Title: Someone to Watch Over Me

Author: Morgan a.k.a. scgirl_317

Genre: Angst, Drama, Romance

Summary: Tag for 9.5, "Sleepless in Miami". After Ryan takes Natalia home, the two have a talk about what happened at the warehouse. Ryan/Natalia

After replacing Natalia's gun, Ryan met her out front. She stood watching as the officers loaded Jason into the squad car. He could see the sympathy in her eyes; after being drugged herself and experiencing the after effects, she hated to see someone punished for a crime he had no knowledge of committing.

"You ready to go?"

"Yeah," she sighed.

Ryan gently placed a hand on her back, steering her towards his truck. He halfway expected her to finch away, but she seemed to relax at his touch.

They rode in silence, neither feeling very talkative. Though it had been several years since he had been to her apartment, he still remembered the way.

He pulled up in front of her building, putting the vehicle in park. He had to admit he hadn't thought this far ahead. When he had offered to take her home, while it had been a gesture of consideration and kindness, his immediate goal had been switching out her firearm so no one would ever find out about what happened in the warehouse. Now that they were actually there, he wasn't sure what to do.

"Would you like to come in for a little bit?" Natalia asked, and Ryan prayed she couldn't see his relief.

"Sure," he replied.

After locking the truck, he followed her up to her apartment. It looked different from the last time he had been up here. He couldn't pinpoint anything in particular, but it was distinctly Natalia. The woman in front of him, however, was another story.

He could see the haunted look in her eyes, even though she tried to mask it. Seeing Nick alive—albeit as a hallucination—had traumatized her. Knowing her, she would deny it, bottling everything up inside until the weight crushed her. She was still a very proud woman, and had no desire to ask for help unless it was absolutely necessary, and even then it was grudgingly accepted.

"Natalia, we need to talk," he said, deciding that it would be best to head this off at the pass, instead of letting it fester.

"About what?" she asked feigning ignorance of his meaning, hoping he would drop it.

"You know what," he pressed. "Natalia, you can't just pretend this never happened."

"I can try," she replied, trying to joke it off. "I'm fine."

"That's a load of bull, and you know it. I can see it in your eyes. What happened in the warehouse scared the crap out of you."

"It's no big deal, I can handle it," she continued, though he could see her resolve crumbling.

"But you don't have to handle it alone."

He could see her resistance dwindle at that. Slowly, she sank down onto the couch and he sat next to her, hoping the close proximity would encourage her to be more forthcoming.

"He was gonna kill me," she said quietly. "All he was doing was mopping up the lab, but I knew he was gonna kill me."

Ryan nodded, noting that this made her actions more reasonable. Nick had been a conniving snake with a penchant for beating women, Natalia included. The only grief over his death had been for the fact that Natalia had fallen suspect. Ryan recalled meeting the man several times, and his opinion of him never improved. Considering the situation, he thought Natalia had acted reasonably normal.

"You had no reason to think differently," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

He could feel her trembling, fighting a losing battle to retain control of her emotions. Despite her best efforts, a tear escaped, paving the way for a flood as she lost the battle and collapsed into sobs. Ryan pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and wishing he could protect her from the demons that plagued her.

They sat there like that for some time, Ryan gently whispering in her ear reassurances that he would never let anything hurt her. And he meant it. It pained him to see her haunted like this.

Eventually her cries subsided, dwindling to only an occasional sniff, but neither moved. Ryan was quite content to stay that way, enjoying the feel of her in his arms.

"Why?" she quietly asked, her voice so low he wasn't sure he had heard it.

"What?"

Natalia pulled back to look at him, "Why did you do this?"

"I said I wouldn't let anything happen to you and I meant it."

Suddenly overtaken by some emotion, and not entirely sure what, Natalia leaned up and kissed him. Ryan was taken aback at first, but he quickly responded, kissing her back with every bit of passion he could muster. He would someday admit that he had fantasized about this moment ever since their one ill-fated date four years ago.

