The gurney was franticly being pushed through the emergency door while the paramedics desperatly tried to save the women resting lifeless on it . Her friends trailing behind worried that she wouldnt make it .
A swarm of doctors and nurses soon joined them for the momment ignoring her friend .
''WHAT DO WE HAVE '' one of the eldest doctor asked slipping on a pair of latex gloves .
WOMEN IN HER LATE THIRTIES FOUND UNCONCIOUS DROWNED IN HER BATHTUB ! TRACE OF MEDICATION AND ALCOHOL IN THE HOUSE !the paramedic answered pUShing the gurney with the help of the nurse .
'' HOW LONG WAS SHE UNDER ?''
''UNKNOW''
'' DID SHE REGAIN CONCIOUSNESS ''
'' NO !, NO REACTION WHATSOEVER ''
Sighting the doctor followed the gurney has it was pushed further into the emergency room her friend following behind they were stop by a nurse who kindly told them they couldnt go any further .
Helplessly Jake and Maxine wacth on from the hallway has Calleigh was being work on ,Jake had tried desperatly to bring her back until the paramedics took over , but Calleigh wasnt fighting like they wanted her to be .
when they brought on the pad to shock her Maxine could only turned away her eyes blurry at the sight of her friend dead on the gurney, Jake winced and closed his eyes for a second but he never turned his face away kept on watching hoping , praying that Calleigh still had enough fight in her to get out of this .
Leaning with one hand agaisnt the wall Maxine covered her mouth with the other whimpering quietly unable to look at her friend .
Jake watch has they shocked her again with no reaction what so ever from Calleigh , when a nurse notice him she thought it would be better to close the curtain, when she did so the last thing Jake saw was the doctor holding a long needle in his hand and aiming at Calleigh heart , Jake couldnt shake the feeling that this would be the last time he ever saw her .
He thought he could handle many things , had dealt with a fair amount of serious situation but this , seeing her like this he couldnt deal with it .
Outside the hospital Natalia was dragging a very grumpy Joey behind her ,following the best she could Ryan in front of her rushing inside the hospital emergency room .
JOEY : MOMMY ...WAIT... he whined has his mother walked too fast for his little legs .
swirling around Natalia quickly picked up Joey in her amrs trotting to joins Ryan who tried to get the attention of the nurse at the reception .
RYAN ; EXCUSE ME...HEY EXCUSE ME ...HEY ...HEY ...
'' yes yes sir '' a young nurse answer half giving him her attention half working .
RYAN ; MY friend was admitted we 'd like to know how shes doing ?
'' whats her name ?'''
RYAN ; Duquesne .,...Calleigh Duquesne ...
'' Duquesne ...Duquesne'' the young nurse repeated tapping Calleigh name on the computer.
'' NATALIA !'' they heard from down the hall before the nurse could answer .
Turning around Natalia barely had time to put Joey down that Maxine was throwing herself at her crying into her shoulder .
Natalia thought that was it ,Calleigh was gone , they couldnt help her anymore they had been too late .
Joey looked up at the adults very confused and upset about their behavior he wasnt understanding what was going , clutching his mother leg he began to cry along with Maxine who tried her best to explain with a stuttering cry .
MAX: i...i never ...never ...she ...she ...was...
NAT: Maxine what the hell happened ..is Calleigh...is she ...
Leaning back from Natalia embraces Maxine looked down eyes filled with tears that fell down her cheek , she whispered something that neither ryan and Natalia understood .
NAT: what?
MAX: she...she wasnt breathing ...Jake tried ...the paramedics tried ...
NAT: oh my god ..is she ...is she ..
Unable to say the words Natalia tried to keep it together but it was the hardest thing she had ever done , answering her question Maxine shook her head once she spoke again her voices was filled with emotion .
MAX:we ... dont ...know yet ...they cant get her back ...were...were waiting ...
Has their crying intensified Maxine and Natalia held each other one of Natalia hand coming down to stroke her son head who had been clutching at his mother leg crying unable to comprehend what was happening around him ..
Ryan was helpless usually he was the go too guy but this , the thought of loosing a friend like Calleigh , his chest heaving he felt like he had been punch in the gut , running his hand thorugh his hair he looked around to see Jake pacing the hallway to where he assumed Calleigh was .
