's hope that Drake survives it, too."
Dee's tone grew more serious, but not any less convinced. "He will. Of course he will."
Borrowing faith, Ryou went back to the car and drove to the station. The lies he spent the next two hours writing seemed whiter by the minute. Dee called and ushered him to go home and get some sleep, and Ryou gratefully obliged. He was so tired when he finally reached their apartment that he didn't even worry about next morning, just kicked off his shoes and fell onto the couch.
***
Ryou woke up to the pleasant smell of coffee and toast. He scrambled up, feeling about as disarrayed as a Picasso painting, and went to the kitchen, taking off his sweaty shirt in the process and tossing it over to the laundry bin.
Dee was sitting at the table in his pajama pants, drinking coffee. He looked up and smiled cheerfully when Ryou approached. The dark lines under his eyes told that the perkiness was due to the caffeine and nothing else, however. "Morning. No offence, darlin', but you look just about as shitty as I'm feeling."
Ryou helped himself to the coffee, idly noticing that the clock on the wall said 8:12. He hoped Bicky remembered he was supposed to go speak with his guidance counselor today. Ryou had meant to call and remind him, but it was no wonder that he hadn't gotten around to it. Well, Bicky had to learn to take responsibility anyway. It wouldn't do to pamper him to think Ryou would always be there to take care of things for him. "Mm, no, I'm fine. But I have to call Bicky before we head to the station."
Dee squinted and made a face. "Do *not* remind me. It had to be past four when I got home."
The coffee was really good; breakfast was Dee's specialty. "I wonder when JJ got to go home, then. One thing is for sure, we're not waking him up."
Dee made a nonchalant noise in his throat and finished his toast. "He looked about ready to work for another twelve hours when he came to the station. Can't believe the energy levels on that guy."
"He's dying of worry, can't you tell?" Ryou sighed a little. "Did you call the hospital?"
"I didn't have to. JJ had milked the doctors for every tidbit they had to offer, I bet. I didn't stick around and repeat the process with him since I was beat. But looks like Drake pulled through the operation just fine and is now sleeping." Dee smiled a little, genuinely this time.
Ryou let out the breath he had been holding. "Oh, that's so good to hear. Truly. When I saw him cough up blood--"
"Well, it was a close call, from what I could overhear."
"Good thing for JJ, too. I wouldn't want to think how he'd take it if Drake died of his shot."
Dee raised his eyebrow, but didn't seem very surprised at all.
"JJ hit him by accident," Ryou explained, although he was beginning to think that he didn't have to. "He said Drake got into the way of his shot when he was bringing Lance down."
Dee nodded slowly. "I thought that's what happened. I saw Drake elbow at Lance. He practically threw himself in the way of his bullet. Saved my life, too, probably."
Ryou looked at Dee. His voice had become choked at the end of the sentence. Sure enough, the deep green eyes were hazy and full of emotion. Ryou reached over and squeezed Dee's hand, firmly and reassuringly. Dee raised their entwined hands to his mouth and closed his eyes for a second. His breath was warm on Ryou's hand, but he didn't kiss it.
"Damn good he made it," Ryou said quietly.
*And damn, damn good you made it, too,* he thought, but knew he didn't have to say it out loud.
Dee nodded. "Would've kicked his ass if he hadn't."
They spent a minute wallowing in sweet relief. Outside, the spring sun was shining, bright and clear.
Fueled by another potful of coffee and determination to finish what they had started, Ryou and Dee made their way to the station. They didn't even have to look for Chief, as he was in the entrance hall, buying a Twix bar.
"Ah, you two," he called, and gave them a toothy grin, "around when I need you, for once."
"Sir," Ryou said and nodded, waiting for the verdict. Beside him, Dee was moving nervously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
The chief patted Ryou on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "I got your report. Looks like it turned out to be a close call despite my best efforts, eh? I swear, we'll be sorting this out for a good two weeks at least. How's Parker, for starters?"
"He's getting better," Dee put in, "from what JJ told me, he pulled through just fine. Lance, too."
Chief nodded. "Well, that's good." He sighed heavily. "One of my men is down, one is - apparently - AWOL, and I'm stuck with you two. What do you suppose I should do with you?"
"JJ will be here shortly," Ryou began, "he's just--"
Chief made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Ah, save it, Randy. I don't have the time to hash this out with you now, anyway. The phone's been ringing all morning. Can't you lamebrains arrest people with fewer lawyers?"
Dee snickered. "Doing our best, Chief."
"All right, you're dismissed. I don't want to see your scrawny asses here until Monday, you've given me enough trouble for the week." Chief bit into the Twix bar. "Well, what are you staring at? Go on, get lost! And you can tell Addams the same when you see him!"
Ryou's face broke into a smile. "Thank you, sir." He turned and followed Dee, who was already halfway out of the door.
"I always tell you he's a nice guy underneath it all," Ryou couldn't help pointing out to Dee.
Dee threw the car door open and climbed onto the passenger seat. He didn't risk trying to drive with his injured foot, although he claimed the foot had only itched since he had gotten it treated. "The tanuki *has* his moments. You wanna go check on Drake, or straight home to bed?"
"Well, the hospital's not that far out of the way. I don't think they'll let us see him yet, but we could try." Ryou already knew Dee thought the same.
The hospital was alight with the late morning sun and surprisingly quiet as they walked through the doors. Ryou went to ask a nurse about Drake's room number, but Dee caught his arm and pointed at the stairs. Ryou noticed the way he leaned against the wall, a bit too heavily for a mere laid-back gesture.
"Up to the third floor and then to the left, according to what JJ told me."
"All right," Ryou said. "Why don't you try and find the doctor in charge and I'll go see if he's awake."
Dee nodded reluctantly, obviously noticing the way Ryou looked at his leg. "Meet you there."
Ryou hopped up the stairs, almost colliding with a nurse who was hurrying down. He apologized and went on, thinking how much he needed a good night's sleep.
To Ryou's surprise, he saw a familiar figure slumped on a chair, next to the door of Drake's room. JJ was snuggled into the chair in the manner of someone who is capable of sleeping comfortably anywhere. His hair pointed in every direction, and he was wearing the same clothes as the night before, with some dried blood still on his sleeves. He had taken his shoes off, though; they were placed neatly under the chair, an amusing contrast to their owner, who looked a mess, if peaceful in his sleep.
Hadn't he gone home at all? Ryou shook his head and sighed, feeling like a babysitter when he shook JJ's shoulder carefully.
JJ woke up with a start, his eyes opening wide immediately as if he had been just playing possum. "Yes?" he said, in a sleep-slurred voice.
"Hi," Ryou said as JJ straightened his back and stretched his arms, quickly and nervously. "You crazy kid, didn't you go home to sleep at all?"
"Didn't mean to sleep that long," JJ muttered, ignoring Ryou's question. He checked his wrist watch and sighed. "Well, maybe an hour didn't hurt. Do we have to go to the station now, senpai?"
Ryou sat on the chair next to JJ's, looking at him a bit warily. There was nervous electricity in JJ's manner; something Ryou had never seen before. He had always taken JJ for a pretty open, never-holding-back kind of guy. Now it seemed like he was holding back so violently he would soon implode. "No, the chief gave us a long weekend. I think we made it through just fine. Did you manage to see Drake?"
JJ nodded, looking at his toes. "He's sleeping. Lost a lot of blood. My bullet scraped his lung but at least it went clean through. If it had stayed in… Well, I'm just glad it didn't." He took a shuddery breath, and suddenly shot onto his feet. "Oh, right. I was supposed to ask the doctor how Drake's doing. Have you seen him? A short Chinese man? Wears little round glasses?"
Frowning, Ryou stood up as well and took firm hold of JJ's shoulders, pushing him back down onto the chair. "JJ, *sit down*. Jesus, you're worked up. Just breathe a while, okay?" He sat down next to the younger detective.
"Well, how am I supposed to be, then?" JJ asked sharply, raising his voice. He looked at Ryou with desperate, sleep-deprived eyes. "My partner just about died because of me. I'm supposed to watch *my* breathing when I all but blew a hole in his lung?"
