Wolfsong
Witness
The bunny for this story just came out of nowhere and refused to leave me alone to write it. It's sort of a prequel to a much bigger story. Given the way that one is headed i'm not even gonna mention the name of it.
This story though, is rated G.
*crosses fingers* Hope y'all like.
Unwanted Similarities by Amy/Wolfsong/Werewolfsong
Beta(s): Kat/Ryan
There were a lot of things that Richard Stetler, IAB Sergeant hated. When he stormed out of the Miami Dade Police Department earlier that morning, most people had assumed that it had something to do with a one Lieutenant Horatio Caine. Most of the time, even he felt that would have been a reasonable assumption to make. This time, however, it had nothing to do with the red-haired Lieutenant.
In fact, Rick just happened to be walking through the bullpen when the sound of raised voices caught his attention. Changing directions, he headed towards the source of the commotion. What he saw was one of the few things that he hated.
One of the officers had caught a young teenager that was about to vandalize an older woman’s property. Luckily for the kid, that not only had he been caught before he could do anything, but it also turned out that he didn’t want to spray paint anything. It was simply the result of an older brother’s dare to his younger.
Both boys were sitting at the patrol officer’s desk staring at their shoes as they bounced nervously on the floor. Their father, a man with graying blonde hair, was pacing angrily between the two of them. Finally, he came to a stop in front of the youngest brother.
“What the HELL were you thinking Terrence Matthew Coats?”
“Dad, it wasn’t…”
“Rodney, shut up. This doesn’t pertain to you.”
“But…”
“I said drop it.” The older man snarled, ignorant of the looks that he was getting as the other cops in the bullpen began to inch closer in case they were needed.
Rick couldn’t help but be sorry for Terrence. The poor kid looked like he was going to be sick and his father wasn’t helping things. After taking note of the situation, the young man started to walk over to them.
“I should have known you were going to be trouble the moment that you arrived. Your mother and I only wanted to have one child. We got that with Rodney.”
There was a collective gasp that echoed around the bullpen, but the father was completely unaware of the scene he was presenting. Rick turned around and stormed out of the precinct. He had to get away before he punched the man and ended up the subject of an internal affairs investigation himself.
Rick knew that if that had happened, it would have been around the station in a matter of minutes. He could picture Caine giving him that sly smirk of his and rubbing more salt into the never-healed wound.
Shaking his head, the young man kept walking. He needed to blow off some steam. The situation had hit too close to home. Unbridled, the memories of a similar event from his own past returned. With a growl, Rick kicked the nearest building as hard as he could and cursed when a sharp pain shot through his foot.
When a hand landed on his shoulder, Rick jumped and fought the instinct to turn around and swing his fist at whoever had just grabbed him. Instead, he just turned his head.
“What do you want Caine?” He hissed, once he saw the tell-tale red hair.
“I saw you storm out of the precinct.” Horatio’s eyes narrowed. The younger man’s body language was practically screaming leave me alone. “What is going on?”
“It’s none of your damn business.” Stetler took a couple steps away and then spun around. “Don’t get any bright ideas about following me. I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now.”
Rick just stormed off. He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going at that point, so it wasn’t until he heard the sounds of children playing and having a good time that he looked up. Somehow, he had ended up at a children’s playground.
Looking around, Rick noticed a small tree not too far from where he was standing. So troubled was he by his thoughts, that Stetler didn’t realize he had been followed. Absently, he picked up a small twig that had fell out of the tree and began to twirl it in his fingers.
* * *
An eight year old Rick Stetler was fascinated by the twig he had found. Once he had shaken it hard enough that the ants which were crawling along it were gone, he began to jab at an invisible foe as if he were sword fighting.
“Ricky, Ricky, Ricky, whatcha doing squirt?”
“Playing.”
“I can see that. Do you want to play like the big boys, Runty Ricky?”
“Don’t call me that Josh. I’ll tell Mama on you.”
“I’m shaking in my shoes.” As if to demonstrate, the teenager shuddered, his long red hair flying in every direction. Before the younger brother could return to playing with his stick, it was grabbed out of his hands.
“Ricky, I dare you to jump out of the swing.”
Rick’s eyes narrowed. “Just jump out of the swing?”
Josh smirked. “Actually there is a catch. You have to be swinging before you jump.”
“No. Mama said that was dangerous.”
“You’re just chicken.”
“Am not.”
“Are so.”
“Am not.” Rick crossed his arms across his chest and glared at his brother.
“Yes, you are. I double dog dare you.”
“No, Mama said that it’s dangerous.”
