Author's note: Hey y'all! The reason why I'm not posting the whole story all at once is because I want to make sure that I'm totally happy with every chapter… and if you guys give me good ideas, well I'll try to fit them in!
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Chapter 11: Old Friends, a Little Jealousy and More Guitar Playing.
The next morning, Ryan was the first person in the team to get to the lab. He went straight to the locker room and put his personal belongings in his locker. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. 'What's wrong with me?' he thought. He felt completely rested, having slept a lot more than what he was used to, and was in a great mood. He had woken up feeling refreshed, had taken his shower and had grabbed his usual morning coffee. He had even flirted with the blond girl who worked at the coffee place, like he always did. Still, he couldn't help feeling different.
His thoughts were interrupted by his cell phone ringing. He had to get to a crime scene. Work. At least THAT would help him think about something else. And maybe later, he'd get to ask Hayley to have lunch with him. He headed straight to the exit, not even checking if anyone else had arrived.
He got to the crime scene about ten minutes later, where he found Alexx, who was on her knees, examining the body of a very large man. Seemed like the victim had been pushed through the window of the… 20th floor. Ouch.
He was joined a few minutes later by Natalia, and together, they worked the scene and found several pieces of evidence they would be able to work with. When they were done, they went back to the lab with their findings. As soon as they walked in, Ryan decided he would go check if Alexx had found anything during the autopsy. Maybe he would get to see Hayley at the same time.
As he walked in morgue, he spotted the black woman right away, but the short redhead was nowhere to be found. Sighing, he walked up to the table and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hey Alexx. Have you discovered anything else about our man?"
"I'm afraid you didn't give me enough time, baby. I just got started on him. I can't tell you anything else than what I've already told you." She calmly said, not taking her eyes off the victim's face.
Ryan nodded. "By the way, have you seen Hayley yet?"
Alexx looked up and waved around. "She was here just a minute ago. I think she received a text message and wanted to answer it." She grinned at him. "My angel really misses her friends."
Ryan grinned back at her and shrugged. "I don't know." Of course he did. She had spent a lot of time talking about her friends.
"Do you want me to tell her you were looking for her?"
He shook his head. "No need. Anyway, I have to go back to work." He turned. "Call me the moment you find anything!" And he was gone.
"Don't I always?" she murmured, grabbing her tool.
XXXXXXXX
Later that day, Ryan was in Valera's lab, talking about the results for a DNA sample he had her analyze for him. He still hadn't seen Hayley, and even if he had this case to solve, it bothered him a little. He just… missed her. He was about to answer one of Maxine's questions, when they were interrupted by a loud girly scream coming from down the hall. They both turned their heads sharply but didn't have time to walk out of the room before they saw Hayley running like the wind towards the front desk.
"OH MY GOD!!!!" Almost everyone in the lab watched as she jumped into the open arms of three taller guys. "What are you guys DOING here?"
They all gave her a huge hug and the third one, the blond one, took her tiny face between his hands and kissed her right on the mouth, making Ryan's pulse rise. The guy finally let go of her and smiled down at Hayley's excited face. "We decided that we all needed a vacation. Miami seemed like a good spot to spend a few days. So here we are!"
Laughing, Hayley jumped back into the blond guy's arms, who picked her up and hugged her again. When he finally put her back down, Hayley turned around and finally noticed everyone was staring at them. "Oops!" She smiled as Calleigh, Horatio, Valera and Ryan approached the group curiously.
"Hey guys, these are the people I work with." She presented everyone, who all nodded politely at the three men. She then turned back to her friends and pointed to all three of them. "This is Josh, Matt and Taylor. They're my best friends." She couldn't keep herself from hugging them again.
Horatio, who had a small smile on his face, turned and looked down at his dark sun glasses. "Mrs. Carter, take the afternoon off." He looked up at her wide eyes. "I think you have some catching up to do." Hayley shrieked, jumped up and down and gave her boss a huge hug. "Thank you SO much, dad!" Laughing, she went back to her friends, grabbed them by the arms and dragged them towards the elevators, never even looking back at her co-workers.
Ryan scratched his left eyebrow and let out an irritated sigh. 'What the hell was that?' Glaring at the now closed elevator doors, he turned slowly and followed Valera back inside her lab.
XXXXX
He had barely made it inside his apartment when his cell phone rang. He looked at his watch. 'It's after nine. I hope it's not work.' He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen. The name that appeared made him smile. He sat on his couch and answered. "Hello Mrs. Carter."
"Hi Mr. Wolfe."
He grinned at the sound of her voice. He could hear muffled music in the back ground. "How was your day off?"
Hayley laughed. "It was great. We had a lot of fun. Still are too!"
"And you can't make it tonight, right?"
"I'm sorry Ry. It's just, my friends are here, and they're leaving in two days. I really want to spend as much time as possible with them."
Ryan's eyebrows went up. "Your friends are staying at your place? Inside your little apartment? With YOU in it?"
He almost saw her frown. "Calm down Ryan. We won't have orgies or anything."
Ryan sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "I know. I'm just disappointed, that's all."
Hayley chuckled. "You're jealous."
"Of course I am! You're the only cute girl in a one bedroom apartment with three men, who, by the way, seem way too friendly for my liking. That blond one in particular… Fabio."
"It's Josh. And Ryan, they're my best friends. That's all. Don't get your panties tied up in a bunch."
Ryan snorted. "They all want to jump you."
He heard her sigh. "Can we change topic please? You're acting like a woman. And it does NOT suit you well."
"You know what, you're right." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry. It's just… that thing between us… it's still very new… and I can't seem to get enough of you." Feeling as if he had said too much, he quickly changed topic. "So what are your plans for the next few days?"
