What Would you Do?

"It's going to be fine, sweetie." Natalia said to Ryan again, smoothing his sports jacket for the twentieth time.

"I know, it's just...he was on your porch with a SHOTGUN." Ryan stated, putting emphasis on the important words.

"He means well, Ryan, and he likes you, I know he does! He's just got this...thing..." Natalia sighed, remembering high school. She was always the pretty girl with the psycho dad, and now as a grown woman he was still threatening to throw her boyfriends under trains.

Were there trains in Miami? Hm...dunno.

"Okay, it's gonna be alright." Ryan said to himself in the mirror, though it wasn't just the challenge of meeting Natalia's father...properly...he was also planning to propose. The real challenge.

"Come on, hon, if I'm late he'll file a rape and murder charge."

"Of coarse that's normal."

"Ryan." Nathaniel nodded.

"It's good to see you, sir." Ryan smiled, shaking the man's hand firmly and nodding his head respectfully.

"You as well, my boy." Nathaniel said somewhat grimly.

"Okay, Ryan, Dad, I'm going shopping with Mom, Chrissie and Ani, I'll see you later." Natalia smiled.

"Okay, baby girl, have fun." Nathaniel said sweetly, kissing his oldest daughter on the cheek.

"Daddy, be nice." Natalia whispered with a warning tone.

"Oh sweetie, I like Ryan." He chuckled.

"Just remember, Dad, we are cops and I will not have you chasing him down the street shooting at him again." She bit.

"You have my word, sweetheart, say hi to your mother and sisters for me." He smiled.

"Hey dad, is that a blue jay?" Natalia asked quickly as her father turned sharply, looking for the rare bird. She pecked Ryan on the lips at the speed of light and winked at him. "I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too." He whispered back.

"Tali, do you need your eyes checked? You keep saying you see them and I don't. Hm...maybe my eyes need to be checked." Nathaniel puffed, catching his breath.

"Okay, bye guys." Natalia waved from her car.

"So, Ryan, how have you been?" He asked the younger man.

"Well, thanks, how have you been?" Ryan asked in return.

"Good, thank you." Nathaniel sighed. "Ryan, I like you, so I'm going to get straight to the point. How are things with you and Natalia?"

"Oh..." Ryan took in a deep breath. "Things are fine, you know, just...uh...fine."

"Are you...you know..." Nathaniel frowned.

"What? OH!! Oh, I uh..." Ryan began to sweat. "N-no."

"Really?" Nathaniel squinted.

"Well, yes sir, you told me not to touch her unless we were married." Ryan lied, sweating more. "Then you told me that if I got that kind of idea in my head you'd send me to Dallas on a rocket...sir."

"If I asked her if you were in bed, what would you do?" He asked.

"I'd do or say whatever you thought was best?" Ryan tried.

"Interesting...if she were about to be hit by a train, what would you do?" Nathaniel asked sharply.

"Get her out of the way..." Ryan blurted on instinct and not at all thinking first. Natalia warned him about the questions. "Anything."

"I see...if she were in shark infested waters, what would you do?"

"Jump in and save her...I'm a bigger meal."

"If she were...taken hostage by Texan bandits, WHAT WOULD YOU DO??!!"

"Texan bandits?"

"Answer the question boy!"

"Ah! Beat them with...frozen carps?!"

"Good protein attention-moving on!"

"Sir? What are we doing on the train tracks?" Asked Ryan. "I didn't even know we had train tracks here in Miami."

"I asked what you would do if Natalia were on the train tracks, well we're gonna test it." Nathaniel said happily.

"What?!" Ryan stood frozen with fear as Nathaniel stood on the train tracks confidently and waited for the incoming train.

"She's a comin' round the corner, here she comes!" Nathaniel sang, rocking on the balls of his feet. "She'll be comin' round the-"

"Look out!" Ryan shouted, tackling Nathaniel off the tracks a decent amount of time before the train got there. "What was that?!"

"Oh-oh-ooh, nice tackle. You have to be a college ball player, right?" Nathaniel smiled, earning a blank stare from Ryan. "Never mind. To the Marina!"

"Oh no."

"Fancy a dip, Ryan?" Nathaniel asked Ryan loudly.

"Sir, that is private property and a no swimming zone." Ryan pointed out, hoping he wasn't going to do what he thought.

"Oh, pish-posh and fiddle-faddle, I feel like a few laps around the docks." Nathaniel chuckled mockingly, jumping in with a splash.

"Oh for the love of-"

"Ryan! Join me!" Nathaniel chuckled deeply.

"I'd rather not!" Ryan declined.

"Sweet French toast dipped in butter this is nice. Hm, there aren't any sharks here yet. Ryan! Would you buy me some jerky from the gas station to feed the poor sharks?" Asked Nathaniel.

