hiya! hope everyone had an awesome boxing day & that nobody got trampled in wal-mart or something. =P

nothing, really, to say, except a huge thanks for those who have read, reviewed, or done both. =D

here's the next installment!


December 17th

Calleigh had never seen the man that was standing in her Ballistics Lab before. And because she knew everybody in the crime lab – even the people from swing shift and graveyard – whoever this guy was, he was not good news.

He wore street clothes, so he couldn't have been a deliveryman. And her lab was way off target with the receptionist's desk; he couldn't have simply 'gotten lost'. He was average-sized, tall but not giant, fit but not an intense gym member. Calleigh, just in case, felt around her waist for her gun as she kept her eyes locked on the stranger. Damn! Where was her gun?

It took her a quick millisecond to avert her eyes and see her black chunk of metal lying beside the microscope she was looking through just before she headed to the bathroom. Focusing back on the man, she was glad to know he hadn't noticed her yet.

Okay, so no gun. That's all right. She was standing in her lab. Where she had guns upon guns on racks and in storage.

Ah, crap. She must have been located at the farthest possible point from her wall of weapons and simultaneously still be in the room. Irony visits at just about the worst times. The ballistics expert was about to die, in her own lab (filled with usable guns, by the way), and she didn't even have a measly gun at arm's length.

A sigh escaped her lips just as she realized the slight noise it made. The man turned around and smiled. Probably happy to have a victim to hold for ransom or something.

"Miss...?" He spoke without making eye contact; he held a clipboard in one hand and was probably trying to pronounce her name properly.

She cleared her throat. "Duquesne. It's Southern. You can go ahead and mispronounce it. It's not like I'll kill you if you do." Who's to say she wasn't going to, but she'll never know since she had no gun to shoot him with in the first place.

He smiled sheepishly. She could tell he was starting to get scared. "All right, well, I'm just here to collect those things right over there." He pointed to the large black targets she would use to trap a bullet and then extract from. He didn't wait for any approval from the blonde. He just walked over and began to disassemble the posts.

Calleigh rushed over. Her worry about being killed had completely disappeared and was replaced by utter confusion. She wasn't sure she liked being confused any better.

"Wait, wait. Where are you from, exactly?"

"I've been called by your boss. One…" he consulted his clipboard again. "… Lieutenant Horatio Caine. He said he wanted these replaced with the ones with self-reconstructing material. He also wanted me to be inconspicuous and not let a blonde woman… oh, wait."

Calleigh, an obvious blonde, had her eyes narrowed. "What was that?"

The man sighed. He was caught; what was the point of keeping it a secret any longer? "Your boss was going to give the new targets to you as his Christmas present, because he knows you're the one who pays for the new ones every year. Now that the new ones can heal themselves you won't be needing to spend money on these bullet stopping things."

She nodded slowly. "And you weren't supposed to be seen by me?"

"Yeah. He said you weren't going to be back here for another hour." His gaze moved to the clock on one wall.

"Oh. Yeah, my bad. That clock's been stuck on that hour for a couple of days now. Just not tall enough to change the batteries, so I started relying on my watch."

"Oh, okay then. Do me a favor and don't let your boss know that you know about his little surprise, all right? I'll just mind my own business here and take these back to my truck."

"One more thing. I've got a bunch of guns left to process. What do I do now?"

He shrugged, returning to the black objects. "Dunno. Go old school, I guess. Use ballistics gel. Or even cheaper, use those rubber balls in the metal vase. Expect – or don't, since it supposed to be a shocker – the replacements to come tomorrow, maybe the day after."

Calleigh left the man to do his job so she could do hers. Within minutes he waved goodbye and greeted her a 'Merry Christmas'. She stood in her lab, hands on her hips. Old school? She hadn't done old school in years.

What did the guy say? Either ballistics gel or the metal vase. Since she didn't have a backup mixture of the gel ready to be shot at, she figured the vase would take a lot less work.

She retrieved the silver vase from its spot in one corner of the lab. Then she made the tunnel to shoot the gun through and connected it to the jug. Taking her police issue 9 millimeter gun, she decided to give it a shot with her own gun before using the guns in her caseload.

Wearing her bright blue earmuffs and clear goggles she placed her arm inside the tunnel and pulled the trigger. Success! The bullet was slowed down by the large black rubber balls inside the jug.

In no time Calleigh was at the other side of her contraption, tipping over the vase into a plastic container to find the bullet. When she placed a hand on the bottom surface for leverage, she felt a piece of paper. It was taped on the bottom, and undoubtedly addressed to her.

Calleigh returned to the container, now filled with the rubber balls, and used her fingers to search for the small bullet. She saw something red sparkle under the light with the rubber stoppers instead. She grabbed a hold of it, and lifted her arm.

A gold necklace drooped below her hand. Connected to the necklace were five gold rings, crafted into a chain link. And inside the third ring – the middle link – was a red heart dangling. Calleigh gasped as she realized that it was real gold and that the heart was an authentic ruby jewel.

She took the paper from underneath the metal jug and began to read, clutching the necklace to her heart.

My Calleigh,

Don't ask how I knew you would use this instead of the ballistics gel. Just be glad that you did (and I'll be glad too, since it would have been hard to hide the letter and gift in a square block of gel).

I'll admit, this was the hardest gift to buy. I wasn't sure if you would like it. And this seemed more practical than getting you five actual golden rings. I like to think the world works in amazing ways whenever I find something that perfectly matches the song.

She could feel the warm tears flowing down her face.

No, no, no. Don't cry. Even if they're happy tears, I'll stop being sappy.

Today's the fifth day, and in my opinion, my favorite day.

On the fifth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Five golden rings

So I went up to the jeweler and asked if I could take the heart out and just leave the gold rings according to the song. He said I'd need to pay extra. Pfft. Like hell I would. I would have been giving them a perfectly functional ruby charm and he's making me pay more. He should be the one paying me! So I left it, and thought it'd be better this way anyways.

It may not be the jewel of your birth month, but it's the jewel of mine. And even though it's the second-best gemstone, you're certainly not second-best in my books. Third, maybe fourth.

Haha, just kidding. Number one, definitely.

Cheesily Yours,

Ryan

PS. Is 'cheesily' a word? If it's not, it is now.

PPS. Don't wear it until you see me, please. I'd like to be the first to put it on you.

Calleigh opened her fist to look at the necklace again. He was right, it did look better with the ruby heart. She never thought she could love a necklace so much.

But maybe she was just confusing that with her feelings for Ryan.


ooh, it's a little intense. i dunno what came over me; i just got all weird & dramatic.

let me know what you think - review me.