Ava smiled as she stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked into the empty park. It was night, the moon was already up and the stars were shining softly. And for the first time, she was completely happy. She felt good and she didn't ever want this feeling to walk away.

Ryan was sitting on a bench at the park. He'd sneaked off so his sister won't lock him up somewhere with either Jane or Neal. To him it seemed like the girl was determined to prove he wasn't what he's claiming.
Sometimes he just didn't know what to think.

So now he had finally found a spot where to hide. For now.
He pulled out his cigarettes and took one.

It was beautiful night. And he enjoyed her smoke while he could.

Ava walked around the park. It was pretty empty at that point, which was something unusual. But this gave her time to think. Because she was having a good life, for the first time in a while, and she was so glad for that.
As she walked on the alleys, she spotted someone familiar on a bench. She smiled, seeing who it was and walked up to him. "Hey," she greeted, passing a hand through her hair.

As he was halfway his cigarette a familiar voice suddenly greeted him. For a second he almost freaked out but seeing it was Ava he relaxed. With a smile he greeted back. "Hey yourself."

Ava smiled as she stuffed her hands in her leather jacket's pockets. "Mind if I join you?" she asked. At some point, when she moved to Miami, she had considered Ryan to be probably his best friend, because she didn't know many people there. But lately, they hadn't spent that much time together anymore, and she kind of missed that.

"Not at all. I kinda felt lonely in fact. But couldn't go home just yet." Ryan stopped his ramble before it got too much. Some said he needed to learn control that better.
"Wanna one?" he offered her a cigarette after taking one for himself. One of rare package he managed to preserve. Sometimes he wished Mich was still underage, but she wasn't.

Ava smiled when he said that and sat down on the bench, right by him. She could remember a few times when they had met in the park at night, exactly like that, told each other about their problems or their happy moments and just made each other feel good. She missed that; she missed Ryan being her friend. She crossed her legs and took the cigarette he offered her. She was not an usual smoker, but she did this every now and then.
"Thanks," she said, as she lit it up and dragged from it. "So..." she started, blowing out the smoke. "How have you been? I haven't seen you outside of work for a while."

It had been such a long time since he'd last met Ava like this, Ryan thought lighting his own cigarette. As he dragged from it, he thought about her question. How he really has been?

"Well, I think I still haven't quite recovered from certain parties but I'm generally good. We recently had another 'member' joining and my sis made it clear I needed to spent some time locked up in bathroom with him. I've started seeing Maddy's sister. So I was either pulling double and triple shifts or being stucked in bathroom and other places. Not quite much time for bars anymore." he told. It may had sounded weird to any other but Ryan was sure Ava, knowing his sister and their family overall, understood. "And? How you've been?" he asked dragging on his cigarette and letting out oddly shaped smoke.

Ava passed a hand through her hair, trying to keep it out of her eyes, and dragged from her own cigarette. She actually had some news, but she was sure that she was not the only one. Ryan was actually an interesting person and he always had a new story to tell. For example, her eyes widened when she heard that he was seeing Maddy's sister now.
"You're dating Maya?" she exclaimed, smiling broadly. "That's so sweet!"
When he asked how she had been, she blew out the rest of the smoke in her mouth and shrugged a bit. She had some things she needed to share with her friend, but didn't even know where to start. "I've been really good, surprisingly," she nodded. "I, umm... David and I got engaged," she smiled. She would have never thought that this would be a happy moment for her, but there she was, all smiley and sincere.

Ryan chuckled at her surprised expression. "Well, yeah. I knew they won't let me float alone despite my sister's plan on hooking me up with Jane. The guy's ok but I'm kinda shy thinking I can sail both ways. Though Maddy and Maya don't seem troubled by that possibility. But so far I enjoy the ride." Ryan admitted. True, he once had tried steer the different road, encoraged by his sis, but that was before Allisson. Though he knew she wouldn't mind experiments.

His hazel eyes grew round at what Ava told. He let out the smoke, shaped in ring form, before spoke. "Congrats. Wow. I almost thought you two don't get along that well."

Ava chuckled a bit at his words. She had got to know The Gang pretty well, and she knew how Michi and the others could be. To her, it had always seemed like Maya was the good, quiet girl in the group, so she thought that it was sweet that she was now going out with Ryan. She was such a nice girl, serious when needed, but also fun to be around. "Well, I'm happy for you," she said, nodding a bit.

A wide grin pulled on Ava's lips when his eyes grew wide. He looked shocked, but who wasn't? At first, David had been considered the playboy of the lab, while she was the one who didn't even think to accept his flirtatious words or gestures; mostly because he seemed to act the same towards every woman. "We didn't, at first," she told him, shrugging a bit. "He was this huge player, you probably remember. But...he came back not long ago and he was totally changed. So now, we're engaged. Pretty unexpected ways does this life have," she added with a chuckle.

"Thanks." Ryan said smiling sincerely.
"And I'm happy for you. I'd never expected you and him... well.. maybe not that impossible. I think he always had a crush on you." Ryan said grinning mischievously. He remembered David being the lab's playboy, always playing some sneaky flirting game. "It's surprising to hear he finally stopped dancing around. I'm sure you two will be happy." he said dragging on the last remains of the cigarette.

