Fic: This Is A Time For Believing In Fairytales 2/6

[noxnoctisanima]

Title: This Is A Time For Believing In Fairytales 2/6
Authors: Nox/BJ and Hawkeye/ barefoot_starz

Betas: Danny/Sarah, Onigami/Lorne and Alex/Odysseus

Fandoms: CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI:NY

Series Part: 8/12
Pairing: Adam/Marty
Rating: FRM

Disclaimers: We don’t own them. If we did, this would be canon.

Warnings: Supernatural themes. Some violence. Some language. 

Summary: In an Alternate Universe where Werewolves live amongst humans the Taskforce is assembled to deal with their crimes. 

Sheldon glanced around the interior of the bank. He sighed, barely concealing a wince as he took in the carnage that surrounded him. Flack had toned down his description of the scene rather dramatically. Three fatalities, yes. Werewolf muscle, well, according to the gorgeous Texan standing next to him, yes. Sheldon blinked slightly at that and shook himself back into his professional frame of mind. He crouched down next to the body of the security guard.

 

He lifted the bloodied shirt, “Cause of death was most likely shock from the extent of these wounds,” he called over to the CSIs.

 

Nick glanced over and grimaced, “Claws,” was all he said before he turned back to his evidence gathering.

 

Ryan blanched at Nick’s comment. That was nasty. Still, he mused, it was no worse than something a non-were could do with a knife or a gun. Labeling an evidence bag, Nick paused for a second to watch the dark-skinned man that he just couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from. Sheldon stared back down at the body, and for a split second allowed the horror to wash over his face. But that split second was enough. Nick turned back to his evidence, ignoring the welling hurt that rose up in him as the wolf in him whimpered and abased itself, belly flattened to the ground.

 

Flack came over from taking statements, “George Parker, age forty-one, worked at the bank for the last fifteen years. Witnesses say the werewolves attacked him first when he drew his gun.”

 

Sheldon turned to the next body, the female teller. She was lying face down on the floor, blood smears across the counter showing how she’d fallen. The clicking of a camera caught Sheldon’s attention and he looked up, catching Ryan’s eye as the younger man took the necessary photos of the body. Ryan paused for a moment, letting the sadness he felt color his eyes. He raised the camera once more and took a few more photos, before stepping back so Sheldon could turn the body over.

 

Sheldon carefully turned the woman over, “COD looks like a single gunshot wound to the head. No exit wound.”

 

Ryan took more photos, “So, humans and werewolves working together?” he asked incredulously, not entirely sure of himself or how things worked.

 

Nick’s voice floated across to them as Ryan and Sheldon moved onto the final body, “At least two packs of werewolves, if I’m readin’ this right,” his voice sounded as incredulous as Ryan’s, “This has the potential to get real messy, real quick. Y’all need to keep this outta the press as much as possible.”

 

Ryan winced at the mention of the press, remembering how Horatio had barely managed to keep them off his ass after his turning. He brought the camera up and kept taking the photos, shaking off the bad memories and concentrating once again on his job. Sheldon shot him a concerned look, but didn’t ask, focusing instead on the body of the bank manager in front of him.

 

“Cause of death is most likely shock or exsanguination. Marty will have to confirm it for sure,” Sheldon moved his hands out the way.

 

Ryan lifted the camera again, “It seems like an awful lot of violence for a simple robbery.”

 

A new voice came from the far side of the crime scene, “They used werewolf muscle, kid. What the hell did you expect? They ain’t like us normal people.”

 

The second officer on scene moved away from the crime scene tape and headed over to them. Thankfully, all the CSIs noted, he had enough sense not to stand on any potential evidence. Sheldon bit back a snort as Ryan and Nick turned to face the other cop, a raised eyebrow apiece. Flack didn’t bother to hide his disbelieving snigger. The cop who had just referred to Ryan as ‘kid’ was barely older than Ryan himself and most definitely younger than Nick and Sheldon.

 

Ignoring the officer for the moment, Nick stepped away to deposit some of his clearly labeled evidence into the truck. He turned back and moved over to where Ryan and Sheldon were standing. He bent down next to the two men, pretending to inspect a blood smear on the counter, before leaning in close to Ryan.

 

“I’ll give you $50 and buy you a steak dinner if y’all turn and growl at him…” he whispered in the younger man’s ear, eyes dancing with mirth.

 

Ryan bit down on his lip to keep from laughing, “He’d probably shoot me,” he murmured back, “Should we tell him?”

