She was cold as I held her in my arms, but I couldn't help but want to hold her tighter. Her breathing was shallow, and uneven. Even still, she looked beautiful. There was a sense of chaos around me. I heard someone calling for an ambulance and before I could tell them that she was alright they were trying to tear her from me.

"She's going to be fine," I yelled over the noise.

They were all in a panic trying to figure out what to do. I guess a witness fainting is the last thing you want during an investigation. I tried my best to push those thoughts out of my mind. I wasn't here to work or think about anything that has to do with work. I was here for her. I looked down to see her looking peaceful in my arms. It set my blood on fire just to have her so close to me. I never knew how much I missed her in the time we were apart until she was right here. I saw the ambulance coming down the road before I heard the sirens. People cleared a path for the EMT's to get into the house and I reluctantly let go of Lauren so that they could put her onto the stretcher. I went to follow her out the door when the detective stepped in front of me.

"Where do you think you are going?" He asked me in a gruff voice.

"I'm going with her," I replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't think so," He put his hands on his hips. "You are staying right here. We have some questions to ask you."

"Questions about what?" He was starting to piss me off now.

"What exactly is your relationship with Ms. Southwood?"

"Which one?" I knew it sounded cocky, but I couldn't help myself.

He narrowed his eyes. "How about we start with the one you caught like a football tonight? By the way, how did you know that was going to happen?"

"I didn't." I sat down on a stool at the kitchen counter.

"Then why did you seem to notice it before anyone else did?"

"I know her well," I crossed my arms over my chest. "That's all."

"How well do you know her?"

"I would say pretty well."

"Uh huh," He flipped open a little notebook. "And what did you say your name was?"

"I didn't."

He raised his brow and I could tell that I was in trouble. They were looking at me like a suspect, but how could that be? I just got here.

"I know where this is going," I said standing up. "And I am not involved in whatever might have happened tonight."

"Well, we are not sure anything did happen here tonight," He was writing something down now. "Are you admitting to something here Mr.-?"

"Wolfe, Ryan Wolfe."

"Mr. Wolfe, are you admitting to something?"

"I just got into town Detective. The only thing I have to admit to is wanting to see Lauren." I said soberly.

"How is it then that you happened to get into town just as soon as she found her mother dead?" He was gauging my reaction.

"Jan's dead?" My eyes were wide.

He nodded. "Lauren was the one who found her."

"My God," I said breathlessly. "Is she alright? I mean, she is kind of sensitive when it comes to her mom. Finding her like that though…"

"Why don't you tell me if she's alright? You know her so well right?" He cocked his head in a way that almost reminded me of Horatio.

"I honestly have nothing else to say right now. I would like to see Lauren though."

"That's not going to happen tonight."

"Why the hell not?" I shouted.

"She has had a long and stressful night, and I think the last thing she needs is to see anyone right now." He put his jacket on.

"You don't know her like I do." I started, but he cut me off.

"I've know the Southwood family for as long as I can remember, so don't tell me who you know better." He replied.

"Fine." I made my way to the door.

"Oh," He grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. "And don't even thing about leaving town."

"I wasn't planning on it." I said looking him straight in the eyes.

"Good, Good." He trailed off.

I shook him off and left the house. This was all so crazy. Lauren's mom was dead? How could this happen? I couldn't think of anyone who would want to hurt someone like her. Sure, she was a little protective of her daughter. Anyone could tell that she was a gentle person though. I got into my rental car and drove to the local motel and parked. I was thinking about getting a room, but my body seemed to be vibrating. I grabbed a sweater out of my duffle bag and headed out for a walk. It might be good to try to clear my head, and if not then just to get this feeling that was making its way down to my spine out. I walked down Main Street and saw that most of the little shops were sleeping for the night. When I passed by the one called Jewel Lotus I knew that it was Lauren's. Her touch was all over the place. In the way the window drapes were hung to the arrangement of the front counter.

