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FAKE First Year Together: A New Day (May)	By : BrittColumbia Category: +. to F > FAKE Views: 14597 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own FAKE, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
FAKE First Year Together: A New Day (May)
Chapter 8

Pairing:
Dee/Ryo

Rating:
Chapter eight is rated "T". There's no sex in this
chapter. Not even any kissing or groping (*sigh). But you know, sometimes
I have to put the romance on hold in order to advance the plot. I believe
this chapter has some swearing in it.

Spoilers:
To Volume 7

Timing:
Set in May directly after Book 7 ended

Summary:
Ryo is coming to terms with the changes in his relationship with Dee, as well
as his new sexual identity. Meanwhile, Dee and Ryo are searching for a young
runaway. This story explores homophobic attitudes but is primarily a love story
between two men.

Disclaimer:
I do not own these characters. They are the property of Sanami Matoh. I am not
making any money from this.

Author's
notes: I believe in a strong and equal Ryo and Dee. Chapter nine is complete
and you'll be able to find it on my Livejournal page about ten minutes or
so after I succeed in posting this one. I'm afraid I can't tell you my LJ
address because this site does not permit direct links. If you want it, just
email me.

I'm lucky
enough to have this totally fabulous beta called Blue Simplicity. She
doesn't hesitate to call me on it whenever I'm inconsistent or going off
track. Thank you, Blue. You're wonderful!

FAKE First Year
Together: A New Day (May)

Chapter 8

Detectives
Laytner and McLean stood in the tiled foyer of Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy's elegant
apartment, waiting for Mrs. Abernathy to return with a list of her son's
friends and their phone numbers.
She was a small, intelligent, British woman, very chic and very
reserved. She didn't seem even the
slightest bit distraught. She
certainly didn't strike them as a mother whose thirteen-year-old son was
missing.

          "Sorry
to keep you waiting," she said as she returned with a slip of paper, which
Dee took from her hand.
"That's all of them, I think.
There may be others I don't know about."

          "
All of them?" queried Dee.
"There are only two names on this list."

          "Well, my son is a bit of a loner,
you see. Not a joiner. Likes to spend time on his computer,
you know, like so many young people nowadays. I believe he has heaps of internet friends, however."

          "Could we see his room,
ma'am?" asked Ryo.

          After
the merest hesitation, she said, "Of course! But I should warn you that it's rather a mess in there. I'm afraid he had a bit of a temper
tantrum before he left and destroyed some of his belongings."

          The
boy's room was indeed a shambles.
The floor was covered in broken CDs that looked as though they'd been
trampled. There were torn posters
and books scattered about the room, and a smashed computer monitor lay on its
side.

          "Holy
hot damn, that was some temper tantrum," whistled Dee, as his eyes swept
over the damage.



          "Yes, it certainly was," Mrs.
Abernathy agreed. "He tends
to be somewhat emotional, our Thomas.
Frankly, I'm at a loss how to deal with him, sometimes." She spread
her hands and gave them a 'what can I do?' kind of look.

          "What
was the tantrum about?" Ryo's voice was soft, belying the hard interest
that showed on his face.

          "Well,
he and his father are always at loggerheads over something. I think it was about his friends... My
husband would like him to be, ah, a little more circumspect in that regard, and Thomas protested."

          "We
have information that his father was perhaps violent toward him," said Ryo
in the same soft voice.

          Mrs.
Abernathy betrayed the first real emotion she had shown so far. "Goodness, no!" she said.
"Certainly NOT. You don't
understand. Mike loves that boy,
just adores him."

          "We
spoke to one of his friends yesterday who told us something about how your son
perceived his life here," Ryo elaborated.

          Seeing that all this was going to do was
elicit another denial, Dee cut in bluntly with "Whether it's true or not,
if the kid is even SAYING he's being abused, we're gonna have to refer it to
the child welfare authorities for further investigation."

          "Well, I certainly hope you find
him soon so we can clear up this misconception," she said, returning to
her former unruffled state.
"And now, gentlemen, if you don't need anything else from me, I'm
afraid I have an appointment to get to."

          She
led them out of Thomas' room. Back
in the foyer, Dee asked her for a drink of water and followed her into the
kitchen. Between sips, he looked around appreciatively.

          "Nice
place you got here," he said.

          She
shrugged. "It's adequate for
our needs." She stood there, patiently as he finished his drink and only
looked at her watch once.

          "Thank you," he said, handing
her the glass, and walking back to where Ryo was waiting.

          "Thank
you for coming, gentlemen," said Mrs. Abernathy. "Do call if you find
him, any time of the day or night.
Just leave a message if we happen to be out."

          "Yes
ma'am," said Ryo. "Good bye."

