CSI Calleigh Duquesne took her kit out of her department-issued Hummer and looked around, taking in the flashing red and blue lights brightening up the flashy Miami Night Club. She slid her one hand over her v-neck brown blouse, stopping at the top of her dark denim jeans and walked under the crime scene tape, her brown heels clicking. Calleigh picked her way through the throng of people being questioned or just observing and headed into the back VIP room, where the body was. She set her kit down and gloved up, grabbing her camera and started to document the scene. She happened to look up and saw her fellow CSI weaving his way towards her. CSI Ryan Wolfe was dressed in a casual white tee with a blue design on it, a brown jacket and denim jeans. Calleigh stopped photographing just to stare at him. It's only been a few months since Ryan had joined the team, but ever since his first day Calleigh had felt an attraction to him and its been steadily growing every day. She knew he was younger than her and he probably didn't even see her that way, but she couldn't help it. His brown hair was in a cute shaggy look, making him look ruggedly boyish. She saw his hazel eyes roaming around the club, taking every detail in.
"Hey Cal." Ryan said, shaking Calleigh from her trance. She didn't even realize he had reached her until he spoke.
"Hi Ryan." Calleigh replied in her usual Southern drawl.
"Where's H?" Ryan asked, setting his kit down and gloving up.
"He's talking to the club owner." She said. "He said to go ahead and process the scene. I've been documenting, if you want to take trace?"
"Sure." Ryan said, shrugging and got to work.
"It seems our vic was shot with a-" Calleigh started, squatting down to retrieve the shell casing from the floor and studying it. "He was shot with a 35-caliber gun."
"Alexx should be able to get the bullet from the vic to confirm." Ryan said, peaking into the hole made from the bullet. "It's still in there."
Calleigh slapped Ryan's hands, effectively sending tingles up her hands. "Don't touch the body till Alexx gets here or you'll end up next to her on a slab."
Ryan's eyebrows raised and a smile lit his lips. "Where is our wonderful ME anyways?"
"Traffic." Calleigh said. "There was crash on the only street that leads here from the way she travels, so Alexx is trying to get her van past it all."
"Ah." Ryan said, getting back to collecting trace.
Calleigh finished documenting but something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned in that direction and bent down, reaching past the curtain and pulling up some of the carpet. After a few moments of grasping, her hand closed around something, something that felt like a barrel of a gun.
"What'cha got there Cal?" Ryan said, walking to her and leaning over her.
Calleigh took a deep breath in, taking in a whiff of his scent (making her light-headed for one moment) before answering him. "I think I have a gun."
Calleigh yanked on it, but it seemed to be wedged between something. She gave it a few more good tugs before yanking on it one last time, propelling her backwards and into Ryan. He fell on his back onto the floor and she fell on her back on top of him. Instinctively, it seemed, Ryan's arms moved around Calleigh's waist to prevent her from falling. As soon as Calleigh got her wits about her, she realized what, rather who, she fell on. That reason alone sent a burst of heat throughout her whole body, making her skin over-sensitized.
"You okay Cal?" Ryan asked from beneath her.
"Fine." She answered in a semi-breathy tone.
Ryan pushed himself up, effectively pushing her up, but down onto his lap. Calleigh could not risk that, so she hopped up over to the ground. She brought the gun, she had managed to hold onto it, to her face and examined it. It was a 35-caliber gun.
"I think I just found the murder weapon." Calleigh said, holding the gun up to Ryan. "It's a 35-caliber."
"What are you two doing on the floor?" Dr. Alexx Woods, ME, asked as she entered the room.
Calleigh glanced at Ryan and back at Alexx. "Long story."
Alexx got the body and loaded it up on a gurney. Calleigh photographed the gun before tagging it in evidence. After finishing his part of the scene, she watched Ryan leave the room and walk over to Frank. She was basically done too, but she wanted time to watch him. She glanced around and then felt her blood start to boil. All around Ryan, were scantily clad women, around his age or a bit younger, staring at him with interest in their eyes. All Calleigh wanted to do was walk over and claw every single one of their eyes out. What worried Calleigh is she had never felt this degree of jealously over any other guy she had ever liked. She knew those sluts would probably have a better chance with Ryan than she would, seeing how they were younger and probably far sexier than her. This made her want to walk over to Ryan and stake her claim, if only she had claim to stake. She wanted to go over and grab his face and kiss him, right in front of all those skanks, show them he was hers. If only she could make what she dreamed a reality. She wanted to know what his hands felt like gliding over her body or through her hair. She wanted to know what his body felt like pressed against hers, all those muscles rippling under her fingertips. But most of all, she wanted to know what his lips felt like, what his lips tasted like. Was he a slow and sensual kisser or a fast and passionate kisser? Did he taste like mint? Or cinnamon? Or was it the coffee all the CSIs mainstreamed like their lifeline? These were questions she desperately, desperately wanted to find the answers to.
Calleigh packed up her kit and closed it. She grabbed Ryan's to take to him on her way out, but when she looked up, Frank was gone and the skanks she saw eyeing Ryan earlier were swarmed around him like moths to a flame. They were looking at him provocatively, swishing their hair, pushing their breasts up higher by pushing their shoulders back, laughing and touching him ever so lightly. Calleigh's hands clenched into tight fists around the handles of the kits and she seriously wanted to punch something, or better yet, shoot something. She dropped Ryan's kit back onto the floor, grabbed the box the the gun was in and walked straight out of the club, not looking back at Ryan once.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The soothing sound of a gun calmed Calleigh down some. After she left the club, she almost caused a wreck herself, she was so pissed. Calleigh placed her gun to the side and decided to test fire the gun from the crime scene. She loaded the bullets into the chamber, slipped her protective glasses on and stuck the earplugs in her ears.
