accident/missing

Eric rapped on Ryan's apartment door, hoping he was there, knowing most nights his friend slept over at Lina's if he wasn't working, but he also knew he would have gotten a call from Calleigh if Ryan had shown up there.

Ryan opened the door and let Eric in. "What's up?"

"You know what? You tell me." Eric asked, walking inside.

"This is about Lina?"

"Yes."

"I know she's angry at me. I don't know what I did."

"Did you ask her?"

"I never got to. She wouldn't stop telling me off."

"I don't know how Lina works, but when Cal tells me off, she makes damned sure I know what I did."

"I don't know Eric. I get she's scared, but she didn't have to take it out on me."

"You're right she's scared, Ryan. She's terrified. So she raises her voice. That doesn't mean she's yelling at you and you know it."

"What am I supposed to do. She's ignoring me."

"Is she ignoring you or is she trying to cope? She can't show fear in front of H or Nat or Kaya. You're supposed to be the one she knows that she can show emotion in front of right now and you're not there. You weren't there at the hospital and Calleigh's the only one there now."

"Why aren't you there then?"

"Because Kaya wanted a girls night. And because I'm here. I don't know why I'm here, but I'm here. I guess I was thinking that you would stop saying 'poor me' and start trying to fix it, if not for her, for Kaya."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Growing up would be nice."

"Sorry?"

"Either you want to have Lina in your life or you don't. But if you choose you don't, I'm not gonna be a member of your pity party anymore and I'd be shocked if Calleigh or Nat would be either."

"All this talk about wanting to have a real girlfriend, a real relationship, and the minute you have a good girl in your life, you're not there when she needs you most."

"You know what? Get out."

"That's exactly the mature response I've come to expect, Wolfe." Eric left, shutting the door behind him.

Ryan sat on the couch, thinking about the damage he was causing to his friendships.
*******
Calleigh tried to get Lina to eat but wasn't surprised when she didn't. She was just glad that the girls were in Kaya's room and didn't see since she brought their food to them.

"Thanks Aunt Calleigh," said Kaya when she took the food from her.

"Need anything else?" She asked, putting Mari's sippy cup near her daughter.

"No thank you."

"You're welcome. Let us know if you change your mind." She finished cutting Mari's food into bite size pieces that her daughter could pick up and left the girls alone.

Kaya helped Mari with her food and then ate her own.

"Are they okay?" Lina asked when Calleigh came back into the room.

"Yeah. They were still playing the computer."

"She loves that thing."

"I imagine she does. But she loves sharing, cause Mari was playing with Kaya's help."

"Anything that will take her mind of Natalia and Dad works for me."

"She'll be fine. She knows her parents will be okay, and she has her big sister with her."

"But not her big brother," she said before she could stop herself.

"Do you know where Kyle is? Or do you mean someone else?"

"Yeah, he reupped again. Last I heard he was overseas, but at least not in Afghanistan or Iraq again. I meant Ryan."

"He'll come around, Lina."

"Did you want to watch a movie or something?" Lina asked, changing the subject as soon as she had brought it up.

"Okay. Anything in particulare?"

"Not really. Whatever you want's good."

Calleigh got up and found one of Kaya's movies in the DVD player. "Is Cinderella okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

Calleigh started the DVD and sat down again, handing the control to Lina. She got it started and then laid the control down. She forced herself to eat some of the dinner, trying to make believe that everything was normal.
*********
Ryan knocked on the door, hoping Lina would answer. She did answer, thinking it would be Eric or Tripp checking on them. She didn't close the door on him but she didn't invite him in either.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately.

"Calleigh, can you watch Kaya for me for a minute?" She slipped outside, shutting the door for privacy. "For what?"

"Being a jerk."

"You were scared about your friends."

"I shouldn't have been rude to you."

"That's not why I'm angry." She realized now that was what she was, angry.

"Then why?"

"Because I'm scared too, Ryan. Because I'm trying so hard not to show that anything's wrong in front of Kaya, Dad, or Natalia. And because Calleigh and Eric were the ones asking me how I was, what they could do to help, staying with us so that we didn't have to be alone."

"Because all I wanted was a freaking hug, someone to hold me, and it should have been my boyfriend and it...incredibly wasn't."

"I'm sorry."

"I understand that you were scared. Maybe tired. It's been a hell of a day. But we should have been there for each other and...we both failed."

"Then let's fix it."

"How? Can you promise me it won't happen again? Cause Calleigh said something earlier and it scared me to death and I don't know how to avoid that and no one can tell me how to fix it without it."

