The twenty-fifth of May arrived, and as luck would have it, it fell on a Saturday. Natalia arrived at Ryan's house that morning, and had breakfast with them.

Ryan tried to maintain his composure, but the outfit Natalia was wearing had him strung tighter than a bow, something he could not explain. She was dressed for a day at the beach—a white broom skirt and robin's egg blue top covering a floral bathing suit that peeked out around her neck—but something about her made his heart beat double time. Unbeknownst to him, Natalia was having much the same reaction. Ryan wore a pastel-toned plaid button-up over a white tee shirt with khaki Bermudas, and Natalia found that far more attractive than his work clothes.

Neither had any intention of letting the other know how they felt, partly because it was not the time nor place for such declarations, but mostly because both were afraid of the repercussions it might have on their friendship. So the two adults suffered secretly. Or so they thought.

Sofie was far more perceptive than most people gave her credit for. She had noticed for some time that whenever something big happened with one of them, the other was there to either celebrate or console, whichever was appropriate. She had been thrilled to learn Natalia would be joining them for her birthday. Yes, she enjoyed the woman's company—Natalia fit the role of the cool aunt or grown up older sister perfectly, and the two always had fun on their days out together—but this would give her a chance to observe the two adults in a purely casual environment, away from anything work related. The looks they were giving each other now was simply more proof that the two belonged together.

A plan began forming in her head as they left, stopping to pick up one of Sofie's friends before making the drive over to Key Biscayne. The more she developed her plan, the more excited she became, and was glad she could use her birthday as a cover for said excitement. By the time they had reached their destination, all but a few details had been worked out, and she couldn't wait to take her plan from theory to action.

That would have to wait until tomorrow, though. Today was supposed to be all about her, and she doubted she could get away with much more scheming.

There was a prevailing dolphin obsession surrounding Miami, and it fed the already thriving business of letting the public swim with sea creatures such as dolphins. Most of these places were in an enclosed area, but the one that Natalia directed them to opened up to the Bay of Biscayne.

The four spent several hours in the water with the playful creatures. When their time ran out, they stayed out on the island instead of returning to Miami. Ryan and Natalia spread a blanket on the beach as Sofie and Chloe wandered down the shore.

"I can tell your brain's been somewhere else, all day," Chloe smirked, glad to have her best friend back. "What've you been working on?"

"I'm pulling out my magic wand and playing fairy godmother," Sofie replied. "This is only the beginning. I'll tell you what I've worked out, so far."

Ryan watched as the two girls talked further down the beach. He was glad Sofie seemed to be enjoying herself. With a smile, he stretched out his legs and leaned back, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Thanks, Natalia."

"What for?" she asked, matching his posture.

"For setting this up," he replied. "I haven't seen her this happy in a long time. I don't know if I would have come up with something like this. So thank you."

"Hey, you're no the only one who cares about Sofie. We all want to see her happy. She means a lot to all of us."

Ryan turned to Natalia, suddenly noticing their close proximity. Natalia had replaced her skirt after getting out of the water, but she had chosen to forego the top, and the extra exposed skin made Ryan's heart beat faster. Natalia felt her temperature rise as she came to the same realization as Ryan. His white tee had been discarded, and the button-up hung open.

Almost unconsciously, the two began leaning in towards the other. Ryan felt his lips meet Natalia's, but it was almost as if he was not the one controlling his actions. It was a soft kiss, somewhat like dipping a toe in the water to test the temperature before jumping in.

Ryan pulled back after a moment and met Natalia's eyes. Both had looks of slight shock, but neither could say that it wasn't nice. Ryan took a breath and pulled her closer to kiss her again, this time with far more passion.

Neither noticed Sofie clamp a hand over her mouth to mute the squeal of delight that almost escaped.

After another couple hours spent on the beach, the four headed back for the mainland. Sofie couldn't help the giant grin that was plastered on her face as she caught the glances going back and forth between the two adults. Maybe she wouldn't need to put her plan into action, after all. She was not one bit upset about that.

After dropping Chloe back at home, Ryan turned and headed for the park between their house and the lab. Sofie looked out the window, unaware of where they were headed.

"Uh, guys? Did I miss something?" she asked, only knowing that they were not headed back to Ryan's house.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you? We have to make one more stop before heading back," Ryan replied, feigning innocence.

Sofie knew there was more he wasn't telling her, but she didn't push, knowing it would all come out in the end. She was proven correct as she recognized the drive leading to the park. Her curiosity increased as he pulled in to the public parking lot that had access to the park. That soon passed, however, when they approached the picnic area.