"Stupid Ryan and those sluts." Calleigh said aloud. No one else was in the Ballistics Lab, plus, this was basically her place and the door was closed.
Bang!
"Probably got all their phone numbers." She grumbled.
Bang!
"Gonna sleep with half of them." She muttered.
Bang!
"He'll never even notice me that way." She growled.
Bang! Bang!
"Ever." She murmured as she set the emptied gun down.
"You do know talking to yourself is cause for worry, especially in our line of work?" Ryan's voice said from behind her, somewhere near the closed door.
Calleigh's heart gave a start, but she didn't show that he startled her. "What do you want Ryan?" She kept her back to him, not wanting to see his face, but she slid the earplugs out of her ears and placed them on the counter.
"Well, professionally, it was to come and get you cuz Alexx needed to see you but, personally, it was to see why you hightailed it out of the club without even telling me you were going back to the lab." Ryan said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "But from the little conversation you seemed to have with yourself, I seem to know the reason why."
"How long had you been standing there?" Calleigh asked
"Since you started talking to yourself." Ryan said.
"And you just thought to listen in?" Calleigh said, still not facing him.
"I heard my name and I thought maybe it'd explain why you left the club so abruptly." Ryan said, pushing himself off the wall and walking over to her.
Calleigh felt the heat radiate off of him onto her as he stood behind her. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths in and out. Wasn't all that effective, seeing how she was also breathing in his scent.
"Just so you know," Ryan said, leaning down towards her ear, hands going on either side of her body, landing on the counter in front of her. "I didn't take any of their numbers. Way too slutty for my taste."
Calleigh's eyes involuntarily slid shut at the feel of his breath fanning across her neck and his body pressed up against her back. She slowly, with her eyes still shut, took off her safety glasses and placed them on the counter. She wanted to speak, to say something to him, but her mouth refused to move. He reduced this independent women into a pile of mute goo.
"I much prefer sexy Southern blondes with a fascination of guns and a love of justice." Ryan whispered in her ear and Calleigh couldn't suppress the shiver the skated down her spine.
Calleigh swallowed but slowly turned around, facing him. His hazel eyes were dark brown with lust but still had their usual sparkle. She saw his gaze drop down to her lips before returning to her eyes. Calleigh took the first step and closed the distance between them and kissed him. It was a short kiss, a testing-the-waters kind of kiss, but she loved every second of it. She slowly pulled back to gauge his reaction, but before she could see anything, he slammed his lips back down onto hers, this time passion-fueled. Calleigh's hands moved up his chest, feeling the muscles she so desperately wondered about, and around his neck, up into his hair. She felt his arms move from the countertop to around her waist and pull her into him. She felt every hard inch of him meld into her and she loved every moment of it.
A few seconds later, Calleigh felt a hard wall hit her back. One of his hands moved from her waist to her hair and ran through it, making a moan fall from her mouth, which made Ryan smile against her lips. His hand wondered back down through her hair, down her back and joined the other at her waist. Calleigh felt her whole body being overheated and she loved every second of it. Ryan hoisted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Ryan broke off her mouth, kissed over cheek, down her jaw and to her neck. She felt him place openmouthed kisses along the left side of her neck and down to where her shoulder met her neck. He hit a sensitive spot before he reached the juncture and her hips bucked into his, causing him to growl and bite down, hard, into her skin. Her head fell back against the wall and a moan fell from her lips as he soothed the sting. She felt Ryan place his head against her shoulder and take deep breaths before setting her down, catching her when her legs buckled the first time.
"Ryan?" Calleigh asked, completely lost.
"As much as I'd like to ravage you right here and now, we're still in the crime lab and I don't think H would like us doing that when we are supposed to be catching a killer." Ryan said, placing a soft kiss on her lips.
Calleigh smiled. "Of course. You're right. We'll finish this later. So," She shook her head and tried to think back. "You said something about the bullet?"
A smug smile lit Ryan's face. "I really scrambled the great Calleigh Duquesne's analytical, no-nonsense brain?"
Calleigh shoved Ryan playfully. "Shut up. I wasn't in my right mind even then when you were speaking."
Ryan stole another quick kiss before speaking. "Alexx wanted to see you about the bullet."
Calleigh nodded. "Thanks."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and threw all her emotions in this kiss, conveying everything she felt, has been feeling. He responded just as emotionally until both of them ran out of breath. Calleigh gave him one more peck before leaving the Ballistic Lab and heading to the Morgue.
She walked through the door and spotted Alexx instantly. "What do you have for me Alexx?"
With her back still to Calleigh, she said, "Well, I have to pull this bullet out carefully to keep it inta-" Alexx turned around and stopped speaking, focusing on spot on Calleigh's neck.
"What?" Calleigh said, a little self-conscious.
"Now honey," Alexx said, smiling her proud parent smile. "Who gave you that love bite on you neck there?"
Calleigh walked over to the nearest reflecting service and saw the area Ryan bit: it was bruising in the shape of a bite mark. "I'm going to kill you Ryan."