After a moment, he pulled back, albeit reluctantly. While he would have eagerly continued, he wanted to make sure Natalia was okay. He wasn't going to push things any farther than she wanted, and as much as it might kill him, it would end right now if she said so.

"What's wrong?" she asked, and he could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

"I want to make sure this what you want," he told her. "Say the word and this ends right now."

Natalia considered this for a moment, before answering, "No, I want this."

That was all the encouragement Ryan needed to capture her mouth, wrapping his arms around her to pull her even closer to him. Hungry and willing, she opened up to him, and he devoured her.

Taking action of her own, Natalia ran her hands up Ryan's chest, pushing his jacket off his shoulders as they drifted down his arms. The thin cotton shirt was still too much material between them, so she tugged at it, freeing the hem from his waist and allowing her to run her hands up over his chest.

Lungs burning, Ryan pulled back for a breath, taking the opportunity to divest Natalia of her jacket. He loved Miami's warm climate, as the fashion it produced only accentuated her figure. He leaned in to kiss her once again, gently this time, as his fingers ghosted over the bare skin of her arms.

The two were so caught up in their ministrations and lost in discovering each other that the shrill ringing of Natalia's cell phone made them jump apart as if burned. With a nervous laugh, she checked her phone, and groaned when she saw who was calling.

"It's Calleigh," she sighed. "She's not gonna stop calling until I talk to her."

"Go ahead and talk to her," Ryan replied. "I can order us dinner while you do that."

"There's the number for the local pizza place on the fridge," she directed, turning back to her phone as Ryan went to the kitchen. "Hi, Calleigh."

"Hey, sweetie, I just wanted to make sure you were okay," came Calleigh's soft southern drawl. "You seemed pretty shook up about what happened."

"I'm okay," Natalia said, hoping the other woman would be satisfied and leave it alone. "I'm just gonna kick back and relax tonight."

"Would you like some company?"

"No, that's okay," Natalia tried to keep her voice steady as she scrambled to keep Calleigh from coming over. "I just need to unwind and I'll be fine."

"Well, if you change you mind, just let me know," Calleigh softly replied. "I'll see ya later."

"See ya, Calleigh," Natalia replied, hanging up just as Ryan came back.

"Let me guess, she wanted to come check on you?" he asked, resuming his place next to her.

"Yeah, she wanted to make sure I was okay," she answered, leaning back into him.

"That sounds like Calleigh. Listen, Talia, there's something I wanna tell you."

Natalia nodded, knowing that whatever it was he had to say, it was serious.

"Just about every relationship I've had in the past ended because I didn't put any effort into it, but I never wanted to. Until now. I'm not sure when, but at some point I fell in love with you."

"Ryan," she began, but was unable to come up with anything to say.

"It's okay, don't say anything right now. I just wanted you to know how I felt."

"I know," she replied with a smile. "But you should probably know that I think I've fallen in love with you, too."

Both giddy with overflowing happiness at this latest revelation, they once again kissed. This kiss was not as heated as before, but was by no means lacking in passion. They pulled apart after a moment when Natalia started laughing. Despite the stress of the day, she could not be happier than at that moment, sitting there with Ryan. Soon, his laughter joined hers.

They sat there, reveling in this newfound joy, until the pizza arrived. Ryan paid the delivery guy as Natalia got the drinks. For a moment, Ryan suppressed a shudder at the memory of the day's events. Natalia still had no idea of what had really happened at the warehouse, and if it was up to him, she would never find out. He could only pray that memory would never return. As far as Horatio and he were concerned, nothing had happened, and he would make sure it stayed that way. He had told Natalia he would not let anything happen to her, and he intended to keep that promise.

But he would cross that bridge when and if he came to it. For now, he would enjoy what they had found together. In their line of work, they saw the worst in humanity. Even the smallest ray of sunshine was taken at the fullest.

And as far as Ryan was concerned, this was the sunniest day Miami had ever seen.

Fin