Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: Miami. I am not making any profit by writing this.

Lucha Libre

Ryan and Natalia were walking out to the employee parking garage. The two of them had a date, their first date no less. We weren't talking dinner and a movie or a candlelight dinner on the beach. No, their first date was to see Mexican wrestling.

"You look nice today. Not that you ever don't look nice, it's just on this particular occasion…let's try this again. It's good to see you. Not that it's ever bad to see you, and certainly not that it's ever not good to see you…uh…are you ready to go?" Ryan asked rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Natalia couldn't help but laugh at Ryan. His rambling, his nervousness, she found it cute. Adorable even.

"So do you take all your dates to see Mexican wrestling?" Natalia asked.

"What? No! I've never even seen Mexican wrestling before. It's just my friend had a couple of extra tickets, and so I thought you and I could go and make fun of it together. Wait. You don't like it, do you? We could do something else if you want. I'll understand," Ryan answered.

"No, no. It's fine," Natalia replied.

The truth of the matter was, just like she told Eric, at least Ryan made plans. Natalia and Eric dated before too. Only, he never made any plans. The night of their first date, they slept together. Then, there was the whole pregnancy scare thing.

She and Eric definitely were physically attracted to one another, as if their having sex on their first date was any indication. Ryan was certainly easy on the eyes too. Sure Natalia was a bit older than him. Nine years to be exact. Ryan certainly had a boyish look to him. Another plus was that he was nothing like her ex-husband, Nick who put Natalia in the hospital by breaking her arm.

Ryan didn't exactly have the best track record when it came to dating. He has primarily been involved with his on-again-off-again girlfriend of several years, Erica Sikes. She's a news reporter. When his colleagues asked him why he keeps going back to her, Ryan's response was, "She's pretty." It's quite clear that Erica is not over Ryan. In fact, on more than one occasion when Ryan was on the job, it seems as if Erica is stalking him.

"So, why did you ask Eric for permission to ask me out?" Natalia asked as they were on the road with Ryan driving.

"Well, after the whole pregnancy scare thing, I honestly didn't know if you two were still dating or on a break. For that matter, I didn't know if you two still cared about one another, and the last thing I'd want to do is interfere," Ryan answered.

Natalia could tell Ryan was starting to loosen up and relax. She could still tell he was nervous though. He seemed to be talking a mile a minute.

"I didn't know you and Eric were so close," Natalia commented.

"We're not. Don't get me wrong. We're closer now than before my eye injury, but prior to my eye injury, I got the feeling that Eric resented me, so that's not really saying much," Ryan answered.

Natalia remembered the day Ryan got impaled in the eye with a nail gun all too well. They could've lost him that day. Luckily, they didn't. It was a good reminder of how short life is. Anyone can die at any time.

Ryan had borrowed some money from Eric to take Natalia out to eat before they went to watch Mexican wrestling, but he started to feel bad about Eric paying for his date. If anyone should pay for Ryan's date, it should be Ryan, not Eric. It's just he didn't have any cash on him at the time. Ultimately, Ryan decided to skip dinner and just go to the main attraction.

CSI: Miami-CSI: Miami-CSI: Miami

Ryan and Natalia didn't really have good seats. Granted, they weren't nosebleed seats, but they weren't exactly front row either.

"So why do you think they wear masks and spandex?" Natalia asked as a match was underway in the ring.

"I have no clue. All I know is that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing spandex!" Ryan responded.

Natalia's eyes roamed Ryan's body as she looked him up and down. He wasn't quite as muscular as Eric, but Ryan was still in good shape. She saw the tight t-shirt he had on under his jacket that showed his toned chest.

"I don't know. I think you'd look good in spandex," Natalia commented.

Ryan turned so that he was face-to-face with Natalia. His eyebrows were arched, and his eyes were widened ever so slightly. His mouth was in an 'o' shape.

"Boa Vista, are you hitting on me?" Ryan inquired.

Natalia's cheeks flushed, and she averted her gaze while trying not to be too obvious about it. The last thing she needed was to look into Ryan's beautiful hazel eyes.

"Why is their skin so shiny? Are they wearing oil?" Natalia asked looking at the wrestlers in the squared circle.

"Way to change the subject, Natalia!" Ryan remarked.

"No, seriously. It looks like baby oil. What kind of guy rubs baby oil all over his body?" she questioned.

Ryan rolled his eyes. He was spacing off. He was racking his brain trying to determine whether or not Natalia had just hit on him.

