Hello. Okay, this was not supposed to take as long as it did and it's probably not as good as I want it to be, but I'm working on it. I have problems shaping characters and could use a little advice, writer to writer. I don't remember what prompt number this is and I'm too lazy to go find my chart, so you'll have to bear with me. Me not owning stuff should be a given. Thanks to those who reviewed and Muchas Muchas Gracias to DerekRiffchyn'sAssistant y My Good Little Jewish Wife. Your support has been hella rad and so are your stories. I could tell you a hilarious little anecdote about my life, but you probably want to read my story, so…

Prompt: Together

Maxine Valera wanted to kill the man peacefully next to her. She knew, theoretically, she could get away with it too. Some latex gloves, a little precaution and a really sharp object was all she would need, really. Valera turned her head to glare at her now softly snoring bedmate-boyfriend. Her desire to cause Ryan Wolfe bodily harm dissipated as she watched his eyelids flutter softly when he exhaled and she hated that. Feeling frustrated and annoyed with her newfound weakness, Valera turned on her side, away from him, making the bed shift more than it really needed to. Maybe not seeing how adorable Ryan was when he slept would bring back her homicidal urges.

xxXxx

Earlier that evening…

"You won't believe what Calleigh mentioned to me today…" Valera probed, not trying to sound accusatory, but this had been bouncing around in her head since the blonde CSI mentioned it to her in the lab this morning. Valera pushed errant peas around with her fork, hoping that her casual front looked realistic.

"Huh?" Ryan looked at her, not quite sure if she was actually waiting for him to answer or if she was just waiting to continue. Valera had been acting odd all day and he didn't want to do anything to severely piss her off by saying the wrong thing.

"She said Sam showed you how to use the new equipment." Clearly, the question she asked wasn't actually a question, it was merely a segue to what she really wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, I didn't quite have the hang-"

"Calleigh inferred that maybe you were flirting with Sam, y'know, the pretty, new lab tech?" Valera cut him off, forcing her voice to sound carefree and bright as she speared a pea like it was going to run off at a break neck speed.

"What are you talking about?" he was thoroughly confused. He had never flirted with Sam. Ever. Nor had he wanted to for that matter, but maybe Sam mistook his niceness for attraction.

"Bullshit. It was this morning, Ryan. There's no way you couldn't remember."

Ryan opened his mouth as if to refute her last statement, but closed it quickly when he remembered the encounter in the lab this morning. He distinctly remembered his garbled reply to Calleigh's arched eyebrow and teasing smile. Shit. "I didn't flirt, Max, you know I wouldn't." Ryan said finally.

"You're a guy, of course you would!" She was yelling now and a yelling Valera made starving Mountain Lions look like harmless kitty-cats.

"That's not fair, Maxine. Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I flirt with everyone!"

"Of course! Not everyone, not H, not Eric, not Alexx, just pretty, young tab techs!" She spat at him, her fork now clutched dangerously tight in her hand.

"…like you?" Ryan couldn't help himself and smiled at her.

Valera's death stare cracked. "Damn it, Ryan, you can't do that!" She refused to let go of her resolve to be angry with him, but it was futile.

"What? Tell you the truth? Max, it's not fair that you accuse me-"

"You know what's not fair? Not being able to show my boyfriend off to all my coworkers." Her voice came out like a whine and no matter how hard she tried to stop it, she couldn't. "Why can't we just tell them?"

Ryan rubbed his left eye, a tick she had very quickly become familiar with. Valera bit her lip and tried to stare at him as indignantly as possible. She wanted him to know she was pissed at him and the secrecy of their relationship was starting to strangle her. Valera wanted to be able to tell Calleigh how he held doors open for her and how, even though she complained and said she 'refused to be defined by gender roles', she loved it. She wanted to bitch to Cooper when her boyfriend was being an insensitive asshole and didn't see that clearly she was right. But more than anything, Valera wanted to hold Ryan's hand and kiss his cheek before they entered the lab every morning.

"I was just reinstated, Max and the last thing you need is Stetler putting you under the microscope –no pun intended.-" He added quickly, chuckling slightly at his own lame joke. Valera rolled her eyes.

"Who cares about Stetler?" She was definitely not satisfied with his answer.

"He'd make you work nights and we both know you can't stand working the night shift. I like working with you. I like being able to see you during the day. I like taking you out for lunch, even if it's under the pretense of 'just friends'. It makes putting up with dead bodies and Eric obsessing over Calleigh that much easier." Ryan was beginning to ramble.

