Title: "Let Me Ask You Something"
Summary: Ryan poses his favorite words to Calleigh on Valentine's Day. (Set after the events of "Man Down").
Spoilers: "Man Down"

Calleigh was running ballistics for a case when Ryan joined her in the lab.

"Hey, Calleigh." He perched himself on the corner of a lab table as he watched her work.

"Hey," she greeted, not looking up from the computer as it ran the bullet against the database.

"Let me ask you something," Ryan began, folding his arms over his chest. "Do you know what today is?"

"Wednesday?" she asked with a smile, knowing what he really meant.

Her teasing made him scratch his head in frustration.

"No… Come on, it's—it's Valentine's Day."

"I know, Ryan."

"Oh." He blinked a couple times before he continued on. "Well, um, do you have any plans?"

"Not unless you count visiting Eric in the hospital after shift."

He hopped off the table and clapped his hands together. "Great!" he said with a little too much enthusiasm.

When Calleigh glanced up at him in surprise, he quickly tried to explain. "Uh, I mean, I was just thinking about visiting Delko too. Maybe I could go with you to the hospital after work?"

She nodded. "Sure."

Ryan cocked his head to one side, casting his gaze down towards the floor. "And then, uh, maybe you'd like to have some dinner afterwards?"

Calleigh pursed her lips together for a moment. "Ryan," she said slowly, "are you asking me out?"

"What? No!"

Her skeptical look made him revise his answer.

"I mean, yeah, okay, I am, but as a friend. You know, we're just… two colleagues… having dinner."

Calleigh's disbelieving expression melted into a sunny smile. "Well, I do like dinner," she conceded.

Ryan looked up, unable to hide the excitement that shone in his eyes. "So that's a yes?"

She nodded, laughing as she replied, "Yes."

The junior CSI beamed at her. "Okay, then."

The computer signaled that it had got a hit in the database, and he glanced at its screen. "So, what'd you find?" he asked, his professional demeanor returning.

As Calleigh examined the results and explained her findings to Ryan, neither of them noticed Horatio watching them from outside the lab. After a moment, he turned and walked over to the lab's receptionist.

"Is there something I can do for you, Lieutenant Caine?" she asked.

"Yes," Horatio answered. "Could you give CSIs Duquesne and Wolfe a message for me, please?"

"What would you like it to say?"

"Tell them…they'll be off-shift at 5pm today, and that they should get some dinner."