oh, man. this is uber long. i have to say, though, i think this is my favorite chapter. i'd been waiting to do the ninth day all week.
so if i don't fall asleep on my keyboard (it's currently 2 in the morning right now), the next chapter should be up & waiting to be read. if not, it'll be there soon enough.
i'm so sorry for this coming so many days after Christmas. thank you guys so much for still reading! :]
December 21st
Resident day shift nerd Dan Cooper sat at his desk and made himself look like he was doing something important. In reality, he was just getting a video ready for Ryan.
Once the burned DVD was running in the computer he laced his fingers together and cracked them in unison before typing technology jargon onto the screen. He set up the video to be played by the next person to step into his A/V lab.
Then, turning off the hologram screen the government had provided him with some months earlier, Dan opened up his personal laptop and connected some wires into it. Making sure the screen was covered by his body at all times, he successfully hacked into the lab's camera system.
Dan was a bit nervous. Man, if he got caught, Ryan was going down with him. He worked fast but kept himself under the radar. Flipping through the camera feeds, he found the one he needed. The subject was walking in the direction of his lab.
Great, everything was going according to plan. He closed the feeds, reconnected the wires to the lab's hard drive, and shut down his own laptop. Then he turned on that wicked hologram and the touch screen surface.
Knowing he had a couple seconds left before the subject reached his humble abode, he quickly hung up his lab coat and exited the room.
"Cooper." The subject's Southern accent froze Dan in his place. He turned slowly, facing them, and smiled sheepishly.
"Hey there, Calleigh. How're you doing?" He put his hands in his back pockets and balanced his body on the balls of his feet, swaying back and forth and earning a look of confusion from the blonde.
"I'm…good. Have you analyzed the video I gave you yet?"
"Huh? Oh yeah. It's right inside. Just press play and watch it. I'll be right back; just gotta get refueled with some Red Bull."
Without waiting for an answer he hightailed it down the hallway. He was out of Calleigh's sight in seconds. She wondered briefly what would make him leave so quickly, but the thought was replaced when she entered the room.
Taking a seat, she glanced at the touch screen device and saw that the opened file had a black screen and the words WATCH ME in white. A little puzzled, she touched the play button and watched as a million pixels formed in front of her eyes out of thin air. She always felt so giddy seeing it happen; it was kind of like watching a magic trick.
The first picture that appeared was a set of perfect white teeth curled into a large smile. Then they backed up to reveal the adorable face of Ryan Wolfe. With Calleigh in complete CSI mode she noted that he must have recorded this in one of the layout rooms; only those rooms had the tall table he was sitting on and swaying he feet from.
With open arms – as if he was motioning for a hug – he began to talk.
"Hey you. It's me, obviously. If you're watching this, this means Cooper did his job properly and I owe him a foot rub."
Calleigh's eyebrows coiled into waves of confusion. And as if Ryan was actually there in person, he spoke up with flawless timing. Seemingly knowing that Calleigh would get bemused, he answered what she was wondering with a shrug.
"Yeah, I know. The guy sits in front of the coolest gizmos in the whole building – sometimes for hours at a time - and he barely uses his legs, let alone his feet. And yet he still wants a foot massage. You see what I have to go through for you, Cal?"
He grinned right after so show her he didn't mind the giving Cooper's possibly bunion-colonized feet a good rub, if it meant making her happy. Calleigh wasn't sure if her face could endure the wide smile she was trying to return to Ryan.
"Okay. So before we start, I believe there should be a foil-wrapped egg to your left. I took the liberty of making Cooper leave it there for you. I'll just wait a couple seconds and let you unwrap it and take a bite."
Calleigh did as she was told, finding the egg easily – it was massive! – and unwrapping it. She licked it, leaving the chocolate lingering in her mouth. Mm, she hasn't had chocolate in a while.
"Cal, I said bite, not lick. You know, the one where the little white things in your mouth take out a chunk of the candy and leave marks."
