NATALIA CHECKS IN ON RYAN

By: Panther

Summary: After Eric dropped Ryan off at his house, he was fixing something to eat when he hears a knock on his door.

a/n: This is after Ryan got shot with the nail gun. And this sort AU because they know about Nat being the mole and she is part of the team, ok on with the story :)

( Don't own anything )

" Are you sure your going to be alright by yourself tonight Wolfe? " Eric asked his friend as he drove up the drive-way to Ryan's house.

Looking over at his friend with his left eye, " Yeah. I'll be fine. I may have one good eye left, but I know that house inside and out. " Ryan replied with a little humor, as he opened the hummer door and shutting it behind him, he was about to walk off, but stopped and turned back to his friend,

" Hey, uh, thanks for the ride Delko. " He said, smiling slightly and hitting against the door twice before he walked to his front door, his foot catching on one of the steps, causing him to trip and nearly go head first through his door, but he quickly caught his balance by putting his hands out and placing them on the door, stopping his fall. He then pushed back and stood back on his feet, turned to where the hummer is and raised his hand up to let Eric know he was alright.

Still worrying about his friend, he returned the gesture, nodded his head and pulled out of the drive-way and going back to his own home, all the while praying that his friend will alright by himself until his eye had healed up.

Unknown to Eric, his prayers were already being answered in the form of Natalia Boa Vista, who was on her way to make sure Ryan was going to be alright, even if it was the last thing she did.

Meanwhile, Ryan unlocked his door, though; he did have a little trouble finding the lock with one eye, but being the dark didn't help either. He walked inside and turned on his lights as he walked through out the darken house, going up his stairs, he walked into his room and placed the plastic from the hospital in his closet, until he found a place for it, it was the only place he could think of putting, he then went over to his dresser and got out a tank top, some pajama pants, boxers and walked back down the hall to his bathroom to take a shower, hoping it would help ease some of the soreness he felt in his eye.

After he showered and dressed in the clothes he brought with him, he walked down stairs and to the laundry room with his dirty clothes, along with his other dirty clothes of the week and began to wash them, when that was all said and done, he went to his kitchen and began to fix something to eat, he fixing to turn on the stove, when he heard a knock on his door.

Thinking that it be Eric again, he stopped what he was doing and walked back to his door, opened it and, " Eric, I told you that I'm.... Your not Eric. " He said as he saw that it was Natalia and not Eric.

" Hey Ryan. Mind if I come in? " She asked, holding a plastic bag in her hands and a smile on her face.

" Uh, No. Come on in. " He said a little bit shocked at seeing her here, stepping aside, he let her in, closing the door behind her.

" What's in the bag? If you don't mind me asking. " He asked as he gestured for her to have a seat, she nodded as she sat down on the black leather couch that was facing his tv on the other end of the room, he sat on the other end of the couch, not wanting to make uncomfortable or uneasy around him, because he knew she probably wouldn't want to look at his black and purple eye that was so swollen that he could barely see out of, hell it made him uncomfortable and uneasy seeing his reflection earlier in his mirror.

" Well I hope you didn't fix anything for dinner yet. " She started.

" I was about to. " He said, looking at her out of the corner of his left eye, keeping his face turned to the love-seat, that was across from them and the coffee table.

" Guess I came at the right time then, I brought dinner over for you. " She finished as she waited for him to turn and face her, but for some reason, he didn't turn that handsome face of his towards her, he just looked at the bag, she had sat on the table when she sat down, and looked back her, smiling what looked like to her, a grateful smile.

" You didn't have to do that Nat. " He said as he watched her open up the bag and took out the containers that was inside, as he sees her doing this, he realizes that she had cooked the food inside the containers and that they weren't take out food like he had previously thought.

" And you didn't have to cook for me either. " He said, turning to face her, but then remembered how bad his eye looked and turned back around, as he did so, Natalia noticed for the first time the tattoo that was on his left arm.

It didn't go unoticed by her that, as he turned to face her, he got a look like he remembered something and turned back, so she decided to bring up his tattoo, to see if he would turn to face her.

" I wanted to. It was no big deal, honest. And when did you get that tattoo of yours tough guy? " She answered and teased, hearing from Alexx how Ryan was trying to toughen out the fact that he had a nail in his eye.

" Oh, about a year or two ago. A couple of the guys from patrol dared me to. Said I wasn't tough enough to get one because of the needles they use, I got it to prove them wrong, but since I didn't want one that looked stupid or ugly, I got this one. " He replied with a grin, remembering the day he got the tattoo.

" What did they say when you got it? " She asked as she took the lids off of the containers, steam coming out as she did so, Ryan got up and went to get plates and spoons and forks and bigger spoon to scoop out the food, which was steamed shrimp, mashed potatoes, slices of red tomatoes, biscuits, peas and carrots.

" They couldn't believe I actually got one and said that they were only joking around. But I told them that I was planning on getting one anyway. " He answered sitting back down and handing her the big spoons and smaller ones and forks as they each took a big spoon and began getting their own portations of the food Natalia had cooked the moment she got home.

After the mystery of the tatttoo was solved, they began talking small talk, sometimes, they would talk about what they liked and disliked, cases they've worked, what Ryan did when he was on patrol. Natalia laughed when she heard how he had treated Calleigh on his first day and how she reacted to the way the he would treat his crime scenes.

But during all on the smiles and laughs, Natalia didn't let the fact go that Ryan still wouldn't turn his face to her, so she told him, " Ryan, you can face me, I'm not going to judge you, just because you had a nail in your eye and that it's swollen, your face hasn't changed, and I'm not going to say anything that could hurt your feelings. " She said as she reached over and placed her hand gently on his face and turned his head towards her, seeing his eye after what happened, made her gasp at seeinf it for herself, it looked like someone had just kept punching him in that one spot, the bandage didn't help make it look any better.

" See why I kept my head turned? " He said sadly, trying to turn his head away, but she stopped him and leaned over and gently kissed his eye and for some reason, his eye suddenly felt a little bit better then when the doctor took it out.

After that night, Natalia kept coming back every day until his eye was better and he could come back to work.

the end.

And before I finish this off, Jonathan Togo does have a tatto on his left arm, even though I can't make it out in some of the pictures I've seen of it, I know it has two stars, one near his shoulder and one in the middle of his upper arm, a ribbon flowing on something with writing in it.

Hope ya'll like this, it came to me when I watched the episode 'Nailed' the other week :)