“No, it isn’t. She just said that to get you to do what she wants. It’s sort of like when they tell you to eat all your vegetables on your plate before we can leave the table. Anyways, I triple dog dare you. You’re not allowed to back down from a triple dog dare.”
“Well…”
“Oh come on. Don’t be a spoilsport.”
“If I do, will you leave me alone about it?”
“Sure thing, Runt.”
“Fine.”
Josh watched with a smirk on his face as his younger brother marched over to the swing set. He quickly stole a glance at his mother who was currently chatting with Dana’s mom. Good, he thought to himself. With her not paying attention, he’d be more likely to see Rick make his swing jump. He had always been curious to see what it looked like, but didn’t want to risk it himself.
Josh quickly returned his attention back to his brother who was looking at him in order to verify that he was indeed watching. With a nod of his head, Josh confirmed that he was.
Just as Rick launched himself out of the swing, his mother noticed him. “Richard Stetler what do you think you’re doing?”
If her warning had come a split second earlier, he could have and would have abandoned his jump. Unfortunately, he had already left the safety of the swing’s seat and was falling towards the ground.
Rick couldn’t help but cry out when he landed on the ground most of his weight on his upper arm. He heard the sickening sound of something snap as a pain shot through his upper left arm.
At first, it was just a steady pain. However, with every breath he took the pain just got worse. Pretty soon, he had tears running down his face.
“Crybaby.” He heard his brother mutter under his breath as Rick held his left arm with his right the best he could. About that time his mother had reached them.
If he had heard the comment, Rick probably would have retaliated with one of his own. Soon he was wrapped protectively in his mother’s arms, but even that couldn’t make the pain go away.
“What have I told you about jumping from swings mister?” She asked, her voice a concerned whisper.
“Josh…” Rick hiccupped. “Josh triple dog dared me too.”
Carolyn Stetler shot her older son a look that meant she would see to him later. He gulped, but wisely said nothing. Josh snuck a peak at his younger brother’s left arm and winced. There was a piece of bone sticking out of his forearm, and a small but steady trail of blood. Instinctively, he reached around and felt his own arm to make sure that every bone was in its proper place.
* * *
Absently, Rick rubbed his left arm. He really could count himself lucky. The only visible sign that he had broken his left arm was the fact that he couldn’t turn his left arm as much as he could his right. The diminished range of motion did not affect him in his job and for that he was thankful. He was also lucky in that it never bothered him when it rained. There were a few people at the station, though they were older than him, which often complained loudly whenever it did.
* * *
When the family returned home after the hospital visit they found Russell Stetler sitting on the couch. “Wonder what crawled up his butt and died?” Josh whispered in such a low voice that only Rick heard him. He simply just shrugged with his one good arm.
The younger brother’s left arm was not only incased in a plaster cast, but also strapped around his body. This was mainly due to the fact that not only had poor Rick broken his ulna, but he had also fractured his humerus.
“What the HELL happened?” Russell demanded as soon as they walked through the door.
“Rick broke his arm.”
“I can see that. How did that happen?”
“He jumped out of a swing. But Josh…”
“WHAT?!”
Rick’s eyes widened at the furious look on his father’s face and then tried to hide behind his mother.
“Dad, it was my fault. I dared him too.”
Russell Stetler either did not hear what Josh was saying or refused to acknowledge it. Instead he turned his gaze upon his younger son.
“Your mother and I have both told you that jumping out of swings is dangerous. We thought that you had listened to us. I should have known better.”
Rick missed the warning look his mother shot his father, and it was evident that his dad missed it as well because he continued on with his rant.
“You were an accident. We had planned on having only one child. In fact, I was planning on taking your mother on a special trip for our anniversary, but we couldn’t go. Care to guess why? She couldn’t get the immunizations that she needed because she was pregnant with you.”
“Russell Stetler you stop that nonsense right this minute.”
As soon as he heard the word accident, Rick felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. What energy he had, fled from his system and he fell onto his knees. Even Josh was stunned. He helped his younger brother up to his feet and ushered him out of the room while their parents argued, feeling even more guilt at hearing what should have been his punishment.
* * *
“Some people should never become parents.” Stetler muttered to himself, as the memories kept playing in his mind.
Glancing down at his watch, he was surprised to see how late it had gotten. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his head of the unwanted memories, Rick stood up. After brushing the debris from his pants, he slowly made his way back to the precinct.
Horatio Caine silently melted into the shadows not wanting the other man to notice him. However, he couldn’t help but overhear the younger man’s comment. Once Stetler was out of earshot, Horatio whispered his feelings towards what Rick had said. “I agree Rick. I agree.”