It seemed like she was everywhere though. I was seeing her in all the little things that I would pass by. I could see why she came back here too. There was simplicity to this place that had an air of starting over. The wind picked up and I could tell that I was closer to the waterfront. There was a small path where the road stopped and it looked like it was well traveled. I made my way carefully down the sand dune and the tall beach grass. As I pushed through the grass I noticed that the moon was giving off the perfect amount of light. Soon, all I could see was the water in front of me. It was so vast and dark that it gave me a sense of peace.

I wondered if Lauren liked her beaches better than the ones we had in Miami. There was no salt in the air, and the waves were not quite the same shade of blue. Even still, it was a beautiful sight. The way the stars shined here was so different compared to every city I every lived in. They were so bright. I got lost in them as I walked down the cool sand. It was so easy to lose time here. Before I knew it, I was almost a quarter of a mile from the path where I had started. I turned around feeling a bit lost and noticed a wooden set of stairs near where the houses were nestled. I walked back to the small motel and felt a bit better now. The fall air seemed to be just what I needed. My mind was still circling around Lauren, but I knew there was no way that that was going anywhere. She was all I thought about for the months we were apart anyway. Why would I stop thinking about her even though she was so close to me? It seemed like no matter what I did she was always going to be there.

There was still something in me that questioned whether or not she wanted to see me though. Our relationship seemed to be defined by bad timing. Even today, I picked the absolute worst day to roll into town. We always seemed to be pushing the odds and fighting against all the shit that life would throw at us. My life was worse when she left, and now that I'm here who's to say that hers wasn't better without me?

The day that I got shot was quite possibly the thing that made me realize that I really had nothing in my life anymore. My family was not in the picture, and I had no one to call my own. She was the only person that I ever really, truly loved. I mentally kicked myself for the millionth time for not coming after her sooner. I was in a vicious circle again. This was the time to break free. As I finally reached my car, I was glad to rest for a moment. The chill was starting to get to me now. I guess Miami has spoiled me all of these years. I grabbed my duffle bag out of my car and started to head to the office when two cars flew into the parking lot. I noticed the red and blue sirens first, and then I saw the tell-tale black and white color.

The detective got out of the passenger seat and strode toward me. I stood frozen, not really sure what to do. I had never been on the other side of this before. It was all so foreign to me. As he came toward me a couple of uniformed officers came out of the car and had their guns trained on me. I dropped my bag at my side and put my hands up as a precaution.

"Well Mr. Wolfe," The detective started. "We checked you out."

I looked at him blankly.

"Look's like you are Lauren's ex-boyfriend, and he mom went to visit the two of you. Interesting that not long after that the two of you broke up." He smirked.

"I'm not sure what that has to do with anything." I replied quietly.

"I would call that motive," He held up a piece of familiar looking paper. "And so would the judge that signed this arrest warrant."

Before I could say anything he had me turned around and was putting a pair of cold handcuffs around my wrists.

"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do will be held against you in a court of law…"

"I know my rights," I snapped back at him. "I'm a CSI for Miami-Dade County. I bet you didn't check that out did you?"

He looked crestfallen and in that moment I could tell that really didn't look that up.

"Just get in the car," He said as he shoved me in the back seat.

We had been in interrogation for about three hours, and it didn't look as though it was going to let up. We kept going over and over the same things. He wanted to know about mine and Lauren's relationship and why we broke up. No matter how many times I explained it he didn't seem happy with the answer. It was already morning and I was getting tired of his questions. It seemed as though he was a bit embarrassed because he didn't know that I was a cop. Usually, you don't just go arresting a so-called "brother in blue" before you really check them out.

"So tell me again about the visit that Ms. Southwood gave you." He took a long drink of water and then looked at me with narrow eyes when I didn't answer.

I sighed loudly. "As I already said, she didn't really come to see me. She came to see Lauren after she was shot. I called her when she was in the hospital and thought that she needed to know that her daughter was hurt. So she took the next plane out basically."