RYAN: JAKE!what the hell happened ? he asked rushing to Jake side .
Caught off guard by his name being suddenlly called jake swiftly turned around facing Ryan , the worried evident on his face .
He took a moment to gather himself , to give Ryan an explanation has too why they were here for Calleigh but even has he ran the words in his head he felt like he was talking about a total stranger not the calleigh he had grown to know over the years .
JAKE: me ...me and Maxine we went to her house to ...to check on her ...
RYAN: yeah ...
JAKE; She ...she didnt answer the door ...and i dont know call it a feeling but i wanted to make sure she was alright ...
Taking a pause Jake looked back at the room to where Calleigh was currently fighting for her life , he couldnt see anything but somehow he couldnt look away either .
RYAN :And then what ?
Without taking his eyes away from inside the room Jake answered Ryan who anxiously waited for an explanation.
JAKE: we found ...we found her in the bathtub ...
RYAN : IN THE BATHTUB? he said louder then he wanted
JAKE: yes ...she ..took something...
RYAN: TOOK SOMETHING ? ARE YOU TELLING ME SHE TRIED TO KILL HERSELF !
JAKE ; I DONT KNOW ...OK ...I DONT KNOW WE FOUND HER IN THE BATHTUB ...DROWNING SHE WASNT BREATHING ...I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW LONG SHE WAS IN THERE ! OK ...I DONT ...KNOW !
Frustated Jake kicked a rack of supply near them an orderly gave him a look , silently telling him to quiet down or he would be removed from the hospital .
Rubbing his face Jake was beginning to be impatient , wishing that someone would just tell him what was going on .
Patiently has one could they waited , waited for a news they werent sure thay wanted to know . Maxine sat in the waiting room her legs curled agaisnt her chest and her arms wrap around them she rested her chin onto her knees staring into space , next to her was Natalia who stroked her son head gently has he lay next to her sleeping quielty with his head on his mother thigh ryan jacked keeping him warm from the coldness of the emergency room , Ryan him was sitting a few bench away from Natalia and Joey , feeling like he didnt belong next to them he kept glancing toward her and the look of hurt from the words he had spoken earlier out of anger still fresh in his mind , not only in a few minutes had he hurt Joey but Natalia has well .
For Jake things were falling appart around him , he had left ATF to start a new life and forget about a specially hard case that had left him feeling disgusted with himself .The only good thing he had ,was Caleligh even if they had kept thing platonic she was the closest thing he had of a family right now and loosing her would mean loosing yet again a part of himself .Has he stared into the emptyness waiting among her friends he thought back of the many time he had let her down and promised himself that never again he would do such a thing.
JAKE: We let her down ... he said to no one in particular ...
When everyone looked up at him Jake realised he had said out loud what he thought but he didnt look up to them just kept running things in his head .
JAKE: we ...all of us we failed her ...
No one said anything just bowed their head down , Jake was right in some way , for 3 years Calleigh had gone down deeper into the abyss they could clearly see her fall and fall over again, they tried to help her , but did they tried hard enough , maybe if they had push a bit more or if Horatio had make her seek some help earlier they wouldnt be here right now hoping that Calleigh would survived .
'' HOW IS SHE'''came the voice of Horatio has he stared at his team obvious dispair over the faith of their friend.
NAT: We dont know yet ! she answered for the others has Horatio stood in the middle of the waiting room .
The moment Jake had seen Horatio an anger had rose inside him and one name kept repeating in his head '' Mark Coleman '' .Pushing himself on his feet Jake barely aknowleged Horatio passing by him he simply said ...
JAKE: i need to talk to you ...now !
Horatio gave his team one last look before he followed Jake outside , him too hoping that soon news would come .
While the 2 men walked outisde Joey awoke from his sleep rubbing his eyes he sat up with little feet dangling from the seat .
JOEY: mommy i have to pee !
RYAN : i can take him !
It wasnt irregular for Ryan to take Joey into the restroom when they were in public places and Joey had never minded but this time the little boy still angry at Ryan shot him a mean look has much has 3 years old could look mean and firmly said...
JOEY: NO ...
