Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Dead Men Tell No Tales ❯ Time Of Death.... ( Chapter 5 )

I'm so sorry I haven't been updating! I'm updating even less than usual lately, and everything I have written has been for my creative writing class. You all have every right to be annoyed with me! My deepest apologies to the lot of you!

 

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Chapter 5—Time Of Death….

 

By the time they got back to their apartment, Ryo was so exhausted he actually forgot for a moment where the bedroom was. Dee took off his jacket and tossed it onto a chair, only to watch Ryo pick it up with a sigh and hang it neatly over the back of the chair. His arms dropped heavily back to his sides, and he rubbed his eyes as he felt a headache building behind them. After removing his own jacket and shoes, he went into the kitchen, opened a cabinet, and began to rummage through it for something to cook. He stopped halfway through, however, his arm dropping back to his side as his other hand rubbed at his eyes. The bright kitchen light was causing his head to pound angrily, and his stomach rolled at the sight of all the food.

 

“Ryo, are you feeling okay?” Dee asked, concerned, as Ryo fell to staring off into space.

 

“Huh?” Ryo asked, coming sharply back to Earth.

 

“You don't look so good.”

 

“I don't?”

 

Dee sighed and pressed a hand to Ryo's forehead. “Damn….you're burning up, Ryo….”

 

“Am I?” Ryo asked distantly. “Yes, I suppose I am….”

 

Another sigh emitted from Dee, and he pushed Ryo towards their bedroom. “All right, come on….” With another gentle push, he guided his lover through the door, muttering, “You work yourself to death….never sleep….go for days without a decent meal….what do you think is gonna happen, ya jackass?” His tone was affectionate, though, even if the fondness in his tone was carefully disguising the worry that Ryo surely would have picked up if he'd been more alert. Then he shoved Ryo lightly but firmly into the bathroom. “Take a shower,” he ordered, handing the blond his favorite pajamas. “I'm gonna make you some soup.”

 

Ryo blinked stupidly, then turned to do as he was told.

 

---

 

When Ryo got out of the shower half an hour later, exhaustion was pulling at every part of him. He looked longingly at the bed, but firmly pulled himself away from it and left the room, entering the kitchen just in time to hear Dee mutter a curse word and slam a pot down on the counter. Chuckling to himself, he slowly walked across the kitchen. “Dee? What are you doing?”

 

“I'm trying to make you some soup, like I said I was going to,” Dee replied, setting a pot lid over the small fire on the stove.

 

“Yes, I can see that. But we have canned soup, you know.”

 

“Mother says canned soup doesn't help you get better or fill you up. She says homemade soup is the only way to go.” The olive-skinned man carefully lifted the lid, then set it aside and put the pot back on the stove. “Besides, you've been working so hard lately. You deserve something.”

 

Ryo smiled slightly as he came up behind Dee and put his arms around him, shivering slightly with cold. He avoided putting any pressure on Dee's healing ribs, simply resting against him instead of really holding him. “That's really sweet and everything Dee, but….” He looked down into the pot. “That's not food. That's not even….I'm not eating that.”

 

Dee chuckled and turned off the stove. “But you have to eat something.”

 

“Not hungry,” Ryo replied, resting his forehead against Dee's back. “Tired….” He leaned in closer and smiled. Dee was so warm….

 

---

 

Later that night, Ryo and Dee lay together, the blond curled tightly against his lover's side and wrapped in blankets. His shivering had quieted considerably, although his skin was still hot and flushed with fever. Dee held him tightly, breathing in his scent, as his thoughts tumbled around in his head, growing steadily darker as the night did. Someone was after Ryo—his Ryo—and he'd be damned if he wasn't more terrified at this moment than he'd been since Leo had died.

 

And not only was Ryo in danger, but JJ's life was hanging in the balance because of the same man. Dee didn't know if he could endure losing both of them. He knew he couldn't endure losing Ryo. That was probably the one thing that would completely break him.

 

Beside him, Ryo mumbled quietly in his sleep and moved closer to Dee, who shifted carefully to take some of the weight off his injuries, before tightening his hold on Ryo again. “I love you, Ryo,” he murmured quietly.

 

---

 

When Ryo woke up the next morning, the space next to him was empty. “….Dee?” he mumbled sleepily, before flopping over and burying his head in the pillow. “I think I'm gonna be sick….” he muttered to no one in particular.

 

A moment later, a door slammed shut, and Ryo heard the unmistakable sound of Bikky removing his skates and tossing them down next to the door. “Ryo!”

 

“Shh,” he heard Dee say, just outside the door. “Keep it down, ape.”

 

“Bite me, old man,” the boy replied, although his voice was considerably quieter now.

 

“Shut up. Just get some food and go to school.”

 

“Where's Ryo?”

 

“He's sick, so it's cereal this morning, and you'd better like it, monkey brat.”

 

“Yeah, whatever,” Bikky replied, before his voice faded as he went to the kitchen to rush through a bowl of frosted flakes.

 

“Hey, Ryo?” Dee asked softly, opening the door slowly.

 

“Hmm?” Ryo asked lazily, pulling the covers more tightly around him as Dee came over to sit next to him on the bed.

 

“Do you want some breakfast?” Dee asked, brushing a lock of hair out of Ryo's eyes.

 

Ryo smiled and leaned into the touch, although he turned slightly green and shook his head at the mention of food. “Nooooo….”

 

Dee chuckled quietly, leaning forward to brush a kiss against Ryo's forehead. “Okay. I called in for you, so you have the day off.”

 

“You going in?”

 

“Yeah, for a few hours, at least. I wanna get this thing finished.”

