Chapter 12

"You know, Ryan, you really didn't have to help us unpack," Anya said as she opened yet another box. For the last three hours, she, Ryan, and Izzy had been unpacking her stuff and making sure Tristan didn't get into anything harmful.

Ryan glanced at her. "What would you have me do then? I'll do anything you want."

"Anything..." Anya began with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Anything."

"Well, would you mind terribly taking Tristan to your place for an hour or so? He's going to end up getting hurt or breaking something. I wouldn't ask, normally, but-"

Ryan cut her off. "It's no problem, Anya. I'll take him and then we can switch." He set down the box he had picked up and walked to the door-way. "Hey, Tristan! Come on, buddy, let's go watch 'Elmo's World'."

Tristan came bouncing into the room with a frown on his face. "No, Woof. We haveta watch Scooby-Doo! Scooby-Doo comes on today at 5:00."

Ryan looked at Anya with confusion. "Woof?"

She giggled. "He likes your last name, because we taught him that a wolf is a big doggie. He wants to say Wolfe, but he mispronounces it, like when he calls me 'Aunt Ana'. Right baby?"

Tristan shook his head so fast that when he stopped, he swayed for a moment. Ryan reached over and picked him up. Tristan yawned, put his head on Ryan shoulder, and stuck his thumb into his mouth.

Ryan chuckled. "Looks like somebody's ready for a nap."

He walked across the hall and opened his front door. He looked around and was momentarily worried about Tristan messing something up, but shook the thoughts out of his head. He laid Tristan on his bed and went to his laptop.

An hour or so later he heard a gentle thump. Worried, he quickly went into his room to find Tristan on the floor looking ready to cry. He picked him up want rubbed his back, hoping that it would stop him from crying. "Hey...what happened, kiddo?"

Tristan's bottom lip quivered as he answered. "I was tryin' to get off of ta bed, but it was too high, and I falled off!"

"Are you okay?"

"I gots a boo-boo here," he said pointing to his hand, "and here," he pointed to his head, "and here!" he pointed to his side. Ryan closely inspected the place for even the smallest of a scratch. God forbid Izzy found out, or worse, Anya.

"They seem to be okay," he announced, nonchalantly.

Tristan scowled. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Ryan asked, bemused.

Tristan heaved the world's largest sigh. "Don't you know anything? You gots to kiss it to make it stop hurting! You're not very good at this, Woof."

Ryan blanched. There was no way, no way, that he was kissing this boy. He was small and dirty and who knew what germs he could have on him. He looked at Tristan's scowling face for a minute before sighing. There was no other way out. He took the boys hand and quickly kissed it, then moved to his head and side. Tristan began giggling, and the boy's laughter brought a smile to his face. 'Just like Anya's laugh.'

"Woof? What's for lunch?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Anya let out a giant breath as she heaved a box up. She straightened up and wiped her fringe out of her face. "Izzy!"

Izzy peeked around the corner, her red curls tied back by a bandana. "Yes?"

"I'm hungry. You want to go and get Ryan, so we can go to the lab and give Uncle Horatio some lunch?" As she finished saying that, a little force ran into her legs, knocking her backwards. She let out a small scream as her arms flailed for a moment. She closed her eyes, bracing for impact when she felt a pair of arms around her. She cracked one eye open and saw a brilliant pair of honey eyes. Ryan laughed and set her straight.

"You're a klutz aren't you?"

She blushed. "Yeah. We we're actually about to come get you some we can get a bite to eat. I'm famished."

"You know, you and Tristan have a lot in common. He was hungry too." Ryan said, gesturing to the little boy, who was currently trying to get to a box that was precariously on the top of a pile. Izzy noticed and tried to grab it, but it toppled over and landed on the boy. He immediately began crying, but instead of going to his mom, he walked over to Ryan. Ryan looked shocked, as did Anya and Izzy. Ryan picked Tristan up and felt the top of his head. "You're going to have a bump there, kiddo." He kissed it quickly and looked up to see Anya giving him the most amazing look he ever saw on her face. It was soft and sweet, and he felt like he wanted to kiss her. He shook his head. He really needed to think about this.

Izzy looked between the two of them and then clapped her hands. "Let's go get some grub!"

They made their way downstairs and Ryan and Izzy had a small debate on which car to take. Ryan eventually won, so they got Tristan's car seat from Izzy's car and they loaded up into the Hummer, with Izzy and Tristan in the backseat, and Ryan and Anya up front. Traffic was packed and Ryan and Izzy quickly got into a debate about sports.