"Wolfe, you're not embarrassed of me, are you?" Maxine asked sharply, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically anxious. Shit Shit Shit! Why did she have to say shit like that? Now she probably looked pathetic and uncertain and if there's one thing Maxine Valera liked to portray, it was absolute certainty. Part of her was worried, though, worried that maybe he was indeed embarrassed by the lab tech's kookiness, penchants for gossip, strawberry Margaritas and her painfully blunt honesty.

"What kind of question is that, Max?" Ryan dropped his fork next to his plate and proceeded to stare at her in disbelief. "Did you just ask me if I was embarrassed of you? Do you really expect me answer that?"

Valera stood up faster than she thought humanly possible and picked up her plate, trying desperately to busy herself, hoping to pass off what she said with an air of nonchalance. In reality, his incredulous tone bothered her and she didn't want to be staring him in the face when he said her quirks actually bothered the hell of out him. Moving toward the kitchen sink, plate in hand, Valera could feel her boyfriend's eyes bore holes in the back of her skull. Five seconds had passed and he was still silent. Shit. She put her plate in the sink half filled with water and held her breath for a moment, trying to figure out what to say, how to jokingly push away what she just said without feeling like an idiot. Too late for that. Still nothing from Ryan, whom she was sure was still staring at her and now she wanted to crawl down the kitchen drain and die from sheer mortification. Why did she have to sound so needy? Why on earth did she whine like that and since when was she so insecure? She was Maxine Valera, for Christs' sake, and Maxine Valera was not needy or insecure, nor did she whine. If he didn't think she was a complete loser nutjob before, surely Ryan did now. Damn, maybe her sister was right about dating coworkers. Maybe she should just turn around right now, save him all the trouble and say that it wasn't his fault or anything, it just wasn't going to work out and that she just- Suddenly a pair of all too familiar arms wrapped around her waist, pulled her closer and out of her thoughts.

"Hey." Ryan's voice was warm against her ear. "Max, that was a stupid question." His hands lightly stroked her sides. "I'm not embarrassed by you. I could never be embarrassed by you and don't ever think that I am." He kissed her ear and released her from his grasp, returning to the table for his plate.

"Cooper's been flirting with me again." Valera stated as if to explain her sudden mood swing, which was only half true, but she would never admit that. Cooper's flirting didn't bother her as much as the thought of her coworkers trying to set her boyfriend up with another girl.

"Really?" Ryan appeared next to her, holding his plate, which he exchanged with Valera for a dishtowel.

"Mhm. Yeah, that's why we need to tell everyone we're dating, so that way Cooper will leave me alone" Valera glanced at Ryan to see if he believed her. His eyebrow was arched and he looked like he wanted to say something, instead he continued to dry the plates she handed him.

"I see."

xxXxx

After that, nothing else was said about Cooper or Sam or telling anyone at work and now it was 1:30 in the morning and Valera wanted to stab Ryan in his sleep. Valera huffed and squirmed more, frustrated. She contemplated waking him up to complain again, but waking him up would meaning turning over to face him and poking him until he came to. She didn't want to look at him, much less touch him because she had the sneaking suspicion that once she did, it would become extremely difficult to yell at him. She squirmed again and groaned loudly to herself. Maybe she could just kick him.

"Quit moving. You're going to wake me up and then I'll have to go home." Ryan sleepily growled, draping her arms over her in hopes of stilling her.

Valera stopped moving and didn't make any more noise. Sure, she wanted to kill him, but she didn't want to break their rule and watch him go home. The two of them had decided that if one fell asleep at the other's house, going home would only happen when they were awake. This meant a lot of early rising to drive back to someone's apartment so they could get ready for work.

"Max?" Ryan's voice was slurred with sleep and she was tempted to ignore him.

"What?"

"Is Cooper really flirting with you?"

"Yes, now go back to sleep." Valera sunk more into his embrace, not minding the warmth his body was emitting.

"What about Stetler?"

"No. Stetler does not want to get into my pants. Neither does H, if you were wondering." Valera said dryly.

"Good…No! Wait… what?" Ryan was starting to sound more coherent.
"Shut up and go back to bed."

"Max."
"Ryan." Valera paused for a moment. "You want me to drive you to work tomorrow?"

Ryan knew what she was getting at. "Yeah, but try not to park next to Stetler. Last thing I need right now is you working nights."

Reviews get you cool points. Oh yeah and I'm not going in any sort of order, despite what I said earlier.