Joey hop down the chair taking his mother hand , ryan tried to not read into much of it but he certainly had deserved it , Natalia didnt even look at ryan and took her son hand heading to the bathroom .
Outside Horatio followed Jake who walked with a steady step in front of him to the side of the building .
Jake turned the corner and for a second Horation lost sight of him but when Horatio turned the corner has well he saw the young man with his hnad on his hips his back facing Horatio .
With his sunglasses between his fingers Horatio tilted his head tot he side patiently waiting for Jake to say something , but Horatio had a feeling what this was about .
Turning on his feet Jake had an anger in him he tried to contain , shuffling from one feet to another he finnaly speak has his eyes never left those of Horatio.
JAKE: Mark Coleman ! he simply said to Horatio .
The older Lieutenant bowed his head at the mention of the name he often tried to forget a reaction that ddint go unnotice by Jake .A man Horatio had never met but had heard is name many times along the years working in law enforcement .
JAKE: We both who he is and what he does , right Horatio? !
HOR: Yes we do ! he answer Jake with determination in his voice .
JAKE: Then maybe ... maybe you would like to explain to me why on earth would Calleigh have his name .
Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans Jake retrieved the piece of paper he had found at Calleigh house earlier and pushed it agaisnt Horatio chest .
JAKE: Try honesty for once that would change you ! he spat out the words at Horatio out of anger and fear for Calleigh , Horatio tried not to take it too hard , knowing that Jake was getting his frustation out on him .
HOR: This way beyond your understanding Jake !
Jake lost every once of control he had in him gettign in Horatio face he forced Horatio to take a step back
JKAE; BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING ...BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING ! YOU FORGET WHO YOUR TALKING TOO...I KNOW WHAT COLEMAN DO ...I KNOW HSI SPEACIALTY ...SO DONT PLAY GAME WITH ME ...TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW !...NOW !
HOR; EXACTLY ...YOU KNOW WHAT HE DOES ..SO THINK! JAKE THINK!
JAKE; I WANT TO HEAR IT FROM YOU !
HOR; WITNESS RELOCATION PROGRAM!
Has the words left Horatio mouth both man took a step back their anger still visible but both of them silently agreed for a thruce , for now .
JAKE: i swear Horatio if you tell me hes alive and you didnt tell her... i'll...
HOR: I dont know !
JAKE: what?
HOR: Nothing ..nothing went according to plan ...
JAKE: what exactly are you saying ?
Sighting Horatio couldnt keep this to himself anymore something that had been eating inside for 3 against the building he looked down at his sunglasses in his hands and for the first time since he came back to Miami Jake realised how old Horatio had become over the years , he looked exhausted but yet kept going .
HOR: A few weeks after Eric found out about his fathers , he got a called from the FBI concerning his father , they said that if Eric could convince his father to testify agaisnt the whole russian organisation ,they would provided him with a new life int the witness relocation program.
JAKE: which came Coleman ?
HOR: Yes ...everyone was involved , FBI, ATF , DEA , the whole colaboration between law enforcement was to bring down the russian organisation .
JAKE: Never heard of such colaboration !
HOR: Dont take it too personnal it was mostly kept under wrap , to avoid any leak to the russian .
JAKE: So did his father agreed ?
HOR: At first no , and he even was angry that Eric wouLD suggest such a thing that could get him killed , but then Coleman spoke to him told him how he worked and that he had never lost a witness in 20 years .
JAKE: Which made him the best ! he agreed wit a nod .
HOR: yeah , so thats what Sharova did , gathered information and relay them to Eric to which he relay them to the FBI , everything was going smooth until ...until we arrested ...Cameron West ...
JAKE:Who?
HOR: He wasnt important , what was important were the picture he was taking , picture of the team the whole team .
JAKE: The russian mafia was getting tab on you ?
HOR: Yes but they didnt seem aware that the FBI was getting close to shut them out so the investigation went on .
JAKE: But like always something went wrong .
HOR: Yes , the day ...the day Eric died , him and Calleigh had a fight , concerning his father invlovment into Sarnoff escape and he was upset about it because his father didnt tell him about the escape and that 2 police officer had been kill because of it .
