Okay, folks. Sorry for the reprieve. My friends and family conspired with my wonderful, amazing boss to turn my one week vacation into a month-long, much-needed escape! No computers allowed. They said nothing about my notebook. Thus, I have sneaked (have snuck?) off to an internet cafe to upload some of the chapters I've been working on while I soaked up the sun. I'll update again when I can. R&R!

P.S. This one is all Ryan and Natalia. Sorry for any mistakes, I'm trying to type fast.

Chapter 7

Where the hell is he? Natalia wondered as she paced the locker room. She'd been waiting for Wolfe for almost fifteen minutes now, and he was still a no-show. She hadn't seen Calleigh or Eric, either. Maybe they're working on something last minute. I should go back upstairs.

When Nat disembarked from the elevator on the sixth floor, however, her three colleagues were still nowhere to be seen. Alright, I know I've been out in the field all afternoon, but where is everyone else?

Trace—no. A/V—no. DNA—no. QD—no. Fingerprints—no. She hadn't seen them in reception, she'd passed by Horatio's office and no one was there, and she didn't spy them in the hallways, either. Finally, she thought to search for Wolfe in the storage room where he'd been holed up for the last couple weeks.

Bingo! Nat thought as she poked her head around the door. "Ryan." The man sat on a stool, elbows leaning on the lab table and chin resting in his hands. He didn't even budge when Natalia called his name, so she called again. "Ry." Nothing.

Taking a step inside the door, Natalia tried one last time, this time almost shouting. "Ryan!"

He whipped around like she'd blown a foghorn in his ear. "What? Geez, Natalia! What did I ever do to you?"

Nat would have laughed at his skiddishness if she weren't so concerned by the look on his face. "Ryan, I called your name three times. What's going on? You look stressed."

That's an understatement, Ryan thought. "What time is it?" he asked, attempting to throw the attention off of him and into safer territory. After what he'd been through that afternoon, Ryan knew he'd have a hard time acting normally, and the last thing he needed was Natalia asking him about his strange behavior.

"It's almost seven," Natalia said suspiciously. She was a CSI, dammit, and she knew evasion when she saw it.

Ryan's eyebrows flew upward. "Are you serious?" He glanced at his own wristwatch to verify. 6:52. He'd been in here for nearly two hours. Sitting, doing nothing. Well, thinking.

Natalia was surprised that her friend was so out of sorts. She glanced around the room, and it looked almost exactly the same as it did several hours ago. What has he been doing this whole time? she wondered, choosing to keep her question to herself for the time being. Something was going on, but she trusted Wolfe to tell her if and when he wanted to.

Ryan noted Natalia's appraisal of the storage room and nervously realigned the file boxes on the lab table. He could see the concern on her face and knew she suspected something. Maybe if I give her a little information, she won't think anything of it…

Natalia offered him the perfect opportunity. "Is that all you have left?"

"Yeah, it is. Actually," Ryan said, gently removing the lid of the first box so Nat could peer inside, "we haven't quite decided what to do with them yet."

"We?" she asked as she looked at the contents of the box. Ryan returned the lid before the woman had a chance to become too curious.

"Well, I should say that Horatio, Eric, and Calleigh haven't decided what to do with them yet. These, uh, apparently belonged to Tim Speedle."

Natalia's jaw dropped open. "What?"

Ryan simply nodded. "Oh, wow. And they've seen these boxes? All of them?"

"Yep." A little white lie couldn't hurt, could it?

"Hmm. Well, that's interesting," Natalia murmured, more to herself than to Ryan. She stood in contemplation for a moment before turning to him, "So if you're done, why are you still in here?"

Good question. Wolfe offered her a bright smile and a wink, saying, "It was just so hard to say goodbye…"

Natalia laughed, recognizing the brush-off for what it was. She hooked a friendly elbow in Ryan's and led them both to the door, dropping her arm so they could pass over the threshold. "Well," she said, smiling, "that's too bad. Because it's time to go. I guess Eric and Calleigh are meeting us there; I can't find them anywhere."

Ryan swallowed a lump in his throat as he walked down the hall beside Natalia. He had forgotten all about going out tonight after work until now, even when Nat came looking for him in the storage locker. Funny, that's all he could think about earlier today.

"Er, Nat… I think it's just you and me now."

She stopped abruptly. "What do you mean, just 'you and me?' What happened to Cal and Eric?"

