A/N: Okay. I apologize. I am late. I was supposed to have this story DONE last night, but then my computer broke, and I was at the theatre, and I was sick this morning, anyways, I am doing NOTHING all thanksgiving weekend. Well that's a lie. I have to go to a dinner, and this drama thing tomorrow morning, and church, but other than that, NOTHING. So I shall be updating often, on this three-day weekend. Here we go. This chapter's elements were: car accident (not serious), black leather, blue eye shadow and ballroom dancing. And I wrote it in history class hah. Yes. History class is good for that.
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"Eric!" She called, running quickly to where he was shutting the truck.
"Yeah?" He turned around.
"Lab. Now." She demanded, rushing to get into the car. He hurriedly followed her, and started the engine. "Horatio just called, I answered and there was a gunshot." She explained.
"Are you sure?" Eric asked, and upon seeing the look on her face, said, "Right."
"Of course I'm sure." She rolled her eyes. "Now drive." And he did. Quickly they figured the shortest route through the city, the siren in the hummer blaring. They were, after all, chasing a murder. Or maybe a case of self-defence; or possibly an accident?
"So Horatio called you and all that you heard was a gun shot?" Eric asked, for confirmation, and also to break the tense silence.
"Yes… but Eric! Look out!" He swerved to avoid the car but it was no use. The hummer was sent spinning and swerving across the road. Luckily it managed to not turn all the way over when it stopped.
"Calleigh!" Eric shouted, after he regained his composure, and his breath. Uncaring of the fact that he might have had serious injuries himself, he got out of the car and ran around it to open Calleigh's door. "Are you okay? Talk to me!" He pleaded, taking her hand in his. After a moment of intense silence, she opened her eyes and mumbled incoherently. "Are you okay?" He repeated, quieter this time.
"I'm fine." She told him, catching her breath and quickly regaining control of her thoughts as she began to pull herself upwards. Eric put a hand on her arm gently to prevent her from doing so. "Eric! Let me up!" She nearly hissed at him.
"You might be hurt. You need to get checked out." He told her.
"You got out. You didn't have to wait around to get checked out. I don't either. I'm not glass Eric." She told him angrily.
"You're right. I'm sorry." He apologized, realizing although he was acting out of love and following his protective instinct, he wasn't being fair to Calleigh, who was all about being equal. "But since I hear sirens approaching, I assume someone from the gathering up there," He gestured to the group of people gathering a bit away on the edge of the road who were staring intently and gossiping already about the hummer which was now lying on it's side. "So let me help you out of the vehicle." She accepted the strong hand he offered and he helped hoist her out of the hummer. Sure enough, as soon as she was standing on her own, two ambulances and a few police cars pulled up at the edge of the road.
"Wonderful." She muttered under her breath. "I'm sorry. I'm just…" Calleigh trailed off.
"Well we were just in a car accident." Eric shrugged.
"It wasn't an accident." She told him. "The car deliberately smacked into the back of us. Well, I suppose it was partly your fault, because you were looking at me, and not the road… but that wouldn't have prevented it since the car came from behind." Before Eric had time to apologize or say anything, an officer approached.
"Ma'am, sir, are you all right?" He asked.
"CSI's Delko and Duquesne." Eric informed the officer.
"Oh. Okay. Well, is it okay if the paramedics check you guys out?" He asked, but more or less stated.
"We're fine." Calleigh argued. She didn't want to waste time talking to this officer when Horatio could be in trouble.
"It'll only take a few minutes." The officer assured them.
"Like I've never told someone that before." Calleigh shot him a look that made him back up slightly.
"We have a possible murder scene to secure." Eric continued arguing with the officer as Calleigh found her phone, which despite having been scratched up quite a bit, miraculously still worked. Dialling Horatio's number, she prayed he'd pick up.
"Horatio," He answered, coolly as ever.
"Horatio, what's going on? You call me, and all I hear is a gunshot, and you don't call back? What was that about?" She demanded.
