XXI

Calleigh stared at Natalia's car. She was completely alone in the garage and had been for hours.

There had to be something here!

She'd gone over every inch of Natalia's car inside and out. There was no more blood to be found anywhere, which she had taken as a huge relief. It gave her hope that they were in fact looking for Natalia and not her body. She hadn't found any other biologicals of any kind, another relief.

But there wasn't anything else, either! Nothing that could give her any hints as to where the killer had taken her friend.

Calleigh knelt down on the ground with her UV light near the back end of the car. She closely analyzed the dent in Natalia's bumper where the killer had apparently crashed into her to force her to stop.

Calleigh froze.

There was one tiny fleck of blue fluorescing under her UV light. She leaned in closer to it. She turned off the light and looked at the dent with her naked eyes, but she didn't see anything. She turned it back on and gazed at the tiny speck, which lit up again under the blue light.

Calleigh hurriedly grabbed a swab and rubbed it against the dented surface of the car. Some sort of waxy substance came off.

She held the swab close up to her eyes.

Maybe this could finally point them in the right direction. Sometimes the tiniest, most insignificant piece of evidence could prove to be the casebreaker.

-()-

Walter was in the computer lab, having taken over for Ryan on the search for the kidnapper's car. He hadn't gotten any farther than his friend had. Walter sat staring at the flashing screen blankly, his head resting heavily on one hand. All he could do was sit and watch as the computer continued building their list of suspects. It seemed as if it would never end.

The door to the lab suddenly opened and Ryan walked in. Walter stared at his friend as he very calmly sat down beside him and began reading through some of the DMV profiles displayed on the screen.

There was a full minute of profound silence before Ryan finally turned to Walter.

"What?" he demanded.

"Oh, nothing," Walter quipped. "Just nice to see you're not dead or something."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Walter."

"So I hear," he retorted dryly. "I understand you were particularly fine five minutes ago when you were passed out in the break room with Delko, Horatio and Doc Loman all hoverin' over you as if you were about to snuff it."

Ryan fought to tamp down his temper, especially since Walter was probably the only person even remotely as close to Natalia as he was. He just wanted to focus on their task at hand of finding her as soon as possible.

"Dude, I'm not about to die."

"Bet Jesse woulda said the same thing."

It was such a quiet remark, for a moment Ryan thought Walter hadn't even said it. He sat staring at the bigger man in stunned silence. Walter was gazing at the screen fixedly, obviously making a point of avoiding Ryan's eyes.

"Walter...," he began hesitantly, unsure of what to say.

Walter sighed heavily. "Look, I get it, man. You're worried about her. I am, too. You think it's easy for me to sit up here with no way to help Natalia but read a million DMV reports just hoping that one of them might match her kidnapper?"

Walter wasn't angry when he said it, but Ryan still couldn't find a single word to say in response.

"I might not be starting fights with my coworkers and completely abandoning all regard for my own personal health," Walter continued, still not meeting his eyes. "But I still can't help but think about Natalia and what she must be going through every single second that she's gone. Just maybe remember that you're not the only one who's going through a rough time right now, okay?"

Ryan wished his friend would just look at him. "Walter, I never thought I was the only one who cared about Natalia. I just can't stand it how people are fussing over me all day when she's the one in real danger!"

Walter's eyes were full of compassion and understanding, but they also betrayed a deep pain. Ryan could almost feel it when Walter made eye contact with him.

"Ryan, you're sick. Even though you might refuse to admit it, the rest of us can tell it's serious," Walter said, almost too calmly. "Just in case you didn't notice while you were unconscious, we're all really worried about you."

"That's what I'm talking about!" Ryan cried.

"And that's what we're talking about!" Walter exclaimed right back. "We lost Jesse, Ryan! He's gone! One minute he was fine and the next we're all waking up except for him. Nobody saw it coming, but it still happened anyway. And now Natalia's missing! Some bastard took her from us and for all we know, she might never be coming back! So tell me, Ryan, why shouldn't we worry about you, a friend that we might actually be able to save this time?"

The ringing silence between them stretched onward, the only sounds coming from the beeping computer. Walter sighed and rubbed his temples, suddenly looking exhausted. Ryan looked down at his hands, which were faintly shaking in his lap. Walter's words chimed in his ears like a gong, each toll reverberating painfully in his chest.

They were excrutiatingly true.

"Walter...," he finally said quietly. "You're not gonna lose me. I'm not going anywhere."

His friend didn't say anything.

"Think of it this way," he continued lightly. "I promised Natalia I would go see a doctor and I'll do it as soon as we find her and bring her home. I'll be okay. All right?"

Walter didn't say anything for a moment. Then he looked at Ryan with a steely look in his eye.

"All right, man. But one more cough out of you and I'm dragging you to the hospital myself."

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, friends. Hit a bit of a wall there for a while. WRITER'S BLOCK SUCKS SO HARD. :P

So what did Calleigh find on Natalia's car? Something tells me it'll end up being important... ;) And Ryan will totally start taking care of himself now that Walter's on his case.

...Right? ;P