"And your relationship with Lauren wasn't going well at that point?"

I ran my hands over my head and felt the spot where the bullet hit me behind my left ear. A headache was starting to form and the throbbing didn't help the wound. "It's complicated."

"So explain it then Mr. Wolfe." Detective Valley said as though it was so simple.

"We broke up for a little while, but over something that had nothing to do with her mother. Is that the answer you are looking for?" I slammed my hands down on the table feeling so frustrated with this line of questioning.

"I'm just looking for the truth," He replied calmly.

"If you want to find out who killed Lauren's mother then I suggest you waste less time in here." He flicked my eyes up at him.

"Is that so?" He scratched at his beard.

"Yes," I said strongly. "I did not do it."

He didn't say anything for a long time and I sat there thinking over how many times I had been on the other side of this table. I could guess his next move, but there was really no way to be sure. He wanted to trip me up, make me say something that I meant to keep hidden. On this subject, however, I was an open book.

"Besides my relationship with Lauren, what evidence do you have that even begins to point to me?" I asked him as I crossed my arms.

"Do you seriously think that I am going to tell you that?" He chucked a bit. "I mean come on; if you really are a cop then you would know that there was no way I would give away details of a case."

"I'm a CSI," I corrected. "Not a cop."

"But you started as a cop right?"

"Yes, but there is a difference."

"Not here there isn't."

Someone came in through the door and whispered something in his ear as they handed him a file. He looked pleased with the information and then opened the file to take a look. He perused it for a moment before looking back to me.

"So," He started. "You were shot not that long ago is that correct."

He had my personnel file. They must have called Miami to get some dirt on me. I wouldn't be long before Horatio would be calling demanding to know why one of his CSI's was being held in custody on a murder charge.

"Yes, that's right," I answered. "By a scumbag drug dealer."

He nodded, still taking in the words on the page in front of him. "And you are on, and I quote 'suggested leave'."

"I had a lot of vacation days and decided that now would be an optimal time to cash them in." I knew where he was going with this now.

"But it says here that the therapist you were seeing said that you were not ready to return back to work yet." He read.

"That was only a week after I almost died," I said getting a bit hot. "Of course I wasn't ready to go back to work."

"So you cashed in those vacation days?"

"Yeah."

"It is a bit interesting that right after all that happened you came here," He was looking to get a rise out of me now, and even though I hate to admit it; it was working.

"I already told you," I nearly shouted. "I came to see Lauren."

"Right right," He was calm. "The woman who dumped you and left you in Miami without so much as a goodbye. That one?"

"That has nothing to do with this," I shook my head. "Again."

"I'm just trying to understand your situation Ryan," He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "It's got to be hard to wait for all that time to see someone who you claim to just be so in love with. It sounds to me like she left because she didn't want to be with you."

"That's not-" He cut me off.

"And then, it sounds like you just couldn't handle that. So you waited until you just couldn't wait anymore. Then you came here looking for her to just rush right back into your arms, but she didn't want to see you. So you got angry and you went after her mom to get back at her for not feeling the same way you did." He got right in my face as he explained his theory and I just couldn't take it.

"STOP," I yelled. "Just stop it!"

"Did I hit a nerve?" He leaned back again.

I shook my head. "You have no idea what you are talking about, and I'm done talking to you unless I have a lawyer present."

He scoffed. "Fine then." And with that he got up and left the room.

He left me in there to stew and I gotta give it to him; he did his job. I was mad. The things he implied about my relationship with Lauren we so far from the truth and it killed me to think that someone could possibly see that in what we have. I laid my head down on the table and tried to calm myself down. The last thing I needed was my temper getting to far out of control. It was best for me to just ride this out and let the truth come out in the end.

I knew in my heart that she would believe me, and right now that was all I needed to get through this. I closed my eyes and felt a wave of tranquility wash over me like a warm blanket. It reminded me of what it was like to hold her in my arms, and I was never going to let that feeling leave me again.

