Sloane rushed to her sister's side, hugging her until she was gasping for breath.
"Don't do that to me, Kit. I was so worried. And why didn't you tell me I was marrying a criminal?" Sloane asked in a resentful tone. Keats rolled her eyes.
"I did. How quickly we forget, Garcia." She replied. Sloane's face contorted and she carried the expression of someone who's just swallowed a lemon. Not a pretty look, sis.
Horatio, Eric, and Ryan stood on the opposite side of the interrogation room while Calleigh remained in the room with Christos, recording his confession.
"Christos Veradis. He's a copycat. And apparently he was trying to get caught." Horatio commented, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"How do we determine whether his confession is a lie if we don't have enough evidence to prove otherwise?" Eric asked. Horatio cracked a half-smile.
"Simple, Eric. We get our evidence." He said with such simplicity. It was back to the drawing board and the crime scene of the latest victim was retraced and all the evidence thereto was re-examined with careful tenacity.
Keats stood near Valera, making sure Natalia was nowhere in sight, and held her breath as she waited apprehensively for Valera to finish the results. Valera worked dexterously, but even that was not quick enough for a girl who wanted to know fast.
"Uh, Keats…it's inconclusive. I need another sample of blood." She said after a time. Keats gave a groan and covered her face with her hands.
"Arrgghhh…this is killing me here." She said as she poked her finger with the tiny sterilized needle. She let Valera daub up a bit of blood with the point of a Q-tip and watched her as she repeated the test…yet again.
"While we wait, you might as well 'fess up. You're with Ryan, aren't you?" She asked, apparently more of a gossip than Keats had imagined her to be. Keats flushed, not knowing exactly how it would look if she admitted that she was seeing a colleague…her mentor…and not wanting to lie to Valera, who had been nothing but nice to her.
"Promise not to say anything?" Keats asked hopefully. Valera nodded.
"Sort of. We've never actually set down any terms nor have we attempted to define exactly what we're doing…I would say yes, but even I don't know what's going on." Keats tried to explain. Valera nodded again, puzzled but satisfied with the response.
"Does he know you're down here?" Maxine Valera was quite the inquisitive soul. Keats shook her head, trying to suppress a wave of guilt.
"I knew he would want to come with me and I didn't want people to get the wrong idea. I don't want him to be under scrutiny just because of me." She said. Valera tilted her head and gave an odd smile.
"No offense, because I know I wasn't there or anything, but I don't think it was just you…" The implications of her statement made Keats turn red.
"He was busy anyway. I didn't want to interfere." Keats leaned her head back against the wall and sighed heavily.
"You know, I think you and Natalia could be good friends if you just tried. Your personalities seem like they would mesh well together." Valera said, obviously trying to fill up the impatient silence.
"Oh, give me a break. Natalia's had it in for me from day one. I think she still has a thing for Ryan." Keats said, letting herself be distracted by the topic of her sort-of arch-nemesis.
"Not really. She went out with him like once, but I think that was just to spite Eric. She's all about Eric." Valera said, closing her mouth with a frown.
"That's the difference between you and Cooper. He has absolutely no regrets about exposing other people's secrets. You seem to beat yourself up about it quite often." Keats grinned at her, not realizing how much she had craved a friend since moving to Miami.
"It's not like I do it on purpose. It just comes out, you know?" Valera said. Suddenly she turned to look at the blood test and gave a tiny smile. Keats bit her lip.
"Congratulations. You're not pregnant." She said in a low voice. Keats embraced her excitedly and jumped up and down with glee. Thank Heaven above and whoever else! This is the best news I've had in forever.
"I feel like celebrating. Woo hoo!" She said, doing what could be considered as dancing if the term were used quite broadly.
"You can do field work again!" Valera cried. It was so easy to share the happiness of a friend.
Keats found Ryan doing more tests on the blood-soaked bikini, the splices of hair, and the pieces of gravel from under the victim's feet. There wasn't much to go on, but it was all they had.
"Hey, stranger. H is looking for you." Ryan said, glancing up from his work. Keats dared to put her arms around him and smiled.
"You don't have to be ready. And I appreciate your saying you could." She said, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Ryan gave a relieved sigh and pulled her closer, hugging her tightly.
"I didn't want to share you anyway." He mumbled, kissing her with rough tenderness. Keats gasped, wondering whether it was a good idea to be so brazenly open about their relationship.
She noticed the sound of footsteps behind her and before she could turn around, she heard a voice that she had come to dread.
"Well. So this is the guy that almost knocked you up… I'm disappointed, Ryan. You aren't usually so careless." Natalia Boa Vista strode into the room in red high heels, standing toe to toe with Keats Remington and absolutely loving it.
Ryan had come to regret ever having harbored a crush on Natalia. Something in the way she behaved as of late. The change happened almost overnight, it seemed. And it started around the time that Keats Juniper Remington came to work for the Crime Lab at Miami Dade P.D.
"Natalia, can I talk to you in private?" Keats asked in a calm, sweet voice. Natalia's gaze remained intense, but she followed Keats out of the room compliantly. They went all the way to the women's restroom, standing in silence in front of the mirrors.
"Why do you hate me so much?" Keats asked, emotion filling her voice. She hadn't admitted it, even to herself, but Natalia's brusque attitude of her was upsetting.
"Don't be ridiculous. I don't hate you, K.J." Natalia said unkindly. Keats willed herself not to cry. As many confrontations as she'd had to handle in police training could not have prepared her for a personal skirmish with Natalia Boa Constrictor.
"What is it about me that you can't stand?" She asked. Natalia glared at her as though the reason were quite obvious.
"You walked through that door and people are rolling all over themselves to please you. It's sickening. I know it's petty to be so bitter, but dammit I am! Not two days after you do your internship and you're already at my level. I had to work my ass off to get past cold cases. You don't even realize how easy you have it!
Horatio adores you and basically so does everyone else at the Lab. It makes me so angry to think you take it all for granted. You're already a success and you're ready to throw it all away because Ryan wants to get into your pants. How stupid can you be?" Natalia's voice had long since softened, replaced by something more despondent.
Keats had no idea what to say. Natalia was pretty accurate on most accounts. She was wrong about Ryan, of course. But nevertheless, Natalia had every right to be this way.
"Ryan is more than a quick lay. He's not what you think. Ryan…loves me." She said. And once she had said it, she wondered if it were true. It has to be true.
"Loves you? Honey, he'll tell a girl anything if she'll get into bed with him." Natalia pursed her lips and glanced at her reflection in the mirror.
"No. He loves me." But even having said the words, she began to second guess their truth. She knew she must have sounded naïve and stupid to someone like Natalia, but people in love were usually criticized because of envy.
"Has he even said 'I love you'?" Natalia wondered, fixing her makeup in the mirror and fluffing out her hair. Keats was struck dumb. She tried to recall a certain point in time where Ryan professed his love. She could not remember such a time. No…he hasn't.
Natalia noted that Keats hadn't answered her question. Her face had turned ashen and she seemed to be having an inner struggle.
"I'll take that as a 'no'. To be honest, one of the reasons why Eric and I broke up was a pregnancy scare. My advice to you would be to break it off before you get your heart trampled on. He's bound to dump you soon enough, anyway. Why not do it first?"
Natalia gave herself one last look in the mirror and trotted off, leaving the bathroom door swinging. Keats fell to her knees and cried.