Disclaimer: The characters in this piece of fanfiction do not belong to me.

Title: The Spaces Between

Summary: Just an idea of what is happening behind the scenes in the seventh volume, after Ryo faces up to his feelings.

Pairing: Dee/Ryo

Rating: M

Note: This is slightly AU from the book; it is very obvious where.

'What the hell? I thought you guys were gonna wait for me before you started breakfast?'

Ryo's heart leaps and begins to beat too fast at the sound of his partner's voice.

'Dee!' he exclaims, turning in his seat.

'Big words for someone who's late,' Diana interjects wryly.

'What, you think looking this good comes naturally?' Dee asks her, running his hand through his hair.

Ryo suddenly remembers how that hair feels between his fingers, damp at the neck. He'd clung there last night, desperate for something to hold onto, as he'd given himself up to his feelings. He shakes his head, and takes a long swallow of coffee to hide his face.

'Anyway, what's the plan for today?' he asks, hoping Diana can't tell how ruffled he is.

'I want to have a meeting about this ridiculous habit my agents have of falling asleep on the job,' she says pointedly.

Dee looks a little awkward.

'It wasn't just me,' he mumbles into his coffee. Ryo is strangely tempted to run his foot up Dee's calf, and he flushes a little from the thought. Diana catches it and smirks at him. Dee is thankfully oblivious.

'Of course it's not just you, sweetie,' Diana tells Dee. 'Which is why we need the meeting. Though you're the most senior officer, anyone would have thought you'd be on your guard a bit more.'

Ryo hides his smile in his coffee cup at Dee's outraged sputtering.

'Then why is Ryo coming?' Dee demands. 'He hasn't fallen asleep on the job ever.'

'Because Alicia is sneaky,' Diana returns. 'It's nearly time, are you two nearly ready?'

'Sure,' Ryo says, standing up and collecting his coat from the back of his chair. Dee hastily finishes off the last mouthful of his coffee and grabs his coat as well. They follow Diana into a conference room in the hotel, and Ryo is all too conscious of Dee's presence at his side. Their arms brush together as they settle into their seats, and Ryo has another flashback, to the feel of his hands around Dee's upper arms, feeling his muscles flexing as he pushed against him. He shivers a little, and Dee notices. He fixes him with a curious glance, but Ryo smiles and waves it off.

The meeting begins five minutes later. Ryo is listening patiently as Diana outlines her plan, which mostly consists don't take anything she offers you, until Diana asks Dee to give his views on the best way to keep Alicia safe.

Ryo can't help but stare at him, the way his hair falls into his eyes, the graceful arc of his hands as he talks, and the gentle sway of his hips as he paces. He's so beautiful Ryo almost can't breathe for a moment.

Again, he's back in that darkened room. Even now he can feel his leg muscles aching from the exertion of keeping them wrapped around Dee as he slowly thrust into him. He shifts a little in his seat, remembering the uncomfortable feeling of being so slowly stretched. He finds himself picturing Dee giving this lecture without a shirt, his broad chest flexing with every movement.

Ryo's mouth is dry. He's desperate for this meeting to be over so he can be alone. He needs to think, to assimilate. He'd had hardly enough to slip away from Dee's that morning and back to his own for a shower before work, let alone think. His mind had been so full of pleasure the night before, he couldn't have formed a coherent thought if he had tried.

When Dee sits down beside him, he looks over at him for a smile of approval. Ryo can hardly force his lips to quirk up, and his eyes are clearly tortured. Dee's face falls in confusion, and Ryo has to look away before he does something stupid.

How can he be so calm, Ryo thinks. How can he pretend nothing has happened?

After the meeting wraps up, Ryo is heading to his car to find Alicia, who's disappeared again during the meeting. Dee catches up to him in a hallway, and crowds him into the wall.

'What's up with you today, Ryo?' he asks bluntly. 'You're skittish and I think you're avoiding me.'

'It's nothing,' Ryo says nervously, trying to duck out from underneath his arm.

'Ryo,' Dee holds his ground. 'The last time it was "nothing", you went off on your own to take on the biggest fish in the drug pond, so don't give me nothing.' He lowers his voice. 'Is it ... about last night? Because, Ryo, it doesn't-'

'I know,' Ryo gives him a smile, a real one, because Dee can't hide his anxiety about this. 'I just - I'm fine. I really am.' He risks a quick peck on the lips before slipping out from Dee's arms. 'I have to find Alicia. I'll call you.'

