Ryan/Calleigh/Jake I love CaRWash, but I'm coming round to the idea of Cake too. You'll just have to wait and see where this fic goes. AU 'cause I haven't seen all of season 5 and I don't want Ryan to stop being a CSI. Ok, I live in London so if my American-isms are wrong that's why.

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI:Miami, I wish I did. Don't sue, this is just the crazy ideas in my head.

What we've been dealt

Chapter 1: Out of Synch

Steps had to be taken, lives had been lost and he was at fault. He knew that a certain blonde ballistics expert would be less than impressed with his recent behaviour. Time off. It had been, a good, a great idea when Horatio had first suggested it, but within two days of his holiday, Ryan was bored, he knew that H had good reason to take him off active duty, to give him a 'rest' but he wanted to prove that accidents could be fixed. Their faces were surely punishment enough. He winced as he remembered. "I should be at work." He muttered, he ran a hand through his hair and sat down on the sofa sighing deeply to himself. A knock on his front door pulled him from a deep reverie and he hauled himself to his feet to go answer it; "What are you doing here?" he asked as he pulled the door open.

The female on the other side smiled; "Is that any way to greet a guest?" she asked him, her southern accent mocking him almost as much as her quirked eyebrow was.

He grinned; "Cal." A nickname that he had heard Eric use; "You have no idea how good it is to see you." He said his tone a little over-zealous.

"Are you alright?" she asked, she was now worried about him. He smiled, glad to see that she cared.

He nodded; "I'm fine really," he then realised that they were still standing in his doorway; "how rude of me…do come in." his invitation was met with a bright smile as she stepped through the door. She walked on through the hall and into the kitchen of his small condo; he smiled as he noticed how at home she seemed.

"Horatio told me to come." She told him, so she hadn't come of her own accord, Ryan felt himself deflate slightly he had been hoping; "We've got a new case, triple homicide, you're needed Ryan." She told him calmly.

"He couldn't call me?" Ryan asked, knowing there had to be a catch, Calleigh smiled at him, he wasn't one to be fooled.

She sighed and looked at her shoes; "Someone…we think," she took another breath leaving Ryan on tenterhooks; "it's complicated, we have a situation…Natalia is in the hospital." Ryan felt his lungs constrict into a gasp, he wanted to speak but his voice wouldn't let him and he could tell that Calleigh was not yet done with him; "H thought it best to keep you in the loop, but orders came in from above, his hands are tied…" she smiled at him.

"…but yours aren't?" he finished her sentence.

She nodded; "Jake Berkeley is the only person other than Horatio whose privy to what I'm actually doing. Ryan, this is strictly under the wire, we need you, but no-one need know what you're doing, understood?" the severity of her voice caused him to nod dumbly. He didn't know what to say to her.

His mouth opened, he wanted to say something, anything; "Uh…is Natalia ok?" he asked concern evident in his voice, Calleigh smiled.

"She's fine, wants to get back to work as soon as possible," she licked her lips and pulled out a file from her bag; "I didn't give this to you, do you understand?" her question was answered with a curt nod as he took the file from her hands; "That's all you need to know, I'll meet you by 7th and 4th tomorrow, at 10am Jake and I need to debrief you. Tell you everything." There was a glint in her eye that led him to believe that she wanted to say more but couldn't. What was it that happened in the two days he'd been away? It was serious there was no doubt about that.

He took a step towards her; "Is…is everything ok?" he asked her, his hand had taken her arm, her eyes locked with his and he knew that everything was decidedly not ok; "Talk to me Cal." He was begging her now. She closed her eyes, she knew that he was one of the few people she couldn't say no to, and the look he was giving her right now was breaking her heart.

"Tomorrow." Was her brisk reply. She then walked away from him and out of his condo, the door closed firmly behind her. Ryan had never felt more out of it. What on earth was going on? Why couldn't she tell him? Was someone in danger? Was she in danger? His stomach lurched at the thought. He'd find out tomorrow, he had to find out tomorrow. He placed the file the countertop in his kitchen, he pulled out three pieces of paper and a photograph, and the first piece of paper was a psychologist's case file;

Wendy Townsend D/O/B 15/03/87, notes followed describing a severely disturbed woman, Ryan ran a hand through his hair as he moved to the next piece of paper, it was Eric's crime scene notes, apparently Wendy Townsend was dead, and the picture that had come with the file was of her corpse, Ryan swallowed back some bile as he looked at the picture. He picked up the third piece of paper, it was the account of the attack that put Natalia in the hospital. A drug dealer had stabbed her. That was all he'd found out from the file. He scratched his cheek absentmindedly, how was he supposed to find anything out from the file Calleigh had given him? It was almost empty. He felt lost, and frustrated at the same time. Calleigh had wanted to tell him so much more, what held her back?

---

"You're putting your own life in danger by doing this Cal." Detective Berkeley's voice was reprimanding, but Calleigh knew it had to be done, she also knew that he was only saying it because he cared.

"Like you wouldn't do the same in my position." She said with a wry smile, her team was in danger, her life was already in danger, by warning Ryan she was giving him a fighting chance.

Jake shook his head, he knew that she was right but he wasn't about to admit it; "You care about him?" he asked.

Calleigh smirked; "You sound jealous." She told him, avoiding his question. She made herself busy; there was plenty to do before they met up with Ryan tomorrow. She picked up some samples and handed them to Jake; "Take them to trace for me, I have bullets to analyse." He took the sample from her and sighed knowing that this wasn't over but that Calleigh had certainly won round one.

This is my second CSI:Miami fic, but I'm just getting into the swing of things still, I know it's short but bear with me. Review please, no flames thank you.