Ryan put his hands on his hips and tilted his head a little, trying to think of a good explanation for their friends' sudden change in plans. Calleigh had suggested the night out, so it did seem strange for her to cancel last minute.

"Nat, H sent them home," he said carefully. "I think…what I found in the storage room shook them up pretty bad."

"He sent them home," Natalia repeated, letting Ryan's words sink in. Her eyes narrowed and she pegged him with a knowing look. "There's something you're not telling me."

Wolfe inwardly cringed. Of all the people in the world, Ryan could not lie to Natalia. She was just so… trusting…that lying to her seemed somehow worse than lying to anyone else. "Listen, Natalia, I would love to tell you everything that happened today, but I can't. It's not my place. You need to hear it from Eric or Calleigh."

"Was it that bad?" Natalia asked, worried. She reached in her handbag and pulled out her cell phone. "Maybe I should call and check on Cal."

"No!" Ryan said a little too loudly, darting out a hand to cover Nat's on top of her phone. She looked at him like he'd grown a third head, and, frankly, Ryan wasn't sure he hadn't. "I mean," he stuttered, "you should, uh, give her some time."

Natalia continued to eye the man next to her as she returned her cell to her purse. If Ryan were talking to anyone else, he might be able to pull off his little act. But this is me we're talking about. "You know what Ryan," she sighed, "I don't even want to know. As long as they're okay?"

"They're okay." I think.

"Okay. Let's go get a drink, Mr. Wolfe," Nat said with a smile, dropping the subject of Eric and Calleigh. She was disappointed that all four of them couldn't hang out tonight, but she'd be lying if she said that spending time with Ryan wouldn't be just as fun. They didn't get the chance to do that very often.

"Lead the way, milady," Ryan said with a smirk which grew into a full-blown grin as Natalia rolled her eyes.

"Oh my God," Natalia laughed breathlessly. "How did I miss that?"

"I have no idea, Nat. I though all of Miami heard about it." Ryan had just finished telling her about Tripp tackling a suspect last week. The man had robbed a convenience store wearing a chicken suit. Frank had to chase him for three blocks before taking him down in a heap of flying feathers. He came back to the station with the guy in cuffs, wearing a sour expression and spitting out feathers and curse words.

"The next day, Horatio sent him a bucket of fried chicken for lunch."

"He did not!" Natalia exclaimed.

Ryan laughed and nodded. "Yes, he did. Well, it didn't exactly come with a card…"

"But that is such a Horatio thing to do," Nat agreed.

They both chuckled. "So whatever happened to the chicken-man?"

"Don't know. Everyone was more interested in what happened to Frank," Wolfe replied, grabbing his beer and leaning back in his seat. "Speaking of which, tell me about court yesterday."

Natalia groaned. "And there goes a perfect evening," she said, only half-joking. She was finally letting loose for the first time in months, and Ryan goes and spoils it.

"Seriously? I thought you guys had that case all tied up?" Ryan asked, confused.

Natalia took a sip of her martini before she answered. "It was. Frank and I both testified, and we thought we'd nailed him. All of us did—even the prosecutor. But the judge awarded a last minute mistrial on some stupid technicality."

"Oh, man. I'm sorry, Nat. After all that work. Will you have to testify again?"

"If it goes back to trial. It's just…I mean, you know what it's like, Ryan. We know he did it. We can prove it. But then the system breaks down and he walks free? Sometimes our job sucks."

Ryan nodded. "I felt like that last month with Lucas Wade. Different situation… but to think I could have stopped him before he killed again?"

Nat locked her brown eyes with Ryan's hazel ones. "We've been over this, Wolfe. You gave the man a ticket. You had no reason to believe he was some crazed serial killer. Besides, who else would have made the connection after the fact?"

"Oh, I don't know. Someone who wasn't forced to justify his entire life's work at MDPD?" the man said sarcastically, taking another swig of his beer.

"Stop, Ryan," Natalia said firmly, fire behind her eyes. "You made mistakes, but all of us know you belong at CSI. So Stetler's being an ass. It's his job."

Ryan smiled gratefully at the beautiful woman sitting on the other side of the small table. "You're right, Nat. One more week and all this is over." He paused for a moment to study Natalia's face, and she cocked her head to the side as he watched her.

"What?" she asked a little self-consciously.

"I couldn't have done any of this without you, Natalia," he said sincerely. "Thank you."

