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.
Confusion
Eric shoved a drink under Ryan's nose and said, 'Drink it.'
Ryan did so.
'Now talk.'
'What about?' Ryan asked moodily.
'Valera. What's going on? Why are you two not talking?'
'Why should you be bothered?'
'Because you two were getting on so well, to put it politely,' Eric said. 'Now you're not talking.'
Ryan just looked at him.
'Don't tell me you didn't guess none of us had noticed,' Eric said. 'We are criminalists.'
'No, I thought you probably did,' Ryan said. 'Well, you should considering it was you who put that note in Valera's locker. You probably worded it, too.'
'You knew about that?'
Ryan finally smiled. 'Eric. I'm a criminalist too. Afterwards I took the note to the lab and analysed it. Calleigh is very good at forging my handwriting, but she didn't get it quite right and it was enough for me to work out who wrote it. Plus, I lifted both of your fingerprints off of it.' He spun his empty glass. 'Next time, you should take longer and maybe use the computer equipment. And wear gloves.'
Eric laughed. 'We didn't have time and we thought Horatio might not be too happy about us using lab equipment for the Plan, as Alexx called it.'
'Did he know about it?'
'Officially, no. If we got found out, he didn't know anything. Alexx thought the whole thing up.'
'Thought she might have.'
'So, come on. Talk.'
'How are you and Ryan getting on?' Calleigh asked Valera as they shared drinks in the bar.
Valera didn't look up. 'We're not.'
'You want to talk about it?' Calleigh asked.
'No.'
Calleigh sipped her drink. 'He really does like you,' she said. 'I thought you liked him.'
'I did. I do.' Valera knocked her drink back and slammed it on the counter so hard Calleigh was surprised that it didn't break. 'Things are complicated.'
'One thing I've learnt, Valera, is that things are always complicated.' Calleigh waved at get the barman's attention; he came over and smiled at her. He was good-looking and clearly liked her. She shot him a quick smile but was more concerned about the miserable Valera. 'Same again,' she said to him. To Valera, she said, 'Let me ask you a question. Is he worth it?'
'Worth what?'
'Worth the complications. Worth the trouble.' Calleigh nodded thanks to the barman as he brought them their drinks.
'It's not that simple.'
'No,' Calleigh disagreed. 'It is that simple. Either he's worth it or he isn't.'
Valera didn't answer the question although she thought about it. 'I can't be with Ryan. I can't even consider it.'
'Why?'
'I don't want to talk about it.'
'Refusing to talk about it isn't going to make it go away.'
'Maybe it will,' Valera said, sulkily.
'No. It won't. Why can't you be with Ryan?'
Valera sighed. 'I have enough going on in my life without complicating things further with Ryan.'
'Explain, Valera. Please. I might be able to help.'
'I have a boyfriend,' Valera reminded her.
'You mean you had a boyfriend.'
She laughed angrily. 'He says he loves me. I might be in love with him. Ryan's nice, he's cute, to say the least, but I don't know if I'm willing to throw away what I've got with Luke.'
'That's a lie, isn't it?' Calleigh said sharply.
Valera didn't answer.
'You like Ryan. Everyone in the lab knows it. We've all been trying to get the two of you together for ages and once we finally succeed – '
'That was you?'
'Yes, and don't sound so surprised and that really isn't the point,' Calleigh said. She sounded annoyed, unusual for her. 'The point is you were dating an idiot who is nowhere near good enough for you and Ryan's been to hell and back in the past year. You both deserve something good happening to you. As soon as it does, you throw it away. And for what?'
'Something better.'
'You don't believe that and neither do I,' Calleigh said.
'You must have done something.'
'I didn't.' Ryan glared at his glass. 'Or if I have, she won't tell me.'
'Then you didn't do anything and something else has happened.'
'Wow, Eric, your powers of deduction are amazing.'
'There's no need to be sarcastic,' Eric said mildly. 'Look, do you really like her?'
'Eric – '
'Answer all the questions I'm going to ask as yes or not. Do you really like her?'
'Yes.'
'You're certain you haven't done anything to make her angry.'
'Yes.'
'And she hasn't said what's wrong.'
'No.'
'And you're totally crazy about her.'
'Eric – '
'Ryan, yes or no.'
'Yes.' Ryan scowled.
'Did you steal my flashlight?'
'What?'
'Someone stole the flashlight from my kit.'
'Eric, you're mad.'
'Yes or no.'
'Is this relevant?'
'Yes or no.'
'Eric, have I ever stolen anyone's flashlight? Ever? It's usually you who steals mine, remember?'
'Yeah…oh.'
Ryan lifted his eyes to the ceiling. 'It was my flashlight, wasn't it.'
Eric nodded sheepishly.
'Get me a new one tomorrow.'
'Okay.'
'Don't give me that,' Calleigh said firmly. 'I know you like him. Why is this guy better? What has Ryan done?'
'He just isn't right for me,' Valera said weakly.
Calleigh gave her a hard look. 'Why won't you just tell me the truth?'
'Because I am.'
'And you're still lying.'
'Maybe I am but, and I really don't mean any offence, Calleigh, but it isn't any of your business. It's my private business why I called it off with Ryan and I really don't want to talk about it. Let's just say that I have my reasons and I am not lying when I say that they are good ones.'
'I wish I could say I understand and I believe you,' Calleigh said quietly. 'But I can't.'
Valera shrugged.
'There's no way I can persuade you that I think you're making a mistake.'
'You can persuade me I've made a mistake, but you won't change my mind.'
'That you say I can persuade you that you've made a mistake worries me,' Calleigh said. 'Because you obviously know you've made one.'
'And it's my mistake to make.'
'No luck?' Calleigh said to Eric over the phone later that night.
'None,' he said, sighing. 'Ryan really doesn't have any idea what he's done wrong.'
'Did you try to persuade him to try and talk to her?'
'Eventually. He refused. He says she doesn't want to talk to him and he won't push it. What about her?'
'Her reasons were stupid,' she said and filled him in on what had happened. 'And,' she finished, 'something weird happened.'
'What was that?'
'Well, after she said it was her mistake to make, we changed the subject and started talking about something else.'
'And?'
'And when she left to use the bathroom I stayed to look after our bags. There was man watching us, tall and blond. He was watching her and he spoke to her. She didn't look happy to see him and straight after she'd spoken to him, she decided to leave and go home.'
'Why is that weird?'
'Call it the criminalist intuition.'
'Fair enough. Are we going to do anything else about this?'
'I don't see what we can do. I say we leave it, try to cheer them both up and leave them to work it out for themselves. As Valera was so kind to point out, it's none of our business. I think she was a bit annoyed, although I'm not sure if she was annoyed at me or herself.'
'Ryan was definitely annoyed at me,' Eric said absently.
'Why?'
'I stole his flashlight from his crime scene kit.'
Calleigh paused. 'What? Never mind, let me guess. You borrowed it off of him and someone borrowed it off of you. Although why you felt it appropriate to bring it up is beyond me.'
'Pretty much, and I brought it up because I wanted to know if it was him who stole it and now I owe him a flashlight.'
She smiled. 'See you tomorrow, Eric.'
'Bye.'