Ava smiled a bit and dragged from her cigarette as well, listening to his words. She turned her eyes towards him and blew out the smoke, then smiled sincerely again. "Really?" she asked when Ryan said that he had always thought that David had a crush on her. She had never thought about this until he came back, because he seemed to care only about sex and nothing else.
At Ryan's next words, she nodded a bit. "Yes, it is..." she said. "But he has a little daughter now, and has changed." She looked at him though; she didn't want to talk only about herself. "How come we have stopped hanging like that?" she asked, tossing her cigarette butt away.

Ryan smirked. "I don't know. Something about him was nagging at me. Frankly I didn't like him at all. Seemed too cocky for his own good. But since I met certain people myself I thought again. I had the feeling he was hiding his true form behind that mask of playboy. Guess I was right."

Yeah, things seemed changing too much lately. "Wow, that's surprising actually. Maybe David found himself finally. I can imagine how kids change the lives of the adults." Ryan shrugged slightly. He somehow had a doubt of himself in this but he didn't show.

"Actually I wondering about same thing. We used to hang out so much but then..." for a second Ryan didn't what to say. "I don't know." the hazel eyed man admitted. It kept amusing him of how things tend to change. "That kinda funny. We do things, keep on with our lives and then, dang! A blink of an eye and something's different." Ryan shook his head and laughed.

Ava smiled sincerely as she listened to Ryan. At first, she thought that Biedermann was just a playboy, way too cocky and selfish. He seemed to look at women as sex toys, not real human beings, and that was why she had decided to do everything to stop him from getting too close. There was some physical attraction, that was pretty obvious, but she assumed that it was nothing more. She didn't know that for others, like Ryan, he also had another face, one hidden up behind that mask. It seemed now like she had been too selfish and superficial herself to see that. "Wow..." she mumbled, chuckling a bit. "You're good."

Ava nodded slightly when Ryan reminded her how they used to hang out. That was because they worked together, had a similar schedule and they had started getting along fine at some point. And sometimes, they really needed a drink, where he could tell her what was going wrong in his life and she could do the same. But then, out of the blue, everything changed for no reason. "I know, right?" she said, sighing a bit and looking straight at him. "I loved talking to you. And I still do. We should really do this more often."

"Hey, that's what happens when you live with con-artists and psychics-in-denial. Let alone having sister like Mich. It rubs off on you after some time." Ryan grinned. "But thanks, anyway." the sparkle in his eyes seemed to go brighter. He was really glad to meet Ava.

Ryan looked back into her eyes. "Agreed. I've totally been missing our chats. Sometimes I wish it was you not Patrick or Neal I tend to get locked with in the various rooms. Sure they can listen, but it's always different. Besides walls around them always tend to have ears and eyes." he told. It probably was spread around lab like wildfire by now. He always tried to ignore those odd looks from other techs. But sometimes it just creeped him out.

Ava chuckled a bit and nodded. Ryan really was pretty sensitive and he could see things some of them couldn't, including Ava. She tended to be a bit too self-centered at times and ignore others' feelings or opinion. Some may say that she was superficial, because she didn't try to dig in deeper to know a person.

Her grin turned into a sincere smile at his next words. Ryan had his gang, he had Michi, Maddy, even Patrick and Neal. And there were moments when she just felt like she didn't fit in there and she was some kind of outsider. So hearing this made her smile. "Really? That's sweet," she nodded slightly. She moved a bit closer to him and gently leaned her head on his shoulder. It had been a while since she had done that and it was a pity.

Ryan smiled as Ava leaned against him. He so missed this. Sure the hugs came upon him all the time but it was always different feeling with each person. What one had other had differently, and so on.
"Oh yes." he replied, pulling his friend in a one armed embrace as they sat on the bench.
"But I think we need to make up for the missed times. I've tried to dump myself hair-deep into work, pulling shift after shift, but they always manage to watch for signs of overtime. And now I suspect they won't let me get back into work now. I always end up in a fight with Mich." Ryan again started ramble off. He missed the casual banter with people he didn't live in the same house.

Ava smiled when Ryan pulled her in a one-armed embrace, and she closed her eyes for a second. The pretty cold air was hitting her face, but she liked that. There was not much you could see, because it was night and they were in a private space, with not many lights. She also liked that, because that meant that they could enjoy some time by themselves, with no one passing by and disturbing them.
"I've tried that as well," she said, shrugging slightly. "They had to kick me out after a while," she chuckled. Their boss didn't want anyone to work too long and get too tired, because there was no need for that. She used to break that rule a lot, but there had also been moments when he noticed that.

"Oh yeah. Like many of us. I admire my sister. She can work at lab, study for uni, have parties around, manages to help Sammy with her work, assist Neal and Patrick into whatever sneaky plans they get, even get to skating rink for few hours, meet horses, harass guys at shooting range with her ancient weapons and still be fresh as ever and ready for more adventure when I can only drown myself into cases and barely drag my own ass back home. Sometimes it makes me feel old. Like time never stopped for me like it did for her. Even twins looks like time stopped for them, Al more than Sam, but still." he mused. He never ceased to be amused about fact someone so young could do so many things and not even show a sign of exhaustion.
Maybe he just whined too much. Maybe he was more fragile than he thought.
But he should be happy to be alive.