"Is that what you really think happened?" Ryou found himself raising his voice, as well. He needed to get through to JJ. This was going beyond mere worry for a partner; JJ wasn't easy to get this stirred up. "You were shooting to bring down a cold-blooded maniac of a serial killer. It was Drake who moved in the way of your shot. You never aimed at him."
"No, no, because..." JJ leaned his forehead on his fisted hands and swallowed a few times before continuing in a strangled voice. "I had no choice, I had to, had to do it, it was a shoot or get shot situation. Except it wasn't me who was going to be shot, it was him. So I shot him…" JJ's eyes widened in bewilderment and he shook his head. "I shot him!"
JJ didn't flinch when Ryou gripped his shoulder, trying to shake him to his senses. "Take it easy now, JJ. Take it easy. You did what you had to do."
JJ pressed his hands to his eyes. He swallowed a sob, but the next one escaped him. "I shot him."
"You've been working almost thirty hours straight. You need some rest; trust me, it'll all look different after a good nap." Ryou sighed, feeling for JJ. He wrapped his arm round JJ's shoulders, letting him know he was not alone. He waited for JJ to slowly catch his breath and calm down again.
Ryou saw Dee approach them from the elevator. Dee raised his eyebrows when he noticed JJ, still slumped in his chair. Ryou patted JJ's back reassuringly, then stood up and came to Dee.
"I talked with the doc," Dee said, glancing at JJ, who hadn't reacted to his arrival at all. "He'll be up in a minute."
Ryou nodded. "What did he say?"
Dee ran a hand through his hair and suppressed a yawn. "The same, that Drake will be just fine. What else could he say when half of the damn squad is here, mad with worry? He said Drake might wake up in a few hours, but he'll be really buzzed with the meds and all, so we should probably come back later." Dee's mouth twisted in a strange half-smile and he turned to JJ. "Oh, and he told me that since they don't have any beds to spare, we'd have to take our colleague home. What the hell are you doing here, anyway? Go home and get some sleep, you nut."
JJ shook his head, still not looking at him. "I couldn't, senpai. I had to do at least *something* for Drake, so I came here. I really don't know why. I just couldn't be still."
His quiet, resigned tone bothered Ryou. He had seen JJ hurt before, and in his experience, JJ was good at venting everything out and being done with it. Maybe it made all the difference that he had caused hurt to someone else. Maybe it made all the difference that the someone else had been Drake. Ryou bit his lip lightly, trying to find something to say that would snap JJ out of his helplessness.
"When have you ever been able to be still?" Dee snorted, but his voice was light and almost gentle.
Oddly, the rhetorical question seemed to stir something in JJ. He finally raised his head and looked up at Dee as if he only then realized that he was there. And at the first hopeful gleam in JJ's eyes, it suddenly dawned on Ryou what he must do to make good of things.
Ryou pulled Dee a couple of steps away, just out of JJ's hearing range. Then he turned to meet Dee's questioning eyes. He forced resolve into his voice. It wasn't difficult; he believed in what he was doing. "Dee? You need to speak with JJ."
Dee stared at him. "What?"
"He listens to you. You'll get through to him without even trying. You know I'm right."
Ryou watched the expression on Dee's face flicker from disbelieving to a bit uncomfortable. "But what can I say to him?"
"Well, consider it the chance you've been wanting for a long time. Finally you can tell JJ whatever you want, and he'll listen. Right?" Ryou raised his other eyebrow questioningly. Then he lowered his voice and glanced quickly at JJ, who was staring into space. "Just snap him out of that guilt trip. It's not like him and I'm getting worried."
Dee nodded and sighed, looking at his feet.
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay. We'll go to the cafeteria; I need another coffee for this." Dee looked up with a wry look on his face. "You owe me."
"I know. Put it on my tab." Ryou patted his shoulder. "Just go."
Ryou watched Dee coax JJ to get up and follow him downstairs. To his relief, a familiar light shone in JJ's eyes as he straightened his clothes and nodded, walking after Dee. Ryou took a deep breath and let it out slowly, sinking down on one of the stairs. He let his head drop back, feeling like he could fall asleep there and then.
He didn't know how much time had passed - maybe ten minutes - when he felt someone shake his shoulder, and his eyes snapped open.
A balding, bespectacled oriental-looking man in a white doctor's coat was leaning over him, smiling patiently. "You are here about Detective Parker, I take it?"
Ryou quickly got back on his feet, adjusting his clothes. "Yes. You met my partner, right? He told me everything."
The man extended his hand. "I'm Dr. Cheung. I just checked on your colleague and he's awake. Normally, I would not let you in yet, but since you have been waiting all night, I could look the other way for a minute. I can't let you stay too long, though; he still needs rest."
Ryou nodded, thankful, but too tired and busy with trying to digest this new information to find a way to convey it. "Oh... all right. Can I... just go in now?"
"Yes," Dr. Cheung said and nodded, still smiling. "Are you his partner? He was asking for his partner when I spoke with him."
Ryou looked at the stairway. "Uh, his partner is still here. He'll be up in a moment. Thank you," he then added awkwardly, suppressing a massive yawn as he went to the door.
Ryou found Drake lying on the bed closest to the big window. Sunlight flickered through in small rays, making the sparse hospital room come alive and look warmer. There was an IV running from Drake's arm. He looked pale and, amusingly enough, exactly as sleep-deprived as Ryou was sure he must've looked himself. He turned his head when Ryou took a chair from the corner and sat down next to him.
"Hey," he said in a raspy whisper, and smiled tiredly. "Where's the harps?"
"You must be feeling pretty good if you can make jokes, Drake. Or is it just the medication talking?" Ryou smiled back. "Glad to see you're okay, pal. You really gave us a scare there."
"Indeed, you were truly lucky, detective Parker," Dr. Cheung piped in. "I've never seen a bullet go through anyone that smoothly. It caused no internal bleeding to speak of, and missed all vital organs. It was either a very, very lucky break, or a brilliantly aimed shot."
Ryou couldn't help the wide smile that spread on his face. Drake being exceptionally lucky; now that was a first.
Drake frowned a bit and wetted his lips. "Can you... can you tell me what happened? I'm a little hazy on the details. Like who the hell shot me? I didn't see... anyone."
Ryou saw the doctor nod at him and leave the room, and he smiled at the man. Then he turned back to Drake, sighing a bit. This was the second time he was telling the story that day and he didn't like it one bit. He leaned his elbows on his knees and gathered his thoughts for a second before looking up at Drake.
"JJ shot at you by accident, Drake. We had him aiming at Lance from the rooftop."
Drake stared at him with a look of total incomprehension. "JJ?" he rasped.
"Yeah. He was aiming at Lance, like I said. You moved to stop Lance from shooting at Dee, but in doing so--"
"--I screwed up his shot. Okay," Drake whispered, nodding. He laughed a little, dryly. "Jeez, man... I... JJ shot me? And I still live? Maybe my luck... is changing."
"Speaking of JJ, though, he's really upset about all this. From what I can tell, he's blaming himself for shooting at you. He was going to pieces under my very nose. It honestly scared me. Do you know why he had such a strong reaction to all this?" Ryou asked, frowning a bit.
Drake was silent for a while, pondering over something. "I might," he finally said.
"Beside the obvious, I mean," Ryou said, trying to lighten up both himself and Drake. He smiled as Drake obviously searched for words. "Oh, it is obvious, you know. Dee's been watching you two for years. I never used to listen to him, but you've given me just too many clues lately."
Drake cursed under his breath and looked away, but a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, okay. But beside the obvious, yeah. I wanna talk with him. Where is he?"
Ryou glanced at the door reflexively. "I'll go get him. Hold on." He went to the door, and ran into Dr. Cheung on the other side.
"We should really let your colleague sleep now," the doctor said, "I'm surprised he even woke up this early."
"Just a moment, please," Ryou said, raising his hands in a halting gesture, then ran down the stairs to the direction of the cafeteria.
