Title: Bottled Blonde
By: Kasandra
Rating: K+ for minor language, hint of sexual dialogue.
Pairing: Ryan/Valera
Summary: Ryan isn't too pleased when his girlfriend changes her hair color.
AN: I got this idea from a comment that was made at Talk CSI about our favorite couple, so this is dedicated to the RaVe shippers out there.
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Ryan whistled as he walked down the corridors towards the break room. He planned on visiting his girlfriend, Maxine. The couple was barely two months old, and though things were going well; they had had their first fight. He felt terrible about it as he knew it was his fault.
He sighed as he scanned the choices in the vending machine before him. Ryan knew that it would take more than a piece of chocolate to get her to forgive him, but perhaps she would view that as a token of surrender.
His brows furrowed as he heard the sounds of laughter as he approached the DNA lab. Instead of finding his girlfriend huddled over a microscope, he found a group of women, one who happened to be Calleigh Duquesne, talking away energetically.
"Oh, I just think it's such a great look Maxine. What does Ryan think about it?" Calleigh replied, oblivious to his presence as he made his way into the lab. However, not all of the women were, and a technician whose name he didn't know, smacked Calleigh's arm gently, and nodded her head towards him.
"Uh, what's going on and why is my name being mentioned?" Ryan questioned loudly. Calleigh whirled around, her cheeks turning red in embarrassment.
"Oh, hi Ryan. We were just talking about, the hurricane season." Calleigh replied.
"You're a terrible liar. Maxine? What's going on?" Ryan questioned, his temper raising slightly as he made his way through the crowd of women. His eyes widened at what he saw.
His drop dead gorgeous girlfriend who he had only fought with the day prior was sitting on a stool now with honey blonde hair. Ryan's jaw dropped in shock.
"Oh look at the time; I have to get back to work!" Calleigh exclaimed loudly as the other women there mumbled excuses similar to hers, leaving the couple alone.
"Are you going to close your mouth Ryan or are you just going to stand there catching flies?" Maxine questioned, as she stood up.
"Your hair! You were a brunette yesterday, and now you're blonde!" Ryan exclaimed in disbelief.
"Wow, you're a great CSI," Maxine remarked dryly as she began to work once more.
Ryan's eyes narrowed and he scoffed. "Why'd you have to go change your haircolor? You were sexy as a brunette!"
She slammed her pen on the table. "Are you kidding me? I'm no longer sexy now?" Maxine sighed; she didn't want to get into a fight with him over her hair.
"No, that's not what I meant!" Ryan rushed. "It's just that we… I…" he trailed off unable to find any words. "I'm sorry."
Her eyebrow cocked. "You're sorry?"
Ryan took a deep breath. "Listen Max, I like you a lot," he stressed. "I know we just had a first fight and this, well isn't exactly helping. I just wanted to see you and bring you this," he replied as he thrust the candy bar into her hand. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for fighting with you. I should've deleted Erica's number as soon as we became a couple. I've gone and deleted it off my cell phone. Do you forgive me?"
Maxine could tell that he was being sincere and she nodded, opening up the candy bar. She broke a piece off and handed it to him. "Do you really hate my new hair?" she asked, crinkling her nose.
Ryan smiled. "No, I don't. It's just going to take some time to get used to. But if you ever want to dye it again, just give me a heads up. Next time, I might just walk by and not even recognize my own girlfriend!"
"I will," Maxine promised. "But see the thing is, Ryan," she said as she moved around the table. "I'm spontaneous in nature."
He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer to him. "Oh, really?" Ryan questioned as he nuzzled her neck. He felt her smile as she brought her lips to his ear.
"Yeah, and spontaneity can be fun," Maxine whispered before nipping his ear.
"That sounds promising; perhaps being blonde isn't so bad after all." Ryan replied, pulling back and taking a long look at her. Maxine couldn't help but wink in response.
FIN