As soon as I received the phone call, I was out the door. I didn't even stop to comb my hair. I yanked on whatever clothes I had near me and ran all the way to the police station. Drew tried to get my attention as I left him standing there in my room. At that moment though, I didn't care about anything but the fact that Ryan is alive. After going for so long thinking that he was gone…

My heart leapt and was beating so loudly in my chest that it was the only thing that I could hear. My feet carried me down the streets as fast as they would take me and my hair tangled in the wind as I went. I didn't even notice the chill in the air, for nothing else mattered. Nothing else but this one thing, the one thing I had dreamt about for so long. I got to the small police building and pulled back the doors with force. The receptionist gave me a strange look as I walked up to the desk, but I ignored her.

"I need to see Mark Valley right away please." I said trying to catch my breath.

"Just one moment," She replied as she picked up the phone to call for him.

I stood silently for a moment waiting for him to come into the main lobby when I noticed someone calling out my name from the door. Drew stood there looking at me with a curious expression.

I walked over to him. "What are you doing here?"

"You ran out so fast," He replied. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'm fine." There was a strange silence between us. I felt a bit awkward around him after what happened this morning.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He reached out to touch my shoulder and I pulled away.

"I think I need to do this on my own." I said as I watched his face fall.

"Look if you are regretting what happened earlier…" He began

"I don't regret it Drew," I half smiled. "But right now, I would just rather not let it be a thing you know?"

"So you want to forget about it?" He asked

"I'm saying that in light of everything I'm glad it happened, but it's not a defining moment for me right now." I shook my head a bit. "That makes me sound horrible doesn't it?"

"I understand where you are coming from," He said through a frown. "You just found out some big news."

"Exactly."

"It will always mean a lot to me though Lauren." He said softly.

"I know." I smiled at him.

"Detective Valley said you can go back now," The receptionist said and I turned around to face her.

"Thank you." I said to her.

I walked toward the hallway and threw a little wave at Drew before he walked out the door. Mark met me at the end of the hall and looked exhausted. He had a few questionable stains on his shirt and I noticed he had a slight beard growing in.

"Are you going to take me to see him?" I asked slightly impatiently

"Yeah yeah," He said sounding cranky. "You can't go in the room though Lauren. You are part of the family and you can't talk to a suspect. It's just protocol."

"Uh huh," I said not really listening as he opened the door to the viewing room. The two way glass was covered by shades and at the moment so I couldn't see anything.

"I'm serious Lauren," He said looking me right in the eyes. He saw that I wasn't going to answer and hesitated to open the blinds.

"Mark," I pleaded.

He nodded and raised them slowly so that I could peer into the dreary room. It was simple looking and not as bright as the interrogation rooms in Miami. There sitting at the long table in the middle of the room was a man with his head down on the table. It was hard to tell much from that, and I held my breath as he raised himself up. I blinked trying to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I knew that they weren't.

He really was alive.

He was sitting right there, just through the glass. He looked so much like I remembered and just a little bit different too. He looked tired. I could see the circles underneath his eyes that were still the same hazel that I loved. His hair was cropped shorter than I remembered, but I liked it. I could barely believe that it was really him. It all seemed so surreal, but I knew that this time I wasn't dreaming. This was real. He wrung his hands together and hung his head again. I let out the breath that I was holding in and felt tears spill out of my eyes.

I couldn't just stand here when he was right there. I ran out of the room and ignored Mark yelling at me not to go into his room. I threw open the door and he bolted up at the sound of the door hitting the wall. His eyes grew soft at the sight of me and I couldn't help but feel weak in the knees I tried to take a step toward him and my legs buckled underneath me. He jumped from his chain and caught me in his arms before I hit the floor. He was so close to me that I almost didn't believe it.

The tears were flowing freely now, and I tried to memorized every little thing about him that I might have forgotten. I brought my hand up to his face and he welcomed my touch.