"I'm telling you," Ryan ground out, "dancing is not a sport! It's too easy!"

"Dancers can jump just as high as you but when they come down they come down in plies, and then they stand pointe, and they stand like that for hours. If dancing was easy, it would be called football."

"Mommy! Listen to Woof!" Tristan told Izzy, smugly.

Izzy eyed him. "What did you do to him, Ryan Wolfe?"

"I didn't do anything, he just likes me."

"Okay, children," Anya interrupted, "let's just pull into the parking lot."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"I thought we were only getting lunch for us and Uncle Horatio? How did it become us and the whole freaking building?!"Anya grumbled, her arms full of empty McDonald's bags. She made her way back over to Horatio, who was holding Tristan. She took him and gave Horatio a kiss on the cheek. "Alright. Say bye-bye to Grampaw."

Horatio gave her a sharp look. "Why do you insist on him calling me that? Technically, I'm his uncle."

"Well, I don't know who his paternal grandparents are, and my mom is dead while my dad is currently serving thirty to life. I think you're the next best option." Anya said with a quick smile as she flounced out of the room. She exited the building to find Izzy and Ryan talking amiably. She put Tristan into his car seat and walked over to the front. "Hey, Ryan?"

He shifted from where he was sitting to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Oh...um...c-could we talk in pri-private?" she stuttered, suddenly aware of her sister's eyes on her as well. Ryan smirked and got up, brushing off his pants as he did so.

Anya pulled him around to the other side of the Hummer, away from her sister's prying gaze. She stopped and when he looked at her expectantly, she lost all train of thought completely. She suddenly felt compelled to kiss him, and without thinking, she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him to her. She stood on her tip toes and quickly brushed her lips against his. As she went to pull away, she was surprised to find his hand on the back of her neck, halting all of her movements. She gasped when she felt his tongue on her bottom lip, and Ryan took full advantage of her surprise.

After what seemed like minutes they pulled away for air. Anya began to lean in for another kiss when a movement over Ryan's shoulder caught her attention. She paused to look at it, and, had Ryan not been holding her tightly, she would have collapsed. For staring back at her, was her father.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Anya sat in the questioning room of Miami Dade PD, holding Tristan on the lap. Izzy was beside her giving her worried glances. "Anya, what do you mean you saw dad?" Izzy said.

"Izzy," Anya began angrily, "I don't know how to make this any clearer. Me and Ryan were...talking... and I looked over his shoulder, and Robert Martin was there! He looked me right in the eyes and smiled. I wasn't imagining it. He was there. I don't know why you won't believe me!"

"Anya, we want to believe you, but Dad's still in jail. He couldn't have been there. Maybe, you thought you saw him, but it was someone else. We can call Allie and have her check real quick. She works at the Police Department right?"

"No, she a lab technician. There's a difference." Anya paused. "But her husband Greg is a CSI, and he could access stuff like that easier. Hold on."

She pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts. When she came upon Greg's name, she grinned. She pressed call and waited for his cheery voice to fill the phone.

"Sanders." Came the greeting. Anya's smile faltered a little as she heard the slight seriousness as opposed to a quick, 'yellow'. Allie had told her that Greg did not want to screw up in any way, shape or form with Grissom, so this was something new to get used to. Professional Greg. Weird.

"Hey, Greggo. It's Anya," She heard a gasp and then what sounded like him choking.

"Do my ears deceive me? Is Anastasia Martin calling little ole' me?! What, did you lose Allie's number?"

"Ha, ha. No. I need you to do me a favor please."

"Hmm...what's in it for me?" Greg teased. He always was a complete flirt.

Anya laughed. "I'll give you back the sex tape that I made of you."

"Done!" Greg shouted. "Seriously though. What's up?"

"I need you to see if a man by the name of Robert Martin, has been released from jail."

"Your dad? I thought he was sentenced for life?"

"It's just a precaution." Anya said, trying not to be to revealing.

"Uh, sure. It's gonna take me a while though, so can I call you back?"

"Sure thing, Greg. And tell Allie and everybody I said 'hi' and that I miss them."

"You got it."

--

A/N: Okay, so I enjoyed writing this chapter so much! I was so excited to finally bring our villain into the story. I also used Allie, who respectively belongs to JauntyChick. Well, I kinda, used her. I mean, technically, she didn't make an appearance, but her name is there, so I had to mention who owns her!

Thank you to all my reviewers, I love them all and it makes me so happy to say that I have had no flames! And a special thank you to JauntyChick, who always BETA's me super fast!