Horatio took a moment and rubbed his tired eyes he was about to continue when Ryan came running shouting to them .
'' SHES AWAKE ...SHES ALRIGHT '''
With no hesitation the 2 men followed Ryan back inside with relief flooding them , but Jake made sure Horatio knew that it this conversation wasnt over .
Inside Natalia and Maxine were relieved has the doctor explained to them what was going .
DOC :your friend was very lucky ,she might not have taken a high dose of her medication but combined with the alcohol i dont think she was even aware she was drowning .
NAT: is ..she ...going to be alright...i mean she wont have any residual effect ?
The doctor sighted looking at his patient friends he seen many patient come and go , some came back other he never saw again but his experience had thought him to never expect anything.
DOC: Look your friend she ...she obviously in a lot of distress and i dont mean just physicly , if you think like you say that this was suicide attempt then your friend needs help , physicly she should be fine but were keeping her under observation but mentally thats another ball park .
RYAN: But you said the psychiatrist was with her right ?
DOC: yes but shes only doing a first evaluation ,she will do a more thorough evaluation in the next 72 hours which is what were allowed legally to keep her .
MAX: what and after that you'll just let her go !
DOC: It's up to her if she wants help we will provided it , if she doesnt legally there nothing we can do ...
HOR: look guys lets just wait and see in 72 hours ...
JAKE: WAIT AND SEE! ...YOU GUYS BEEN WAITING TO SEE FOR 3 YEARS NOW!
No one argue has jake swirl around running a hand through his hair they all had seen Calleigh fall and fall closer to edge but they never took drastic measures to help her deep down they all hope that the Calleigh who could take on anyone or anything would emerged and fight back , but she never did which was what had brought them here today .
DOC:Look i know your all worried about her and thats great but what she will needs next is your support...i would suggesst coming back tomorrow give her time to rest and if you can get her to talk to someone.
Jake had enough he stormed off without a word shaking his head and his anger evident when he punched the wall has he turned the corner no one dared followed him mostly out of shame and guilt to have let Calleigh down .
Soon they all separated quietly Horatio stood behind for a second watching his team defeated ,his sunglasses between his hand he let out a heavy sight he looked back behind him toward where he supposed Calleigh was resting , in his head he went over everythignthat had le to this over 3 years ago and somehow felt like he had let his promises down , 3 years ago he made a promises to Eric that no mather what would happenned he would keep an eye on Calleigh ,and today he was ashamed of himself , ashamed to have kept a truth about things that lead Calleigh here , maybe if had told her everything he knew about those dreadfull events 3 years ago Calleigh would have had understood why Eric had been there at the MDPD armory .But he had promises and tomorrow no mather what he would break that promises and tell her everything he knew .
No one had much sleep that night , either tossing and turning or doing other acitvities , for Ryan it had been tossing and turning all night long and has the early sign of the sun rising came to his window he resigned himself that he wouldnt get any sleep , sliping his legs out of bed he rested his elbow on his knees for a moment and though about how dumbass he had been the day before not only had he yelled at Joey , something he had never in his life done before , which is probably why the little boy had reacted so harshly to Ryan raising his voices , but he had managed to hurt Natalia has well with his words not intended for her but that had hurt deep into sometheing inside of her she had tried desperatly to hide for all these years .Her abusive past always had been a sore subject but until recently with the recent events in his life Ryan hadnt realised how much it could affect someone and here it had gone calling her weak when to him Natalia was the exact opposite.
He had to make it up to them , somehow last night has they got home they barely said 3 words to each other , Joey refusing ryan goodnight kiss and Natalia ignoring him has she went to bed Ryan had been left alone in the living room sitting on the couhc starign at the box that contain the poor excuse for a christmas tree ,yesterday was suppsoed to be a fun day ,decorating the christmas tree together and have fun with Joey but all had went to hell because of the evil torn at his side he liked to call Jasmine and then Calleigh had taken a turn for the worst .It had hit them hard Calleigh had always been the core to their group the one that held them together in crisis and she had been in need they had let her down Jake had been right on that ,for 3 years Calleigh struggle with Eric death and none of them had acted to help her , sure they had reached but had they reached hard enough .
