CHAPTER 2

"Just give it a second," Calleigh admonished Ryan, though she couldn't see him in the pitch black of the small locker room. "That sounded like the transformer. The generators should kick in any moment."

True to Calleigh's word, the generators restored emergency power within 30 seconds, just as the city engineers designed them to in these situations.

The four CSIs grinned at each other in relief in the dim light that now filled the room.

"That was a close call," Natalia laughed. "I have way too much work to do to be sitting here in the dark with you three."

The words barely left her lips when another, louder boom echoed from a distance, and the lights flickered once again.

"Don't jinx it, Nat," Ryan gruffed.

"Calleigh's right," Eric reassured the team. "The generators are kept in a hurricane safe enclosure behind HQ, and they operate with redundancies. Nothing to worry ab—"

Unlike Natalia, Eric didn't finish his sentence before the lights went out once more with a buzz and a heavy "clank," and stayed out. Even the emergency exit signs disappeared.

"What was that?" Natalia asked, worry creeping into her voice. "Please tell me the locks didn't just engage…"

"I told you to not fucking jinx it, guys!" Ryan complained.

"Hang on, I can't see anything," Calleigh said.

"Here, Cal." Eric fumbled with his phone as he felt her bump into his side in the dark. Catching it before it fell into the abyss to never be found, he flipped it open and the faintest of lights illuminated the air around them.

Whoa, she's close to me, Eric thought when he finally registered the mere centimeters between their bodies.

Perhaps because Eric held the light, or perhaps because she didn't want to, Calleigh made no effort to move out of his space.

Another cell phone screen penetrated the dark. "Delko, check the front. I'll check the side door," Ryan said.

Their eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light, and with the aid of the two phones, the guys inspected the doors.

"Sealed tight!" Eric called.

"Same here," Ryan echoed from beyond the showers and sets of lockers.

"Do you have service, Cal?" Natalia asked, looking at her own phone. "I've got nothing."

All four of them checked their cells and came away disappointed. No service.

"What the hell is happening out there?" Ryan murmured to himself.

Eric groaned. "They took the landline out when they did the remodel. We're stuck."

"Not for long, I'm sure," Calleigh soothed the tension growing in the room.

He felt a small, encouraging hand momentarily grace the small of his back. In the dark, no one else noticed.

An hour later, and Eric wished for more of that same comfort as his anxiety grew about being trapped.

The group spent the better part of 20 minutes theorizing about how they'd become stuck, and the next 40 minutes talking about cases when they realized it didn't matter. They weren't going anywhere any time soon.

A single flashlight lit the room. All four of them carried a flashlight in their kits, but only Natalia carried her kit with her when the power went out.

"Ugh," she huffed. "I wish I'd eaten lunch now."

Calleigh's stomach audibly rumbled. "Me too. Eric, what about your snack stash?"

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "And to what snack stash might you be referring?"

She grinned. "The top secret one you think you keep hidden in the top of your locker."

Eric laughed and capitulated. "Okay, okay. It is for emergencies only, and this definitely counts. I missed lunch, too."

Ryan knew Eric only missed lunch because he felt too worried about Calleigh to eat when they got back to HQ.

Eric took the flashlight over to his locker and rummaged through its contents, returning moments later with a small box filled with peanut butter crackers, apples, trail mix and the like.

"Damn, Delko," Ryan said in surprise.

"Hey! I get hungry. What can I say."

"You keep all that in your locker?" Natalia asked.

"I keep a lot of things in my locker," Eric laughed again.

"It's how he reins in the hanger," Calleigh said with a wide smile.

Ryan watched the partners share a look as they both grinned, and he knew he just witnessed one of the many inside jokes that passed between the two.

An idea hit him as he watched the pair that would make 12-year-old Ryan Wolfe proud. Now, how to make this work?

Another hour passed before he decided to put his plan into action. He had to wait until conversation exhausted itself and boredom and restlessness hit their peak, and after two hours of being trapped together in the dark, the time had come.

"Let's play a game," Ryan suggested. He used his foot to nudge Natalia's, intimating she should follow along.

Nat only hesitated briefly before she said, "Sure, anything to take my mind off this darkness."

What is he up to now?, she wondered.

"Truth or Dare," Ryan grinned mischievously.

"I'm not in the mood, Wolfe," Eric groused.

He felt another gentle caress on his back from where Calleigh sat at his side. All four of them sat facing each other on the floor, leaning against benches and lockers.

"C'mon, Eric, let's just play something to pass the time," she entreated. "How about Two Truths and a Lie, instead, Ry?"

"No way, you and Delko always win. Truth or Dare is way more fun. Unless you're a chicken…"

He pushed Calleigh's trigger button, and everyone knew it. She couldn't back down from a challenge no matter how childish.

Eric chuckled. "You've gone and done it now, Wolfe. Get ready to be dared into oblivion."

Ryan hid a satisfied smirk. This was far too easy…