Complicated

Complicated

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 2: Leaving Home

After having left their house behind her, Calleigh didn't know where to go or what to do. Finally she wounded up in the parking lot of the Crime Lab. She spent the night there with her mind frantically working. She hardly slept at night and as she was sitting in the break room with a mug of tea in hand she felt like crap. And she looked like so, too.

"Oh my God, Calleigh? Are you all right?" Apparently Calleigh's appearance didn't escape Ryan's attention, either, as he entered the room.

She looked up from behind her mug and offered a weak smile to the concerned boy.

"Of course I am." The hell I am, I feel like vomiting right now. "Just a little tired. That's all." He wasn't completely convinced but he decided not to mention it. At least not now.

"All right then. We have got a new lead on the case. Are you coming?"

She did.

Fortunately the day passed rather quickly by working and although Calleigh didn't feel quite well, she was happy that she had something else to concentrate on rather than her messed up life. But unfortunately the day ended all too soon and she found herself in the locker room with the guys ready to go home.

The only problem was that she didn't want to go home. Not like Eric, who was apparently very excited about a 'hot date' as he had put it. Among the three of them it seemed that Eric was the only one who did the talking. Calleigh was just standing in front of the locker doing anything which could delay her departure. As for Ryan, he had already packed everything and was now sitting on the bench listening to whatever Eric wanted to say while keeping his eyes on Calleigh. He was sure that something was wrong with her.

He waited until Eric left then he began his inquiry.

"Hey, Cal? Do want to grab a drink? I don't have anything to do so I thought we could hang out a little. Maybe we could talk…"

He left the sentence hang in the air as he waited for Calleigh to answer. But she didn't. She just stood in front of her locker.

"Calleigh?"

"What?" She asked. She just thought that she had heard her name. "Oh, Ryan." It was as if it was the first time that she had noticed the boy. "What's up?"

"All right." Ryan, seeing Calleigh's dazed look, decided not to beat around the bush. He would ask openly what he wanted to know. "What's wrong with you, Cal? You look pale and you were withdrawn all day. What happened?"

"I've already told you. I'm tired."

"Yeah, and I believed it." He said sarcastically. "You know if I were Jake I hadn't let you get out of bed today."

"Yeah, whatever." She said. She really didn't want to talk now. "Look Ryan, I have to go." With that she closed the door of the locker and started towards the door. She decided that she could do a little more work.

"Go? Where?"

"To work." She didn't even turn to him when she answered. She was already walking in the corridor when Ryan called after her. She stopped and turned towards him.

"You know that you can always talk to me if you want, right?"

Calleigh gave him a little smile, which was far from the real Calleigh Duquesne-smile though, nodded a little that turned back and continued her way wherever she was heading.

CSI MIAMI CSI MIAMI CSI MIAMI

The next morning Ryan got to the Crime Lab rather early. He wanted to catch up on his paper work as he didn't like being behind. It was so early that he didn't expect anybody to be already there. That was why he was pretty surprised to find Calleigh sitting in the layout room he had just passed.

He stopped abruptly in front of the room as he caught sight of his partner. She was sitting by the table with photos spread in front of her. She was leaning on her right elbow with head in her hand. For Ryan, who could only see her back, she seemed as if she were examining the photos.

However, something was odd. He slowly opened the door and stepped in. Calleigh didn't give any sign that she would have heard him approaching. She just sat there. Ryan stopped beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. That was when he realized that she had been asleep.

She jumped slightly as soon as she felt Ryan's hand on her shoulder. She was startled for a second and as she looked up at Ryan it was evident for the younger CSI that she had no idea where she was. Only after a few seconds had passed, did Calleigh realize that she had fallen asleep in front of the table. She became rather embarrassed.

"Hi, Ryan." She still sounded sleepy.

"Calleigh. You don't want to tell me that you'd spent the night here, do you?" It was only a rhetorical question as Ryan didn't need to be a CSI to notice that Calleigh was wearing the same dress as the previous day.

"No. I just came in early."

"It's 5:30." Ryan stated disapprovingly clearly not satisfied with the answer.

"Oh." That was all Calleigh could say before a wave of nausea hit her. Her expression changed within a second as she put her hand on her stomach trying to calm it. Without success of course.

"Cal, is everything all right? You still look like hell. Did something happen in Dallas? Why didn't you go home yesterday? Are you ill? If you want me, I could talk to H and tell him that you don't feel right and that you went home. I'm sure that he wou…"

That was enough for Calleigh. It seemed as if Ryan hadn't wanted to end his babbling. She would have found it cute if she hadn't felt that sick.