Sighting Ryan pushed himself on his feet running a hand through his hair he headed to the bathroom , stopping at Joey room to check on him , has he pushed the boy door quietly he leaned agaisnt the doorway and has always something inside of him twist and made him feel uneasy ,he loved that boy like his own but would never be allowed to call him son ,Joey slept peacefully clutching his favorite girafe between his arms unaware of all the drama in his life right now . Yestersday when Joey had ask his mtoher what was going on at the hosptial Natalia had answered thathis auntie Calleigh was sick and needed his prayer right now ,somehow explaining to a 3 year old that Calleigh had tried to commit suicide didnt sit right with Natalia .
Readjusting Joey blanket Ryan stroked the little boy hair sighting once again before he left closing the door quietly behind him, about to make his way to the bathroom he heard a whimper coming from Natalia room ,ryan frozed on the spot closing his eyes he rubbed his temple ,before taking a deep breath .Everythng good in his life was going down the drain and fasrt , so Ryan needed to act to make all of this better or the holydays wouldnt be very pleasant for anyone.
It was a like a stroke of genius had hit him has ryan suddeny straighten his shoulder and quickly headed back to his room , he emerged 10 minutes later dressed and ready to go , he didnt bother to shave and when he closed the front door he did so quietly has to not wake anyone he hoped to god he would be back in time for his surprised before anyone would be awake .
Meanwhile near miami beach at the Hadon halls Hotel 2 guest were awakening , well one was trying to slip out quietly while the other pretended to sleep while she did so , has she search for her clothes she winced when the floor creaked under her weight quielty swirling around to check on the slipping form in the bed the blanket covering his lower body has his chest rised up and down with a steady beat .
Shaking her head away from the sight in front of her Maxine quickly dressed herself all the while berating herself about the events that had occured just a few hours ago .This time she couldnt really blame the alcohol , not when she was sober as a new born baby ,although she suspected Jake had downed a few glasses of Jack daniel's , judging from the half empty open bottles and the glass next to it , but still that she couldnt blame on him , she couldnt also blame him they were at ''his'' hotel room and she had been the one to show up at his door uninvited .
The scathered clothes clearly showed what had happened next , not that Maxine needed a reminder , not when her body felt satiated or that split second where she ponder getting back into bed with him and curled next to his naked body , but she didnt , didnt even bother putting her bra on slipping it into her purse, quielty has she could she slip out of the room stopping to quickly checked herself in the mirror , before she turned on the knob like a thief trying to slip away uncaught.
When the door clicked back closed Jake open his eyes when he was sure the coast was clear , he wasnt usually the kind of guy who would hide from any of his conquest even if she was a one night stand , he was a southern gentleman through and through but this morning things were different he had more urgent things to attend .
Pulling at his jeans Jake rubbed the stuble on his face he had been sporting for a few days ,reaching for his cellphone he quickly hit speed dial ,has he waited for the other line to pick , Jake poured himself a small amount of Jack daniel's and downed the drink in one shot , he usually didnt drink this early in the morning but the last few days had been stressfull and he needed something to keep him going .
'' Agent Dean Craven speaking ''when the other lines picked up jake put the glass down sitting down on the bed .
JAKE: Hey Craven ,still dating tat hot chics from narcotics ?
'' hoy Berkeley How you' ve been ?''
JAKE: ohh you know there and there ...so still dating that chic?
'' yes Berkely im still dating Sandra and no i wont give you her phone number ''
JAKE: yeah yeah you know it's only a mather of time before she dumps you and comes looking for me .
'' did you call me for something or to just steal one of my girlfriend again ?''
JAKE: hey hey that was one time and believe she wasnt that hard to steal .
has both men laugh having no hard feelings between them agent Craven leaned back agaisnt his chair throwing a a pen into the air asking jake once again why he was calling him .
'' so dude why you calling , getting bored aleady of playing detective for the retirees in florida.''
JAKE: I need a favor !
'' name it ''
JAKE: Mark Coleman !
'' Ohh man dont tell me you got in trouble again over that blonde chick ? ''
JAKE: no no nothing like that i just need to talk to him over a case im working on involving one witness he might have sent to witness protection .