"Calleigh, my phone was taken during the fire drill. I can't find it anywhere." He told her.
"But you didn't find anything suspicious? And why didn't you have your phone on you?" She asked.
"I was test firing in the range. I had a possible lead on a case, and well, you were out, so I was test firing my own guns. I, like you, always take my phone off when I'm in the range." He explained.
"Oh. And you haven't located it yet?" Calleigh asked.
"Tyler's working on it." Horatio answered.
"Is Ryan with you? I still haven't talked to him." Calleigh asked another question, and Horatio was beginning to worry.
"Have you called him?"
"No." Calleigh mentally beat herself up for asking such a stupid question.
"Calleigh, what's wrong?" Horatio asked.
"Nothing… Eric and I just got in a little accident…" She trailed off, or rather, was cut off.
"An accident? As in car accident? Where?" Horatio was already on his way out of the lab.
"Horatio…" Calleigh started.
"Where are you?" Horatio repeated. "I'll call Eric, and he'll tell me, so you might as well." Calleigh gave him the location reluctantly. Every time she had an argument like this with Horatio, she felt like she was arguing with her father. "I'll be there soon." Calleigh though about warning him that it wasn't safe. She and Eric were run off the road, and Ryan seemed to be unreachable at the moment. She was beginning to worry about him. It seemed as if someone was out to get them that day. Whether it was simply karma, or a group of people… she wasn't quite sure though the former did seem much more appealing.
"Cal, we've got to get checked by the paramedics." Eric told her, putting a hand on her arm, and guiding her to where the ambulances were waiting.
"Fine." She sighed, resolving to let the paramedics look at her now that she knew that Horatio was fine and realized that she wouldn't be able to anything at all until she got checked out.
"Hello ma'am, if you could just sit right here…" The paramedic continued to give her instructions that she blankly followed.
"Calleigh," She heard from behind her. Ignoring the paramedic's protests, she got up and turned around, recognizing Horatio's voice.
"Horatio." She greeted him, not bothering to inquire as to how he got there so quickly.
"We're fine." She assured him, glancing over at Eric who was arguing with a paramedic where the other ambulance was parked. "It's Ryan I'm worried about."
"There's no answer on his cell." Horatio informed her grimly. But Horatio was always grim, she supposed. But she was worried about Ryan nonetheless. He was sort of like her little brother, and she was the one who had taught him much of what he knew at CSI. She felt responsible for him still, in a way even though he, along with the rest of the males on their CSI team felt the dire need to protect her wherever and whenever. "You two are lucky. From the looks of the hummer, I'd assume you wouldn't be walking around quite yet." Horatio commented.
"It's a good thing we were wearing our seatbelts." Calleigh joked meekly. "I'm sorry about the hummer."
"No worries. It's you and Eric I'm worried about. Hummers are replaceable." Horatio informed her. "I'm sure someone will be around to see to the insurance on the vehicle. We'll have a new one before you even know it. Right now you should get checked out."
"I was checked out all ready. Right now, I'm worrying about Ryan." Calleigh told him. She began walking towards where Eric was getting quickly frustrated with the paramedic who was trying to fuss over a cut on his hand.
"It's just a little cut." She heard him protest. Quickly reaching the gurney where he was perched, she smiled sympathetically at the paramedic who looked like she was at her wits end with Eric.
"Here," Calleigh offered, taking the gauze and anti-bacterial cream the woman was trying to get Eric to stay still long enough to apply. "Let me try." Turning to Eric, she rolled her eyes. "You're such a baby. I got checked out already." Eric looked over to the other ambulance where the obviously perturbed paramedic was glaring at Calleigh.
"Sure you did." He smirked.
"I did!" She insisted. "Besides, I didn't have any cuts."
"Lucky." Eric stuck his tongue out at her.
"Baby." She cooed, making fun of him. He just smiled at her. "See? All done." He glanced down at his hand and realized that while they were bantering back and forth, she had applied the cream and gauze to his hand.
"Thanks." He sort of smiled at her. "When did Horatio get here?"
