Author's note: HUGE THANKS TO you guys who reviewed the prologue!!!!! I really really REALLY appreciate it!!!!!

And to all of you guys who didn't... Don't forget to review pleaaaaaaaaaaaase!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 1: When Strangers Meet

Ryan peeked at his watch and sighed exasperatedly, letting himself fall on the uncomfortable seat at Boston's Logan International Airport. His flight was delayed. Again. He had been waiting in this damned airport for three hours already. He was supposed to board the plane at 8PM, but something was wrong with the flight. Of course, the employees told him it was nothing and it wouldn't take too long… but that was over two hours ago. It was now 11 PM, and he was still sitting on this stupid plastic seat, bored out of his skull.

This was the first time he actually wished he had gotten himself an Ipod.

Some of the restaurants and a few stores were still open, but he had already devoured a Big Mac and bought two magazines, both of which he had finished reading. At this rate, he would probably make it back in Miami very VERY early in the morning. He sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. At least Horatio had given him an extra day off. He would be able to sleep and maybe run some errands before getting back into his normal routine.

Looking around, he noticed a few people were still in the usually busy airport. The flight he was booked on was probably 1/2 empty. Not too far from him, a couple was sitting side by side, the husband's head on his wife's shoulder, his mouth wide open, completely passed out. Next to them, a teenager was stretched out across five seats completely passed out. He also noticed a few others who seemed engrossed in whatever reading materials they had bought during the wait, in fact one woman had seemingly been reading the same magazine for the past two hours. Maybe she'd hidden a Playgirl in there or something…

He knew he should have booked himself on the 4PM flight, but this was his vacation and he wanted to take full advantage of his time off.

Ryan groaned and closed his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. All this was an awful way to end an awful weekend. This chair was making his butt scream, he was thirsty, he was bored, and he was actually thinking about maybe getting drunk. Life always seems better when you're drunk. But getting drunk alone sucked.

"Hi."

Ryan quickly opened his eyes and turned his head towards the voice. A woman was standing a few feet away from him, smiling. He stared at her for a few seconds, wondering if she had really talked to him. Apparently, she had. "Hi?" he finally answered.

Her smile grew a little wider as she pointed at the empty seat next to his. "Is that seat taken?"

Ryan shook his head slowly. "Huh. No."

The brunette nodded. "Can I sit?"

He nodded and watched her as she got closer and sat down next to him. She sighed and turned her head towards him. "Skittle?"

He lifted his eyebrows and looked down at her hand, which was holding a small bag of skittles. He grinned and shook his head. "No thanks."

She shrugged again and popped two in her mouth. "Your loss." She chewed and held her hand up towards him. "I'm Peyton, by the way."

He shook her hand, still grinning. "Ryan."

Peyton sighed softly and wrinkled her nose. "Well, Ryan, seems like you and I are in the same situation. You're waiting for the flight to Miami, right?"

"Yeah." He sighed and scratched his left eyebrow, still grinning. It felt nice to have someone to talk to.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting with you… I've been talking to myself for the past hour, and I don't think it's a good sign. And I noticed you were alone too so…"

"It's fine. I'm actually glad to have someone to talk to other than the overly polite airport personnel."

Peyton giggled and popped her last skittle into her mouth. "I know what you mean." She looked at her now empty bag and grimaced. "Now I'm thirsty. I'm gonna go get something to drink. Can I get you anything?"

"Actually, I was about to go too so... I'll go with you."

She nodded and they stood, making their way towards the closest store. Peyton went straight for the large refrigerators and grabbed a bottle of blue Powerade. Ryan reached for a simple bottle of water and raised his eyebrows when he spotted his new companion setting two other small bags of skittles and a roll of Sweet Tarts on the counter. That girl definitely had a sweet tooth.