'' Then if that the case you know there no chance he will tell you anything , dont you ? When it come sto his cases that men is more closed up then a virgin on prom night .''
JAKE: Yeah i know , which makes him the best but could you try at least !
'' Look i make you no promises Coleman is in tight with the brass you know that , he doesnt even has an office or even cases files with names on it , with him its all numbers !.
JAKE: yeah i know how he work , the numbers are assigned to a witness and only him knows who they belongs too ...just try to give him my number and tell him it's an emergency .
'' i can try , but you know if it's one of his witness he'll know you before i even give him your number ''
JAKE: Which in some way will give me my answer .
'' Alright , i'll get back to you on that , but you owe me big !''
JAKE: Hey i let you have Sandra , didnt i ? so were even !
They laugh has they bid their goodbye , jake hung up but he had another call he needed to make , one that wouldnt be much pleasant .
Once again Jake waited for the other line to pick up walking back and forth next to his bed , bare chest and running his free hand through his hair .
''Lt Caine ''
Jake stop on his track at the sound of Horatio voices , seconds later Jake spoke his voices hars and cold .
JAKE: we need to finish that talk ! he simply said to the lieutenant .
On the other side Horatio was silent for a few agonising second , and finnaly answered Jake .
HOR: I know !
JAKE: When ?
Hor : In an hour !
JAKE: I'll be there .
Jake hung up the phone not bothering to say goodbye to Horatio he threw his phones on the bed wathcing it lands next to a shiny string coming from unders the covers .
Pulling at the string jake notice that it was a golden neklace with a small delicate heart at the end , the claps having been broken .
With a small smirk on his face jake put the necklace in his front pocket , he might have time to drop it at a jewlery store and get it fixed before meeting Horatio.
Ryan had to admit he was pretty proud of himself pulling back to stare at his latest acquisition , not only had he managed to get into the house quietly without waking anyone up but he had gotten away without being killed by an angry canadian lumberjack woken up too early .
Now came the second part of his plan waking Joey up and makes this little boy day .The task would be hard Joey wasnt an early riser and would often be fussy when he had lack of sleeep but Ryan thought that this would be worth it .
Kneeling by Joey bed Ryan picked Joey girafe from the ground and once again put it next to the little boy .
RYAN: Joey ...hey buddy wake up ...
Shaking joey lightly on his back the little boy fussed but remained asleep clutching his girafe agaisnt him .
RYAN: Hey buddy ...come on wakey wakey i got a suprised for you .
Joey blinked his eyes open groggy from the lack of sleep rubbing his eyes Joey vision clear in front of him and when he seen that Ryan was in front of him he frowned turned around hiding under his blanket .
RYAN : Hey hey come on buddy wake up .
JOEY : No... GO AWAY ...
This would be harder then he thought , Joey was still rattle about Ryan yelling at him yesterday but Ryan was determined to make it better.
RYAN : hey buddy i know your mad at me , and thats perfectly understandable , i know i scared you and mostly hurt your feeling when i yelled and i was out of line , sometimes ...sometimes our temper gets the best of us , just like you the other day when you were mad and you yelled at your mommy remenber?
Joey pulled the covers from his head to his nose showing the upper half of face he gave a faint nod but shyly remained under the covers .
RYAN : Right , and you remenber she forgave you because she loves you , so you see we makes mistake sometimes even adults , so again Joey im am so sorry about yelling at you yesterday for no reason , i had a bad day but thats no excuse ...so wat do you say buddy do you forgive me an old fool like me .
Joey tighten his hold on his giraffe looking down at his favorite toys he whisper something to the girafe before lookign back at Ryan .
JOEY: Charlie says we can forgive you .
Chuckling Ryan shook his head somewhat relieved that te tension was gone .
RYAN : well thank you charlie .
JOEY: Whats...whats the surprised ? he asked shyly still hiding halfway under the covers
Smilling brightly ryan stood on his feet looking down at Joey .
RYAN : Did i said there was a surprised humm i cant remenber .
Scratching his head ryan tried hard not to laugh at the frown on Joey face , but couldnt denied the little boy any longer .
