AN: Here's another chapter for you guys. Just wanted to thank my reviewers: lilgenious, narakunohime, NickTonyK, tbsavafob, Tanyaleefr, texicogirl, GregRox, and Ebony Falcon, since I'm lazy and haven't bothered to reply to you all with thanks, THANK YOU for the reviews!

This chapter might be a tiny bit OOC but as I'll probably remind you every chapter, I wrote them as different characters before. Also, no Alexx, sorry guys. It's another OC of mine. I needed to keep her the same, or this chapter would be considerably shorter. :) Enjoy.


"Ew."

Ryan looked over at Eric, who didn't look the slightest bit grossed out but actually rather excited. "I'd say ew too if I wasn't used to this."

They were standing outside an entrance to a restaurant, where a man was slumped in the archway. There was a large pool of blood around him, which they both assumed had come from the two or three stab wounds the man had in his chest and stomach. One of the wounds even contained the murder weapon, a small steak knife, which was something Ryan had to be appreciative of.

"Ava isn't here yet so I guess we'll just start processing the scene around the body. Just don't touch it," Eric told Ryan.

"Thanks," Ryan mumbled, "because I didn't know that." There was a few minutes of silence as the two men worked, waiting for the medical examiner to show up.

"He looks homeless," Ryan announced, checking out the man. He was dressed in old clothes that like they hadn't been washed in quite some time. He was unshaven and generally looked like personal hygiene wasn't much of a concern for him.

Eric looked at the man now too, taking in all the details about him that he hadn't noticed before. "You think maybe he was sleeping here? A lot of homeless people find shelter in doorways like this. Maybe someone just got pissed off about him and decided to do something about it."

Ryan shrugged. "It's possible."

A white van pulled up and they both watched Ava step out, along with a few of her helpers. She was small and dark skinned, with long hair that she usually pulled up into a bun. Ryan watched as Eric's eyes practically bulged out of his head at the sight of her. He stuck his chest out and smiled at her. She smiled shyly back. Ryan felt awkward with them; it was like he wasn't even there.

"Hey Ava," Eric said. He never had a problem talking to women; he was definitely a ladies' man.

"Eric," Ava nodded. "What do we have here?" she said, finally noticing the dead body in the doorway.

"Stab victim," Ryan said, before Eric could say anything to sidetrack her. "Obviously..."

"I see our killer left the murder weapon," Ava said, kneeling beside the body, and examining the knife sticking out of the man.

"Yep."

He watched as Ava carefully examined the man, poking and prodding in various spots. "Definitely died from blood loss," she said. "Okay guys; get him back to the morgue."

The ME helpers gathered the man onto a gurney and put him into the back of the van. "I'll call if I find anything else during the autopsy," Ava told Ryan. She then turned to Eric and gave a little wave before climbing back into the van.

The rest of the day was spent taking photos and documenting evidence before Eric and Ryan returned to the Crime Lab.


"Trey!"

Trey jumped, almost hitting his eye on the microscope he was looking through. "Eric? Hi. I'm sorry but you haven't given me enough time to get anything from the stuff you brought in for that stabbing."

Eric waved his hand. "I'm not here about that. I was wondering if you wanted to go out for beers with Ryan and I later on. You know, officially welcome you to the team."

Trey had a moment where he had to think as Logan. Would Des like it if he didn't show up at the right time tonight? Or would she assume he had something to go on here. He knew that going out with them would help him get closer to them, and in the long run, help Des achieve her little mission. "Sure, I guess."

"Okay, see you later. Have fun with your trace stuff."

"I always do," Trey said, going back to his microscope.


"You said we weren't going to go to a "good" club!" Ryan said, making quotation marks with his fingers.

Eric shrugged. "I lied. Besides, even if you don't enjoy it – whatever the reason – I'm sure Trey and I here will have a blast."

Trey held back a laugh. He hadn't known Ryan had been so, prudish? He wasn't sure what to call it, but he definitely wasn't the type of guy to go out to a strip club and actually like it. "Knock back a few drinks and you'll be fine," Trey said.