 

“Mmm….kay.” Ryo curled up into an even smaller ball as Dee stood and wrapped more blankets around him.

 

“I'll see you tonight, love.”

 

---

 

“Where's your partner, Laytner?”

 

Dee looked irritably up from the computer, which he had been indulged in a battle of wits with for the past half hour. “What the hell do you want?”

 

Rose smirked. “What the hell do you want, sir,” he replied mildly, before heading across the room and picking up one of the sheets of paper on the desk next to Dee. “You didn't answer my question.”

 

“None of your business,” Dee replied, snatching the paper irritably out of Rose's hand and slamming it back onto the desk. “I'm working here.”

 

“Really? That is a surprise….”

 

“I swear to God, Rose, one more word….”

 

“Now, now, detective, what happened to your new respect for me?”

 

Dee bit back his retort and turned firmly back to the computer, carefully ignoring Rose's presence until the Commissioner simply got bored with being ignored and left in pursuit of a more interesting pastime.

 

Sighing, Dee muttered a quick prayer of gratitude as Rose departed, then reached for the phone.

 

---

 

Ryo blinked his eyes open as the distant sound of the phone ringing reached his ears. “Dee….?” he asked groggily, groping for the phone by the side of the bed. “Hello?” he slurred.

 

“Sorry….did I wake you up?”

 

“Yeah….” Ryo said around a yawn, managing to sit up halfway before he just gave it up as a pointless effort and pulled the covers up around him again. “What's up?”

 

“Nothing, I'm just trying to make some headway on our case.”

 

“Really? How's it going?” Ryo asked, trying to sound interested as opposed to dead tired.

 

“Not good, I haven't found anything new. Don't worry about it, though. I just called to see how you were.”

 

Ryo let another yawn slip out. “Fine,” he replied.

 

“Did you take anything?”

 

“Yeah.” Another yawn. “Sleepy….”

 

Dee chuckled. “Okay, go back to bed.”

 

“What're you gonna do now?”

 

“Probably go visit Drake, see if he has any ideas. I've hit a dead end….”

 

Ryo laughed, but it turned into a wracking cough, and he quickly held the phone away from him as he reached for the glass of water next to him. When the fit finally died down, he brought the phone back to his ear and teased, “You're useless without me, you know that?”

 

Dee chuckled. “Believe me, I know. But I'll have to learn to cope, won't I?” He paused. “Go back to sleep.”

 

The blond readily agreed. “Okay. Love you.”

 

“I love you, too.”

 

---

 

Dee paused outside the door of JJ's room, holding a bouquet of flowers that made him look and feel very awkward. But somehow, it felt…right. JJ wouldn't want to be in a hospital room that didn't have any beauty to it. He would be most upset if he woke up to plain, boring white walls.

 

He didn't even stop to question his utter certainty that JJ would wake up.

 

“Hey, Dee,” Drake greeted his friend, smiling slightly as Dee entered the room. He was sitting in the same place he always was when anyone came to visit, his hand lightly clasping JJ's as he read the newspaper that was spread out on his lap. There was something different about today, though. Something about his eyes….

 

“Hey,” Dee replied, smiling sheepishly as he handed Drake the flowers.

 

Drake's smile widened, though it didn't reach his eyes, and he gently untangled his hand from JJ's long enough to place them in the vase on the nightstand, which had been kept well-stocked with flowers. Nothing in the vase was ever dead for more than an hour before new color replaced the old. “How's the case coming?”

 

“Not so good. Lot of dead ends. How's JJ?”

 

Drake shrugged. “He's at the end of the rope, they're saying. He's getting worse by the hour. Doctors say he….I mean….they say he doesn't have much time left….that he's….” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat quickly. “They're morons.” He clutched JJ's hand so hard his knuckles turned white, but other than that, he remained quite calm.

 

Dee felt his heart clench at the words, but he said nothing in reply. “Well I, uh….I dunno, I just needed a break, I guess. Ryo's sick and I'm barely keeping my head above all the work….” He paused, trying to think of something else to say. If Ryo had been here, Drake would have already broken down and the blond would be comforting him. Dee, however, was different. People didn't cry around him….something about his presence discouraged it. The silence finally grew awkward, so he solved the problem the only way he knew how. “I'm gonna go get some coffee. You…want anything?” He immediately kicked himself at the stupidity of the question. If he were in Drake's shoes, he would simply stop eating and drinking as he waited for his time to follow his lover to wherever said man decided to go.

 

“….No thanks. I'm fine. I guess I should….I mean….JJ wrote up a will….back when all this started…. It's all…. I guess everything's taken care of.”

 

A chilly, unfeeling hand wrapped its hand around Dee's heart and squeezed with an iron fist. It was almost as though JJ had known….

 

“Go get your coffee. I'm gonna….I mean…. Can you leave me alone for awhile? Please?”

 

Dee nodded slightly. “Sure. No problem, man.”

 

---

 

Dee stood at the coffee machine down the hall from JJ's room. He had been standing there for half an hour, alternating between staring blankly at the machine and pacing up and down the hall in front of it, wondering when he should go back to be with Drake, or if he should go back at all.

 

He was just about to start pacing again when a group of doctors barreled past him, seeming not to realize he was there as they rushed towards JJ's room. Dee felt his stomach lurch as he followed them.

 

---

 

The battle was a short one, but at the same time, it dragged on endlessly. The room was a mass of confusion, with doctors and nurses shouting to one another, a lot of medical nonsense that few others would understand. Then, at last, the flurry of activity slowed, stopped, silenced. And into that silence, a single, sad, lonely voice spoke.

 

“Time of death, four forty-three p.m.”