Maxine Valera hailed Ryan into the DNA lab as he walked past. After ascertaining that it was indeed he to whom she signaled, he opened the glass door and leaned over the desk to see the sheet she held.

"Results from the hair and skin samples?" He asked, his expectations low. It was a weird and not entirely hopeful case.

Noticing his air of faithlessness, she smiled inwardly. "Don't give up on me yet, Ryan." She handed him the sheet. "Hair came back to a Marcy Gordon. She was in CODIS for a car theft a few years ago. Did two years in state prison, released on parole four years ago."

Ryan nodded gratefully. He hadn't expected the hair to yield such high results. "And the skin?"

Valera smiled. This was what she lived for. The hot-shot CSI's coming to the lowly lab tech to make or break their cases. I always believed in science. "Funny thing about that." She handed him the page with the results. "Skin belongs to her husband, Keith. He's in the system because he was a suspect in her GTA case, but was released on insufficient evidence. Filed for divorce while she was in the pen."

"Thanks, Valera. I owe ya one." Said Ryan as he pushed through the door, both reports in hand.

"Just doing my job."

Ryan found Ben in trace, analyzing something under the double-barrel microscope.

"Hey, I got DNA back on the hair and skin samples. Hair is an ex-con, Marcy Gordon; skin is her ex-husband's, Keith. This is shaping up a lot better than we first thought."

"Mm-hmm?" Mollified Ben absently.

"Uh…Benny? This is kinda a major break." He said as he walked over to where she stood. "What've you got there, anyway?" And here I was expecting her to be happy.

As if recognizing Ryan's presence for the first time, Ben laughed in embarrassment, flushing profusely. "Sorry, Ryan. I was just kinda distracted. Take a look at this." She moved over slightly, so that he could look into the microscope, but she was still close enough that his arm brushed against her as he adjusted the focus, sending tingles up both of their spines.

He squinted into the lens, and briefly saw what she was looking at. "Where did you get this?"

"Valera noticed it. Pulled it off of the skin sample." She made excited eye contact with him. "Pretty good, huh?"

"Wallace, you put me to shame!" He exclaimed, laughing. "Looks like we're all set to go out again!" Then, realizing the pun in his statement, self-corrected. "Into the field, I mean. To check this out. In the field." I never cease to amaze myself. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, then averted his eyes to the sheets he held. "DNA reports. Check it out."

Benny laughed. "Oh, Ryan, you're just too funny." She took the reports, scanning them quickly with her bright eyes. "Perfect. We've got a victim, suspect, and, thanks to moi, a crime scene." She smiled, tousled Ryan's hair. "Aren't we quite the team."

Yes, we certainly are.

She walked towards the door, shed her lab coat onto the hook with 'B. Wallace' inscribed above it, and held open the door, waiting for Ryan to follow her.

"Waiting for an invitation?" She joked to her awestruck colleague.

After all I've put her through, here she is, way more smooth than me. Figures.

Ryan laughed and joined her at the door. "Ladies first."

"Always a gentleman." She said softly, looking into his beautiful eyes. They were now almost in an embrace, standing so closely together. The way he stood in the doorway, as she held the door open, made it so that her arm was almost wrapped around him. Neither decided to move.

"You know me." He replied, gazing at her just as softly, the way he used to, the way he had in the front hallway that day they had discussed her date with Delko.

Those eyes.

As both were resigned to not breaking the moment, they may have stood that way forever, had Aaron Peters not cleared his throat uncomfortably as he stood behind Benny.

"Uh…do you think I could get in there for just a second?" He asked quietly as he stared at the ground, flushing an angry shade of red.

Damn Peters has always been bad news. Ryan remembered all too well how this particular colleague had implicated him two years ago as the mole.

Nonetheless, Ryan and Benny broke apart and headed out the door of the lab, and stood awkwardly in the hallway as Aaron made his way into the now-empty room. Upon entering, he glanced back at the uncomfortably, as if to see if they were still standing there, watching him. They were.

The moment was over, for the time being.

"To the field?" Ryan asked.

"To the field." Benny replied.