Chapter Twelve: Case for Self Defense
The CSIs were sitting at the table at Dawn and Greg's house. They had invited everyone over for diner. Dawn wanted to cook something special for all of them.
"So, this last case was weird, huh?" Nick said.
"Yeah." Greg said.
"Who would have thought that it would have turned out the way it did?" Cath said. "I certainly didn't see it coming."
"I know." Dawn added. "Some dirty cop forces some poor woman to go and pretend like she's gonna buy drugs from a dangerous drug dealer, but then run out of there before she pays for the drugs." She shook her head. "And then the drug dealer sends several of his lackies over to the poor woman's house. Her family hides in the attic, one of them has a cellphone. 911 is busy, so they call other family members and friends and explain the situation. Those people go to the house with weapons and take out all the bad guys both inside and outside the house."
"But, they fail to notice that the woman's small child has been snatched by the only woman in the drug dealer's group... and she's somehow gotten by the family's reinforcements." Nick said. "In fear for their lives and the life of the small child, the rest of the family hides outside of town. They don't have the money for the ransom and they can't go to the police."
"Yeah, it's just lucky for that kid that we found her in time." Greg said.
"And as for that scumbag dirty cop, I hope he gets the book thrown at him!" Dawn exclaimed. "Hell, they should throw all of the books at him!"
~ ~ ~
A few weeks passed and it was safe for Kyle to go back to Miami. Instead of anyone leaving Vegas to take Kyle back home, Horatio and Ryan went to Vegas to pick Kyle up. Ryan went with Horatio so he could see his cousin. He didn't tell Greg he was coming. He decided to rent a car to drive while he was in Vegas so that Horatio wouldn't have to drive him around everywhere. Ryan had even brought his girlfriend along with him.
~ ~ ~
Greg was in the bathroom when the doorbell rang. Dawn went to the door and opened the wooden door, leaving the storm door shut and locked.
"Yes?" She asked the couple at the door.
"Are you Dawn?" The man inquired.
"Yes, I am."
"Hi, I'm Ryan; Greg's cousin."
"Oh, hi."
"This is my girlfriend, Tessa."
"Hi, Tessa. Why don't you both come on inside?" She unlocked the storm door and opened it. They both walked inside. "Greg will be out in a minute."
Dawn excused herself and went into the dining room for a second, coming back out with a small puppy in her arms.
"Ooh, what a cute puppy!" Tessa said. "How old is it?"
"He's eight weeks old. His name is Asher."
"He's so cute." Tess cooed, petting the puppy who licked her hand.
"What kind of dog is he?" Ryan asked.
"Husky."
"Hi there, little guy." Ryan said, petting the puppy.
Greg entered the living room. "Ryan!"
"Hey, Greg." Ryan said and the cousins hugged. "This is my girlfriend, Tessa."
"Hi, Tessa." Greg said.
"Hi. I heard that you've met my brother."
"Your brother?"
"Tessa's brother is Jake." Ryan informed them.
"Jake as in Calleigh's fiance?" Dawn asked.
"Yes." He reached into his pocket. "And by the way, she asked me to give you this. She said to tell you both to tell all of the others that they are invited as well."
Dawn looked excitedly at the envelope that Ryan had handed her. She opened it and took out the invitation. "Oh, they set the date!"
Chuckling at his wife's enthusiasm, Greg turned to Ryan. "So, did Jake introduce you two?"
"No, actually Calleigh did. She wasn't trying to hook us up together or anything. She and Tess were just out shopping together one day and I bumped into them. Then later that week, Tessa and I bumped into each other again and well, the rest as they say is history."
"So, was Jake cool with it?" Greg asked.
"Not really at first. He was suspicious of Ryan." Tessa said.
"Why?"
"Well, to catch Ron Saris, Horatio had to set up this elaborate scheme. He faked his death and I helped him." Ryan explained.
"But only you knew about it?" Dawn asked.
"Well, me and a couple of other people. Calleigh and Jake didn't know. They came to my place to ask me some questions."
*Flashback*
Tessa walked out of the bathroom and Ryan walked toward her. "Sweetie, why don't you come sit down." He said, knowing she didn't feel well. He took her hand and led her toward the couch. She sat down and he sat beside her. "Do you need anything, honey?" He asked, starting to massage her shoulders.