          Dee gave her a brief nod. The door
clicked firmly shut behind them.
They waited until they were in the elevator before turning to each other
with their impressions.

          "'Leave a message'?" Ryo repeated, shaking his
head. There was a little glint of
anger in his eyes. "What do
you wanna bet that she has a cell phone, but just didn't want us to be able to
contact her on it?"

          "Yeah, definitely something weird going on
here. Her son's been missing for
four days and it seems to be more of an inconvenience than anything else."

          "Did
you buy the part about the temper tantrum?" Ryo asked.

          "Nah. A kid who reportedly lived on his
computer wouldn't have smashed his monitor like that."

      "Yeah, and I thought the broken
CDs were a bit iffy too. Half of
them looked like music he'd burned himself and the other half looked like
games. I can't see him smashing
his games and his tunes when he could have taken out his anger on something
less personal, like his clock radio or the water mug by his bed."

      Dee remarked that there had been no
pictures of the boy or the family anywhere, no evidence that a kid actually
lived in that place, except his room.

      "In your place you've got
Bikky's basketball trophy up on top of the TV, you've got framed pictures of
him on the living room wall, photos of him and his friends on the fridge� his
second favorite sports bag lives on the hooks by the door�Here, it's like the
kid's just a boarder.

      Ryo listened, surprised, because
although he had also noticed the absence of 'kid'-oriented paraphernalia, he
hadn't put quite the same spin on it that Dee did. He had attributed it more to
the Abernathys' desire to keep a neat and stylish apartment, which was
something he could entirely relate to, than to a lack of regard for their
son. He felt a little embarrassed
that he had been paying more attention to the art on the walls and the quality
renovation job that the Abernathys had obviously had done on their suite than
he had to the fact that nothing of Thomas' seemed to be in the main living
area. He was once again struck by Dee's perceptiveness and his facility for noticing
details. It was one of the
qualities that made him so well suited to police work. Dee cultivated an
attitude of carelessness, which most people didn't look beyond, but Ryo knew
that when something was important to him he wasn't careless at all.

     However,
"Hmm, it DOES live on the hooks by the door, doesn't it?" was
all he said.

      "Let's go see what Daddy has to
say." Dee strode toward the car.


&^&^&^&^&^&^&^&^

      Mike Abernathy was a smallish man
with a big, bluff, hearty Irish voice that seemed at odds with his cold,
suspicious eyes.

     "What was your name? Laytner? Think I've heard of you! You caught that fellow was murdering
young ladies and chopping off their hands, am I right? 'Bout six, seven months back?"

     "Eight. And yep, that was me AND my
partner here Detective McLean."
Dee indicated Ryo.

     Lieutenant Abernathy pumped Ryo's hand
absently without really looking at him. "Yes, yes," he said. "Good job, the pair of you. Parents citywide were relieved when
that monster was finally nabbed.
But you, Detective Laytner, YOU were the one who sent him to hospital,
correct? Ha-ha! As I recall, the
outset of the trial had to be delayed because he wasn't completely recovered
from his injuries!"

     "Geez, does EVERYONE know about
that?" muttered Dee, scratching his head. "Well, you know," he
added, uncomfortably aware that he was standing in the offices of Internal Affairs,
"if he hadn't resisted arrest the way he did..."

     "Say no more, boy, say no more. Even in IA, we do have some
understanding of the workings of the real world, believe it or not! Please sit down, the pair of you. I take it that you two are the ones
that Warren has assigned to find my son?"

     "That's right, sir," Ryo spoke
up. "We're confident that
we're going to find him soon. In
fact, we almost had him yesterday, but he was a little too fast for us."

     "Oh-ho! I know what you mean – my Tommy can be quick on his
feet. For a while there, he was a
member of his school's track team -- now there was some fancy footwork. But, he didn't stick with it, as usual,
did he now? Kids today, I just don't know."

    "Did he quit the track team, then?"
Ryo asked.

    "Yes, perhaps one step ahead of being
kicked off of it by his irate coach.
Tommy was cutting practices, and showing up late or not at all for meet
after meet. I don't know what was
going on there. I think it was
just a bad crowd that he had the misfortune to fall in with." Lt. Abernathy sounded resigned and
perhaps the tiniest bit bitter.

    "Was your son involved with drugs,
sir?" Dee asked bluntly.

    "My own Tommy? Goodness no. At
least, I hope not." Lt. Abernathy hesitated, rather theatrically, to Dee's
mind, before adding, "Well, I can't be sure, anymore."

     But Ryo appeared to be in sympathy with
him. "It's so hard to protect
them sir, isn't it? Especially in
a city like this."

     Lt. Abernathy's eyes narrowed slightly as
he took note of Ryo, seemingly for the first time.

