Because money is tight, Ryan takes a job as an expert witness in crime-scene procedure. His first case brings him into direct conflict with Natalia, because he intends to challenge her protocol in collecting evidence because she did not take it immediately to the lab. Natalia believes that Ryan set her up (she went to the gun range where Ryan worked to keep an appointment with an expert shooter), to which Ryan heatedly points out that he follows the evidence. By the episode "Sunblock", Ryan has been reinstated to his former job.