Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of CSI: Miami. Unfortunately. Am just borrowing and they will be returned undamaged and in their original packaging.
Trouble On The Horizon
'Get me a sick bag,' Eric said.
'That's not very nice,' Calleigh said.
'You have no romance in your soul,' Alexx observed.
'I have plenty of romance in my soul, just very little slush.'
'I'd have to agree with that,' Calleigh said.
The three of them were stood in a row, peering into a window of the DNA lab.
'I think it's very sweet,' Alexx replied.
'It's sickening, is what it is,' Eric said morosely.
'You're just jealous,' Calleigh said.
'Of what?' Eric asked. 'He's just standing there.'
'Making big puppy dog eyes,' Alexx said. 'Give him some credit, the walls in this place are made of glass.'
'True,' Calleigh said. 'At least things seem to be going well.'
'For whom?'
The three of them all jumped together and turned around guiltily.
Horatio raised his eyebrow quizzically and looked past them into the lab. He smiled and said, 'No need to answer that. Work, please, team.'
Everyone grinned at him and hurried away.
'Go, Ryan,' Valera said, almost pushing him out of the door. 'If you keep hanging around here instead of working, Horatio is not going to be happy.'
'Okay, okay.' He didn't move.
She rolled her eyes, looking around to make sure no one was watching and kissed him quickly. 'Now go!'
This time he went, giving her a smile over his shoulder and almost walked straight into Horatio who simply said mildly, 'Look where you're going, Wolfe,' and walked past.
Valera looked up as Horatio came in. 'Hi,' she said. 'I've almost finished the samples you gave me.'
'That's not what I'm here for.' He lent against the doorframe. 'There's a man here to see you.'
Her smile faded. 'Who?'
'He didn't give a name, said he was a friend of yours.' He paused. 'Boyfriend.'
'Ex-boyfriend,' she said, sighing. 'I'm sorry, Horatio, I'll get rid of him.'
Horatio nodded and left.
She went along to the reception and saw Luke sat there, patiently waiting for her. She gritted her teeth and went over. 'Why are you coming to here?' she asked. 'I work here. I have a tough enough job without you making trouble.'
'I want to talk to you,' he said.
'I don't want to talk to you,' she said in a low voice, leading him away from the reception and stood in a corner where they would be hidden from most people who walked past.
'But I wanted to see you,' he said, trying to take her hand. She pulled it back. 'I want to make it up to you.'
'Make what up?'
'Whatever I did to make you want to break up with me,' he said earnestly.
She closed her eyes and snapped, 'You didn't do anything.' A lie, but easier than telling him the truth. 'It's just that I don't want to see you anymore.'
'Why?'
She could have sworn he was almost crying. 'I didn't feel we were going anywhere,' she said, the old lies and clichés falling out of her mouth. 'I liked you but I don't love you. Okay? I'm sorry, but you really need to move on.'
'I don't want to move on. I want you.'
'We can't always have what we want,' she said harshly.
The lift doors opened. Eric and Ryan stepped out, talking animatedly about something.
'I think she was coming onto you,' Eric was saying.
'I think it was highly inappropriate timing,' Ryan pointed out. 'Come on, an interview room is not the best of places to try and chat someone up.'
'True,' Eric agreed. Neither of them saw Valera or Luke. 'But she was hot. If she wasn't involved in a case, would you go for her?'
'Nope,' Ryan said decidedly. 'Not interested. She's a liar, too.'
'Let's get back to proving that, then,' Eric suggested. The two men left the building.
'Friends of yours?' Luke said, watching them go.
'Colleagues,' she said shortly. 'I work with them. I don't want people knowing about my private life. Go away, Luke, and just leave me alone.' She pushed him away and headed back up to her lab.
Although Luke's visit marred her day, by the time she left, Valera was in a much better mood. Ryan had also finished late so they went out for a quick drink together. He had to go and meet his sister because they were going out for dinner with some family, but he had time to have a drink and talk with her.
It was a pleasant couple of hours. They left together and stood outside for a while, waiting for Ryan's sister to arrive to drive him to the place for dinner.
'She's late,' he commented, looking down the road. Maxine took hold of his hands and said, 'Good. Means we have time for a goodbye kiss.'
He considered this and nodded. 'Yeah, I guess we do.' He bent his head and kissed her.
A car pulled up, beeping the horn impatiently. They jumped apart and Ryan made a rude gesture at the driver when he saw it was his sister, Sandra. She grinned at them both and made an impatient gesture for him to hurry up. He kissed Valera again and then got into the car.