He found Dee sitting at a table, nursing a cup of black coffee. "C'mon," Ryou said, "Drake's awake. Are you two finished? Where's JJ?"
Dee gulped down the rest of his coffee and left a dollar on the table. "Pretty much, I think. JJ is cleaning up - oh, there he is."
They both turned to JJ, who walked into the view from behind the corner. He looked a whole lot more alive than before.
"JJ, hurry up," Ryou called, "Drake is awake and asking for you."
JJ's mouth fell open and he took a deep breath, then dashed past Dee and Ryou and to the stairs before Ryou could manage another word.
Looking at Dee, Ryou laughed. "Well, he seems to be a bit closer to the normal." He wished Dee would hint at what he had said that had brought some life back into JJ, but Dee just shrugged and smiled a little.
They followed JJ up the stairs. He hadn't gone into the room yet, but was talking quietly with Dr. Cheung. The doctor looked patiently concerned when they all gathered in front of the door, obviously intending to go in, but didn't protest. Dee nodded to him as he entered the room. Ryou followed at his heels, glancing at JJ questioningly. JJ gave him a shaky smile, but seemed to be glued to the spot.
"Hey," Dee said and went over to stand by Drake's bed, "How're you feeling?"
Drake shrugged awkwardly with only his other shoulder. His other arm was in a cast, and tied so that it would stay in place. Broken shoulder blade? Yeah, that must've been it - if the bullet had gone straight through, it must've broken bone on the way. No wonder Drake had been hurting so much. "Pretty okay," he rasped. "A bit sore. Like a frickin'... elephant's sitting on my chest."
Dee chuckled and patted his unhurt arm. "You'll be okay, buddy. After all those cigs, your lungs should be used to the rough treatment."
"Pot, hi, this is kettle," Drake said, and his following laughter turned into coughs.
"You should not strain yourself too much right now," Dr. Cheung warned from the doorway. "The bullet did miss your lung, but it scraped it. You might have trouble breathing normally for up to two weeks, or maybe more, if you put too much strain on the healing tissue--"
"Yeah, thanks, doctor," Drake rasped, waving his hand dismissively. "I get the picture. But I have something to say to JJ. Where... where the hell is he?"
Ryou looked over his shoulder. JJ still hadn't come inside. "Let me go get him." He turned around with a sigh.
"That was one hell of a shot," he heard Dee say to Drake with a little chuckle. "JJ brought Lance down even though there was someone in the way of his shot! He'll pull through, won't he? Lance, I mean?"
"Yes," Dr. Cheung said and nodded, "he should recover completely, as well. He took a bit more internal damage, but--"
"Good, I was afraid I wouldn't get to see that son of a bitch thrown in jail to rot," Dee said, interrupting poor Dr. Cheung again. Ryou looked at the doctor apologetically as he went past him.
JJ stood rigidly next to the chairs, his back to the wall. He was biting his nails and staring into space with a look of deep worry on his face. Ryou leaned against the wall next to him. His eyes were watering a little in the bright lights of the hospital hallway. He wondered how JJ had been able to sleep there.
"Drake's asking for you," he said.
JJ frowned deeper and bit his lip instead of his fingernail. "I don't think I can face him right now," he said slowly. He sighed resolutely. "I should go home anyway, get some sleep and..."
"And you left a cake in the oven, I know." Ryou turned to look at him. "Go see him. Drake knows what happened, and I bet he's worried about you." Ryou punched JJ's shoulder playfully. "Don't let this grow into something it's not."
He watched as JJ digested what he had told him. Ryou knew this was hard for JJ, but his patience was growing thin. He wanted nothing more than to go home, snuggle under the covers and not get up before Monday.
"JJ?" Ryou confirmed.
"All right," JJ said and took a deep breath.
Ryou went to peek into the room. Dee and Drake were chatting, but when Drake stopped to cough, Ryou locked eyes with Dee and gestured with his head.
Dee caught the hint immediately and stood up straight, stretching his arms. "Well, since you're not dead, Drake, I think we can finally go home and catch some shut-eye."
Dr. Cheung nodded sagely, like it had been his own idea. "I think it would be best if you let your friend sleep now."
"Not just yet. There's someone here to see you, Drake." Ryou nudged the hesitating JJ into the room, and saw the hazy, exhausted look in Drake's eyes disappear.
Ryou waved his hand. "We'll come see you again. Get some rest... at some point."
"Will do," Drake said and grinned a bit.
"Senpai? Thank you," JJ said, turning around to smile at Ryou.
"No problem." Ryou smiled at the two, and left.
The only one who didn't seem pleased was Dr. Cheung. "Are you sure you couldn't come by at a later time? It's essential that he lets the wound rest now and--"
"Oh, c'mon, doc," Dee said lightly, putting his hand on the doctor's shoulder and steering him out of the room, "give 'em a minute, will ya? Go have a cup of coffee or something." He gave Ryou a wink over his shoulder as he walked the doctor all the way to the elevator.
Downstairs, Ryou yawned so widely he thought he heard his jawbone snap. "I'm thinking twenty hours of sleep, minimum."
Dee eyed him and laughed. He squinted when they walked out of the building and the mid-day sun momentarily blinded them. "Twenty-five. And if Bicky comes bouncing in, I'll get JJ to shoot him, too."
Ryou hmphed and raised his eyebrow at Dee as he opened the car door.
"What? You know he'd come out of it without a scratch." Dee shrugged in a maddeningly sincere gesture of aloofness.
"Speaking of JJ, what did you two actually talk about?" Ryou asked when he started up the car. He couldn't hide his curiosity.
Dee was quiet almost all the way home, seeming to fall into his thoughts, a blank look on his face.
"Well?" Ryou finally asked when he could see their apartment building.
Dee shrugged nonchalantly. "Unfinished business. Mostly Drake, really."
"And that's all I'm going to get, huh?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Dee's thoughtful expression melted into his usual animal grin. "You could talk me into adding some bonuses to the deal, I suppose."
"Oh, well," Ryou said, smiling affectionately, "I think I could live with that."
Ryou glanced at his watch as he ran, tilting it in order to see the time in the darkness of the alley. Dee had been without support for six minutes. It was a matter of seconds now, and Ryou was acutely aware of it each step he took. It was never a good thing to be separated from your partner, but in a free-flying case like this... Oh, this wouldn't end well, he knew it. He didn't even look back at the young man he had just knocked out; no matter if one or two of Lance's men got away if they could catch the man himself. This case had just been made personal, and not just because of Drake. The thought of not being able to be there for Dee because a few punks had showed up to act tough made him grit his teeth.
Following the wall of the storage building, Ryou ran forward, his thoughts flashing from one worst case scenario to another. He was doing his best to be as silent as he could, but soon found out there was no need to tip-toe. People were shouting right on the other side of the building, and the sound echoed off the rusted tin walls. Ryou recognized Dee's voice now; he was talking about making a deal. Ryou willed himself to ignore the sound of his own heart pounding and concentrate on Dee's voice, but it was cut off by the sound of gunfire. Ryou's heart jumped into his throat.
He halted at the corner of the building, and after a quick intake of breath, spun around it, gun ready. The moment Ryou caught sight of the van and the gun pointed at the kneeling Dee, he fired at the hand that was holding the gun. It was a good shot, too, considering his limited view, but he didn't stay and marvel on it. He retreated to the safety of the shadows, but raised his gun again when another gunshot echoed in the closed space. The sound was different - it came from somewhere above him. Thank goodness, JJ was still in action. They were outnumbered until the backup would arrive.
"Gimme that!" said a snappy male voice, and Ryou heard JJ shoot again. A short, ragged cry of pain followed the sound. With any luck, that was Lance.
Deciding he would risk it, Ryou took a big step sideways, so that he came into the range of light, and pointed his gun steadily forward. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the approaching sirens. His heart was hammering, but it was probably just the running.
