A/N: Here is Chapter 3. I tried posting it last night, but the site wouldn't let me log in. I plan to bring in more of the romance (or at least the start of it) in the next chapter. I just wanted to flesh the back story out a little more so it's not just a romantic encounter between Ryan and Calleigh. Otherwise, the story would only be 2 chapters. Thanks for the kind reviews. Enjoy.

Roger

P.S. It might take me a while to post Chapter 4. Please be patient.

CHAPTER 3

Meanwhile, Eric and Ryan were conducting another search at the lake for more evidence they might have missed the first time around. The team had split up into two, with Eric leading two men on dives in the area where the bodies were found. That left Ryan on the shore, also with two men of his own, looking around in the area where the gun was found. Progress was slow, due to a strong wind whipping a cold front of air towards the shore, despite being a hot and humid day. Ryan could not help but curse to himself every time the wind would stir the sand on the shoreline around, occasionally blowing the sand into his eyes. "Eric got the easy job." Ryan thought to himself as he walked around the area looking again for any proof of a second weapon. Finding nothing that the CSI team didn't collect and photograph from before, he walked back to the docks to where Eric was waiting.

"Any luck?" Asked Ryan. "Yes and no," replied Eric. "We didn't find another gun, but we did find multiple shell casings that may fit the gun we have back at the lab. We didn't find them before now because they were most likely buried in the silt below. I assume the wind that's moving the lake around caused enough change in the currents to uncover the casings. Any luck on your end?" "No," answered Ryan. "the shore is clean of any evidence. If there was something we overlooked, the winds removed any trace of it." Ryan walked over to the evidence that Eric and his crew had collected. He picked up a couple of the bags, looking at the casings. "They definitely look like they fit our gun. However, some of these casings are too small for the caliber of the gun at the lab." "It's possible that they did belong to a second gun that we did not find, but we won't know until Calleigh takes a look at them." Responded Eric.

Calleigh. Eric mentioning her name made Ryan think back to the meeting Eric, Calleigh and himself had this morning with Horatio. He couldn't figure out why she was looking at him so intently when he was talking. Calleigh always stuck to detail and let nothing pass her by, but he felt a little uneasy trying to explain the readings to Horatio and noticing out of the corner of his eye her staring at him. Come to think of it, she had been paying attention to him much more stronger than usual lately. Ryan couldn't figure out why. He thought maybe he was not paying to detail enough on the job and Calleigh took it upon herself to watch him more closely. Although he liked getting attention…well, any attention from a woman like Calleigh, he felt somewhat annoyed that she might still not trust him to be a worthy replacement for Speedle

"Ryan?" Ryan broke out of his train of thought and turned around. Eric had walked over to where Ryan was looking at the evidence. "How about we call it a day and return to the lab?" Said Eric, who by now was out of his wetsuit and had packed his equipment away. "Sure." Replied Ryan, who was already putting the new evidence into a container to transport back to the lab. Eric and Ryan ended up in the same Hummer together on the way back and started talking about the usual "guy things". "I can't believe that the Heat missed the last shot in Saturday night's game!" Eric said, somewhat heated. "Didn't you enjoy seeing the game in person, anyway?" Asked Ryan, who turned from looking out the window to Eric. "Yeah. Cynthia and I had a great time." Answered Eric. "Cynthia wanted to know why you haven't returned any of her roommate's messages. I told her you were too busy at work with a case." "Thanks." Said Ryan, who started to look straight ahead. "I don't understand why don't you just call Sara back and tell her that you're not interested." Eric replied. Ryan looked back over at Eric. "It's not that easy, Eric. I appreciate the fact that you go out of your way to set me up with a blind date, but I just don't seem to feel anything for her." "C'mon," Eric said with a mischievous look at Ryan, "It's not like you go out with a girl and by the end of the first date, you're ready to marry her. Besides, it gives you a chance to get 'the Hook-Up'." Eric leaned over and gave Ryan a nudge in the ribs with his elbow.