Luke waited for Valera to leave work. He wanted to talk to her, but when he saw that she was leaving with a young man with dark hair, he decided to follow her instead and speak to her when she was alone.
For a moment he thought that she was just going for a drink with a colleague, not happy about it but he could cope with it. He followed Maxine's car in his car, and parked across the road from where she had parked. He watched them get out of her car, saw the man put an arm around her in a way that was definitely more than just friendly, and saw the way she lent in against him. They went into the bar and didn't come out for a couple of hours. But Luke was patient and he did wait. They came out eventually, laughing together. The man looked at his watch, down the road and made some clearly impatient comment. Maxine took his hands and kissed him.
Luke could have leapt out of the car and attacked them both. He was furious, absolutely fuming and was so angry that he simply couldn't move.
She had lied. The night she had broken up with him she had said there wasn't anyone else, that she just hadn't been happy with him. Now he knew. She had been seeing someone else, she had dumped him for someone else.
A car drew up. The man got in, was driven away.
Maxine watched the car drive away, and then she looked around and saw him. A flash of anger crossed her face and she turned around and walked away.
He got out of the car and ran after her. 'Maxine! Maxine!'
Valera stopped, turned and treated Luke to a furious glare. 'What do you want?' she demanded angrily.
He stopped. 'You lied to me.'
'Why are you following me?'
'Why did you lie to me?' He gestured down the road. 'You're seeing him, aren't you? You told me you weren't, earlier today. When you broke up with me you told there wasn't anyone else. You lied.'
'Luke, just leave me alone.'
'You're seeing him.' She began to walk towards her car and he followed her. 'So you did dump me for someone else. Who is he? Are you in love with him?'
'I don't see how my private life is anything to do with you anymore.'
'Were you seeing him before? Did you cheat on me?'
'I broke up with you as soon as I realised I liked him,' she said finally. 'I didn't want to hurt you.'
'So you did cheat on me.' He grabbed her arm. 'What did you do? Did you sleep with him before you called it off with me? Did you?'
She yanked her arm away, furious. 'How dare you? You think I'd treat anyone like that? I broke up with you before – anything happened.' She ignored the fact that she had kissed Ryan before breaking up with Luke; she didn't think it would be a good idea to mention that. 'Not that it is anything to do with you anymore.'
'How could you?' he said. 'I love you – I love you and you treat me like this? What did I ever do to you?'
She bit her lip hard to stop herself telling him exactly what she thought of him. She simply shook her head and carried on walking.
'Please, Maxine,' he begged. 'Don't leave me – I love you - I want you back – '
She reached her car, unlocked it. 'Nothing will persuade me to get back with you, Luke,' she said bluntly. 'We are over. I am not going to take you back. I've met someone who is better than you in every way. Now get lost. I never want to see you or hear from you again.'
He grabbed her arm, stopping her from getting into her car. 'You're making a very big mistake,' he snarled, leaning in close to her. 'Understand, Maxine? You cheated on me, you dumped me for another man. No one does that to me. No one.'
'Our relationship was over long before any of this,' she told him coldly. 'Long before.'
'You're lying.'
'No. I'm not. Now leave me alone.' She made to open her car door; he slammed his hand down on it and stopped her from opening it.
'You don't ignore me, Maxine.' His smile was gruesome. 'Not if you don't want anything to – happen – to your new friend.'
'What?'
'I can make him very sorry he ever took you from me.'
'Is that a threat?' she snapped.
'If you want it to be.'
'Well,' she said sharply, 'it hasn't worked. Because it'll be someone else in a while, I expect. I'm not looking for relationships, Luke. I want some fun. Something I didn't really get with you. This isn't about him, because he's just someone I'm having a bit of fun, a good time, with. End of story.' She was lying through her teeth, hoping he would believe her.
He laughed in her face. 'You serious? I can tell you think he's something special, so lying to me isn't going to work. He's going to be sorry he stole you from me. And so are you.'
'No, I'm sorry I ever met you.'
His smile vanished. 'You'll come back to me in the end. You know you will.'
'No. I won't.' She hesitated. 'But there's no point in hurting him. He's nothing, no one important. And you won't get me back, ever. It's not about him, it's about you and how I don't want to be with you, ever, so leave him out of it.'
'You're desperate to protect him, aren't you?' Luke hissed. 'Why? Are you in love with him? Why's he so special, Maxine?'
She shoved him aside and got into the car, refusing to speak to him even as he swore at her and hurled abuse at her and drove away, not daring to tell him exactly what she was thinking.
Because he isn't you, because he's so totally different to you.