The scene wasn't quite what he had expected. There was a van, still with its motor running, almost entirely backed out of the storage building. The van's backdoors were open and Ryou quickly counted five people inside, two down. Dee had hopped back on his feet, but Ryou noted with worry that his right pant leg was torn and glistening with fresh blood. He stood firmly, though, and was currently putting away his cell and pointing his gun at the driver, ordering him to get out and spread 'em. At Dee's feet, there was an unmoving body, a bundle of a human being.
Ryou turned his attention to the three people in the car, two of whom had already raised their hands in defeat. None of them looked to be over thirty; they had a rather spooked look about them. "This is NYPD; you can't escape, this area is surrounded! Put your guns down and kick them over to me! Do it now! Exit the vehicle!"
Ryou herded the only moderately resisting men to Dee, who was searching through the driver's pockets.
Dee looked at him as he pulled out a small pistol from under the driver's jacket. "You okay?" he asked quickly.
Ryou nodded. "Sorry I'm late. I ran into some friends."
Dee shoved the man among the others, and ordered with a strained voice, "Put your hands against the wall! Oh yes, smart boy, that means you too!" He glanced back at Ryou. "I'll take care of this, you go check on Drake."
"Is he inside?"
"The van," Dee said, nodding in the direction with his head. When their eyes met, there was stern worry in Dee's gaze. "For fuck's sake, go!"
Drake was inside the van? That meant one of the unmoving people he had seen inside had been Drake. Oh, hell!
Ryou ran over to the van and went inside. Lying on the floor, unmoving, with his eyes open and unseeing, was a blonde man whom Ryou recognized from the picture JJ had shown him: Thomas Lance, their suspect. He looked to be dead. Next to him, lying on his side, was Drake. His coat and shirt were bloody; he was bleeding from a bullet wound on the left side of his chest. His ragged, uneven breath was the only sound in the closed space. His eyes were open and still clear, and they focused on Ryou as he approached.
"Drake?" Ryou asked, quickly checking if there were other injuries. For the love of Christ, one bullet was more than enough. His hand met something wet at Drake's back, and looking at the blood spreading on the light fabric of the coat, Ryou realized that the bullet must've gone straight through him. Drake let out a strangled moan, and Ryou quickly removed his hand.
"Hurts," Drake managed in a strangled voice. "Fucking... hurts."
Ryou saw blood on his teeth. He swallowed. That meant the bullet had probably pierced his lung. A lump settled in his throat as he desperately scanned the car for something to bind the wound with. The dark blood didn't stop flowing, and he couldn't do much good with just his hands. "It's okay, Drake, we'll get you to a hospital. Don't worry, okay? Okay, Drake?" He didn't know who he was convincing, himself or Drake. Ryou knew what bloody teeth usually meant.
Seeing that there was nothing usable in the car and the nearest first aid kit was in their car about two blocks away, Ryou simply took off his coat and, knowing that wool would help at least a little, pressed the sleeve against the wound.
Drake coughed; a nasty, wheezing sound. Then he gasped a few times and his eyes slipped shut.
"Oh shit, no, don't die on me," Ryou mumbled frantically, and checked his pulse, leaving two bloody fingermarks on Drake's skin. He found it easily, and sighed in relief. In retrospect, it was probably better if Drake was unconscious; the bullet wound must've hurt like hell.
Ryou remembered their suspect and reached over to check Lance's pulse with his other hand. To his amazement, he found a strong pulse. Lance had a bullet wound in his chest as well, only a little lower, and it didn't seem to bleed at all. It was obvious neither one of the shot men was going to survive long if they didn't get the ambulance here ASAP, though.
"Dee!" he yelled, keeping his eyes on Drake's pale face. "Dee, have you called the ambulance?"
How had this happened? Ryou hadn't heard anyone shoot but JJ. Perhaps Lance's people had silencers, but that didn't explain why both Drake and Lance were shot. He pushed the unanswered questions aside and made sure Lance could breathe properly by pushing him over to his side with his one free hand.
Amidst the shuffling, he didn't hear JJ enter the van. Ryou turned around and jumped a little at the sight of him. JJ's eyes were huge and white in the twilight and filled with horror.
"Drake," JJ demanded, "How's Drake?"
Ryou frowned and said, "He's alive." It sounded less than convincing.
A look of despair flashed on JJ's face, and he pushed Ryou out of his way, taking his place at Drake's side. The sleeve of the coat was already turning dark from the blood. Ryou was relieved to leave the task to JJ, he was ashamed to admit.
He jumped out of the van and turned his gaze at Dee. "Dee, did you call the ambulance?"
"It's on its way," Dee replied, still pointing his gun at the four people standing against the wall. "I told the 83rd Precinct we have a detective down."
As soon as he had said it, a patrol car sped into the alley, and two uniforms jumped out. Another car appeared at the other end of the alley. The sound of sirens echoed everywhere. It calmed Ryou; they were no longer alone on the case. The uniforms quickly started cuffing the arrested men, and Dee put his gun back into holster and came over to Ryou. He was walking with an obvious limp now, trying to take weight off his right foot.
"That man over there," Ryou said, pointing at the unmoving body on the ground, "is he dead?"
Dee nodded. "Six bullets to the chest, no vest. You'd think it's a relief when they kill their own for ya, but it's just fuckin' dirty." He made a face and looked away, muttering under his breath.
An uniform came to them and they explained the situation the best they could. When the woman turned away to give instructions to other cops that had just showed up, Ryou realized that Dee and him had both been unconsciously covering up for each other and JJ. The details had better stay under wraps until they had finished their cover story. Christ, it had been hard enough to think of one before, but what would they do now that Drake was down? They were screwed. Ryou glanced at the van, noticing that JJ still hadn't come out.
Dee followed his gaze. "How is he?"
Ryou looked to the ground and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know, Dee, I--"
"Bad." Dee sighed a little and ran his hand through his hair. "Isn't it?"
"I just hope the ambulance will get here in time. You've hurt your leg." He gestured at the torn pant leg, and then looked up into Dee's eyes, to keep him focused and to know if he was lying.
"Nah, it's just scraped."
"Dee."
"Okay, it hurts like a bitch. There was broken glass on the ground where I dove down, fuck it. That's the last time I fake taking a bullet."
Ryou winced. "When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?"
"I don't KNOW when was the last time I had a fucking tetanus shot!" Dee snapped, making Ryou jump a little. Dee wetted his lips and looked around, nervously, desperately.
*I don't need this,* was Ryou's first thought as he stood there, blood of a colleague on his clothes and about to get sacked for this completely insane stunt they had just pulled. *I really don't need one of Dee's temper tantrums right now.* Deep down, he knew they were both just stressed, but he had to fight to not snap back. There were limits to how much he could take, and Ryou had been in the red since the moment he had seen Drake's eyes slip shut.
While they stood there in mutual distress, an ambulance backed into the alley from the dockside. It was getting crowded, what with all the uniforms running around, trying to make sense of the situation. Ryou glanced over at the van, ready to go there and help, but he saw JJ had already jumped into action and was currently talking with the paramedics.
"Hey." Dee came close to Ryou, took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
Ryou squeezed his arm assuringly. "I'm sending you to the hospital with Drake and Lance."
"It's not--"
Ryou looked Dee in the eyes and took a firmer grip on his arm. "We'll handle the rest. You need to have that leg checked. Keep an eye on Drake, okay?"
Dee gave up with a little sigh, shrugged and gave him a quick kiss that managed to make Ryou smile a little, despite everything. Ryou gently pushed Dee to the direction of the paramedics, who were currently carrying Lance out of the van. Ryou showed them the way to the shot young man who was still lying on the ground, unheeded and unnoticed. Then Ryou allowed himself a minute to just breathe and feel like he had done his best while others ran to and fro around him.
He saw JJ talking with the uniforms who had arrived first. When the paramedics started closing the ambulance doors, JJ glanced up and went to stop them. Ryou ran over to grab his shoulder. "JJ, let them go."
JJ glanced at him, eyes still wide and horrified but otherwise calm. There was blood on his neck and cheek that wasn't his, although it looked like he had tried to wipe it off.