RYAN : if you dont put on your scooby doo slippers you'll never find out !
before Ryan could say '' go '' Joey had pushed the covers away and slipped on his scooby doo slippers , holding charlie in his hands he stood in front of Ryan smilling from ear to ear , a smile that Ran matched to no end moslty due to the mismatch spiderman pjs bottom , batman tops and scooby doo slippers , he figured natalia must have been too exhausted the night before to care .
RYAN : ready?
Joey gave a firm nod squeezing Charlie between his arms ryan took his hand and led the litte boy outside his slippers scuffling on the ahrdwood floors of Natalia hallway .
RYAN : now you see when i was growing up in boston we had a tradition ...
JOEY: A twadition ?
RYAN : Tradition Joey ...tradition ...anyway part of ur christmas ritual was to decorate the chritmas tree but it wasnt just any kind of tree ...
JOEY: ohhh !
The litte boy curious even more listened carefully to every word Ryan had to say walking slower then usual in the hallway until they reached the living room then ryan stood in front of Joey blocking his view of the surprised he had in store .
RYAN : We had a tree just like santa had !
JOEY`: Like santa ?
RYAN : yes , you see santa he didnt have a plastic tree , even though are nice , nope santa always had the good stuff ...a real christmas tree !
Ryan stepped aside showing Joey the giant pine tree that stood in a corner of Natalia living room , even though the tree took more space then Natalia faked tree , ryan couldnt help himself and had taken the biggest he thought would fit in her living room .
Joey eyes widen , dropping charlie to his side he ran next to the tree and the 3 foot tall child looked quite small next to the giant tree .
JOEY: A REAL CHRISTMAS TWEE...
Joey jumped around admiring the tree from every side , at his age he had never seen one so huge and the even though the tree was yet to be decorated the excitement as too much for .
JOEY ; A REAL CHRISTMAS TWEE ...A TWEE ...
He kept repeating over and over once again messing the ''r '' like he ussuallly did , ryan smiled at his excitment leaning against the wall crossing his arms he let Joey have his moment .
But the little boy noise had awaken the other occupant in the house , Natalia came out obviously still half awake , eyes puffy , hair disheveled , wearing flannel pants and a tank top with her bathrobe open she glared at Joey who was making too much noise at this time of the day .
NAT: JOEY WHAT THE HELL !
Joey too excited about the tree didnt notice his mom bad temper and simply answered .
JOEY : LOOK MOMMY A REAL CHRISTMAS TWEE JUST LIKE SANTA .
Natalia obviously still half in dream land and half in the real world took more then a second to notice the giant tree standing in her living room .
RYAN : so ..what you think? ... he asked almost shyly has things last night had been utterly awkward between them .
NAT: You bought a christmas tree ? she asked not bothering to set her sight on Ryan .
RYAN: yeah ..so ..you like it ?
Wrapping her bathrobe around her Natalia swirled around once again ignoring Ryan .
NAT: Dont know why you bothered the plastic one perfectly find , now excuse me i need some coffee .
Ryan sighted rubbing his eyes he smiled at Joey over excitment before following Natalia into the kitchen , it was do or die .
He found her where he expected her back to him preparing the coffee with more angst then necessary .
Ryan took deep breath and went over in his head what he was going to say , no mather how angry or hurt she was ryan wanted to make up for it and would speak from his heart .
RYAN : Hey can we talk? ...
NAT: Im busy right now !
RYAN : Doing what ? coffee ..surely that can wait ..
That was certainly the wrong thing to say right now especially when she turned around and glared at him that way that made him feel smaller then a smurf , he knew he was walking on thin ice .Temptivly he took a step closer and spoke quietly .
RYAN : I know the things i said last night hurted you and they werent my intention Natalia far from it , i was so angry at Jasmine ...
NAT: STOP! Just stop ...
leaning forward agaisnt the counter she shook her head , ryan could only sense the tension in her body .His shoulder defeated has he put his hand into his front pocket he expected her to ask him to leave and never come back , until she spoke soflty to him the tension in her body slowly releasing .
NAT: Ryan ...your my best friend and you know that and i also know that the words ...the words you say last night were out of anger ...but they still hurt Ryan ...
Slowly turning to face him , her face softened at the puppy dog look he currently sported .