He quickly joined her and paid for his water. They then walked back to their empty seats, drinking from their bottles. As they walked together, Ryan couldn't keep himself from stealing glances at the brunette. She was very good looking. She was a little shorter than him, and had shoulder-length curly brown hair. She had a very beautiful smile and warm golden brown eyes. She wore very little make-up, and frankly, she didn't need any. She was wearing a white shirt, tight black jeans and short black boots.

"So, why are you going to Miami?" She asked him as she sat down and stretched her legs.

Ryan glanced at her and took a Sweet Tart from her roll. "I live in Miami. I was just in Boston for the weekend."

Peyton nodded, her loose curls bobbing around her face. "Right. You don't really look you're from Boston."

He lifted his eyebrows at her comment, curious. "Oh? And what makes you say that?"

She pointed at him and grinned. "The tan."

Ryan chuckled and nodded his head. "Right."

"Yeah. And I think no man around here would ever be caught wearing such a daring shirt."

Ryan looked down at his bright yellow shirt and shrugged. People always had something to say about his choice of clothing, but frankly, he didn't care. He put his bottle on the floor and crossed one of his legs over the other, leaning back in his uncomfortable seat. "What about you? Do you live in Miami?"

Peyton shook her head. "Nah. I live here. I'm just visiting a friend in Miami."

Ryan chuckled and pointed at his watch. "Well, is your friend waiting for you at the airport in Miami? 'Cause if he is, he's gonna be a little worried."

She giggled and shook her head. "No, I'm supposed to call him when I get there. He's always working. I think the last time he went on a vacation was… never."

He chuckled. "Very busy man. Family?"

She nodded and popped a second Sweet Tart into her mouth. "Kinda. Godfather." She pointed the roll at him and lifted an eyebrow. "What about you? What were you doing in Boston?"

Ryan winced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was visiting my parents. They were actually celebrating their 35th anniversary."

Her golden eyes grew larger. "Wow. That's huge. Feels like we don't see that a lot anymore."

"Yeah. I don't know how they did it. They fought the whole time I was there." He answered.

"Any siblings?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, a brother and a sister, both older." He grimaced. "I've just had to spend three days with my parents, my brother, my sister, and their better-halves, five nieces and nephews, two dogs and a ferret."

Peyton chuckled and nodded understandingly. "Explains your eagerness to get back to Miami."

"Exactly."

She sighed, staring in front of herself. "Well, I'd love to be in your place."

He lifted his eyebrows at her. "No siblings?"

She grimaced. "No, no family. My mother and father are gone. I don't have any brothers or sisters."

Ryan cringed. "Sorry… I should learn not to complain about my family."

Peyton waved her hand round and shook her head. "It's fine. It was a long time ago. I'm used to it now."

The pair kept on chatting and enjoying each other's company until they were interrupted by a message telling the travelers they were ready to board the plane. Ryan looked at his watch and realized another hour had gone by without them noticing it. They smiled and walked together towards the gate, glad their waiting had finally come to an end. They both made their way into the plane and found their seats. Ryan was a little disappointed when he realized their seats were pretty far away from each other.

From her side of the plane, Ryan saw Peyton give him a crooked smile and waved at him before sitting down. Ryan frowned and looked around. The plane was almost half empty, and so was the seat next to his.

"Excuse me." He touched the arm of a pretty blond flight attendant and gave her one of his most charming smiles. "Would it be possible for my friend to sit with me?"

"I don't know…" she said, hesitant.

Ryan gave her a cheeky grin, making her blush slightly and look down. "Come on. The plane's almost empty." He read her name tag and winked at her. "Jenny, please."

The young flight attendant lifted her blue eyes to him and nodded her head, smiling. "Alright."

"Thank you." Ryan made his way through the plane and quickly reached Peyton's seat, suddenly feeling a little nervous. He looked down at her and smiled. "Hey! Erm… If you want, I got the flight attendant to agree to let you sit next to me… the seat is free, and I thought… well… if you'd like…"

Peyton nodded eagerly and stood up quickly, reaching for her bag. "I'd love to sit with you, Ryan!"

Ryan grinned happily and took her bag from her hands. He made his way back to his seat, followed closely by Peyton.