Ryou nodded okay to the paramedics, who banged the doors shut and sped away from the alley. Then he turned back to the quietly waiting JJ. "Even if you went with them, they wouldn't let you see him for hours yet. Besides, they're expecting us to return to Brooklyn to wrap things up." He cocked his head a little, trying to read JJ's blank face. "If you're feeling up to it."
JJ nodded swiftly. "Yeah. You're right, senpai. Let's go."
Ryou frowned. "You're sure?"
JJ nodded again, and suddenly Ryou realized that this was exactly how he himself would've reacted if Dee had been shot and there was nothing he could do. JJ was trying to hold himself together, and concentrating on matters at hand was the best way to go at it. Ryou could understand that. He forced himself into action, and showed JJ the way to the car.
***
After some hesitation, Ryou let JJ drive. They headed first to the station, so that JJ could slip the rifle back in its place and they could take a little breather, maybe change their clothes. Ryou was worried about what Chief would have to say, but then he realized that it was almost nine o'clock; Chief would've gone home for today. That would at least give them some time to get their plan's final stage over and done with: they'd have to write the report without mentioning Drake's kidnapping. Ryou frowned as he thought about it. He wondered if they could pull it off. It wouldn't be easy to act like it had never happened. He knew Dee at least had a big mouth, and JJ, well, JJ…
He glanced at JJ. The younger detective was keeping his eyes firmly on the road ahead.
"He will be okay, JJ," Ryou said rather pointlessly, feeling like he had to say something to make JJ feel better.
JJ frowned and nodded, but didn't say anything. From him, this kind of silence was unnerving. Ryou turned his gaze back to the road, too.
When they arrived at the station, it was bustling with the usual liveliness that the change in shifts spurred. The night shift people were at the vending machine, getting their coffees. Ryou pushed his way through them, and waved goodbye to Ted, who was just walking out with his coat over his shoulder and a wide, cheerful grin on his face. It reminded Ryou that he hadn't originally planned on doing double shifts today, since Bicky was over at Cal's and there was a rare peace and quiet in Ryou and Dee's new apartment. Well, it looked like it couldn't be helped now. They had to make sure everything would go according to their plan the next day, when Chief came back to work. That meant writing the reports carefully and refining their cover-up stories. In other words, smart lying, which Ryou really didn't like to think about.
"I'll be right back," JJ said and disappeared with the sports bag.
Ryou nodded and called the crime scene in Brooklyn. Things were under control there; the officers just needed them to take a look at the body, talk to a couple of gang members and tell the beat cops what the hell was going on. The usual filler job. Then Ryou went to clean up a little. The drying blood was off-putting, especially if they'd have to speak to witnesses. Good thing the night was so warm; he realized belatedly that he had left his coat with Drake.
JJ came back and they worked on the report for a while, longer than Ryou had expected. They had hardly exchanged a word as they had both typed and harbored their own thoughts. In the end, they headed off without filling out half of the blank spots in their cover story. Ryou glanced at JJ as they walked, and could swear JJ was gritting his teeth. The silence was really getting to him now. It was the kind of silence that tended to end messily, with someone getting hurt.
Not wanting to risk JJ having a fit in the middle of night-time traffic, Ryou walked straight to the driver's side. "Here, let me drive for a change."
JJ frowned. "I'm all right, senpai."
"JJ, you're shook up, and I'm driving." Ryou reached out his hand.
"Fine, don't trust me," JJ said and shrugged stiffly, throwing him the keys and getting into the car.
That one stung. Where had it come from? "JJ, if I didn't trust you, I wouldn't break regulations just so you can get yourself a big gun and shoot at people." One look at JJ confirmed that had been entirely the wrong thing to say. That's it; he would give up on trying to crack jokes. They tended to fall flat.
"Maybe you shouldn't. Oh, I don't know." JJ rubbed his eyes and sighed, seeming to suddenly come back to life. "Sorry, senpai. That was uncalled for."
"Don't worry about it."
"Right. We have lots of other things to worry about. I can explain the rifle disappearing for a while, but how are we going to explain us being at the crime scene? We're not pulling the hunch card again, are we?"
Ryou stopped in the traffic lights, even though he knew he could've made it before the light went red. He was in no hurry to get to Brooklyn for a mind-numbing check-up. "Yeah, and how are we going to explain Drake? Actually, I'm not quite clear on that myself. What happened, did you see? Did they use silencers?"
JJ was quiet for a short while. Neon lights flowed through the car, coloring the silence. When JJ answered, his voice was soft. "That's going to be tough to explain. You see, senpai, both him and Lance were shot with the same rifle."
Things clicked into place in Ryou's head in one chilling second. "JJ, do you mean you..."
"Yes." JJ looked out of the window. For a moment, he seemed to shrink away. "I screwed up. He moved, I didn't see... I screwed up."
"But... JJ, you've never missed a single shot in your life, as far as I know! There must've been something--"
"Look, senpai, I *know* what happened. And what happened was this: I was aiming at Lance, and, and somehow, I managed to hit Drake, as well. It all happened too fast, I - I couldn't --" JJ took a deep breath, and his voice quickly gained confidence as he continued. "Well, that's neither here nor there, not now. The report. We have to... focus on what *didn't* really happen."
Since his mind apparently worked in similar ways to JJ's, Ryou had already constructed a sketch of a plan about Lance's goons using stolen police guns, but *damn*. He hadn't expected this. Him thinking up a cover story for a shooting of his colleague? JJ missing a shot and firing at Drake? Everything seemed to have gone topsy-turvy since that morning. He'd have to call Dee later. If Dee had made up with Nurse Emily and bought her flowers in the meantime, Ryou could be sure this was all a crazy dream.
When they reached Brooklyn, the parking lot had quieted down and was now empty, dark and somewhat sad. Uniforms were talking to the people who lived in the nearby houses, none of whom had seen or heard anything, naturally. Some would have to be taken to the station and carefully coaxed to open up if they wanted details. Ryou could almost feel the job hovering over him. JJ went over to check the scene of the murder, and was already chatting eagerly with the uniforms before he got to the alley. He seemed to have stepped on the accelerator and was now absolutely unstoppable; acting so he wouldn't have to think. Ryou knew that feeling well enough.
Ryou walked through the scattered pieces of broken glass and general wreckage, thinking of what kind of a person would stage this, just to make a distraction. He gritted his teeth. He would see Lance proven guilty, for the sake of the kids and officers who had been just walkers-on in the plan and were now dead. Given the scarce hard evidence they had gathered, it would not be easy to take Lance down. He could afford a battalion of lawyers, and could make the case as difficult and prolonged as he wanted. They had witnesses, but the only one who had recognized Lance was Tandi Borland, who had been arrested for possession of drugs so many times she must've brought her own pillow to the cell. Her testimony wouldn't be taken seriously. As a matter of fact, without the knife, their case would be on really flimsy ground.
Maybe it had been all worth it, then.
"Excuse me, detective?"
Ryou turned around to see a blonde woman in her forties, one of the uniforms whom he had helped take a difficult gang member in earlier.
The woman gave him a little smile, clearly remembering him. "The witnesses are on their way to the station right now, if you want to talk to them. I think we're pretty much done here. We'll call you if we find anything else, but I think the crew is going to wait until it's light again, anyway, so there's really no need to stand around here."
*She must've noticed how tired I look,* Ryou thought.
The surprisingly familiar tone made him feel better, and he smiled back. "That's good to hear. Then I guess I'll just pick up my colleague and go."
Before he went to inform JJ, however, Ryou called Dee. He had to know what was going on with Drake.
"Hey," Dee answered the phone, in a sleepy voice.
"Hey yourself. You sound like I woke you up." Ryou breathed in the cool night air, wondering what time it was. His own eyelids were starting to feel heavy. "What's going on?"
"Nothing much. I was dozing off; good thing you called. The doc is taking forever."
"Got your foot checked?"