"Falling for me again I see," He quipped softly.

"Ryan," I whispered. "I can't believe it's really you."

"It's me I promise." He said holding me to him.

I pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "I thought you were dead. I saw the news story and I called the lab and they said you were gone."

"I know, I know." He said running his hands through my hair.

I cried into his shoulder and never wanted him to let go of me ever again. In that moment, I realized how much I had missed his arms around me. It felt like I was back home again. This was what I had wanted for so long and now I finally had it. Without a second thought I pulled him close to me and kissed him fiercely on the lips.

As we kissed in the middle of the interrogation room, my whole body warmed. As he kissed me I felt every single molecule in my body react. Every shiver and firework led straight to my spine and I was on fire again. I moaned into the kiss and deepened it as I tried to make the moment last as long as possible. We were lost in each other and nothing else mattered to us. My body was on fire and his hands snaked themselves around my body to hold me closer. When we finally broke the kiss, I saw a look of concern in his eyes. I turned to see Detective Valley, Drew, and Eric Delko staring down at us.

"Well, it looks like he really is alive," Drew said sarcastically.

I gave him a look and he stared down at his feet. Mark was glaring at me and Delko had a slight grin on his face. Ryan helped me to stand and I never let go of him.

"Hey Delko, what are you doing here?" Ryan asked.

"Hey yourself," He replied. "H sent me here, and I was just talking to Detective Valley about getting you out of here."

"Sounds good to me." He smiled at me a planted a kiss on the top of my head.

"You are free to go," Mark said sounding unhappy about it. "With our apologies of course. It looks as though your alibi checks out. The rental car place has the time that you signed the paperwork on video and it clears you for the murder."

"Just as I was saying all along." Ryan replied sounding a bit smug.

Mark half grimaced as he tried to smile.

We made our way out into the lobby and Ryan loosed his grip on my hand.

"Where are you going?" I said slightly panicked.

"I just have to go get the stuff they took from me when they arrested me," He said smiling. "I'll be right back. I promise."

I nodded as he went to go grab his things. Delko went with him and I could see them talking about him getting arrested and the kiss that we just shared. Clearly if Horatio sent him here he was here he was not happy about one of his people being falsely accused. I stood silently waiting for him to return. Part of me felt as though he would disappear if I didn't keep my eyes on him the whole time.

"Lauren," I heard Drew say from behind me.

I saw him standing there with his hands in his pockets and I felt a bit bad. I knew that I made a mistake by sleeping with him, but I didn't want to say that to him. I was so emotional and just not thinking clearly. I should have listened to him when he told me that it was a mistake, because now I realized that it was. Even if I would have known that Ryan was alive, it was a mistake.

"Drew, I honestly don't know what to say." I looked at my fingers that were laced within one another.

"I saw you in there with him," He said simply. "You don't have to say anything. There was no way that I was ever going to be able to compete with a dead man was there?"

He took my silence as the answer that it was; a no.

"I thought so," He sighed. "And now that he is alive, I haven't a shot in hell. Look, I told you that I wanted to be the good guy. I stick by that. I'm not going to try to come in between the two of you. You look happy, and that's all I wanted to see for you anyway."

"Thank you," I was glad that he was so understanding. It seemed like this whole situation was working out too well, but I was a bit blind to anything but Ryan at the moment.

"I'm just glad that I got to know what it was like," He smiled. "You know, to be with you."

"You should go talk to Meggie," I said softly. "Maybe she is the right girl for you."

"I don't know that there is a right girl for me," He looked solemn as he said it. "I'll see you around."

And with that he walked out into the sun.

I felt a pair of arms snake around me and I turned around to be greeted with a sweet kiss.

"How are you?" Ryan asked me looking serious.

"I'm holding on the best I know how," I replied.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I do."

He smiled at me my favorite smile, and I felt for a moment that maybe everything was going to work itself out after all.