She laughed; how was he able to do that? She'd tried her hardest to distance herself from everyone – especially men – but with Ryan her walls just came crashing down. While it was creepy how she didn't even notice she was letting him in, it was comforting at the same time that he seemed to know her better than she knew herself. Because it meant he already knew she loved him without her having to tell him.
So she took a large bite, and found out that the egg was pure milk chocolate. Good; she wasn't in the mood for caramel, anyway.
"Haha, alright. Now that you've been fed – there's also some of the chocolate soy milk from yesterday there if you haven't noticed yet – oh, right. Almost forgot. I took an egg too…"
Ryan took a half-eaten egg from behind him and held it out for her to see.
"No, actually I see you gave Frank Tripp one of them. Not that I don't mind, it's just…you fell for his 'I'll-pass-out-my-presents-early-so-that-nobody'll-have-done-their-Christmast-shopping-yet-and-in-pity-they'll-have-to-give-me-what-I-want-at-that-moment' scheme. Don't worry, so did I, and apparently everyone else in the lab, too. Tripp sure has stones, tricking us CSI's with his conspiracies. But I think I got him for that.
Consider this a prologue. Today's the ninth day.
On the ninth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Nine ladies dancing
Don't pause this just yet. Listening to my hot and sexy singing voice won't be as satisfying as what's about to happen."
He winked; she was definitely going to be replaying that part later.
"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Cal, but promise me you won't tell anyone."
Ryan jumped off the table he was sitting on and walked toward the video camera, creating a feeling of secrecy. He covered one side of his mouth with a hand, and whispered to the camera.
"See, I figured, why get some random group of nine ladies and have them dance for you when I've got a whole set of scapegoats in the lab? And they're free too!
I gave your father a call last night and asked him if he knew your favorite dance. He told me Viennese Waltz, to which I told him, 'Sir, I can't get a group of people with two left feet to learn the Viennese Waltz in half a day.' And then he laughed for about five minutes, told me I was a witty guy who was perfect for his daughter's quips. I told him that I try all the time but nobody beats you when you get smart; you even outtalk Delko in Spanish, and he's Cuban. And then the Spanish comment I gave must have triggered something in his brain, because then he told me that the next best thing was the dance scene in Zorro.
Oh. Your father says 'Hi Lambchop', by the way.
So anyway, I gathered up the team, and then some, and asked them to help me recreate the scene of our recent case. What luck that we get a case where the victim was killed by the dancing troupe on stage, huh? I think that's the powers that be's way of telling me this plan was genius.
We, uh…had to improvise on some of the costumes, but with the way we were all dancing, we'd count as women. Just… ladies without any dancing skills.
So take a couple more bites of that egg, sit back, and enjoy."
The feed darkened to a black screen for a few seconds before the hologram cleared up again. This time the setting was one of the garages where the team usually processed cars; it must have been the only place where they could have gotten enough space and no onlookers.
Calleigh burst out laughing when she saw her friends all dressed up and standing in pairs. Natalia with Eric, Alexx with Horatio, Maxine with Dan, and perhaps the funniest couple of all, Rick with Frank. How Ryan had gotten them to do this, she could not imagine.
She watched, still in her laughing fit, as Maxine tried to straighten out the ruffles of her Spanish dress. "Where'd you get these clothes, anyway, Ryan? They're starting to itch me." Ryan, out of focus – probably because he was behind the camera – responded: "That…is unnecessary information. And if you think real hard and believe you're not itchy, then you won't be." Maxine glared at the camera.
"Yeah, you're not the one who's gotta wear this thing."
"Would you rather wear what I am? I had to improvise mine; I look like a retard."
"You don't need the costume to look it, Wolfe." A snort came from Eric.
"I'd rethink what I'm saying if I were you, Delko, or I can just as easily get you to switch outfits with Stetler. You guys look pretty much the same size."