"Just keep doing that and I'll be fine." She replied.
"As you wish." He said as he continued the massage. "You know, I could give you a full body massage if you prefer." He said with a grin and a wink.
She turned toward him. "Mmm... sounds good to me." She stood to her feet and he stood up as well. He kissed her passionately as he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
A little while later, there was a knock on the door. Ryan opened the door to see Calleigh and Jake on the other side. Jake's phone rang, so he took the call outside. Ryan told Calleigh to come inside and she did. Calleigh saw Tessa.
"Tessa!"
"Hi, Cal." Tessa replied with a wave.
"You two are..." She was stunned as she looked from one friend to the other. "Wow..."
"Yeah, we've been dating for a while now. I didn't want Jake to know. I know he's my twin brother and he's very protective of me. Sometimes its just like since he's twenty-nine minutes older than I am that he can boss me around. I didn't want to deal with that."
"Ryan, I'm sorry, but I have to ask these questions."
"What questions, Calleigh?"
"Why did you leave in the middle of the interrogation the other day?"
"That was my fault." Tessa said. "I had a doctor appointment. Ryan went with me."
"Why did Ryan have to go with you?"
"Because I'm pregnant and he's the father." Tessa replied, causing Calleigh's jaw to drop.
Jake walked in and saw Tessa and Ryan standing side by side. Ryan had his arm around Tessa. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Jake, you didn't listen to your messages, did you?" Tessa said.
Jake didn't hear her comment. "What are you doing with my sister, man?" He asked Ryan.
Ryan smirked. "The same things you do with Calleigh every night."
Tessa laughed, but playfully smacked Ryan's arm. "Ryan!" She exclaimed, blushing.
"You two are dating?" He asked, but then shook his head. "Nevermind, we'll deal with that later. Ryan, people think that you've been acting strange lately."
"He didn't expect to learn that he's gonna be a father. It threw him for a loop." Tess chimed in.
"Stop trying to cover for him, Tess." Jake told his sister, but then did a doubletake. "Did I hear you say that you're pregnant?"
"Yes, I am."
"With Ryan's kid?"
"That's right."
Jake sighed. "Ryan, you got a text message saying 'it's done'. That's exactly what Juan Ortez told someone to tell him when Horatio was dead."
"Jake, stop it!" Tess nearly yelled. "The text was from me!"
"From you?" Calleigh asked.
"Yes." Tessa said. "Ryan wanted me to tell Jake about us. I wasn't ready to do that, but Ryan said it was for the best. He said that the three of us should get together and talk." She looked at Jake. "So, I called you to set it up, but got your stupid answering thing instead. So, I left a message for you which you obviously didn't check. After that, I sent Ryan the text letting him know it was done. So, just check your messages already, Jake and quit interrogating my boyfriend!"
"Why are you lying for him, Tessa?"
"I'm not lying, Jake!" She said, getting upset.
"The text was not from your phone."
"That's because mine was messed up, so I borrowed a friend's phone. Check your messages and you'll see that my call to you was from Angie's phone as well. You should check these things before calling people liars!" She was visibly upset and had tears in her eyes.
"Jake, come on." Calleigh said softly. "Take it easy; she's pregnant."
Ryan wrapped his arms around Tessa to comfort her. "Ryan..." She said softly.
"Shh... it's okay, Tess." He kissed her forehead.
"Jake, why don't you check your messages?" Calleigh said.
"Okay." He got out his phone and began to check his messages. He heard the message Tessa had left for him. He immediately felt awful for how he had accused his sister of lying to protect Ryan. "I'm sorry." He told Tessa.
"For the record, I would NEVER betray Horatio. I owe him a great deal. After all, he was the one who got me my job back." Ryan told Jake.
"I'm sorry, Ryan." Jake said and Ryan nodded. Jake looked at his sister. "Tess, I'm sorry, okay? I know I'm overprotective of you and it gets out of hand sometimes. I'm sorry." He pulled her into a hug, but she didn't hug him back. "Tess..." He said softly.
"You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?" Tessa asked her brother.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
She sighed and finally wrapped her arms around her brother's back.
(end of chapter)
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Okay, there it is. The idea for the solution of the case the team was working on in the last chapter was from a weird dream I had the other night. :lol: I don't know when I'll get the next chapter up, but I'll try soon. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter.
