Perched at the table at her and Calleigh's typical Friday Night spot in Marino's Pub, Christa takes a drink from her glass just as the chime of her phone goes off, alerting her to a text message. Opening the text from Calleigh, she can't help but sigh when she reads it.

'John is back. I can't make it out tonight. I think he's going to show up there. Sorry. I owe you~C'

"Stood up on a Friday night. Yea, sounds about right." Taking another drink from her beer, not even 5 minutes pass before the all too familiar face of John Hagen comes into her view. Groaning softly and an attempt to duck her head from being seen fails, as he soon finds himself at her table.

"Christa, how's it going?"

Taking a large sip of her beer, nothing she can o about avoiding him now. "John. Been a while."

"Yea," nodding his head, the nervousness rolls off of the older cop like a user looking for a next fix.

Unable to sit back and watch the unfolding scene longer than possible, Christa looks up at the man."She's not coming John."

"Who?"

"You and I both know who. Calleigh isn't coming John. She cancelled."

His face falls for a moment before he shrugs it off like it was no big deal, "Oh. I-uh-I wasn't looking for her if that's what you meant."

Light blue hold his challenging his statement, "I'm not dumb. You know this has been Calleigh and mine's typical Friday Night for the past 3 years. Please, John. I'm not one of your perps on the street."

"Did she tell you why she wasn't coming?"

"Had better things to do I'm sure then be stalked by an ex."

"I'm not stalking her."

"Then what are you doing here exactly?" When he looks away, her head cocks to the side as if to say 'see?' Clearing her throat, she lays down money to pay for her beer before getting up, "I'm out. Have a nice night."

"Wait," his fingers roughly grab at her arm, jolting her to a stop, pulling her closer to him. "Christa, I just-"

"If you don't remove your hand, you are not going to like the consequences Hagen. Let go. Now." His hand drops away slowly from her arm, watching intently as she grabs her purse and phone and walks straight out the door and almost nearly smacks into the firm chest of a man entering the building. "I'm so sorry,"

"Hey, its ok. Wait, Christa?"

"Ryan, hey."

"You ok? You look like you were about to run for your life?"

"Yea. I'm good."

"You sure," Ryan looks over her shoulder, scanning the crowd when he sees a displeased looking John Hagen. "Bad date?"

Shaking her shoulders as if shaking off a bad mental image, "definitely not a date,"

"ok." Feeling the anxiety and tension she is exhibiting, something tells him to get her away from the establishment in question. "I was going to get dinner and a drink. You in?" Seeing her start to object, "we can go someplace else if you'd like."

"I-" nodding, grateful at the thought of putting space between her and Hagen, "Yea. Yes. Sure."

Feeling the glowering look still being sent their way by the new detective that has been on days, a surge of protectiveness flows through him; placing his hand in the lower dip of her back, Ryan shoots the man a look of his own before guiding her towards the parking lot.

-RYAN-LANA-DELKO-CALLEIGH-HORATIO-YELINA-TRIPP-SPEEDLE-CSI MIAMI-

Easing into the chairs at the beachside restaurant, the atmosphere turns awkward quickly as the hostess explains that there is a new couples platter and dinner plate before walking away allowing them time to figure out their order.

"No need to look like you're going to die, Ryan. Promise. I'm not that bad of a date." Teasing the man as she pops open her menu, taking a chance to read over the current specials and food choices available.

"I'm not, I wasn't. I don't-"

Smiling as the poor man stumbles over his words, her hand rests gently against his forearm. "Ryan, breathe. I was just teasing. I know this isn't a date."

Ryan nods softly, taking in her soft smile and warm disposition. Granted, he has been around her since their encounter at the bar on several occasions, but typically at work and in a larger group of people. They soon begin talking about life, Miami and all of the things under the sun. Ryan learns of her family, or lack thereof all the way down to her love of lilies and her endearing work nickname as the Lab Vampire as she learns of his family, his decision to be a cop and his OCD tendencies.

After conning him into sharing a piece of chocolate cake with her, Christa looks over at the man in front of her, "I heard about what you did the other day."

"About what?"

Scooping up a piece of chocolate cake on her fork, she finishes her bite before continuing, "Heidi Dillon. Finding her a safe place to go for her and her growing baby. That was sweet."

"No. Just what anyone would do." Accentuating his remark with his own bite of the devilish cake she made him partake in.

"Not quite. It was sweet. Just own it Ryan. There's not a lot of good guys left in the world."

Giving her a quick glance, the smile on his face can't help but spread at her remark, "What, you think I'm one of the good guys?"

"Oh sweetie, we both know you are." Ryan doesn't say anything, allowing the pair to fall into a comfortable silence.