"Yes, Mom. I was just waiting for someone to come back and tell me what's going on with Drake. I think they're still operating on him or something. Taking friggin' forever..."
Ryou could hear the worry in Dee's voice, even through the sleepiness and the deceptively light tone. He turned to look at JJ, and jumped a little when he saw that JJ was standing only a step away. The younger detective's eyes were so wide and demanding they were threatening to fall out of their sockets. "Listen, Dee, here's what we'll do. I'm sending JJ over there."
"Love you too," Dee quipped, but didn't sound particularly distressed.
"Someone has to finish the report," Ryou continued, speaking as much to JJ as to Dee, "so I'm heading back to the station while I'm still up and about. There are some witnesses from the Brooklyn scene that need to be questioned, but I'll handle them. We can switch in a few hours when I can no longer keep my eyes open. That report has to be on Chief's desk tomorrow morning, readable, double-checked and written according to our story." Ryou took a deep breath. "If we can pull it off, we are clear."
JJ nodded curtly at Ryou's plan. "I can catch the subway, senpai. I'll be at the hospital more quickly than by car." He was itching to go, and Ryou didn't have the heart to keep him for a minute longer. He nodded okay, and JJ was on his way before Ryou could say a word.
"Ryou?" Dee called, drawing his partner's attention back to him. "I took a good nap before so I'm a-okay for another couple of hours. How about you call me when you get too tired, and I'll come and pick up where you've left it?"
"Sounds good. And you can alert JJ to come finish up when you're nodding off."
"We're gonna make it," Dee said assuredly, "no sweat."
"Who said we wouldn't?" Ryou asked, mildly amused.
"Oh, don't give me that. You hate this plan. You don't think it's gonna work for a second. But tell you what; I think you overestimate Chief Teddy. Believe me, I've survived far dumber schemes."
Ryou shook his head and felt a tug at the corners of his mouth, wondering how he had ever gotten by without Dee's unquenchable belief that ultimately, craziness paid off. "Let's hope so. And let's hope that Drake survives it, too."
Dee's tone grew more serious, but not any less convinced. "He will. Of course he will."
Borrowing faith, Ryou went back to the car and drove to the station. The lies he spent the next two hours writing seemed whiter by the minute. Dee called and ushered him to go home and get some sleep, and Ryou gratefully obliged. He was so tired when he finally reached their apartment that he didn't even worry about next morning, just kicked off his shoes and fell onto the couch.
***
Ryou woke up to the pleasant smell of coffee and toast. He scrambled up, feeling about as disarrayed as a Picasso painting, and went to the kitchen, taking off his sweaty shirt in the process and tossing it over to the laundry bin.
Dee was sitting at the table in his pajama pants, drinking coffee. He looked up and smiled cheerfully when Ryou approached. The dark lines under his eyes told that the perkiness was due to the caffeine and nothing else, however. "Morning. No offence, darlin', but you look just about as shitty as I'm feeling."
Ryou helped himself to the coffee, idly noticing that the clock on the wall said 8:12. He hoped Bicky remembered he was supposed to go speak with his guidance counselor today. Ryou had meant to call and remind him, but it was no wonder that he hadn't gotten around to it. Well, Bicky had to learn to take responsibility anyway. It wouldn't do to pamper him to think Ryou would always be there to take care of things for him. "Mm, no, I'm fine. But I have to call Bicky before we head to the station."
Dee squinted and made a face. "Do *not* remind me. It had to be past four when I got home."
The coffee was really good; breakfast was Dee's specialty. "I wonder when JJ got to go home, then. One thing is for sure, we're not waking him up."
Dee made a nonchalant noise in his throat and finished his toast. "He looked about ready to work for another twelve hours when he came to the station. Can't believe the energy levels on that guy."
"He's dying of worry, can't you tell?" Ryou sighed a little. "Did you call the hospital?"
"I didn't have to. JJ had milked the doctors for every tidbit they had to offer, I bet. I didn't stick around and repeat the process with him since I was beat. But looks like Drake pulled through the operation just fine and is now sleeping." Dee smiled a little, genuinely this time.
Ryou let out the breath he had been holding. "Oh, that's so good to hear. Truly. When I saw him cough up blood--"
"Well, it was a close call, from what I could overhear."
"Good thing for JJ, too. I wouldn't want to think how he'd take it if Drake died of his shot."
Dee raised his eyebrow, but didn't seem very surprised at all.
"JJ hit him by accident," Ryou explained, although he was beginning to think that he didn't have to. "He said Drake got into the way of his shot when he was bringing Lance down."
Dee nodded slowly. "I thought that's what happened. I saw Drake elbow at Lance. He practically threw himself in the way of his bullet. Saved my life, too, probably."
Ryou looked at Dee. His voice had become choked at the end of the sentence. Sure enough, the deep green eyes were hazy and full of emotion. Ryou reached over and squeezed Dee's hand, firmly and reassuringly. Dee raised their entwined hands to his mouth and closed his eyes for a second. His breath was warm on Ryou's hand, but he didn't kiss it.
"Damn good he made it," Ryou said quietly.
*And damn, damn good you made it, too,* he thought, but knew he didn't have to say it out loud.
Dee nodded. "Would've kicked his ass if he hadn't."
They spent a minute wallowing in sweet relief. Outside, the spring sun was shining, bright and clear.
Fueled by another potful of coffee and determination to finish what they had started, Ryou and Dee made their way to the station. They didn't even have to look for Chief, as he was in the entrance hall, buying a Twix bar.
"Ah, you two," he called, and gave them a toothy grin, "around when I need you, for once."
"Sir," Ryou said and nodded, waiting for the verdict. Beside him, Dee was moving nervously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
The chief patted Ryou on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "I got your report. Looks like it turned out to be a close call despite my best efforts, eh? I swear, we'll be sorting this out for a good two weeks at least. How's Parker, for starters?"
"He's getting better," Dee put in, "from what JJ told me, he pulled through just fine. Lance, too."
Chief nodded. "Well, that's good." He sighed heavily. "One of my men is down, one is - apparently - AWOL, and I'm stuck with you two. What do you suppose I should do with you?"
"JJ will be here shortly," Ryou began, "he's just--"
Chief made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Ah, save it, Randy. I don't have the time to hash this out with you now, anyway. The phone's been ringing all morning. Can't you lamebrains arrest people with fewer lawyers?"
Dee snickered. "Doing our best, Chief."
"All right, you're dismissed. I don't want to see your scrawny asses here until Monday, you've given me enough trouble for the week." Chief bit into the Twix bar. "Well, what are you staring at? Go on, get lost! And you can tell Addams the same when you see him!"
Ryou's face broke into a smile. "Thank you, sir." He turned and followed Dee, who was already halfway out of the door.
"I always tell you he's a nice guy underneath it all," Ryou couldn't help pointing out to Dee.
Dee threw the car door open and climbed onto the passenger seat. He didn't risk trying to drive with his injured foot, although he claimed the foot had only itched since he had gotten it treated. "The tanuki *has* his moments. You wanna go check on Drake, or straight home to bed?"
"Well, the hospital's not that far out of the way. I don't think they'll let us see him yet, but we could try." Ryou already knew Dee thought the same.
The hospital was alight with the late morning sun and surprisingly quiet as they walked through the doors. Ryou went to ask a nurse about Drake's room number, but Dee caught his arm and pointed at the stairs. Ryou noticed the way he leaned against the wall, a bit too heavily for a mere laid-back gesture.
"Up to the third floor and then to the left, according to what JJ told me."
"All right," Ryou said. "Why don't you try and find the doctor in charge and I'll go see if he's awake."
Dee nodded reluctantly, obviously noticing the way Ryou looked at his leg. "Meet you there."
Ryou hopped up the stairs, almost colliding with a nurse who was hurrying down. He apologized and went on, thinking how much he needed a good night's sleep.
