Note: Thanks to all of you for your great reviews with my first story. I hope you enjoy this one as well. It's my first shot at a songfic. It came to me while listening to the song "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven. Thus, the song in this songfic is "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven.

Disclaimer: I do not own the show CSI: Miami, Finger Eleven, or "Paralyzer." I am just borrowing them for the time being.

Paralyzer

Finally, this day is over. Today has been one of the longest, most exhausting for every member of the MDPD forensics team. But, it is all behind them. The killer is in jail, the evidence processed, and the case closed.

At the present moment, Ryan walks into The Velvet Room, Miami's newest hot spot and takes a seat at the end of the bar. He isn't one to go out after work, much less to a club, yet after today he needs to be around people whose lives haven't been affected by the aftermath of a serial killer. He needs some sort of escape from the horror he's witnessed today.

The place is starting to get crowded as groups of men and woman alike enter and congregate at various spots on the periphery of the dance floor as well as at the bar. Ryan leans over the bar and orders a martini; as he does, he doesn't notice Calleigh enter and take a seat in a booth along the wall on the opposite side of the place. She doesn't seem to spot Ryan yet. The bartender brings Ryan his drink. He takes a long sip then closes his eyes, letting the steady beat of the song beginning to play fill his mind and take him away. The lyrics now float into his ears:

I hold on nervously to me and my drink

I wish it was cooling me

But so far has not been good

It's been shitty and I feel awkward as I should

Ryan nods his head in agreement with the lyrics. After this day, shitty is definitely how he feels. Shooting someone is definitely the worst part of his job. Today is one of those worst days. His heart is heavy; he needs to forget as well as escape. He wonders how his other colleges are feeling, especially Calleigh. This case hit a little too close to home for her. The serial killer was a young man who finally sought revenge against those who had hurt him throughout his life, starting with his father who was a hopeless drunk and beat him. Ryan knows of Calleigh's family situation, and it tears him up at the thought. All he wants is to help her; if only he could get past those walls.

On the other side of the club, Calleigh sits, sipping her mojito, also trying to escape. The lyrics of the song are familiar; she's heard this song before.

This club has got to be the most pretentious thing

Since I thought of you and me

I am imagining a dark lit place

Or your place, or my place

Calleigh knows it's been a while since there's been a you to go with her me. Times like these she wishes there was. She is getting sick of being alone. The closest she has to a you is Ryan. She wonders how he is holding up. She knows he must be feeling awful after shooting the young man; however, he did fire upon them first once they caught up to him lingering at the scene of his last murder. The man didn't die, thank goodness. With this thought, Calleigh raises her glass in the air, toasting the heavens above. As she lowers her arm back down to the table, a seemingly familiar sight catches her eye at the bar. She gets up from the booth, walks over the side of the bar closest to her and takes a seat.

Ryan downs the remainder of his martini then stops the bartender to order another, oblivious to Calleigh on the opposite side of the bar. She doesn't approach him yet for he seems to be lost in his own reverie. Instead, Calleigh orders her second drink of the night and decides to just observe Ryan for a while.

Well I'm not paralyzed but I seem to be struck by you

I wanna make you move because you're standing still

If you body matches what your eyes can do

You'll probably move right through

Me on my way to you

He seems different tonight. From across the bar, he radiates a different vibe than usual. Ryan isn't wearing his gray jacket anymore, only the matching gray pants and sky blue dress shirt. The top three buttons of it are undone and the sleeves are rolled up. Due to this, Calleigh notices his arms. They have a muscular build to them, and she can see a tattoo peaking out from his rolled up left sleeve. She doesn't recall ever seeing a tattoo on him before; it is nice. Calleigh can't help but smirk as well as wonder where else he might be hiding body art.

Her eyes travel upwards towards Ryan's chest. It too has a muscular build; this she can tell by the way the soft fabric clings to it in all the right places. Calleigh removes the cherry from her hurricane and devours it in one bite, her eyes never leaving the man across from her. She sets the stem haphazardly on the bar. Her eyes travel further north. There is a five o'clock shadow well under way upon Ryan' s well- chiseled cheeks, along with a hot little soul patch under his bottom lip. Calleigh licks her own lips. They taste salty and sweet. She wonders what Ryan's are like then quickly blushes at the thought. It is a good thing Ryan cannot read her mind she decides. He is instead swirling the ice in his now empty glass round and round with the straw, unaware of the analyzing he is undergoing.

She continues to burn holes in his flesh with her eyes. Still, he does not notice her. Other men have. They approach her, failing miserably in their attempts to hit on her. Calleigh brushes them off like a pro. There is only one man that interests her tonight. Ryan, she has concluded is not just cute anymore, no, he is down right hot. He is making a heat rise from deep within her, flushing her porcelain cheeks. A cocktail of passion, longing, and desire run through her veins, white hot like lightning. Calleigh's heart races in time to the music as she debates whether to tempt fate tonight or just sit on the sidelines.

I hold out for one more drink

Before I think I'm looking too desperately

Cause so far this has not been fun

I should just stay home if one thing really means one

To hell with it, she finally decides and downs her hurricane in one gulp. She sets the glass down hard and gets up. Determinedly she struts around the bar to where Ryan is sitting. He looks up, sensing her presence and turns to face her. Ryan takes one look at her; this is a side of her he's only seen in his dreams. Her walls have come tumbling down at his feet. Ryan looks her dead in the eye; they lock eyes. A heat now begins to well up in Ryan as well along with an urge he's kept buried deep down for too long.

This club will hopefully

Be closed in 3 weeks

That would be cool with me

But I'm still imagining a dark lit place

Or your place, or my place

Ryan starts to speak when Calleigh reaches him, yet she places a finger over his lips to prevent this. Instead she speaks.

"Ryan don't talk. Don't question, don't worry, and don't think about tomorrow. Just help me escape. Take me away. Now."

He understands he words immediately and pulls her to him as close as physically possible. Their lips crash together in a fury of passion and desire. Their limbs become entangled and their clothes disheveled. Someone yells at them to get a room.

They break apart in a need only for more oxygen. Calleigh throws some money on the bar then Ryan snakes an arm around her waist and leads her towards the exit. Once in the humid air, he again pulls her into a passionate kiss. Behind them a taxi pulls up. The driver, seeing the two meshed into one, blows his horn at them. The shrill of the horn breaks Ryan and Calleigh apart. They turn around to the taxi; as a man exits, they scramble in, intent on continuing their escape.

Well I'm not paralyzed but I seem to be struck by you

I wanna make you move because you're standing still

If your body matches what your eyes can do

You'll probably move right through

Me on my way to you.

THE END