"Uh, 'the Hook-Up' sounds great, but I'm not really into that on the first date." Ryan said in a slightly nervous voice. "What?" Eric replied, looking surprised. "I mean, I always don't go out on a date looking to score, but from what I heard from Cynthia, Sara thought you were cute enough to jump." Ryan swore he could feel himself sinking in the passenger seat after hearing that remark and thought of something that would change the direction the conversation was heading into. "It's just not that easy for me, Eric. I just get too nervous around girls sometimes. It didn't help that we went to a club and she wanted to dance and I didn't want to." "You don't know how to dance?" Asked Eric. Ryan straightened himself in his seat. "I know how to dance. I just prefer to slow dance. It's not intimate enough for me to stand 5 feet in front of someone and move like I'm having a seizure while a Drum and Bass groove gets pounded into my head." Eric laughed at Ryan's comment. "Ryan, I understand where you're coming from. But you have to be a little more lenient. Sara told Cynthia that the whole time on the dance floor, you were sweating like crazy. But you were standing still." "I just don't think Sara and I were a match." Explained Ryan. "She was nice, but she isn't what I'm looking for."

"Who are you looking for?" Eric asked, with a somewhat serious look on his face. "Someone who likes their dates to go on and on about how the Kennedy Shooting is scientifically possible with one bullet if the speed and angle is just right?" "Sara told Cynthia about that part of the date, huh?" Ryan said, in a low voice. "Yeah, Ryan…she did. You've got to stop talking about science when you're out on a date. It kills the mood." "But Eric, I just don't know what to talk about with a girl in a personal setting. I get too nervous and I end up talking about what I know." Ryan replied as he looked forward again. Eric looked back at Ryan. "Dude, just talk about anything. Leave work and work-related stories out of the equation. Sure, women like to know about what you do for a living, but they don't want to hear nothing but that for an whole evening. Especially stories about presidential assassinations. The only girl I know who likes to talk about guns and shootings all the time is Calleigh."

Calleigh. Again, she invaded Ryan's thoughts. He thought back again to the meeting they had before he and Eric went to the lake. How he wanted to stop talking and just look back at her. He always felt an attraction towards Calleigh since the first day they met. At first, he was put off by her behavior when he was working on her father's case, but he understood why she acted the way she did. He would catch himself from time to time looking at her when he should be concentrating on the task at hand. He wanted so badly to know what she was like outside of work. However, Ryan would never dare ask Calleigh about her personal life. He felt that one, it was none of his business asking a coworker about their life away from work and two, he knew he would have no chance of anyone like Calleigh even wanting to be involved with him outside of a work-related atmosphere. He never felt lucky when it came to women. He always grew up a nerd. He endured all the pain and teasing when it came to his image and lifestyle. It wasn't until he went to college that he made a conscious effort to fit in. He changed his eyewear to contacts and started to workout regularly which added muscle to his still wiry body. He couldn't help but still feel awkward because emotionally he forced himself not to feel any emotions at all. He wouldn't need a wall to hide his feelings from people when he had no feelings to begin with. It kept him from having the courage to ask women out or to even start a long-term relationship. Ryan figured if he never asked a girl out, he wouldn't get rejected. The only girl he was close to in college was his friend Christine. The fact that they were considered outsiders because of who they were made them close friends to this day. Ryan was comfortable around Christine because they both knew that there would be no relationship between them, other than platonic.

Ryan was sick of being alone. It got to the point where a couple of times he was going to say 'the hell with it' and straight out ask Calleigh if she wanted to go out on a date with him. If she was with somebody, or said no, at least he could feel good about himself for at least asking. But, as usual, he would chicken out or let his over-analyzing judgment get the best of him. Still, his curiosity of Calleigh was getting to him and he figured it wouldn't hurt if he asked Eric a question. "Eric?" "Yes, Ryan?" Answered Eric. "Did you look at Calleigh this morning when I was talking to H.?" "No," said Eric. "I was looking at paperwork when you were talking. Why? Was there something wrong?" "No. I was just wondering about something. It's not important. Never mind." Ryan replied as the Hummer pulled into headquarters. The two of them got out and disappeared inside the building.

to be continued…