"Well I still have to work tomorrow. And after that, we'll probably play some music. I really miss singing."
Ryan laid his head on the back of his couch and closed his eyes. "Will I see you after they're gone?"
"Do you WANT to see me after they're gone?"
He smiled, remembering the previous morning. "What do you think?"
"What do YOU think?"
"You're really the most annoying woman on earth, you know that?"
She chuckled. "No. I'm only the most annoying woman you know."
Ryan grinned. "Yes. I want to see you as soon as they're gone."
"Then I'll call you." She hesitated. "And Ry… I miss you too."
He smiled, stood and headed to the kitchen. She told him she needed to get back to her guests, said bye and hung up. Ryan put the phone on the counter and looked in his refrigerator but realized he wasn't really hungry. He sighed and spotted the Pop Tarts Hayley had made him get. 'Cold Pop Tarts?' He shook his head and grinned. Looking around his very clean and very empty apartment, he decided the best thing to do would be to go in the shower and watch TV. 'You've got it bad, man.' He told himself, as he went in his bedroom.
XXXXXXXXX
"You've got it bad, man." Ryan turned his head to look at Eric Delko who was following him in the house.
He didn't stop walking but looked back in front of him. "What are you talking about?"
They both stopped in the victim's living room and set their kits on the floor. Eric smirked as he bent down to grab his gloves. "There's something different about you. We've been working together for what, four years? Well in all those years, it's the first time I've seen you with that look on your face."
Ryan frowned but didn't look at him, too busy pointing his flashlight around the room. "What look?" He said, trying to sound uninterested.
Eric laughed and started going through the room like his partner was. "That look you've had on your face since your time off with Hayley. And you've almost stopped putting your nose in other people's business. That can only mean ONE thing."
Ryan sighed and rubbed his eyebrow. "Could you PLEASE focus on the job?"
The Cuban turned and looked at him, his full lips curving into his cocky smile. "You really REALLY like her."
"Delko, your life must be getting really boring if you spend so much time studying mine."
Eric laughed and nodded. "Fine, I'll shut up." He grabbed his tweezers from his kit and picked something from the carpet. "By the way, Valera told me you looked about to jump at someone's throat when you saw one of Hayley's boyfriends French kiss her at the lab."
Ryan's head shot up. "They did not French kiss!" The other man laughed again, quite proud of himself. He winked at his friend. "I know."
Ryan shook his head and turned around. "Just… shut up."
XXXXX
The next couple of days went by really quickly; the CSIs having to work on three cases at the same time. Eric didn't even have time to tease Ryan with his stupid comments about Hayley. Two nights in a row, Ryan would be home after midnight and would go straight to bed, too exhausted to even think about his own personal life.
He was relieved when he finally got a day off. All he wanted was to sleep in and… sleep some more. Unfortunately, something climbing on top of him woke him up… something warm… a warm body… a warm naked body.
Ryan moaned but didn't open his eyes. "What…"
"Shhhh… Go back to sleep."
"Natalia? OOOWW!!!!" Ryan opened his eyes and saw Hayley frowning down at him. "I was just kidding!"
The redhead smirked. "You better be."
"What are you doing here? At…" He looked at his alarm clock. "Noon?"
She laid down on him and put her chin on her hands, which were folded on his bare chest. "I'm on my lunch break. You said you wanted to see me. Here I am!"
"You're naked." He stated.
"Wow, I can really see why you're a CSI, Ryan."
Ryan smirked and pinched her hip. "Smart mouth."
Hayley lifted her shoulders and pouted. "My mouth is very smart, thank you." She grinned at him mischievously and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Do you want to see what else my mouth can do?"
Ryan gaped at what he thought she was suggesting. He opened his mouth to say something but she put a finger to his lips, silencing him.
XXXXX
Ryan frowned as he dried himself with a large towel, hearing music coming from his bedroom. "Hayls? When did you bring your guitar?" He left the bathroom and followed the music. He found her sitting cross-legged on the unmade bed, clad in a white t-shirt and orange panties. She smiled up at him and kept playing, wiggling her eyebrows at his nakedness.
He grinned, turned to his dresser and grabbed his underwear. "I never saw you bringing your guitar here."
Hayley shrugged. "It was in my car, so I brought it up with me." She kept on playing. "Why? You don't like it when I play?"
Ryan chuckled and put his blue t-shirt on. "I love hearing you play. Actually, I've been thinking about learning. Maybe you could teach me."
Hayley's smile grew wider and she winked at him. "You want to serenade me, Ryan?"
He shook his head and walked to the bed. He kneeled on it and leant to lay a soft kiss on her lips. "I don't need to serenade you. I've already got you with my charms."
Hayley threw her head back and laughed. "You are so full of yourself Ryan Wolfe!"
Ryan shook his head and sat on the end of the bed to put his shoes on. "You don't think it's a good idea? I could learn to play the guitar and we could do music together. And this way, you wouldn't have to wait for your friends to visit to do what you love." He turned to look at her but quickly looked away again, trying to hide the blush on his face. Hayley was staring at him, a soft smile on her face.
He stood and glanced at her again. "What?!?"
Hayley kept looking at him for a few more seconds and then shrugged, going back to scratching her guitar. "Sure! It would be a great idea. And I could also teach you how to play piano or give you singing lessons."
It was Ryan's turn to throw his head back and laugh. "Trust me Hayley, you don't want to hear me sing. I would probably make your nose bleed."
Hayley shook her head and got off the bed, leaving her guitar on the bed. She took the few steps separating her from him and hid her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. Ryan smiled and gathered her into his strong arms. "What did I say?!?"
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