A large sign reading, "Happy Birthday Sofie" hung in the trees shading the tables. A cake that she swore took up a third of the table could be seen under the clear cover, embellished with fingerprints, magnifying glasses, body outlines in various positions, and crime scene tape. Three pizzas and a stack of gifts covered the remainder of the table. The givers were the remainder of the day shift team, all standing on either side.

"Happy birthday, Sofe," Ryan said softly as she took it all in.

He was rather pleased with himself that he had managed to keep this part a secret. After Natalia had arranged their trip to Key Biscayne, he had felt that something was missing. It soon dawned on him that much of Sofie's life revolved around the crime lab. She still frequently spent her afternoons there—though not as often as she had right after coming to live with Ryan—and she had made it no secret that she wanted to be a CSI when she grew up. While that day was coming far too quickly for Ryan's taste, he was glad that what had happened to her parents had not put her off police work forever. So what better way to end her birthday than to spend it with the CSI's? The look on her face was enough to tell him he had been right.

Ryan sat back with Natalia and watched with amusement as Sofie engaged Walter in a heated debate regarding the latest episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Personally, Ryan had enough of criminal investigations at work, but Sofie took in every detail to later compare with reality, sifting through fact and fiction with impressive accuracy.

Natalia noticed the look on Ryan's face and nudged his shoulder with hers, "Hey, mind rejoining us?"

Ryan shook himself as he realized he had drifted off, "Oh, yeah, sorry."

"Where were you?"

"Just thinking about Sofie, how far she's come in the last few months. Looking at her now, you'd never know she lost her mother four months ago."

"She has you to thank for that, you know," Natalia said, lacing her fingers through his.

Ryan looked down at their hands. He knew he would have to figure out what exactly had happened between them, today, but he was enjoying the feel of her this close to him far too much to worry about that now.

"Well, I had some help," he replied, meeting her eyes and lifting her hand to place a kiss against the back, though he much had much rather kiss her lips instead.

Sofie caught this motion out of the corner of her eye, and pointed it out to Walter. The latter's eyes widened slightly, but then he exclaimed, "It's about time!"

This made Ryan and Natalia jump slightly, both blushing profusely.

"Busted," chimed in Eric, who was grinning widely at his friend's expense.

"No point in denying it, I saw you two kiss on the beach earlier!" Sofie headed off the protests she could see Ryan developing.

"Oh really?" Calleigh asked, her curiosity fully piqued. "Do tell."

Ryan simply glared back, though he turned an even deeper shade of red.

"Well, I'm happy for you two," Calleigh continued. "I've wondered how long you two would dance around your obvious attraction."

"Obvious to everyone else but us, apparently," Natalia noted, the red fading from her cheeks.

Horatio simply smiled, silently watching over his team, as usual. Eventually, he would need to talk to Ryan and Natalia about whatever it was that was developing between them—if he didn't, IA would, and Ryan was still on sore terms with IA after the incident with Stetler a year ago—but for now, he'd let them enjoy what they had. They deserved some happiness, for once.

As the sun set, the trash was gathered and the gifts and what little food remained was placed in Ryan's car. Sofie's eyelids were drooping, the excitement of the day finally having drained the last of her energy, but she still protested when Eric led her to the car. Goodbye's were said, and Ryan made the short drive back to his house. Sofie had fallen asleep in the few minutes it had taken to get there, so Ryan gently carried her inside and back to her room while Natalia started unloading the car.

Once everything was put away, Ryan hesitantly asked Natalia if she wanted to stay for a little while longer, to which she nodded. They now sat on the couch, Natalia sitting with her feet tucked underneath her, leaning into Ryan.

"Today was great," he said. "I don't think I've seen her have that much fun in a long time. At least, not since Ben died. For the first time since this all started, I really believe she's gonna be okay."

They sat there considering that. They both knew it would be a long while yet before Sofie fully recovered from her parents' death, but today had told them that she would indeed recover. Patience and love would go a long way to helping, and that was something they knew they had in abundance.

At least, they did for Sofie.

Fin.

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone for reading this. I hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. At some point, I plan on writing another story with Sofie, because I can't just leave a BoaWolfe setup that perfect dangling. However, my muse needs a break from all the CSI: Miami fics I've written recently, and the summer hiatus always has a negative effect on my muse. I have several other projects I'm currently working on that you will hopefully be hearing from in the not-too-distant future: one crossover and a couple re-writes of stories I wrote five million years ago when I was thirteen that suck in their current state but are actually decent story lines. Hopefully, I'll manage to rework those to a publishable point. So there you have it. And until I post something new, please feel free to browse my other stories and let me know what you think!