     "De-tec-tive McLean," he
murmured thoughtfully. "Yes,
you're the parent of a rather difficult teenage boy, yourself, aren't you? You understand the tribulations we
fathers go through, I think."

     Ryo reddened slightly, but his face didn't
otherwise change. Dee knew he was
surprised. But this did appear to
bear out his theory that the chief had asked them to take care of this case
because of Ryo's experience with Bikky.

     "Yes, I think I do," Ryo agreed
in his quiet voice. "We have
to let go and trust them, but we also have to be able to read their minds at
will. It can be quite a
challenge."

     "Mmmm, absolutely. And the law gives us practically no
power to do what's necessary to protect them."

     "How do you mean, Lieutenant?"

     "Well for example, when they insist
on running around with friends who are bad for them, who can undermine their
entire future. You try to forbid
it, but they lie and sneak around behind your back, or they out and out defy
you to your face!"

     "Uh, yeah, I've gone through that,
too," said Ryo, looking down at the floor. Dee knew he was remembering Bikky's recent escapade.

     "But the law does not allow us to
properly protect them or teach them the error of their ways, now does it? The rights of the child are paramount
in this day and age."

     "Well, exactly which ways of
protecting them or teaching them are you referring to?" asked Dee,
interested.

        Lt. Abernathy leaned
back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling with the air of a man who was about
to embark on a story. "When I
was a boy in Ireland," he began, "I had me a strict, God-fearin'
father. I had me some strict,
God-fearin' teachers, aunties and uncles, too. It was difficult for a boy bent on trouble to get up to any,
what with all the eyes on my activities and the consequences of getting
caught. However, boys will be boys
to a certain degree, and I'll admit there were times when my old man warmed my
backside for me, and sent me to bed without any supper. There was even a time when I spent most
of a summer week locked in my auntie's attic, with naught but an old fashioned
chamber pot and the Good Book to keep me company. I have to say that these methods, while strict, went a long
way toward keeping me on the straight and narrow." He sighed dramatically. "But strap a child's behind today?
Lock him in his room? Well that's
assault and unlawful confinement, isn't it? Under our current laws, it is the God-given right of a minor
to come and go as he pleases, to choose the company he keeps, no matter how
dangerous, and to thumb his nose at his parents, who only want the best for
him!" He looked directly at
Ryo. "Isn't that so, Detective
McLean?"

     "Ah...well, I can't say I had the same
kind of upbringing you did, sir, and yet I was, for the most part, a
well-behaved child."

     Mike Abernathy seemed to be waiting, so
Ryo went on. "I think each
child is different, and our methods must vary accordingly. Punishment is also a matter of
degree. One man may scold or slap
his son, whereas another might beat him black and blue. As LEOs, we have a special
responsibility to stay within the confines of the law." He fixed Mr. Abernathy with a deliberately
assessing look, which was not misunderstood by the other.

     Mike Abernathy looked Ryo up and down, and
said, "Me boy, there are many ways of judging whether a man be a fit
father or not. For every ten men
who slap or confine their sons, there'll always be one or two who do worse, if
you catch me drift. Occasionally,
there have been men of a certain...proclivity who even seek to adopt young boys for their own
improper purposes with nary a woman in sight."

     What the hell?
thought Dee. The man was clearly implying that there was something
twisted about Ryo's motives for adopting Bikky. Every instinct Dee possessed warned him of danger. Goddamned
Internal Affairs bastard. Suddenly
he couldn't wait to get out of there.
But one glance at Ryo's impassive but determined face told him that his
partner was not about to scurry away just because this bullying little man had
thrown down a somewhat daunting gauntlet. Without taking his eyes from his
opponent's, Ryo pulled out his notebook.

     "Lietenant Abernathy," he said
in his firm, professional police detective voice. "I'm afraid I have to ask you a few questions."

      Dee leaned back in his chair and
flicked his gaze from the first to the second window in Mike Abernathy's nicely
furnished corner office. There was
a beautiful blue spring sky out there, but things were about to get unpleasant
in here. There was no escape. Dee almost grinned, but controlled
himself. He decided he might as well get as comfortable as possible. An evil part of him hoped Ryo would
lose his temper. He always enjoyed
seeing Ryo lose control and flip out, provided it wasn't directed at him. But in the next moment he felt guilty
for such a thought. Brash though
he was, he had every cop's horror of falling afoul of IA, and he didn't want
Ryo to be in any trouble. He
dragged his attention back to the proceedings.

          His
partner was asking Lt. Abernathy about the broken computer.



          "It
happened during an altercation I was having with Tommy. He was shouting and throwing things,
and in my somewhat 'athletic' efforts to avoid the missiles, I fell against the
computer and it ended up broken."

          "Can
you tell me the nature of the altercation, sir?"