To Ryou's surprise, he saw a familiar figure slumped on a chair, next to the door of Drake's room. JJ was snuggled into the chair in the manner of someone who is capable of sleeping comfortably anywhere. His hair pointed in every direction, and he was wearing the same clothes as the night before, with some dried blood still on his sleeves. He had taken his shoes off, though; they were placed neatly under the chair, an amusing contrast to their owner, who looked a mess, if peaceful in his sleep.
Hadn't he gone home at all? Ryou shook his head and sighed, feeling like a babysitter when he shook JJ's shoulder carefully.
JJ woke up with a start, his eyes opening wide immediately as if he had been just playing possum. "Yes?" he said, in a sleep-slurred voice.
"Hi," Ryou said as JJ straightened his back and stretched his arms, quickly and nervously. "You crazy kid, didn't you go home to sleep at all?"
"Didn't mean to sleep that long," JJ muttered, ignoring Ryou's question. He checked his wrist watch and sighed. "Well, maybe an hour didn't hurt. Do we have to go to the station now, senpai?"
Ryou sat on the chair next to JJ's, looking at him a bit warily. There was nervous electricity in JJ's manner; something Ryou had never seen before. He had always taken JJ for a pretty open, never-holding-back kind of guy. Now it seemed like he was holding back so violently he would soon implode. "No, the chief gave us a long weekend. I think we made it through just fine. Did you manage to see Drake?"
JJ nodded, looking at his toes. "He's sleeping. Lost a lot of blood. My bullet scraped his lung but at least it went clean through. If it had stayed in… Well, I'm just glad it didn't." He took a shuddery breath, and suddenly shot onto his feet. "Oh, right. I was supposed to ask the doctor how Drake's doing. Have you seen him? A short Chinese man? Wears little round glasses?"
Frowning, Ryou stood up as well and took firm hold of JJ's shoulders, pushing him back down onto the chair. "JJ, *sit down*. Jesus, you're worked up. Just breathe a while, okay?" He sat down next to the younger detective.
"Well, how am I supposed to be, then?" JJ asked sharply, raising his voice. He looked at Ryou with desperate, sleep-deprived eyes. "My partner just about died because of me. I'm supposed to watch *my* breathing when I all but blew a hole in his lung?"
"Is that what you really think happened?" Ryou found himself raising his voice, as well. He needed to get through to JJ. This was going beyond mere worry for a partner; JJ wasn't easy to get this stirred up. "You were shooting to bring down a cold-blooded maniac of a serial killer. It was Drake who moved in the way of your shot. You never aimed at him."
"No, no, because..." JJ leaned his forehead on his fisted hands and swallowed a few times before continuing in a strangled voice. "I had no choice, I had to, had to do it, it was a shoot or get shot situation. Except it wasn't me who was going to be shot, it was him. So I shot him…" JJ's eyes widened in bewilderment and he shook his head. "I shot him!"
JJ didn't flinch when Ryou gripped his shoulder, trying to shake him to his senses. "Take it easy now, JJ. Take it easy. You did what you had to do."
JJ pressed his hands to his eyes. He swallowed a sob, but the next one escaped him. "I shot him."
"You've been working almost thirty hours straight. You need some rest; trust me, it'll all look different after a good nap." Ryou sighed, feeling for JJ. He wrapped his arm round JJ's shoulders, letting him know he was not alone. He waited for JJ to slowly catch his breath and calm down again.
Ryou saw Dee approach them from the elevator. Dee raised his eyebrows when he noticed JJ, still slumped in his chair. Ryou patted JJ's back reassuringly, then stood up and came to Dee.
"I talked with the doc," Dee said, glancing at JJ, who hadn't reacted to his arrival at all. "He'll be up in a minute."
Ryou nodded. "What did he say?"
Dee ran a hand through his hair and suppressed a yawn. "The same, that Drake will be just fine. What else could he say when half of the damn squad is here, mad with worry? He said Drake might wake up in a few hours, but he'll be really buzzed with the meds and all, so we should probably come back later." Dee's mouth twisted in a strange half-smile and he turned to JJ. "Oh, and he told me that since they don't have any beds to spare, we'd have to take our colleague home. What the hell are you doing here, anyway? Go home and get some sleep, you nut."
JJ shook his head, still not looking at him. "I couldn't, senpai. I had to do at least *something* for Drake, so I came here. I really don't know why. I just couldn't be still."
His quiet, resigned tone bothered Ryou. He had seen JJ hurt before, and in his experience, JJ was good at venting everything out and being done with it. Maybe it made all the difference that he had caused hurt to someone else. Maybe it made all the difference that the someone else had been Drake. Ryou bit his lip lightly, trying to find something to say that would snap JJ out of his helplessness.
"When have you ever been able to be still?" Dee snorted, but his voice was light and almost gentle.
Oddly, the rhetorical question seemed to stir something in JJ. He finally raised his head and looked up at Dee as if he only then realized that he was there. And at the first hopeful gleam in JJ's eyes, it suddenly dawned on Ryou what he must do to make good of things.
Ryou pulled Dee a couple of steps away, just out of JJ's hearing range. Then he turned to meet Dee's questioning eyes. He forced resolve into his voice. It wasn't difficult; he believed in what he was doing. "Dee? You need to speak with JJ."
Dee stared at him. "What?"
"He listens to you. You'll get through to him without even trying. You know I'm right."
Ryou watched the expression on Dee's face flicker from disbelieving to a bit uncomfortable. "But what can I say to him?"
"Well, consider it the chance you've been wanting for a long time. Finally you can tell JJ whatever you want, and he'll listen. Right?" Ryou raised his other eyebrow questioningly. Then he lowered his voice and glanced quickly at JJ, who was staring into space. "Just snap him out of that guilt trip. It's not like him and I'm getting worried."
Dee nodded and sighed, looking at his feet.
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay. We'll go to the cafeteria; I need another coffee for this." Dee looked up with a wry look on his face. "You owe me."
"I know. Put it on my tab." Ryou patted his shoulder. "Just go."
Ryou watched Dee coax JJ to get up and follow him downstairs. To his relief, a familiar light shone in JJ's eyes as he straightened his clothes and nodded, walking after Dee. Ryou took a deep breath and let it out slowly, sinking down on one of the stairs. He let his head drop back, feeling like he could fall asleep there and then.
He didn't know how much time had passed - maybe ten minutes - when he felt someone shake his shoulder, and his eyes snapped open.
A balding, bespectacled oriental-looking man in a white doctor's coat was leaning over him, smiling patiently. "You are here about Detective Parker, I take it?"
Ryou quickly got back on his feet, adjusting his clothes. "Yes. You met my partner, right? He told me everything."
The man extended his hand. "I'm Dr. Cheung. I just checked on your colleague and he's awake. Normally, I would not let you in yet, but since you have been waiting all night, I could look the other way for a minute. I can't let you stay too long, though; he still needs rest."
Ryou nodded, thankful, but too tired and busy with trying to digest this new information to find a way to convey it. "Oh... all right. Can I... just go in now?"
"Yes," Dr. Cheung said and nodded, still smiling. "Are you his partner? He was asking for his partner when I spoke with him."
Ryou looked at the stairway. "Uh, his partner is still here. He'll be up in a moment. Thank you," he then added awkwardly, suppressing a massive yawn as he went to the door.
Ryou found Drake lying on the bed closest to the big window. Sunlight flickered through in small rays, making the sparse hospital room come alive and look warmer. There was an IV running from Drake's arm. He looked pale and, amusingly enough, exactly as sleep-deprived as Ryou was sure he must've looked himself. He turned his head when Ryou took a chair from the corner and sat down next to him.
"Hey," he said in a raspy whisper, and smiled tiredly. "Where's the harps?"
"You must be feeling pretty good if you can make jokes, Drake. Or is it just the medication talking?" Ryou smiled back. "Glad to see you're okay, pal. You really gave us a scare there."
"Indeed, you were truly lucky, detective Parker," Dr. Cheung piped in. "I've never seen a bullet go through anyone that smoothly. It caused no internal bleeding to speak of, and missed all vital organs. It was either a very, very lucky break, or a brilliantly aimed shot."