"As soon as I called him. I wanted to make sure nothing was up, you know, with the gunshot and all, and his phone got stolen. As did Ryan apparently." She joked, "He's seemed to have disappeared."
"Let's hope he didn't, and is just… cleaning something… somewhere." Eric couldn't think of a legitimate reason why their workaholic colleague would suddenly go missing from work, when he was actually supposed to be working.
"As likely as it is that Ryan is cleaning something… not on work time, unless he was at the lab." Calleigh reasoned.
"Yeah." Eric sighed. "Well we'll keep calling him."
"That might not be possible." Horatio approached the pair. "Glad to see you're okay Eric." He added.
"Thanks H." Eric nodded. "Now what were you saying about Ryan?"
"Valera just found his phone in the locker room on the floor." Horatio told them.
"Ryan would never leave anything of his on the floor." Eric tried to make fun of his friend, but it was true and making the situation seem worse and worse.
"Well, we'd better get back to CSI and start doing… something." Calleigh suggested.
"Yeah." Horatio and Eric both nodded in agreement, and headed to Horatio's hummer since theirs well, was just in an accident. The ride back to the lab was silent, and rather tense. They had all had rough days, with the faux fire drill, the car accident, and now Ryan's mysterious absence. Everyone just wanted the day to end, though they sense that would not be happening any time soon. Arriving back at the lab, everything appeared to be running as normal as ever with the exception of Valera, who knew that something was off after finding Ryan's phone.
"Horatio," They heard a panicked voice from behind them. Turning around, they noticed Gloria the receptionist, pointing to a package, which lay untouched on the counter. "It came a few minutes ago. A man, a very suspicious looking man, came in, set this down, and said it was 'regarding Ryan Wolfe', as it reads on the envelope." All three CSIs quickly headed over to the desk. Horatio quickly got gloves from the layout room, and they took the envelope with them.
We have CSI Ryan Wolfe. Bring 10 000 dollars to Club Petal by 10:00 tonight. No one that isn't in the room now knows about this. Or he dies. Bring the money to the bar and there will be a man wearing black jeans and a yellow shirt. You give him the money, and Wolfe will appear.
"Oh gawd." Calleigh groaned. "Firstly, how are we going to come up with ten grand by tonight, and how are we going to pull off a drop off without the police knowing?"
"Eric, you called Detective Tripp already, right?" Horatio asked, and Eric nodded confirmation.
"He's here now." Horatio stated. And they knew why. If Tripp was already with them, at least someone in the police department could be included on their little mission to save Ryan. "And I've got a plan."
"You have a plan?" Calleigh asked dubiously.
"I do." Horatio nodded. Naturally, Frank walked into the room at that moment and Horatio began to explain how the rest of the night would unfold.
An hour later, the plan was in motion. Soon after the discussion in the layout room everyone headed back to their own places to prepare. The plan was that Eric and Calleigh were going to dress up like normal club goers, and pretend they were not affiliated with the crime lab, at that point and time anyhow. To everyone but the four knowledgeable on the current case, Calleigh and Eric were not in the lab at the time that Horatio and Frank found the envelope. Horatio and Frank, on the other hand, were dressing as low key as possible; as if they were trying to fool people into thinking they weren't cops when it was blatantly obvious that they did not fit into the clubbing scene. They were too old, and not dressed in the typical clubbing manner of Club Petal. Now, since they had all had adequate time to prepare, Eric was on his way to Calleigh's condominium building to pick her up. He drove quickly towards Calleigh's because per normal, he was late. Luckily, he wasn't driving a vehicle that screamed: Miami Dade PD, and he had only come from his house, so he was not run off the road this time. Pulling up safely in front of Calleigh's building, he rang himself in and was knocking on her door in no time.
"Hey." Calleigh pulled the door open, then briskly walked back to her room where she was not quite finished getting ready. She had only had an hour, and including a shower, that didn't leave her much time to put together an outfit with hair and makeup and all the other necessities. Men, she had come to realize, did not appreciate or understand the art of appearance preparation which was probably why there were so few good looking ones around these days.
