After 20 minutes of not getting any work done, Natalia decided to take a bit of a walk to get some fresh air. As she walked past AV, she felt her stomach do another flip and she had to stop just shy of the door, her hand covering her mouth. Thankful it was quiet, she opened the door and was surprised to see Cooper seated behind the computer.
"Hey Cooper, I thought today was your day off." She interrogated, an eyebrow raised as she kept a hand on her stomach.
"Helping Delko with a case." He announced, gesturing to the computer screen.
"Oh," Her hopes went up sky-high. "Have you seen him?"
"He got a call and took off. Probably one of the chicks from the volleyball tournament." He said with a smile on his face.
Natalia did not return the smile. "What?" She was trying her hardest not to snap.
"Yeah, we were at the championships this morning, beach volleyball. Wall, to wall, thong." Cooper exclaimed gleefully.
"Really." Natalia felt as if she had been stabbed in the back with a flaming machete. They had both made the decision to not tell those who weren't meant to know at work about the relationship, but something in her was saying that Eric was having a bit too much fun keeping his cover.
"Yeah, Delko knew every girl there. I am talking Playa! I should definitely hang out with him more. Take some of his rejects." Cooper concluded almost wistfully, the smile not leaving his face. With an irritated scoff, Natalia turned on her heel and walked away, hearing him yell to her, "Hey, Boa-Vista, I'll let him know you were looking for him." Of all the employees at CSI, the Lab Techs from Days were the only ones who didn't know about Natalia and Eric's relationship and it seemed, in Natalia's mind, that Eric had forgotten who his girlfriend was. As she walked back towards DNA, she found Eric walking towards her with a smile on his face and opened arms. He did not see the irritated scowl on his girlfriend's face, and he did not notice the anger in her eyes.
"Hey, Natalia, I just got your message." He smiled, his arms going to his side. She walked right past him, uttering an irritated
"Sure, you did." Before she walked instead to the locker room. Eric did a double-take at Natalia's actions. Something had happened to piss her off, but what was it? He headed to the only lab with someone in it.
"What's with Boa Vista?" He asked, trying to not say her full name. He hadn't told her what he was doing on his morning off, but he had been doing a touch of shopping after the volleyball game fiasco.
"You got me." Cooper was just as confused at Natalia's interaction with him.
"She was just in here. Did you say anything to her?" He tried again. He had a feeling that the reason behind her anger was to do with the conversation she had just had with Cooper and he needed to get to the bottom of it before he tried any damage control.
"No…." Cooper said, immediately remembering what they were talking about and he bit his lip.
"What?" That was not unnoticed by Delko.
"We were talking about the tournament, about all the hot chicks, and how you had all their phone numbers…." He explained. Dan saw a flash of anger on Delko's face. No matter Natalia was pissed at him.
"You've got a big mouth." He said simply, fighting every urge to punch him in the face.
"What did I do?" Cooper asked, throwing a hand in the air in genuine confusion.
"You opened it!" Delko admitted, crossing his fingers that he would be able to try and calm Natalia down sooner rather than later.
A lightbulb went off in Cooper's head. "Oh, you and Boa-Vista are…" Now I get why she was so pissed. He's tapping her.
"Are none of your business." Eric concluded, getting his phone out and dialling a number. Cooper felt like a world class idiot.
"Dude, I didn't know. I'm sorry." He genuinely felt bad, and he wanted to do something to make up for it.
"You better be." Eric walked away, listening as he heard Natalia's phone ring out. With a sigh, he pocketed his phone and went back to fingerprints, hoping work would distract him.