 

Sheldon cut in, “Without wishing to stomp all over your case… I don’t think it would be wise. Not unless it’s necessary. You want to keep this out of the press? I don’t think telling that man that we have a triple homicide that could lead into a werewolf turf war is a very good idea.”

 

The wolf inside Nick let out a mournful howl at Sheldon’s words. The other man didn’t sound like he disagreed with the biased police officer. With an abrupt nod to signify his agreement with Sheldon’s words, Nick willowed gracefully to his feet. The Texan picked up his kit and started to make his way back to the vault to pick up the evidence he had collected there. He paused after a few steps, gritting his teeth as the second officer’s grating voice called after him.

 

“Yo, Texas?”

 

He turned to face the cop, squinting slightly to read his nametag without his reading glasses on, “Stokes, my name is Nick Stokes. What is it Officer Kenwald?”

 

The cop made a sweeping gesture around the bank, “The door ain’t broken. Witnesses reckon they came outta nowhere. How’d the mutts get in if they didn’t use the door?”

 

Nick raised an eyebrow, tensing slightly at the use of the word ‘mutts’, before glancing around the bank himself, “There,” he said, pointing to a broken window at least three storeys up, “They would’ve shifted into wolf form and used their added speed an’ agility to maneuver up the side of the building. It’s a stone front building. Plenty of footholds.”

 

The cop, Kenwald, snorted incredulously, “Come on… Seriously? That’s impossible.”

 

Ryan turned to look at the conversation, his raised eyebrow and barely concealed mirth the only thing that held Nick’s temper in check, “Actually, Officer Kenwald, its not,” the Texan struggled to keep his voice even, “Werewolves gain a lot of muscle density when they shift forms, plus a whole heap more agility and strength than the average human being, as well as holding onto the strategic thinking capabilities and intelligence that they had in their human form.”

 

Kenwald snorted again, “You gotta be kiddin’ me, man. They’re animals.”

 

Nick gritted his teeth, lowering his eyes to the floor and turning away from the cop, ignoring his call of ‘Yo, Texas’. He brought his eyes up to meet Ryan’s, knowing that the scowl on the younger man’s face probably matched his own. Ryan’s eyes suddenly narrowed, slim shoulders hunching forward slightly. Nick abruptly shook his head. Ryan straightened and raised an eyebrow. Nick raised an eyebrow in return and subtly inclined his head towards Kenwald.

 

Ryan’s eyes filled with mirth. He let the camera hang by its strap around his neck and brought his hands up in front of his bellybutton, flicking his fingers in a gesture reminiscent of a cat unsheathing its claws. Later, Ryan could not be entirely sure why he had made that particular gesture, it had just seemed right at the time. Nick’s face broke into a grin as Ryan mouthed the words ‘steak dinner’ at him as he gestured. Turning back to the ignorant police officer, Nick smiled, keeping his voice overly nice.

 

“Officer Kenwald?” he waited until the cop turned to face him again before continuing, “Now, I’m thinkin’ y’all don’t know too much about werewolves. That’s ok… not many people do. But… I do know a fair bit about them. Did my Masters thesis on ‘em in fact. So, y’all might wanna believe me when I say that a werewolf coulda climbed up the side of this building in wolf form.”

 

Kenwald scowled at the Texan, “I don’t care what you academics know or think ya know ‘bout the mutts. I’ve seen what they do to people. They ain’t nothin’ but animals.”

 

Nick rolled his eyes, glancing back to Ryan who was shaking with silent laughter, “Guess I’ll have to prove it to ya then, huh? Might wanna stand back, Officer Kenwald.”

 

When Kenwald just glared at him, refusing to move, Nick sighed irritably and took a couple of steps backwards. He spared a glance around the room, looking slightly relieved as Flack shot him a knowing smirk and casually wandered over to stand by Kenwald. He shot a look at Ryan, who was still grinning mischievously. Nick resisted the urge to sigh, if that kid was Archie’s mate, he was going to be a bad influence on the pack. He didn’t want to, but he took a look at Sheldon anyway, the unreadable expression in the other man’s dark eyes making his wolf-self flatten its ears in misery.

 

Shoving all of that aside, Nick gathered himself and shifted. He winced internally, feeling the rapid, over-too-quickly burn and ache of popping and stretching bones, muscles and joints. Then it was finished. He raised his eyes, looking up in his newly monochromatic world at Kenwald’s shocked face. He snuffled a laugh, before wandering in Ryan’s direction.

 

“Crime scene, Nick,” the Floridian warned, dropping to one knee to look the grey wolf in the eyes, “And didn’t you have a point to make?” his eyes flicked up to the broken window.