"What was that?"

"I asked Calleigh what made Eric change and she said Mari."

"We don't need a child to change. We're different people."

"Who? Us as a couple or us as individuals?"

"As a couple, and individuals."

She nodded, glad to hear the first one but misunderstanding on the second.

"Our differences is what makes this work Lina."

"Today it doesn't feel like it's working that great, Ryan."

"So we had a fight. That happens. It makes us stronger."

"What's your idea of fixing this?" She didn't add that she felt anything but strong.

"I don't know. All I know is that we do it together."

"We're having a girls' sleepover." She paused. "Do you want to come say goodnight to Kaya?" It was an olive branch, all she could think of at the moment.

"Sure." Ryan gave a small smile, trying to figure out how to make her feel better.

She let him inside where Calleigh tried to keep a poker face, hoping it meant something good that they seemed to be talking. Kaya came racing out to hug Ryan.

"Ryan!"

"Hey honey." He hugged her.

"Are you back for good?" She asked him, still hugging him.

"Not tonight."

That didn't phase her; she knew it was a girls' slumber party night. "Tomorrow night?"

"Maybe honey."

"Uncle Eric didn't get get to come tonight either. He's..." She tried to remember what Calleigh said. "Baching?"

"Batching, sweetie," Lina correcting her gently.

"So it's okay if you can't stay tonight. But tomorrow night."

"We'll see."

She realized that whatever was wrong wasn't going to be fixed as easily as she thought and she looked at Lina. "Are you going to break up? Like my mom and my real dad?"

"No, sweetie, it will never be like that." She knew that all Kaya really knew about Nick was that her parents had been married and then divorced and he'd died only a few years before, nothing about the nightmare Natalia had been through. "It's grownup stuff, though, okay?"

Kaya tried to figure out how far she could push her big sister. It wasn't okay with her. She knew Lina was hurting, she knew Ryan was hurting, and she wanted to fix it.

"Honey, don't worry about us," said Ryan.

"He's right, sweetie. Everything will work out." Lina tried to tell her.

Mari came looking for Kaya and found her uncle. "Woof!!!!"

Ryan picked Mari up and hugged her.

She kissed his forehead. "Mwah."

"Mari, why don't you take Kaya back to the computer so the adults can talk?" asked Calleigh.

"Mon, K." She put her hand in Kaya's and pulled her back to Kaya's room.

Kaya sat with Mari at the computer. She wasn't really paying attention though.

"That could have gone better," Lina said under her breath.

"It will."

"I'm sorry she asked that."

"She's right though. We need to fix it before she tries to."

"I thought we didn't know how to do that."

"We need to figure it out before her."

"I think I'm gonna clean up the kitchen." Calleigh excused herself to give them privacy.

"Okay, ideas? Cause I've got nothing." All she knew was that she was willing to do something for their relationship, willing to fight for it, which she didn't know a few hours before.

"We need to talk things over."

"Okay."

"In the morning, since you have visitors?"

"I'm taking Kaya to school in the morning, after the hospital, then you've got to go to the lab since you're at least two people short, and I've got the restaurant until I pick Kaya up and back to the hospital."

"Lunch time."

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Lunch time and probably after the hospital tomorrow I'm going to be at the restaurant. There's no one to take my place, remember?"

"When then?"

"You just named one of the biggest problems we have on a regular basis."

"We have to try."

"Short of waiting until Dad and or Natalia are healed..."

She knew though if they put it off that long it would be even harder for them to make it back to where they'd been.

"We'll figure out a way."

"Why don't you two go for a walk? I'm here if Kaya needs anything," Calleigh asked softly from where she'd run out of things to pretend to be doing in the kitchen.

"Are you sure?" asked Ryan.

Calleigh nodded. One of the reasons she had stayed over was that she knew how upset Lina was about Ryan. She just hoped they really could fix.

"Thank you." Ryan opened the door and held it for Lina.

"Thanks, Cal." Lina pocketed her cell phone so Calleigh could reach her if she needed and walked out with Ryan.

Ryan stayed quiet, waiting for Lina to say something.

"So you wanted to talk things over..."

"I love you Lina. I want this to work."

"Me too," she admitted quietly.

"Then we need to talk about things that are pushing us apart."

"Schedule's a big one, Ryan. I think I saw you more when I was working at the lab."

Natalia stirred and reached out for Horatio.

"You're here," she whispered in relief.

"You were in the car with me. You told me then."

"Like you were when you were shot last time?"

"I know," she meant about Marisol. "You let go of my hand and called for her."