"No, sir, I will not let you do this." Ryan sighed.

"Come on in then!" Nathaniel jumped up and grabbed Ryan by the legs, pulling him in the water. "Atta boy!"

"Excuse me, sirs, are you aware this is private property?" Asked a policeman.

"Yes, yes we are." Ryan muttered feebly, his hair in his eyes.

"Oh honey, sage green is so your color." Christine oozed.

"Thanks Chrisie." Natalia sighed.

"Has he still not asked you?" Asked Anya.

"No, and I thought he was going to, but I just don't know anymore." Natalia admitted sadly.

"Oh come on, Ryan is crazy about you! He loves you, and I'm sure he's going to propose any time now." Christine persisted optimistically.

"I hope so, Christine, or I'm going to die a widow." She groaned.

"With nice boobs..." Christine paused. "How do you do it?"

"Chrisie!"

"You really love my Natalia, don't you?" Nathaniel asked seriously.

"Yes sir, I really do." Ryan answered honestly.

"Ever since she and her sisters were little girls I was always the overboard, overprotective father. Natalia's my oldest and I never met anyone I thought was worthy of her love. Our past experience with Nick taught us that." He bit.

"I'm sorry." Ryan put his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fists. He hated Nick for laying a hand on his beautiful Natalia.

"I don't think I'd trust anyone more than you, right now Ryan, so if you want to get serious, you have my blessing." Nathaniel smiled, patting Ryan on the back...hard.

"Well thank you, sir, that means a lot." Ryan smiled back.

"Call me dad." Nathaniel chuckled.

"Oh thank goodness, 'cause Natalia and I have, you know, been in bed." Ryan admitted freely.

"What?" Nathaniel dead panned.

"Well I thought you-"

"You're a dead man Ryan!" Nathaniel shouted.

"Oh geez!" Ryan took off in the other direction, running for his life. Even as a cop, he feared Natalia's father more than anyone else.

"Ryan!" Nathaniel took after the young man, and he was fast for an aging gentleman. He wasn't fat, or balding, no, he was a rather handsome guy. How do you think he got Natalia's mom? Actually, he was his highschool football star. That's how. Anyway.

"Sir! This is really unnecessary!" Ryan shouted over his shoulder, coming to the street and running clear through.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Nathaniel shouted angrily, hot on Ryan's heels. The two men cleared traffic fine, but getting through the streets was a different matter. Ryan managed to get through fairly easy, but Nathaniel was having some trouble.

"Hey watch it!" One large man shouted to Ryan. "You owe me another banana nut muffin!"

"Sorry!"

"Hey Nat, isn't that your boyfriend?" Asked Anya.

"Yeah, that is Ryan." Said Christine, leaning toward the tv.

"Oh my god." Natalia's eyes grew comically large, like tennis balls, at the sight of her Ryan running like a madman through Miami.

"Maybe he's got a perp!" Christine said excitedly.

'Now we see the famous Officer Ryan Wolfe is being chased by another man. No one knows if this is a case or not, but the chaser is clearly shouting he will kill CSI Wolfe. Back to you, Jerry.'

"Is that-?"

"It couldn't be-?"

"He wouldn't-?"

"Dad!"

"Nathaniel, please, you're chasing me down the streets of Miami! This is madness!" Ryan puffed.

"You haven't seen madness yet!" Nathaniel quipped.

"Fish salesman!" Ryan tucked and rolled as a man carrying a large salmon in one hand a butcher in the other walked into the street wearing a sombrero. He turned with the knife in hand and almost clipped Ryan's spiked do. "Sorry!"

"De nada!"

"Unbelievable! I told dad to be nice, and now he's chasing my Ryan through Miami mid-day traffic!" Natalia huffed, driving the county vehicle like a madwoman. "He promised!"

"Tali, could we slow down?" Anya asked timidly.

"NO!" Natalia barked. "Why?!"

"Because you're a cop, and we're about to break the sound barrier!" Christine barked back, holding onto the leather seat.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just don't want my father to throw my boyfriend off of a building like he did the last three times!" Natalia shouted.

"He's probably safer being thrown off a building than we are in here driving with you!" Christine rebutted.

"If you say one more word I'll throw you off that building next!"

"Ryan!" Nathaniel grabbed Ryan's arm and swung him around and into the street.

"Ah!" Ryan put his hands up as Nathaniel threw him in front of a silver hummer with EVERY intention on him being hit. After realizing he wasn't a shattered pile of blood and bone-dust he opened his eyes slowly to see a very familiar license plate. "MDPD? Natalia?"

"Oh my god." Natalia took in a shaky breath as she tried to convince herself she didn't just hit her one true love with a hummer.

"Natalia?" Nathaniel asked.

"Dad?!" She gaped.

