A/N: Mature scene ahead.
CHAPTER 4
Calleigh awoke to the alarm buzzer going off. Groggily, she reached up and hit the snooze button. She rolled over to put her arms around Ryan, only to discover that he wasn't in bed. "That's unusual," she thought to herself, because Ryan would always sleep through her alarm and not get up until his went off 30 minutes later. As she sat up in bed, she could hear the water running in the bathroom. Realizing that he was taking a shower, Calleigh got up and walked toward the bathroom, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She opened the door. Despite taking a shower last night, Calleigh decided to join Ryan in his. She took off her t-shirt and panties and quietly entered the bathtub. Ryan's back was to her, oblivious to her being behind him as he bathed. She gently wrapped her arms around his waist, causing him to jump.
"Ahh!" Ryan turned around to face Calleigh. "Calleigh, you scared me. I didn't even know you were here."
"I'm sorry. I was concerned when I woke up and you weren't next to me."
"I couldn't sleep. I felt bad about what happened last night."
Calleigh lowered her head. "I'm sorry about that, Ryan. I shouldn't have snapped at you."
Ryan reached up and lifted her head so her eyes would meet his. "I'm the one who should apologize. I shouldn't be asking questions about your personal life that is none of my business."
"Thank you." Calleigh answered. She wanted to explain to him what she went through, but she couldn't bring herself to. Not yet. "I want to tell you, but I-"
Ryan placed a finger over her mouth, silencing her. "It's ok. When you feel that it's time to talk about it, we can." He leaned down to kiss her.
She kissed back, warmly. Then she started to kiss him passionately. As she placed one hand on the back of his neck to draw him closer to her, she reached down with her other hand and started stroking his penis. Ryan broke away from their kiss. "Oh…" He started breathing heavily from her touch. Calleigh continued to stroke him. She then slowly knelt down in front of him and ran her tongue gently up his shaft, stopping to kiss the head of his penis. She then took him into her mouth, feeling his body thrust toward her as she moved her head back and forth. Ryan's breathing became shallow and uneven. "Calleigh…" he hissed through gritted teeth as he lowered his hands down and ran his fingers through her hair. Calleigh could feel him tensing up; she knew he was about to come. She stroked him with her mouth faster. Ryan let out a heavy groan as he climaxed, releasing himself inside of her. He suddenly leaned against the wall of the shower, completely exhausted. Calleigh stood up and washed herself under the stream of water before turning her attention back to Ryan.
"You didn't have to do that." He said, quietly.
"I wanted to." Calleigh reached for the soap and started to lather up. "We better hurry. We don't want to be late for work."
They got out of the shower and ate breakfast before heading into work. As they walked in, they passed Stetler who stared at them as he went by, with Lt. Bowman walking behind him with a sullen look on his face. Understandably, everyone was in a down mood over the deaths of Hagen and Fuchs the night before and the place was eerily more quiet than usual. As they approached the labs, they spotted Valera walking out of trace.
"Maxine!" Calleigh said, causing Valera to stop and turn around.
"Hey, you two."
Ryan noticed that Valera was wearing her lab coat. "They let you back on?"
Valera nodded. "I'm still on probation, but given that we're short half of the night team, Stetler put me back on to help out. I'd rather be back under happier circumstances, though."
Eric came around the corner and saw the three of them talking. "Good. I got all three of you together. H. wants to speak to us in his office."
They all went back upstairs and into Horatio's office. Alexx was already there, sitting in a chair and talking to Horatio. He stood up from his chair when he saw the rest of the team come in.
"Thanks, Eric." He motioned to Ryan, who was the last inside, to shut the door behind him.
"As you may well know by now, Valera has been reinstated to help out the department. She will be working with us for a few days and then transfer to the night shift. Good to have you back with us." Horatio looked at Valera.
"Thank you." She replied.
Horatio continued. "There will be a memorial service for both Hagen and Fuchs today at 6 in the auditorium. Funeral services for both will be known by tomorrow. As usual, if you need to speak to a counselor, please go and do so."
The team discussed about cases for the day before leaving Horatio's office. Calleigh went on ahead down to ballistics, while Eric and Ryan stood outside of Horatio's office and watched Valera also go back downstairs.
"It's nice to have her back." Ryan said to Eric as they started to walk.
"It sure is. I missed having her sarcasm around. I could always depend on her or Speed to make light of a heavy situation." Eric opened the door to the breakroom and went inside. Ryan followed him in.
Eric poured himself a cup of coffee. "I swore to myself that I would stop drinking this shit. You want a cup?"
"No thanks. Calleigh and I stopped at a Starbucks on the way in."
Eric turned around and faced Ryan. "How is she holding up?"
Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I guess. She keeps some things to herself and I've learned not to ask."
"Good move. If Cal wants you to know something personal about her, she'll tell you. Don't even bother to push it if she won't answer. I made that mistake once."
"What happened?" Ryan was curious.
"It was about two years ago. Speed, Cal and I went out for some drinks. After Speed bet that he could out drink me and then lost the bet, he had the brilliant idea to have the three of us play a round of '20 questions'. And then he made me go first by asking Calleigh a question."
"Uh-oh." Ryan muttered.
"Yeah. I was hammered. I was surprised that I could still speak coherently. Apparently, I asked Calleigh something along the lines if Hagen was a better lover than a coworker. And the way I asked it was a little graphic, from what Speed told me later. I didn't mean to ask it like that; it just came out that way. She got up and stormed out of the bar. It took me a week of apologizing profusely before she forgave me.
"Um…" Ryan felt a little uneasy listening about Calleigh with John. His reaction did not go unnoticed to Eric.
"Hey, Ryan…I better get back to work. See you later." Eric patted Ryan's shoulder as he left the breakroom.
Ryan stood there alone for the moment. "Me too, I guess." He turned and walked out.
-A few days later-
The team and the majority of the police force were present at Fuchs' funeral. There would be no public funeral for Hagen; his mother requested that her son's body be delivered back to his home state of Ohio for a private family burial. Calleigh felt her heart sink in her chest watching Fuchs' wife sob uncontrollably as she accepted the flag from the officer. Calleigh looked down at Fuchs' children who were too young to understand quite fully at what was going on. She felt bad knowing that his children would never have their father around ever again. She also felt bad that she wouldn't be able to attend Hagen's funeral, at least to pay final respects and have some sense of closure. She went as far as to talk to Hagen's mother and ask if she could come, but his mother refused her request. She wanted the burial to be private. Ryan placing his hand on her shoulder broke Calleigh's thoughts. She looked up at him.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"I'm fine." She let out a small smile as she took his hand into hers and squeezed it lightly. "At least I will be." She said to herself. She was glad that Ryan was around. She would have fallen apart if he weren't there to hold her together. She listened to the rifles go off and wondered if things would ever return to normal. Calleigh felt that if she were to heal completely, she would have to tell Ryan about what happened between Hagen and herself. Maybe soon.
The funeral ended and Calleigh and Ryan made their way over to Fuchs' widow to give their condolences. The two of them then headed back to work with the rest of the team. Things would slowly get back to normal around headquarters, but for Calleigh and Ryan, getting back to normal was still a long ways away.
to be continued…