 

He snorted as Nick’s wolf-self simply flicked his tail at him in annoyance, then turned and wandered over to the far wall. He shook his head as the large grey wolf looked over its shoulder at him, giving him a dubiously innocent look. Kenwald watched, still silent in stunned shock, and Flack, Sheldon and Ryan watched in interest, as Nick paused for a moment, eyeing off the wall in front of him.

 

Sheldon leaned into Ryan, “I thought he said they came in from the outside?”

 

Ryan nodded, “Yeah, but they would have gotten out the same way. No broken windows except that one.”

 

Sheldon nodded in understanding then turned his eyes back to Nick. Well, the big grey wolf that was Nick at the moment. But still Nick. Sheldon shook off these confusing thoughts and simply watched. Nick appeared to gather himself, muscles bunching under him. Then with what appeared to be little effort at all, he leapt. The first leap took him halfway up the bank wall, landing on an ornate stone sculpture protruding from the wall.

 

Nick let out a small sound as his claws scrabbled for purchase on the stone for a second. He was not designed for leaping around like this. He gathered himself for the next jump, making it onto the rafters. Then barely pausing, he leapt onto the windowsill. He stayed there, crouched down on his haunches, glaring down at Kenwald. Ryan smirked at the stunned cop, before willing his eyes to their werewolf yellow, the only part of the change that he could confidently control at will.

 

He looked over at Kenwald and cleared his throat, lips curling slightly as the cop squawked, “Any questions, Officer Kenwald?” he asked innocently.

 

The cop blinked and shook his head, mouth still unhinged in shock, making Flack smirk from his position next to him, “Perhaps, Frank, next time ya wanna go shootin’ off at the mouth about werewolves… ya might wanna make sure ya ain’t workin’ with the Taskforce first.”

 

Kenwald swallowed, first glancing up at Nick as he slowly winnowed his way back down the wall, then across at Ryan, yellow eyes still glittering dangerously, “Y- yes, sir… sorry, sir…” he stuttered out, registering the capital ‘T’ the detective put at the start of ‘Taskforce’.

 

Nick made his way back over to Ryan, curling in on himself slightly as he shifted back into his human form. He allowed himself to fall back on his butt, knees pulled up to his chest as he panted from the exertion. He rested his head on his knees, turning it to the side slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder and meeting Ryan’s concerned still-yellow eyes. He gave him a small smile and raised an eyebrow, gesturing a hand to his eyes as he still panted harshly. Ryan blushed suddenly and closed his eyes for a long moment, opening them again on his normal brown.

 

Sheldon moved up beside him, “Nick?”

 

The Texan fought to slow his breathing down, “I’m… okay… just lemme… get my… breath…”

 

Sheldon nodded, but stayed close by. Satisfied that his packmate was okay, Ryan started picking up the kits and evidence bags and loading them into the truck. He paused halfway through a kit. Packmate? Where the hell did that come from? He shook his head, continuing to load up the truck. He moved back into the bank, freezing mid-step and turning his head to the right. He frowned, squinting slightly. Was that…?

 

“Flack?” he waited for the homicide detective to come over before he continued, “Why didn’t anyone mention the CCTV?” he pointed to the small, barely-seen camera in the corner.

 

Flack raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know,” he looked up at the camera along with Ryan.

 

Ryan glanced back down at the detective, “Well, it’s my camera, now.”

 

Nick came over and stood by them, “Give it to Archie, he’ll be able to perform miracles with that thing,” he tilted his head at the camera in a way that reminded Ryan inexplicably of the way Nick’s wolf-self had flicked it’s tail.

 

Ryan nodded absently, attention caught by the coroner’s van pulling up. He watched in silence as the ME’s team eased each corpse into a body bag, onto a gurney, then into the waiting van. He let out a sad sigh that was echoed by both Nick and Sheldon. Sheldon glanced at the coroner’s van as it pulled out of the parking lot, then turned back to the two men next to him.

 

“How do you want to do this?” he asked, “I mean, normally, it’s just two of us on a case.”

 

Ryan shot him a grateful, yet wry, smile, “And normally, your other CSI isn’t a werewolf with no idea of the city he’s working in?”

 

Sheldon snorted, “Something like that.”

 

Nick smiled at Ryan’s comment, “Well, since neither me nor Ryan have any idea where we’re goin’… how about we head back to CSI? Then you can drop Ryan off at AV. I’ll either stop at DNA or I’ll tag along to Autopsy with y’all, dependin’ on how Greggo’s doin’.”

Sheldon nodded, “Fair enough,” and led the way back to the car, then down to the AV lab and autopsy.