"Pain." Ryan groaned as he rolled on his back, catching his breath and making sure he didn't need to restart his heart. Natalia had the same effect on him, but with her it felt less...like he was going to die unhappy. With Natalia, she stopped his heart, but it felt good. His heart was in great shape from the frequent stopping and restarting. Now, he hadn't even gotten the chance to propose...he was going to die alone and stuck to the front of a county vehicle; What a way to go!

"Oh my god!" Natalia was out of the car before anyone could even start to blink. "Ryan!"

"Hi Natalia...hope you had fun at the mall." Ryan said meekly, rubbing his sore cheek. It was scraped from hitting the pavement.

"Oh, baby, are you alright?" Natalia asked in a frenzy, wiping off his cheek tenderly with tears in her soft brown eyes. "I could've killed you."

"But you didn't." Ryan said, trying to lighten up the air. It didn't work. "Right."

"Dad!" Natalia raged, whipping around. Her hair hit Ryan in the face, making him sputter. "You promised you'd be nice to Ryan, and instead I see on the news you've been chasing him through traffic trying to kill him?!"

"Natalia-"

"No! Don't, Natalia, me! I'm a big girl, dad, and I don't want you physically or mentally harming my boyfriends anymore! Especially Ryan!" She said forcefully. "Do you never want grand kids? I love Ryan! You know I do and you throw him in front of my hummer?!!"

"Tali, sweetheart-"

"No! Ryan could've been killed! If anything happened to him I'd never forgive you!" She shouted angrily.

"I'm sorry, I really am baby girl. I just snapped when-"

"When, what? He told you we were having sex?! It's a natural thing, dad! I wasn't a virgin before I met Ryan, you know! If it weren't for sex you wouldn't even have, Anya, or Christine, or me." She pointed out furiously. Nathaniel shuffled his feet. Ryan began to blush faintly. "What would you do if Ryan and I wanted to get married, huh? What would you do then? Have us live in separate houses?! We are living together!!"

"Natalia-"

"Let me finish!" She snapped.

"No, let me finish. I gave Ryan my blessing, and I suppose it's time I let you girls be women." Nathaniel sighed with a heavy heart. "Go ahead."

"Really?" Natalia asked surprisedly.

"Really, just promise you'll be careful." Nathaniel pleated.

"Daddy." Natalia warned.

"Fine, fine, fine. I like Ryan. He's a good man. If anyone ever came damn close to being good enough for you, it's him." He smiled warmly.

"Oh, thank you daddy." Natalia began to tear up, hugging her father lovingly. "You don't have to worry about me."

"I know, sweetie, it's what fathers do." He chuckled.

"Wait a minute, you never act like this towards Chrisie or Ani's boyfriends-"

"Bye pumpkin!" Nathaniel waved, running back through traffic.

"Dad!! Come back here! I know you can hear me!"

"I'm so glad to be home." Natalia groaned, plopping down on their couch heavily and blowing a strand of dark auburn hair out of her view.

"Me too." Ryan sighed, sitting on the couch beside her.

"Oh Ryan, I feel so bad about this." She said sadly, turning to cup his strong jaw. She looked at his calm face with her worried one. His soft hazel eyes found her teary honey-burnt ones.

"Don't, Tali, really. I'm okay." Ryan smiled, kissing her lips comfortingly, which she gladly obliged.

"It's just, I-I mean, I really, really like you, I mean I love you, and I want to, I mean I wan this to work, I mean I really want to-" Natalia stuttered, fingering a lock of soft auburn embarrassedly as a blush came to her cheeks. She continued to fumble for words as the pink simply became redder and redder. She squirmed on his lap. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." Ryan smiled, thinking how utterly adorable she looked when she was embarrassed. "Your blushes are so cute."

"Ryan!" Natalia whined as the pink spread to her ears and her heart began to flutter in her chest like a butterfly in a tornado. 'This is ridiculous! You've been living together for months, why are you blushing?! Come on girl, get it together! Oh, but those eyes make me melt like butter in an inferno!! Stop it! But he's SOO yummy! Shut up! NO! I'm losin' it. Yes. Yes you are. I said shut up!!'

"Marry me."

"What?" Natalia blinked, emerging from her mental debate.

"Marry me." Ryan repeated boldly. His heart was pounding like he was running a marathon, but one look at her clear honey eyes and he felt anything was worth it to wake up to them every day. "I know it's not a romantic, fairytale proposal, but I want to spend my life with you."

"Oh my god, Ryan, of coarse!" Natalia sobbed, kissing him fiercely.

"Do you think your dad will be okay with this?" Ryan asked breathlessly.

"Who cares?" She moaned, kissing him deeper.

"I do."

"Why?"

"He threw me in front of a hummer. I didn't even tell him I was going to propose."

"He'll get over it."