Sure, Ryan found her to be attractive. Heck, all of his female co-workers were attractive. In fact, it was hard not to get distracted when working with them.

Natalia was new, and Ryan remembered all too well what it was like to be the newbie on the team. So, they had that in common. Ryan himself had only been with the team for a little over a year.

Ryan went for the old stretch-your-arms-in-the-air-then-wrap-your-arm-around-her-shoulder move. After doing so, he could feel her body tense up.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

Ryan removed his arm pulling it back as though he had just burnt it or something. He chuckled nervously.

"Too soon?" he asked.

"Yeah!"

For the life of her, Natalia couldn't figure out why Ryan would bring her to see Mexican wrestling for their first date. All they were watching was guys beat each other up. So, maybe it was some sort of guy thing. Or maybe it was like when a fight breaks out, it never fails to draw a crowd. At least she was able to spend some time with Ryan though. Outside of work, she hasn't really had much of an opportunity to do so.

As far as her male co-workers were concerned, Natalia found herself attracted to both Eric and Ryan. Eric was closer to her in age. He was only four years younger than Natalia. Then again, age is just a number. She got the impression though that Eric was a bit of a player though. After all, they did have sex on their first date. As far as Ryan was concerned, the only ex-girlfriend Natalia was aware of was Erica Sikes.

"Will you excuse me? I have to use the ladies' room," Natalia said as she stood up.

The seats were pretty crammed together, and there was next to no leg room. Natalia had to walk past Ryan to get to the aisle. As she crawled over him, she practically had her breasts in his face. For Ryan's part, he tried his best not to stare at what was literally at eye level.

"You out?" Ryan asked shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Natalia noticed that this time around Ryan was averting his gaze. She wasn't sure if it was the lighting, but she could've sworn that his cheeks were reddening.

"Yeah. I'll be right back," Natalia answered.

CSI: Miami-CSI: Miami-CSI: Miami

Ryan and Natalia were sitting in the driveway to her place.

"So, tonight was…interesting," Natalia stated.

Ryan had a dejected look on his face. "You didn't have a good time?" he asked.

"It's not that. It's just I had no clue what I was watching," Natalia answered quickly trying to smooth things over.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I had no clue what I was watching either," Ryan said.

The two fell into an awkward silence. Neither was sure what to say or do next. Natalia was wondering if Ryan was going to walk her to the door or just stay seated in his car.

She got her answer soon enough when Ryan unfastened his seat belt, and opened the driver's side door. Ryan went around to open Natalia's door for her. The only problem was that she wasn't used to chivalry. Her abusive ex-husband, Nick, was a far cry from chivalrous. Consequently, she opened the passenger side door, hitting Ryan flush in the nose.

Wolfe pinched the bridge of his nose and tilted his head back. Natalia saw some blood dribbling from his right nostril.

"Oh, geez! Ryan, I'm so sorry!" Natalia exclaimed.

Natalia reached into her purse. After rummaging through its contents, she found what she was looking for. Natalia handed Ryan a little package of tissues.

Ryan pulled one out, ripped off a piece, rolled it up, and stuffed it up his right nostril. A portion of the Kleenex that hadn't been rolled up protruded out his nostril.

"Pretty," Boa Vista remarked.

The couple walked over to Natalia's front porch. They turned to face one another. Ryan still had his head tilted back, and upon seeing the tissue sticking out, Natalia couldn't help but snicker.

"Well, tonight was fun. Up until the you giving me a bloody nose part," Ryan said.

"I told you I was sorry!" Natalia countered.

Ryan wondered if Natalia believed in kissing on the first date. Granted, it would be kind of awkward what with a Kleenex sticking out of his nose and all. On second thought, a kiss goodnight wasn't such a great idea. As he and Natalia stood there on the front porch, Ryan wondered if she was going to ask him in.

Seconds turned into minutes, and neither budged an inch. All was quiet save for the sound of crickets chirping.

"I'll uh…see you tomorrow then," Ryan said breaking the silence.

"Okay," Natalia said.

Ryan headed to his car while Natalia worked on unlocking her front door. While walking away from Natalia, he waited to hear the words 'Do you want to come in?' but those words were never spoken.

As he turned on the ignition, he saw Natalia enter her house, shutting the door behind her. Tonight didn't go quite as Ryan would have liked it to. In addition to having a bruised nose, he had a bruised ego.

The End