"Ryan!" Ryan stopped in his train of thoughts. "I'm not… Oh my God." And with that she rushed out of the room towards the bathroom.

Ryan followed her not knowing what had just gotten into her but when he saw where she was running, it hit him. He stopped at the door and waited for Calleigh to come out.

He was worried. The previous morning he found Calleigh in the break room. Then it was early as well but he thought that she had also come in early. After all she had been dragged out to Dallas in the middle of a case. She must have wanted to be up to date. But she didn't look good back then, either. And now she had just spent the night in the lab and she still looked worn. Not to mention the fact that she was throwing up right at that moment. What the hell can be wrong with her?

When Calleigh exited the bathroom Ryan grabbed her arm and led her to the locker room.

"And now I take you home." It didn't hit him until they reached the room that Calleigh didn't even protest. That was when he got really worried. He sat her on a bench while he packed her things then led her to his car. He could explain her absence later to Horatio.

A little later Ryan pulled up in front of Calleigh's house. During the ride she had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. When Ryan woke her up she looked out of the window and tensed when she realized where they were. By that time Ryan had already opened the door to the passenger seat and held out his hand to help her get out.

They had already been standing by the front door when Calleigh freaked out. She couldn't go inside. She couldn't stay in that house. Not after what had happened. She didn't even feel ready to face Jake.

Suddenly she turned to Ryan with tearful eyes.

"I… I don't want to be here."

"It's all right, Cal. I'm sure Jake is still at home. It's still rather early." There was something in Calleigh's eyes that Ryan found strangely unfamiliar. She was frightened. "He'll take care of you." He added to calm her, however, he sounded rather sad. He didn't want to leave Calleigh. Not in that state and not with Jake. He would like to take care of her. But it wasn't his place.

"No. You don't understand. I don't want to be here with him." Seeing Ryan's questioning look she added: "I just can't." And with that she began sobbing. "Oh my God. Sorry." She said wiping her eyes. She didn't want to be like that in front of Ryan but she couldn't help it.

Ryan just stood there looking at Calleigh. At that moment she seemed so fragile. He could only guess what could have happened and he didn't like either of the scenarios. About one thing he became sure however. Whatever had happened, it was connected to Jake.

Ryan didn't know what to do to help her so he did the only thing that occurred to him. He took the sobbing woman into his arms. Feeling his arms around her, Calleigh buried her face into his chest. It felt so good.

"Shhh." He hushed her. "You don't have to stay here. Okay? I'll take you to my place."

Finally Calleigh managed to calm down and they got into the car. Once again, she didn't protest.

When they stepped into Ryan's apartment Calleigh stopped. She had never been here before but she felt like coming home. The whole apartment was, at least what she could see from it, so Ryan. The mere atmosphere calmed her down.

Ryan left her standing in the door while he went to grab a T-shirt for her.

"Here." He said when he returned. "You can change in the bathroom while I prepare the bed for you. And then…" He stopped a little to emphasis the point. "… you are going to sleep."

Calleigh silently took the T-shirt then went to the bathroom to change. When she finished she went to the guest room and stopped in the door. Ryan was still making the bed. When he finished he turned to Calleigh. He froze in his place. Calleigh was standing in the doorway only in a T-shirt. Granted that he had given her that T-shirt, but still, he didn't thought that he would see her like that. He couldn't help but run his eyes along her delicate form. She was gorgeous.

"Um… The bed is ready. Now get in there!"

While Calleigh got into bed Ryan went to shut the curtains. After that he sat down next to Calleigh and tucked her in.

"Calleigh, I don't know what had happened but I'm here if you want to talk."

"Thank you, Ryan. Really."

"Now go to sleep. I have to go back to work but I'll be here after work. If you woke up, feel yourself at home. And don't worry about anything, I'll talk to H and tell him that you didn't feel well. If it's alright." Calleigh nodded sleepily. He kissed her forehead and left the room. However hard he wanted to stay there and look after her, he had to go back to work.

He wondered if Calleigh would talk to him.

As Calleigh was lying in bed she felt calm. However, she still felt as if she were floating in nothingness. But now she had a little hope that she would find her ground again.

She sighed. Fate definitely liked to play with people. She was running from a man into the arms of another man in order to forget and now the man, whom she was running from, was taking care of her. Could it be that Ryan had feelings for her? Or was he just compassionate?

She sighed again.

When did her life become so complicated?

TBC

Thanks for reading! And thank you for the reviews!