This story though, is rated G.
*crosses fingers* Hope y'all like.
Unwanted Similarities by Amy/Wolfsong/Werewolfsong
Beta(s): Kat/Ryan
There were a lot of things that Richard Stetler, IAB Sergeant hated. When he stormed out of the Miami Dade Police Department earlier that morning, most people had assumed that it had something to do with a one Lieutenant Horatio Caine. Most of the time, even he felt that would have been a reasonable assumption to make. This time, however, it had nothing to do with the red-haired Lieutenant.
In fact, Rick just happened to be walking through the bullpen when the sound of raised voices caught his attention. Changing directions, he headed towards the source of the commotion. What he saw was one of the few things that he hated.
One of the officers had caught a young teenager that was about to vandalize an older woman’s property. Luckily for the kid, that not only had he been caught before he could do anything, but it also turned out that he didn’t want to spray paint anything. It was simply the result of an older brother’s dare to his younger.
Both boys were sitting at the patrol officer’s desk staring at their shoes as they bounced nervously on the floor. Their father, a man with graying blonde hair, was pacing angrily between the two of them. Finally, he came to a stop in front of the youngest brother.
“What the HELL were you thinking Terrence Matthew Coats?”
“Dad, it wasn’t…”
“Rodney, shut up. This doesn’t pertain to you.”
“But…”
“I said drop it.” The older man snarled, ignorant of the looks that he was getting as the other cops in the bullpen began to inch closer in case they were needed.
Rick couldn’t help but be sorry for Terrence. The poor kid looked like he was going to be sick and his father wasn’t helping things. After taking note of the situation, the young man started to walk over to them.
“I should have known you were going to be trouble the moment that you arrived. Your mother and I only wanted to have one child. We got that with Rodney.”
There was a collective gasp that echoed around the bullpen, but the father was completely unaware of the scene he was presenting. Rick turned around and stormed out of the precinct. He had to get away before he punched the man and ended up the subject of an internal affairs investigation himself.
Rick knew that if that had happened, it would have been around the station in a matter of minutes. He could picture Caine giving him that sly smirk of his and rubbing more salt into the never-healed wound.
Shaking his head, the young man kept walking. He needed to blow off some steam. The situation had hit too close to home. Unbridled, the memories of a similar event from his own past returned. With a growl, Rick kicked the nearest building as hard as he could and cursed when a sharp pain shot through his foot.
When a hand landed on his shoulder, Rick jumped and fought the instinct to turn around and swing his fist at whoever had just grabbed him. Instead, he just turned his head.
“What do you want Caine?” He hissed, once he saw the tell-tale red hair.
“I saw you storm out of the precinct.” Horatio’s eyes narrowed. The younger man’s body language was practically screaming leave me alone. “What is going on?”
“It’s none of your damn business.” Stetler took a couple steps away and then spun around. “Don’t get any bright ideas about following me. I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now.”
Rick just stormed off. He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going at that point, so it wasn’t until he heard the sounds of children playing and having a good time that he looked up. Somehow, he had ended up at a children’s playground.
Looking around, Rick noticed a small tree not too far from where he was standing. So troubled was he by his thoughts, that Stetler didn’t realize he had been followed. Absently, he picked up a small twig that had fell out of the tree and began to twirl it in his fingers.
* * *
An eight year old Rick Stetler was fascinated by the twig he had found. Once he had shaken it hard enough that the ants which were crawling along it were gone, he began to jab at an invisible foe as if he were sword fighting.
“Ricky, Ricky, Ricky, whatcha doing squirt?”
“Playing.”
“I can see that. Do you want to play like the big boys, Runty Ricky?”
“Don’t call me that Josh. I’ll tell Mama on you.”
“I’m shaking in my shoes.” As if to demonstrate, the teenager shuddered, his long red hair flying in every direction. Before the younger brother could return to playing with his stick, it was grabbed out of his hands.
“Ricky, I dare you to jump out of the swing.”
Rick’s eyes narrowed. “Just jump out of the swing?”
Josh smirked. “Actually there is a catch. You have to be swinging before you jump.”
“No. Mama said that was dangerous.”
“You’re just chicken.”
“Am not.”
“Are so.”
“Am not.” Rick crossed his arms across his chest and glared at his brother.
“Yes, you are. I double dog dare you.”
“No, Mama said that it’s dangerous.”
