Chapter 4: The date

While waiting for the dishes, Ryan begun to speak lively. He looked relaxed, happy and willingly to converse. Pamela smiled, she couldn´t avoid feeling a little bit intimidated by the facility that Ryan had to connect with her, almost a stranger.

"On Friday I told you I didn´t remember you because of Erica, the blonde girl that came to visit me. You know, she is journalist, works for the CBs, in the news, and she is always looking for scandals. She has caused some problems by now. And if I told you that I remembered you, I´m sure she would end up figuring some strange story about doctors and cops that help each other and hide some dirty secrets, or some other paranoia."

Pamela had to laugh, Ryan´s fears seemed more results of his imagination than real.

"Anyhow, it would be logical that you don´t remember me, I´m sure you investigate every week a lot of cases, and it´s impossible to remember every face."

"Well, your case was a special one. You don´t see babies every day in the police department." He smiled, remembering little Bethany, "by the way, do you know something about her?"

Pamela said no with her head. The waiter came and put a dish with spaghetti pesto in front of her, and a lasagne for Ryan.

"No. They fired me and I haven´t contacted since then. I was afraid that they could misinterpret it, and denounce me."

"And how is that you work in the hospital?"

"I studied medicine." She smiled, it was obvious. "I´m an allergy doctor. When I came to Miami, while searching for a job, I needed a temporal one to pay the bills, and I joined the nanny´s agency in front of my condo. Some weeks after the incident with the Seaborns I got hired by the Miami Dade Memorial."

They continued talking, mostly him, about some cases, anecdotes about the police that interested her and made her laugh, like the first time Ryan was present in an autopsy.

Pamela thought that his capacity of connecting with the people was incredible, he was very open. She would never be like him. She remembered being so when she was a teen, she had been very extrovert, more than Ryan, she had been like the people that need to be the centre of attention and make the others laugh. Now she was very different.

Ryan was so nice, she had even been attracted to him. But that happened a lot to her: she met a boy, and liked him, but after knowing him better, she wasn´t more interested. And if they approached too much, she moved away.

After the dinner, Ryan went with her back to the hospital, where he had the Hummer parked.

"I had a very good time." She said, before entering the hospital building.

"Me too" Ryan crossed his hands in his back, coming near to her. He raised his look to her, his eyebrows lifted, "I was asking myself that maybe you wanted us to go out someday. Drink a beer after work, or dinner, like today."

Pamela tensed suddenly. Even though she wanted to give him her telephone number and date him another time, something in his inner didn´t want any contact to the exterior. Exterior hurt, exterior wanted explanations, exterior made questions.

"Ok, I give you my number and we can go out another day." She smiled for him, struggling with the fear that she had in her stomach, and she gave him her number.

"Well, that's good…"

Ryan approached her, hesitating… but before he could do something else, she kissed him in the cheek and entered the hospital, saying good bye.

Ryan sat in the Hummer and closed the door. He was really happy. He had gone with one idea to the hospital, but had went out with a lot more. First, he only wanted to apologize, but somehow he had ended up inviting her to dinner, and more, asking her for her number and another date. He hadn´t even thought about that before. Of course he had remembered her, when he saw her after the surgery, Pamela Warren, nanny of the Seaborn. Oh well… exnanny, and a brilliant doctor, as he had investigated. Fantastic grades in University, some writings in medical magazines, and as he had seen today, a lot of patients. He knew it was playing in advantage, to research in someone´s life without a reason, but he wasn´t capable of going on adventure without having a minimal control of the situation. Without having clear ideas, organized ideas, how could he face up to other people?

And he was sure, he was going to jump to the pool for Pamela. So sweet, so shy… she was so different to the world that was around him. He remembered the day that she spent in the provisional cell, he even remembered having healed a wound in her leg. How couldn´t he see then how lovely she was? Well, he was new in the CSI department, and his biggest problems had been acclimating to his coworkes, which wasn´t easy.

He was going to phone her. Would it be too anxious if he did it this very night? Or maybe he should wait a couple of days, and phone her on Wednesday, and invite her to go out on Friday´s night. But maybe on Wednesday she would already have plans for the weekend. And if she had plans… it could mean she had a boyfriend… He hadn´t ask that… but she would have told him, she wouldn´t have given him her telephone number without saying it… or perhaps, without a boyfriend, she wasn´t interested in him but was too well-mannered to tell him… He shook his head, blowing all this ideas away. As Calleigh had told him once, "you´re going to die for so much hypothesis"

Pamela was nervous. She was very nervous. Sitting in the living room of her condo, in the couch, she was completely stiff and tense. Expecting. It was Friday, and since Tuesday she was waiting for this moment. Since Ryan had phoned her and invited her to dinner. And she had been thinking of the dress she would be wearing, if she would make up or not, if she was going to wear high heels or flat shoes…

But she didn´t like Ryan, it was just that she got nervous every time she dated a guy. Always. She couldn´t manage to be relaxed knowing that in some moment they were going to hope for something she wasn´t willing to give.

The bell rung and she jumped in the couch. She went to the door, maybe too fast, and opened it.

"Hi."

Ryan lowered, smiling, and kissed her in the cheek.

"Hi." He whispered as he retired. Pamela shivered.

The dinner went amusing and untroubled. At the end Pamela could relax a bit and enjoy herself with Ryan, without thinking what could happen afterward.

Ryan was really happy, she seemed to have a great time, he had even managed to make her laugh a couple of times! It was a good sign.

They had been in a Japanese Restaurant, near Pamela´s condo. It was a nice night, it wasn´t cold and they returned walking. Ryan had already told her every single anecdote about the crime lab, and she was now talking about how different the people of Miami and Detroit were. Ryan noticed that her accent changed a bit when she spoke about her home city. They arrived at the apartment´s principal door.

"Well, I had a really good time…"

Pamela couldn´t end the sentence; Ryan was kissing her. At first, she enjoyed it, she even closed the eyes… but this moment was ephemeral and immediately Pamela´s alarms rung, and she moved away.

"I…I´m sorry…"

She turned and entered the apartment almostrunning, leaving Ryan alone and bewildered.

As always, please remember English isn´t my first language, not even my second one... :)