 

Marty looked up from the body of the security guard as Sheldon and Nick walked through the doors. He shot them a dimmed version of his usual megawatt grin, making Sheldon instantly suspicious. Nick frowned slightly as he felt Sheldon tense next to him, then flicked his eyes up to Marty, catching and holding the other sub’s eyes inquiringly. Marty shook his head almost imperceptibly, eyes flicking down to the body, then over to Sheldon in a gesture too fast for the only human in the room to catch. Nick nodded, then stepped in closer to the autopsy table.

 

Sheldon looked over the body, “Official cause of death?”

 

“Shock, just as you suspected, Shel,” Marty peeled off his bloodied gloves and pulled on a new pair, handing over the clipboard with the autopsy report.

 

Sheldon frowned slightly; Marty was far too quiet, “What is it, Marty? Worried about the whole ‘new pack’ thing?”

 

Marty’s head came up sharply, eyes yellow, “Now, whyever would the thought of a new alpha make me nervous, Shel? I mean, it’s not like I’m already dealing with a mate who accidentally keeps challenging said alpha,” Marty shot back, voice dripping with sarcasm.

 

“Back off, Pino,” Sheldon snapped, “I don’t know these things because you don’t tell me. Up until two days ago, you and Adam were the only werewolves I knew. Adam’s been a werewolf for all of what? Three weeks? So, unless you deign to tell me about alphas and being nervous about them, I won’t know.”

 

Marty’s eyes flashed a little more as Nick took a step back, acknowledging Sheldon’s dominance, “You mean you actually care, Shel?” Marty’s voice dropped an octave, becoming more like a growl, “Or do you just find us interesting? Like a John Doe whose COD you can’t work out?”

 

Sheldon frowned, eyes flaring angrily as he looked up from the body, “You know me better than that, Pino. Who talked you through more ‘blood moments’ than I can count?”

 

Marty heaved a sigh and held up his hands, eyes slowly bleeding back to brown, “I know, I know… I’m sorry, Shel… it’s just…”

 

Sheldon nodded, “Yeah, it can’t be nice, knowing you have a potential turf war on your hands. Not just with this case, but in your personal life as well,” he was silent for a moment, before a small smile worked its way onto his face, “Now, are you ready to do this? Or do I have to send Adam down here to kick your ass?”

 

As the ME snorted in response, Nick was cheering internally. Sheldon didn’t hate werewolves? He’d talked werewolves down from ‘blood moments’ and not freaked? The Texan allowed a small smile to flit across his face, before dropping both his eyes and his head to make sure it wasn’t seen by the other two men. Nick then took a deep breath through his mouth and schooled his face back into something resembling professionalism.

Marty smirked at the other sub, letting him know that he had caught the small smile even if the dark-skinned man hadn’t. Nick blushed lightly, making Marty’s smirk all the more evil. The ME turned away and pulled out two more folders. He brought them back over and passed them off to Nick, evil smirk never leaving his face.

 

“You missed the first two autopsies,” he said, “Results are all there. Trace should have some stuff for you, as well.”

 

“Thanks Marty,” Sheldon shot the ME a smile that made the wolf inside Nick seethe.

 

The two left autopsy, walking through CSI and passing Ryan in the AV lab. They gave the other man a wave and carried on walking. Ryan returned the wave, before turning back to the screen in front himself and Archie. He was glad for the distraction, however brief it was. Searching through over thirty-six hours of CCTV footage was boring and being next to the Asian werewolf was starting to have an effect on him.

 

Archie wasn’t faring much better. He alternated between waves of desire for the other man and a burning sense of hurt that he’d effectively been rejected. Rejected by his mate. Because Archie knew now that that’s what Ryan was. He resisted the urge to thump his head on the keyboard, instead keeping his breathing calm and steady. Ryan was twitchy enough around him; he didn’t need to scare him any more.

 

Ryan leaned over the other werewolf’s shoulder abruptly, curling one arm around Archie’s neck to steady himself, “There! Go back, go back… See it?”

 

It took all of Archie’s concentration to keep his shoulders loose and stop his voice and hands from shaking as he replied, “Yep. There’s the breaking window. Want me to blow it up? See how it was done?” he rhythmically clenched and unclenched his toes inside his shoes to try and stay calm.

 

“Please…” Ryan’s eyes were still glued to the screen, blissfully unaware of what he was doing to the alpha werewolf.

 

Hands flying over the keyboard, Archie nodded, “There we go,” then he frowned, “I can’t see what did it though. I’ll slow it down,” hands flickered again and the tape slowed, “There. Does that help?”