RYAN : Im sorry ...he whispered enough for her to hear his eyes fixing the ground .
NAT: I know you are Ryan ...you didnt mean what you said ..but it still hurts ...
RYAN : Natalia pleased ...
NAT: NO ryan ..let me finish ..i need to say this ... i get it ...i get what your going through , because i went through the same thing with Nick ...so i know ..i guess what im trying to say is that what ...what you said last night it..it just brought on memories i tried so hard to erase ..
Has Natalia began to get teary anddbo her best to control her emotion to say what she had to say the smaller ryan felt .
NAT:and sometimes they get the best of you ..combined that with ...with what happened to Calleigh i was emotional last night and i should have let you apologised im sorry ...
The tears beginning to fall on her cheek Natalia couldnt get the words out properly , desperatly trying to wiped them off her face , ryan took a step further unsure has to what to do mostly confused has to why she was apologising to him .
He wanted to reach for her badly , and held her ,recomfort her , but thtere was boundaries between and if he crossed them he wasnt sure he could help himself .
RYAN : Please stop crying ... he said quietly ,desperatly ...
Wiping her tears she took a deep long breath and looked at the man who should be perfect for her but her heart refused to see it that way .
NAT: Ryan ..
Looking up Ryan met her teary eyes desperatly reaching out to him .
NAT: I really really need a hug right now !
Within half a parsec second ryan had his arms around her , holding on for dear life has she did the same , all the boundaries left for a minute for she needed this more then him controlling his own urges .
After a few long seconds Ryan finnaly spoke in the crook of her neck , low enough for jsut the 2 of them to hear .
RYAN : Your not weak ...far from it ...
NAT: neither are you ... she whispered back ...
His arms tightening around her , Natalia felt somewhat guilty knowing full well that just holding her like this was torture for him , but yet he showed no sign of making any advance toward her , once again she was takign adavantage of their frienship .
NAT: Thank you for the tree .
RYAN : it's nothing .
NAT: Joey loves it , so do i .
RYAN : yeah , you should have seen the angry canadian wanting to bite my head off for being there to early .
Chuckling Natalia cupped the back of his head has they both cried and chuckle at the same time.
RYAN : She'll be alright ...calleigh she'll be alright !
NAT: We let her down .
RYAN : we did ...he agreed quietly ...but we will make it up to her ...we wont let her down anymore .
Nodding agaisnt his shoulder , she realised the hugged had lasted longer then would be consider friendly , yet she still didnt want to let go .
The resounding sound of little steps rushing into the kitchen brought them back to reality , Joey still glowing about the tree stpped on his track when he seen his mother crying , wiping her eyes furiously .
JOEY: Mommy ...
NAT: its alrigth baby ...you want breakfast ...
JOEY: you crying why...you dont like twee?
Chuckling Natalia picked her son into her arms his tiny arms around her neck .
NAT: No baby i love the tree , did you say thank you to Ryan .
Nodding Joey still eyed his mother with a worried look a three years old boy could give .
JOEY ; why you crying ? he asked again wanting an answer .
NAT: Mommy just worried about auntie Calleigh !
JOEY: is...is auntie Cal cal going to be ok .
Natalia couldnt bare her son sadness has he spoke for his short age Joey was higly acute to hsi surrounding and even though Calleigh had been absent from his life lately Joey stilla dore his gomother .
NAT: yes she will and you know what i think if you draw her something it will make her really happy .
His eyes sparkle nodding furiously he wiggled out of his mother arms running out of the kitchen with ryan and Natalia watching with amusement the awkwardness definitly gone .
RYAN : I'll put back your awaull plastic tree down the basement if you want ...he tease with a smile .
NAT: hey i had that tree for years before you stroll in here with your fancy real tree .
RYAN : What can i say you know me im high maintenance .
Chuckling Natalia moved to prepared chocolate chips pancakes for Joey after the tough day they had yesterday they certainly deserved a treat . Meanwhile ryan started to bring the tree down until Natalai voices came upon him .
NAT: you know what lets donate it to the salvation army from now on we have a new tradition .
With a smile ryan picked up the box and went outisde to put it in the trunk of his car Natlia went back to her pancake while Joey was busy drawing for Calleigh .