Title: In The Balance

Author: Morgan a.k.a. scgirl_317

Genre: Drama, hurt/comfort, dash of romance

Series: Miami Medical, CSI: Miami

Summary: They had had rough days, but never one that so completely went to hell in a hand basket. An attack at a crime scene leaves Ryan clinging to life by a thread. The CSI team clings together while the Miami General Trauma team races to save him. Ryan/Natalia.

Author's Note: I'm honestly surprised no one's written a crossover with these two shows. This is one that begs to be written. I've been planning this since Miami Medical premiered (don't get me started on how mad I am that CBS cancelled it).

There had been bad days before. She had had more than her share of bad days. Days she wanted to scream, days she wanted to cry, days that just plain sucked. But never, never had there been a day that so completely went to hell in a hand basket. How could it all go so wrong so fast? She would have been able to rationalize it all out had her brain been functioning, but after that first shot, the only thought she was capable of having was that he'd been hit.

~Three hours ago~

Natalia gasped at the sight before her. As a CSI, she'd seen the worst humanity offered, but this was one of the worst scenes she'd seen. Three bodies were strewn across the living room, each looking like a shrapnel grenade had exploded in their laps. The chest and abdominal area on each body was covered in no less than a dozen entry wounds.

Taking a breath, she pulled out a pair of gloves and began processing the scene. On closer examination, the wounds appeared to be from a shotgun blast at mid-range. She worked with Ryan, photographing the scene and taking prints from the victims before moving on to the rest of the house.

Before long, they heard Eric and Tom in the other room with the victims. They went out to meet them to see what Eric had found outside the house. They compared notes until a quiet click was heard from the hallway behind them.

"What was that?" Ryan asked, looking around.

"I thought the cops cleared the building already?" Natalia asked Eric.

"They said they did," Eric confirmed.

Ryan pulled his gun, slowly moving towards the doorway, "Who's there?"

That was when time stopped.

They saw the muzzle flash, heard the explosion. Ryan felt the force of a battering ram hit him in the stomach. Eric fired off several rounds to the shooter. Tom called for paramedics. Natalia knelt next to Ryan. His stomach was peppered with blood where the buck shot entered his body.

"Stay with us, Wolfe," Eric urged, removing his outer shirt to use to staunch the bleeding. "H is gonna kill you if you die on us."

"Gee, glad to know you care," Ryan managed, miraculously still conscious but swiftly paling.

It seemed an eternity before the EMTs arrived. As they hurried to stabilize Ryan enough for transport, Eric glanced over at Natalia. She had only moved when the paramedics physically pushed her to the side. He knew the signs of shock when he saw them. As much as he worried about Ryan, he knew that the stakes of this case had just skyrocketed and he wouldn't risk missing anything.

"Natalia, go with him," he said as Ryan was loaded into the ambulance.

For a moment she looked ready to argue, but she nodded and climbed in after the paramedics.

First, Eric would call Horatio. Then they would finish this case and get back to their boy.

"You seriously don't find him attractive?" Serena asked, sure of the answer, but unsure of its sincerity.

"He's just not my type," Eva shrugged, wishing the younger doctor would drop it.

Ever since Procter had given her a ride home that one night, Warren had been constantly bugging her about the former GI surgeon. Sure, she found Procter attractive, but she wasn't interested. Besides, he was her boss and she had no intention of giving anyone the impression that she was sleeping her way to the top.

"I'll pretend I believe that," Serena muttered, following Eva to the nurses' station to check the patient list. "I need to go check on my chainsaw," she said in parting, referring to a patient that had come in the previous evening who had been cutting a tree out of his yard and had the chainsaw slip, almost completely severing the lower leg. Thankfully, the damage had not been so great that would necessitate amputation.

"You'd better get over there," Chris chuckled, walking up. "I heard him flirting with Nurse McKay on the way over here."

"Not again," Warren moaned.

"The morphine must have him feeling pretty good," Eva laughed. "That's the third time he's hit on the nurses."

"I know, I need to go rescue her."

Chris and Eva shared a laugh at Serena's exasperation with her patient. Their humor was short-lived, however, as their pagers went off.

"Incoming," Chris read. "Let's get moving."

Minutes later, Eva and Chris met the ambulance outside.