She smiled brightly. "You would have done the same for me."

"That I would," Ryan agreed easily. He raised his drink. "To great friends," he toasted.

"To great friends," Natalia grinned, clinking her martini glass to Ryan's beer bottle. They settled into a comfortable silence, listening to the live band and watching the people in the bar, occasionally exchanging a few words.

Natalia studied the man across from her just as closely as she did the crowd. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Ryan, something's bugging you."

"What?" Her question truly did take him off guard, consumed as he was by his thoughts and his surroundings.

"Something's bothering you. Is it Calleigh and Delko?" Natalia's observation skills made her a good CSI, but Wolfe cursed them when she put them to use against him.

Is it Calleigh and Delko? That was a loaded question if he'd ever heard one. Of course it was Eric and Calleigh. But it was so much more than that, too.

"You wanna get out of here?" he asked, hoping she'd say yes.

Since Natalia's apartment was on the way home for Ryan, he followed her home and upstairs for a cup of coffee and a chat.

"Okay, what's up?" Natalia asked once they were settled on her couch. She sat with one leg under her, coffee mug held in both hands, staring at Ryan until he answered her question.

Three feet away, Wolfe shifted uncomfortably. He wanted to explain everything that had plagued his mind lately, but he wasn't sure where to start. "Do you ever wonder what might have happened if you'd just made one decision differently?"

What would have happened if he hadn't placed that one bet with the death pool? His first time gambling serious money, and he got a taste for winning on a long shot. It was all downhill from there.

And then there was Eric and Calleigh. He was still getting used to the idea that they'd slept together. Their personal lives were none of his business, normally, but his entire conception of their friendship, of his own relationship with them, had suddenly changed. He'd watched them for years and never would have guessed at the true intimacy of their relationship. You can't just move on from something like that. No matter how hard you try.

"One night can change your life forever," he said to himself.

Natalia heard her friend's words and wondered where all this was coming from. "Does this have something to do with your suspension, Ryan? Because this won't last forever. You know that."

He did know that. The consequences of his actions seemed dire at the moment, but they had seemed even worse three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, he wasn't sure he still had a career in law enforcement. He wasn't sure of anything—of his place at CSI, his future, his own integrity.

"Yeah, you know, I'm not so worried about that anymore."

"Okaay," Nat said. "Then what's going on in that head of yours?"

Ryan smiled thoughtfully and looked at the brunette sitting on the other end of the sofa. "Well, a lot, I guess. Everything is changing. My job, my friendships, the way I'm looking at my life."

"For the better, I hope," Natalia probed.

"Mostly." He sat thinking for a moment, and then in a stroke of bravado, he ventured to ask something he'd wanted to ask for a long time. "Natalia, why did you and Delko start dating?" There was a curious look on his face and a hint of whimsy in his voice.

Okay, random, the woman thought. Why does he want to know about Delko? "Hmm. I don't know. We were attracted to each other. Both of us needed a little distraction, I guess. Why the sudden interest?"

Instead of answering her question, he asked another one. "Nick?"

"Yeah. Eric wasn't a rebound, if that's what you're thinking."

"No, not at all."

"So why the twenty questions?"

"I don't know. I've just always wondered," he explained with a crooked grin. "Things seemed to end so quick. You and Delko are such good friends now, I just wonder if it ever gets awkward."

"Well, was it awkward after we went out?" Natalia parried. She and Ryan only went on a few dates, and although they had some chemistry, the whole situation seemed weird at the time. She and Delko had just broken up—Ryan didn't know about the pregnancy scare—she was just outed as a mole for the FBI, and she felt kind of like a football being passed between players.

"No. I actually had a lot of fun," Wolfe commented, grin growing wider.

"Ha! You had fun spiting Eric." Natalia winked, knowing that wasn't truly the case. Minus the whole Lucha Libre disaster of their first date, Ryan was sweet and attentive, and their subsequent dates went relatively well. They naturally…fizzled… and after a few weeks they returned to their normal routine of co-workers and friends. Natalia hadn't thought about it before, but they never really ruled out the possibility of dating in the future. This is kind of nice, she noticed, sitting here like this. Welcome change of pace.

Ryan rolled his eyes, enjoying the fact that they could joke about all this now. "That was an added bonus," he chuckled. "Tell me the truth, Nat. Why'd you guys break up?"