Ryan grumbled as they went inside, already dreading the night.

"So, you originally from Miami?" Ryan was talking to Trey, trying hard to ignore the people around him. They were not his type of people.

"No, I've lived here a few years now, since I finished college."

Ryan gulped down his drink and nodded. Eric was at the bar, watching a show. Ryan had made sure he'd faced away from the stage when they found a table. Trey continued talking. "I just needed something new and Miami is definitely different." Ryan nodded again and Trey got the feeling that the drinks Ryan was guzzling back were working their magic.

"You drink often?" Trey asked, taking a sip of his own beer.

Ryan shook his head. "Hardly ever."

"You might want to slow down then."

Ryan waved his hand. "Not in a place like this."

Trey chuckled. "What a place to bring a guy you just met, huh? I could have a girlfriend."

"Even if he thought you had a girlfriend, I doubt he'd care."

"Well, I don't have one, and I guess this isn't that bad," Trey said, looking around.

Ryan snorted. "I'm gonna leave now. Don't worry, I'll take a cab, I just can't stand it here."


"Hey, did you guys get anything from the homeless guy yet?" Eric asked. Calleigh and Trey were working together in the lab.

"Well, we know who he is, his name is Karl Gelding. He was homeless. It was his brother who ID'd him, saw it on the news. They don't speak; Karl pretty much chose to live that way," Calleigh told him.

Eric nodded. "What are you working on Trey?"

Trey looked up. "I'm waiting for DNA results. He had skin under his fingernails. I'd assume he tried to fight off his killer."

Ryan entered the room. "Guys, I got prints from the murder weapon."

There was a beeping from across the room and Trey looked up. "Well, I got DNA!"

"Are they from the same person?" Eric asked.

"You first," Calleigh nodded at Ryan.

"The prints are from a guy named Roger Wall."

"DNA is from the same guy," Trey said.

"Let's go talk to him," Eric said.


"So Mr. Wall," Eric started. "Can you tell us why we found your prints on a knife used to kill a homeless man?" They were sitting in one of the interrogation rooms. It hadn't been hard to find Roger Wall. He had a few priors under his belt and his address had been in the system.

"Or your DNA under his fingernails?" Ryan added.

Roger Wall looked from Ryan to Eric. "What?"

"Please, you might as well tell the truth. This is very incriminating evidence we have here," Eric told him.

"Those stupid homeless people drive away my customers," Roger said.

"So you own the restaurant where he was found?" Ryan asked.

Roger nodded. "Those homeless guys are always sleeping there, like it's not a public place with people going in and out. Plus, they're always begging and bothering my customers for money. I was getting sick of it."

"Why didn't you just tell him to leave?" Ryan asked.

"I did, plenty of times. He had a lot of chances. At closing I went outside to talk to him again, but he refused and I got mad, so I went back inside and got a knife. He still wouldn't leave, tried to fight me. So I stabbed him." Roger stopped talking and looked shocked that he had just told the police he had murdered someone.

"Thank you for your time Mr. Wall," Eric smiled. "Take him."

They watched as an officer took Roger Wall from the room.

"That was easy," Ryan said.

Eric shrugged. "He confessed."


"Congrats on solving the case," Calleigh exclaimed. They were yet again in the break room. Ryan, Eric and Trey were sitting around a table.

"You helped solve your first murder Trey, good for you," Eric said.

"It feels good."

"I remember my first case. It did feel good. Cheers?"

Calleigh, Ryan, and Trey raised their glasses, which were just filled with pop since they were still at work, and clinked them together. "To another case solved," Calleigh said.

"I think we should go to the bar later, do a real toast," Eric said.

"Sure!" Calleigh agreed.

"Fine, as long as it's not like that other one, Eric," Ryan said, looking at his friend.

Trey smiled. This was perfect for him and Des. He was in now, they trusted him.


AN: Dun dun duuuun. Thanks for reading. I love reviews. ^_^ Oh, and again if you see anywhere where I call any of the Miami characters by some other name, just let me know and I'll change it. I skimmed through this chapter quick and changed them so there might be one or two that I missed. :D