hey! this is a short one, i apologize. but the last chapter was three hundred more words than my usual 1000-ish word count, so if you add 300 to this 800-word chapter then it evens out. hehe

i promise the next chapter is longer.


December 15th

Ryan Wolfe would not answer his cell phone. It was kind of odd, because he never left without it; nobody in the team did.

So Natalia Boa Vista decided to give the man a visit, along with a scolding. She'd been trying to call for at least 15 minutes to ask for trace results on the fibers she'd found at her scene. Her first scene working solo. It felt good being trusted by Horatio. But damn, was there a lot of stuff to process.

Glass doors allowed Natalia to look for Ryan without entering the Trace lab. She saw his cell phone on the table, gloves in the trash, and lab coat hung on the coat hanger. But he was nowhere to be found.

Natalia began to get a little worried. She reassured herself that he was probably taking a leak. Yeah, that made sense. A bit relieved, she proceeded to the door, clutching the metal handle.

She didn't even get to push the glass door as she was yanked to the side. Her mouth was covered with a gloved hand.

"Don't scream. I'll take my hand out, but if you scream, you're gonna get it."

Her eyes fixed into an 'oh my god I can't believe you just did that' stare. She bit into the hand.

"Ow!" He took his hand away, shaking it in hopes of relieving the pain.

"Ryan!"

"What'd you do that for?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because your hand was on my mouth! I don't know where that hand has been!"

"I put gloves on!"

"Yeah. Gloves that probably touched some disgusting unclean piece of evidence."

"I swear they're new." She looked unconvinced. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I would have done the same thing anybody else. You just had the unfortunate luck of coming to my lab at the moment."

"It doesn't. And you would have done that to Horatio? Really?" She stuck a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, no. But he doesn't count."

Natalia shook her head and gave up on the subject. "All right. Let's drop it. What are you doing out here? I've been trying to call you!"

"Sorry. But I need to stay out here. At least until the coast is clear."

"Coast? What coast?"

"That one." Ryan pushed both of them gently to the side, behind the pillar, and then pointed.

Natalia followed his finger and looked.

Calleigh was standing where Natalia was just moments before.

"Calleigh? We're hiding because of her?" She chuckled softly. "I thought we were standing here looking like idiots because of IAB."

"Shh. She's about to see my present."

Natalia quieted and watched with Ryan as Calleigh took one of the books that were posed standing in her hands. Two other replicas of the same book were displayed on the table.

The brunette stood dumbfounded. "Wait. You gave Calleigh three books, three of the same books, 10 days before Christmas?"

Ryan waited until Calleigh returned to reading the card before answering. "It's…Today's the third day."

"The what?"

"See, I wrote her a letter…"

Dear Calleigh,

Good morning, sunshine! Come by Trace, pretty please. Today's the third day. Let's start off happy, shall we?

On the third day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Three French hens

In your hands should be three copies of Culinaria France. It's a recipe book, since I know how much you love cooking and how much your food tastes… delish! But I figured you were up for trying new things, you know, branching out from those Southern-style home cooked meals into something exotic.

So we've got three duplicates. Of a French recipe book. With a chicken on the cover. Three French hens. This is my creative juices flowing smoothly and then running into a brick dam.

Feel free to give the other two to someone else. Or you could just keep them as backups in case the pages get burned, or soaked, or seasoned.

Yours truly,

Ryan

PS. What's cookin' good-lookin'?

"…and since I couldn't get my hands on real French hens, I gave her those instead."

Calleigh had taken the books and walked out of the lab with a huge smile on her face. Natalia could tell she loved the presents.

There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask him, but she felt that this was one of those 'it's better for me if I don't know' times, so she kept them to herself.

Turning to Ryan, she said, "I've got to admit. Even though my day started out pretty crappy – no thanks to you and your probably filth-ridden gloved hand –, I'm glad hers isn't. Good job, Mr. Wolfe. I'm impressed. Now, my results?"


so, was it a good 800-word chapter? leave a comment, por favor! or s'il vous plait, depending on the second language of your country. =P