Hey guys! Sorry for the wait! I'm really glad you're all still liking this!
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI:Miami. Just Melissa, Bear, Freddy, and all other OCs.
It was Thursday morning at the lab, and not a single person hadn't heard about Melissa's success at defusing the bomb. The labs were buzzing with the news, and suddenly she was no longer the new, deaf CSI, and just that. Now, she was the talented explosives expert. However, no one yet knew about Ryan and Melissa. But some were slowly catching on, because their attitude towards each other was suddenly quite different.
When Melissa arrived at work on the Thursday morning, she was greeted by everyone she passed in the hallways, either with a nod, or a simple hello. Sometimes it was a smile. She nodded back, smiled back, and returned the greetings. Her smile never wavered; it seemed stuck upon her face, fixed like that forever. She was so happy inside, and she couldn't pin it just on the bomb. Ryan seemed to have something to do with it.
Melissa turned into her lab, and was greeted by an ecstatic Freddy, who attacked her in a crushing hug. She let out a yelp of surprise, until she saw his dark hair. Finally, he pulled back, holding her at arm's length, as if he was her father studying her after having not seen her for a while.
She blushed. "Freddy," she said, "what in the world are you doing?"
He grinned. "I'm making sure you're in one piece. They told me you fixed up that bomb just fine, but I had to be sure." He pulled her into a hug again and then let her free.
Melissa laughed, smoothing out her skirt. Freddy was a godsend at times like these. He could make the atmosphere lighter in any situation. She turned and saw a dismantled bomb in more than five hundred pieces laid out on the table. "Is that it?" she asked.
"Uh huh. I saved it just for you."
She grinned sheepishly. "Aw, I love you, Freddy, you know that?"
It was his turn to blush, but he straightened his lab coat and walked over to the table. "Yes, I do." With a flourish of his hand, he said, "After you."
Ryan walked briskly down the hallway, with an extra bounce in his step. He was supposed to be delivering the samples in his hands to DNA, but he took an extra three minutes to detour past the explosives lab. Ever since his confession to Melissa, he couldn't get enough of her. He felt that since he'd apologized and she hadn't hit him again, he actually had some grounds in talking to her, and looking at her.
It felt wonderful.
However, he was extremely nervous about his date the next day. He'd thought that asking her out had been the hard part, but once that hurdle had been jumped, and the next hurdle came closer, he found himself sweating buckets every time he thought about it. Could a relationship work? And not just a friendship? He knew that right now he had to take it slow. This very delicate relationship could absolutely not be rushed.
Ryan walked past the explosives lab, surreptitiously sneaking a glance inside. His heart fell when he only saw Freddy the extremely animated explosives expert. His brow furrowed in confusion. So, where else could Melissa be?
He walked on, keeping a look out for her distinctive slim figure, and long black braid. Not until he passed the fingerprint lab did he see her walk out of the ladies bathroom. She caught his eye and gave him a heart-stopping smile.
He grinned back and noticed too late that Eric, inside the fingerprint lab, had looked up from his table in time to see this incredible exchange.
From inside, Eric could only stare, open mouthed and bewildered at what he had just seen. Was that…Melissa and Ryan…smiling at each other? What happened to the stony silence and silent treatment they'd been using for the past two weeks?
He quickly put down what he was doing and stuck his head out the doorway. "Wolfe!" he called, managing to catch Ryan just as he walked past.
Ryan spun around, and found a bemused Eric looking at him. He quickly gestured with his hand, and Ryan walked towards him, glancing around, wondering what this was about. "What's up?" he asked.
Eric widened his eyes. "You tell me!" he asked. "What just happened there?"
Ryan looked at him oddly. "What are you talking about?"
"I mean, just now, with Melissa! I thought she hated your guts!"
Ryan blushed a light scarlet. "Well," he began, his eyes darting around, "we had a small talk yesterday, after she defused that bomb, and long story short, I am taking her out to dinner tomorrow night." He finished with a smile.
Eric refrained from bursting out laughing. "You talked, and she never hit you?"
Ryan shot him a glare. "Yes. It is possible, you know."
"I saw her smile at you. Must have been a good talk, for her to agree to going out with you," Eric pressed. He'd known of the friction between them, and Melissa's incredible stubbornness and inability to back down.
"I apologized for being a jerk, told her I liked her, and that I wanted to make it up to her," Ryan replied in a whisper as a lab member walked by. No one knew except Eric right now, and for a while he wanted to keep it that way.
Eric caught on. "Ah," he said, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye that made Ryan immediately regret telling Eric this fact. "You have some heavy making out…whoops, making up to do," he deliberately slipped.
This earned him a sharp smack on the arm from Ryan. "Shut up," he snapped, glancing around quickly as Eric chuckled. "I'm taking it slow. She probably still hates me a bit, you know."
Still smiling, Eric nodded. "Yeah, you were just a bit of a jackass. That'll be hard to totally erase."
Ryan glared at him again, and started to walk away. Then, he abruptly turned back to Eric, pointing at him and said, "This better not be all over the lab."
He missed the evil grin Eric shot him as he walked away.
Haha, Note To Readers: Don't trust Eric Delko with a secret like that! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! And especially to my anonymous reviewer, who I can only thank here.