XXXXX

Ryan would've never told anyone, but he was actually a little disappointed when the plane finally landed in Miami. He had really enjoyed his time spent with Peyton. They had spent a lot of time chatting about everything and nothing, laughing and joking around. However, it was now four in the morning, and Ryan couldn't wait to get home and go to bed.

He had learned a lot about this young woman in these few hours. He now knew she was 26 years old and worked for an unsuccessful magazine in Boston. Even if the money was horrible, the reason why she kept the job was because it gave her the chance to work on a book she had started writing… about four years ago. She liked driving around with her beat up car and eating in small diners. She enjoyed simple things and tried avoiding anything that seemed complicated. And like she had said, she had no living relatives, except for her godfather whom she was visiting in Miami for a month. When he had asked her how she could get such a long vacation, she had told him she hadn't taken time off in three years. Her boss had simply asked her to write her articles before she left and that was it, she was free for a whole month.

Ryan grinned and glanced at Peyton as they waited to get off the plane. This woman was awesome. She was fun to talk to, very smart and really attractive. She even succeeded in making him think about something else than work; something that had been difficult to do since... the moment he had become a CSI.

'I should ask for her phone number…' He thought. Even if she was going back to Boston in thirty days, he wanted to see her again. If these few days were all he would be able to get, he would definitely take them.

They walked together, following the other passengers towards their luggage. "So, do you have to call your ride?"

Peyton smirked and shook her head. "Nah, knowing him, I won't have to… he always knows everything so… I'm sure he's already waiting for me."

They stopped in front of the luggage carousel, waiting for their own bags to appear. Ryan was chewing on his cheek, trying to find a way to ask her out, without sounding like a total dork. Because right now, as usual when it came to women, he was nervous.

Peyton smiled and pointed at a huge black bag. "There's my bag!"

Ryan helped her pick it up and winced at its weight. "Woah! What do you have in there, Peyton, a dead body?"

The brunette snorted and pushed a curl away from her forehead. "Funny. I don't think my uncle would appreciate me carrying dead bodies in my bags."

Ryan smiled and opened his mouth to take the plunge but was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. He frowned, grabbed it and looked at the screen. It was Horatio. Still frowning, he rolled his eyes in Peyton's direction, making her giggle, and answered.

"Hey H! A little early for you to welcome me back!" his grin faded. "Oh… that's not… yeah…"

As he was talking to Horatio, Peyton was looking through the crowd, probably searching for a familiar face. She must have spotted him since he saw her smile, her two hands flying through the air over her head. "Ryan!!! I… I have to go!" She gave him an awkward hug and pulled back, a small disappointed smile on her lips. "I guess… it was nice meeting you!"

Ryan gaped at her, eyes wide. "I… wait! Could you…" But she was gone, already making her way through the labyrinth of people. Only in Miami could there be so many people at the airport at almost five in the morning. His shoulders slumped as he watched her disappear. If only he hadn't been such a chicken about asking her out. He sighed and winced as he realized his boss was still talking to him.

"Alright. I'll be there."

He sighed as he shut his phone and put it back in his pocket. This was just his luck. He was just coming back from his trip to Boston and hadn't been able to sleep all night. And now, his boss was calling him back to work. He sighed and turned, waiting for his luggage to make its way back around. It wasn't really H's fault. He was supposed to be back the previous evening. If only he hadn't decided to take a later flight to Miami, he wouldn't have had to wait for hours and would have been able to catch some sleep.

But then, he wouldn't have met Peyton. Not that it would have changed anything now. She had almost fled away from him the moment she had seen her uncle. Ryan shrugged, grabbed his first bag and waited for the other. 'I guess it wasn't meant to be. She was fun, though.' He reached for his second bag and quickly made his way through the crowd.

He had barely enough time to go by his place, freshen up a bit and join Calleigh at the crime scene.

Hhhhmmmmm... how about you review the chapter now???!?!?! THANKS!!!!!!