 

Ryan’s eyes narrowed at the screen as he watched the slow motion replay of the breaking window, “Play it again, please?” his eyes bled unconsciously into yellow as he watched it again, “Slow it some more and focus on the top left corner?”

 

Archie frowned slightly, turning his head up to ask why, before his mind stuttered to a halt at the sight of Ryan’s now-yellow eyes. The other werewolf’s face remained locked onto the screen. Archie bit down hard on his lip, tasting blood, as he fought the growling moan that threatened to force its way up and out of his throat. He turned back to the screen and placed trembling hands back on the keyboard, typing quickly.

 

“There,” he said, secretly proud that he’d managed to not only keep his voice steady, but also keep himself from jumping the other man, “You must be able to see something I can’t, Ryan.”

 

“Mm-hmm,” Ryan said, a grin breaking over his face, his eyes bleeding back into brown, “Look there, just as the window breaks… what do you see?”

 

Archie frowned, leaning a little closer to the screen, “Nothing… wait… dust, maybe?”

 

Ryan nodded, standing up, “From something, most likely a bullet, going through the window and hitting the wall. We didn’t find anything on the floor…”

 

Archie smiled suddenly, seeing where he was going, “So it must still be in the wall,” his grin suddenly turned wicked, making Ryan shiver lightly, “Nick’s going to have to go climbing again.”

 

Ryan grinned back, not noticing Archie’s shiver, then he frowned abruptly, “Wait... you know about that?”

 

Archie snorted, then dropped his voice an octave, “I am alpha...” he intoned mysteriously, wiggling his fingers in the air, “I know all...”

 

He grinned as Ryan snickered, then got back to business, “It’ll take me a while to sort through the rest of this and get faces for you. But if you have that projectile to work on... just come back when you’re ready, I should have ~something~ for you.”

 

“Thanks Archie,” Ryan smiled as he pulled the picture of the bank wall out of the printer and hurried out of the AV lab to find Nick and Sheldon.

 

Archie waited until the other man had turned the corner and moved out of sight before he let the tremors he’d been trying so hard to hide shudder through his slender frame. With a groan of frustration he folded his arms onto the keyboard’s wrist guard and let his head drop down onto them. He didn’t bother to move as he felt some of the keys press into his forehead. He didn’t even bother to move as the computer let out a protesting squawk at having so many keys held down all at once. He did move, however, when a voice from the doorway spoke up.

 

“So, he is your mate then?”

 

Archie turned his head on his arms, one dark eye glaring balefully at Greg, who looked uncharacteristically serious. Archie sighed then sat up, wincing and rubbing at his forehead where the T, Y, U, H, J and K keys had dug into his skin. Greg moved into the room and pulled a chair over to the other side of his alpha, brown eyes sympathetic. He dropped down into the chair and curled one hand around Archie’s bicep, squeezing gently.

 

“He’ll come round, Arch…”

 

Archie sighed, shooting Greg a wan smile, “I hate it. Before, it was so hard… he was leaning over me… arms around me…” he shuddered, eyes dropping to the ground, “Can’t he see?” the pain in Archie’s eyes was almost tangible.

 

Greg squeezed his arm again, “I know, Arch, I could see it from the DNA lab. I almost came and ripped him off you…” he abruptly dropped his head and eyes as Archie began to growl softly, “Figure of speech, figure of speech…” he looked up again as Archie squeezed his hand apologetically, “I just wanted to yell at him to stop playing games with you. I was halfway across the lab to do it too… then I realised he had no idea he was doing it.”

 

Archie’s eyes met his, “What?” the Asian werewolf looked confused, “How…? I mean, he’s almost four months turned. Even Adam…”

 

Greg nodded, “Yeah, but Adam had Marty… he had his mate. Ryan hasn’t even had another werewolf around him. He’s had people who support him, sure… but none like us.”

 

Archie rubbed his hands across his face tiredly, “Okay… okay…” he shot Greg a wan smile, “We’ll wait for Nick, then head home and finish this conversation, alright?”

 

Greg nodded, understanding the need to have your pack around you, “Sure… I have more DNA to run before Nick comes back anyway,” he grinned suddenly, “Speaking of Nick… when we get home tonight, ask him about Sheldon and watch him change colours. It’s worlds of funny.”

 

Archie raised an eyebrow and Greg grinned back at him unrepentantly, “Really? Sheldon…?” he waited until Greg nodded, “Huh, he could do worse I suppose. How do you know these things?”

 

Archie shook his head as his own words were thrown back at him, Greg grinning and wiggling his fingers, “I am beta,” he intoned, eyes glinting mischievously, “I know all.”