"Hey." Eric called back. He hadn't seen what she was wearing, though the anticipation was high. Was his mind playing tricks on him, or had he seen a glimpse of black leather somewhere on that outfit?
"I'll be ready within five to ten minutes." She informed him. He settled in on the couch, and surveyed her condo. Though they were friends, and dropped by to each other's apartments occasionally, it seemed every time he was here she had changed something around. He loved her condo, probably because it just screamed of her. Looking around, he noticed many things that made him chuckle simply because they were so Calleigh. Not only was he anticipating her outfit, but also the night in general. He couldn't believe how relaxed Horatio was about the whole situation. A CSIs life was in jeopardy, and so he sent Calleigh and Eric to play couple at a dance club? Not a move Eric would have seen coming from his boss, but the man was his boss, hence the reason he was following these crazy instructions. Horatio always knew what he was doing. Hopefully that didn't change now. Calleigh, while Eric was leisurely sitting in her living room, was busy putting final touches on herself for the night. She would argue that she needed to look good, since they were supposed to be 'normal club goers' and what kind of woman went to a club looking not her best? She'd never heard of it. But besides that fact, she realized that this was a perfect chance to impress Eric. Images and premonitions of the night to come filled her head. Would they dance? And more importantly, would Ryan be all right? That's what worried her most. But Horatio hadn't let them down yet. She had confidence that he wouldn't start now. She was almost ready to go when she decided to change her barley noticeable makeup to something darker; something bolder, for the night. Quickly pulling her makeup bag, she grabbed black eyeliner, mascara, blue eye shadow and a darker shade of lipstick than she had on already. After applying each item with much care, and giving her hair, which was partly pinned up but mostly hanging straight down her back a once over, she decided she was ready for the night. "Okay. I'm ready to go."
"Great." Eric got off the couch where he had seated himself a few minutes previously to make himself more comfortable while getting lost in thought, and moved to the door, the anticipation higher than ever. Calleigh kept the excitement off her face as she moved from her bedroom, collecting her purse, which she had packed as soon as she got home, and heading for the door. It was even harder to keep a straight face when she saw the look on Eric's upon seeing her. Deciding that she was going to be bolder than usual that evening, she spun around.
"What do you think?" She smirked. Eric was at a loss for words. He had indeed been correct in his guess that part of her outfit had included black leather. More than part of it really; the whole top half. At least that's what it looked like to him. How anyone even managed to get any sort of fabric etched that tightly over curves that perfect was a mystery to him. All he knew was that it look good. Very good. And the tight dark jeans she had added to the outfit made him wonder why she was a scientist and not a model. Her hair and makeup only added the final touch on a perfect outfit. A perfect girl. That's when he realized she was still waiting for an answer.
"Well, uh…" He mumbled, still at a loss for words. "It's not something you would wear… ballroom dancing." Ballroom dancing? He chided himself. How much more stupid could he get?
"It's a good thing we're not going ballroom dancing then, isn't it?" Calleigh giggled, uncharacteristically.
"You look wonderful." He finally regained composure.
"Thank you." She smiled. "You do too." She answered honestly. His own jeans were rather well fitting, as was his button up t-shirt that was slightly undone revealing his dark, cream coloured chest below. In fact, neither of them could wait to get to the club so they could be closer to one another, so it was a mystery as to why they were still standing, and nearly gawking at each other.
"Should we go?" Eric suggested.
"We should go." Calleigh nodded, "Because Horatio's waiting… and Ryan needs us."
"Yeah." Eric nodded, opening the door. It was going to be a long night.
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A/N: OBVIOUSLY a little OOC haha. They wouldn't be spending all that time when Ryan was missing, but that's okay. It's all for the sake of my story, right? And this is what happens when I am only allowed three chapters. You get triple times the length in one chapter, because I can't write things compactly. It's not a skill I have hah. Review, please? Cute smiley face!