He could tell she didn't want to go down that road, but that only made him press harder. "C'mon. Boy Scout's Honor, my lips are sealed."

"You would be a Boy Scout, wouldn't you?" she teased. Finally sighing in resignation, Natalia relented. "Eric and I started so fast, Ry. Girls around the lab warned me about his 'past,' but as I got to know him, I realized that chapter of his life was over."

Ryan shook his head. "I never did understand that."

"You know, neither did I," Natalia remarked. "He was going to counseling when we met. Damn—you don't know that Wolfe."

Despite his surprise at Nat's little revelation, Ryan made a movement to zip his lips and throw away the key.

"Speedle's death hit him hard. They were best friends. Brothers. Everyone just assumed that Eric's escapades after that were his way of dealing with everything. And maybe they were…"

"But you're not convinced."

She took a deep breath and let it out with a soft 'whoosh.' "I don't know…I just always got the feeling there was more to the story. When we were together, it seemed like he was trying to forget. And not just Speedle—forget everything."

Yeah, no kidding, Ryan realized in a rush. As of two seconds ago, he might just be the only person besides Delko and Calleigh who knew the real reason behind Eric's toothing. He wasn't trying to forget Speed, he was trying to forget Calleigh. No wonder neither one of them had been able to hold onto a successful relationship since then.

"So that's why you two broke up."

"Uh, no, not entirely." Nat was blushing. "Like I said, we, um, we got started so fast…two months after we started dating, I—I thought I might be pregnant."

What? There was no use trying to keep the look of surprise from his face. Natalia's olive cheeks burned crimson as she tried to explain. "It was a false alarm, and both of us realized we needed to back off."

"And things were over, just like that?"

"Pretty much. It was the best thing for both of us. We're better off as friends. Much better off."

Wolfe let everything Natalia told him sink in. "You don't want kids?" he queried absently.

"Well, yeah. Sure I do. Two years ago? With Eric? No. Someday, with the right guy and at the right time." A soft smile played on her lips. "Don't you? I've seen the pictures of you and your nieces, Ry."

"Yeah, I want kids. Like you said, someday." He stood up from the couch and reached his hand out to Natalia. "More coffee?"

She handed him her cup. "Please." As he traipsed to the kitchen to refill their mugs, Natalia considered their conversation. "You never answered my question, Ryan."

"Which one was that?" he called from the kitchen.

"Why so interested in Delko?"

Coming back to the living room, he passed his friend her mug and reclaimed his seat next to her. "Today was just…strange." He stared into the black recesses of his coffee. "When I said things were changing, earlier, I didn't mean just for me, Nat."

"Okay…"

"The stuff I found in the storage room, it brought back a lot of memories for Eric and Calleigh. I'm not sure they'll want to talk about it," he said quickly at the look of interest that crossed Natalia's face, "but, um, I learned a lot about them, and… I don't know, it's like I'm meeting them for the first time."

"How do you mean?" Natalia asked. That was a heavy statement to make.

"Oh, I don't know," he replied dismissively. "Delko started telling me a lot of old stories. Showed me pictures from years ago. I mean, he must have been twenty-three, twenty-four tops in some of those pictures."

Natalia chuckled merrily. "Well, that must have been a sight. They were babies!"

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "Anyway, sometimes you forget that people have a story other than the one they've made with you."

"I know what you mean. Like with Anya, you guys didn't even know I had sisters."

"Exactly. How is she anyway?"

The conversation about Eric and Calleigh and Wolfe's gambling and the crazy day was officially over, and the two of them spent the rest of the night talking and laughing and downing cups of coffee. When Ryan finally looked at the clock, his eyes went wide with the time. Thank goodness it was Friday and they weren't on call tomorrow. Depositing their mugs in the sink, he made his way to the door, Natalia following close behind.

She leaned tiredly, but happily, on the open door as she watched her friend prepare to leave. "We need to do this more often, Ryan."

"Deal. You know, I think 3:10 to Yuma comes out next week. Or, I know you said you wanted to see Across the Universe. Catch a movie?"

"Deal," Natalia echoed brightly. With that he pecked her quickly on the cheek and disappeared down the stairwell, smiling as a thought formed in the back of his mind. Natalia…hmm.

Upstairs, Nat turned off the lamp in the living room and straightened up the pillows on the couch, the same smile gracing her lips. Ryan…hmm.