He doesn't look back as he strides down the corridor.

Ryo suspects the world is out to kill him today. His conversation with Alicia brings up too many thoughts he's unprepared to deal with. Is it really so obvious? He feels different, but he hadn't expected that it showed.

By the time he gets a moment to think about it, it's the evening and he's exhausted. He sees Bikky into his bedroom (and steadfastly ignores the tapping of the computer keys), pours himself a glass of wine, and settles himself on the couch in the lounge room with a book and some quiet music. He's not in the mood for anything tonight but relaxing.

He spends about ten minutes staring at the same page of his book, before he realizes that all he's doing is thinking about Dee. He just can't forget what they did together, how far he let his feelings go, and how out of control he felt. He's always prided himself on his restraint, but Dee just blasts through all of his boundaries with his smile and his persistence. Ryo can't deny he's attracted to the man, thanks to Diana's blunt input.

Alicia says he's in love ... and he can't run from that thought either anymore. He's never felt like this with anyone else, and while Dee might be the first guy, he is not the first woman he's ever been involved with. Love ... has always seemed something so peripheral and unnecessary, but now, the thought of living without Dee ... makes his stomach turn over.

His mind strays further, to the ache he can still feel, and to the scratch marks he'd discovered on his back in the shower. He shivers at the thought, remembering how the feeling had washed over him, sweeping away his thoughts. He can feel Dee's desperate breath on his neck, his questing tongue sliding over his ear lobe.

He feels himself twitch.

He hastily picks up the book again, which he hadn't noticed had fallen to his chest in his distraction. He can't think about this right now.

But he is, he's remembering the weight of the other man above him, pressing him down into the sheets. He remembers Dee's voice huskily moaning in his ear, and his own answering pants and groans.

He feels himself swelling, now, and tries again to tame his thoughts.

But it's half-hearted at best, as his mind recreates the sensation of Dee swallowing him down the first time. The wet, hot heat engulfing him and claiming him. He can even remember Dee's hair ticking at his thighs as he bobbed. Dee had moaned around him, the vibrations carrying up Ryo's cock to his fingertips. Every part of him tingled.

He's completely hard now, and straining against his pajamas. Before he's realized it, he's got a hand on his penis, rubbing it gently through the fabric.

He tears it away with a frustrated sound and brings the book back up to his flushed face. He forces himself to focus on each individual word, until they begin to make sense to him again. He grits his teeth each time his mind begins to wander, and he is beginning to wilt by the time he finishes the chapter.

He sighs and turns his head into the cushion, closing his eyes. He can smell Dee's scent on the fabric, and it brings everything back to him immediately.

With a curse, he shoves a hand into his pants, and sighs in relief when he has a hand around his cock. He purposefully recreates each moment in as much detail as he can; the slick slide of Dee's fingers inside of him, the first moment he'd found Ryo's prostate, and the intense, unending pleasure when his partner thrust into him.

He can almost feel Dee on top of him, his face contorted in pleasure, and Ryo's name falling uninhibited from his lips. He remembers his own reactions, the panting, the moaning, and how he had clutched Dee as close as he could.

His fist is moving faster now, and he knows he's close. Desperately, he pulls the image of the moment of orgasm to the front of his mind and he's there, spilling warmly over his hand, and falling bonelessly back down on the couch.

He lies, panting, until he regains his senses enough to remember that he isn't alone in the house, and hastily cleans himself up.

He has another shower before changing pajamas and climbing into bed. It feels big and cold without Dee, who slept there so often even before anything had happened.

He doesn't know if he's more or less conflicted now than he was before, but he's asleep before he can contemplate it any longer.

By the time he has a moment to think again, he's standing on the bridge with Dee, and he doesn't really need to think anymore. He'd known, before he'd asked Dee to come to dinner with him, what he was going to do, but he still hadn't been sure.

Seeing Dee here, and listening to his fumbled attempts to explain, his heart swells, and he knows. He knows.

'Then I guess this is the part...' he begins and takes a deep breath.

End