Keats unlocked her apartment door and closed it behind her with a frustrated slam. Ryan was acting childish. He's so frustrating…he pisses me off so bad, I can't even stand him! I'll get even with Ryan Wolfe if it takes me my whole life.

She glanced at the badge in her hands and the gun she had received upon being ushered into the Miami Dade Police Department. She wanted to go out and fight some crime, but she was stuck doing lab reports the rest of the week. She grinned at her success, and despite losing her mentor as a friend, she was happy that things were finally going right for a change. Suddenly the lights went out and Keats wondered in the darkness if she had paid the utilities on time. Of course I did

A hand shot out in the darkness and landed on her jaw with a swift blow. Keats took cover on the ground with her weapon and stared up into the void. She could barely see her hand in front of her face much less the figure looming above her. A beam of light shone in her face and Keats squinted uneasily.

"You stood me up, Little Red." A gruff voice spoke in her ear. Keats had no idea what he was talking about. A pair of hands gripped her neck with startling strength and began to squeeze the very life out of her. Keats was careful not to struggle and kept her gun hidden.

She cocked it and shot the stranger in the side, trying to breathe under his immense weight. She rolled out from under him and retreated to her bedroom. She locked the doors and grabbed her phone from the nightstand only to discover the land line had been cut. She groaned in exasperation and realized with extreme dismay that her cell phone was in the other room with the stranger. She took a deep breath and walked out, finding no trace whatsoever of the strange man. Not even a drop of blood.

Keats looked in her mirror the next morning wondering how she would hide the ghastly marks on her neck. She figured a scarf would be too lame, and a turtleneck was much too warm for Miami. Instead she opted to wear a thin dress shirt with the collar upturned. It wasn't much better than anything else, but it was the only thing she could do on such short notice.

"Hey, Dracula…what's with the collar?" Eric asked as she was getting coffee out of the machines. Keats cringed on the inside but decided to play it off as nothing.

"Uh, just a lame college fad, I guess." Keats said, taking a gulp of terribly hot coffee. She spit it out at once and was immediately sorry she'd ever decided to buy any. Eric laughed and found a custodian to clean up the mess. Keats ducked until she found herself in the ballistics lab with Calleigh and luckily, without Ryan.

"Anything new today?" Keats asked. Calleigh grinned and showed Keats how to test hair follicles for DNA. Keats was transfixed on every step of the process that she had almost forgotten about the bruises on her neck.

"Junie, my God. What happened?" Calleigh asked with deep concern. Keats feigned ignorance and fluffed her collar back up to hide the marks.

"Uh, I fell in the shower." She said, trying to get back on the subject of DNA. Calleigh wasn't about to let her off that easy.

"Junie…" She said with an edge. Calleigh crossed her arms over her chest.

"Seriously. I fell in the shower and I'm kinda embarrassed about the marks. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone." Keats said in a very confident manner. Calleigh sighed, knowing only too well that Keats was lying. She hadn't known her long but she could tell somehow that she was keeping something a secret.

"Delko, I noticed some strange bruises and a bit of swelling on Junie's neck. Did she tell you anything about it?" Calleigh said with a drawl. Eric shook his head.

"Her collar was up, but I didn't think much about it." Eric turned to look at Calleigh.

"We need to get her checked out. Do you think Ryan knows anything?" She asked.

"If anyone knows, it'll be him." Eric said as he took Calleigh's cue and went off to find Ryan.

"Wolfe, got a minute?" Delko knocked on the door to the locker room. Ryan stuffed his things in his locker and rolled his eyes. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Keats for even a minute.

"What's on your mind, Delko?" Ryan asked, sitting down on the wooden bench in between the row of lockers.

"Calleigh noticed some contusions on Remington's neck and wondered if you knew anything about it."

Within the next twenty minutes the entire lab had heard about Keats. Keats in the meantime was working with Horatio on some paperwork that would solidify her position in the Miami Dade P.D. Ryan stormed into his office and motioned for Keats to follow him into the hallway.

"H, I need to ask Keats about something. It won't take long." He said, grabbing her arm tightly. He placed her against the wall and turned her collar down, placing his warm fingers on her neck with a surprising gentleness.

"I slipped in the shower. I swear." Keats said, looking into Ryan's eyes.

"Whatever." He said, dismissing her as he went on his way. Sometimes, Ryan, you can be such a bastard. Keats went home later that day without having said a word to anyone else save for Horatio

I don't know why I haven't told anyone about the guy who attacked me. I guess it was because I didn't want any attention. But somehow I ended up getting it anyway.

Keats locked her doors and windows and sat in the middle of her well-lit living room. She crawled under the covers on her couch and wished that she hadn't caused such drama. She heard her cell phone ring and she retrieved it from her pocket.

"Hello, Remington speaking…" Keats answered. The voice on the other end sounded frighteningly familiar.