Author's note: Again, thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for your reviews!!!! Now, I feel like making this last even longer!!! I love you all!!!

There's a little bit of Ryan's side of the story in this chapter. Figured it wasn't really fair for him to be left out all the time…

Hope you enjoy it!!!!!

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 6: Screwed Up Friendships

"Alright. What's going on?"

Calleigh winced but kept her eyes glued to the ground. She knew the question would be coming sooner or later. She forced a smile on her face and looked up at her friend, frowning slightly. "What are you talking about?"

Natalia cocked her head and grinned. "Come on. Stop acting so innocent. I can see that something's up."

The blond woman shrugged, eyebrows raised. She hated lying. But she wasn't about to start talking about how pathetic she felt. "I'm fine. I just didn't sleep enough last night." She glanced back up at the brunette and grinned. "I should be back to my normal self by tomorrow."

Natalia frowned, the grin still plastered on her lips. "Riiiight."

Calleigh nodded. "Right." She stood from her crouched position and lifted her chin at her. "Are you done?"

Natalia nodded and grabbed her kit. "Yeah, I've got everything. I'll see you at the lab, alright?" She put her hand on her friend's shoulder and made her look up, her eyes filled with concern. "Are you sure everything's okay? You know you can tell me anything. I'm a very good listener!" she gave her an encouraging smile.

Calleigh looked down, thinking. It would be so easy to just open up to Natalia. But it wouldn't make her feel any better… or maybe it would.

She sighed unnoticeably. She needed to know if what she was feeling was as crazy as she thought it was. Or maybe she just needed to know if she was completely crazy, period.

But did she really want her co-worker to know that page of her personal life? Natalia was her friend…

No. What she needed right now, was to push everything out of her mind, and focus on her job.

She finally grinned at her friend and nodded her head. "I'm fine! There's nothing wrong." She laughed and pointed towards their rides. "Get in your car. I'll just make sure we got everything and then I'll go back to the lab. I'll see you later."

Calleigh was relieved as the other woman decided not to push her and smiled before making her way towards her Hummer. Calleigh waited for her to drive off before she let out a long shaky breath. She was about to blow. The reason why she had decided to come into work in the first place, had been to get her mind to focus on something other than Ryan Wolfe... and every freaking second, someone HAD to remind her about how much she felt like crap.

She shook her head and took her kit back to the hummer, ready to bring her findings back to the lab, but not so ready for the conversation she would have to have with one person in particular.

XXXXXXXX

"Alright, something's up, Wolfe, and I want to know what it is."

Ryan glanced towards the taller man and frowned. "Huh?"

Eric put his hands on the table and leaned towards him. "Don't give me that! You've been acting like a total jackass ever since the moment you came in this morning. Now, if I have to spend the rest of the shift with you, I want to know what's making you in such a bad mood."

"I don't want to talk about it." He grumbled, his frown deepening.

Delko snorted and shook his head at him. "And I don't have to put up with your shitty mood, but I'm still here, helping you out with this case. Now you tell me what's going on."

Ryan sighed, clearly irritated. "Since when do you care?"

"Since I had to spend the last two hours treating you like a woman with PMS."

The shorter man sent him a dark look. Delko wouldn't let it go. "Women." He murmured, his eyes glued to the pictures laid out on the table before him.

Eric laughed and pointed a finger towards him. "Is it Lindsay? Man, I knew that chick was way too nice to be normal… She's nuts, right? She's a murderer hiding behind the image of a cute, shy woman…"

Ryan shook his head and opened his mouth to tell him how stupid he was but was interrupted as Natalia strutted happily in the room.

She walked up to stand next to Eric and gave both men a huge smile. "Hey guys! Anyone wants to grab something to eat with me? I'm starved!"

The cuban glanced at her and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll go with you. I need to get out of here. " He took off his lab coat and hung it by the door. "Where's Calleigh, I haven't seen her all day! Is she coming with us?"

Natalia shook her head and shrugged. "She's finishing up at the crime scene. But I don't think she'd come along anyway. She's been acting really weird."

Eric frowned and looked at Ryan, who was trying real hard not to show any feelings. "Oh my… Calleigh??!? Cal is the woman???"

Ryan opened his mouth to respond but was cut short as Natalia hit his chest with her fist. "What have you done to her? She looks like she was run over by a stampede."

He gasped and rubbed the spot where she had hit him. "I…"

She put her hands on her waist, clearly not about to let him say anything in his defense. "I don't get it! You guys used to be so close. It was almost freaky how much fun you could have with each other. We all thought you'd end up together."

Eric nodded his head, agreeing with her. "Yeah, what happened to them?"

Natalia grimaced. "Lindsay happened."

The taller man snorted and looked down at her. "How on earth could he go and do something so stupid."

"Beats me."

"He really has no clue when it comes to women."

She nodded again. "You're telling me."

Ryan shook his head and threw his hands up. "I AM in the room, you know."

The both stayed quiet for a few seconds and stared at him. "Oh we know. We just think you're too stupid to see what's going on right under your nose."

Natalia nodded her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah… wouldn't want to ask too much from you."

Ryan breathed deeply and gave them a dark look. "Didn't you want me to be in a good mood? 'Cause this…" he pointed at both of them, "is not really helping."

They both exchanged glances and went back to staring at him. "Tell us what you did to her."

He groaned and rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with their comments. "I didn't do anything to her. She did everything to herself." He grumbled.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Eric's irritation was growing. He didn't like it when people attacked his friends.

Ryan shrugged and looked down, visibly not comfortable with the turn in the conversation. "Ask her." He winced and shook his head. "Everything's screwed up anyway. She won't talk to me anymore."

It was Natalia's turn to step in, her tone slightly softer. "Oh come on, you know Calleigh's not like that. She'll come around, whatever happened between you two."

He looked up at her and sighed. "Yeah, well… I won't hold my breath." He finally murmured, putting an end to the conversation.

Eric threw his hands up in irritation. "Alright! We're leaving. You want to keep acting like a negative ass, please do." He pointed at the shorter man. "But you'll be alone while doing it." He turned on his heels and strutted out of the room, leaving his two co-workers to stare at him.

Natalia grimaced and looked back at her friend. She could see that all this was really affecting him, and she actually felt sad for him. She reached out and brushed his forearm with her fingertips. "See you later, Ryan."

"Yeah. Sure." He watched her retreating form for a few seconds and let out a long breath. He tried setting his mind back on his work, staring at the set of pictures he had spread on the table. He picked one, held it close to his face and finally threw it back on the table, giving up. Everything was so screwed up. He didn't know what to do. How would he be able to concentrate on this case?

Actually, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He needed to talk to Calleigh about what had happened at the club and at her place that morning.

He sighed and shook his head. He also needed to confront her about what had really happened all these nights ago.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO????????????????????????? Now you know! Ryan DOES remember what happened that night… what is he going to do? What SHOULD he do?

If you have ANY ideas, please let me know!!!!

DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW THIS CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!