"Ryan Wolfe, thirty-three years old, shotgun blast to the abdomen," the paramedic rattled off. "BP's ninety over sixty, pulse is seventy-five. Flat-lined once on the way in."

"Okay, let's get him into Trauma 2," Eva ordered.

Neither doctor took much notice of Natalia climbing out of the ambulance. She followed slowly into the hospital, still reeling at seeing the paramedics shock Ryan back to life.

Procter walked into the Trauma center in time to see Natalia lose her step. He swiftly caught her before she fell to her face. He held her up, but paused when he felt something warm and sticky under his hand. Acting swiftly, he waved down Tuck, and the two men lead her to Trauma 3. Procter removed her black blazer to reveal several entry wounds in her arm.

"She's been shot," he noted. "Ma'am?"

"Natalia," she managed to correct, "Natalia Boa Vista."

"Miss Boa Vista, I'm Doctor Procter. How long ago were you shot?"

"What?" Natalia asked, looking down at her arm as her brain started functioning again. She hadn't realized she'd been hit when Ryan had been shot. "I guess about twenty minutes ago. I haven't really been thinking about much since Ryan was shot. I was standing right next to him; I guess that's how I was hit."

"Well, it doesn't look that serious," Procter surmised, seeing that the buck shot was embedded fairly shallow. "We'll have you patched up in no time."

"Wait, what about Ryan?" Natalia asked, slightly panicked. "Will he be okay?"

"Doctors Deleo and Zambrano are working on him now," Tuck reassured her as Procter began removing the pellets from her arm. "He's in the best hands he could be in. But I'll make sure someone notifies you when we know anything," he added, seeing her pensive look.

"Thanks. Ow," she flinched away as Procter inserted the forceps after another piece of shot.

"Sorry, that's the last piece," Procter apologized as the last lead pellet clinked into a pan. "You're lucky. Once I get you stitched up, there should hardly be a scar. However, I see that it won't be your first," he added, giving her a knowing look.

"Suffice it to say I got a divorce for a reason," she said after a pause.

He realized that was all she would say on the matter, so he nodded. "I'll give you some Demerol for the pain, and Nurse Brody here will finish patching you up. In the meantime, I'll go check on your friend."

"Thank you, Doctor Proctor."

Procter made it to Trauma 2 in time to see Chris shock Ryan out of v-fib.

"Okay, we need to move it. Get him up to the OR," ordered Eva. "Page me when he's ready."

"How's it going?" Procter asked as Eva and Chris walked out.

"It's still touch and go," Chris said grimly. "We stabilized him enough to operate, but there's no telling how much damage was done until we get in there. Honestly, it doesn't look good."

"His friend was hit by some of the buck shot which I easily took care of, but her emotional status seems far more precarious," Procter told them. "I'm not sure what it would do to her if he were to die."

"Where is she?" Eva asked.

"Tuck's finishing up with her in Trauma 3," he answered.

"I'll go talk to her," she offered, turning towards the other room.

Tuck was just finishing bandaging Natalia's arm when Eva walked in.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Eva Zambrano."

"Natalia Boa Vista. How's Ryan?"

"I'm not going to lie to you, it doesn't look good," Eva started slowly. "His internal injuries are severe. We stabilized him enough to operate; we'll know more when we get in the OR."

Eva wished she could offer better news as she watched Natalia crumble. Whatever strength that had been holding her together failed, and she succumbed to the tears that had been threatening to fall. Eva took pity on her and laid a comforting hand on Natalia's shoulder.

"Hey, it's not over. The fact that he's even still alive is a miracle. That Ryan's made it this far is a good sign. Don't count him out yet."

Natalia nodded, wiping away her tears. "Ryan's not the type to give up easy. He's been through hell, but he keeps coming back."

Eva's pager going off interrupted any further conversation, "That's him. I need to get up to the OR. Tuck will take you to the waiting room."

"Thank you, Doctor Zambrano."

Eva left the room, and Tuck gently led Natalia upstairs.

"Is there anyone you need to get in touch with?" he asked. "Family? Friends?"

"The only family I know of is a sister in Boston," she replied. "The rest of the lab will be working on solving the case. Eric was there. He'll have told them what happened."

"Well, if you need anything, just let the nurse at the desk know."

"Thank you, for everything."

Tuck gave her a reassuring smile and returned to the trauma unit. Natalia was left alone to replay the events of the past hour over and over in her head.