          "It
was concerning his no-good friends.
Buncha drug-usin' sexual deviants that he met over his damn
computer. Oh, they were losing no
time at all in leading him down a wrong and ugly path."

          "Was
it following this particular altercation that your son left home?"

          "Yes.
And we miss him something terrible."
Those words sounded strange indeed, considering the hostile tone of voice
in which they were spoken.

      "Would you be able to supply me
with your wife's cell phone number, sir?
I neglected to get it from her when we met with her earlier."

          After
a moment's hesitation, Lt. Abernathy said, "I'll have to admit to not
knowing my wife's cell number off the top of my head. She doesn't like people calling her on it unless it's an
emergency."

      Ryo just looked at him and waited
with raised eyebrows. This
succeeded in making the IA agent's face go a little darker.

    "I'll have her call you with it
later," he finally answered.

       "Fine," said
Ryo. "And may I have yours
too?"

       Abernathy rattled it off and
Ryo took it down.

          Dee spoke. "We'd also like to know, sir, why you
and your wife waited almost 48 hours until after your son's disappearance to
contact the police."

          "Ah, well you see, the boy has run off and come
back on his own before now. He
just stays with friends and then comes home feeling repentant. When that didn't happen this time, we
naturally got the police involved."

        "Can you speculate as to why your son may be feeling
less�'repentant' this time?"
Ryo asked.

        Abernathy seemed to be grinding his teeth together as he gathered
himself to answer. "No, boy,
that's your job. I don't think
endless speculation from a distraught parent would be helpful at this
point."

        "Is your son angry with you?"

          Abernathy
emitted a short, harsh bark of laughter.
"He's a teenager and I'm his hardass cop father. He's often angry with me. Isn't your son the same, McLean, or are
you a lot more, ah, permissive
with yours?"

          Dee could see that Ryo was starting to get angry, and
damn it, he was getting angry too.
Who did this arrogant little man think he was? God?

           "Detective
McLean's boy isn't missing, sir; yours is. Let's just stick to the subject of Thomas. The sooner we have all the information
we need, the sooner we can leave you to your work," he snapped.

          Abernathy's unfriendly gaze swung toward him and eyed
him speculatively. Then he snorted
dismissively and one corner of his mouth lifted in a derisive smile. However, he didn't say anything.

          Ryo
was remembering Eddie's brief description of the bruises he had seen on Thomas'
legs. He shook himself from those
thoughts and said, "I just want to make you aware, sir, that an associate
of your son's, whom we currently have in custody, has told us that your son has
suffered physical violence from you and in fact fears to return home."

     Abernathy finally lost it. "Who the hell do you think you
are?" He roared. "Poncing in here and threatening me! Implying that I –I! have been abusing the son I love more than my life! I am
not on trial here! Your
instructions were merely to find the boy and return him to the bosom of his
family, not to dig up all kinds of potentially damaging hearsay! You're nothing but a dime-a-dozen
detective, a jumped-up public bloodhound."

          At
that point, Ryo interjected impatiently. "Whatever you want to call us,
we're the ones who are going to find your son, who is currently sleeping in the
streets and going without meals thanks to his unhappy home situation."

          "And
if the boy confirms abuse at you or your wife's hands, we're obligated to report
it to the child welfare authorities," added Dee, echoing his earlier words
to Thomas's mother.

          "We'll
see what the boy says IF you succeed in finding him," growled
Abernathy. "In the meantime,
I'm going to speak to Warren. I'm
not at all sure that a pair of oddball dandies like you two are the best people
to be looking for a vulnerable and confused lad like Tommy. Now get the hell
out of here, gentlemen. This
interview is over. I've got phone
calls to make."

          Dee
and Ryo stood to leave. Ryo's face
was red and Dee knew that inside he must be seething, but by some miracle of
self-control that Dee rather admired, his partner's voice and facial expression
remained detached and professional.

          "One
last question, sir." Ryo gave the
lieutenant a hard look. "Do you then unequivocally deny that you have ever
abused your son?"

        Abernathy leapt to his feet and spat something after them, but it
was quite profane and they didn't catch it in its entirety. It wasn't exactly an answer anyway.

        "Guess not," Ryo muttered to Dee as they strode down the
hallway to the alarmed stares of the staff.

        "Jumped up public bloodhounds? Dime-a-dozen detectives? ODDBALL DANDIES?" demanded Dee, shaking his head in
disbelief. "Dude, we have been
well and truly insulted."

Getting no response, he shot a sideways
look at Ryo, once they reached the elevator. Ryo was wearing what Dee called his 'pigheaded expression',
looking stubborn and rebellious at the same time. What the hell had his partner been thinking, taking on IA on
their home ground? Sweet Jesus, did he ever need a cigarette.

    ~~end of chapter eight~~
- 7
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FAKE First Year Together: A New Day (May)