Horatio Caine was in the DNA lab, talking to Natalia Boa Vista, when his cell phone rang.

"Caine."

"Yeah, Horatio, I'm sorry to bother you…" He recognized the voice as the newest addition to the team. And she sounded worried.

"Ms. Wallace, what seems to be the problem?" He asked in that calm, paternal way he had.

"Um, it's Ry—CSI Wolfe. He, uh…just went into pre-op." She couldn't keep the concern from her voice. Horatio imagined her pacing outside the hospital, chain-smoking a pack of Camel Lites.

He nodded unconsciously, as if she could see this motion. "Alright. Could you tell me exactly what happened to him? Is it—" He excused himself from Natalia's presence, out into the deserted corridor. He was polite, he was professional, but he wasn't stupid. I'd prefer not to divulge Mr. Wolfe's medical problems to the mole. Once in the hallway, he finished his question. "Is it about his eye?" He had been having sneaking suspicions that his younger colleague had been have issues with his sight for a few weeks.

Benny sighed. "Yeah. We were on our way back from the field, and he started freaking out with this massive headache." She choked up for a moment. "They say the infection has spread pretty far. They don't know how his sight will be." She was practically whispering now.

"Alright, Ms. Wallace. Just stay with him, and don't talk to anyone. We don't want the county getting into this if they don't have to."

"OK." Was her weak response. What a tough girl.

"OK. I've got to go, but I want to you call me when he's out of surgery, and if you need anything at all. OK?" Again, the fatherly tone.

"Mm-hmm. Thanks a lot, Horatio. I just didn't know who else to call."

"Alright. Just stay with Wolfe."

> > > > >

Dan Cooper looked up as Natalia walked into his Lab. She looked good, in a flowered blouse and fitted jeans, her tan peaking through the material, as always.

"Hey, Boa Vista. What's up?" There was no reason for a DNA tech to come into the A/V lab. They were essentially confined to their own labs, and they knew it. This visit was decidedly out of the ordinary.

"I was just wondering if you've heard anything lately about Ryan…" When anyone in the department wanted gossip, they knew who to go to. But something about Natalia's tone told him that this was more than idle gossip; was she interested in Ryan again?

Dan racked his brain in search of any recent information pertaining to his colleague. "Uh, I think Peters might have mentioned something about him and Ben getting back together."

Natalia's heart sank. Not quite what I was looking for. "Nothing…about his eye?" She tried not to be completely obvious. From the pieces of Horatio's conversation that she had caught, she knew to be worried; she just didn't know about what.

Dan frowned. "Well, he wore his glasses today. Which he never does. Other than that, I couldn't tell you. He knows how to be discreet."

"Alright, thanks DC." Natalia headed out of the Lab.

"You want me to ask around?" He really was eager to please.

She turned around for a moment, pausing at the door. "If you don't mind."

> > > > >

As she walked down the hallway towards the elevator, she couldn't help her rising concern. Her short-lived, casually dating relationship with Ryan had come to an unspoken end once she had revealed her status as the department mole. Since then, she had found herself becoming increasingly attracted to him, and had experienced a noticeable degree of satisfaction when she had heard that he and Ben had broken up in December. Natalia had wanted to ask Ryan out since then, but hadn't known how. And now, something was wrong, but she had no way of figuring out what.

Or do I?

Natalia picked up the phone sitting on her table in the Lab, and dialed Benny's cell phone number. After a few rings, Ben's tired voice picked up.

"Hello."

"Hey, Ben, it's Natalia. Valera sent me those DNA results, asked me to compare them to some cold case stuff I've got, and the male DNA is consistent with a similar piece of flesh found in Wyoming three years ago." This was all true, of course; she just hadn't intended to tell Ben until they got back.

She sounded weary and spent as she replied, "Alright, thanks Natalia. I'm just at the hos—I'm just working this case with Ryan, I don't know when we'll be back." Realizing her mistake, she quickly ended the conversation and hung up.

"The hos"…the hospital? She checked her watch, saw that it was around the time she usually took her lunch break, and locked up her office before taking the elevator to the parking lot, and driving in the direction of the hospital.