The camera moved to show Rick Stetler, the IAB agent who tries so hard to be masculine, sporting a frilly red dress with white sleeves. It was long enough to hide most of his somewhat hairy legs.
"Are you kidding? Stetler's puny!" The spotlight still on Rick, Calleigh saw him flick his head straight at the direction of Delko's voice and frowned at him.
"Then close your mouth and participate. Natalia, would you mind pressing the play button?"
"Mr. Wolfe, before we start, I have a question. Does Alexx have to be my partner? Not that I don't enjoy dancing with you, Alexx, it's just…let's just say from now on you're not allowed to wear 3-inch pumps to work."
"Horatio! I don't dance that poorly!"
"Remember when you said you sometimes felt like you were stepping on clouds during our practicing? Yeah, that was my foot."
"H, if Delko, Cooper, or Tripp want to switch partners, then sure. The footwork's the same for all of you anyway."
Calleigh giggled. Where was she during all this? She hadn't realized it before, but her friends were far more hilarious than she remembered them – especially Horatio!
She continued to erupt in laughter as Eric and Dan clutched their respective partners closer; neither of them clearly wanted Alexx to step on their toes. Horatio's only other option was Stetler. Tripp stepped back graciously, and offered his partner to the redhead. Horatio immediately rethought his question and said, "Mm. No thanks, Frank. I think I'll stay with Alexx here. I'll take bloody toes over Rick any day."
"All right, everything settled? Everybody remember their moves? Nod, so at least I'm consoled by fake reassurance. Okay, Natalia? If you could just press play?"
And the familiar upbeat song from Calleigh's second favorite dance scene filled the room. She had to admit, with roughly half a day of practice, they weren't half bad. Actually, they were pretty bad, but she was an optimist.
She could barely keep her hold on her chocolate egg and almost – more than once – spilled the milk all over her clothes as she kept her eyes glued to the screen. She caught every misstep, every wrong turn, every ungraceful movement the four pairs made.
She watched Horatio's face cringe each time Alexx's pumps stepped on his leather shoes, watched Natalia have to bend in an awkward position to get under the twirl and Eric go on tiptoes (because her height was just a teensy bit taller than Eric's in her heels) and leave them a beat behind. She looked on as Dan kept confusing left turns for right turns and Maxine doing the exact opposite.
But perhaps the greatest couple in the video was Rick and Frank, because they were actually in sync. Sure, they needed to be a lot more flexible, but at least they weren't slowly killing each other with each dance step.
Calleigh counted eight. Wait a minute. Wasn't it the ninth day? Where was Ryan?
Right after the thought made itself known in Calleigh's brain a stranger in black drifted in the background. Oh, no. It couldn't be…
Ryan Wolfe was dressed as Zorro. Well, as best dressed as he could get without going costume-shopping. He looked more like a deranged garbage man than a hero. He wore a plain black undershirt, a pair of the black waterproof suspenders that the CSI's used for their journeys in the Everglades, and black rubber galoshes. His cape wasn't even black; it was just a really really dark blue shower curtain.
His dark hair was wrapped in a black cloth, and his hat and mask were probably the only things that he didn't have to be resourceful for. Still, even with his ridiculous attire, she couldn't help but love him just a little bit more. No question, he would go to great lengths to make her happy, and that was rare to find these days.
Plus, he looked way hot in his Zorro costume.
In true Spanish hero character, Ryan bent his back forward and ran swiftly between the four pairs, and with excellent timing, covered the camera with his cape just as the song finished. Still, the cape couldn't cover the hard thud! of someone being dropped from the final dip.
She couldn't tell who it was, but that was okay. She could just pat them all on the shoulder and see which one winces from the bruise that formed.
haha this is officially the highlight of the whole story... so far.
thanks a bunch for those who have reviewed; your comments are so cute & at the last chapter i promise to respond & comment to those that need commenting. everybody's been so nice lately.
hopefully there's still some nice left? =P leave a comment, pretty please. four chapters to go!