“No, it isn’t. She just said that to get you to do what she wants. It’s sort of like when they tell you to eat all your vegetables on your plate before we can leave the table. Anyways, I triple dog dare you. You’re not allowed to back down from a triple dog dare.”
“Well…”
“Oh come on. Don’t be a spoilsport.”
“If I do, will you leave me alone about it?”
“Sure thing, Runt.”
“Fine.”
Josh watched with a smirk on his face as his younger brother marched over to the swing set. He quickly stole a glance at his mother who was currently chatting with Dana’s mom. Good, he thought to himself. With her not paying attention, he’d be more likely to see Rick make his swing jump. He had always been curious to see what it looked like, but didn’t want to risk it himself.
Josh quickly returned his attention back to his brother who was looking at him in order to verify that he was indeed watching. With a nod of his head, Josh confirmed that he was.
Just as Rick launched himself out of the swing, his mother noticed him. “Richard Stetler what do you think you’re doing?”
If her warning had come a split second earlier, he could have and would have abandoned his jump. Unfortunately, he had already left the safety of the swing’s seat and was falling towards the ground.
Rick couldn’t help but cry out when he landed on the ground most of his weight on his upper arm. He heard the sickening sound of something snap as a pain shot through his upper left arm.
At first, it was just a steady pain. However, with every breath he took the pain just got worse. Pretty soon, he had tears running down his face.
“Crybaby.” He heard his brother mutter under his breath as Rick held his left arm with his right the best he could. About that time his mother had reached them.
If he had heard the comment, Rick probably would have retaliated with one of his own. Soon he was wrapped protectively in his mother’s arms, but even that couldn’t make the pain go away.
“What have I told you about jumping from swings mister?” She asked, her voice a concerned whisper.
“Josh…” Rick hiccupped. “Josh triple dog dared me too.”
Carolyn Stetler shot her older son a look that meant she would see to him later. He gulped, but wisely said nothing. Josh snuck a peak at his younger brother’s left arm and winced. There was a piece of bone sticking out of his forearm, and a small but steady trail of blood. Instinctively, he reached around and felt his own arm to make sure that every bone was in its proper place.
* * *
Absently, Rick rubbed his left arm. He really could count himself lucky. The only visible sign that he had broken his left arm was the fact that he couldn’t turn his left arm as much as he could his right. The diminished range of motion did not affect him in his job and for that he was thankful. He was also lucky in that it never bothered him when it rained. There were a few people at the station, though they were older than him, which often complained loudly whenever it did.
* * *
When the family returned home after the hospital visit they found Russell Stetler sitting on the couch. “Wonder what crawled up his butt and died?” Josh whispered in such a low voice that only Rick heard him. He simply just shrugged with his one good arm.
The younger brother’s left arm was not only incased in a plaster cast, but also strapped around his body. This was mainly due to the fact that not only had poor Rick broken his ulna, but he had also fractured his humerus.
“What the HELL happened?” Russell demanded as soon as they walked through the door.
“Rick broke his arm.”
“I can see that. How did that happen?”
“He jumped out of a swing. But Josh…”
“WHAT?!”
Rick’s eyes widened at the furious look on his father’s face and then tried to hide behind his mother.
“Dad, it was my fault. I dared him too.”
Russell Stetler either did not hear what Josh was saying or refused to acknowledge it. Instead he turned his gaze upon his younger son.
“Your mother and I have both told you that jumping out of swings is dangerous. We thought that you had listened to us. I should have known better.”
Rick missed the warning look his mother shot his father, and it was evident that his dad missed it as well because he continued on with his rant.
“You were an accident. We had planned on having only one child. In fact, I was planning on taking your mother on a special trip for our anniversary, but we couldn’t go. Care to guess why? She couldn’t get the immunizations that she needed because she was pregnant with you.”
“Russell Stetler you stop that nonsense right this minute.”
As soon as he heard the word accident, Rick felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. What energy he had, fled from his system and he fell onto his knees. Even Josh was stunned. He helped his younger brother up to his feet and ushered him out of the room while their parents argued, feeling even more guilt at hearing what should have been his punishment.
* * *
“Some people should never become parents.” Stetler muttered to himself, as the memories kept playing in his mind.
Glancing down at his watch, he was surprised to see how late it had gotten. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his head of the unwanted memories, Rick stood up. After brushing the debris from his pants, he slowly made his way back to the precinct.
Horatio Caine silently melted into the shadows not wanting the other man to notice him. However, he couldn’t help but overhear the younger man’s comment. Once Stetler was out of earshot, Horatio whispered his feelings towards what Rick had said. “I agree Rick. I agree.”
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