Ryou couldn't help the wide smile that spread on his face. Drake being exceptionally lucky; now that was a first.
Drake frowned a bit and wetted his lips. "Can you... can you tell me what happened? I'm a little hazy on the details. Like who the hell shot me? I didn't see... anyone."
Ryou saw the doctor nod at him and leave the room, and he smiled at the man. Then he turned back to Drake, sighing a bit. This was the second time he was telling the story that day and he didn't like it one bit. He leaned his elbows on his knees and gathered his thoughts for a second before looking up at Drake.
"JJ shot at you by accident, Drake. We had him aiming at Lance from the rooftop."
Drake stared at him with a look of total incomprehension. "JJ?" he rasped.
"Yeah. He was aiming at Lance, like I said. You moved to stop Lance from shooting at Dee, but in doing so--"
"--I screwed up his shot. Okay," Drake whispered, nodding. He laughed a little, dryly. "Jeez, man... I... JJ shot me? And I still live? Maybe my luck... is changing."
"Speaking of JJ, though, he's really upset about all this. From what I can tell, he's blaming himself for shooting at you. He was going to pieces under my very nose. It honestly scared me. Do you know why he had such a strong reaction to all this?" Ryou asked, frowning a bit.
Drake was silent for a while, pondering over something. "I might," he finally said.
"Beside the obvious, I mean," Ryou said, trying to lighten up both himself and Drake. He smiled as Drake obviously searched for words. "Oh, it is obvious, you know. Dee's been watching you two for years. I never used to listen to him, but you've given me just too many clues lately."
Drake cursed under his breath and looked away, but a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, okay. But beside the obvious, yeah. I wanna talk with him. Where is he?"
Ryou glanced at the door reflexively. "I'll go get him. Hold on." He went to the door, and ran into Dr. Cheung on the other side.
"We should really let your colleague sleep now," the doctor said, "I'm surprised he even woke up this early."
"Just a moment, please," Ryou said, raising his hands in a halting gesture, then ran down the stairs to the direction of the cafeteria.
He found Dee sitting at a table, nursing a cup of black coffee. "C'mon," Ryou said, "Drake's awake. Are you two finished? Where's JJ?"
Dee gulped down the rest of his coffee and left a dollar on the table. "Pretty much, I think. JJ is cleaning up - oh, there he is."
They both turned to JJ, who walked into the view from behind the corner. He looked a whole lot more alive than before.
"JJ, hurry up," Ryou called, "Drake is awake and asking for you."
JJ's mouth fell open and he took a deep breath, then dashed past Dee and Ryou and to the stairs before Ryou could manage another word.
Looking at Dee, Ryou laughed. "Well, he seems to be a bit closer to the normal." He wished Dee would hint at what he had said that had brought some life back into JJ, but Dee just shrugged and smiled a little.
They followed JJ up the stairs. He hadn't gone into the room yet, but was talking quietly with Dr. Cheung. The doctor looked patiently concerned when they all gathered in front of the door, obviously intending to go in, but didn't protest. Dee nodded to him as he entered the room. Ryou followed at his heels, glancing at JJ questioningly. JJ gave him a shaky smile, but seemed to be glued to the spot.
"Hey," Dee said and went over to stand by Drake's bed, "How're you feeling?"
Drake shrugged awkwardly with only his other shoulder. His other arm was in a cast, and tied so that it would stay in place. Broken shoulder blade? Yeah, that must've been it - if the bullet had gone straight through, it must've broken bone on the way. No wonder Drake had been hurting so much. "Pretty okay," he rasped. "A bit sore. Like a frickin'... elephant's sitting on my chest."
Dee chuckled and patted his unhurt arm. "You'll be okay, buddy. After all those cigs, your lungs should be used to the rough treatment."
"Pot, hi, this is kettle," Drake said, and his following laughter turned into coughs.
"You should not strain yourself too much right now," Dr. Cheung warned from the doorway. "The bullet did miss your lung, but it scraped it. You might have trouble breathing normally for up to two weeks, or maybe more, if you put too much strain on the healing tissue--"
"Yeah, thanks, doctor," Drake rasped, waving his hand dismissively. "I get the picture. But I have something to say to JJ. Where... where the hell is he?"
Ryou looked over his shoulder. JJ still hadn't come inside. "Let me go get him." He turned around with a sigh.
"That was one hell of a shot," he heard Dee say to Drake with a little chuckle. "JJ brought Lance down even though there was someone in the way of his shot! He'll pull through, won't he? Lance, I mean?"
"Yes," Dr. Cheung said and nodded, "he should recover completely, as well. He took a bit more internal damage, but--"
"Good, I was afraid I wouldn't get to see that son of a bitch thrown in jail to rot," Dee said, interrupting poor Dr. Cheung again. Ryou looked at the doctor apologetically as he went past him.
JJ stood rigidly next to the chairs, his back to the wall. He was biting his nails and staring into space with a look of deep worry on his face. Ryou leaned against the wall next to him. His eyes were watering a little in the bright lights of the hospital hallway. He wondered how JJ had been able to sleep there.
"Drake's asking for you," he said.
JJ frowned deeper and bit his lip instead of his fingernail. "I don't think I can face him right now," he said slowly. He sighed resolutely. "I should go home anyway, get some sleep and..."
"And you left a cake in the oven, I know." Ryou turned to look at him. "Go see him. Drake knows what happened, and I bet he's worried about you." Ryou punched JJ's shoulder playfully. "Don't let this grow into something it's not."
He watched as JJ digested what he had told him. Ryou knew this was hard for JJ, but his patience was growing thin. He wanted nothing more than to go home, snuggle under the covers and not get up before Monday.
"JJ?" Ryou confirmed.
"All right," JJ said and took a deep breath.
Ryou went to peek into the room. Dee and Drake were chatting, but when Drake stopped to cough, Ryou locked eyes with Dee and gestured with his head.
Dee caught the hint immediately and stood up straight, stretching his arms. "Well, since you're not dead, Drake, I think we can finally go home and catch some shut-eye."
Dr. Cheung nodded sagely, like it had been his own idea. "I think it would be best if you let your friend sleep now."
"Not just yet. There's someone here to see you, Drake." Ryou nudged the hesitating JJ into the room, and saw the hazy, exhausted look in Drake's eyes disappear.
Ryou waved his hand. "We'll come see you again. Get some rest... at some point."
"Will do," Drake said and grinned a bit.
"Senpai? Thank you," JJ said, turning around to smile at Ryou.
"No problem." Ryou smiled at the two, and left.
The only one who didn't seem pleased was Dr. Cheung. "Are you sure you couldn't come by at a later time? It's essential that he lets the wound rest now and--"
"Oh, c'mon, doc," Dee said lightly, putting his hand on the doctor's shoulder and steering him out of the room, "give 'em a minute, will ya? Go have a cup of coffee or something." He gave Ryou a wink over his shoulder as he walked the doctor all the way to the elevator.
Downstairs, Ryou yawned so widely he thought he heard his jawbone snap. "I'm thinking twenty hours of sleep, minimum."
Dee eyed him and laughed. He squinted when they walked out of the building and the mid-day sun momentarily blinded them. "Twenty-five. And if Bicky comes bouncing in, I'll get JJ to shoot him, too."
Ryou hmphed and raised his eyebrow at Dee as he opened the car door.
"What? You know he'd come out of it without a scratch." Dee shrugged in a maddeningly sincere gesture of aloofness.
"Speaking of JJ, what did you two actually talk about?" Ryou asked when he started up the car. He couldn't hide his curiosity.
Dee was quiet almost all the way home, seeming to fall into his thoughts, a blank look on his face.
"Well?" Ryou finally asked when he could see their apartment building.
Dee shrugged nonchalantly. "Unfinished business. Mostly Drake, really."
"And that's all I'm going to get, huh?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Dee's thoughtful expression melted into his usual animal grin. "You could talk me into adding some bonuses to the deal, I suppose."
"Oh, well," Ryou said, smiling affectionately, "I think I could live with that."